The Line

Viktor ended up really liking the slytherin common rooms. 

The deep green and soft silver of the silk tapestries, sofas, and plush rugs washed calm over him. The wall of glass that looked into the lake was never still, and would occasionally offer a glimpse of a mermaid or a tentacle that Viktor was told belonged to the giant squid. The water casted a green shadow of light on the floor adjacent to it, creating various shapes that would change and merge with every wave and every change in the water, creating beautiful emerald patterns that captivated Viktor’s attention and imagination. On the wall to the left side of the glass a fire crackled within the stones of the fireplace, bewitched to glow a calming green, its warmth spreading to every confine of the common room, basking all the students within with its unearthly glow. Although it was not the same warmth that emanated from Jayce, Viktor still appreciated it. The bedrooms were also dipped in shades of green and silver, with the oaks beds’ comforters and drapes being a deep jade with small accents in the shapes of snakes being silver. The beds were warm and plush, so soft they practically swallowed you up when you laid down to rest. There were lanterns that were always lit, and were perfect for late-night reading. 

The only downside to the bedrooms was that Viktor had to share it with Draco and two other boys he had been too tired to learn the names of. This meant that in order to avoid invasive questions about why his bones seemed to push against his skin, about why he needed a brace for his back, about why he needed a brace for his leg, Viktor would have to go down to bed and wake up earlier than the rest of his peers in order to get dressed before they could ask.

Viktor had just finished dressing at top speed when Draco woke up, cowlicks adorning the blond’s usually immaculate hair. Perhaps he was human after all. 

“Good morning,” Viktor said politely as he adjusted his vest. “How did you sleep?” 

“Why are you awake so early?”  Draco asked, ignoring Viktor’s attempts to stir a conversation that veered awayfrom that particular topic. 

“I eh, I take a lot of time to walk, so I thought I would get up earlier in order to get to the Great Hall around the same time as everybody else.” Viktor lied, the words slipping out of his lips as smoothly as warm butter spread across a slice of french bread. 

Viktor was hungry. 

“Oh.” Was all Draco said as he got out of the bed and began to rummage through his trunk full of clothes. 

All of Viktors clothes could fit into his suitcase, and all they really needed to bring was their uniforms, so it was superfluous to him that Draco needed an entire trunk separate from the one he brought for his school supplies in order to fit all his clothes. 

Eventually the other boy produced a green towel  from his trunk and threw it over his arm. Draco looked Viktor up and down. “Didn’t you shower before changing?” 

No, Viktor did not, because he wasn’t used to showering everyday on account of water reaching his bathroom pipes every other day or so, and because he had no idea where the bathrooms were. He showered yesterday and he didn’t sweat at all, so he was clean. At least, clean to the undercity standard-- where any lack of grime could be called ‘clean’. Even then, neither his hair nor his skin was greasy and he still smelled relatively good, only needing a new coat of deodorant and the spray on cologne Jayce got him for his birthday, (the scent was ‘earthy musk’ whatever the hell that meant.) the first gift followed by a second that culminated in their first kiss.

“No,” Viktor said honestly. “I showered yesterday, though, so I do not see why it is a problem. And even if I did want to shower, I do not know where the bathrooms are.”

Draco seemed to be caught between displaying his disgust and wanting to be a decent person. After a couple of seconds of deliberation he settled on the latter. “Well, that's going to change. We have care of magical creatures as one of our classes and that oaf who teaches the class is always having us muck around in the dirt. It gets everywhere.” He stood up, his clothes, toiletries and towel teetering dangerously in a giant pile in his arms. “Come along, Suh-v-boda, you need to brush your teeth anyway.” And with that, Draco turned on his heel and flounced away, leaving Viktor scrambling to get his toothbrush and hobble after him. 

-----------------------------

After a short trip to the nearest boy’s lavatory, in where Viktor brushed his teeth while he waited for Draco to finish showering and his incessant preening, the two boys arrived at the great hall which was already bustling with sleepy students and equally as sleepy teachers. 

