25. Unveiled Secrets

                                    

                                          
⚠️ TRIGGER WARNING ⚠️ This chapter contains homophobic slurs. If you're uncomfortable with reading anything of the sort, you can skip that bit; I'll put the warning emoji (⚠️) at the beggining and end of the fragment that contains the triggering words, so you can make sure to skip right through that portion. If you choose to do so, just know it's a confrontation; you'll understand the rest of the chapter just fine :)
Be kind to yourself and know, if you're part of the LGBTQIAA  community, that none of the offensive words here are true. You're valid, you're awesome and I love you💚
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Ari's limp body lay on the floor and he wished all the pain would just stop. 
It had been two weeks since the attack that shook the wizarding world to the core had occurred, and it was still on everyone's mouth; students didn't dare to walk the hallways alone, professors looked distressed and whispers could be heard around every corner. Some students, involuntarily, walked the other way every time a Slytherin approached them and shunned them as if they were the bearers of a contagious disease.
"Yeah, it's better if you run away from me, I don't want to catch whatever disease made you have that disgusting look on your face," Ari shouted at a group of fifth years who got up from their seats as soon as they saw him. 
"Don't mind them," Anya said as she glared at them. "They're just being stupid."
As much as Ari loved Anya, he knew she'd never truly understand. He'd been sorted into Slytherin one year after his half-brother had been put in Gryffindor and it had shaken their entire family. To Dean it had never made a difference; he only saw it as one more thing to tease his brother about. But during his time at Hogwarts, Ari often found himself wishing he had been sorted anywhere else. He was lucky he'd found his best friends during his first day of school, because as the years passed, the prejudices against all the green-robed students had only multiplied and he had lost a handful of acquaintances when he'd never once shown any desire to uphold the ridiculous pure-blood ideas most of his house mates divulged. He'd had to hide behind his friends just before the Battle started so he wasn't taken to the dungeons with the rest of his cowardly fellow Slytherins; he'd had to battle against people he'd once shared a common room with. He'd had to earn his place as a trustworthy person and had always strived to succeed and prove he was as deserving as any other student.
And as if they didn't already have enough on their plate, certain groups of students, who had a tendency to pick fights just for the thrill of it, had emboldened after the assault and started terrorising younger students. Head Boys and Girls along with their Prefects were often taking points and giving out detentions, but that didn't seem to be stopping them.
Ari's head had been a twirling mess ever since the attack and he was so lost in his own world that he didn't hear the three sets of footsteps that were following him down the deserted corridor. 
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"If it isn't Slytherin's own queer scum!" Ari heard from behind.
He turned around, his hand already in his pocket and gripping his wand firmly. Walking towards him, he saw one green robe, one red and one yellow; he soon recognised them as Colm Lahey, Martin Smith and Silvanus Rosier. 
"What'd you want?" Ari asked, trying to sound polite.
"You're in our way," Silvanus replied.
Ari looked to his sides and then back at the trio: "The corridor's wide enough for me, you three and your big mouths."