Chapter Text
As Arthur boarded Hogwarts Express from Platform 9 and 3/4 for the seventh time of his life, he could only think of the words his father had last said to him before he left. It was the same words every year, with the same sour expression on his face.
“Do not disappoint me,” Uther would say in a low tone before Arthur got on the train, in which Arthur always answered with the same, submissive tone. “I won’t, Father.” To Arthur, he felt he had always been a disappointment to his father, ever since he was Sorted into Gryffindor. Generations and generations of Pendragons had been Sorted into the House of Slytherin, and Arthur was the first Pendragon to be in Gryffindor. As soon as Arthur’s father had heard about it, he had written a letter to the headmaster, Professor Kilgharrah, asking if some sort of mistake had been made, and asked if the Professor would make a special exception for Arthur to be Sorted again. Arthur could remember that embarrassing moment when Mistress Alice, the school nurse, told him the headmaster wanted to see him and took him off to the office. He had blushed with embarrassment the whole way up to the headmaster’s office. When he arrived there, the headmaster had shown him the letter that his father had sent to the Professor Kilgharrah. He explained to Arthur that there are no special exceptions for any students when it came to Sorting. A young, blushing Arthur had reddened even more when he had heard what his father had done. When he had gotten home the summer after his first year at Hogwarts, his father had some choice words he wanted to say about the House he was Sorted in.
“How could you have been Sorted into Gryffindor!” Uther had yelled at Arthur, “Years and years of Pendragons have been in Slytherin and then you go and get yourself into Sorted in Gryffindor!!”
“I’m sorry, Father!” had cried a young Arthur, hating that he displeased his father. “I didn’t mean to, I don’t know what I did wrong!”
“I’ll tell you what you did wrong,” had snarled Uther. “I’ve been too soft on you. I’ve let you have your own way. That’s going to end right now!”
“I’ll try my best to please you, Father!” had said a young Arthur. Ever since then, Arthur had given it 150% all the time, and excelled in everything he did. He became prefect at Hogwarts, joined the Quidditch team his second year and became an excellent Beater, and he had received all “Outstanding” on his OWLs. But nothing he did would even make Uther smile. Arthur was beginning to think nothing ever would.
“Oi!” shouted a voice as Arthur got on the train. He recognized the voice of one his closest friends and his fellow teammate on the Quidditch team, Gwaine Campton . Gwaine had known Arthur ever since their Sorting and had cheered Arthur up with his silly antics when Arthur was not sorted into Slytherin. They had remained friends ever since, and tried out for the Quidditch team together.
“Blimey, do you have to yell so loud, Gwaine?” complained Arthur, but he had a smile on his face. Arthur had quickly forgotten the harsh tones of his father, and began to enjoy himself .
“You weren’t thinking of getting a cart without me, were you?” asked Gwaine.
“Actually, I have to go find the prefect cart.”
“I’d forgotten that you’d been made Head Boy. That doesn’t mean you’ll be giving me detention all the time then, yeah?”
“Only if you stay in line,” Arthur said in a mock stern voice. He knew he could never put Gwaine in detention. There are plenty of other people who could do the job.
“Well, when you get back from your Head Boy duties, come find me and the gang, yeah? We need to discuss Quidditch tactics for this year! We may have won the Cup last year, but I heard Slytherin has a new Seeker, and I heard he’s something good! We might have to try this year!” Gwaine said with a smirk.
Arthur rolled his eyes at Gwaine, said a quick good-bye, and went off to find the cart, which was supposed to be at the front of the train.
~
Arthur’s head was throbbing with information with all the duties that came along with being a Head Boy. He went to go find his mates in a cart, but he realized that Gwaine didn’t tell him what part they would be in. He would have to check every cart then.
“Hello, Arthur,” said a coy voice from behind him. Arthur turned around, knowing who it would be.
“Morgana. How was your trip over here?”
“Oh, it was quite bothersome. I’m sure I got Floo powder in my clothes.”
“I don’t see any Floo powder on you.”
“Oh, of course you don’t, Arthur. But then again, you never were that attentive, were you?”
“That’s not true!” Arthur replied hotly.
“Oh, calm down, Arthur, I’m only teasing you! I don’t know if you’ve heard, but I heard that Slytherin’s team has a new Seeker. My friend Morgause told me.”
“Did you also get some new Beaters, Chasers, and a Keeper?” jeered Arthur at her. “I noticed those too were quite lacking when my team beat them.”
“Clever, Arthur. But if this Seeker is good as I’ve heard, we won’t need much of a replacement for others. Morgause told me that he caught the Snitch in under a couple minutes.”
“Yeah? Well, he’s never been up against me,” responded Arthur cockily. Arthur had been known to actually hit the Bludger and knock the Snitch out of the direction it was traditionally going to distract the opposing Seeker. He created this technique is own, but he had yet to name it.
