Title: Of Wizards, Broomsticks, Love, and Pranks: The Tale of Two Frenemies
Pairing: USUK
Rating: T (For language and a possible 'situation' that could happen down the road ;) )
Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia, nor the wonderful world of Harry Potter
Warnings: Major AU, shounen-ai (duh), if you don't like Quidditch there could be a problem (I love Quidditch~) and I expect this to be quite long
Summary: At Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, tensions are heating up between long-time rivals Arthur Kirkland and Alfred F. Jones. Ever since their first meeting on the train, every class, project, and magic duel turned into an intense competition between the two.
"Matthew? Where'd you go?" Already changed into his robes, the perky blonde was searching the train in search of his brother. He had ditched his younger sibling in order to stock up on sweets and candy before arriving at the famed school, and he managed to buy at least one of everything that was stocked before shoving it into the bag which he carried at his side. The eleven year-old knocked on door after door, waiting to here the familiar mumble of his timid brother answering him. Instead, he received still unfamiliar accents and several snores in reply.
He now stood in front of what had to be the one thousandth door he had to try, his hand raised in a tight fist barely touching the door. Sadly, the main reason he was trying so hard to track down his sibling was candy. Sure, the young American had about as much as he could carry in his bag, but he had promised first-pick to Matthew, and Alfred ialways/i kept his word, no matter what. It did help to motivate him though, because the poor boy had never had a Chocolate Frog in his entire life and was rather tempted to just eat one as he searched. But I repeat, he keeps his word.
"Alfred?" He turned to see his brother enter from another cabin, a slightly taller blonde kid with vivid green eyes that resembled emeralds following behind him. He looked nice enough, the only thing about him that made Alfred stop to think was his eyebrows. DAMN! Where those caterpillars thick! His attention was quickly brought back to Earth though, by the thick-eyebrowed boy taking a step towards him. The blonde grabbed Alfred's hand and quickly moved it away from the door, keeping it in his grasp as green eyes meet blue,
"Normally I would ask if you were lost, but seeing as how you are about to knock on the one door you should avoid at all costs, I iknow/i you're lost." He said, releasing Alfred's hand, "You really don't want to run into those blokes, take it from me. But anyway," He rolled his green eyes before sticking out his hand, "First year Arthur Kirkland, pleased to make your acquaintance."
Alfred paused for a moment. What was behind the door anyway? He had half-a-mind to just knock on it anyway, figure out what was so important. He shot a glance at his brother, who still looked slightly uneasy (it was his first time ever on a train,) before taking the blonde's hand, smiling as he introduced himself as well, "Alfred F. Jones, nice to meet ya!"
As Arthur helped the two brothers find their compartment again, Alfred and the blonde really started talking. Arthur informed the two boys about the wizard antics of his three older brothers, and what to expect at Hogwarts, although he hadn't even attended the school yet himself. Matthew started to pale slightly at the description of some of the pranks that the poor boy had had pulled on him over the years, knowing that he would surely have some pulled on him as well. In return, Alfred shared the story of how when they got their letters, they had spent more time gawking at the owl then at the actual letters themselves.
"Really? My family's owl just dropped mine off and I was on it in two seconds flat, and you just stared at the owl?" Arthur closed the compartment door behind him, taking a seat next to Matthew across from Alfred in the small space.
Alfred nodded, "Me and Matt don't see a lotta stuff like that, I mean sure, the letters were cool too, but that owl! I kept twitching around and looking and stuff!" The blonde's face was lit up with joy at just the thought of the creature, "It was on our front porch and it just sat there, didn't fly away until we finally took the letters. Oh! I almost forgot!" He shuffled through his bag before pulling two fist-fulls of candy from it, holding one hand to Matthew and the other to Arthur, "You two get first dibs, but Matt goes first, as promised." He grinned.
"Wait! So you've actually done magic before? I thought we weren't supposed to do that outside of school or something or other?" Alfred asked excitedly, almost vibrating in his seat. Matthew had long since passed out and was leaning against the window, the only sign that he was still alive was the soft breath that he let out now and then. Alfred, now completely sugar high, was pelting the only other awake person with questions. Poor Arthur. The Brit was starting to get a tad irritated at the questions that he thought that everyone knew the answer to, and was a little surprised that Alfred ididn't/i know the answers to them. It was like he had been living in under a rock or something, a big rock made of American ignorance.
