Quidditch League Season 6: Caerphilly Catapults
Round 11: [Beater 2] American Psycho – Bret Easton Ellis
Prompts:
- (word) pattern
- (dialogue) "Stay out of my room!"
- (quote) We all want to escape our circumstances, don't we? - Benedict Cumberbatch
"Stay out of my room!"
The snarl that covered his face had the students tripping over their feet as they raced away. He didn't like their busy bodies hanging around his office. There was never any way to tell what they were up to, the little fiends.
With great caution, Argus unlocked the door to his office.
The shackles still hung in the corner – perfectly oiled – ready for willing, or unwilling, victims. They were charmed against being unlocked with magic, or so his predecessor had informed him years ago. Unfortunately, he had never been given the opportunity to use them when Headmaster Dumbledore had banned corporal punishment. The wizard clearly didn't understand the severity of the need to discipline the foul students, but the headmaster would eventually see the light.
His table stood whole and untouched, and Argus allowed himself a sigh of relief. Mrs Norris snuck past him and leaped onto her bed. Argus allowed himself a moment of comfort on his chair. There was only half an hour until curfew, and Argus had finally managed to clean up the mess Peeves had made outside the Potions classroom.
...oOo...
It was a pretty little Hufflepuff, a first year by her deceivingly timid demeanour. A look at her would make anyone believe her to be one of the rule-abiding and constantly terrified First Years – his favourite kind of student – but he had caught her sneaking around after curfew, wandering the shadow-covered corridors and placing her filthy hands on everything she found.
She hung from her wrists as punishment. Her struggling and tugging only had her swaying from the ceiling more vigorously. Her whimpers were silenced by the thickness of the castle walls and the several floors that separated his office from anyone else.
The headmaster would never find out.
Her blonde plaits were dishevelled and haphazard where he had snipped them down to size. Her blonde hair made patterns on the stone. Her bands still held the majority of her cut hair together, but they would never see the light of day again.
Tear tracks marred the Hufflepuff's cheeks. Slivers of snot clung to loose clumps of hair that swayed with her shaking shoulders. Her pitiful voice was soon drowned out by Mrs Norris' yowls for attention.
It was beautiful.
It was everything Apollyon had told him it would be.
(He would later request a house elf to take her back to her dorm after she passed out.)
...oOo...
"We all want to escape our circumstances, don't we?"
"Headmaster Dumbledore," Argus greeted, feeling the burning gaze of the headmaster next to him.
"I still remember you arriving here on your first day. You're lost your sense of wonder of magic and the castle, but that's natural after so long, I'm afraid." The piercing blue gaze swept out the window to focus on the courtyard below them. Argus could feel his blood begin to boil at the thought of how much dirt and dust and mess would follow the cretins into the castle when they grew bored of whatever it was they were doing.
"But I know the castle better than any of my siblings ever will. This castle has become my home," Argus replied.
The headmaster smiled. "I'm glad, Argus. I had my reservations about your lack of magic, but you had the desire and motivation, and I'm glad I pushed for you to get the post. Hogwarts welcomes everyone with open arms. Magic shouldn't be a requirement."
It was news to Argus. He had never understood why Headmaster Dippet had chosen to give him the position. He'd walked out of the interview expecting to be rejected. In fact, he had almost walked out the moment he realised his two competitors were magical. It was unprecedented for a Squib to be chosen over magicals. Argus had been faced with that his entire adult life.
"I have to thank you for the opportunity, Headmaster. I will not disappoint you, Headmaster."
"I have every faith in you, Argus. I believe you will take better care of Hogwarts than any that have come before you."
...oOo...
Peeves hung from his shackles.
The poltergeist howled and swung and raged, but Argus could only laugh. He couldn't escape. The shackles wouldn't allow it. The poltergeist's entire existence was based on the magic that couldn't affect the shackles. Argus didn't understand how he had never thought to do this before.
Mrs Norris' satisfied yowling joined his laughter. Peeves tugged and pushed and pulled, but the shackles held firm – like they always did, like they were meant to.
No one would save Peeves. No one liked Peeves. The ones who did only deserved to join him in hanging from his ceiling by their wrists.
Argus couldn't poke and prod at the poltergeist, like he could the students. That was the only regret he had: his lack of magic didn't allow him to do anything more than trick Peeves into his trap. Peeves' behaviour had become predictable, however. Argus had always known of Peeves' pattern of destruction followed by a stint of amusing the students at the cost of the other ghosts and Argus himself.
It was the latter he had managed to take advantage of by leaving his door unattended for nearly an entire afternoon. Peeves had taken the bait. The house elves had helped confine the poltergeist long enough for him to slip the shackles on under the pretence of wanting to fix some part of the castle without Peeves getting in his way.
Peeves' expression when he realised he wasn't able to remove them had been priceless. It was sweeter than Argus had ever dreamed it to be.
It was revenge.
...oOo...
"Have you seen Peeves-?"
"-been acting strange for ages..."
"-completely disappeared a few times-"
Argus had heard their whispers for days. He'd seen Peeves' uncharacteristic low-energy behaviour. He'd heard the worry held for the poltergeist, and while he still believed Peeves had deserved every moment, the trickle of guilt had entered his mind.
"Headmaster, that was me. I did something to Peeves two weeks ago, and I-"
"Argus, Peeves' behaviour is not your fault. The house elves informed me you were mopping up his mess only last week. I understand there was rivalry between the two of you, but you are not to blame for his current behaviour."
Argus didn't remember cleaning up after Peeves at all over the last two weeks, but he nodded anyway. The headmaster motioned him towards the door, and he stumbled his way back to his office in a daze.
The students lingering near his door raced down the corridor as they caught sight of him. Argus scowled at them out of habit, and unlocked his door.
He slipped into his chair. Mrs Norris yawned from on her bed.
Argus stared at the gently swaying shackles near the corner of his office and allowed himself an hour of relaxation before curfew started.
Another group of students in need of discipline would be found wandering the halls of Hogwarts that night. There would be more grubby hands on Hogwarts' precious artefacts, leaving more work for him in the morning.
Oh, how he hated the lot of them!