Arcturus Black didn’t like that he had to go back to Hogwarts after the previous year. He believed at this point there were only a handful of people at the school who would want him there compared to thousands of students that didn’t care if he’d disappeared. It just went to show that after what happened with the buzz about escaped prisoner Sirius Black, that Arcturus wasn’t truly cared about. Sitting alone at the end of Hufflepuff table like he had the years previous he was reading a muggle book that his mother had given him. It was the plot of a romantic tragedy between two star crossed lovers. In a way he was going through some type of tragedy, specifically a comedic tragedy. He didn’t touch his breakfast that morning. A full personal fruitbowl sat in front of him untouched.
He rolled his eyes and internally groaned as Severinus Kromwell sat across from him. The boy he met in his first year who was the first person to talk to him, the boy he found out was a werewolf. The Slytherin and the only student who wanted to talk to him in the first place. Sev wouldn’t have minded if he was a half-breed. He sported more scars this time around and his freckles were starting to phase, his arm in a sling. Almost always sporting a grin, and his hair blond enough to rival Malfoy’s in a wavy way. His robes are finely pressed and tidy but the tie is starting to come undone. Arcturus always wanted to fix it.
“So, did you get my present?” Sev was leaning his head in his hands, unable to contain the smile stretching across his ears. Leaning forward causing Arcturus to lean back.
“You mean the stationary you failed to wrap.”
“Dammit! I tried really hard to be perfect!” His pout was deep and he looked a lot less like himself. “Muggle posts are too hard to understand! Can’t you and your mum just move back to the Wizarding world?”
“You know she always says we’ll be safer there whenever I ask.”
“I know! I just– You’re far and in a place I can’t recognize!”
“Is that all you came here for?”
“No, I wanted to sit with my best friend.” Sev’s pout lessened but he still looked fake and sad. Trying to play to Arcturus’ emotions.
Hm… Okay, I’ll accept it.” Arcturus turned a page in his book, pushing the fruit bowl towards him. Clearly not showing an interest in eating.
“Okay, fine! I wanted to talk to you about the Yule ball!” Sev leg out a breath, holding a hand over his heart. “That’s all I had to get out.” He giggled watching Arcturus try not to smile.
“Of course, you did. That’s all anyone ever talks about.”
“I’ll take it the ball makes you very Grumpy.” Sev tilted his head. “How come?”
“It just doesn’t make me the happiest.”
“Okay, I’ll take that. Better not be something you’re keeping from me? You didn’t write to me all summer and I’m worried.”
“I was just busy this summer.” Arcturus turned another page. It wasn’t a lie, his mom did keep him busy with muggle teenager summer activities while she and uncle Remus talked about things he wasn’t supposed to know about
“You were too busy to enchant a pen?” Sev rose a brow.
“Yeah.” Arcturus just didn’t want to admit that he fought his camp counselors the entire time because they thought he cheated at activities when really he used little magic. Most minor magic wizards performed away from school weren’t really caught by the ministry.
“Oh, hey. Here comes Longbottom.”
Arcturus turned to see Neville who apparently grew up a little over the summer. Wait, that wasn’t something a friend would think. The soft spoken boy who loved to hang out with plants was slightly taller and his blond hair had darkened minorly. He still looked so meek and scared but less so now. Neville had become his friend last year and was part of a few people who didn’t believe the rumors at the time. The boy often needs help in potions which works because Arcturus needs help in Herbology, isn’t much of a green thumb like Neville. He thought of a million muggle songs he had heard of this summer but one sounded in his head at the moment. Shaking himself out of his daze he noticed Neville looking his way. Suddenly so shy under his gaze and covering his face with his book, he could only wave at the Gryffindor. Sev shrugged with a confused smile, popping a couple of grapes into his mouth. No one noticed as the boy strayed away from the Gryffindor table where all of his classmates sat. He took a seat next to Arcturus who focused too hard on his book to actually be reading.
“I’ll take it you just came from those horrid dance lessons too, right?” Sev shivered. He could never get rid of the sight of Professor Snape dancing with one of the male upperclassmen. His face paled and he stopped chewing the fruit he was relentlessly plopping into his mouth.
