I spent the entire day anxiously awaiting my mysterious meeting with whoever had written in my window glass. My anxiety had gotten so bad that I could hardly concentrate in any of my classes.

Finally it was 11:45 PM, 15 minutes before I was to go and meet them in the library. I was pacing back and forth in my dorm nervously, still silently debating if I should really go. What if this was some kind of trap?

On the other hand, I’m nobody special in this reality (or any reality really), why would anyone want to trap me? By that logic there shouldn’t be anything to worry about, right?

“Oi, Ches, you okay?”

I glanced to Silvian who sat on his bed reading a book.

“I told you not to call me Ches, and I’m fine,” I said.

Silvian shrugged. “Yeah sure, whatever you say. You’re still making your thinking face though.”

“My...thinking face?” I repeated, confused.

“Yeah, whenever you start worrying you get super lost in thought and you scrunch your face up like this.” Silvian proceeded to demonstrate an extremely unflattering facial expression. “Plus, you’ve been really out of it all day.”

I sighed heavily. “I told you I’m fine, you really don’t need to worry about me.” I swallowed hard. “I’m going to the library to study. I would really appreciate it if you wouldn’t follow me this time.”

Silvian rolled his eyes. “Are you still mad about that? I already told you, I thought you might have had a concussion.” He flipped a page in his book.“I didn’t realize it would upset you so much. I won’t do it again.”

“Thanks,” I said dryly.

An apology would have still been nice but I supposed I should take what I could get. I couldn’t be too picky, my best friend was the villain of the fucking novel I was in.

My heart nearly skipped a beat when I realized I had even thought of the word best friend to describe my relationship with Silvian Greygate.

How had I forgotten that he was probably just friends with me to further some evil plan.

Maybe it was because I’d never actually had a friend before I was applying the label to him so quickly.

I had to continue reminding myself I was hanging out with Silvian Greygate to protect Owen Thorn, not to be his friend.

-----

I finally left my dorm and made my way to the library. It was completely empty seeing that it was 12 AM on a Friday night. I glanced around nervously, having no idea who I was even looking for.

“Hey,” a voice suddenly said. I was so surprised my heart nearly jumped out of my chest. I spun around and my breath caught.

Standing there was Owen Thorn.

He smiled at me sheepishly. “I wasn’t sure if you would actually come,” he said. “I know I didn’t have the most orthodox way of inviting you here.” He laughed and my cheeks grew warm.

“Uh...no...I mean...um...I came.” My cheeks grew even warmer. “I mean err...not I came...that sounds super weird...what I meant to say was uh...I’m here now. So...err...tada.” What the hell was I even saying? What was even coming out of my mouth? Wow...I hated myself. Why the fuck was I impacable of getting a single sentence out. Hopefully the library was dark enough that Owen couldn’t see how red my face was.

“I actually called you here so I could thank you in person,” Owen continued, his expression warm. “Things were escalating really fast with Silvian earlier and when I get upset I can lose control of my magic. You probably already knew this but after my parents died I was raised by the Human Resistance. They taught me how to handle it for the most part but once in awhile if I get too emotional I still have magical outbursts. If Silvian had actually hit me I think I might have exploded at him which,” he bowed his head, “would have been really bad.” He met my gaze now and my heart began pounding so fast I felt like I just might faint. “You really saved my skin back there. I would have thanked you at the infirmary but I thought it was probably best for Silvian and I to avoid each other for the time being.”

“Uh...it was no problem. Really. I didn’t mind being a human meat shield.” Okay, that sounded super weird too, why did I say that? My gaze immediately fell to the ground in a desperate attempt to keep myself at least somewhat calm.

“I’m glad I get to talk to you one on one now,” Owen said. “I’ve heard alot about you.”

“What? About me?” I stammered.

“Yeah,” Owen said with a nod, “I mean, it’s not like we’ve ever gotten a transfer from America before, plus weren’t you the kid that fainted at the opening ceremonies?”

I hung my head in shame. “Yeah, that was me. Minus those two things I’m pretty boring. I’m surprised you actually wanted to talk to someone like me.”

Owen’s blood red eyes widened. “Boring? What are you talking about? Of course I would want to talk to you! You’re absolutely fascinating!” I still didn’t meet his gaze, trying my best to keep myself from fainting again. When Owen noticed I was clearly making an effort not to make eye contact with him his face fell slightly. “You seem really nervous around me. Is it...is it because I’m me?” He said slowly.