"Magic is easy, it takes no effort at. And no, typically you are not supposed to preform magic outside of the school, but in my case it was totally called for." He answered, crossing his arms as he leaned back against the cushion, "Bloody wanker wouldn't leave me alone..." He grumbled, shuddering as he remembered.
"What? What happened? You have to tell me now!" He was jumping up and down now, looking positively overjoyed at the prospect of a story, especially one involving harassment and magic. He put on his best pout face and looked across at the other blonde, "Pweeease~? You share your story and then I'll share one of mine!"
Big blue eyes stared at him, unclouded by the glasses that rested neatly on his nose, and Arthur caved instantly. He cleared his throat, averting his eyes to stare at the window, watching the scenery flash by at a rapid pace, "It isn't even much of a story anyway. This... iweirdo/i came up to me at the platform, followed by this other guy and another guy with white hair. The first one got way too close, and I swear that he's part Veela! I swear it!" He scoffed, rolling his eyes, "Two were dressed in Slytherine robes, while the brunette was wearing Hufflepuff. All three couldn't have been more then a year older then me, well, us. The creepy blonde said something that I'm not going to repeat and I, well I um," He wasn't used to storytelling, he was usually the one having stories told to if one his brothers felt in a giving mood (which was next to never) but he rather liked the way Alfred had fully devoted himself to listening, despite the fact that he was still fidgeting around, "So I pulled out my wand and told him to back off-"
"Didja use a spell?" Alfred asked eagerly, sitting at the edge of the cushion continuing to bounce like the sugar-holic that he was.
"A simple iFlipendo/i was enough to get away from that wanker, I'm rather proud of it actually." He said softly, shooting another glance out the window, "After that I made sure to pay attention to what compartment they disappearance into, it was the one that you were about to knock on." He said, turning his head to meet Alfred's eyes, "I have no doubt that they would've molested someone as innocent and cute looking as you." He didn't have control over the words that left his mouth, and he didn't realize what he had said either. He just continued, "So I would stay away from that room if I were you, and I think you already have enough candy so there's no need for you to leave again. Plus, I think you need to watch over your brother a little bit more closely, he seemed really scarred when I found him, muttered something about flying paper and wouldn't say anything more on the subject... Say something." He stopped, looking concerned at Alfred, who looked checked out or worried about something.
He sat up, blinking a couple times as he came back, "Oh! Uh, what?" He smiled sheepishly, looking kind of embarrassed at the fact that he had spaced out, "I just didn't understand about half of what you just said, mainly the big words and anything that sounded to British." He said normally, not intending to hurt Arthur's feelings (although it did a little) but he continued anyway, "Ok! My turn now!"
Arthur sat back, bracing himself for a long rambling tale with improper grammar and abuse to the Queen's English (In the short time that he had known Alfred, he had lost count of how many times he had to stop himself from correcting the boy on his errors. He didn't want to seem rude- age eleven and already a perfect gentleman- but Alfred seemed to have no problem just opening up to him.)
"Well, Matt and I are adopted, both of us never knew our real parents. Most people don't notice because we actually look a lot alike, but we're not related, we even have different last names to prove it. I'm Alfred F. Jones and he's Matthew Williams. Rumor has it that Matt wouldn't talk to me until we were both three, but I don't remember it. But anyway, since we're both pretty much the same age, I'm older, by the way, we've always gone to class together and he'd help me study and stuff and I'd keep him from getting beat up. Just before we hopped over here to Europe to stay with our aunt, Mattie and I went to visit this really great candy shop! When the candy shop dude finished bagging our sweets, I turned around and Matt had disappeared! He does that a lot, by the way. Anyway, so I was walking outside of the shop trying to find him when all of a sudden I hear Kyle's and Mattie's voices! Oh, I forgot to mention that Kyle is a bully that goes after Matt a lot. So I finally find my brother and just like I thought he was surrounded by Kyle and his lot of friends, trying to whisper his way out of it again. That's when I, being a hero and all, stepped in and totally beat them up and stuff! Because no one can mess with my brother except for me!" He grinned, laughing slightly at remembering his heroic victory. Arthur raised an eyebrow at hearing the blonde call himself a 'Hero,' little did he know that it would be the first time of many.
