She looked at the book. "It has the darkest spells known to wizardkind," she said softly.

"Comforting to know it's at Hogwarts, then," he muttered. He repeated the process with this book, whispering, "Horcruxes." The book responed eagerly, flipping hundreds of pages until it stopped on one.

Aveira closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable.

As he read, it was hard to contain his excitement. His eyes shone, but he hid that. He also stopped from smiling too. "Aveira, look at me."

She looked up at him, keeping her expression blank. "It hurts. Ripping your soul apart."

"What do you expect me to do? Call you a monster? A freak?" he asked quietly.

She looked away again. "Worse. Evil. It's alright, everyone else does. I can hear the talk about me when they think I can't hear. I'm used to it."

"Well, all I have to say to that is..." he pulled her to her feet, looking her directly into her eyes. "My opinion of you hasn't changed." Then he leaned in and kissed her softly, for a second, then pulled away. "Just try not to kill yourself."

She blinked, surprised. "What was that for?"

He smiled and brushed her hair back lightly. "If you can do that and survive, I admire you. But, like I said, don't kill youself, okay?" he leaned closer, "For me?"

For the first time, Aveira was the one who was unsure in this sort of thing. She nodded. "I won't."

Instead of answering Toru kissed her again, softer. He didn't think she was a monster, or a freak.

She kissed him back, leaning closer.

He pulled away. "I have moral objections to making out in a library, especially on books of Dark Arts."

She blushed slightly. "S-sorry."