Rumors (Adele sang it best)

“Rumor has it… Rumor…” 

All of a sudden the school erupted with chatter of Sirius Black more than they had months and weeks prior. It was as if something set off the trigger for the insatiable gossip that ran amuck throughout the student body. Arcturus found himself biting back when someone said something about him, as well as losing house points to his classmates dismay. One particular Hufflepuff girl who took  the whole house cup seriously was Hannah Abott. She’d cornered Arcturus after potions class. 

“What is your problem?” There was fire in her eyes. “We keep losing house points because you’re such a jerk!” She snapped at him.

“Well, excuse me. I understood that Snape prefers to bully students rather than teach his own class.” Arcturus sighed and adjusted his bag. 

“You didn’t have to speak back to him.” 

“Listen, Hufflepuff never wins the house cup and I don’t think we ever will because Dumbledore prefers the Gryffindors.Even when we’re winning there are always extra points to give.” 

“It doesn’t mean we can’t try!” 

“Why are you talking to me?” Arcturus asked her bluntly. “You seem to be the only one that cares.” 

“You’re the only one that loses so many points!” Hannah shouted. 

“I don’t care.” 

Arcturus shouldered past her but she continued to follow him. Whatever she was saying fell on deaf ears because he didn’t really care about whatever she cared about. The last thing on his mind was winning a stupid house cup or losing any house points.

“We’re in the negatives!” 

“Again, I don’t care.” 

No matter how much Arcturus tried to shake her or get her to stop following him she continued to persist, far more annoying than Severinus could ever be. A deep frown creased his face as he continued to walk aimlessly through the halls. Even if class was supposed to start he didn’t care, he just wanted her to leave him alone. 

“Hey, Arcturus!” Suddenly Justin Finch-Fletchley was in his line of vision. 

“More of you?” He groaned and stopped in his tracks. “Merlin’s beard, there are only so many of you that I can tolerate.” 

“Oh, hi Hannah.” There was a red haired girl with Justin. 

“Susan, tell him that he’s a jerk for losing house points.” 

“Hannah, no one cares. We all have accepted losing.” The girl, Susan, rolled her eyes. 

“Good, you found your friends. Now leave me alone.” Arcturus turned to walk away but Justin stopped him. 

“I– I was wondering if you wanted to come study with us. We have a study group.” Justin smiled hopefully. 

“No. I enjoy my own company.” He was staring down his nose at Justin. 

“Are you sure?” The brunette tilted his head. 

“Yes, I’m sure.” 

“Please.” Susan leaned on Arcturus’ shoulder. 

“Why the hell do you suddenly want to spend time with me?” Arcturus brushed her off quickly. 

“We’ve heard what Justin’s told us about you.” Susan responded with eyes full of stars. 

“What?” 

“I just want to make sure we don’t lose any more house points.” Hannah scoffed. 

Arcturus sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He did not want to be spending his afternoon with others in his house. He was actually looking forward to studying by himself at the back table in the library instead of joining a group where he would have to pretend he fit in and understood their inside jokes.

“Arcturus?” Justin’s voice hit his ears. 

Opening his eyes the next thing he knew he was sitting at a table in the library with Justin Finch-Fletchley, Susan Bones, and Hannah Abott. Exactly what he didn’t want to be doing. His face was buried in a book and he was turned away from the other three. He tried to ignore their conversations but couldn’t shake the judgemental whispers that he could hear coming from Hannah specifically. Sighing and turning to face the table and the trio he was sitting with her put the book down and looked up at Justin who was staring at him expectantly. 

“Are you okay?” 

“I’m fine.” 

“You’ve been ignoring my questions.” 

“What questions?” 

“I asked what your favorite subject was.” Justin chuckled. 

“Potions.” Arcturus answered. 

“Potions? But you do so horrible in that class!” Hannah cackled. 

“I blame Professor Snape, he has something against me.” Arcturus shrugged. 

“Yeah, I’ve heard he bullies Neville Longbottom.” Susan added. 

“I’ve been helping him with potions.” 

“You?” Justin asked in surprise. 

“Yes, me.” Arcturus rolled his eyes. “It isn’t that hard to help people.” 

“No! It’s just you– “ 

“You seem like you want to hurt everyone.” Hannah interrupted Justin. 

“I don’t– Do I really seem like that?” Arcturus furrowed his brows. 

“Yes.” Susan answered, Justin nodding along with her. 

“Trust me, I can’t hurt anyone if I try. Unless I get my hands on Sirius Black…” 

“I won’t believe it until I see it.” Hannah stuck her nose in the air, peeking at him slightly. “What? You’re not going to beg me to change my mind?” 

“...No?” Arcturus stared at her weirdly. “Honestly, you three are weird.” 

