Rumors (Adele sang it best)

“Just because I said it, doesn’t mean I meant it… “

So then, Arcturus and Neville started to see each other more. Not because of class, but because Severinus had dubbed that all three of them were friends. Arcturus sat in the courtyard alone as the chilly air nipped at his exposed skin. He’d rolled his sleeves up and began to sketch in his notebook instead of doing his homework. He never opted for something else over his homework. Thus, he sat there and drew. Concentration etched hard onto his face. Sticking his tongue out with long black hair curtaining his face. 

He really was starting to love Defense Against the Dark Arts, and it was all because of Remus. Having a relative at school, even just a teacher improved his daily life much more. They’ve had countless lunches talking about the other teachers, Arcturus complaining about some other students. Remus felt safe, he felt like a teacher that wouldn’t create a hostile environment. Remus Lupin was basically the complete opposite as Snape and gave a lot of chocolate to his students either just because they got a question right or faced a fear. 

Okay, Arcturus was very biased. 

His least favorite thing out of all of this was the way that people actively avoided him. Sneaking past him in the hallways, not allowing him to go in certain places. The avoidance made a very blatant target on his back because it singled him out. It’s very obvious that no one wants to be around him even for a second. Everyone, except the ever so annoying Severinus Kromwell. A Slytherin fourth year who is absolutely stuck to glue like him. His ever so annoyingly self dubbed “best friend” was one of the two people who wanted to spend time with him. The second person was Neville Longbottom, a Gryffindor who reeked of fear. They made quite the bunch of misfits, what some of the whisperers have been saying in the halls. 

Arcturus internally groaned when he saw the familiar emerald green of a cloak appear in his view. Even now, Sev always found a way to him. Snapping his book closed he moved his hair from his face, grabbing an elastic from around his wrist. 

“What do you want?” 

“What are you up to?” 

“Why would you want to know?” 

“Duh, we’re best friends. I’m interested in things you do, silly.” Sev snorted. “Here, let me do your hair.” The Slytherin reached for the hair tie. 

“Ugh, I was just sitting here in peace before you showed up.” Arcturus turned, letting him mess with his hair. He could tell Sev had no malicious intent, and he hated his hair in his eyes. 

“Really? Just sitting here all alone without someone to talk to?” 

“Does it look like anyone else is out here?” 

“I didn’t see you for lunch, I had to sit with bloody Malfoy! It was horrible.” Sev cried, pouting. 

“Why not sit with Neville? It seems like you’ve gotten along with him well.” 

“Well yeah, he’s your friend and I don’t want to seem mean or jealous.” 

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Arcturus turned to look at him, hair falling in front of his face again. 

“I don’t want to seem possessive, I mean, you can have other friends.” 

“I think you overestimate the proximity of this relationship.” 

“No, I know we’re best friends. We mean everything to each other.” Sev answered with furrowed brows. “We’re not dating.” 

“You make it sound like we’re dating” 

“But we aren’t.” 

“Exactly.” Arcturus nodded slowly. 

“Just let me do your hair!” Sev’s hands were cold as he moved Arcturus to face forward. 

“Don’t take too long, I don’t let people touch my hair ever.” 

“Why?” 

“Why do I have to tell you everything?” 

“Okay, okay. Fine, I don’t have to know that.” 

Arcturus sighed and tried not to focus on Sev’s hands in his hair. Normally he would be able to do his hair by himself but it just wasn’t cooperating with him at the moment. It was foreign feeling and strange for someone to play with Arcturus’ hair. He didn’t know how to describe the feeling or if he even liked it. Once his hair was pulled into a ponytail he turned back to Sev. The blond always managed to find him at the most niche times, often when he was peaceful and quiet and alone. He always happened to make the silence feel less lonelier, and it was annoying. Sev had snatched the piece of parchment sticking out of the Hufflepuff’s notebook. 

“Aha! What is this?” He held it up like he was putting on a show. 

“Hey! Give that back!” 

“Oh! I wonder what it is!” Sev held the boy at an arm's length and held it away even further. 

“No fair! You’re taller!” Arcturus strained, desperately trying to snatch the paper back. 

