I don't own anything! There is a song briefly mentioned, and it is owned by Tyler Hilton. The characters (excluding Anita, Laura and the narrorator) are all the property of Jo Rowling.

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A man is wondering around a cellar-like room, the darkest and dankest room in the castle. The man? Argus Filch. Most, upon seeing the name, tune out immediately, and I guess this is technically where the story ends. The beginning? A tale of love; found, lost, and buried.

Love. Not a word one usually associates with the callous caretaker. So what happened to this man? What tragedy, besides that of being born a squib, could have possibly turned the heart of Argus Filch into the blackened, moldy hollow it is today?

The story begins on one late afternoon in September, about thirty years ago….

Argus Filch knew he was different then the others in his family. That wasn't what bothered him. He loved his parents, and his sister, and on a normal day it didn't affect him that they happened to be able to do magic and he couldn't.

But on some days… some days he was bitter. Not that he showed it. No, of course not. That would have been unacceptable. His parents loved him, even if he was a squib. His sister, though they sometimes fought, loved him as well, and it would have hurt his family had he been unpleasant.

Now, I'm sure you are reading this, as I was, when I first heard the tale, with disbelieving ears. But when you pause to think about it, it makes sense. When has anyone ever known someone to be born horribly mean?

So what changed?

Well, back to that day about thirty years ago.

You see, Argus's parents felt that because of their son's… degift, as they like to refer to it, that it was important to not be inept in the world of muggle things. They sent their children to Muggle Schools. That is, they sent Argus to Muggle School all his life, and Anita, Argus's older sister, to Muggle Elementary School.

Argus was a bright kid, but his school reports often included worries about his home life. Argus was a naturally quite child, and most of his teachers wrongly concluded that it had something to do with his parents.

Yes, Argus was a quiet child. Was. Until that day, during Argus's Third Year of High School, when Argus met Laura.

Laura was a bright girl. Beautiful, athletic, smart, funny, popular. Everything Argus himself wished he could be, Laura was.

The odd thing was, she approached him.

But I am getting ahead of myself.

Laura Norris transferred into St. Mary's School for Boys (Made Co-educational in the late 1800's) in the middle of Argus's last year at the school. She was immediately the subject of everyone's gossip, girls and guys alike.

You see, this mysterious beauty was very outgoing. On her first day, she raised her hand in every class, not to be disruptive, but to add to discussions. She made intelligent comments that provoked the thoughts of all the class. She raised questions that sometimes even the teachers couldn't answer. Argus was immediately smitten.

This girl was special, he could tell.

So what made her approach him? Well, about two weeks after she first came to St. Mary's, Argus was sitting out on his school's quad, eating his lunch while catching up on a bit of light reading.

That's when he felt someone plop down next to him.

"Hello!" A jubilant voice rang out. Argus recognized the voice. It was Laura.

"Hi." He mumbled quietly.

Laura seemed to ignore the blush that had crept up on his cheeks and began a conversation.

"I'm Laura. I'm in a few of your classes. I hope you don't think it too forward of me, but I saw you sitting over here by yourself, and figured it be a good time to introduce myself." She talked very quickly. Argus got the impression that she was one of those people who was constantly smiling, and laughing, and always lifting the spirits of those around her.

"I'm—"

"I know who you are." Laura cut him off. "I've been watching you. Almost as much as everyone else has been watching me." Laura smiled.

"You know what people watch you? And it doesn't bother you?" Argus was now genuinely interested.

"Why should it bother me? It's up to them to waste their time. I'm really not all that interesting." She grinned. "You want to get something to eat after school?"

Argus was surprised that she would ask him of all people. But sure, why not?

"Okay." He said quietly.

"Know any good places?" She asked, smiling.

And from then on, the two of them were always together. It is odd, isn't it? Someone so bold and lively falling for someone as quiet and shy?

Well, Argus thought so too. He loved Laura with absolutely all of his heart and soul. He had tried to keep it from happening, tried to stop it, but he couldn't.

He fell hard for Laura. Too hard.

They did everything together. Argus's fondest memory was their prom, when he told her he loved her.

Laura was wearing a dark blue dress that trailed behind her, and she looked gorgeous when she twirled for him. They were dancing to My Last Promise.

Argus smiled down at Laura and kissed her. "I love you." He whispered.

She smiled up at him. "I love you too."

Another of Argus's favorites was when he got his birthday present. For his birthday, she gave him something he wanted more than anything else in the world. For his birthday, she gave him something that would stay with him forever. For his birthday, she gave him a cat.

She named the cat Mrs. Norris, saying that now she would always be with him.

Then came the day…

Laura had met Argus's family a few times. His parents at least. Anita had never been in town. Always at Hogwarts, or doing ministry work, or something of the like.

So she didn't know about Argus's girlfriend. And Laura didn't really know about her.

Argus's parents knew not to do anything magic related when Laura was in the house. Not only because they didn't want her finding out, but because they didn't want to break the law.

Argus's would be graduating in a week, and Anita was to come home the tomorrow to celebrate. Too bad Anita had another plan. She was going to surprise her family. And surprising them involved apparating into the house. Unfortunately, this happened right in front of Laura.

And that was when things started to unravel. Laura broke his heart. They broke up, and, with Laura threatening to tell someone, the Filches were forced to move. But, you see, to Argus, who had never really opened his heart to anyone, his heart was destroyed. He grew to resent many muggles, and fell back on his Wizarding background. His parents, before they died (of natural causes, I assure you.) had gotten him a job with their good friend, Albus Dumbledore. But Argus was never the same.

And now, you see, he locked away his heart, willing the pain to go away. But it is forever there. He is constantly reminded of her. His cat, the only thing he ever really loved that loved him back unconditionally, was a constant reminder. Though it pained him to keep her, it would have killed him to let her go.

So now, you look at this man, this so-called heartless caretaker, and you wonder. How would things have been different if he had never met Laura? The girl who destroyed his heart, and almost his family?

Look at this man one more time. Now you know that there is more there then what you originally saw. You see that he holds his head high, even though his heart is now forever closed off from the world.

Look at this man with new respect, as I have. A man who lost something so fragile and broken is not someone to be feared or hated. And no, by something fragile I do not mean Laura. This man, this man who should be met with compassion and not contempt, has lost his heart.

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This was a Hideaway contest entry! I hope you enjoyed it. I'm pretty proud of it. :) It isn't something I'm used to doing, you know, Filch and all…

Love,

Monica