“Huh?”

“Are you scared of me because I’m Owen Thorn?”

I swallowed hard. “Not scared per say. I guess just...overwhelmed a bit.”

Owen laughed weakly. “I get that sometimes. People don’t like to talk to me because I’m the chosen one. They think there’s some barrier between me and them. That’s why I only have one friend.” Owen suddenly plopped himself down on the library floor.

I stared at him, confused. “What are you doing-” then suddenly Owen grabbed me by the arm, pulling me down to the floor with him.

The moment I was beside him Owen turned to me, flashing me a grin. “No matter how many labels they try to put on me or how many stories they tell I’m still just me. I’m just a regular kid.” He suddenly flopped onto his back. “I just wish there was a way people could see that. I’m not special minus this shitload of power, half the time I don’t even know how to control it.” He shut his eyes. “I just wish sometimes that I could be normal, then maybe my life wouldn’t be shit.”

“I think you’re brave,” I said softly. “I think you’re really brave for putting up with all of it. Some people might try to run away from it all, leave the wizarding world entirely, but you...you decided to take on the responsibility of being Owen Thorn. I mean, you’re a living figurehead for hope. The human race, hell, even the entire wizarding world sees you as their only hope against the Dark One.” My gaze darted to the floor. “You’ve always been my hero.”

“Me?” Owen laughed dryly. “I’m not a hero.” He sat up slowly, a few strands of his white hair falling into his eyes. “That dragon attack last year...I should have tried to stop it. People died because I did nothing.”

I frowned. “More people might have died if you had. Everyone knows if you exert too much power the Dark One can enter your mind. If he had tried to influence you way more people could have been hurt.”

Owen sighed softly. “But still...I just wish I could have found another way.”

“Listen,” I said, my voice surprisingly firm. “Didn’t you just say you were just a normal kid? That kind of responsibility should never fall on a kid’s shoulders. Even headmaster Banecliff couldn’t stop it before there were casualties. You shouldn’t blame yourself for the deaths of an event you had no control over.”

“Still,” Owen said, swallowing hard, “I just can’t seem to get rid of the guilt.” He smiled sadly and it was beautiful and heartbreaking all at once. “I’m sorry,” he said softly. “We’ve only just started talking and I’m suddenly getting into all this personal shit. I must seem like a real creep.”

I shook my head. “No, I don’t mind at all.”

“It’s just…” Owen sighed heavily, “I don’t really have anybody to talk to about all this stuff. Morgana is my best and only friend but she never wants to hear about it and I have to keep up the perfect hero act around everyone else.” He looked to me, meeting my gaze now and my heart nearly lept from my chest. “I really appreciate you listening. It means a lot.” He got to his feet now, offering a hand to help me up. My cheeks grew warm again when I took it. “Actually,” he said suddenly, his gaze darted around the library quickly as if to confirm it was really empty. “I had an idea, I’ve been working on it this summer.”

“What is it?”

“I want to track down the person who let that dragon into the school.”

My eyes grew wide. “You really think it was a person?”

Owen nodded. “I did some digging and found records that the school’s gate was severely damaged before the dragon even entered the premises. A person definitely sabotaged it.” He took a deep breath. “I think that maybe if I found the person who did it and they were justly punished it could be my own way of helping Silvian and everyone else who lost family and friends in the attack.” His gaze darted to me now. “I don’t think I can do it alone though. I heard you’re really gifted in the mental arts which would be extremely useful in an investigation so I was wondering if maybe you’d want to join me.” I was nodding my head before he even finished his sentence. “Of course,” I said. “Of course! I would love to help you.”

The moment I said it Owen’s face lit up like a little kid’s at Christmas.

“Ohmygosh thank you!” Owen exclaimed. “Thank you so much! You’re the real hero Chester Price.” And then Owen flashed me a smile fully displaying his dimples and it was so bright it felt like I was staring directly into the sun.

At that point two thoughts came into my mind.

The first thought was of what Banecliff had told me, that under no circumstance should I mess with this world’s timeline.

But the second thought rang even louder.

No matter what, no matter the consequences, I had to save Owen Thorn’s life.