“We don’t talk to many people.” Justin chuckled awkwardly. “Usually we keep to ourselves, or Cedric invites others to the study group.” 

“Cedric Diggory?” Arcturus rose a brow. 

“Yeah! Captain of the Hufflepuff quidditch team!” Justin seemed to perk up. “He’s more outgoing than the rest of us.” 

“Don’t tell me Cedric will be joining.” Arcturus kept a straight face, but his eyes looked disgusted. 

“Oh, no.” Justin shook his head. “He has quidditch practice today, otherwise he normally joins unless he’s with that girl he likes.” 

“Oh! Do you have anyone you like?” Susan asked, leaning across the table with a big grin. 

“Uh– No.” Arcturus leaned back away from her. 

“Don’t you think that’s too personal?” Hannah asked, sending Susan a sour look. 

“I’ve asked you two who you like already, it’s only fair.” Susan stated it as a fact. “I want to make him feel like he’s part of the group.” 

“He’s not going to be a part of the group for much longer.” Hannah muttered. 

“Has she always been this judgy?” Arcturus asked. 

“Yeah, pretty much.” Justin laughed. “That and being really uptight about class work, house points, and germs.” 

“Shut up.” Hannah shoved him. 

“So, since potions is your favorite class and you say you’re doing better than what the grades reflect. Can you help me with something?” Susan was pulling her notes out of her bag. “I’ve been asking these two for help for weeks but they’re as clueless as I am.”

“Hey!” Hannah shot Susan a hurt look. 

“What? I’m not wrong.” Susan grinned from ear to ear. 

“No, no. You are wrong. I’m pretty sure Arcturus is almost as good as Hermione.!” Hannah huffed, cheeks filling with air. 

“Arcturus!” Sev slammed his hands down on the table, a bigger grin than Susan’s stretched across his face. 

“Oh god, not you.” Arcturus groaned and covered his face with his book.

“Who are you?” Justin dropped the smile on his face. 

“Severinus Kromwell, don’t worry. I do not bite.” The Slytherin introduced himself, bowing with a laugh. “I’m Arcturus’ best friend!” 

“Woah, woah. I never said you were– “ 

“You seem nice enough.” Justin’s smile had returned. “You can join us if you’d like.” 

Severinus turned to Arcturus, for once he looked serious and it was more terrifying than when he looked angry. He never looked serious. 

“Why are you avoiding Neville?” It was like he was staring into Arcturus’ soul. His eyes were wide and blank. 

“Who said I was avoiding Neville?” Arcturus didn’t look up from his book. 

“Neville, because he told me.” 

“Well… He’s wrong.” Arcturus turned a page in his book. 

“How can he be wrong when you have actively been avoiding him?” 

“He… Must have interpreted me wrong.” 

“What is with you lately? You’ve been shutting a lot of people out.” Sev’s voice softened to that of concern. 

“I’m fine. What don’t you understand about that?” Arcturus sighed. 

“No, you’re not and it’s gotten clearer that you’re in pain or something.” 

“What don’t you get about us not being friends? Why do you have to constantly push it every time?” 

“You say we’re not friends, but you’ve made no effort to push me away.” 

“No, I keep pushing you away but you refuse to see it.” Arcturus put a bookmark in his book and finally looked at Sev. 

“Because you shouldn’t be pushing away your only friend!” 

“I don’t care about what I should or shouldn’t do. All I care about is making it through this year without too much emotional damage. Okay?” 

“Emotional damage?” Sev’s eyes widened. 

“You know what, forget this. God forbid I at least try to have some semblance of peace.” Arcturus shoved his book in his bag and adjusted it on his shoulder. Pushing past Severinus he stormed out of the library. 

“He keeps doing this...” Sev sighed and followed after his friend. 

Arcturus heard footsteps behind him and decided to duck into the one secret passage he had memorized. Watching Severinus pass by him he let out a breath of relief. Admittedly, part of him didn’t want to be hiding instead of talking it out with his friend but talking about his feelings was the last thing he wanted to be doing. Stepping out of his hiding place he made his way down to the Hufflepuff dorms, no longer wanting to sit with Justin, Hannah, or Susan. 

When he made it back to his room there was a letter sitting on his bed. Putting down his bag and picking up the letter he ripped it open without a second thought once he saw it was from his mom. It was the usual. Hoping he was doing well, asking when he would return, etc. She hadn’t responded to his letter about leaving Hogwarts which meant she might just talk to him about it when he gets home for the summer. There were no more classes today so he changed into pajamas and let the warmth of his bed envelope him. The good thing about having dorms by the kitchens was that it never got cold like Ravenclaw and Gryffindor tower or the Slytherin dungeon. He stared up at the ceiling for a moment before flipping on his side and reaching around for his bag on the floor, trying to get to the book he’d shoved into it a while ago. He managed to grab it with quite a struggle but as soon as was able to pull it out of his bag he rolled onto his back once again and opened it the the page he sandwiched a bookmark into. 