Draco strode towards the Syltherin table but Viktor lingered near the entrance, standing as steadily as he could on his tip-toes to catch a glance of Jayce's familiar face among the sea of red and gold of the Gryffindor table. He could only find a couple snatches of Harry, Ron and Hermione, Viktor's eyes strained to see if his favorite dark-haired, tanned skin, science partner was among them. 

Draco turned around suddenly, his expression souring as he saw where Viktor was looking at. He made no comment on it and only motioned for Viktor to follow him. Viktor, after failing to catch a glimpse of Jayce among the sea of robes, promptly gave up and followed the blonde.

As Viktor followed Draco, he kept craning his neck to catch a glimpse of Jayce’s perfectly combed hair, or his stupidly adorable grin, his shoulders slumping when all his efforts led to no avail. He sat down glumly in the same area as last night and picked up a piece of toast (they were serving breakfast pies, and buttered rolls, and oatmeal, and cereal, and eggs and bacon, and breakfast sausage, and hashbrowns, and pancakes, and waffles, and every selection of jelly and jam imaginable. It was so much food Viktor had to pace himself just to consume a small fraction of it.) He set it on his plate and busied himself with grabbing two eggs (sunny side up) , two rolls, two slices of bacon, two sausages and a large goblet of orange juice. As long as he’s here, might as well put on a bit of weight so that he was no longer just shy above 90 pounds sopping wet at the age of 15. 

Draco eyed Viktor’s food but didn’t comment on it this time. Only a bowl of oatmeal with some honey sat before the other wizard. He instead flicked his eyes over to the table across the hall and landed steelily on Harry. He scoffed and scooped up a bit of oatmeal. “Honestly, do you see them?” He said, cutting through Viktor’s musings. “They think they’re a bunch of main characters in some- in some fairy tale,” he spooned the oatmeal into his mouth and swallowed. Viktor took this as his cue to start eating-- not devouring as he so badly wanted to, but consuming all the same. “I swear, one of these days Potter and his merry little band of misfits are going to trip on their cloaks and land on their arses.”

Viktor only chewed his sausage, the juices and fat tasting heavenly on his tongue. He had never had breakfast sausage. He was too poor to afford them in Zaun, and he was always too busy to sit down and eat a good meal back at the Academy. 

“And they insist on becoming the center of attention every year,” Draco continued, his tone getting more and more heated as he went on, and his gaze on Harry becoming more and more intense the angrier he got. “they claim to battle some new made-up lunatics, like that Sirius Black fellow who escaped Azkaban last year, and they get praised for it! It’s absolute lunacy! Not only that but Potter is so big-headed that he thinks he’s too good for my company-”

“What do you mean?” Viktor asked around a mouthful of warm, buttery roll, realization dawning on him that perhaps there was more to Draco’s resentment than he let on. 

Draco’s eyebrow twitched at the statement, his eyes still trained on Harry who was busy laughing with Jayce-

Wait. 

Jayce? 

Jayce!

Sitting there laughing with Ron, Harry and Hermione was Jayce, wonderful, fussy, perfect, smart, traitorous, stupid, fucking Jayce. 

Rage bubbled in Viktor’s chest as he watched his dumb, stupid, dumb-dumb idiot, neloajální svinê of a boyfriend sit and laugh without a care in the world as if the events of last night didn’t even happen. Jayce could have at least made an effort to seek Viktor out, instead of it just being Viktor craning and cricking his neck just to catch even the slightest glimpse of him. 

“-and then do you know what he said? He said ‘oh, I can figure out the wrong sort for myself, thank you very much’ like some sort of-  what are you doing?”

Draco interrupted himself as he saw Viktor angrily grab his cane and walk across the hall to the gryffindor table. The blonde was too flabbergasted at the erratic movement to protest. 

All eyes were on Viktor as he moved towards the Gryffindors, they bore into Viktor like the sharp needles his mother would use to sew the soles of his shoes after falling apart from years of walking over the broken glass and rough gravel and jagged stone paths of Zaun. 

