May 31st, 2014 - Change

ARTIST: Kyle

AUTHOR: Kar-Kar93

May 31st, 2014 - Change

I was comfortable with my house, comfortable with my life, comfortable with my friends, and after years of putting up walls I was finally comfortable without him. I was finally content with the fact that I could no longer be friends with him for I knew that it would go against everything this house stood for. I was more than comfortable, in fact, I would even go so far as to say that I was happy about it. He however was not. He was stubborn, and determined, and he simply would not let me go, he was unable to move on.

It wasn't always this way…things used to be different between us. There was a time, years ago and long before we first stepped upon school grounds, when we were more than best friends. A time where we were practically brothers, bound by everything but blood. There was a time, long ago, when I wouldn't push him away, when I would have scoffed at the idea of something as fickle as a hat ruining something so good. As it happened fate decided to separate us; for he was sorted to Gryffindor and I into Slytherin.

I hated it at first, all of it, the distance, the prejudices, the rivalries, the hatred between our houses, but there was nothing I hated more than standing by as they referred to him as something fowl, and unworthy of magic. I hated it, but who was I to stop them? I wasn't the hero, and I was definitely not going make things worse for him, besides he seemed to handle himself just fine amongst the harsh words from my housemates. I hated it at first, all of it, but I got used to it and with careful practice I was able to turn my back on it. Even him, if only because I believed it for the best…he would be better without me.

As the years passed by I had grown to accept my fate for what it was. He and I could never be friends, we were from different houses and, some would say, different worlds. His kind and my kind weren't supposed to befriend each other. He, however refused to accept this, and he continued trying to get my attention. Trying to remind me of what we used to have. He wanted me to remember what I had pushed away. It was a cruel game we played, and for all the grief he caused me I'm certain that, that had the hat chosen differently, he would have made quite the name for himself in Slytherin.

There were things about him that I couldn't ignore, things that I would never forget. Things like the vibrancy of his smiles, his exuberant attitude towards life and change…and how you could see the depths of the ocean in the glistening blue gems that were his eyes. He was opinionated and he was oh so very pure. His very existence contradicted the values I was to follow; he was the muggle-born definition of purity and I was the very definition of corruption. I was selfish when it came to him.

I guess I was afraid corrupting him, of trapping him in the shadows. I was stupid, and stubborn and selfish and after six long years of trying to avoid him, of trying to push him away he finally snapped and I finally remembered how to open my eyes. He reminded me of what I lost. He told me that he was done waiting, and that he would do whatever it took to get me back. I lost my resolve amidst the darkened hallways of Hogwarts when he ended the conversation with a stolen kiss. We were both selfish, and on that night I finally realized that I was selfish for all the wrong reasons. I spent so much time trying to push him away that I had forgotten what it meant to have him with me.

My name is Arthur Kirkland, and on May the 31st of this year Alfred F. Jones took back what I should have never taken away. My name is Arthur Kirkland and I haven't been this happy in years.