It was the second of November and Apollo had been feeling frustrated and on edge for the past few days. Only a few days beforehand, on Halloween, Sirius Black, a known mass murderer who had only escaped from Azkaban a few weeks prior, broke into Hogwarts. While this left many students jumpy, worried that at any moment Sirius Black would round the corner and hex them, it was particularly bad for Apollo as it was well known that the Petrou family had testified against the criminal, ultimately sealing his fate to Azkaban for twelve long years. 

Apollo huffed in annoyance as he hurried up the west tower towards the owlery, shivering slightly in the brisk autumn, nearing winter, air. The boy rubbed his bare hands together, having thought it not being cold enough to warrant gloves, and approached the Petrou family owl, Hermes. Apollo had snorted in disbelief once he had found out that his grandparents had actually named their golden masked owl after the God known for being a messenger for the gods. Yet he shouldn't have actually been that surprised, knowing how obsessed his family truly was when it came to Greek mythology.

The Petrou boy extended his hand and stroked Hermes on the head with the back of his pointer for a few minutes, said animal cooing in pleasure as he leaned into the touch. 

“What do you have for me today, Hermes?” Apollo asked the owl softly, stopping his stroking as the owl remembered the scroll tied around his leg and lifted it up for his owner to take. It was a Friday, the day he always received mail from his grandparents, yet he much rathered receiving it straight from the source, rather than having it dropped upon him in the Great Hall where others could easily read over his shoulder. The Petrou family had many secrets that needed to be kept private. 

Apollo sighed as he opened up the letter, a small cloud emitting from his lips, proving just how frigid the Scottish air was. 

Apollo, 

Your grandmother and I have heard word of the break in at Hogwarts. We mustn't remind you that Sirius Black isn't a friend of ours, but rather an enemy. He will be looking for revenge on our family and we trust you to not let any information slip, nor allow him to creep himself into our family. Be sure to owl us everything you see and hear pertaining the man and if you encounter any troubles. We'll be sure to owl you back straight away on the best course of action. 

That is all for now, we look forward to hearing from you,
Victoria and Bernard Petrou 

P.S. You better have a good excuse for destroying that statue, your grandmother is quite livid. 

Apollo simply raised a brow at the letter his grandparents had sent, not at all surprised that they hadn't even cared to ask if he was alright. Apollo was fairly certain he wouldn't have any troubles with Sirius Black yet if he did, he wouldn't tell his grandparents just to spite them, unless it was something quite severe. A smirk graced his features, however, as he recalled that he had ruined his grandmothers precious statue and he knew he would be getting an earful from her once he returned home. That, however, wasn't for a while yet and Apollo had Charms to attend to. 

“Well that was a waste of time,” he muttered under his breath, giving Hermes a few more strokes to the top of his head, before crumpling up the letter, stuffing it into his robe pocket and briskly exiting the owlery. 

-

“Which is why the Carpe Retractum spell is useful. It allows you to seize and pull objects within your direct line of sight towards you…” Professor Flitwick explained the Seize and Pull charm, however, Apollo wasn't paying much attention as he was still distracted by the whole Sirius Black incident, not to mention the letter from his grandparents. He wondered why Sirius had attempted to break into the Gryffindor common area, rather than somewhere else. Was there someone in specific he had been searching for? It had nothing to do with Apollo yet the Petrou boy was curious and lost in thought, which unfortunately meant he hadn't been listening to Professor Flitwick's question, only coming back into the present once his name was called, or at least the name he went by.

“Nathaniel, what do you think?” The small professor asked, his hands behind his back as he stood on a stack of books to make himself appear taller. He regarded Apollo quizzically, whom of which still had no idea what Professor Flitwick was asking him.

“I'm sorry, sir,” he mumbled lowly, shying away from all the curious eyes on his usually quiet form. “I hadn't been paying attention. What was the question?” 

Professor Flitwick sighed in disappointment before repeating his question. “I was asking what the Seize and Pull Charm is generally used for.” 

Apollo nodded his head and leaned back in his chair, smirking as he was fairly confident he had heard Professor Flitwick explaining the answer while the boy had been lost in thought. “To tie up a person and bring them towards you.”

His professor sighed once more while shaking his head, as some of the other students giggled quietly at how cocky Apollo had been, yet got such a simple question incorrect. “No, Mr. Petrou, that is incorrect. It is generally used on inanimate targets, although it can also be used on plants and animals. Your answer is exactly what it shouldn't be used for. Now, everyone, turn to page 215 in your books…”

Apollo tuned him out as his temper flared, not appreciating getting shown up, especially in a room full of other students. He didn't like to be the butt of the joke and he could still see some Hufflepuff students regarding him in amusement, giggling at the boy, obviously not realizing that if there wasn't a professor in the room, Apollo would've gone over and given the two boys a good kick to their groin. See how they would like that embarrassment. 

Apollo had never been more thankful for a class to end and he quickly gathered up his books, not even paying attention to what their homework assignment was, simply wanting to leave the room as soon as possible. Unfortunately for him, he had not been able to take more than a few steps away from the classroom before Blaise Zabini rushed after him, calling to get the boy's attention. “What Nathaniel, your pride too big to accept that you were wrong?” 

Apollo's blood boiled at the dark skinned male's assumption yet he clenched his fists and continued on with his attempt at leaving. He did enjoy a good fight, however, he knew that now  especially was not a good time as he didn't want to draw so much attention towards himself.

