Hogwarts' Favorite Fighting (Half) Frenchman
A/N: I do not own anything—everything from Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling and of course Guns and Ships (along with everything else in Hamilton) belongs to the awesomely talented Lin Manuel-Miranda (one of the many people who I would give everything I had to meet and/or see them preform live).
So this falls in the same universe as Duel Less, Study More. It's almost like a sequel, maybe more of a companion piece. You know when your brain just can't stop thinking of an idea, and you just have to write it? Yeah, that's pretty much what this is. I may try to do one of these with all the songs, but I don't know. Ideas are appreciated and encouraged.
As I write this, we are one day from my birthday (Yay!) and four days away from my mom's ankle fusion surgery (boo!). Just letting you know that updates are going to be slim for a few months while my mom recovers. Speaking of updates, the update poll is still active so please vote on it! Believe it or not, I am using it to determine which stories get updated!
Okay, I think that's everything! Please let me know what you think in a review or private message!
Oh! I'd like to thank bookluver15, harrypottercrookshanks, ElsaElphieGinny and hamiltrash 2 for their reviews on Duel Less, Study More.
Louis Weasley sighed as he leaned against the stairs, watching his family gather by the fire. It was the Christmas Holidays, and any other year the young Ravenclaw would have joined in with the yuletide celebrations. But this year, his fifth year, it was different.
Sighing, Louis looked down at his trainers. It wasn't as though he was ashamed of his family—well, maybe not his father's family. The Slytherins had always bullied him and the rest of the Weasley brood, but their usual comments about the Weasley red hair and their blood traitor status had been heard so many times that it honestly just rolled off like water on a duck's back. But for the past couple of years, the house of snakes seemed to finally realize that Louis was not purely British.
Victorie had already graduated, so there was nothing they could do to her. Dominque was Head Girl (plus a pretty scary prankster in her own right), so no one wanted to mess with her. That just left the bookworm youngest. For months, Louis found frogs everywhere he went—frogs on his plate, frogs at his desk and even in his Quidditch locker. Had they stopped there, Louis could have almost laughed it off. How were frogs an insult? He liked frogs, everyone knew that!
But then the Slytherins began their comment storm, cleverly done so professors and Dominque were never in ear shot. But Louis was. All the time. Oddly enough, they were mainly quotes that often left Louis feeling confused upon first hearing them. Only after he realized that it was indeed meant as an insult did Louis feel a pit in the depths of his stomach.
"France? You mean a country where the money falls apart in your hand and you can tear the toilet paper?"
"The friendship of the French is like their wine, exquisite, but of short duration."
They often went like this, along with comments about how his ancestors probably ran away from the invading Nazi army.
There have to be some Muggleborns in Slytherin now. No Pureblood would actually care about World War II, Louis thought. The only reason he did was because his parents somehow managed to take them to every World War Two memorial in France when he was 13. Personally, Louis could have done with the tour of the Drancy Internment Camp, but that was just him.
The Slytherin's comments had gotten so bad that Louis almost asked his father if he could skive off their yearly trip to France. I mean, if his mum had moved to Britain from France, then didn't that meant that it was better to be British?
A shadow glanced over him, bringing Louis out of his thoughts and back to the present. Looking up, Louis saw through the stair rails a petite young girl with vivid red hair, reading a book that Louis knew without seeing the title had to do with Alexander Hamilton. Lily was strangely obsessed with that man, or more importantly the play. I mean, you'd have to be to get into a duel your first year at Hogwarts right? But still, Louis loved Lily. Truthfully, and he'd deny it if you told anyone else because it would totally get back to James and Fred but Lily was his favorite cousin.
"Hey Lils," he turned around and tried to put a smile on his face,trying to pretend that he hadn't been spending his time caring about what Slytherins thought about him.
"Hey Louis," Lily looked up from her book and smiled before turning her eyes back to the pages. The bends in the spine told Louis that this had probably been read a time or two already.
"Good book?" he asked, making his way up the stairs and sat next to her. Lily nodded, pulled a random piece of parchment out of her pocket and stuck it in the book to mark her place.
"Yeah, I just wish it covered more," Lily sighed and Louis was confused. What did she mean?
"It looks like it covers a good bit," Louis told her, glancing at the thick book that seemed almost as thick as Hogwarts: A History. Lily snorted in amusement.
"Hardly. For a book that claims to be all about Alexander Hamilton and his family, it barely covers his second sister in law Peggy van Rensselaer nee Schuyler . I mean, she's the most interesting of the lot, in my opinion. But of course, she's never romantically involved with Hamilton so she's not worth mentioning."
