Arthur Kirkland's black wizarding robes slid off his frame as he squeezed water from them and swatted at a small flame growing on the edges of his hair. Alfred hustled after him as he speed walked away.
"Come back Arthur, please! I promise I wasn't the one who rigged the bathroom this time!" Alfred shouted as heads turned to stare at the commotion.
"This time," Arthur emphasized, turning on him with an accusatory jab of his finger. "I'm through listening to your pathetic excuses, Jones. Come find me when you're actually serious about apologizing."
Arthur marched away before Alfred could react to his snappy statement, instead standing helplessly in the middle of the hallway as he watched his boyfriend leave.
"Oh jeez, looks like Alfred is having boyfriend issues again," Alfred overheard Laura from nearby and threw his hands up.
"I am not! It's just a misunderstanding!"
"Oh yeah sure, just like all those other times you guys have argued," she said, then walked off with Chelles.
At lunch that same day, Alfred sat with Matthew and stabbed at his treacle tart. "I just don't get what the problem is, it's not like I did it," he said.
"No, but Arthur thinks that you did," Matthew pointed out. "And as long as he thinks that, your argument that you didn't is going to fail. Why don't you just apologize?"
"That's stupid," Alfred refuted. "I'm not going to apologize for something I didn't do."
Matthew sighed. "Well, you could find out who actually did it and expose them; that would at least impress Arthur, seeing as he would find it cunning of you to find out who did it and he'd obviously appreciate that you worked so hard to defend him," he said.
"That sounds like something a Ravenclaw would do," Alfred noted, and Matthew sat, rubbing his temples.
"Maybe that's because you're asking me, a Ravenclaw, for help? Look, do you want my help or not?" he asked.
Alfred looked up from his food as he saw Arthur pass by and hurriedly jumped to catch him. "Hey Arthur, so remember how I was all, 'I didn't do it' earlier today?" he asked.
Arthur rolled his eyes, glancing away. "I don't believe you," he muttered, shoved his food tray onto a table in the corner, and shuffled into the seat. Alfred noticed it was as far from his seat as possible.
"Do you wanna go to Hogsmeade with me this weekend?" he asked. Arthur again pointedly looked away.
"Get out of my face or I will tell a professor on you and you'll get detention for a month."
With a defeated sigh, Alfred slumped his way back over to Matthew and dropped himself back into his seat. Pulling out a parchment paper, Alfred set to writing using his calligraphy pen.
"You're seriously still using that thing, even after Snape told you to get rid of it?" Matthew asked him.
Alfred rolled his eyes. "When I have muggle studies everyone is gonna appreciate my contribution," he stated.
The next few days were full of failed attempts to get Arthur's attention.
Alfred did everything he could think of: buying as many chocolate frogs as he could carry and giving Arthur all the limited edition cards he'd collected from them; singing music to Arthur and throwing magically preserved English roses (Arthur's favorite, according to Francis) at him to try and woo him; even using his muggle charms to do cool things like origami folding and throwing around glow sticks without having to cast Lumos.
"Do you think Arthur wants to forgive me yet?" Alfred asked as he crossed out some lines of things he'd tried and ultimately failed at bringing Arthur to his spot at the lunch table (and ultimately back into his heart).
"Maybe I should buy him some books, or a toy from the Weasley's Wizard Wheezes," he said.
"I think that's exactly what Arthur doesn't want," Matthew noted. Alfred rolled his eyes.
"Then what do you think he'd like?"
"Something that a spell can't do. You should have a courageous act, something that really shows Arthur how much you care. You're all about chivalry and doing brave things— just yesterday you were standing up to Ivan when he was picking on Feliks in the hallway. Why not do something like that? Arthur's really ambitious, but he also appreciates strength, and you have more than enough of that to spare."
Alfred grinned at the suggestion. "You're right, I just gotta do something that shows how strong and caring I am," he said.
Alfred walked over to Arthur's space at the lunch table. "Oh, it looks like you dropped something," Alfred said and bent down to lift the table and reach underneath it. The table was mostly empty, except for a few kids at the end, and Alfred took advantage of that to make it look like lifting the table was impressive even if he wasn't really that heavy. Alfred managed to lift the table a good few inches before he dropped it again, Arthur slapping him on the shoulder.
"You're a bloody sycophant!" he scolded.
"No, I'm a brawny, bloody psychopath," Alfred said, flexing and giving Arthur a wink.