The letter from his mom sat on his nightstand. For some reason he started to feel very anxious and couldn’t focus on the book he had been trying to read for so long. Just being able to make it to chapter fourteen he sighed and set it face down. Grabbing the letter again he scanned over the sentences hoping that there was something he missed that was causing all of this anxiety in the first place. Then his eyes landed on the words. 

Stay safe, Sirius Black is rumored to be spotted around the Hogwarts grounds. 

He stared at the sentence as the others blurred together as blotchy black blobs. Sirius Black was near Hogwarts. He could be in the Hogwarts grounds. Sirius Black was here. Sirius was close. Arcturus white knuckled the paper, crumpling it and almost tearing the letter as he just stared blankly. Sirius Black’s name soon became a splotchy black blob just like the rest of the words. As much as he feared the escaped prisoner he wanted to watch him suffer at the end of his wand. Arcturus wanted to hurt him. Wanted to make him feel much worse than he ever could have in Azkaban. Letting the letter sit on his nightstand he got up and stretched. It seemed like he wouldn’t be relaxing after class anytime soon. Digging through the trunk at the end of his bed for clothes he pulled out pants, a black t-shirt, and a yellow knit sweater. 

“Arcturus!” Sev started after him, following him as he walked. 

“Okay fine, we’re friends for now.” Arcturus sighed. “I just– I need your help with something.

“I don’t– I don’t like the grim look on your face.” 

“I want to find Sirius Black.” 

“Wait– What?!” Sev stood in front of him, stopping him in his tracks. “You can’t seriously go looking for him!” 

“What if I am? What’s so bad about it?” 

“He’s an escaped prisoner! An escaped prisoner who follows you-know-who!” 

“Okay.” Arcturus shrugged. 

“Don’t just shrug it off like everything else. I’m not letting you do something this drastic.” Sev was holding him by the shoulders. “You need to tell me what’s wrong.” 

“I need to do this. I need to prove I’m not his son, prove I’m not evil.” Arcturus smacked his hands away. “You’re not stopping me.” 

“It’s going to be a full moon, are you really going to look for a murderer instead of being there for me? You said we’re friends now.” 

“Yes, we are friends now and I need you to help me find Black.” 

“You’re going to get yourself killed.” 

“I’ll take him down with me if I have to.” 

“Besides, I don’t even know where to start because you don’t have that marauders map.” 

“If I had the map it would lead me right to him.” 

“Fortunately Professor Lupin disposed of it before he could get his hands on it.” Sev cracked a smile, but then frowned. “You won’t let me back out, will you?” 

“No. You’re coming with me into the forest.” 

“The forest is forbidden! Remember?” 

“That means we just have to be hidden.” 

“Hidden?... Hagrid always does patrols to make sure students stay out, there is no way you’ll hide from him.” 

“Animagus, remember?” Arcturus rolled his eyes. 

“Oh, yeah. Totally. How am I going to hide from him?”

“Hide behind a tree? I don’t know!” 

“Merlin’s beard… You’re an idiot.” Sev pinched the bridge of his nose, shaking his head. “No, we’re going back to the castle.” Hooking his arms around Arcturus’ arms he dragged the boy back to Hogwarts castle. 

“I have to find Sirius Black!” Arcturus flailed about, screaming all the way back to the castle. 

The students who heard him were definitely going to be spreading that around. 

Sev stopped in an empty hallway and let the Hufflepuff go. Slamming him against the wall by the shoulders to keep him from moving his face was blank again. 

“Why do you think finding him is going to solve your problems?” 

“Let me go.” 

“What are you going to gain from finding Sirius Black?” 

“Sev, let me go.” 

“Arcturus. Fucking talk to me.” Sev’s grip got stronger, nails digging into his friend's shoulders. “Do you think this is going to be the end all solution? That the bullying is going to stop once you announce that Sirius Black isn’t your father? Think about that logic for a second.” 

“If I just find out for myself– “

“No. You are not finding out for yourself, that is suicide. I have sat by and let you shrug everything off and isolate yourself from everyone but I am not going to stand by and do nothing now.” 

“Why do you care? You were friends with those twins before you ever became friends with me.” Arcturus spat. “What is it with you caring so much that you shove yourself into people’s lives?” 

“Arcturus– “ 

“Why are you really friends with me?” 