“I didn’t know you could draw!” Sev gasped, staring wide eyed at the boy. 

“Yes, I can. Now hand it back.” 

“Alright, alright.” Sev handed the paper back. “Can you draw me?” He asked. 

“No.” 

“Why not?” 

“I– Shut up!” Arcturus got caught up on his words, turning his back to Sev quickly and stuffing the paper haphazardly into his bag. 

“You know, you’ve been spending quite some time with Professor Lupin. Do you fancy him?” Sev asked, poking over his shoulder. 

“He’s my uncle!” 

“He’s your uncle?!” Sev’s eyes widened. “Now that is something I wasn’t expecting…” 

“What? Are you writing a story about my life?” Arcturus asked mockingly. 

There was a beat drop and Arcturus was actually considering that Severinus would be writing about his life. When the Slytherin smiled at him and laughed he let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding, suddenly feeling very anxious but smiling regardless. 

“Oh please, I’d rather write about my more cool and awesome life.” Sev rolled his eyes. 

“As if you can top “probably being related to a murderer” then, yeah, sure.” Arcturus laughed. 

“Mate, you don’t really think you’re related to him do you?” Sev asked, the smile dropping. 

“Anyway– What were you here for again?” Arcturus changed the subject quickly. 

“Honestly, I just got really bored without you. You are like my only friend other than Fred and George who socially cannot be friends with me.” Sev smiled like he didn’t say something sad. 

“I’m your only friend?” 

“Yeah, but don’t let it get to your head.” 

Arcturus stared at him with wide eyes. He thought he was alone this year, being his only friend was something even worse than what he had. Sev was basically doomed for any other social circle. He couldn’t help but think it’s his fault. 

“How are you okay with that?” 

“What do you mean?” 

“How are you okay with me being your only friend?” 

“To be honest, it doesn’t matter to me if you’re in the crowd or an outcast.” Sev shrugged with a proud smile. “You’re a good person.” 

“Just being bored isn’t a reason to bother me.” Arcturus shook his head. 

“Okay, well what if I just wanted to?” 

“Also not a reason.” 

“You make this so hard, but it’s even more fun when I win.” 

“I’m not trying to make anything hard. We’re not friends.” 

“You say tomato, I say tom-ah-to.” Sev shrugged again. 

“Just leave me alone.” 

Arcturus got up abruptly, a paper falling from his bag as he hastily got up. Sev watched him leave in silence, once he was sure the boy was out of sight he reached forward for the crumpled up paper. Unfolding it showed him a drawing of someone and he couldn’t help but giggle mischievously similar to Fred and George. Tucking it away in his robes for later he leaned his chin in his palm and sighed. Even after two years of knowing the boy he still wouldn’t call him a friend, that’s all he wanted. Nonetheless, Arcturus was his friend and would almost always be. His eyes were drawn to the footsteps from down the hall he could hear that were paired with hushed voices. Getting up from the bench he wandered into the hall, it just seemed to be a duo of girls gossiping to one another. 

“Did you hear about Hufflepuff being a death eater?” One girl gasped at her friends.

“I heard the sorting hat put him in the wrong house, he always belonged with the snakes.” Another girl chimed in snobbily. 

“Arcturus is just like the rest of them, evil and cold hearted with nothing but poison in his veins.” The third girl commented. 

“I don’t think he’s anything like you described.” Sev spoke up, stopping the three girls. 

“Just another Slytherin lackey.” The first girl groaned. 

“Why don’t you just go about your own business, yeah?” Draco called, he was walking up to Severinus with Crabbe, Goyle, and Blaise standing by him. Once they made themselves known the girls had already run off. 

“I’m not going to thank you for whatever you think you did.” Sev snarled. 

“I just helped you defend the Black family, didn’t I?” Draco sneered right back. 

“You have no right to call that defense when all you do is make matters worse.” 

“Only because Draco sees potential!” Crabbe said with a dopey grin.  

“He’d never become a death eater, nor will I for that matter.” 

“You can’t be, your a stupid half-breed, and you’re just poisoning my cousin rotten.” 