"Have you spent any time with Aunt Hermione over these holidays?" Louis asked, a little frightened of the mini-speech that came out of Lily's mouth. I mean, the girl was eleven! Her knowledge of romance should come from Disney movies about singing candlesticks and beast and manly egg eating men!
Maybe Beauty and the Beast was the only Disney movie he knew of, now that he thought of it. Thanks Aunt Hermione for giving him knowledge of one at least.
"Yeah," Lily nodded. "She told me off about dueling Nott but also was the one to give me this book as an early Christmas present. She didn't want me to only get my information from the play."
"That sounds like her," Louis smiled. "But it sounds like you've already done your research—if you claim the book Aunt Hermione gave you doesn't have enough information."
"Of course I did! I nearly drove Hugo crazy with the number of times we went to the library during term," Lily chuckled. "But enough about me. Are you okay? You seem a bit down."
"Just a hard term," Louis told her. "It's OWL year, is all."
"Oh," Lily said, looking down. "Louis, why do the Slytherins keep calling you 'frog-boy'?"
Louis froze—how did Lily know about that?
"What makes you ask that?" he asked in what he hoped was a would-be confident voice. Lily's look told him that it clearly didn't work.
"I heard them chanting it during the last Quidditch match. You know, the one where you let in like twenty goals to Hufflepuff."
Oh, right. Honestly, he was surprised that the rest of the family hadn't called him on that. But Lily was scary observant at times—no one knew where exactly she got it. Plus, the Slytherins had amped up their chants as to be heard over the roar of the crowd.
"They found out that mum's French," Louis told her. "They've been giving grief about it all term. Frog's a vulgar insult toward anyone of French heritage."
"And you haven't told McGonagall why?"
"It's complicated," Louis told her. If he told McGonagall, then the Headmistress would write home to his parents and then Louis would have to tell his mother why he was ashamed to be French. That was not a conversation he wanted to have. Ever.
"You do know that Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette was French right?" Lily asked and Louis blinked—not expecting those words to come out of Lily's mouth. Or the correct pronunciation either.
"I asked Aunt Fleur last week," Lily told him, seeing the look that must have been on Louis' face. "He fought in the American War of Independence with George Washington, John Laurens, Hercules Mulligan and Alexander Hamilton—along with many others."
"You do know that's not something most British people are proud of right?" Louis told her. "I'm pretty sure it's seen as like one of the most humiliating defeats the British Empire has ever seen."
"You know, Hugo said the same thing when we were on the train back in September," Lily said, rolling her eyes. "Honestly, it's not like there are people who still care anymore. The play is good, let's just keep it at that."
There was a moment of silence as Louis took the time to study his younger cousin. Lily's red hair really seemed to become more vibrant as the stray glow of the fire glanced off of it. No doubt someday soon, Louis would be joining James and Al in chasing away any potential boyfriends. That's what they did with Roxanne, Molly and Lucy.
"You know, you could always shove the insult back in the snake's faces," Lily said softly, as if speaking would get her into trouble. Knowing Lily, it probably would.
"What do you mean?" Louis asked, almost dreading the answer as a spark came into Lily's eyes.
"Have you ever heard of Guns and Ships?" she asked.
"Is it in Hamilton?"
"What about me suggested that it could be from anything else?" Lily asked, almost offended.
"Didn't Uncle Harry ban you from listening to that over the holidays?" Louis asked. "You know, after you followed the directions to one of the songs and almost dueled another student?!"
"Dad only banned the one song," Lily waved away the concern. "Besides, I know all the songs by heart now."
"You're scary."
"I"m related to you by blood."
"That scares me more."
00000
Okay, so Lily's plan was actually pretty good—once you eliminated some of the oddities that only a First Year could come up with. They included two other people into the plan—Hugo, who just shook his head in amusement upon hearing the words come out of Lily's mouth, and Louis' Quidditch captain.
"Humiliate Slytherins you say?" the tall blond asked after they asked him when term started back up. "Well I'm in, especially since we can't hope to do that on the Quidditch field because our Keeper can't even protect the hoops from the Hufflepuff team."
"Merlin! MacMillion I said I'm sorry!" Louis griped as Lily and Hugo rolled their eyes at the antics of the Ravenclaw Quidditch players. "Sides we're playing Gryffindor next."
"Yes, and that make me feel so much better! Your bloody family's the whole team—not to mention the Weasleys are considered the first family of Quidditch!"
"You may have issues," Louis sighed but picked up his packet from Lily. Yes, his cousin had designed packets. Merlin, she was detailed about this.
Well, it combined her two favorite things so it shouldn't have been so surprising. Hamilton and humiliating Slytherins. Maybe Hogwarts won't be safe after all when James and Al graduate.
