A Corridor.

Puberty was a drag for anyone. Experiencing all the tears, anger, oily skin was a real drag for anyone. But unfortunately, some were effected more by Adolescence's might than others.

Victor was one of those poor, unfortunate souls.

He was curled up in a window seat, by one of those prototypical Medieval stained glass windows. This one was a silver unicorn, set on a green and yellow background. But all the people was lost on him as his dull blue eyes gazed out the window, watching some Hufflepuffs practice for Quidditch.

He was still rather small and lanky, but he was slowly beginning to grow more. His strawberry-blonde hair was beginning to look dirty, and certainly greasy. Hugh's would be put to shame. He still sported his thick pair of tortoiseshell glasses, stubbornly refusing to give them up. All over on his forehead and right cheek, he was beginning to farm ferocious crops of angry pimples. Occasionally, his voice would crack, usually when he was speaking in public.

In short, he was a mess. Physically, anyway.

But, mentally and emotionally, he wasn't fairing as badly. But, he certainly did have his moments (most memorably calling his mother a stupid ginger prig over the summer), when he couldn't help but spout angry words.

Right now in Victor's dull little life, the one highlight was being able to graduate in four years. God help him.

Immanuel found himself much more open when it came to a lot of things now. He accepted homosexuality, specifically his and the fact he would have to be open minded to others like him soon enough. One of the few things he wasn't open with yet is telling other people. The only ones who knew were his cousin and his best friend, who had figured out on their own. No matter how much he practiced, Immanuel found the words "I'm gay" too hard to say aloud.

One of the many was his wandering eyes towards the attraction of males. No longer did he have to force himself to hunt for girls' beauty! Huzzah!

As he passed Victory though, all he felt was empathy. Victor was going through the same thing that everyone had to at one point, and that was much so the opposite of beauty.

When Victor glanced up and saw Immanuel, his mood brightened up considerably. Ah, there was someone tolerable at this God forsaken learning institute. Most of the people in Ravenclaw made him want to rip his hair out at that time.

He nodded at him. "Hey, Immanuel." he said, rather quietly. His voice cracked slightly.

Immanuel looked back at Victor, the corners of his lips slightly raising at the sound of his voice from another's mouth. "Hey, you. How's it going?" Immanuel stood by the seat, leaning against the stone wall.

Victor shrugged. "All right, I guess. School is school. That will never change."

"Maybe it will, it certainly did for me!"

A small figure drifted swiftly into the conversation. "Hello, Manny," Trenton said with a small smirk. "Hi, there. Are you another student here? You look pretty young, like in second year or something." Trenton said grinning more widely, at Victor.

Victor's heart sunk even lower. Great, now people were thinking that he was younger than he actually was. But, he tried to play it off, pretending everything was okay.

"Er, no. I'm a third year," he looked at Trenton, and then at Manny, and back at Trenton. "I didn't know that there was two of you."

Trenton blinked. "Oh, you look younger." He knew he was bothering Victor. But it was fun. He felt a connection with Victor. He was short, like Trenton. Even if he was two years older. "Actually, there's one of Immanuel and one of me."