“Choose your next words wisely.” Sev had taken out his wand, pointing it at Draco. 

“It’s four against one, I think you should be choosing your next words carefully.” Draco pushed the wand away. 

“I hope you choke on every last one of your words.” Sev took a deep breath, turning on his heel and walking away. The last thing he needed was to get really upset. 

Arcturus was startled to find that Neville was sitting down by the black lake by himself. Hesitantly he waited by the tree line, debating sitting down with him or just looking for another spot in the castle. He managed to find the prior when he ascended the stairs to an abandoned tower. The gaze looked out over the campus grounds. Finally alone and finally in silence Arcturus pulled out his notebook and began to sketch once again. He had been trying to map out the whole of Hogwarts just to get a better way to go to his classes and not block multiple hallways because no one wants to be even a foot near him. Switching sitting positions every five minutes he continued to draw from memory where he had gone that day, how many detours he took and paths that had gotten to certain places quickly. The way he was being treated couldn’t be called bullying, it didn’t cause any unnecessary inconvenience. He was just being avoided, and talked about, and treated poorly by those who claimed they were very biased against him. It wasn’t bullying because Arcturus felt nothing from it. He was fine. Everything was fine. 

Then he heard a popping sound. 

“The halls are getting harder to walk through, aren’t they George?” 

“You know, I think you’re right about that Freddie.” 

Sitting up abruptly he stared at the Weasley twins who had appeared out of thin air. The friends that Sev hung out with before he had arrived at Hogwarts. He didn’t despise them but they were almost as annoying as Severinus was. It seemed the blond had gotten that from Fred and George Weasley. 

“Good, take your damn friend back?” 

“Sorry, what?” George asked, his tie was always undone. 

“Be friends with Severinus again, I cannot take anymore of him.” Arcturus complained. 

“You know he willingly wants to spend time with you, right?” Fred asked. 

“Ugh, fine. What do you two want?” 

“We’ll take it, you're looking for easier routes now that people are mucking up the hallways.” George grinned, his twin adopting the same grin mere seconds after. 

“What are you getting at?” 

“Well, we don’t want to sit and watch as someone suffers.” Fred pulled out a parchment from his robes, mock sadness on his face. 

“No Freddie, we do not just want to sit there.” George rolled his eyes. 

“Lose the showmanship and get to the point.” 

“Okay, fine. No fun.” Fred pouted. 

“We have a map that shows you Hogwarts, as well as shortcuts.” George took the map from his brother and handed it to Arcturus. 

The map consisted of quite large parchment with red ink decorating the page, it was folded so both ends met in the center. Arcturus looked at the twins skeptically, they had no mischief in their eyes which worried him. They looked back at him with sincerity in their eyes, George holding the parchment out to him. Urging him to take it with a lopsided grin. Hesitantly he took the parchment and it felt warm, the feeling under his fingertips was smooth and comforting. Like something from his past memories. Opening up the parchment he was met with this emptiness staring back at him. Raising a brow he looked at the twins skeptically. 

“There’s nothing.” 

“That’s because it's protected with a passcode.” Fred laughed. “It’s a map of Hogwarts, we’d all be doomed if it got into the wrong hands.” 

“Well then, what’s the passcode?” 

“I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.” George and Fred tapped their wands onto the parchment, suddenly text burst to life. 

“Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs?” Arcturus read aloud as the page began to shift and the grounds of Hogwarts began to fill themselves out on the parchment. 

In the very tower they were standing in he could see all three of their names as clear as day. Arcturus Black, George Weasley, and Fred Weasley standing in a group. He could see other students' names as well. Hermione Granger was no doubt studying again in the library with her study group. Professor Snape and Professor Lupin were with Professor Flitwick. 

“Wait, but isn’t this yours?” 

“Ah, we’ve studied it all these past two years. So much so that we know it like the back of our hand, now.” Fred waved away his concern. 

“You’ve had this for two years?” 

“Now it’s yours.” George grinned. 

“You can’t possibly be serious.” 

“We’re serious. Sev gave us the idea, actually.” Fred chuckled. 

