Chapter Four:
Everything Is Fine!

✶

Friday,
September 9th,
1977.

The day had finally come: Archer and Sirius' first of many detentions together. Fucking hell.

     Don't get him wrong, he had been grateful—and still was—that Sirius had talked to Kingston and managed to convince him to shorten the amount of their detentions, but now, as he headed to Kingston's office, Archer couldn't help but feel frustrated. Whether he was frustrated at Kingston, Sirius, or himself... he didn't know. Kingston had given them detentions for the stupidest reason, but then again, it was Sirius and Archer's fault for talking back to him and refusing to work together. But, as Archer thought back to that moment, his memory was foggy... had Sirius refused to work with him, or had the grievance just been on Archer's end?

     Archer had also made the mistake of forgetting to ask Kingston what they'd be doing in detention, so he had no idea what to expect. He was walking in blind. There had been rumours that Kingston's detentions were downright horrid... Archer hoped that wasn't the case for his detentions.

     All in all, he was not looking forward to it. Could you blame him, though? It was detention.

     As he got closer to the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, he spotted someone doing the same but from the opposite direction. It didn't take him long to recognise who it was—who else would be missing dinner to hang around the DADA classroom? Sirius Black, of course.

     "Hey, Arch," Sirius said as they got closer, smiling at him with that award-winning smile of his.

     Archer swallowed the lump in his throat. "It's Archer."

     "... Right."

     No more words were exchanged as the two boys made their way through the classroom and to Kingston's office. With a side glance at Archer, who made a point of not looking at him, Sirius raised his hand to knock on the door. However, before he could make contact with it, the door flew open.

     Professor Kingston stood in front of them with his eyebrows raised. "You're both late. That doesn't leave a very good impression, does it?"

     "We're two minutes early," Archer stated.

     Kingston ignored him and ushered the two boys into his office. Upon entering the room, Archer's eyes widened and his jaw went slack with shock. It was a mess. Parchment was everywhere. The window was wide open, a chilly breeze wafting through that made Archer shiver. The wind couldn't have been helping with the dispersed parchment. The desk chair was on its side, and desk drawers were open. The ink pot had fallen and ink had spilt all over the desk—like, all over.

     "I tripped," Kingston said nonchalantly, shrugging as though it was no big deal. Archer and Sirius stared at him, dumbfounded. "Now, you have to clean it up. Without magic."

     You've got to be fucking kidding me, Archer thought, glaring at his professor. Though, he supposed, as far as detentions went, this one wasn't horrible. Don't get him wrong, it sucked, but he didn't have to journey into the Forbidden Forest or wrestle a troll—the other types of detentions Kingston had given to students... which, now, as he really thought about it, seemed completely based on hearsay.

     Kingston left them to their own devices, but not before taking their wands and telling them that he'd come back in two hours, and if the room wasn't clean by then, they'd be sorry. Empty threats, in Archer's opinion. There was no way he would give them more detentions, right? Archer immediately pushed the thought away.

     Now it was just Archer and Sirius. Alone.

     "I guess he hasn't heard of the phrase, 'clean up your own mess,' huh?" Sirius said, trying to make a joke out of the situation they were in. When Archer didn't reply, he cleared his throat and said, "Erm, I can try to get the ink off of the desk if you want to start with all of that parchment on the ground?"

     "Yeah, alright."

     Archer walked over to the window and shut it, then crouched down and began to collect the pieces of parchment around him. He assumed that Sirius had started to remove the ink on Kingston's desk, but he didn't look over. This was the first time the two had been together, one-on-one, since what had happened between them at the end of the summer. They worked in complete silence. Archer hated it—he hated every moment of it. The tension between them was suffocating. Archer knew that he could easily open his mouth and speak, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He was almost too afraid to say something because, well, what would he even say?

     It appeared that Sirius hated the silence as well.

     "So, Archer," Sirius said. Archer felt a great discomfort form in his stomach—even when they had first met, Sirius had never called him Archer: it was always Arch. Archer knew he had told Sirius to refer to him by his whole name a mere ten minutes ago, but that knowledge didn't help the feeling of unpleasantness. It was easier this way, he thought. Sirius continued, "How have you been?"

     Archer paused in his actions of picking up parchment, his head tilting upward and his brown eyes locking with Sirius' grey ones. After a second, he looked back down. "Erm, I've been good. You?"

     "Not too bad."

     "That's good."

     And back to silence. Fuck. The tension between them made Archer want to crawl up into a ball. He hated it. He fucking hated it. They went from being strangers to friends to lovers... but now they were strangers again?

     It disconcerted him how quickly something could change.

✶

Saturday,
July 16th,
1977.

Tears threatened to fall from Archer's eyes as he stared into the bathroom mirror, his hands gripping the edge of the basin as though it was his lifeline. Feeling panic beginning to rise in his chest, he started to take deep, slow breaths: in, then out. In, then out. He shut his eyes for a moment. In, then out.

     His hands were shaking so much that he accidentally hit the bar of soap that had been resting on the basin. The soap fell onto the tiled floor with a loud thud that echoed around the bathroom.

     "Archie?" Harvey's concerned voice sounded from somewhere else in the house. "Was that you?"

     Fuck.

     "Yeah! I'm, erm, I'm in the bathroom." His eyes were wide and filled with panic as he stared at his bloody and bruised face in the mirror. A tear slipped down his cheek. "Knocked over the soap!"

     "Alright!" Harvey said, then as an afterthought he added, "Oh, and it's getting late, you should think about going to bed soon!"