“Yeah, Ronald danced with Professor McGonagall for the demonstration. He had to put his hand on her waist and twirl her around for a bit.” Neville was trying hard not to laugh, he didn’t want to seem mean because he found it funny. Anyone would truly find it funny because it was something absurd to do.
“No way! I wish I saw that!” Sev gasped, holding his hand over his mouth. Attracting looks from other students because he was loud.
“Be quiet.” Arcturus shrunk back into his seat. After the chaos of last year he never wanted to be in the spotlight of the student body ever again. It was absolutely terrifying everyone thought they knew him more than he knew himself.
“Arcturus, what was it like when you were taught to dance earlier?” Neville asked, smiling when he peeked over the top edge of his book.
“Well, it wasn’t that awkward for me since I wasn’t the one dancing.”
“You had an option not to dance?” Neville’s eyes widened and the tips of his ears were turning red. “Professor Mcgonagall told us we had too.”
“Well, not a lot of Hufflepuff’s seemed eager to dance with someone else and, I didn’t want to ask a girl to dance.” Arcturus turned another page in his book, again still not reading it fully.
“Okay? Fred and George danced with each other, it made for quite the skeptical.” Neville’s smile got bigger, he looked almost proud. “They twirled around the room in big dramatic steps, dipping into each other once in a while.”
“Yeah, that sounds like them.” Sev nodded. “That must have shocked a lot of people, I really wish I was there even more now!”
“Wow, your stories sound fun, mine just feels boring.” Arcturus rolled his eyes, trying not to care.
“Professor Flitwick did the same, having two students demonstrate dancing together.” Luna plopped down next to Sev, reassuring Arcturus. “So mine is just as boring.”
“I think Professor Flitwick and Sprout were more professional than Snape and McGonagall.” Sev and Neville nodded at each other. Their professors had thoroughly scarred them.
“Do you know if you’ll be going with anyone?” Luna asked. “I’m going to be going by myself to avoid the stress of asking someone.”
“I don’t think anyone will agree to go with me.” Neville looked down.
“I’m going with George as… Friends.” Sev grinned awkwardly.
“I uh– I don’t really know.” Arcturus turned another page, staring too well at the book in his hands clearly avoiding their eyes.
“What? Got your eye on multiple people?” Sev teased.
“Well, you don’t have to ask someone now.” Neville spoke quickly.
“Is anyone worried about Harry being one of the champions?” Arcturus changed the conversation.
Luna was also part of the few people who didn’t believe the rumors. Her hair had grown longer and she looked happier than she did previously. She looked more confident in herself. Arcturus would truly call her one of his closest friends because it was so easy to talk to her without feeling weird. He also stood up to her bullies with her because it was stupid for why they bullied her. He’d thought of sending her letters over the summer but had no idea what to say and worried that someone would read his letter when they saw who it was addressed to. Her name wasn’t a muggle name and it would surely have been opened and looked at then the wizarding world would be exposed. She was also a Ravenclaw, making this friends group one of each house. Surprisingly diverse at Hogwarts.
“I have faith he’ll do well, he has a successful life ahead of him.” Luna grabbed a few pieces from the plate of bacon to her right.
“Are you still taking divination?” Arcturus rose a brow.”
“Yes! I liked it so much last year that I wanted to continue.” Luna nodded and giggled.
“I question if the ministry would actually let him participate in the tournament.” Sev coughed, grabbing a goblet filled with pumpkin juice.
“The ministry can’t do that can they?” Neville questioned with a furrowed brow.
Now that he turned the conversation into one he wouldn’t want to take part in he went back to reading his book in peace. Romeo & Juliet had actually gotten interesting now that death was involved. Failing to hear them calling for him to get his opinion on the topic he’d brought up, Sev frowned. His best friend was acting differently and he was worried that something was really being kept from him. Arcturus was for sure acting different, and he felt different too. For some reason he really noticed Neville even though he had just made friends with him and knew who he was. Neville really seemed to grow into himself over the summer, but it wasn’t like the boy-next-door wasn’t cute. He surely thought it was adorable– he was still– but was also confused as to why he was thinking this. He’d just made friends with Neville last year, there’s know way Neville would be his best friend now. Then again, he never felt these things around Severinus so it couldn’t be wanting to be best friends with Neville. Biting his lip as he thought and made it seem like he was reading.
