Chapter 2
Will read chapters upon chapters of books on love spells and their implications, and he soon realised he would have to put up the performance of a lifetime if he wanted to convenience everyone that he was under the influence of one.
It was one thing to talk about his feelings for Hannibal to Beverly, because it was Beverly, she would never judge him for it. It was a whole other thing to express those feelings verbally and physically in front of everybody and towards Hannibal himself. He didn’t know how he would do it, but he would have to find a way, there was no other solution.
So he practised, and practised, and practised some more. He couldn’t tell if he was being too excessive or too restrained, so he practised until he was so tired that it wouldn’t matter. He knew he would have to face Hannibal in their defence against the dark arts class, in… he checked the time on his watch and shit, the time had flown by and he was somehow already late.
Without thinking if he was ready or not to face Hannibal, Will found himself already running to class. Thankful only for the fact that it was Professor Lupin, and he was fond of Will so the likelihood of him being called out and chastised for being late was close to null.
Will started fast-walking to the classroom, or so that was his intention but the fast steps soon turned into jogging and finally, running. He also would like to believe that when he opened the door of the classroom that it had been a smooth, quiet, non-attention-grabbing action but in reality it had been the very opposite. In less than a split second, every head turned towards his direction, spooked, making Will take in the scene he had just created: he was breathless from the walking, therunning – probably had some sweat on his forehead as a result; he had just barged in the class, probably (definitely) interrupting the class and lastly, he was just standing there not doing or saying anything.
He decided to use it to his advantage.
‘Let the games begin’, he said to himself before getting into character, he knew if he wanted to convince everyone, especially Hannibal, that he was under a love spell he would have to leave all the embarrassment and shame behind that door. So that was what he did, taking one deep breath he exhaled all that away as his eyes searched for Hannibal in the classroom – who had an expression close to ‘curious’ and ‘intrigued’ painted across his face as if he was studying Will to see what his next move would be.
Before he could convenience himself otherwise, Will started shyly making his way towards Hannibal, forcing himself not to break eye contact, and most importantly look absolutely drawn to the other boy. The latter not proving to be hard in the slightest.
“Look who decided to show up, welcome welcome!” came the voice of Professor Lupin, Will fought very hard not to apologise immediately for his tardiness but he had to sell that in his mind all he could think about was Hannibal.
Ignoring the professor, Will continued making his way to Hannibal as he tried to think about what he would do when he got there. He soon realised he hadn’t planned that far ahead. Panicking, he did the only thing he could think of, he walked in front of the desk Hannibal was sitting at, never breaking eye contact, and kneeled down while putting both of his elbows on top of the table and courageously taking Hannibal’s hands in his and bringing them to nuzzle on top of it, and said, “you are so pretty”.
Redness was quick to fill his face, fighting against cringing at his own words, pretty? Really? Out of everything that is the best he could do, really? Will wanted to disappear right there and then, he did not dare to look at his certainly confused classmates and he certainly did not dare to look at Hannibal, instead, hiding his face at their conjoined hands.
“I believe the word you are looking for, darling, is handsome because you are the pretty one, the prettiest,” Hannibal affirmed quietly, just for Will to hear, leaving no room for argument.
Nothing could have prepared Will for that, he felt as if someone had stopped his oxygen from running across his body. He felt as if he was flying, and like so, was scared of the inevitable fall back to reality.
“You were right, Draco, Graham is Lecter’s little bitch after all,” a voice came from the background belonging to no one other than Goyle – one of Draco’s closest friends.
“W-wait, since when is Lecter gay?” came followed right after by Crabbe.
“Come on boys, Graham is obviously under some love spell bullshit or he finally went crazy, which wouldn’t come as a surprise. Lecter is clearly just being polite, who would in their right mind be interested in that twink? Be serious,” and it ended with Draco.
And there it was: the reality fall.
Will momentarily broke out of character and started to drop Hannibal’s hand as his entire demeanour changed from confident to shameful. He always knew this idea was insane and ridiculous but he never stopped to think how it could impact Hannibal’s life. He didn’t stop to think that it could out him, hell he could even be straight, Will had no confirmation whatsoever that Hannibal was interested in men. Friendly flirting at a party does not prove anything. He had been so sostupid. He was ready to stand up and leave, hoping everything would be forgotten tomorrow, but before he could do anything, Hannibal locked their hands, not letting Will go. With his free hand, he raised Will’s face by the boy’s chin and gave him an assuring, warm look.