One of the few times that Alfred had ever gone completely silent was when he first entered the Great Hall. Both Matthew and Alfred stood gaping at the sheer mass of people inside, and as Arthur pointed his finger up at the ceiling to guide their attention towards the endless field of stars hanging above them, the two had their jaws practically on the floor. Four massive tables stretched the length of the room, all filled with students clothed in the classic Hogwarts robes as they turned towards the first-years, trying to get a glimpse at the fresh meat. A witch in dark green robes lead the group down the center of the giant dining area, everyone following in a small clump. The two brother clung to each other and looked like the owls that they so adored, glancing around trying to take everything in at once. Arthur just amused himself with their reactions, having heard about the place his whole life, it came at no surprise to him at how grade everything was. Not that it didn't excite him, but it was predictable enough for the Brit.
After everyone had settled down a little and the murmuring from the tables and first years had stopped, the sorting began. The witch cleared her throat before speaking, "Now, when I call your name, you will step forward and I will place the Sorting Hat on your head and you will be sorted into your respective house."
"Sorting Hat?" Alfred whispered his question to Arthur, but the other blonde just whispered back, "Just watch."
"Braginski, Natalya." She called out, and a girl with platinum blonde hair and cold eyes stepped forward. She meet eyes with no one as she took a seat on the stool neatly placed next to the elegant witch, and the hat barely touched her head before calling out, "SLYTHERIN!" Followed by a roar of cheers from the table to the far end of the room.
Both Matthew and Alfred jumped as the mouth of the hat spoke the word, clinging to each other in surprise, "D-did that hat just talk?" They asked in union, their voices reduced to a whisper by shock. Arthur rolled his eyes and the sorting continued.
"Beilschmidt, Ludwig." She called again as Alfred's eyes followed the blonde girl as she pranced off to one of the tables, pushing people out of the way in order to take a seat next to a tall boy, his hair so blonde it was almost white. He shifted his gaze back as a blonde boy stepped forward, looking slightly nervous as he left the side of a happy looking brunette. He sat on the stool, and the hat rested on his blonde, slicked back hair for a long moment, before, "GRYFFINDOR!" The table burst into cheers, welcoming the new family member.
It continued like this, Alfred and Matthew watching intently as everyone was being sorted. Kiku Honda, a raven-haired Asian student, was quickly sorted into Ravenclaw. The brunette that had been standing by the other boy, by name of Feliciano, went to Hufflepuff; while his brother Lovino followed him to the table. A blonde with wild hair that was clearly full of hair gel was sent to Gryffindor, another blonde with a cross holding back his hair sent to Ravenclaw.
"Kirkland, Arthur." The blonde smiled at the two brothers before leaving them behind, going up to take his place at the stool. The hat was placed on his head, falling over his eyes a tad bit. After a brief silence, "SLYTHERIN!"
Alfred raised an eyebrow as cheers followed from the table. Slytherin? From what Arthur had told him, Slytherin wasn't exactly the place that you wanted to be. Although, now that he was thinking about and off his sugar buzz, Arthur had gone into detail about every house iexcept/i Slytherin. The only time he had said the name was when he was talking about the group that had approached him at the platform. Alfred watched as the blonde sighed to himself and hopped off the stool, heading over to the table where three people seemed to be waiting. A tall boy with messy auburn hair ruffled Arthur's hair before slapping his hand on his back and guiding him over to the table amidst the cheers.
Several more students were called, the room erupting into sound every-time a house was declared, before, "Jones, Alfred."
The blonde swallowed, nervously pushing up his glasses just like his brother often did. Wait, why was he getting nervous? He was the hero, the great Alfred F. Jones! It wasn't like the hat would eat him or anything... Right? No, not those kind of thoughts! Bad Alfred!
He stepped forward, shooting a glance at his brother who gave him a encouraging smile in return, before taking his place one the stool and the hat was placed on his head. Just like the blonde girl, it had barely rested on his head for a moment before it loudly proclaimed, "Gryffindor!"
He quickly hopped off the school, barely giving time to the witch to take the hat off before he darted off towards the table that was calling to him, eager to get away from the talking hat. He was greeted by two people with gold and red badges that shown brightly against their dark robes, both were blonde and clearly related. The girl greeted him with a cat-like smile, while the much taller boy had no expression whatsoever. "Welcome to Gryffindor Alfred! My name's Bella, if you need anything, feel free to ask, ok?" She hummed, and Alfred nodded before taking a seat next to the blonde boy from before as the two siblings welcomed yet another Gryffindor into the fold.
Alfred waited not-so-patiently for his brother to be called, and he felt his breath catch as the name, "Williams, Matthew." rang through the hall. He watched as his brother took the stool and the hat placed on his head, and after a moment's hesitation, he was declared, "HUFFLEPUFF!"