Alfred returned to Matthew, rubbing his red cheek where Matthew could see a faint outline of Arthur's hand.
"That's not what I meant," Matthew said.
"Then what did you mean? Come on Matthew, I need something I can go by here! At this rate Arthur is going to sooner kill me than take me back again!" he said.
The bells chimed outside and Alfred jumped from his seat. "Oh shoot! Quidditch practice is about to begin, I have to get to the field!"
As he hurried to pack his parchment paper and run out the door, Alfred jumped with excitement and hit his head on the doorway, landing with a crash. His eyes, however, lit up as his head throbbed with a new idea.
"That's it, Matthew! All I have to do is challenge Arthur this next game against Slytherin! I'll just tell Arthur that if he loses he has to give me a second chance!" He said.
Matthew put his hands on his hips, shaking his head as he looked down on his brother. "Sure, it couldn't make him hate you more," he said.
Matthew helped Alfred to his feet and he gave his brother a hug.
It was only hours before their match against Slytherin and Alfred sat on the benches in their locker room, sifting through all the game plans he'd drawn up in the past week.
"Hey Alfred," Laura, their Belgian chaser, said as she sat down on the bench next to Alfred. "How are you doing?" she asked.
"I'm so excited!" Alfred said. "I really think all the training we put into today could pay off! I mean, I'm still not sure we can win if we don't catch the snitch, but at least we have a fighting chance of having Arthur take me back," he said.
"You're still stuck on that, huh?"
"Of course!" Alfred yelled. "I have to get Artie back. If this doesn't work, nothing will."
Then Alfred called the team together one last time and ran them through the courses he'd marked own in his playbook.
"Welcome to tonight's Quidditch match tournament! Tonight is sure to be a fun one folks, with Slytherin and Gryffindor fighting head-to-head! Let's bring out the teams!" Francis's eloquent voice boomed over the stadium, people cheering in excitement as both teams stepped out onto the field.
Ivan, the leader of the Slytherin team and a beater, stepped up and Alfred, looking up at Francis, gave him a wave as he stepped up to the pitch.
"Before we begin I have a special message from a sponsor— well, friend," Francis interrupted as they prepared to shake hands. "The message is from Alfred, our Gryffindor team captain and seeker!"
The roar of the audience fell silent as Francis cleared his throat and prepared to read the message.
"...Arthur, I'm sorry for not apologizing earlier and rigging the bathroom sink to shoot off fireworks when you tried to use it because even though that wasn't actually me I'm going to take the blame for it in order to make it up to you and hopefully have you be my boyfriend again. His words, not mine," Francis noted quickly.
"Also, I challenge you to beat Gryffindor tonight because if you lose I'm going make you either accept my offer to go to Hogsmeade next weekend or make you admit that you're a sore loser and a pathetic weakling because I l-like you and want you back."
Roaring ensued as people cheered at Alfred and Arthur. Alfred looked over at the brit and smiled when he saw brit's beet-red face.
Arthur approached and jabbed his finger into Alfred's chest. It actually kind of hurt! "Oh, don't you worry about getting out of this alive Jones, I'm going to bury you so deep into the ground not even Levicorpus could pull you out!" He shouted, and more screaming boomed over the stadium.
Suddenly Alfred was having second thoughts about letting Matthew review that note before giving it to Francis.
"I'm sorry," Alfred yelled, but Arthur looked like he had combusted and needed to be put out— a second time.
And this time it was Alfred's fault.
"...Okay, boys, I want to see a clean game here," Madam Hooch said, and pretty rightfully so.
Alfred and Ivan amicably shook hands and then got to their places in the field. Alfred looked around and then stared across at Arthur, frowning as he heard the whistle blow and immediately flew to Arthur's direction.
"Keep away from me," Arthur hissed and took a right turn so quickly Alfred almost fell off his broom.
"Please just listen to me Artie, I'm sorry, I didn't mean that stuff about being a weakling!" He shouted over the roaring screams.
"Aye, just like how you said you didn't mean for me to mistake you as the bathroom prank culprit!" Arthur retorted.
Arthur whizzed through the stadium so quickly that at one point Alfred took to the skies and started circling the upper half of the stadium looking for the snitch. If Alfred was right, Arthur would only take him back if he actually proved he was serious about this, and that he didn't really want Arthur to be mad at him anymore. Arthur definitely would lose all respect for him, and so would Alfred's team, if he just sat idly by and let Arthur win. No, he had to show Arthur that he was trying his hardest and show that he was serious about this.
