"Sectumsempra!"
“Hughs, Arrow?” A woman’s voice echoed throughout the hall. A scrawny, dark haired boy made his way towards her. He sat himself down on a stool in front of her. A hat was soon placed on his head. Not to his surprise, the hat began to mutter to itself.
“Ah, I sense great wits.. yes, yes. Great wits indeed. Very strong ego as well, yet so fragile when it comes to other's opinions. Hmph, well I’ll have to go with..Slytherin!”
Cheers loudly roared from the Slytherin table as the Arrow proudly sat down beside his elder brother, Ares, who patted him on the shoulder gently.
“Good job, Arrow. You finally managed not to mess anything up.” Ares spat down on his little brother. Arrow just weakly smiled. Wow, his brother had ruined another moment for him.
He managed to move away as the feast began, towards a black haired boy, roughly his age.
“Eh- hello, I’m Hughs. Arrow Hughs.” Arrow said with a mild Irish accent, offering his hand to the boy in front of him.
“Can’t you see I’m talking?” The boy sneered back.
“Woah, calm down, mate. I was only introducing myself and I’d appreciate it if you did the same seeing as we will be spending the next seven years together.” Arrow narrowed his eyes, lowering his hand.
Four boys from the Gryffindor table watched in awe as the fight broke out.
“Excuse me? Didn’t you hear me when I said I was talking?”
“Yeah, I heard you. There wasn’t much need for your tone of voice, though.”
“There wasn’t much need for your rudeness either, yet here you are, interrupting my conversation.”
“You’re actually talking to someone?” Arrow peered around to the gryffindor table to see a red headed girl meet his eyes. “Oh, is she your girlfriend or something?”
The tips of the girl’s ears went bright red. “Shove off, Hughs.”
“So, what’s your name?” Arrow asked, now facing her.
“Lily Evans. what’s it to you?” She replied, pushing a strand of ginger hair behind her ear.
“Not much, so, are you two actually going out?” Arrow leaned forward slightly.
“For your information, no, Severus and I are not going out.”
“Good. I didn’t think you deserved someone like..well- him, anyways.”
“Ugh, you lot are.. Horrid ! Come on Sev, let’s move.” She picked up her plate, aswell as Severus, and left.
The rest of the feast Arrow had spent by himself. He had hoped Hogwarts would have been a bit better than this.
= = =
That was 3 years ago.
Arrow was now approaching his 4th year at Hogwarts. His best mate, Regulus, was just a year younger than him. They spent their spare time practicing hexes and jinxes in the library or practicing quidditch together. The two hardly spent time apart.The thing that draws the duo together is how good of a listener Regulus is as Arrow could talk for hours about his problems. They knew each other thick and through.
= = =
“Oh, Reggie, come hither!” Arrow called as he snatched a book from the shelf. “Check this out!” He tossed the book to Regulus who successfully caught it.
“For tonight?” Regulus replied, scanning the blurb. The door of the library creaked open and then loudly shut.
“You know it. Where is it tonight? The astronomy tower?” Arrow asked but Regulus didn’t seem to be listening. He was packing up his books that he studied with, as well as the book Arrow threw him.
“Y’know what? Why don’t we get a head start and get there straight away? More time, more hexes!” Regulus quickly replied, stuffing the books into his black bag.
“Uhm- okay..” Arrow responded, extremely suspicious of his friend. They both walked towards the door of the library until Regulus was grabbed by the shoulder and pulled back. Both boys turned around to see a group of five boys, four in Gryffindor, one in Ravenclaw. Arrow quickly drew his wand and grabbed the collar of the boy who had grabbed Regulus, aiming his wand towards his neck.
“Woah, woah, woah!” The boy flinched as the other five stood in shock.
“Arrow-! That's my brother- it’s fine.” Regulus looked at his friend, his glance causing him to slowly release the boy infront of him. “Sorry, Sirius. He’s not good with.. surprises.”
Arrow bowed his head, apologetically.
“Wait-” One of the boys from the group piped up “Isn’t that the guy who scared off Snivellus and Evans in first year? At the feast? Hughs, right?”
