Thursday afternoon and it was a free lesson for a majority of the sixth year students.
The fact that it was raining heavily meant that everyone was cooped up inside.
But with it being the last period of the day and dinner being relatively soon, most of them were basking in the warmth of their common rooms.
The start of the week had gone relatively quick.
But with many essays already set, students were cracking on.
There was no doubt that charms had been extremely awkward.
Professor Merrythorp had refused to change the seating plan, so instead she made the class do extra group projects to ensure they would talk.
Oh how wrong she was.
The pair hadn't spoke since their detention on that fateful Friday, and neither one of them planned to apologise or even look at each other for a long, long time.
That poor professor didn't realise she was dealing with two of the most stubborn people on the planet.
But now, Arabella was on her way back to the Slytherin common room from the library.
Before she could fully make it there a hand grasped hers and pushed her against the hard brick wall.
"What on earth" she coughed.
Looking up, her jade green eyes met the cold brown ones of Markus Nott.
"Nott, what the hell are you doing?"
Arabella could see his glare, it was practically illuminated by the few light fixtures one the walls that led down to the Slytherin dungeons.
But Arabella realised they weren't quite in the lead up to the dungeons, they were in a cut off- that meant nobody would interrupt.
"Estella told me what you did. D'you really think you can have a got at my sister and get away with it?" He spat.
Arabella rolled her eyes at his dramatics.
"I didn't have a go at her. I just told her and her friends not to BULLY another student" she said sternly.
"You calling my sister a liar?"
"Yep" she relied bluntly.
Markus slowly grabbed his wand and pointed it towards her neck, the tip of it nearly piercing her skin.
"Maybe I should teach you a lesson?"
Arabella's heart began to race.
She didn't know what he meant, but she knew the outcome wouldn't be good.
"Nott-
"Now now Arabella, I can practically smell your fear" he chuckled maliciously.
"Please don't do this Nott, I'll apologise to Estella if you want?" She begged, extremely scared.
"Too late pretty" he smirked.
His free hand cascaded down her body, grabbing both of her small hands in his large one- meaning she couldn't even grab her own wand to defend herself.
He dug his nails into one of her wrist, causing the skin to pierce.
"What to do with you?" He asked, his tone patronising.
Arabella gulped, knowing that she wouldn't recover from the pain she was about to entail.
"Cruc-
"Nott!" A voice echoed in the dungeons, causing him to come to a pause.
Arabella let out a shaky sigh of relief as he turned.
"Kind of busy here"
"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?" The voice asked, anger lacing their tone.
"Just teaching dear Arabella here a lesson. Now can I get back to it?" He huffed.
"No you bloody can't! Now piss off"
"Oh c'mon, you can have at it after-
"Nott I swear to god if you don't piss off I'll hex you into an oblivion. If I ever catch you even looking in her direction again you'll be a dead man. Now fuck off" the voice spat harshly.
Arabella hadn't got the guts to look up yet, her back was still pressed against the wall.
Markus practically growled and she then heard footsteps walking away and a new figure stood before her.
"Arabella? Can you hear me?" The voice replied softly.
She nodded in response, looking up to see who her saviour was.
"Thank you" she whispered slightly.
"It's okay, but are you alright?" Cain Avery asked softly.
"I- I think so" she replied, attempting to regain her confidence.
"Arabella, you're clearly not-
"Cain please. Thank you for your help but I'm fine, honestly" Arabella said, standing up straight.
He rose a brow at her sudden change in demeanour but shook his head anyway.
"Arabella you don't have to pretend like you're not even shaken up by what just happened. Now c'mon, we need to go tell someone. He could've used an unforgivable curse on you!" he said, well, practically begged.
"Thank you for your help Cain, but there's no need. I'm fine. Okay?"
Cain shook his head at her stubbornness.
What she just went through was awful, yet she was acting as if she was 100% fine.
When in reality, she wasn't.
"It seems to be dinner time. I'll see you later" she murmured finally before leaving.
Cain sighed heavily, knowing this wasn't right.
But what could he do?
If he told anyone Arabella would hate him even more than she already did, but he couldn't let her suffer in silence.
He was going to make sure Markus Nott learnt his lesson.
Arabella was now heading towards the great hall, still shaken up.
She saw her friends already sat at the Slytherin table and plastered on a smile.
"Hi all" she said sitting besides Viviane.
"Ara! Where have you been?" She asked.
"Oh, just in the library" Arabella replied uneasily, filling her plate.
Her friends rose a brow, not buying it for a second.
They spoke, but Arabella didn't pitch in. She just sat staring at her plate of full food.
"Not hungry love?" Viviane asked warily.
Arabella just shook her head, she moved to push her plate forward but shock raced through her friends bodies when they saw the nail marks and bruising on her wrist.
"What the hell Bella?" Evan gasped, moving to grab her hand.