“Confidence. I like that, Arthur,” Morgana said with a smile. “It’ll be a shame to see it crushed when our Seeker outplays you. Anyways, I’m off to find Morgause. Do keep out of trouble, Arthur. I would hate to tell Uncle Uther about the sort of things you get in to.”
Arthur refrained from retorting about how he never got into any trouble, or if he did, he made damn sure he wouldn’t get caught. As much as he loved his cousin, talking to Morgana always left him feeling slightly irritated. Arthur continued on his way without a good bye, and kept looking for his friends.
He finally found the cart with Gwaine and saw his best friend, Leon sitting there, along with Lance.
“You arse!” Arthur yelled at Gwaine. “You could have told me where you were you sitting before you left me! I spent the better half of the hour just looking for you!”
“Well, you found us, right? I don’t see the problem. It’s not like I decided to become Head Boy, you took it upon yourself for being such a goody-goody,” Gwaine responded nonchalantly.
Arthur was really debating whether or not to hex Gwaine, but decided against it, if only for the reason that he wouldn’t want to get in trouble before even reaching Hogwarts. The others looked on, knowing that it was best not to get in between the two.
“So, we’ve heard about this new Seeker from Slytherin,” Leon said to Arthur. Leon was the team’s Keeper. “His name is Merlin Emrys. Bit thick for his parents to name him after THE wizard.”
“There’s a bunch of students named Harry, and they don’t have a problem with it. And how do you even know if he’s the Seeker for Slytherin? Hell, we haven’t even reached school, let alone thought about tryouts!”
“Oh, come off it, Arthur, you know Slytherin doesn’t play fair! They’ll have had tryouts quickly after Hogwarts let out after we thrashed their arses during season.” Gwaine scoffed, “And I can’t believe you haven’t heard about him already. You have an inside source.”
“Morgana just told me about it. I didn’t put much thought about it, she’s always trying to brag about Slytherin so I didn’t put that much thought in it. I haven’t even really thought about Quidditch at all. ”
“Bollocks! You’ve probably have already devised dozens of strategies already. I only imagined that you pissed yourself when you learned that you were made Captain. First Beater ever to become Captain!” Lance, the team's Seeker, enthusiastically told him. Arthur was indeed quite proud of his achievement. Of course, when Uther found out, all he could do was comment on who the Captain of the Slytherin team would be. After such an embarrassing loss to Gryffindor, they couldn’t possibly have the same champion as before.
“Has anyone seen Percival?” Arthur asked. Percival was the other Beater for Gryffindor, along with being one of their mates.
“Nah, I expect he’s with some of his other friends from Hufflepuff. We’ll see him soon enough at the feast.”
~
Arthur and his friends had finally arrived to Hogwarts. He looked with a little disgust as the underclassmen were shoving each other to enter through the door. He had remembered the eagerness of coming to Hogwarts at that age but he knew to not step on other people’s toes. Gwaine also shared his discontentment.
“You bloody little brats!” he snarled at a pair of second years, “When I get out my wand, I’ll blast the fucking-"
“Gwaine!” said Arthur sharply, “You can’t just go around swearing at a bunch of little kids!”
“Not my fault though, innit? I didn’t ask to be stepped on by some FUCKING, LITTLE TWO-YEAR-OLDS!!!!”
There was no stopping Gwaine when he got upset like this. It was best to just nod with him, and ride it out. Arthur pushed him along through the Entrance Hall and walked through the oncoming traffic to see if they could get a spot at the table inside the Great Hall. Arthur spotted his Head of House, Neville Longbottom, trying to get the attention of all the first years to line them up for Sorting. It was his first year at being Head of House and he could see that Neville was a bit floundered. He nodded to Neville as he passed by.
“I think I see Percival up ahead of us,” Gwaine observed, “Yeah, that’s him there. Percy! PERCY!!!”
Percival turned around, looking quite annoyed at whoever had called him. He became even more annoyed when he found out it was Gwaine. He moved away from the group of Hufflepuffs he was talking to, and went over to Arthur and his friends.
“How many times have I told you not to call me that, Gwaine?” Percival said to Gwaine in an aggravated tone.
“Oh, shut up, your full name is a mouthful. I can’t always be saying ‘Percival, Percival, Percival’ now can I?”
Percival started to open his mouth, but Arthur shot him an “it’s not worth it” look, and said, “Come on, let’s go find ourselves a table and watch the Sorting, yeah?”
As he walked into the Great Hall, he saw him. He had black, untidy hair that went over his forehead, and it looked like it badly needed a comb to run through it. He had cheekbones of a god that jutted out perfectly on his smooth face. His skin was pale white, but with the black and emerald, they worked perfectly. He had big, dorky ears, but for some reason, they held a certain appeal to Arthur. His lips were a pale color and had a full shape. Arthur had never before seen such lips that held such power over him. But none was as beautiful as his eyes. His eyes were a light powder blue, that had a dark look to it, but it absolutely took Arthur’s breath away. Arthur had to wrench his gaze away from this man’s body before his dick became hard. He made sure that any such bulges were hidden completely under his robe.