It seemed as if the whole hall went dead silent as Viktor shoved Ron away from Jayce, a surprised yelp escaping the ginger, and promptly sat himself in the empty space. He turned his head so that he was face to face with Jayce. 

Jayce’s eyes widened for a split second before crinkling as his face split into a huge smile. “Viktor! I’ve been-”

“Too busy doing something very important to seek me out, I hope.” Viktor interwove, his tone steady, but his brow lifted ever so slightly, hinting to Jayce that he was not happy. 

Jayce looked at the trio behind Viktor, who he was sure was ingesting every word of their display with rapt attention. Common sense seemed to go through his head, because his body language closed off a considerable amount. “Well, I- you see- I couldn’t find you where we were yesterday…so I thought I would wait until breakfast was over so that I could find you after.”

“In…in the crowd of people who would be flooding to class?” Viktor questioned, tilting his head slightly. 

Jayce was silent for a moment, his face displaying his realization of how stupid this plan was. "Oh."

"Yeah. It was a good effort though, I, eh, uh, I commend you for it."

"Yeah, no, I'm an idiot." Jayce said sheepishly, bowing his head ever so slightly.

Viktor let out a laugh. "Yes you are," He teased, reveling in how Jayce's smile crept back onto his face. Viktor leaned back a bit, his face warming with a nice flush only ruined by the fact that everybody’s eyes in the hall were on him. He quickly changed the subject. “Well, eh, If you like, we can meet in the library to start our research during lunch. I hear they have a large selection of books on runes, it- it, eh, would serve to study those before we play around with your acceleration rune.” Viktor continued smoothly, ignoring how he could feel Ron’s eavesdropping, Hermione’s staring, and Harry’s wondering. 

Jayce’s eyes lit up at the prospect of spending their lunch hour together and the other instantly disappeared from Viktor’s mind. Jayce seemed to figure the merit of this cozy atmosphere. Just the two of them, alone, among the shelves of heavy books, inhaling the scent of dust and old weathered pages that were yellowed and delicate from the turn of time, with their heads bent together and so low their noses nearly brushed the pages full of those wonderful ink words. Yes, the library was the perfect place for them. 

“Yeah!” He said excitedly. “Yeah that’d be great! Oh, and speaking of runes, I signed us up for the class-”

“Oh! You’re taking ancient runes?” Hermione butted in, throwing away her feeble attempt at pretending she hadn’t been listening to every word that slipped out of their mouths. “It’s a positively wonderful subject. You’ll learn an awful lot about them and inscriptions, and Professor Babbling is really quite a sweet woman. Even if she does tend to… go on a bit of a tangent mid-lesson. By the way, if you don’t mind me asking, did you say that Jayce had an acceleration rune, Viktor?”

Viktor and Jayce looked at each other.

“Um, yes, I did. We are using it in our project.” Viktor said, an awkward tremor lacing his voice. He liked Hermione well enough, as he tended to when it came to intelligent people, but something about her unnerved him. Perhaps it was because she was a girl. Viktor was never completely comfortable with girls his age. Not because he was attracted to them in any way, hell no, but because they were more finicky and read into emotions more accurately than boys ever could dream of. Viktor didn’t like the feeling of being over-analyzed and read into that came with interacting with girls. It also didn’t help that a good majority of them were attracted to him, which perplexed himsince he did not consider himself all that attractive, much to Jayce’s dismay. He had once overheard a group of girls call him ‘forbidden fruit’ and ‘so sickly it was cute’. He had tried not to let the discomfort come across his face at the time. 

“Oh that sounds fascinating! What are you working on?” Hermione squealed, excitement vibrating through her. A pang of fondness went through him. It was clear there was no one around her to entertain her interests. Viktor had remembered another reason as to why he was shunned in the undercity; his excitable interest in mechanics and science. Most people down there were more interested in getting by and collecting money, not the laws of physics or mechanical engineering.

