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Disclaimer: All rights go to J.K. Rowling.

-Scribbles

The walk down the hallway couldn't be quieter. Students kept to their respective sides and, if anyone was talking, spoke in hushed tones. And today, thunder could be heard in the distance and rain softly pattered against the couple of windows that lined the left side of the hall which made up for the lack of noise.

But, among the students, were two boys that looked to be around the age of seventeen. One had light brown skin and a mop of dark brown hair. His eyes were a toxic green that conveyed the depths of a forest and all its secrets. Currently, he wore crimson colored robes with a black leather belt that was tied around his waist tightly. Brown trousers were tucked into black boots that reached above his ankles but stopped below his knees. The other was the complete opposite when it came to looks. He had dirty blonde hair with bangs that reached just above his eyebrows. His eyes were a hazel color that were in contrast with his pale, almost white skin. He wore the almost same clothes but wore mud-brown robes instead and his trousers weren't as neatly tucked into his boots.

Both walked side by side in complete silence as they made their way towards their next class.

And that annoyed the blonde, Arthur, to no end.

For the past few minutes, he'd been sending quick glances to his friend only for the latter to never take notice. So, then, he'd began to subtly nudged his foot which had stirred zero response. Finally, he had resorted to whispering, "Matt?", about ten times but that had done nothing.

The fact was that he was blatantly being ignored.

At some point, though, he had given up and turned his gaze towards the floor and began to run through possible reasons as to why he was being ignored (which happened often but he wasn't going to admit that). The first that popped up was that he had probably done something upsetting. But what? The teen started to run through their day so far.

When it was time to get up, he had gotten up first and had seen the brunette to still be asleep. So, doing the childish thing, he had bounded over and yelled, "Rise and shine!", in his friends' ear. In turn, the boy had fallen out of bed while screaming.

Now, to any regular person, that would have been seen as the cause to the ignorance. But it isn't simply because it was something Arthur did often just because the reaction cracked him up. Therefore, that was not the cause which meant it was back to the drawing board.

After that incident, they had gone through the motions of the morning routine they had created without a hitch. Then, it had been off to their first class which happened to be Brewing. They had been instructed to partner up and create a simple potion that could send the victim into a hysterical state. Obviously, he had partnered up with Matt and they had conversed about the ingredients. During that, they had come across an ingredient called thimble which they did not have at their station. The blonde had immediately volunteered to retrieve it from the cabinet and went off to do so. Except, he hadn't grabbed thimble but thame. When he returned to their station and dumped its contents into their current brew, it had turned a sickly green color instead of a vibrant purple. The brunette was about to ask why that had occurred but didn't get far when the vile began to shake and burst into flames, covering them in soot. Their instructor had immediately berated them for their insolence before sending them off to clean themselves properly. A looked of anger had been given from his friend which had caused a pit in other's stomach that he had tried to ignore. When they'd finished, the bell had already rung and they had quickly joined a hallway that led to their next class.

Oh. Now that he realized it, after that incident, Matt hadn't said a word to him. Was that why he was being ignored? He raised his gaze and was about to let the question slide of his tounge when he walked head-first into someone's back. He quickly pulled back and muttered a sorry while rubbing his sore nose. But it seemed that that sorry would not suffice.

A teenager, that seemed to be around the same age as him, whipped around with a deathly glare. He was taller and way more buff. His black hair reached the end of his neck but was pulled back into a short pony-tail. He had violet-gray eyes and a scar above his temple. His nose was stubby and he had particularly small ears. He wore blood-red robes, a black belt, brown trousers, and black boots. Overall, he looked kind of scary.

"Watch where you're going, punk." his deep voice bellowed. All feet stopped at the sudden outburst and heads turned to see what the commotion was about.

"I said I was sorry." Arthur muttered while keeping his gaze away.

"What was that? You're sorry, hmm?"

He rolled his eyes and couldn't help the thoughts that entered his mind. Do I need to say it louder? Must be hard to hear with those small ears of yours.

"What did you say?!"

Oh, had he said that out loud?

"Did I stutter?" He snapped without meaning to.

That did it.

The boy lunged at him, tackling the blonde to the ground. He tried to pin him down but didn't get far. Using his right knee (which wasn't pinned down, thank god), he shoved it into the raven-haired teen's stomach and took advantage of his diverted attention by pulling his legs from under him and using his feet to kick upwards and push the mass of body weight off of him. The minute he was free, Arthur scrambled to his feet and was quick to steady himself. The latter was just as quick, though, and looked to be even more enraged than before. He ran forwards and pulled his fist back before letting it fly to hit its target. Luckily, it didn't as the teen ducked to the side so the fist met brick instead.

The boy screamed bloody murder as he clutched his injured fist. "You're a little freak!" he cried once the screaming died down. Lunging again, he managed to deliver a blow to the blonde's rib-cage and he swore he heard something crack. Stumbling back while clutching his ribs with one hand, he raised his elbow to defend his upper body and part of his face as best he could.

By now, everyone who had been in the hallway was gathered around in a circle. A few were cheering the buffer one- Sullivan was apparently his name- while others were cheering for him. As he scanned the crowd, he could see some of the older students trying to break up the crowd so they could deal with them. Finally, he found Matt's face and couldn't help but chuckle a little at the look he wore. He looked completely terrified but slowly seemed to be coming out of it.