“Hey, we have to get to class.” Sev touched his shoulder, it seemed he didn’t ever hear the bell ringing for the start of the school day. He hurriedly stuck his book in his bag without marking the page.
Arcturus’ first class was Arithmancy, a subject he had done poorly in without needing to be sabotaged. He shared the same class with Hermione Granger who was among the few who didn’t believe the rumors. They sat next to each other and she often helped him during class when the Professor wasn’t looking. This was the one and only class he shared with Hermione, the one time of day when he could quietly talk to her.
“How do you feel about the Yule ball?” Hermione whispered.
“I hate the idea.” Arcturus whispered back.
“Why do you hate it?”
“I’m confused about things Hermione, I don’t know what to do about it.”
“Confused about what?”
“Nevermind.” Arcturus shook his head and leaned away.
On his way to his second class he couldn’t stop thinking about being confused. All the guys at school would be asking girls from their own houses, if they can. For some reason he didn’t see himself asking a girl. The thought makes him almost feel sick. He would rather get turned insane than even kissing a girl. It was weird. It felt wrong even if it was just a thought.Then he thought about Neville. It was nice to see him again, it was nice to talk about him. All summer he had been adamantly avoiding not only Sev but Neville as well. It seemed like his thoughts and feelings had changed over the summer so quickly.
During the muggle summer camp he had learned about their religion Christianity– his mother accidentally sent him to a conversion camp– and why it was the best. There at the summer camp he was forced to kiss girls and run for hours on end, at the time he didn’t hate kissing the girls. Once a boy had kissed him under the moonlight in their shared cabin seemingly changed that. Arcturus had come to realize how much better kissing a boy was than kissing a girl. He didn’t hate it because it was the only thing he had known for a good while, but kissing a boy was much more different. Those feelings were confusing and they scared him because he had no idea what they meant. He felt horrible for feeling confused and not knowing what he wanted was just down right miserable.
His next class was divination level two, in the class where he learns about the future he would be able to forget about his problems. Professor Trelawney once again taught him as well as other students who respected her more than they did as third years, those who took level two really respected divination as well. A deck of tarot cards like the ones he’d seen in muggle shops was sitting on the table between him and a Ravenclaw, who was glaring at him from out of the corner of their eye. He looked away and just focused on the professor for the time being, if it came to having to read each other's cards then he would have to be careful talking to the Ravenclaw.
That was exactly what happened.
The Ravenclaw girl was reading for Arcturus first. She pulled out more cards than the rest of their classmates and frowned. Her eyes were closed so she must have been thinking about something. Arcturus scratched the back of his neck sheepishly, he felt very embarrassed for some reason. His eyes were drawn to The High Priestess and The Lovers cards. The art on The High Priestess was in red, white and black depicting a figure in clothing that draped over them and rather distraught with a person behind them seemingly walking away. The Lovers card depicted a scale with two people on either side of the scale and another person in the middle trying to choose between the two others. These cards spoke to him the most. The Two of Swords fell onto The Lovers, the swords crossed over one another and the Ten of Swords fell on top, the sword all stuck into a wooden board with one stuck in someone's back. The Two of Cups fell on top of the High Priestess card showing two people holding goblets to one another and the Five of Cups fell on top of the Ten of Swords, the goblets cracked and broke flowing water into a river. The Two of Wands fell in the middle with two sticks crossing over a couple of little things he couldn’t quite make out. Once she opened her eyes she scanned the cards and then scanned the textbook. Looking up at Arcturus with a confused expression. Yet again someone who thinks they know him is being proven wrong.
“Well, first with The High Priestess it’s showing me that you’re isolating yourself. That you’re not reaching outward and closing in on yourself.” She pulled the card from the bottom of the small pile, organizing the cards in a pattern.
“The Lovers shows that there’s a choice you have to make, that this choice will unite you with someone you may care about deeply.” She pointed to the card. The thing about this wizard deck is that the card faces are animated.
“Two of Swords makes me feel like there’s something holding you back. I keep thinking “choose” or “decide” and I think there’s a lack of decision.”