Arrow’s head lifted at the mention of his surname. He looked at Regulus, who obviously wanted to leave.
“Arrow, why don’t you head back to the common room? I’ll catch up to you.” Regulus suggested. Arrow nodded in agreement and took the bag from Regulus.
Arrow headed towards the door of the library. Just as he reached the door one of the four gryffindors cupped their hands and yelled “Wait! Hughs! I’m a big fan of your hexes! Come back!” which got aggressive shushing from the grumpy librarian.
Arrow chuckled lightly, closing the door behind him,
“So? What is it you want, Sirius? You are well aware that mother and father don’t want me talking to you.” Regulus asked, a strong note of pain in his voice that he attempted to hide.
“Wait- was that actually-”
“Yes, that was actually Arrow. Why?”
“Merlin! James! Arrow Hughs threatened me!” Sirius turned around to his best mate and began vigorously shaking him, another round of shushing came from the librarian.
“Oh my-” Regulus cut in.
“Wait!” James chimed in “Sirius, is your brother going out with Hughs?”
“I- No! He’s my best friend for merlin's sake. I’m leaving. Bye James, bye Sirius, bye Peter, bye Remus, bye- oh, who’s the new guy?”
“Oh yeah, Regulus, meet Apollo.” Sirius introduced the new boy. Apollo took a step forward and they both formally shook hands.
“Regulus Black.” Regulus stated.
“Apollo Dempsey.” Apollo followed up.
“Irish?”
“How’d you guess?”
“Your surname, your accent, the slight ginger streak in your hair-”
“Actually, that was dyed.”
“I see.”
“And I will take slight offense from the ‘Irish-ginger’ stereotype.”
“Apologies. Arrow is Irish too, y’know?”
“Oh? I’ve heard of the Hughs family before. They have plenty of land and a massive manor. I wasn’t sure if Ares and Arrow were apart of it though.”
“It seems like they are. Well, I must be going-”
“Wait-” Sirius chirped “Could you possibly write to mother and ask her to send over my vinyls? Specifically Queen, Bowie and The Beatles.”
Regulus glanced up at his elder brother. “I’ll see what I can do.”
“Yes! You’re a legend, Reggie!”
“Goodbye, Sirius.”
“Don’t miss me too much!”
“Oh, I’ll try not to.”
= = =
Arrow sat in the Slytherin common room, waiting for Regulus to return. Since everyone else was two busy out he had the common room to himself. He decided to use this time to practice ‘expecto patronum’, a new spell he had been taught in defense against the dark arts. Arrow stood up, his wand clutched in his hand. He took a few deep breaths.
“Think of the happiest things.” He muttered to himself. He thought of Regulus, the only guy who had ever made him happy. “Expecto..patronum!” He flicked his wrist. A thin wisp of silver appeared and hovered like mist. Arrow groaned
“That’s a non-corporeal patronus. Think happier.” A voice cut in. Arrow quickly turned to his left. It was Snape.
“I’m well aware, Severus, and I most definitely don’t need advice from, well, you.”
“I agree. You couldn’t listen even if you tried.” Severus taunted, drawing his wand.
“Wow, you really are itching for a fight, aren’t you?”
“I have invented a spell and need a victim, so I suppose you’ll do. Besides, I find it enjoyable watching you suffer.”
“Oh my, I wonder what precious little Evans would do if she heard you say anything like that.”
“Don’t bring that filthy little mudblood into this!”
“Awh~ did she kiss someone else? Poor Severus.”
“Sectumsempra!” Snape growled, sending the spell flying at Arrow.
“Protecto!” He yelled, just in time.
“You’re getting better.”
“You’re getting worse. My improvement means nothing. Your failure is getting you nowhere.”
“Failure? Really?” Severus laughed. The door of the common room slowly opened. “Sectumsempra!” Snape yelled, this time without looking. The spell sweeped along the room. It landed on the arm of Regulus “Does that look like failure to you?”
“Reg! Severus! Get out! Get help! He’s bleeding! Call someone!” Arrow screamed, rushing over to his best friend, who was lying, unconscious on the floor.
Snape simply smirked and walked right passed him, proud of his successful spell