Blaise Zabini must not have been too bright, or had been completely oblivious towards Apollo's reputation with fighting, as he continued on taunting the boy, not enjoying that he hadn't gotten any response. “Keep on running away then, Petrou. You better hurry though because we all know Sirius Black had been looking for you that night and - ” 

The Slytherin hadn't even gotten to finish his sentence before Apollo made a swift U turn back towards the boy. What he had said about Sirius Black, when the boy had already been on edge, wondering the same thing Blaise had mentioned, simply pushed Apollo over the edge. He needed to show Zabini that a Petrou was never one to be messed with. 

Blaise grinned as he saw Apollo storming towards him, happy that the boy was finally responding to him. The grin quickly fell off his face, however, when he noticed how angered the Petrou boy was. His face was so red in anger and Blaise was almost certain he could see steam emitting from the other boy's ears. He hadn't been able to see for sure, though, as not even a second later, Apollo reared his fist back before swiftly suckerpunching the vain Slytherin square in the jaw. 

“I had to push my pride aside to talk to you, let alone touch you.” Apollo spat out, glaring at the boy in intense anger, wanting to hit him once more although he held himself back. 

Zabini held his jaw, looking up at Apollo in shock as he stood to his full height, having been knocked down due to the force of the punch. Although he was in immense pain as Apollo was a lot stronger than he looked, he dark eyes lit up in interest. 

“You can’t do that!” Draco Malfoy exclaimed, Apollo just now realizing the him and Pansy Parkinson had followed behind Blaise.

Apollo glanced over the blonde haired boy before sending him a nasty glare, his top lip curling in disgust. “Watch me, pretty boy.” He muttered in disinterest before swiftly storming away in anger towards the Hufflepuff common room.

Meanwhile, Pansy Parkinson doubled over in laughter at the look on Blaise and Draco's face, perhaps she could like the Petrou boy. Blaise, on the other hand, couldn't believe he had just been punched, and by a Hufflepuff no less.

He had heard many things about the Petrou family and besides them being extremely corrupt, they were well known for their poise and composure, like proper purebloods. That was probably what shocked Blaise more, not that he had been punched, but that a Petrou had lost their composure and punched him. 

That just made Blaise curious now, why was - Nathaniel was it? - Petrou, so different then what was expected? He wasn't sure but you can bet that he’d find out. Once he got Pansy to stop laughing and Draco to stop glaring that is.

-

Apollo stormed into the Hufflepuff common room in a rage - and it hadn't just been because it took him three tries to get in. He never understood why to get into the common room they had to tap on barrels to make the sounds of a silly song. He much rather preferred how Ravenclaw did it, having to answer a riddle. That made much more sense rather than ridiculous barrels. 

Apollo stopped by the entrance and looked around the round and earthy, low-ceilinged common room. The Hufflepuff common room always felt sunny, no matter what time of day, and its circular windows had a view of rippling grass and dandelions. Apollo immediately felt relaxed in the yellow and black themed room and he let out the breath he had been holding ever since Charms class. Glancing around the plant filled room (their head of house, Pomona Sprout, also the Professor of Herbology, often decorated the common room with plants from her greenhouses), Apollo noticed Cassius on one of the overstuffed sofas which was upholstered in yellow and black.

Apollo, still angry yet much calmer now than he had been earlier, made his way over to the boy, sitting next to him as he muttered under his breath. “Stupid Zabini. I should've punched him harder. Hard enough to prohibit him from ever speaking another word again.”

Cassius, having heard the muttering of the boy whom had sat next to him, glanced up from his Transfiguration textbook, eyeing the boy curiously. He rolled his eyes at what Apollo had said, not surprised in the least that Apollo had gotten into another fight. Cass was about to ignore Apollo and return to his studying, however, his eyes caught sight of a bloody hand, which had been curled into a fist as it rested on Apollo's thigh.

The Welsh boy sighed in exasperation before getting up and leaving, however, Apollo paid him no mind as his thoughts were still on how much he hated Blaise Zabini and he couldn't wait until the next time he ran across him. Then, he would do some serious damage. 

Cassius hadn't been gone for long as not even a few minutes later he returned, holding some bandages and rubbing alcohol in his arms. He quickly and efficiently got to work on cleaning Apollo’s wounds in silence, as their routine often went. When they had first met, Cassius didn't know how to clean wounds the muggle way, coming from a pure blooded family where wounds were always caused and fixed with magic. However, a few weeks with Apollo and his uncontrollable rage, Cass had quickly picked it up. Just as Apollo fought the muggle way, he preferred to have his injuries treated the muggle way as well. This left Cassius utterly annoyed but he had no business telling Apollo what to do with his life. So he cleaned and wrapped up Apollo's hand in a white bandage that he knew Apollo would simply take off the next morning as he didn't like how much it prohibited him from using his hand as it was his dominant one after all.

Cassius stood up once he had finished, gathering up all his textbooks and glancing at Apollo once more. “Do try to stop getting into any more fights. You're distracting me from my studying.” 

And with that he swiftly made his way into their dormitory, not hearing as Apollo muttered under his breath, “You should stop caring, it’s falling on deaf ears.” 

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So here's the second chapter and only a week after publishing the first one! I had just been searching for something to write and thought I'd try with this story and I suddenly got a burst of inspiration and a couple hours later this was produced! Who knows if this will keep up but I'm enjoying it while it lasts!

Also, let me know what you guys thought of this chapter! What do you think about the Petrou's letter to Apollo? Blaise taunting Apollo and Apollo ultimately punching him? Apollo and Cassius' relationship? What do you think will happen next? I'd love to know your guys' thoughts so please let me know!