Everything happened in slow motion and for a moment Gus couldn’t breathe. He found himself back as a curse breaker, the sheets pooling around him as he stared up at the man he thought had been his friend. Someone he thought he was falling in love with. This had been the final step in their blooming relationship - Gus hadn't realized how he'd been used and manipulated the entire time. His reaction had been a lot like Basil’s - the disgust that had crossed the man’s face made him ashamed of that part of himself. All he’d been met with was betrayal, disgust against his lips, spitting out words Gus had committed to memory. He probably mouthed them then. They’d fought but there was no denying what Gus was - and his friend had carved a word deep into his skin until it ripped through his muscle and into his bone for the rest of the world to see. When he died, even his bones would still give him away.

The scar had come from Gus trying to fix it, trying to hide the word that would ruin his entire life if the wrong person found out. Gus tightened his fingers around his wand, finally raising his eyes to stare at himself in Azkaban simply because he couldn’t conjure romantic feelings for women. How would he make this funny? He must have hesitated too long because Basil was stepping in front of him, the boggart twisting and grinning as it began to change forms, although a quick blast from a spell turned into a woman crushed by blankets. Gus didn’t react, instead tilting his head as his mind raced to catch up to what was happening. Then the boggart was back in the wardrobe, the doors locking once more.  The room warmed almost instantly.

He felt the other’s presence next to him, and Gus turned toward him with wide eyes as he pointed his wand at him - threat. He'd been betrayed once before and who was to say Basil Foxwood wouldn't do the same to him. It wasn’t until Foxwood spoke and lowered his own wand that the young professor finally blinked. Another moment passed before the world caught back up to him and he quickly tucked his wand away. Gus rubbed the back of his head as he breathed out. “I… yeah.” There was still the NEWTs section, but he would come back to that on his own.

“I thought…” He shuffled his feet as he averted his gaze toward the ground. “It’s just…” Gus wasn’t sure if he was ready to talk about it, still owed Foxwood an explanation. “I wasn’t….” Sighing, he finally blinked at the other man before he shook his head. “Thank you.” It was all he could manage. There were some things he wasn’t ready to talk about, and this was one of them. It must have looked odd, and he knew Foxwood had questions, hell he could see them in the confusion in his face, but they weren’t anything he was willing to talk about.

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