“With the Ten of Swords it’s almost like you’re giving up. That you’re stabbing yourself in the back, like how the person in the picture is stabbing themselves by throwing the last sword.” She pointed to the animated picture that Arcturus had just noticed.
“Now, there’s Two of Cups following that. Pairing it with The Lovers makes me think that this decision is a person. I’m gonna go with Yule ball, and whoever wants to go with you too.” She waved her hand about as she talked.
“So basically– “
“Basically just as the person you want to ask, you know? It’ll actually be pretty smart of you.” She snorted. Arcturus didn’t laugh, he just got more confused.
He didn’t remember much after that, but he knew he gave her a reading as well. He was too caught up in his thoughts to even pay attention while he went on autopilot. It was even more puzzling considering divination was supposed to be a way to find the things hidden deep. It was less of telling the future via prophecies and more like the equivalent to psychology. Next thing he knew, he was in the green room with Neville because he didn’t understand the herbology lesson earlier. Even now he wasn’t even paying attention, just watching Neville talk so passionately about plants. He looked so happy talking about them, he had true adoration for plants. Arcturus never noticed that he had very few freckles on his face, or that his eyes were this shade of blue-green that stereotypically looked like an ocean whenever anyone described them. Arcturus was too into his daydreaming of sorts and fell off his stool because he was leaning too far onto the table and failed to notice he was going to fall. Shocking himself he stood up and whipped the dust off of his robes, he’d need to get those cleaned later.
“Are you okay? Did you hurt yourself?” Neville sounded so worried, his eyes went wide and he looked almost scared.
“No. I– I’m fine.” The tips of Arcturus’ ears tinted a rosy color again and he looked away.
“Good, so the fanged Geranium didn’t hurt you?”
“No, it didn’t even touch me.” Arcturus shook his head.
He found it so endearing that Neville was truly worried something happened. Making sure to lean away from the plant before him his mind wandered again to the summer camp. It was like sparks had gone off in his head when that boy had kissed him. It was like a million doors were open to him now. Then the fanged Geranium actually bit him and he had to go to the medical wing with Neville. The whole time his ears turned a very pink color and burned very warmly, looking down at the floor instead of at Neville he let Madame Pomfrey fix the finger that the plant had bitten. He didn’t look at Neville or the nurse, too embarrassed about the way he was feeling and how he was acting.
“Have you thought of who you want to ask to dance?” Neville asked as they walked to the great hall together, he was only a little shorter than Arcturus.
“No, I don’t even want to go. I have no one to ask.” It wasn’t true but there was no way he was going with a boy, he was crazy. All he had was one kiss and it made him go crazy. He should be sick about the way he was feeling.
“Well, I think someone will turn up. If anything you can just go with a friend, that’s what some of my friends are doing.”
“Yeah, but if I go with my friends it looks weird.”
“Why?” Neville asked.
“I would be with another boy, what wouldn’t be weird about it?”
“Oh.” Neville said quietly. His shoulders dropped and he’d stopped talking after a moment of silence. Arcturus felt bad about saying it now.
Walking into the great hall without saying as much as another thing to each other Arcturus pulled his book out and opened it again, he once again wasn’t eating but when did he ever eat with everyone around? Sev spotted them and sat down, he brought his food from the Slytherin table with a grin once again on his face. He noticed how Neville and Arcturus weren’t talking and was off put by it but he let that feeling slide.
“Ugh, I just witnessed Draco and Blaise just awkwardly ask each other to the dance. I never want to see or hear that again.” Sev gagged and chuckled seeing Neville smile.
“Tell me about it, before fourth period Fred asked Hermione to be her date. I think I saw Ron looking pretty angry during class.
“God, everyone is acting so lovey dovey as if it's the only time they’ll have to snog each other.” Sev wasn’t really upset by all the proposals, he found them all really cute and fun. He just liked to complain about Draco whenever he could.
“Who are you planning to go with?” Neville asked.
“Me and George decided to go together both to make people laugh and to actually have a good time. He felt left out when Fred asked Hermione because Angelina was already going with someone.” Sev took a bite of his ham sandwich. Wiping the excess mayo from the corner of his mouth, voice muffled by his hand. “How about you?”
“I haven’t found anyone to ask yet. I’m not sure if I will find someone.”
