It started with a meeting of eyes and a shy smile. Soon Niklas was sitting beside the other boy in classes, talking to them in the hallway, and then, blissfully, kissing them in a quiet nook when no one was nearby. Neither of them was particularly interested in anyone knowing and they were careful to not draw eyes to them as they slipped through the hallways. Once out of sight their hands linked together the other boy practically dragging the Slytherin along behind him in a flash of red and green robes into a tower stairwell.

Tugged to the wall the dirty blond was blushing as the Gryffindor tugged him close to him. A tight grasp around his tie and the two teens were snogging again. Lost in their moment they didn't hear the footsteps behind them until it was too late. Niklas's hands were against the Gryffindor's shoulders to hold him, gentle, undemanding, and yet the gasp behind them part the two immediately. Niklas's love interest shoved him back with both hands as if he'd burned him. Confused and a bit hurt his eyes instead went to the other student who had caught the two.

"Wait." Reaching out for them was the wrong choice as the student ran off before he could catch up.

"No...no, no, no."

Niklas looked back to the Gryffindor who looked like he was panicking. Confused he reached out to touch his hand gently but his hand got slapped away. "It's okay, we'll be okay...right?" But it didn't seem that way as the other pushed him again and took off down the hallway, leaving him standing there with a twisting feeling in his stomach. Coming out of the stairwell he couldn't even spot the other at all. Looking up and down the hall he decided that he shouldn't stay where he was at the very least. Quietly he retreated down to the Slytherin Common room to attempt to hide from his own feelings about being found out.

As a Pureblood, he was held to a certain standard by his father after all. If he found out he was consorting with a Muggleborn, let alone another boy, he was rather afraid of what might happen. Ignoring that he passed by his fellow Slytherins and went straight to his dorm room to try and get his homework done before bed. As worried as he was about things his work was not good and even unfinished by the time he went to sleep.

-----

In only a week the rumour spread to everyone inside the school. Nothing could have stopped it nor the way students were now looking at him. Niklas hugged his arms around his chest as he hurried between classes to ignore the looks and whispers that followed him everywhere he went. By now he knew who had started this rumour and it had broken his heart. His boyfriend or whatever he had been had been avoiding him ever since and getting close to him was impossible with his ring of friends.

It had been impossible to speak to him at all since they had been caught in the stairwell. Niklas missed the Gryffindor and yet the other couldn't even look in his direction without looking guilty. Which mean he had stopped glancing at him as much as he could. Those fleeting glances from across the Great Hall were missed as greatly as their fleeting meetings between classes. But it was much more difficult now to even want to be seen by anyone at all let alone the Gryffindor boy for one clear reason.

The worst part was that the rumour he'd been spreading said he had forced him into the kiss.

So he was shunned by the purists among the Slytherins for having been with a Muggleborn. Equally disliked and hated by other students for the presumed force behind their snogging sessions. Things became uglier as he was pushed in the hallways, and ignored by others, and somehow Hogwart seemed colder and more lonely as he struggled to get through his classes to start the Christmas holiday. It would be a good break to have everyone gone from the castle and hopefully, they would either forget the rumours or move on from it. Anything to get him back to some semblance of the peace he had found here.

----

A week ago Niklas had thought the worst thing that could happen was being rubbish at Quidditch and being kicked from the team. Today as he made his way to the train station to go home for the Christmas holiday he had no thoughts to spare for the team at all. As he had packed a bag with just enough of his clothes to get through the holiday break he tried to ignore his fellow Slytherins. For weeks now vicious whispers had followed him around the school. Everyone talking about one thing. Gossip in the school spread faster than fire and had gone too far too fast for the real truth to put it out.

Niklas usually didn't go home for the holidays. His father preferred not to have his children around any more than necessary and even he knew that. It was clear even to him that their parental figure hated them both. At first, there was surprise on his face as he gets mail from a black feathered owl with orange eyes, his father's own that he usually never saw at Hogwarts. Shaky hands had caught the envelope to open it silently at the Slytherin table. The simple words written across a clean-cut piece of parchment still popped into mind easily.

Take the train home.

So he took leaden steps out of his former safe haven and down the road leading to the train station. He walked alone and to one side so others could pass him, eyes following their little groups warily. Niklas had already been shoved into the snow twice today and he was freezing. It was no use fighting it since he figured that's what they wanted. A slow meandering path eventually landed him at the station and soon inside the warm train. As not everyone went home it was much more empty than trips to and from the school at the start and end.

There was a brief window of relief in the time on the train. Niklas got to sit all alone on his way home knowing that it would likely be his father picking him up, it wasn't as if the house elf could after all. So as the train slowed he tried not to get teary. If his father saw him crying before they even got home things would only be worse. A deep inhale and slow exhale staved off the rising bile as he collected his bag and went out to the platform. Standing there in his dark suit with his frozen eyes made him freeze in place for all the time it took his father to grip his upper arm painfully hard and drag him towards the station's exit.

This Christmas was the worst one yet.