“Who’s that bloke?” Arthur asked Leon, with only a barely noticeable quiver to his voice.
“Who, him? No idea, I’ve never seen him around before. Arthur, what does it matter? We want to find a table!”
“It doesn’t matter,” Arthur replied slowly, taking one last look at him before going to find a table.
~
The Sorting had been finished and now it seems as if Professor Kilgharrah was making a speech. Since he had such an odd fondness for dragons, everyone called him the Dragon. He didn’t mind the nickname, and had even embraced it. Usually, the Dragon made a speech about the rules that were not supposed to be broken. More than 3/4ths of these rules came straight from Aredian, the caretaker of Hogwarts. The previous caretaker, Argus Filch, had retired a few years before Arthur came to Hogwarts. There had been a party like no other when he left. Aredian had taken over right after Filch left. He had a certain knack of catching students practice when they shouldn’t be. After the Dragon had finished reading the rules, everyone expected him to sit down so they could start eating, but instead Professor Kilgharrah stayed at the podium.
“If you had been reading the news lately, you will see reports in The Daily Prophet of some violence on Muggles and Muggle-borns. While The Daily Prophet is usually an unreliable source of news, it does hold some truth. We tell you this not to alarm you, but to warn you and to keep yourself safe. These attacks have been from an unknown group that fashion themselves like the Death Eaters.”
There was an uncomfortable silence as he said those last words. Everyone knows what had happened at Hogwarts almost 30 years ago. How the Death Eaters and the Dark Lord had attacked Hogwarts. Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived, was the one who was able to defeat the Dark Lord. But that was such a long time ago, that nobody worried about such things anymore.
“As I said, we only tell you this to warn you. We must keep in mind that The Daily Prophet reported this, and they have never been a reliable source when it comes to information. Now, dig into this wonderful feast that has been prepared for you!”
Arthur was slightly perturbed by this news. The thought of anyone hurting Muggles or Muggle-borns made him sick to his stomach. Gwaine, who knew him quite well, could tell that what the Dragon had said bothered Arthur.
“Come on, mate, there’s nothing you can do about it, even if you wanted to.” Arthur still had that look in his eye that usually meant he wasn’t about to give this up. “Look, this is something that we should let professionals handle, like the Aurors. Just stop worrying and eat up, yeah?”
~
After the feast, Arthur went to go change his room. He luckily shared a room with Gwaine, Leon, and Lance. Percival was the odd one out and slept with some other seven years.
“Tomorrow we get our class schedules. I guess we won’t be getting that much free time anymore, huh.”
“Free time,” complained Gwaine, “We haven’t had any free time since the bloody fifth year! And with the Quidditch practices, we’ve been aching in brain and body!”
“That reminds me,” remarked Arthur, “We got to have Quidditch tryouts soon. We have two Chaser positions that need to be filled. The sooner we find some, the sooner I can devise new strategies and tactics.”
“Blimey, Arthur, do you ever give yourself a break?!” exclaimed Leon. “You’re Head Boy, Captain of the Quidditch team, and you’re taking NEWTs so you can be an Auror!”
“It’s not that difficult to handle. Not my fault you’re not as smart as me.” Arthur says with a smirk.
“Oi, princess! Get off your high horse!”
“Guys, let’s get some sleep. We have quite a big day ahead of us.” Lance said, ever the mediator.
“Good night!”
“Night, all!”
“Fuck you all,” said Gwaine, being his brash self.
Arthur slipped into the sheets. He thought over the day’s events, from the last words that his father said to him, to what Professor Kilgharrah had to the school tonight. He also kept thinking about this Seeker that everyone kept talking about. Every year, Slytherin made a big deal about a new player they got on the team, but now even Morgana was talking about him. He was slightly worried if this Seeker was actually good as everyone seems to think he was. He then snorted to himself, knowing that he was probably better than anything Slytherin could throw at him, and had proved that point many times over the years. What really kept him up was that guy he saw from Slytherin. All of Arthur’s life, he had been focusing on making his father proud, doing whatever it took. He never really had time for such things as dating. He never had been attracted to guys before. He didn’t think of himself as particularly straight, seeing as he was never attracted to women either. He had no idea who this guy was, and when he was going to see him again. He would have to ask Morgana about it, but in a discreet way. If she heard that he was attracted to this man, he’d never hear the end of it. He could only imagine what his father would think. Arthur sighed, knowing that pursuing this guy would complicate his life, also knowing he’d pursue him anyways. After a few minutes, Arthur finally fell asleep with his last thoughts being of this boy.