Arthur didn't have any more time to dwell on it because another punch was delivered to the part of his chest that was exposed. He gasped in pain as the wind was knocked out of him. The edges of his vision darkened for a few seconds but he willed those spots to go away. A fist connected with his nose and then his skull. Great, like this could get any worse.

He was pretty sure he saw Sullivan's fist pull back again but it never came. Two pairs of hands had wrapped around the guys' arms and were dragging him backwards all while he screamed and thrashed. His own body sagged forward, glad that those older students had made it through.

Distantly, he heard them telling everyone else to head to class and for someone to take him to the infirmary. Yea, right. Good luck getting him there. He wanted to laugh but stopped himself from doing so because his vision was blurring up again.

Suddenly, he felt a hand slip under his left arm and another one sling his right arm over their own. "Matt?" he slurred out.

"Who else would it be?" came the angry response but the blonde could hear the concern laced behind it. "I can't believe you did that!" he suddenly exclaimed. "Are you completely mad?"

"Can we...Can we talk about this later? Your giving me a headache."

His friend went silent for a couple of minutes, as if he were contemplating letting the subject go, before speaking again. "Fine. Just, work with me here, okay?"

He did as he was told and did his best to move his feet. His mind was racing despite his condition. Matt knew he hated going to get help because it made him feel weak. So, that left the question of where they were going. "Where are we headed?"

"The dorms."

Oh, that made sense.

They continued walking in a comfortable silence and Arthur felt content with it. He wasn't sure how much time passed when his ears perked up as the sound of rain hitting the ground. Matt had mentioned something about rain being in the forecast but he hadn't been paying attention.

Ever since he had been little, he would spend all of his rainy days outside jumping in puddles and loving the feeling of the water against his skin. It was like the water would wash away all his struggles and he'd feel like a brand-new person. But ever since his entrance into Durmstrang, he hadn't had that chance.

He stopped abruptly, startling the brunette. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"Nothing... Are we...? Are we near the gates?"

"Yea. Why?"

He didn't answer but rather pushed off his support and slowly walked forward, stopping just outside the entrance to their school.

Rain started to soak his clothes but it calmed his irritated skin and so he welcomed it. The brief sounds of thunder were somewhat distracting. Regardless of his broken rib, he took deep breathes (well, as deep as he could) through his mouth and let his on-edge nerves calm themselves. The pain left him, even if it was momentarily, and increased his strength.

"What are you doing out there? You could catch a cold!"

"It's soothing." the blonde said before looking over his shoulder and beckoning his friend to come out. After a few moments of careful consideration, he cautiously did.

"Oh, yes, I can definitely see how this is soothing. Getting all wet is wonderful."

"I'm guessing you'd rather be studying, then?"

"Yup." he replied, causing Arthur to grin widely in his direction but it disappeared at the frown on the latter's face.

"You can go in."

"What? Why?"

"You look uncomfortable." he answered with a shrug.

"Oh, sorry. I just... I don't understand

why you picked a fight."

"I didn't pick a fight." he said indignantly.

"You did and you hurt yourself in the process." Matt argued.

"I didn't do it on purpose! I just happened to bump into him but I did apologize. Clearly, he didn't care."

"You're forgetting that I was with you. You commented on his ears, Arthur! Everyone knows how he feels about them."

"Well, at least I finally got your attention!" he yelled but then realized what had come out of his mouth. Both their eyes widened considerably.

"What are you talking about?"

"You know what I'm talking about! You've been ignoring me ever since the lab."

"Ignoring you? What?"

"Don't deny it! I nudged your foot, called your name and tried to make eye contact. None of them worked."

"You did all that?"

"Yes! But you were so ignorant that you didn't even notice. Was it something I did? Because if it is, I'm sorry, okay?"

"Arthur-"

"Just don't. I don't need it." He turned away and let his gaze fall to the ground. He could feel the ache in his ribs returning and a burning sensation in his lungs. The pain was slowly returning. Yet, it wasn't so much as physical as it was emotional.

The fact was that his friend meant much more than anything else. And every time they fought or argued, it hurt more than he could comprehend, even though they would always overcome it. So, when Matt had ignored him in the hall, he'd been pretty sure that he had finally over-stepped and ruined the friendship he cherished so much that losing it would be like losing a crucial part of him.

He was about to turn around and just go back inside before his vision went dark when a hand grabbed a fistful of his robes and yanked him forwards so he was forced to turn his head. He felt himself being pressed against a warm body and arms snaking around his waist to lock around his back firmly but not too so for the sake of his ribs.

The blonde sank into the touch almost instantly, only hesitating because of the sudden contact, and clutched the brunette tightly as afraid that he would leave him if he didn't.

"I'm sorry." came a soft whisper. "I didn't mean to ignore you and make you feel hurt. I had no clue that by being silent, I was making you feel like you did something wrong. I was just afraid that if I said something, I'd only make it worse. I just needed time to cool off."

A pause.

"Forgive me?"

A soft smile etched itself onto his features and his eyelids drooped ever so slightly. "I'll have to think about it." he joked.

"Take all the time you need." Matt pulled back so they were inches apart. "And, Arthur?"

"Yea?"

"Let's get you inside. You look like your about to faint." he laughed and soon they were both laughing while they supported each other inside. And as they walked, Arthur realized something quite important.

They would always have each other.

Thanks for reading!