     Archer merely made a sound of agreement loud enough that Harvey could hear him. He couldn't bring himself to speak. Just like he couldn't bring himself to speak when those guys jumped him...

     They had been looking for money, or perhaps anything of value, Archer thought. He didn't get a good look at their faces, since it was dark, but he was able to tell that they were two men—Muggles—that were older and stronger than him. When they realised he didn't have anything on him—no wallet, not even his wand, which he had left at home—they threw a handful of punches his way before they ran off, leaving him bloodied and bruised.

     Having just wanted to go on a short, quiet walk, it had been quite the turn for Archer.

     He ran his hand through his hair, sighing deeply. In, then out. In, then out. Just as his tears had stopped and he had begun to calm down, a loud whisper came from his bedroom: "Arch? Are you there?"

     Impeccable timing, Sirius, Archer thought sarcastically.

     "Sirius? What are you doing?" Archer said back in the same hushed volume. He was still standing in the bathroom, but he silently moved to a spot where Sirius was unable to spot him—Archer really didn't want Sirius to see him in his current state.

     He was able to make out the sound of Sirius climbing through the window and into his bedroom, carefully shutting the window with a quiet thump. Archer closed his eyes and cursed under his breath.

     "You need to leave," Archer said, tilting his head back gently so it rested against the wall behind him. He prayed that Sirius didn't come into the bathroom. Trying not to let his voice tremble, he said, "I'm just a little busy at the moment—"

     "Why in Merlin's name is there blood on your face?"

     Shit.

     "It's really no big deal. Everything is fine—!"

     "Arch," Sirius said, his grey staring into his soul—well, it felt like it!—and that was all it took for Archer to stop pretending like everything was okay. Archer's lip wobbled, and Sirius guided him to the edge of his bed where they both sat down. A minute passed. Then another.. Finally, Sirius said, "Arch... I have to ask..." He seemed hesitant, choosing his words carefully. "Your uncle, he didn't—?"

     "No, of course not," Archer defended immediately. "Harvey would never..." Tears began brewing in his eyes again, and he found it extremely difficult to swallow.

     Instantly, Sirius put his arm around Archer's shoulder and pulled him into a side-hug. Archer gently rested his head on Sirius' shoulder, his eyes flickering shut. Sirius stared down at him, and in a quiet, gentle voice, he said, "I'm here for you. You can talk to me or not talk to me, it doesn't matter. I'll still be here."

     Archer nodded weakly. He tried to smile at Sirius but it came out as more of a grimace.

     "Let's get you cleaned up," Sirius said, smiling at him. He stood and walked over to the bathroom. The sound of running water filled Archer's ears and before long, Sirius was back on the edge of the bed beside him, holding a damp towel in his hands. He carefully began to dab at Archer's face with the towel. Archer flinched, and Sirius immediately retracted his hand.

     "Sorry—I'm alright," Archer said, wincing slightly.

     Sirius nodded slowly, though his expression remained concerned. He continued to gently dab the damp towel on Archer's face.

     After a while, Archer started to frown, but stopped when the movement started to hurt. He couldn't help but wonder why Sirius wasn't using magic—he was more than capable of performing a couple of healing spells. Thinking about it a bit more, Archer discovered that he didn't care; he was more than happy to sit there and let Sirius dab the blood away. It felt more personal that way, he supposed.

     Once Archer was all cleaned up, roughly twenty minutes later, Sirius looked over at the dark sky outside and sighed. "It's really late," he said. "I should go."

     "Wait, erm..." Archer hesitated. His gaze flickered over to Sirius, and their eyes locked. Before he could convince himself to back out, he let out, "Stay?"

     A few seconds passed, then Sirius nodded. They exchanged a smile. Archer leaned back and sank into the comfortable bed, and Sirius did the same. "Let's just... lie here and forget the world," Archer murmured.

     Flash forward to an hour later: the lights were off and the two boys were fast asleep. Sometime in between that, they had become cold and wormed their way under the covers. Sirius' arm was draped across Archer and Archer's head was turned in Sirius' direction. It was completely unintentional, but it felt right. It felt safe.

     And for the first time all day, truly, everything was fine.

✶

Friday,
September 9th,
1977.

Although he never thought it was possible, Archer felt relieved when Kingston returned. He came back exactly when he said he would—not a minute later, not a minute earlier—and handed them their wands. Finally, Archer could focus on something other than the suffocating silence! Hurrah!

     Kingston hummed to himself as he inspected his office, making Archer want to roll his eyes. It was obvious that the room was in a much better condition than before. Him and Sirius had done a pretty bang-up job, if Archer said so himself. "Not bad," Kingston eventually said, and with those words, they were free to go. Archer sighed with relief—he didn't think he could've handled any more detentions than what they had to endure already.

     When the two boys exited the DADA classroom and entered the hallway, Archer went right, as did Sirius, which confused Archer greatly because Gryffindor Tower was in the opposite direction. He didn't question it though, at least not to Sirius' face. It was better—easier—for him not to.

     After a while of them walking in silence, Sirius' head turned toward him. "Hey, Archer—"

     "Well, this is me," Archer said, perhaps a little too forcefully, gesturing in the direction of a corridor on their left. "Good night, Sirius."

     Archer sharply turned down the corridor, leaving no time for Sirius to protest or to do anything else. After a few seconds of walking down the corridor, Archer stopped. He couldn't help but hesitantly glance behind him, and heart ached a little when he realised that Sirius was no longer there.

word count: 2225
11.10.2021