“Someone’s sexuality or romantic interest are no one’s business but the people involved in it. It’s a very disrespectful thing to judge someone based on aspects of themselves that are beyond their control, you should be ashamed of yourselves gentlemen,” Professor Lupin said addressing, Goyle, Draco and Crabbe, “that said, I want the three of you to pay a visit to Professor Dumbledore immediately. This behaviour is unacceptable.”
“But sir–” Goyle started, being interrupted by Draco, “that’s not fair! We haven’t done or said anything inappropriate, we are not the ones who are holding hands in class and spreading this disgusting behaviour in class like Graham is doing! No one needs to have his sexuality rubbed in our faces like that!”
“Out of my classroom, now!” Lupin said, grabbing his wand and pointing at the closed doors, a jet of spark shot from the end of the professor’s wand and hit the doorknobs, bursting them open. The three boys were quick to evacuate the classroom, mumbling words of disagreement quietly and privately among themselves before something else could happen. Upon further thought, the Professor decided to end the class early “class dismissed”, as the remaining confused students started gathering their belongings to leave, Lupin added “not you two” pointing towards Hannibal and Will.
Will couldn’t think of one good reason to keep up that facade until he looked at Hannibal instinctively, and found the boy with an intriguing expression giving almost a challenging posture to see how Will would react. It felt almost as if he knew Will was pretending and was challenging him to see if Will would fold and admit or if he would dedicate himself to his act. Will took that as well as the fact that if he didn’t commit to it, Hannibal would be outed and committing to it meant that Hannibal would appear simply as kind and taking pity on Will, if he didn’t, it would mean Hannibal reciprocated, therefore, outing him. Before he realised, his decision had been made for him.
“Shhh, don’t listen to them sweetie-pie, my love for you is real as their homophobic asses,” he said as he placed his pointer finger on Hannibal’s lips making the ‘shush’ gesture, playing the part.
Hannibal let himself be shushed as he tried to contain the amusement he felt from coming to the surface, proving significantly challenging as he stared deep into unsure borealis eyes.
Both boys were immensely grateful when a loud clearing of throat redirected their attention from each other to the source of it: Professor Lupin. Who looked tired and unsure himself. Taking a deep breath he said, “are you two okay? Do you need anything?” in a genuine tone of concern.
Will for his part continued with his act, sitting on top of the table that held his intertwined hand with Hannibal and ignoring the professor, turned his entire body to face the older boy in a loving and admiring gaze. Hannibal amusedly followed the boy’s gaze, letting the situation play out on its own, faintly noticing the professor’s own gaze shifting from concerned to actually worried.
“Will? Are you feeling alright?” the professor asked worriedly.
“Alright, professor? I’m amazing! How could I feel anything but amazing? He’s so prett–” Will caught himself blushing remembering what Hannibal told him earlier, and corrected himself as arousal flushed through him, “so handsome”.
Hannibal couldn’t stop it before it happened and he found himself audibly swallowing, caught back at how much hearing the other boy calling him handsome and pretty affected him.
“Oh dear…” the professor started as he made his way closer to Will, tapping him on the shoulder as he continued, “Will, will you come with me to my desk for a second?”
“B-but Hannibal…”
“We won’t go far,” noticing that the boy still wasn’t convinced, he added, “I promise”.
Will didn’t have to pretend to be reluctant, he really didn’t feel like leaving Hannibal’s side, or having this conversation for all that mattered. But he eventually nodded and stood up following the professor’s steps until they were somewhat secluded in the room. Far enough away that Hannibal wouldn’t be able to overhear anything but close enough for Will to see him.
Professor Lupin positioned them so Will was facing away from Hannibal and could only focus on him, so he could better assess the situation. He had known something to be different, he wanted to know the extent of it. Just from looking at Will’s fearful eyes and trembling self, was enough confirmation that the boy hadn’t actually been under the influence of any love potions or spells. The only remaining question was why had he been trying to convince others that he was.
“I am going to ask you a couple of questions, very slowly and quietly so he cannot overhear us,” the professor started, saying it all with a persistent smile on his face in case the other boy attempted lip-reading, he would be unsuccessful, “nod so I know you understand me,” when he got a nod in confirmation, he continued “I know you have been pretending to be infatuated due to a love potion,” he paused just enough to see Will’s eyes bulging, “ah, there it is!” he added as further confirmation, “do not fret, I won’t tell,” he saw Will visibly relaxing, “however, I need to know why”.