000
Their plan was set to take place on the morning before the Ravenclaw/Gryffindor Quidditch game. Honestly, if Louis lived to be 100 he'd never understand Lily's reasoning for it. But sometimes it was better not to argue with her so they just went with it. Louis was hiding behind the door in his Quidditch gear—Lily said it would look more dramatic when he came out.
Louis was just happy that the Wizarding World didn't have any careers in acting. Lily did not need a new obsession.
Shaking his head, Louis smiled as the music started—MacMillion's part of course. The seventh year was handy to have when it came to Charms work.
How does a ragtag volunteer army in need of a shower
Somehow defeat a global superpower?
It honestly surprised Louis that Lily had picked Hugo to play Burr instead of herself. But Hugo was doing an awesome job, and it had the bonus of making everyone really confused. Though Hugo was probably pissing off the Gryffindors more, as he wore Ravenclaw colors.
How do we emerge victorious from the quagmire
Leave the battlefield waving Betsy Ross' flag higher?
Leave it to Lils to somehow find a giant version of the Colonial flag and hoist it up in the Great Hall, Louis thought—shaking his head. Then again, she did share DNA with James and Fred II. Maybe it shouldn't have been so amusing and more on the scary side.
Yo. Turns out we have a secret weapon!
An immigrant you know and love who's unafraid to step in!
He's constantly confusin', confoundin' the British henchman.
Ev'ryone give it up for America's favorite fighting Frenchman!
Upon the remaining three's cheer of 'Lafayette', Louis burst through into the Great Hall. Now, he was honestly afraid of stumbling over parts of his lines. He had to listen to the song like fifty times until he got a grasp of what the man was saying, he was going so fast.
I'm taking this horse by the reins making
Redcoats redder with bloodstains
And I'm never gonna stop until I make 'em
Drop and burn 'em up and scatter their remains, I'm
Okay, maybe it was a good thing Louis was going a bit faster than normal. There were certain lines that he did not want the first years listening to! Merlin, why did Lily like this play? It was so graphic!
Watch me engagin' em! Escapin' em!
Engrain' em! I'm—
I go to France for more funds
I come back with more
Guns
And ships
And so the balance shifts
Louis almost burst out laughing as MacMillion stood up to sing his part. Apparently, equating Quidditch captain to Revolutionary War general was not as big of a stretch as he had thought it would be.
We rendezvous with Rochambeu, consolidate their gifts.
We can end this war at Yorktown, cut them off at sea, but
For this to succeed, there is someone else we need:
I know
The first cheer of 'Hamilton' almost knocked Louis off balance, it was so loud. Trust Lily to rope in some Muggleborns from her year into this. They were almost as enthusiastic as she was. Almost being the key word.
Louis decided to take the moment and add to the dramatic, jumping off the top of Ravenclaw table and running over to MacMillion.
Sir, he knows what to do in a trench
Ingenuitive and fluent in French, I mean—
HAMILTON!
Sir, you're going to have to use him eventually
What's he gonna do on the bench? I mean—
Okay, the background cheers—kinda getting repetitive. But Louis couldn't help but smile as he caught a glimpse of some of the Slytherin's faces. The confused and yet infuriated looks made it all worth it.
No one has more resilience
Or matches my practical tactical brilliance—
Lafayette was not a humble man was he? Louis thought with an inward snort as he sang his line; gearing up for the chorus' chant.
HAMILTON!
You want to fight for your land back?
HAMILTON!
I need my right hand man back!
Hamilton!
Ah! Uh, get ya right hand man back
You know you gotta get ya right hand man back
I mean you gotta put
some thought into the letter
but the sooner the better
To get your right hand man back!
Louis shot a grin at the Slytherin House table as they sat down. Lily had originally wanted to include the ending bit about Alexander Hamilton being given a command but Hugo talked her down—saying it would have diminished the point they were trying to make.
However, McGonagall's face definitely promised a letter home and despite getting one up on the Slytherin's, Louis still wasn't looking forward to a talk with his dad.
"Crap," Lily winced as she sat down next to Louis, probably just to torment James and Al—both on the Gryffindor team. "Dad's probably going to ban the entire musical if McGonagall writes home again!"
"Nah," Louis told her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "Sides, if Uncle Harry does do that, I'll just convince Dad to allow it at Shell Cottage."
Lily shot him a megawatt grin and Louis got up from the table, grabbing his broom and marching off to the Quidditch field. True, they probably were going to get creamed but at least he let the Slytherins know that they were going to have to get a lot more creative if they were going to mess with him!