Al's heart sank. Would this mean he couldn't do anything with his brother anymore? Would he even see him? And what about Arthur? Would he ever be able to catch up with the Slytherin Brit again? Unanswered questions swarmed through his mind, his attention only being slightly brought back as a man who he could only assume to be the Principal stood up and gave a small speech that Alfred blocked out entirely. The only word that made him blink was 'Death,' but not knowing how it was used in context made Alfred loose interest again.
But when the food appeared, he snapped out of it. Plate after plate of food as far as the eye could see was laid out before him, making him sit up straighter as the smell of it finally reached his nose. He glanced around to find people had already started to eat, but where did the food come from? He had noticed anyone come and put it down (but then again he had been out of it for quite some time) but his thoughts became clouded as his stomach growled, signaling for him to start eating. He grabbed about one of everything within his reach and dug in. Heh, it wasn't hamburgers, but he could get used to it.
When the dessert appeared, his eating started to slow and he actually found time to try and strike up a conversation with those around him. The other first-year with what had to be five pounds of hair gel making his hair spring out in all directions went by the name of Mathias, while the other blonde with his hair slicked back was Ludwig. Alfred introduced himself and asked if they knew anything about spending time with other houses, Mathias shook his head and continued to eat his cake, while Ludwig sighed before answering,
"My bruder is in Slytherin, and from what he tells me we have most classes with students from other houses." He mumbled as Alfred took notice of his German accent, "The only house that I am eager to share classes with is Hufflepuff."
"For me, it's Ravenclaw." Mathias grinned, taking another bite of cake.
"I can't wait for our first class with Hufflepuff, Slytherin too." Alfred nodded causally in agreement, taking another forkful of cake himself. He continued to focus attention on his food, until he noticed the sudden silence between him and his two fellow first years, "What?" He asked, slightly confused.
"Why would you want to take classes with those no-good Slytherin?" Mathias scoffed, rolling his eyes before finally returning to his cake.
"Don't say that! Ludwig, didn't you say that-"
"iNein/i, I agree completely." The blonde deadpanned, "My bruder is my bruder and always will be, but I will not deny that he belongs in the Slytherin house."
"Is there something wrong with being Slytherin?" Alfred asked, starting to get a tad concerned. Arthur seemed so nice, or at least nice enough. There's no way he could be-
"They're greedy, snobby, self-righteous, quick to pick fights, and will do whatever they have to to get what they want." Mathis interrupted his thoughts with his prejudice statement, and before Alfred had time to press further, the Principal called attention to himself again, dismissing everyone and telling them to rest up for classes the next day. Everyone stood and started to make their way over to the giant door from where they entered, and Alfred got on his tip-toes trying to catch a glimpse of either his brother or Arthur. He finally caught sight of Matthew, who was laughing quietly with the brunette Ludwig was with earlier while following the mass of people out the door. Alfred went so far as to hop onto a chair in order to try and find his first British friend, but to no avail.
The Gryffindors were lead by the brother-sister duo through the door, then down corridors and passageways, and several staircases before finally stopping in front of a painting. Alfred was, first of all, near the back to the group with Ludwig and Matthias; and, second of all, too freaking tired to notice the fact that the people inside paintings were moving, that several staircases were moving by themselves, or that the boy prefect had started a limited conversation with a ghost. All of it passed by him with one yawn after another, and his feet ached to find a bed and just sleep and never wake up.
He moved with the group, half-asleep already, and was guided towards his dorm by Mathias and Ludwig, and was pleased to find that he was sharing his dorm with them. Not even bothering to change out of his new robes, Alfred face-planted into the comfy-looking bed and was out the moment his face hit the pillow, figuring he had plenty of time to worry about Mattie and Arthur tomorrow.
iDear Journal,
Today was by far the strangest day of my life. Not only did I a talking hat sit on my head, but during dinner I met a couple of weird people. First, there was Feliciano and his brother Lovino. About half-way through dessert, Lovino pulled out his wand and made a cake fly straight towards Antonio's- a second year- face. I sat next to this boy from Iceland, who only went by the nick-name of Ice. Kinda strange, but I'm glad there's someone else quiet for me to hang around. Tomorrow our first class is Charms with Gryffindor, but hopefully I can find Alfred at breakfast.
…. I think I could get used to this.
- Matthew