Before he could grasp it she pulled it back harshly and hid it in the sleeve of her robe.
"Oh it's nothing, I just...tripped. Anyway I best get going. I've got a lot of studying to do" she replied, not being able to look her friends in the eyes as she lied to them.
"Sit the bloody hell down Arabella" Regulus said sternly.
And that was exactly what she did- too scared to not oblige.
"Who in earth did this to you?" Viviane asked, placing a hand on Arabella's back.
Cain was watching from a few seats down, he knew they were confronting her, and he knew what'd happened.
He was going to get up and speak to them but a redheaded Gryffindor had beat him to it.
"Hi guys! I was just wondering- oh my Godric Ara what happened?" Lily gasped as she took the seat on her other side.
Arabella groaned inwardly, the fact that anyone knew was scary to her, let alone her best friends all knowing.
She just wanted the bruise to go and for her to get on with her life, not ever speaking to Markus again.
"Arabella, who did this to you?" Lily asked again.
"It's nothing, I swear. I just fell" she said with pleading eyes.
Pleading to let her go on with her life, and not have to talk about it.
Arabella looked around the table, seeing her friends didn't buy her bullshit.
She looked further down the Slytherin table to see Cain staring at her pointedly.
And Markus was nowhere in sight.
"Bella" Evan begged.
"Markus" she murmured softly, so softly that nobody could hear her.
"What?"
"It, it was Markus Nott" she said again.
Her friends faces dropped, Evan and regulus stood abruptly while Viviane and Lily's necks whipped around, trying to find where he was.
"Please, don't make a scene" Arabella said softly as he friends started to pack up their things once they couldn't find him.
Lily rushed back to the Gryffindor table and grabbed Her things before heading back to the Slytherins.
"Guys" Arabella called sadly as they rushed off.
She sent a particular brunette a pleading look, and that brunette was Cain Avery.
He stood and gestured his head to the door.
Arabella nodded and they met by the great hall doors and walked out to se ever friends making some sort of 'plan of attack'.
"Guys please don't do anything rash"
"What the fuck is he here for?" Evan spat suddenly.
"Avery was the one who got Nott to stop. But please leave it. I'm fine honestly" she nodded, attempting to put on a smile.
"You knew and didn't tell anyone?" Evan asked walking up to Cain.
"Arabella told me not-
His sentence was cut off by Evan pushing him back against the wall.
Before things could escalate regulus pulled him back as Arabella stood in the middle of the pair.
"I asked him not to. Now leave it. I'm okay!" She snapped, becoming extremely stressed out with the whole situation.
"Markus has been dealt with" Cain replied bluntly as he dusted himself off.
Arabella spun around to meet his gaze.
"What?" She whispered.
He looked her in the eyes before looking back up at her friends.
"Markus has been dealt with, he won't be bothering Arabella again. And if you do want to speak to him, you'll find him in the hospital wing" he said finally before walking back off into the great hall.
"Oh my god" Viviane mumbled.
"Arabella, what did he do to you?" Lily asked.
Arabella sighed heavily as she began to explain the situation.
"And I didn't even shout at Estella. I just told her to not bully another student. And god knows where if he now if Cain hadn't of come. He probably would've used that blasted curse on me" She said shaking her head slightly.
Regulus frowned and pulled her into his embrace.
"It's not your fault Ara" he did softly as he stroked her hair.
"And it's okay to cry you know?"
"I know," she mumbled into his chest.
"I'm going to be okay though, just shook me up a little bit. But anyway- want to go play chess?" She asked, plastering on her best fake smile.
"Arabella this still isn't okay, we need to tell someone-
"No, no we don't. It's okay, it's be dealt with, now I'm going to go play chess. Anyone who wants to join me can" she said firmly before going back to the Slytherin dungeons.
Lily sighed softly and headed back to the great hall, Viviane and regulus followed on after Arabella and Evan went to the kitchens to see what he could get for Arabella as she didn't touch her meal during dinner.
Arabella was now in the common room, taking everything in.
She was always going to be thankful for Cain being there, but what if he wasn't?
How far would Markus have really gone?
God, it scares her even more that she has to share a common room with Markus for the next two years still, but hopefully whatever it was that Cain did to him would have put him in his place.
And in a hospital bed for a week.
Viviane sat by Arabella silently and wrapped an arm around her best friends shoulder.
Regulus pulled up a chair and set out chess for them while Evan came back with a sandwich for Arabella and a cup of peppermint tea.
"You guys are the best friends I could ever ask for"
She smiled appreciatively, knowing that she doesn't tell them that enough.
"Oh, we know" Evan winked before taking a seat besides regulus as he and Arabella played chess.
Let's just hope none of them would have to deal with something like this again.
Or, for a long long time at least.
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❛ Knowledge. ❜