“Well, we created this thing called the Hexgates with the acceleration rune last year. It can basically transport anything from anywhere to wherever you want. The only problem being…”

“That we have no idea how to translate it into a larger scale.” Viktor finished. “The model we created can currently only transport a small gear. We are trying to upscale it so it can transport small packages, but it is, eh, proving to be difficult.” 

“You two are going to destroy every O.W.L. you take, if you’re over here trying to make new magic.” Ron exclaimed. 

“I wish.” Jayce sighed, slumping over a little, his elbow brushing against Viktor’s. “But I kinda suck at tests. V’s always gotta rescue my ass by letting me copy his study guide.”

“And yet you still manage to get less than seventy percent on your exams.” Viktor teased. 

“What? Seventy percent is good! That's like an E.” Hermione butted in. 

“Um, not in Piltover. A seventy is an A.” Jayce said. 

“That…doesn’t seem fair.” Ron said.

Jayce shrugged. 

Hermione turned back to Jayce, clearly eager to know more about runes. "How did you get interested in runes, anyway?" 

"Actually," Jayce paused, glancing at Viktor with a hint of a smirk, "Viktor here helped me figure out how to make the rune, well, uh, work. He’s been helping me a lot, actually. Especially with the idea of applying them practically. It’s just… kind of fun to explore something new, especially with someone who knows what they’re doing." 

Viktor felt a small rush of pride consume his chest, warming his whole body. He hid a smile behind Jayce’s drink (coffee practically drowned in sugar and milk) as Ron and Hermione exchanged glances. 

“Now you make it sound like I’m some kind of expert,” Viktor replied casually, though inside he felt a swell of affection. It wasn’t often that people were brought to attention to the fact that Viktor had as much part of building Hextech as Jayce was, so having Jayce publicly proclaim his dependency and partnership was a nice change. 

“You kind of are,” Jayce said with a playful roll of his eyes. Viktor felt a laugh bubble in his chest.  

Something unspoken flickered in the air, threading through the both of them like a platinum needle against the shimmery silk of the banners that hung in the Academy. With a clatter, Ron dropped his fork. “Can you two quit it with the eye contact? You’re making me sick, honestly.”

Jayce and Viktor snapped out of their ogling of each other and glanced over at the trio. Heat rose up in Viktor’s cheeks, and due to his incredibly pale complexion he was sure that it was a glaring note on his face. 

He cleared his throat and decided to change the subject. “Anyways, there are a lot of things we still need to address for our project to work. There are a lot of variables that we are quite unsure of, especially regarding the magnitude of the polairy. And we still have yet to complete our calculations. I love using the quadratic formula, but the amount of math I have to write out just to complete one section is incredibly tedious.”

Ron opened his mouth, assumed to ask a question, but he was cut off by a woman with square spectacles and black hair pulled into a severe bun handing him a sheet of parchment. She moved down the line, giving everyone their parchment. She halted when she came to Viktor, the only green in a sea of red. She gave him a curt nod of approval before handing him a sheet and moving on. Viktor looked down at the parchment and saw that it was a schedule. 

Monday

  Double Ancient Runes 

Double Potions

Double Defense Against the Dark Arts

Tuesday

Double Defense Against the Dark Arts

Care of magical Creatures

Double Charms

History of Magic

Wednesday

Double astrology

Herbology

Double transfiguration

Thursday

Double Ancient Runes 

Double Potions

Double Defense Against the Dark Arts

Friday

Double Charms

Herbology

Double transfiguration

“This schedule seems rather poorly organized.” Viktor muttered. ¨”All the classes are unbalanced. What were they…” He trailed off as he saw the majority of the students get up and leave the hall. Jayce was already up and extending a hand to Viktor. 

He took it without hesitation and pulled himself up. 

“Is it time to go to class?” Jayce asked Harry. 

Harry, who was busy angrily shoving a newspaper in his bag, looked up. “What? Oh, yeah. Yeah it is.”

