Chapter 9 – Let the Courting Commence [Pt.4]

Normal POV

"ugh, just what I needed" mumbled Antares as he finished reading Professor Slughorns note.

'- as such I have managed to work your punishment down to covering another student's prefect duties. Please make sure to meet Ms. Evans in the Great Hall at precisely 9:30 PM tomorrow for patrol duty.'

After he had shared his intimate moment with Helena and watched her gorgeous bum make its way from the Great Hall, he had returned his attention back to his own table, where Xavier was holding out his prefect schedule for the year.

It was with his prefect schedule that he had received Professor Slughorns note regarding his punishment for getting out of his detention with Professor Graves.

It was suspiciously uncanny how he was partnered with the one prefect he didn't want to be partnered with. Especially in a time when his life was beginning to get increasingly stressful. Knowing that thinking about the problem only made his mood miserable, he decided to try and avoid thinking about how awkward tomorrow's patrol was going to be.

Seeing his friends begin to stand up and get ready to leave for class, Antares swigged down the last of his tea and followed suit.

"Who's got Ancient Runes with Gibbs?" he asked his friends as they walked towards the halls exit.

"Just you and me old friend, the others all have Care of Magical Creatures" replied Xavier, shooting Antares a grin as Caroline, Jasper and Tristan waved goodbye and turned towards the entrance hall.

"Just like the old times huh Xav, just you and me against the world" said Antares, returning the grin with one of his own.

For a while the both of them walked in a comfortable silence. Neither of them saying anything as they climbed the ever changing staircases of Hogwarts.

"So, a marriage contract huh" commented Xavier after a while, "Bloody hell Ares".

"I know Xav, I know. But it was hardly my decision to make" returned Antares.

"I guess you're right" agreed Xavier.

Being a pureblood heir himself he knew that if Antares' parents wanted him to marry someone, then there was basically nothing that he could do in order to stop them. He was just grateful that his parents hadn't done the same to him.

"I thought you would have told me about it before the others at least, me being your best friend and all".

"Look Xav -" said Antares, coming to an abrupt stop in the middle of the sixth floor corridor.

"You've been my best friend for most of my life. We've been through thick and thin together and you've had my back more times than I can count. After everything we've been through, I count you as a brother in the same way that Sirius and Regulus are my actual brothers. I didn't tell you, or anyone else for that matter, because I myself haven't completely come to terms that my future has been set for me. Hell, I haven't even told Sophia yet and me and her share everything together, if you know what I mean" Antares confessed honestly to his oldest and dearest friend.

Xavier stood dumbfounded as Antares referred to him as family. For all the time that he had known Antares he had never before seen him express his motions with such honesty and straightforwardness. He had always known Antares feelings about him, as he too felt the same way. He wasn't talking about homosexual or any other type of romantic feelings, but rather feelings of trust and companionship that neither of them had felt whilst growing up in their parent's households. He guessed that this marriage contract ordeal was effecting Antares more than he let on. So Xavier did something he hadn't done since they were children, he embraced his best friend in a large hug.

"Thank you Antares, for everything" whispered Xavier into Antares's shoulder.

"No problem Xav," laughed Antares, "now remove yourself before someone see's us and mistakes us for a couple of queers".

Xavier quickly jumped back, a large smile on his face.

"Now let's hurry up before we're late for class" said Antares as he set off towards the Ancient Runes classroom.

Xavier just stood there grinning stupidly to himself for several moments. When he finally realised that Antares was already halfway up the corridor, he took off after him at a very fast pace.

Slytherin Dorms, Hogwarts (Tuesday 2nd of September, 1974)

Antares entered the Slytherin Common room to the sound of silence. It wasn't that the common room was empty, in fact it was quite the opposite. It was more to the fact that everyone's conversation had abruptly stopped the moment he had entered the room.

Being the intelligent man that he was, Antares assumed that this was due to one of two things. Either everything in the world revolved around him and his housemates were showcasing their submissive nature by being silent; or they were being quiet because he was somehow in trouble and they were giving him their one-minute of silence early.

When he spotted a clearly enraged Sophia Wilkes charging towards him, he somehow knew it was the latter.

Sophia didn't say anything as she grabbed him by the arm and begun to literally drag him towards his room. Antares looked to his housemates for some type of help but all he received were blank stares and shrugged shoulders.

Having a rough idea what Sophia wanted to discuss Antares didn't offer much resistance as he was forcibly removed from the common room, dragged down the corridor and roughly shoved into Sophia's' bedroom.

"What the hell Black!" shouted Sophia angrily as soon as she had closed the door.

"I didn't want this Sophia," said Antares, "Don't make me out to be the guilty party here. You know our customs as well as any of us. It was beyond my control and you know it".

"Like fuck it is. You could have done something! Anything!" she screamed at him loudly, "If you didn't want this than you would have found a way around it. But you didn't. You probably didn't even give it a second thought before you signed your life away."

"What was I to do Sophia!" shouted Antares, anger creeping into his voice.

"Was I to refuse my father's orders, to be cast from my family and everything I know. All because they choose who I am to spend the rest of my life with and I did not. I would never betray my family like that. Not for you. Not for anyone."

