You Are Magical

Artie and Sam sat huddled in Artie's bedroom. It was some ridiculous hour of the morning, but the two boys were practically bouncing off the walls with excitement.

It was a very important night, you see. They had both been counting down the minutes for weeks now – much to the annoyance of everyone around them. As each second ticked off they became more hysterical.

It was coming.

"Pottermore!" Sam whispered excitedly. His laptop sat next to Artie's on the desk and both boys' eyes were glued to their screens.

Artie positively glowed with childish enthusiasm. "Have you got the book?" he checked for the umpteenth time.

Sam held it up as confirmation.

"And the UK edition?"

Sam gave an exasperated laugh. "Yes," he insisted.

Artie sighed with relief and refreshed the page again.

After a moment he felt Sam shift beside him and he smiled. If not for Sam he wouldn't have had anyone to share this with. If not for Sam he wouldn't have a lot of things actually. Sam was the light in Artie's life at the moment. His best friend.

"We're so close," Sam whispered, doing a little joy dance in his chair.

Artie wasn't sure if he was referring to Pottermore, or to how close they were sitting – which Artie had just become extremely aware of. His stomach clenched and he jerked his arm away from Sam's, even though he immediately regretted the loss of contact. Sam was so warm…

Wait… what?

Artie's thoughts perplexed him… but he pushed them aside. More important things were happening now.

Like Pottermore.

They had been anticipating that the clue would come out at the turn of every hour since midnight – but each time the website had stayed the same. Not even Sam's string of Na'vi swears helped. Though it did wake up Artie's parents. And the neighbours.

The seconds were ticking over as 2am was about to become 3. The two both were inches away from their respective screens. Sam was almost shaking with anticipation. He clasped Artie's hand in his own and they counted down the last three seconds together.

Three.

Two.

One.

"QUICK! REFRESH! REFRESH!" Sam cried.

How many breeds of owl are featured on the Eeylops Owl Emporium sign? Multiply this number by 49.

"IT'S THE CLUE," Artie yelled. They both fell around the room in excitement, diving for their copies of the Sorcerer's Stone. Though neither of them knew why, they were both screaming uncontrollably.

"OWLS, ARTS! OWLS! DIAGON ALLEY. GO GO GO!" Sam was too hysterical to flick through the pages. His hands shook and he bounced in his chair.

"FOUND IT SAMMY!"

Sam dived on him to see, knocking Artie's glasses off. "FUCK. I CAN'T SEE."

Sam's eyes scanned the page. He had trouble with reading in the best of times – let alone when his entire magical education depended on it. He willed the words to form in his head.

"Tawny," he finally managed. "Screech, barn, brown, snowy. Five owls. Times 49 is…" Sam tried to count on his fingers.

"245," Artie said at once.

Sam grinned fondly. He loved having a genius for a best friend. Now that they weren't screaming and falling on things (well, Artie didn't fall anywhere but Sam had knocked over half of Artie's room somehow) Sam wondered if he could get away with holding Artie's hand again.

But Artie was already gripping his wrist tightly as – in what had become a Pottermore tradition – the page was seriously lagging.

"If this don't work I gon' kill somebody," Artie murmered.

"Rachel?" Sam suggested.

"Rachel."

Both their pages flickered into life at the same time.

Sam squealed.

The page instructed them to find the magical quill.

"These quills all seem rather… not magical," Artie mused.

A short moment of silent clicking ensued with various insane theories being thrown around (Artie: Try to find one with broken wings like in the book. Sam: How does that make it magical? Artie: How do you… shut up.) and the two friends began to panic.

"IT KEEPS TELLING ME TO TRYAGAIN," Sam was becoming hysterical, clicking every quill and raging when it failed. "NONE OF THE FEATHERS WORK."

Suddenly they were clinging to each other again as a quill shrouded in a blue glow floated onto both of their screens. This one was definitely magical.

They clicked it, filled in their details in a silence only broken by euphoric giggles, and waited. Sam had Artie's hands clasped in his, unwilling to let go for anything in the world.

Congratulations, you are magical.

Artie gave a hearty laugh that was filled with relief. They'd made it. "Look Sammy, you're magical!"

"So are you."

Artie was still laughing until he noticed the sudden serious tone of Sam's voice. Sam wasn't looking at the screen. He was looking at Artie like he'd never seen him before.

They both became aware that they were still holding hands. And of how close they were. Artie edged closer, feeling a pull that he couldn't deny any more.

Sam brought one of Artie's hands to his lips, always holding his gaze, always making sure it was ok. Artie's grin told him it was. He kissed the back of Artie's knuckles, one by one, in between each telling him again. "You. Are. Magical. Artie."

A quiet moment passed as they looked at each other and when they finally kissed they wondered why they hadn't been doing this forever.

They would later decide that Pottermore was the best thing to ever happen ever.

Even if Artie was disappointed that Sam's username wasn't 'TroutyMouth412'.

A/N: Thanks for reading! Please let me know what you thought. Reviews are lovely :)