Being expelled from Durmstrang was something not everybody could say about themselves. Maybe some could take pride in it, but most people wouldn't really be happy to be downgraded to the same level as Gellert Grindelwald. At least that was what Arthur, Vladimir, and Lukas thought. Said trio had actually managed to achieve the former goal. If one would ask them about the reason why they were expelled from a school that is known for accepting dark arts, they would just tell that they were at the wrong place at the wrong time. Unfortunately for them, their case was quite a commonly known, because the father of Lukas was the current head of the magical community in Norway and the rest of Scandinavia. Rumours had spread quickly and many people had different theories why he and two other students were expelled. A few of them came closer to the truth then the trio would have liked.

Thanks to a miracle as Vladimir would call it, they managed to get accepted at the British magical school Hogwarts. Lukas would say that they only got that option because of Arthur's parents strong influence in the British Ministry of Magic and Arthur would add that his parents more abused than used their connections. But in the end, not one of them really complained about it. Arthur had four older brothers that already told him much of the school and from what he did hear, he didn't find it too bothering.

Until the first day of September they were all staying at Arthurs house because the parents of Lukas were still very disappointed in him and avoided every chance of talking with Lukas and Vladimir's family was, to say it easy, very complicated. They were really lucky that Arthur's parents believed their story about why they were expelled and his brothers even stopped bullying him for a while even so it was normally their favorite thing to do. Nevertheless, they told him that they would start again as soon as the situation would lighten up. Arthurs family, the Kirkland family, was a rich old wizard family with a pure blooded lineage. They lived in a big Manor and had a reputation, that in Great Britain, could only be challenged by the Malfoy family. But such a reputation had it's downsides, too. Arthur's uncle was known to have worked for the dark wizards You-Know-Who, who was defeated by a baby with the name of Harry Potter 8 years ago, and now spends the rest of his life in Azkaban. Because of that, the rest of the family had devoted themselves to prove that they are not all like that. Arthur did not really help their cause by getting expelled from Durmstrang.

The days until the first schooldays passed by rather quickly and the atmosphere in the house was getting thicker and felt like it was attacked by a ruthless Dementor and robbed of all its former beauty and happiness. Allistor, Arthur's oldest brother had started to explain the trio how to behave at Hogwarts as if they had never attended a decent school before and Lukas had received a letter from his little brother Emil, who wished him good luck and warned him that his parents would probably disinherit him or do something worse if he would get expelled again.

On September first the trio was walking through the thick load mass of inattentive people, who only seem to care about reaching their destination. At least that was the only explanation Arthur could think of why the muggles didn't seem to mind people with strange luggage and pet owls going straight to a wall. His parents had left the trio at the entrance with an explanation of where to go. Going through a wall in front of all these muggles was a rather strange feeling for the three teenagers. They knew many different kinds of magic but there would be always new surprising forms of magic. On the other side of the wall, on platform 9 3/4, the crowd was not much smaller. Everywhere were parents that said goodbye to their children, who were leaving them for the rest of the year like birds that learn to fly. Arthur could see the tiny change in Lukas's face. Presumably, he envied the happy climate of a strong family bond.

"Ready to mess things up again?" Vladimir joked and got warning looks from Arthur and Lukas. They decided to not lose much time and put their luggage on the train. Fortunately for them, they managed to do this without any unfortunate incidents. Vladimir could even help a first year with his luggage. The first year was a little bit disturbed by Vladimir's strangely red eyes but seemed to be too polite to ask Vladimir about it.

They found a good compartment quite easily and sat down there.

"I guess we have quite a good reason to be nervous." Vladimir attempted to start a conversation what was quite a difficult task when ones conversation partners were his friends. Especially with Lukas, who really only talked if it was really necessary. Suddenly the door of the compartment swung open and a smiling boy their age stormed in. "Hey Matt, in this compartment are still some places free." Another boy, who looked really similar to the first one, but was much more inconspicuous than him, walked in. "Is it alright, if we sit here?" His voice was so quiet, one could nearly believe he was whispering. "I don't see why not. Could be bringing the compartment a little bit of liveliness." Vladimir said and earned an innocent glance of Lukas, who tried to hide the temptation to let a small smile get over his lips. Arthur scanned the first boy who already sat down. The boy didn't seem to be from the British Ilse. Maybe he was an exchange student or something. "I'm Alfred Jones and I'm from the United States. That is my twin brother Matthew Williams. Don't ask why we have different surnames. It's complicated." He took a quick look around the room. "Interesting. You are the second person today that I'm seeing who has red eyes. Looks nice dude." He told Vladimir. "Thank you I guess. I'm Vladimir Lupei. I'm from Romania. And that are Arthur Kirkland and Lukas Bondevick." "Aren't you the students that got themselves expelled from Durmstrang? Honestly, how did you do it? That super cool!" Arthur immediately marked Alfred as the most careless person he ever met. Matthew seemingly didn't really appreciate what his brother was doing and was a little bit suspicious. Alfred noticed that his brother didn't really feel well in this situation. "Don't mind him. He's always like that. We are new to Hogwarts, too. Our first three years we have completed at Ilvermorny" The forced conversation took the time of most of the ride to Hogwarts. It mostly was led by Alfred and Vladimir and a few comments from Arthur and Matthew. Lukas had decided to stay quiet and just read a book. The load voice of Alfred slightly annoyed him. The twins told the trio that three people from Beauxbatons changed to Hogwarts this year, too and that hey met them on the platform. According to Alfred they were from Germany, France and Spain. The German guy should have red eyes just like Vladimir, but unlike in Vladimir's case he also had white hair. Presumably he was an albino, they thought. Alfred had also told them that he and Matthew were Muggle-born. After hours of listening to him, Arthur decided to instead take a look at the Scottish landscape that they could admire through the solid material of the cold windows. After some time they finally changed into their robes and went to the outside. It was already really dark. Only the moon and some stars were merciful enough to give the crowd of nervous children a bit light.

"First years and new students to the boats! First years and new students immediately to the boats!" A very big seemingly strong man with a soft expression called for them to join him. The twins and the trio follow him until they stood in front of a big dark blue lake. They could see the castle of Hogwarts from far away and the trio could do nothing else than go be amazed. The big ancient looking castle was really an improvement to Durmstrang.

They quickly decided to follow the other further and got in a boat with another student with shoulder long golden hair and blue-violet eyes. Arthur immediately recognized him as the French person Alfred told them about.

I hope you liked the first chapter. It could take some time until the next one is out. Until then.

-AncientGreen