Jayce and Viktor exchanged a glance.  

"Eh, our schedules do not tell us where our classes are?” Viktor pointed out. 

Hermione gave a grimace. “Oh right… you’re new here. Well, Jayce has his classes with us, but er, I suppose you'll have to follow some of the Slytherins with the same classes.” She said apologetically. 

“Oh,” Viktor said, his heart sinking a bit. He was just getting to enjoy his time here. “Oh, I suppose you’re right.”

He grabbed his cane and stood up, his brace creaking as he did so. He looked at Jayce. "I guess I will see you later." 

And before anyone could protest, he hobbled over to the exit of the Great Hall where Draco, looking incredibly miffed, stood waiting. 

"Well, well, look who decided to return from galavanting with the Gryffindors." Draco snarked. 

Viktor let out an inward sigh. "I am sorry," he said softly. "But I had important things to discuss with Jayce about our project. We needed to schedule a time for our study on runes." 

This seemed to placate Draco a bit, because his sneer lessened. "Alright then, Suh-v-boda." He glanced at the parchment clutched in Viktor's hand. He pointed his chin toward it. "What are your classes?" He asked, his demeanor teetering on the shy verge of being friendly. 

Viktor’s eyes darted to his schedule. “Eh, well, I have double ancient runes, double potions, and history of magic today-”

“Ancient runes?” Draco interrupted. “What could you possibly get out of that?” 

Very calmly, and very demurely, Viktor explained hextech to Draco. 

Draco just stared at him blankly, occasionally offering a nod or two as a way to signal he was listening. Viktor appreciated this, at least. 

“Yeah I don’t have a clue about what you just said, but it sounds interesting.” Draco said with a half shrug. “But if you like, I could take you to Professor Babbling’s class. It’s on the way to Arithmancy.” 

“You take arithmancy? I didn’t take you for the prediction type.” Viktor said.

Draco tipped his head toward the hallway, indicating that it was time to start walking. Viktor’s leg already hurt from the amount of stairs that he would have to climb. His grip on his cane tightened and he began to walk alongside Draco. Draco walked a bit faster than Viktor would have liked, leaving the boy to walk double time just to catch up. “It was the only class that didn’t seem like a bore.” Draco drawled as they neared the first staircase. “It’s not bad, but I would rather be doing something else, like an extra potion period. I’m really good at potions. But unfortunately I had to pick an elective listed, so I picked the one that seemed the most impressive on my resume.” He continued, as he began to climb the stairs. Viktor sucked a breath through his teeth and began the agonizing process of climbing each individual step, placing his cane on a step three or four up and then using his cane as a pillar to help him go up. Rinse and repeat until all the stairs have been climbed. 

Draco didn’t seem to notice Viktor’s struggling and continued to talk. “I’m going to work in the ministry, like my father. I’m not sure in what, though. I haven’t gotten that figured out yet, but I do know that I want to be important. Maybe an Auror.” He paused his climbing (much to Viktor’s relief) and gave a self-important snort-laugh. “I overheard that Potter wants to be an Auror. Which is completely ridiculous given his scores in potions…er, are you alright Suh-v-boda?” Draco had finally turned around to talk to Viktor, only to find the Zaunite seven steps behind, sweating profusely, and leaning heavily on his cane. Viktor wheezed a bit before answering, his whole body shaking as his bad leg flared with agonizing pain. “I…fucking…hate….stairs…” He said in between gulps of air, his voice thick with pain. 

Draco raised an eyebrow, an expression of genuine surprise crossing his face. Which seemed stupid to Viktor since it should have been obvious that the kid with the cane wasn't too fond of physical extersion on his legs. "Is that so? I'd thought you'd be used to all this by now. Guess you have your limits after all."

Viktor shot him a weak glare, too tired mentally and physically to put much heat behind it. "Believe me, if I could avoid stairs, I would. Even the Academy had an elevator. A slow, rickety elevator that made my life flash before my eyes every time I used it, sure, but at least it was there."