“Ah, keep your hopes up Neville. I think you’ll find someone.” Luna sat down next to Sev just like this morning, she came from class with notes bundled in her arms.
He always feared that Luna could see the future, or parts of the future. His mother always joked how Xenophelius and Pandora were always a special pair of students who knew things before they happened. She always talked about how they were her closest friends in Hogwarts and she met his father through them, he still had no idea who his dad was because she wouldn’t tell him. She had this glint in her eyes that meant she probably knew something already. Arcturus avoided her eye contact, maybe she could steal his soul with her bright blue eyes.
“Hey, Neville.” Ginny Weasley was behind the boy, an awkward look on her face. “I was wondering if we could go to the Yule ball as friends. I heard about your dancing in the dorms.” She didn’t look at him, her eyes glued to her shoes.
“Of course Ginny, we can go as friends!”
Arcturus didn’t know why but his heart stopped beating for a moment. He watched the redheaded girl walk back to the table probably proud of herself for getting a date to the Yule ball. Flipping a page in Romeo & Juliet he suddenly wanted to throw this book across the room, he hated that suddenly the protagonists getting together made him angry. He ignored his friends trying to talk to him and shrunk in on himself. He suddenly hated everyone around him, as if he wanted to curse the entire room of faculty and students.
Without as much as a word Arcuturs got up from his seat and grabbed his bag, walking away in a hurry. He slung his bag over his shoulder and closed his book. Sev and Neville shared confused looks as Luna watched the Hufflepuff practically jog away. She followed him without saying, confusing Neville and Sev even further.
“Arcturus?” She called, catching him in a hallway alone. He proceeded to walk away.
“Arcturus?” She called again slightly louder.
“Arcturus!” Luna snapped, she very rarely shouted at her friends but she wanted his attention and she wanted it now. Walking over to him she stood in front of him, looking like a mother disappointed at her son.
“You’re mad. Why are you mad?” She asked him, she looked pretty intimidating.
“I’m not– “
“Yes you are, now, why are you? Is it something to do with Neville and Ginny?” She knew she asked the right question because he sucked in a breath at her words.
“Alright, fine.” He didn’t like the way she was looking at him. “I think… I think I wanted to ask Neville to the Yule ball.” He looked away, playing with his fingers anxiously.
“You can still ask him, Ginny only wants to go as friends and I know she would understand you want to go with him.” Luna spoke reassuringly, her smile reached her eyes.
“But that’s wrong.”
“What do you mean by wrong?”
“Two guys can’t go together.”
“Sev and George are.” Luna gave him a look.
“Yeah, as friends.” He clarified.
“Yeah, but they also really like each other.” She retorted. “I mean, I’m going by myself because I don’t like the idea of asking anyone or getting asked by anyone. There’s nothing wrong with feeling different.”
“Yeah, but– I’d just be the focus again because I’m not going with a girl.”
“I’ve been different my whole life and I’ve never been the center of attention.”
“Oh, I didn’t– “
“It’s okay, I’m not offended. Last year you were treated badly and it's understandable to be paranoid. Even now,”
“Why are you trying to reassure me?”
“We’re friends, and friends help each other. Sev and Neville would do the same exact thing because we care about you.”
“Thanks,”
He wasn’t on his own anymore. He had people he could trust and rely on because they really did care about him. His thoughts made him want to isolate himself because he thought no one else was feeling the same. From the doorway he could see the way Sev was looking at George sitting with other Gryffindors. He looked just like how Arcuturs felt about Neville during herbology. The Slytherin was lost in his adoration and noticed nothing else around him. Maybe people did feel the same way? There was still the problem that Neville was going with Ginny, he didn’t want to take her date away and then find out she couldn’t get one. Arcturus sat back down awkwardly waved at Neville and Sev, still avoiding eye contact with them. Luna had come back after, sitting down and smiling at everyone cluelessly.
“So, what happened?”
“Neville’s getting all embarrassed about going with Ginny.” Sev laughed.
“I just don’t want her to have a bad time! She’s one of my friends,” Neville tried to defend himself, clearly not doing good.
“No, I think it’s because you like her.” The blonde taunted.
Arcturus didn’t comment. He just sat there, still reading Romeo & Juliet.