Alfred's mind began to drift as he heard a whizzing sound in his ear then saw Arthur zooming straight into him. with just a split second between him and broken bones, Alfred dodged out of the way and turned on a dime to follow the snitch, too.
Yeah, Arthur would definitely let him back if he won, right? Because then Arthur would see how powerful love was—if it was powerful enough to get Alfred to win this battle, it was powerful enough to seal up an apology easily.
Arthur was on the snitch like an infrared radar scanner, seeing nothing but the beat of the snitch as it flew around the stadium. At one point the snitch began to circle one of the metal pillars full of people screaming so loudly Alfred could barely hear himself think.
Arthur was in the zone, too—pulling off so many twists and turns it was sickening. Alfred buckled down and sped up, zooming to be right next to him.
"Arthur!" Alfred shouted over the onlookers. "Let me back, please!" He shouted, briefly shooting like a dagger through a sheet of red fabric decorating the watchtowers.
Arthur briefly looked at him, grimacing. "Get out of my way Alfred. Can't you see I'm busy?" he snapped, and sped up even more, waving the back of his broomstick at Alfred to knock it into him.
Alfred squeezed the broom handle and dove down to avoid the hit.
As the race ensued, Alfred kept close to Arthur and the snitch, rapidly getting so close that he swerved around Arthur to grab the snitch from Arthur's hands.
The snitch jerked to the right, and like a magnet Alfred and Arthur followed.
Al could almost feel Arthur breathing down his neck as he swerved continuously to catch it, at one point dodging a bludger as it tried to fly into his skull.
"You like the view from behind?" Alfred teased as he flew even closer to the snitch, but it led him straight into a beater who almost swiped at him.
Alfred felt his broom whirring as the hit scraped him and he saw fifteen Arthurs looking back at him.
"Your arse is so bloody stupid it might as well serve as your brain," he quipped as he whizzed by, and Alfred sighed.
The game let on for another forty minutes of remarks and racing, and at some points, both boys lost sight of the snitch. the beaters were getting tired and the chasers had scored so many points Alfred was sure Francis's voice was scratchy from continuously updating the points board.
At one point, Alfred became so tired of wanting to win and trying to play fair. He was sitting up in the sky by his team's goalpost when he caught sight of it: the snitch, sitting smack-dab in the middle of the field.
All movements slowed when Alfred saw Arthur reflexively move to catch the snitch, driving himself toward Ivan, who was readying to hit a bludger, arm drawn back and about to smash a whole hole into Arthur's face.
"Rouge bludger!" Francis yelled.
Arthur's fingers were slowly closing in on the snitch when Alfred barreled into him, spinning their brooms into disarray as the bludger narrowly missed their heads. Slipping from his handle in shock, Arthur fell from his broom, and Alfred nearly let go completely to reach out a hand and pull Arthur onto his broom. Horns sounded and confetti flew into the air as Arthur gripped tightly onto the back of Alfred's robes.
"That's the game, folks!" Francis screamed. "In a score of 150 to 160 Gryffindor wins!"
At the same time, both Alfred and Arthur said, "What?"
That time Alfred really did lose control of his broom and skidded into the ground. Arthur used Alfred acted as an impromptu landing pad in the crash, sitting on his aching back. Alfred groaned as he sat up, and Arthur knelt down to look into his eyes.
"Oh my god, Arthur, did you hear that?" Alfred asked, cheeks flushed as he buried sweaty, hot Arthur in his arms.
"Colour me very surprised," Arthur mumbled, then Alfred felt his hands curling around him and he grinned as his team came to congratulate them, more bodies coalescing into one big hug.
"So will you forgive me?" Alfred asked over the cheering, and leaned back to look at Arthur's face, all pink from embarrassment and smiling.
Arthur reached over to wipe Alfred's messy glasses on his robe then perched them back on his nose, brushing Alfred's mussy hair back in the progress.
"I feel I can't say no after a game as extravagant as that. And you did save me," he said with a chuckle, then pecked Alfred on the lips.
In that moment Alfred was pretty sure Alfred had cast Wingardium Leviosa, 'cuz his heart felt lighter than air.
A/N: I was digging through my old fanfiction drafts and found this gem! It might be old, but I think it's worth sharing!