"Right..." Draco replied, his eyes now firmly locked on Viktor's brace. "I suppose I can be a bit more, erm, considerate, then." His tone softened considerably. "You're not all that useless, apparently." He joked, with no real malice.

For some reason Viktor found this funny. He let out a short bark of laughter, the pain in his leg moving to the background for a split second. "Thank you, I guess."

Hesitantly, as if he was scared to offend Viktor, Draco stepped down to Viktor's level and offered his arm to him. "Here, I'll help you."

Viktor hesitated for a moment, trying to gauge the sincerity of this. But nothing in Draco's nervous, awkward face seemed to be fabricated. He looked around to see if none of the other Slytherins were nearby, but the pain grew hot and glaring. Slowly, he wrapped his arm around Draco's and leaned ever so slightly on him.

The two began to ascend the staircase, Draco now going slower to accommodate Viktor. "So... you really like ancient runes, huh?" He said after they climbed a total of 14 stairs.

"It is fascinating," Viktor gasped, his lungs burning funnily, a weight bore within his chest as if there was something building up in there. "Every symbol tells a story, and every rune is full of unlimited potential, of unlimited possibilities of progress."

Draco listened, his brows furrowing slightly as he listened to Viktor. "Sounds like a load of work. You like all that, don't you?" His tone wasn't judgmental, just as if he was stating a fact.

"Yes, I like it. I have always loved things that are hard to figure out. It gives me a rush figuring out what makes something tick and an even bigger rush using that knowledge to benefit society." Viktor said easily as they neared the end of the staircase. He felt his shoulders relax with relief that this hell was nearly over. 

Draco gave him a strange look, as if he couldn't possibly fathom doing anything for the betterment of society. He turned his head away to look at the end of the stairs. 

They walked along the halls for a considerable amount of silence before Draco spoke, their loafers decorating the hallway with sharp echoes along with the soft thuds of Viktor's cane. "You aren't in Slytherin just because you're a pureblood, aren't you? You're here because you want to get somewhere in this world." 

Viktor digested this for a second. Of course he wanted to get somewhere in his life. Most people in zaun would love to do that, but because they're too poor, or too sick, or because they're unfortunate enough to be born in the undercity, they weren't able to pursue the luxury of being known. 

Viktor chewed the inside of his cheek, another thread of Draco's statement poking at him. 

He wasn't a pureblood. 

He couldn't even be concidered a half-blood. Not really. 

His father was a wizard, yes, but it's not like he could use magic. He never learned how thanks to the mrcha píchá up top who hated everyone and everything to crawl out of the smog-filled undercity. 

And his mother?

His mother was a wonderful muggle woman who was incredibly skilled in the strengths of combat and knowledge. She was smart and strong and that was all you needed in Zaun. She never turned her back on her people, and she loved the sex workers of the city like her daughters and sons. She was beautiful. 

And dead. 

Viktor offered a glance at the blond wizard beside him, his heart sinking a bit.

Draco wouldn't possibly understand. How could he? Coming from a rich family, a descendant of a long line of purebloods, his parents were alive and well, his parents were important and well-known, his robes were new and he was so secure in his station in life that he couldn't see how society could be benefited. Because he was already reaping those benefits. 

"No, it is not just because I am a pureblood." Viktor lied. Well, half lied. "But I have to wonder, are we any closer to Professor Babbling's class?" 

Draco didn't seem to notice this switch in topic, or if he did, he didn't comment on it, instead only replying to Viktor's question. "Just a quick turn down the corridor, then a few more doors should take us to the classroom. Try to keep up, yeah?” 

Viktor let out a chuckle. "I will try." 

They eventually arrived at the classroom and Draco gave a wave goodbye, leaving Viktor alone in front of a classroom full of students who would probably gape and goggle at him and his leg. 

He sighed. 

Oh well, what could he do. 

Nothing at this point he supposed.