Arcturus refused to ask Neville to the Yule ball and continued to shy away from his friends. Isolating himself once again. He wouldn’t show up in the great hall somedays or wouldn’t be seen altogether other days. Luna had a frown on her face when Sev sat down next to her for lunch that day. It had been weeks since Arcturus was seen and the Yule ball was slowly approaching. When an owl dropped a box on the table it nearly tipped over Sev’s goblet of pumpkin juice. He forgot it was mail day. Curiously opening it he pulled the clothing out and showed Luna the formal robes.
“Dad was going to give me his old formal robes from his years but he accidentally gave them away years ago.” Sev held up the modern formal robes.
“They look good! I don’t think it would match George’s though.” Neville sat down to join the two.
“That’s the point, we wanted to look so mismatched when we dance dramatically.” Sev grinned from ear to ear happily.
“My nan sent me my formal robes a week ago. Compared to Ron's, the ones I got looked wonderful.
“I still have yet to get my dress, I’m going shopping with Hermione soon.” Luna had a book this time around.
Neville looked around the great hall and frowned. He had been wondering if Arcturus was ignoring him because Ginny asked him to the Yule ball. He had no idea that the Huffepuff even liked the youngest Weasley but he had a feeling that might not really be true. He really hoped Arcturus didn’t like Ginny. He really liked Arcturus, the way he listened to him talk about his passions made Neville feel warm and squishy. He couldn’t help but think Arcturus was pretty. He’d heard stories from Professor Sprout about the Black brothers in their time at Hogwarts. She compared Arcturus to Regulus Black, saying he looked uncannily like him and acted like him too. If the Black brothers were attractive then by Merlin’s beard the whole Black family is attractive. He liked Arcturus’ eyes the most, they reminded him about the moon. From the moment he saw Arcturus he thought he was handsome. Of course, at the time both of them needed friends more than anyone else.
Fred and George were patrolling the halls for students to pull pranks on when they came across Arcturus sitting in a stairwell staring out at the courtyard. They remembered him from last year because Ron couldn’t keep his mouth shut about the Hufflepuff boy. The twins shared a look with one another, he didn’t look like he was in a mood for pranks.
“What’s the honey badger doing here– ” Fred asked, sitting next to the boy.
“Without his protective snake?” George completed the sentence, sitting on the other side.
“Alright, what do you two want?”
“You look sadder than usual,” George commented.
“We want to know what’s wrong.” Fred smiled. They always seemed to talk back and forth just to mess with him, but this time there wasn’t a mischievous intent.
“Nothing’s wrong. I’m fine.”
“Are you sure? You don’t look fine, mate.” Fred had a knowing look, trying hard not to crack a smile. “Tell Gred and Forge what’s troubling you.”
“I just– I don’t– I have no idea if I like Neville or not.” Arcturus stammered, staring at his hands shaking in the cold.
“Well,” George opened his mouth first and registered the words. “That’s something pretty big to figure out, but you have forever to figure it out.” George was always reassuring.
“Yeah, you don’t have to figure it all out this second.” Fred added. “You’ll just scare and confuse yourself more if you try to figure it out now.”
“You know, you’re wiser when you don’t pull pranks on people.” Arcturus got up from the steps he was sitting on, picking his bag up. “I think you should be wise more often, it’s nice.”
George and Fred didn’t protest him leaving. They weren’t going to make him stay and talk about it if he didn’t want to. They knew better than that. Even if they were mischievous they never wanted to truly hurt people, only make them smile and laugh. Fred watched for a few seconds longer after Arcturus disappeared from their sight. He knew he was going to be asking Hermione for advice later because he had no idea to go about talking to the Hufflepuff about this and avoid triggering his fight or flight.
Arcturus continued to not have anyone to take to the Yule ball dance until Ravenclaw Cory Hemlock asked him out of the blue a day before the dance. It was obvious she didn’t want to ask him to the ball but he didn’t complain and accepted going with her. Fred was right, he was just making himself more confused by thinking about it too much. He didn’t have to think about it now, or at all in his lifetime. Thinking just complicated things more.
Spoiler alert: He felt miserable.