“You make me feel like less of a monster!” Sev snapped. “I– It’s hard enough dealing with lycanthropy and being in the only house everyone deems evil and devilish. Being your friend makes me feel less like a bad person and more like a normal kid.” 

“You could have just said that from the beginning.” 

“I couldn’t because you would pity me. Trust me, everyone does. I’ve been told I was the nicest Slytherin, people feel bad for me being in the same house as future death eaters.” Severinus let Arcturus go, taking a few steps back. 

“Oh, look who wasn’t being honest with me.” 

“Shut up.” Sev crossed his arms. “You aren’t being honest either.” 

“I am– “ 

“No, Arcturus. You’re holding everything in.” 

“Okay, screw you.” Arcturus paused, staring down at the floor. “You… Might as well be my best friend– but that doesn’t mean you can go around announcing it to everyone.” 

“Okay, go on.” 

“I– Do I have to?” 

“Yes.” 

Arcturus groaned and his back slid down the wall. Tucking his knees under his chin he used his arms as a pillow. His shoulders were hunched and he looked albeit tense. Sev followed him to the floor, crouching on the balls of his feet. 

“I guess– I guess I want to find out if Sirius Black is my father. It would be nice to know who my dad was.” Arcturus’ voice was quiet. 

“You want to know who your dad is?” 

“I’ve felt hollow ever since I was little. Watching dads with their kids, father-son bonding time and throwing baseballs back and forth.” 

“That’s it? All you want is a dad?” 

“Shut the fuck up. It’s not the worst thing in the world.” Arcturus sniped. “Sure, I had Uncle Remus growing up but he didn’t exactly fill that father-figure roll.” 

“Okay, maybe I will help you find Sirius, but only if it’s for this one reason. Anything else and my help is off the table.” Sev stood up and held out his hand. 

“I promise, this is the only reason.” Arcturus took his hand and stood up. “So, now can we go into the forbidden forest?” 

“Oh, hell no. We are not going into the forbidden forest first. We’ll go around Hogwarts castle first, make sure he didn’t sneak into the school or something.” Sev grinned again and for once Arcturus smiled back. 

That’s just what they did. They walked around Hogwarts aimlessly, looking for Sirius Black in empty classrooms, bathrooms and other hiding places. Keeping their eyes out for a disheveled man in a black and white striped suit. Unfortunately they couldn’t find him. Just before curfew Arcturus stood before the forbidden forest with Severinus at his side. They hadn’t moved for a half hour. Taking a deep breath Arcturus finally decided to take the first step into the forest when he turned back to the blonde. 

“Wait, isn’t it the full moon?” 

“I’ll be okay. I don’t have to be in the shrieking shack, it’s mostly for everyone else’s safety.” Sev shrugged. 

“Then we’re going to the shrieking shack.” 

“That’s across Hogwarts grounds, and if teachers spotted us we’d be in a lot of trouble.” 

“Teachers won’t spot us, and it’s not like they don’t know you’re a werewolf.” 

“Dumbledore wouldn’t tell everyone… Would he?” Sev scratched at his face. 

“Only one way to find out.” Arcturus shrugged. 

Like he said it was across Hogwarts grounds. Since they were going there on foot it took a lot longer than it should have. Severinus and Arcturus arrived at the shack but heard commotion going on inside. At first they both thought of Remus but as they climbed the stairs they heard more distinct voices. There were more people than just Remus in that little room. Arcturus opened the door first, it swung open wide and slammed against the wall. He held his wand tightly, pointing it at the first person he saw. 

Sirius Black looked like he saw a ghost. He looked like a ghost. 

“Arcturus– “ Harry and Remus gasped when they saw him. 

In the corner of the room was an unconscious Professor Snape. 

“He was hiding in here?!” Arcturus was held back by Sev. 

“This is not the time to be upset.” 

“Were you hiding him the whole time?!” Arcturus screamed at Remus. “I trusted you! I confided in you!” He was struggling in Sev’s arms. 

“I promise I can explain as soon as I can but– “ 

“We don’t need them to go off and tell Dumbledore about where I am.” Sirius had a gruff voice, it sounded scratchy as if he’d been screaming his lungs out. “We just need to find that damn rat.” 

“You’re not finding anything!” Arcturus wedged his arm out of Sev’s grip and waved his wand at Sirius knocking him backwards. 

“Arcturus!” Remus was quick to disarm him. 

“How could you be his friend?!” 

“He’s innocent.” Harry said. “That’s what he’s been trying to tell us.” 

Sev jumped when a spell was shot at something, part of the floor was dented. 

“What the hell is going on?! What did we just walk into?!” 

“Block the door.” Remus instructed Sev, he was looking around for something. “The last thing we need is for him to escape the room.” 

“Who’s going to escape?” 

“This will all be explained later, I promise.”