cross posted from the archive!
i just realised i am a travesty upon myself because i haven't written any pottertalia fic, and i've grown up with the series. the sticker on my laptop is emblazoned with the phrase 'I'd rather be playing quidditch', which is me in a sentence really.
His hands fit perfectly on the curve of his hips as he jutted out his chin, eyes twinkling and jaw teasing as he invaded Arthur's private space for what Arthur knew would not be the last time - n-not like Arthur noticed him or anything!
Even though it was the eleventh hour before curfew, Arthur decided to take a trip around Hogwarts campus before he would return to his dorm for some last minute reading before highlighting those notes he and Kiku had finished during Potions when the teacher was trying to clean up his poor friend Feliciano Vargas' mess of failed Draught of Peace.
…unfortunately, he had to run into Hogwarts' biggest, most egotistical wanker that Arthur had ever known - Alfred Jones. The idiot had some god granted gift with the game of Quidditch, and after he had opted for an option of a Beater after he grew out into his frame with muscle and unusual strength, and ended up whacking Slytherin's most fearsome Chaser Natalya out cold in his first game, taking to the role of a bruiser like a selkie swimming in water. (Arthur would know, they'd tried coaxing him to swim with him half a dozen times).
"Heeeeey, look who decided to show up! It's the space cadet," Alfred sang, following him even as Arthur buried his nose in his green and silver scarf and tried to ignore the dolt. "Oh, I'm sorry, I guess a snooty fullblood like you doesn't know what that means!"
"Says the Gryffindor who only struts around prostrating himself on that broom of his," Arthur shot back. "And by God do I know what a space cadet is. He's bothering the life out of me right now."
"At least I have some life left in me, Kirkland," Alfred said, nudging him with his shoulder. "I don't throw myself into a pool of books and cry. And who's to say I'm not the best Beater in the school? Better than that hunk of Russian muscle in your house."
"Well, Jones, he's doing very well for himself," Arthur said, rolling his eyes and stopping in the middle of the school corridor. "Ivan, not 'Russian muscle', has a very steady boyfriend in that Ravenclaw Wang. Meanwhile, your brother tells me you sit in the Three Broomsticks at Valentines moaning over a drink of Butterbeer. Don't forget you're speaking to the person who's got one of the highest grades in the school."
"Boo, did I upset the not-Ravenclaw?" Alfred grinned, pinching his nose in a way that made Arthur yelp. "No wonder almost all your brothers are in Gryffindor, which is but the best house ever? And for that bit, I don't see you having girls cling to your arms like they do after every single Quidditch match I win."
"Perhaps that's because I don't want them to flock around me like the bothersome owls in the owlery," Arthur said, playing with the ends of his scarf with his long, slender fingers. "Anyway. You're too heavily built to be a Seeker anyway. Perhaps if you try kissing Densen's arse harder than you are now, that status upgrade as his boyfriend's going to get more girls to try to pull you two apart. Unfortunately, you'll have to deal with a scathing Lukas, something I'm not going to help you with."
"H-Hey! We're just friends!" Alfred stammered, and Arthur smirked a little, knowing that he had got him to slip up. "I don't like him or anything. That's totally not gonna be good for my image!"
"What, that you're gay?" Arthur said, and kept his footing delicate as he looked into Alfred's eyes, trying to see if he could see anything in those deep blue eyes of his, while his taunting guise was down. "Is there…a problem?"
"Huh? Oh man, no, of course not!" Alfred replied quickly, and Arthur's smug grin intensified as he caught sight of the faintest of blushes forming on the American's cheeks. "You - you know Ludwig and I used to go out in fourth year."
"The ever effervescent Ludwig Beilschmidt," Arthur said, nodding. "Hm. I'll give you some credit for that, however much we don't see eye to eye on the way he almost beat me out for the highest grade total overall. Tell him he's absolute balls at Tessomancy. Even you could at least read two tea leaves with…decent results."
"Boo," Alfred sulked, but there was a sweet, boyish tendency in how he leaned against the wall and let his arms slide instead of folding them defensively like Arthur always did. "I'm not your carrier pigeon or whatever. And look, we're just friends now. B-But it's not like I don't still like guys."
"We use owls here, Yankee," Arthur said, turning around with a swift gaze, subconsciously appreciating Alfred's cheekbones. He could cut sopophorous bean on that structure, Christ. "Ah well, then, Jones, congratulations. Now you've made me pity those girls hanging off your arms, to be disappointed…"
At that moment, the large bell above Hogwarts tolled ten, and the two boys froze, staring up into the ceiling - at least, that was what Arthur did. Alfred simply continued to look at Arthur, his hands scrabbling into his robes for something, but quickly held it still as Arthur turned to face him.
"Well, er…curfew's calling, and I don't want your ex-lover to come and yell at us for staying up late. Riveting discussion, as usual, although your teasing could use some work. Try fixating on my poor Muggle Studies grade instead of poking fun at the lack of girls I have no attraction to. See you on the pitch on Saturday."
"Wh - wait-" Alfred stuttered, but Arthur had already steeled himself to leave, taking a firm, decisive step away from the annoying, bothersome, boyish, dorky, irresistible Jones. "There's something left I have to s-"
"You know staying out with a jock like you wouldn't look good on my record," Arthur teased, straightening out his robes. "Good evening, Jones."
"Uh…uh, see ya, Kirkland," Alfred said, quickly recovering from the strange reverie he had been. "Keep the infirmary on standby for the thrashing you and your house are gonna get tomorrow!"
Arthur was already walking away, throwing the last jab behind his shoulder, but he hid a smile in the crevice of his heart as he walked briskly back to his dorm.
Perhaps another day, he'd get the courage to admit to not only Jones but himself that this little rivalry meant much more than incessant teasing and bickering. And perhaps get a snog out of it.
"Damn," Alfred groaned, watching Arthur's slender figure disappear down the vast hallways of Hogwarts, most certainly going to the Slytherin dorms. "I was so close too!"
It all added up.
The tea, the roses, the mint smell in the Amortentia potion they had made last week, the little bunny thing at the bottom of his Tessomancy cup - Arthur's Patronus - and the serpent, Arthur's house - that signalled that something was going to change. And he hoped to bring that change tonight, but…
But that gaze when Arthur asked whether he liked men…it was completely different from what he usually saw in their banter. If Arthur started understanding that the fights Alfred picked from heaven and above and the constant teasing the two had between them was a way to capture his attention…
That change was gonna come pretty fast. And Alfred had to be prepared.
Sighing to himself, he stuffed in his little love note deeper into his pocket and started hightailing back to his dorm.
Perhaps another day, he'd get to hold Arthur in a much more romantic way then accidentally jostling the slender Seeker in Quidditch.
some HP trivia used in this fic;
sopophorous bean is used in brewing the draught of living death and is notoriously difficult to cut into.
amortentia is an infamous love potion, told to smell like what the person is attracted to, and still one of the best OTP tropes out there.
tessomancy is the art of reading tea leaves to predict the future - a branch of divination.
the three broomsticks is a pub in hogsmeade.
selkies are portrayed as scottish merpeople in the series, and were featured in the second task of the triwizard tournament.
quidditch is a broom based sport, and the best one out there.
alohomora is an unlocking spell, usually used for unlocking doors and keys - but who's to say one can't attempt to use in unlocking one's heart?
also i used the word effervescence for lud ironically since he's very much the opposite...or maybe i'm too fixated on my chemistry exams later this year. oops.