He knew that Cory hadn’t thought of going with him first, but he wouldn’t expect to hate dancing with a girl as much as he had. It was wrong to hold her at such a proximity. At some point he just started to sit out of dances and it worked well in Cory’s favor unsurprisingly. He watched Ron Weasley and Harry Potter dancing with these giant smiles on their faces, looking at each other with such adoration. Sev and George were in fact twirling around the ballroom like giant idiots. He spotted Neville and Ginny dancing with quite a bit of space between them, for a second he felt happy about that but then he realized Neville was dancing with her. Taking a sip from his punch cup he swore the punch had been spiked because his face felt warm and buzzy. Luna sat next to him with a big smile on her face, she was wearing something more akin to her style and having the time of her life dancing by herself.
“You’re unhappy, I can tell.” She looked at him worriedly. “You’re going to have a miserable time if you don’t just tell him.
“No, I can’t.”
“It’s not wrong. No one cares about Sev and Fred or Harry and Ron. Everyone is just having fun and focusing on themselves.” Luna gestured to everyone dancing and having fun.
“I don’t want to dance with him, I just– I shouldn’t have come.”
“You should be here.” ‘
“I’m miserable…”
“Miserable over a date? Really? I will ask Neville Longbottom to dance with you myself if I have to.” Luna rolled her eyes.
“You don’t have to– “
“Then do it yourself.” She patted him on the shoulder, getting up from the chair as another upbeat song came on, back out to the dance floor to have fun with everyone else.
Arcturus sighed and got up from where he was sitting. There was no use in sitting there and letting himself get sad and ruin his time. He was nervous to dance by himself and have a good time but the music coursed through him and calmed him down. The Weird Sisters were such a good band, it wasn’t too off from muggle music that a lot of kids listen to. Accidentally bumping into someone he flinched and turned around, Neville was as shocked as he was.
“I haven’t seen you for weeks.”
“I’ve just been in the library.”
“I’ve checked the library multiple times.” Neville saw through his lie easily.
“I wasn’t avoiding you, promise.” Arcturus spoke quickly.
“You look good.”
“Thanks– You do too.” Arcturus tried not to feel awkward so that it wasn’t an awkward interaction between them. Ginny had disappeared into the crowd.
The song turned to a slow song and Arcturus and Neville looked at each other. They were the only couple that didn’t come together for the song, even Ron and Harry were slow dancing and whispering to each other. Arcturus held his hand out hesitantly, looking away. They were stiff as they danced, finding a way to move with each other. Neville kept looking down at his feet as if he was going to step on Arcturus’ feet. The taller boy tried to settle his heart beat as he relaxed into the moment, all his fears and his worries melted away when he realized that Neville really was dancing with him. He felt as if his dreams were coming true. It just felt right to be dancing with Neville so closely. They were pressed together as if they were embracing, Arcturus rested his head on Neville’s shoulder feeling almost at home.
By the time the ball was coming to an end Arcturus and Neville were still swaying even if there wasn’t music. They didn’t want to leave or move from how they were at the moment. Too comfortable to let go of the other. Luna and Sev watched their friends with big smiles on their faces, George and Ginny fist bumping and laughing. This was something they had all planned to happen, it all started when Sev first talked to Arcturus after they’d gotten a lesson on ballroom dancing. Neville and Arcturus were none the wiser to their friends scheming up a way for them to at least see each other in a sort of romantic light.
That night Arcturus found a letter sitting on his bed. His roommates are already asleep and barely out of their formal robes. He’d returned to the dorms well after the majority of them. Putting on pajamas he’d open the envelope of the letter, immediately recognizing his mothers writing. Curiously he opened up the letter.
Arcturus,
During our time at Hogwarts when the Yule ball came around your father and I were a mess when it came to asking each other. Xenophelius and Pandora seemingly set us up because we would trip over our words when talking to each other. Surprisingly, your father was a wonderful dancer and I blame all those private lessons that your grandmother bought him. If I found his dress robes I would have sent them to you but I can’t find anything that belongs to your dad anymore. I hope you enjoy your time at the Yule ball. I can’t wait to hear all about it and whoever you choose to take as your date!
~Love, Mom
P.S. Sirius said that this summer we can move into Grimmauld place with him because you’re part of the noble family of Black. You may not remember it, but I can’t wait to share memories of that place with you.