Sophia's face lost its angry expression as she realized what Antares said was true. In her anger induced state she had forgotten that until he turned 17, his parents had full control over any legal matters that concerned him. She also knew that his family, and his family's reputation, meant the world to him. She knew that he would never do anything that would make his family look bad in the eyes of the wizarding world, even if that meant sacrificing his own happiness.

"I thought we had something special Antares. That we were friend's. That our nights together meant more to you than just a casual fuck. Apparently I was wrong" said Sophia in a quiet voice.

Antares heart broke as he heard the hurt in her voice. To see one of his dearest friends in such emotional pain was a hard thing to witness. But to be the cause of her pain was making him sick to his stomach.

Sophia had been his good friend for many years. She, like Xavier, had been with him through the thick and thin. Never once complaining. Never once questioning his leadership when he got them into a particular sticky situation. She didn't deserve this. She didn't deserve to be treated second best because a contract stipulated they would never be together. He needed to fix this, and fast. He needed to make things right. If not for his sake, then for Sophia's. He owed her that much at the very least.

"We do have something special Soph" he whispered, taking a step forward and grasping her small delicate hand in his own.

"You mean more to me then you could ever possibly know. Sure our arrangement of casual sex was an added bonus, but after the first few times I knew our relationship was deeper than a sex. Your one of the only people in the world who knows me, and I mean actually know me. Not the façade version that I portray to the rest of the wizarding world. With you I don't have to worry about hiding who I am. I don't have to worry about acting like the perfect pureblood heir all the time. With you I can be the real me. The me that enjoys your soft embrace and warm smile. The me that wakes up next to you in the morning and tries to remember how I met someone as perfect as you. Yet despite my feelings, I can't change the fact that I am to be married to Helena Greengrass. Do I love her? No. Do I like the fact that she is to be my wife? Of course not. Would I prefer it was your name on the marriage contract and not hers? Of course I would. And it kills me inside to see you hurting when I know that there's nothing I can do to make your pain go away. So I'm sorry Sophia. I'm sorry for anything I ever did or ever said to make the smile fall from your face. I'm sorry that I'm the reason for your pain. But most of all I'm sorry that you broke my heart without even meaning to".

As he said this Antares' voice became thick with raw emotion, for everything he was saying was true. Only now, when he was laying everything on the table, did he realize that he had developed feelings for his best friend. Up until this point he had never actually considered his feelings for his female best friend. For everything he had said to her was one hundred percent true. It amazed him how someone as smart as him hadn't seen what was right in front of him all along.

"You really mean it, don't you?" said Sophia as tears began to roll down her cheeks as Antares poured his heart out to her.

"Of course"

His response seemed to be the straw that broke the camel's back. As the words left his lips Antares found himself with a lap full of sobbing women. For what seemed like an age he held her close to him, hugging her, comforting her. Doing whatever he could to console the woman that would never be his. It wasn't until his legs where numb and aching that he realised that she had fallen asleep in his lap.

Lifting her up slowly, Antares helped her over to her bed. He tucked her in gently before placing a kiss atop her sleeping head. Smiling sadly down at her, he turned off her light with a flick of his wand and exited her bedroom.

Antares Bedroom, Slytherin Dorms

Antares sighed heavily as he finally crawled into his bed. The day had been one long and emotional day. Never before had he felt both physically and mentally drained for no other reason than having to engage with awkward talks and exhausting conversations. Now that practically the whole school new about his marriage contract to Helena Greengrass, he could only hope that tomorrow everything went back to the way it was.

Staring up at the ceiling, Antares thought about his conversation with Sophia. Although he had finally realized his feelings for Sophia, it hadn't changed anything where his marriage contract was concerned. He would still have to marry Helena and there was nothing he could do about it.

Knowing that his feelings for Sophia needed to be thought about when he had a clear mind, he implemented his Occlumency skills to bury his thoughts relating to his best friend until a time where he wasn't drop-dead tired. This was a skill he had perfected over the last several years and had saved his piece of mind more times than he could count.

A month. That was how long it would be until he was finally able to meet his betrothed for the first time. He didn't know what to think about their meeting but he did know that he wouldn't be able to abstain from sex for that long. Hell, he didn't even know how long it would be before he did actually get to sleep with his future wife. He assumed that Helena would want to abide exactly by the courting rules, so he guessed a few years at the very least.

If he was grateful for one thing about this whole, it was that his betrothal contract was worded in a way that allowed him to have sex up until the day he was married.

The only problem he had was finding someone to satisfy his needs with. After their conversation tonight he hardly believed that Sophia was going to be up for the task. His feelings for her and her feelings for him couldn't take another beating like it had tonight.

No doubt he could find many willing and horny witches in any of the Hogwarts houses, but now that they knew he was in a marriage contract it cause complications if anyone found out about his unfaithfulness to his bride-to-be. What he needed was someone who only wanted to have sex with him without the need for a personal relationship, was discrete about their encounters, but was most importantly incredibly good looking.

It was with these thoughts in mind that Antares's exhaustion began to catch up with him, his eyes becoming harder and harder to remain open. Knowing that he was fighting a losing battle, he decided to stop resisting the inevitable and gave in to his tiredness, and was actually very thankful when sleep finally embraced him.