“Ugh, of course he did.” Arcturus rolled his eyes. 

“You can conduct your secret meetings in peace now.” George joked with a wink. 

When the twins left Arcturus sat by the ledge of the tower once more, leaning against the railing of the balcony. He watched the map curiously, observing what others were up to at this time. It wasn’t like him to watch others and what they do but the map was amazing. It was something magical that made him think magic was wonderful and amazing all over again, even if he grew up with it. His eyes wandered to where he saw Neville Longbottom, he remembered the boy got picked on by everyone in first year which continued into second. He could only assume the bullying barreled into third year. He stopped when he came across the Gryffindor common room, a name he thought he’d seen millions of times before. Closing the map he blinked a couple times, maybe it was just a trick of his eyes. Opening the map again he looked anywhere but the Gryffindor common room. 

Tucking the map safely into his robes after sealing it he got up. The rest of the time he could spend in the library pouring over potions textbooks. Adjusting his bag, playing with the strap absentmindedly he made his way to the library. Curfew was in three hours and the halls were mostly empty, students at this time didn’t go out of their way to avoid Arcturus. It was much easier to walk about in the halls than earlier on in the day. He noticed Neville in the courtyard and stopped in his tracks, it hadn’t been that long since he had seen the boy with the help of the map and he was still being picked on by Draco and his friends. He and Draco were related but it didn’t mean that they ever got along. Malfoy worshiped his parents and believed in their beliefs, stupid pureblood supremacist. Tucking his wand in his sleeve he walked over casually. 

“Hey, Neville, I’ve been looking for you everywhere.” Arcturus stood in front of the Gryffindor, putting himself between him and Draco. 

“What are you doing?” Neville whispered. 

“Just play along.” Arcturus whispered back, turning to face Draco. “Is your hairline still receding or have you just been bald the entire time?” 

“Well don’t you think you’re clever, I’ve heard that a million times.” 

“Yeah, because we’re all waiting for you to shave it off Malfoy.” 

“Do you think you’re playing white knight by saving Longbottom? He’s beneath you.” 

“You’re beneath me.” Arcturus sneered, his wand poking out of his sleeve. 

“Honestly, you could save yourself the trouble. You and I both know he’ll run along to his little lion friends and tell them all about how you jinxed and cursed him.” Draco snickered. 

“I won’t jinx him, but I’ll gladly jinx you.” 

Before Draco could react he shot a bright spindly yellow light from his wand. It made a crack in the air and was absorbed into Draco’s wand. He raised his wand but instead of the spell firing at Arcturus and Neville it bounded back on Draco, landing the blond on his arse. Helping Neville to his feet Arcturus looked to Crabbe and Goyle, tilting his head to the side. Watching them scamper off before he could even ask if they wanted to experience a taste of what Malfoy got. All he did was cast a backfiring jinx before Draco could cast a spell on either of them. Putting his wand back into his bag he noticed that Neville had a smile on his face. 

“No one has ever done that for me before.” 

“Yeah, well. I hate Malfoy so, you’re welcome.” 

“That was awesome!” Neville’s eyes lit up. 

“Anyone would do the same thing, I mean, you could have.” 

“Actually, I– I have trouble with magic.” 

“You do?” Arcturus’ brows shot up to his hairline. 

“I don’t know why… But I know that I can’t really defend myself from Malfoy and his friends.” 

“I bet there are a bunch of people who could help you with your magic.” 

“Hermione has tried a lot. Even Fred on some occasions… “

“I could– “ Arcturus stopped and thought about it. Did he really want to help Neville and spend even more time with him? Sev would then spend more time with him as well. 

“You could do what?” 

“I could help.” 

This year was starting to prove that he wasn’t going to be alone, even if he wanted to be. He couldn’t resist helping someone, that was a Hufflepuff trait that stuck out to the sorting hat. He could still hear the muttering and the condescension when he kept pleading not to be put in Ravenclaw like his mother or Slytherin like his grandmother wanted. The hat considered Ravenclaw but ultimately chose Hufflepuff, filling him with such a relief in his first year.