Will swallowed hard and nodded, “I did a stupid thing and this is the only way I could think to make it right for both him and I,” noticing he wasn’t going to accept that as an answer he expanded, “I kissed him. At a party. It was a stupid thing to do and I’m not ready to deal with the implications of that, so please,” he said, defeated.
Professor Lupin must have taken pity on him because the next thing he said was, “I understand, but you know you cannot keep this up forever right? Sooner rather than later you will have to deal with it and not shy away from it,” Will nodded, “very well, I won’t say a thing,” seeing the relief wash over Will, he said in a much louder voice and directing towards Hannibal, “it appears Mister Malfoy had reason in one thing after all, it looks like Mister Graham in fact seems to be suffering from the effects of a very powerful love potion. However, I cannot be certain as potions are not my speciality. I would normally defer to Professor Slughorn’s opinion but I know he wouldn’t like me to come to him unless I was certain, therefore, I am going to go find Professor Dumbledore to see if he is finished talking to Mister Malfoy; Crabbe and Goyle, and then get a second opinion on the matter,” he said, gathering his things into his bag and heading towards the exit before turning back and looking at the two boys and finishing it off with a, “so the pair of you do not leave this classroom”.
As soon as he heard the professor’s footsteps becoming further and further away he tensed as he suddenly felt a presence creeping right behind him. Even knowing who it belonged to, Will still got spooked when he turned around to find Hannibal inches away from him with an unreadable expression painted across his face.
“I apologise, did I scare you?” came a too apologetic tone to be genuine from Hannibal, who looked entirely too pleased with himself.
“No, sorry, I just didn’t hear you approaching that’s all,” he said, getting flustered.
“I have been told once or twice that I am too quiet for my own good,” Hannibal said, now openly smiling causing Will’s knees to shudder at the sight of the boy’s treacherous fangs.
Visibly swallowing down a moan, Will took a step back his back hitting the wall as Hannibal mirrored his movements, taking a step forward and trapping the boy with his body.
“You are such a peculiar, magnetic little creature aren’t you, darling?” Hannibal said it akin to purring the words as he leaned in closer to the younger boy, still not touching him but making his dominating presence known.
“I–” Will found himself lost for words, face reddening within the second as his eyes instinctively dropped to admire the other boy’s lips, holding back from leaving a kiss on them.
The blood that had been pooling around Will’s face suddenly got shot straight down to the boy’s pants, as he realised Hannibal had caught him staring. Not only had he simply caught him, but actually had the audacity to smirk back as he lowered his body ever so slightly, taking Will’s hands in his and giving it a kiss that turned into a small nibble.
Will didn’t have enough time to both process what had just happened and hold back the moan that crept in the back of his throat. As the latter escaped his lips, Hannibal displayed an even wider smirk, exuding an air of satisfaction, as he stepped back pleased with himself to admire the sight of Will.
Will was left close to painting against the wall as Hannibal slowly increased the distance between their bodies, realising too late the gave the older boy had been playing with him. He decided two could play said game, so slicking his hair back and trying to recompose himself, Will started strolling towards the other boy with both hands now locked behind his back with calculated steps.
“I don’t know about that hon’,” he said a few steps in front of Hannibal, looking at him, purposefully letting his southern twang slip at the pet name, “why don’t you tell me?” he finished by turning his back at Hannibal, facing the window, deliberately leaning forward to slightly display his ass to the older boy.
Hannibal unexpectedly found himself choking on unbreathed air at the delicious sight in front of him. ‘Wicked little mix’ he thought to himself, having to hold himself from stepping any closer to the boy, he didn’t trust himself to not ravish the little creature right there and then.
Will knew, could tell, the affect he had on Hannibal without even having to look behind to find out. The burning heat he felt on his ass and throughout his bloodstream was enough confirmation that his plan had worked. Smiling to himself, pleased with the outcome, he looked over his shoulder with so much innocence painted across his face to show its absolute lack of such, humming a ‘huh?’ to challenge the older boy into action.
As Hannibal felt himself giving into the boy’s mischiefs, reaching to grasp Will’s waist and successfully pulling the boy towards his body, both boys froze at the sound of footsteps entering the classroom with a loud banter accompanying it, voices belonging to Professor Lupin and Professor Dumbledore.