Ludwig hauled his luggage into the compartment on the train and sighed, collapsing onto the seat. How was it that the only empty compartment was at the end of the train? He had to drag his trunk full of clothes and other various magical equipment to the back of the train which wasn't an easy feat considering his small stature.

He hadn't been shocked when he found out he was accepted into Hogwarts. So were his parents, and so was his older brother. In fact, he would be quite excited to be on the shining, red Hogwarts Express if he wasn't anticipating the inevitable: he would be sorted into Slytherin just like the rest of his family. The Beilschmidt's were a prominent Pure-blooded family in the wizarding community, and most of them had gotten into Slytherin. His parents were both from Slytherin House themselves, and his brother was currently the Slytherin Quidditch Team Captain. Ludwig dreaded having to be around his brother every day of the year, the teasing was bad enough at home.

Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted by the compartment door sliding open and a slightly older face peeked in. He had rosy cheeks and auburn hair with a single flyaway curl that seemed to stick out from his head. It bounced with the shaking of the train moving along the tracks. When he opened his mouth to speak, Ludwig was surprised by the shrillness and thick Italian accent of the boy's voice.

"Ciao! May I come in? Oh, and my brother as well," the boy said warmly. "We couldn't find any other empty compartments, and I guess this one is the most empty one we're going to find!"

Ludwig blinked and nodded. "Ja, sure," he replied, his own voice sounding several years more mature in comparison to this older boy's voice.

The boy with the curl grinned happily and stepped into the compartment, dragging his trunk behind him. A taller, tanner teenage boy with darker hair and a similar flyaway curl followed, looking substantially more grumpy than his cheery sibling and wrapped up in a yellow and black scarf. The two boys sat down in the seats across from Ludwig. The younger one spoke up, "I'm Feliciano Vargas, by the way. Oh, and this is my big brother Lovino." He gestured to the older boy, who merely scowled and grunted at Ludwig.

"I'm Ludwig Beilschmidt," replied Ludwig, looking with interest at the scarf around Lovino's neck. "You're a Hufflepuff?"

Feliciano nodded. "We're both Huff-"

Lovino glared at Ludwig. "Wait, did you say 'Beilschmidt?'" he growled. His voice was almost startlingly low in comparison to Feliciano. "You wouldn't happen to be related to that jerkwad Gilbert, would you?"

Feliciano's eyes lit up in alarm. "Lovino! Watch your tongue!"

Ludwig sighed and leaned back in his seat sullenly, crossing his arms. "Ja, he's my older brother. I'm not very proud of it, just so you know. He is a jerkwad."

Lovino wrinkled his nose in disgust. "Damn it. Sitting with you will attract him to us!" he groaned.

Feliciano smacked his brother's arm, scowling indignantly. "Lovino, hush! You're being rude!"

"Not as rude as that damn German can be!" Lovino snapped right back. "Gilbert is the biggest knucklehead at school. Everyone, even the teachers, agree on that! Any brother of his will not be welcomed, believe me." He reached into his trunk and pulled out one of his school books. "Now shut up, I have some reading I need to finish before History of Magic."

Feliciano rolled his eyes and sighed in exasperation. "You're such a bummer, you know that, right?" he muttered. He looked up at Ludwig with an apologetic gaze. "Sorry, he's normally like this. It's inexcusable, but you should probably learn to expect it just in case you run into him in the halls."

Ludwig smiled in amusement. "Okay then. So, you were saying something about Hufflepuff?"

Feliciano blinked. "I was?" he mumbled, narrowing his eyes thoughtfully. His eyes snapped wide open when it came back to him. "Oh, right I was. Yeah, Lovino and I are in Hufflepuff. I'm going into my second year. How about you?"

"I'm a first year," sighed Ludwig. "Though knowing my family, I'll probably be in Slytherin. I wish I could avoid that fate."

"Oh, well just think really hard about anything but traits that put people in Slytherin when they sort you," Feliciano advised. "But you may consider that a little longer. Slytherin House gets a bad rap since they used to house dark wizards, but now they're not that bad. Well-" Feliciano grinned nervously, "-except...your brother. He isn't the nicest person. He picked on me last year."

Ludwig's eyes widened and he sat up straight. "Really? Oh, I apologize for him, he lacks basic self control," he said quickly.

Feliciano held up a hand to stop him. "I-It's okay, it really is. He normally just picks on first years, so I'm probably safe this year." He simpers, kicking his legs idly.

Ludwig couldn't help but look down guiltily. His brother felt like a burden more than a sibling sometimes. He was always the one apologizing for his brother's mistakes. It was ridiculous, Ludwig was eleven and he was more mature than his fifteen year old brother.

Feliciano noticed Ludwig's expression and frowned. "Hey, lighten up. You didn't do anything wrong, your brother did."

Ludwig shrugged. "I always feel responsible somehow," he muttered. "Don't worry about it, it's just a sibling thing." He leaned against the window and watched the scenery woosh by in a blur of greens, yellows, and blues.

Feliciano looked at Ludwig with concern. He squirmed in his seat uncomfortably, thinking of what would be the right thing to say. His face suddenly lit up as an idea occurred to him. "Hey, you seem like you're awfully nice. Maybe you could be in Hufflepuff with us! We'll have to see what happens when you get sorted, but try to think really hard about badgers and maybe that will help your odds!"

Ludwig looked at Feliciano in confusion. "Badgers? Why badgers?"

Feliciano giggled and pulled out his school robes from the trunk. He pointed to an embroidered crest over the lapel. It was a yellow shield with a badger stitched right in the middle of it. Black letters on the top of the crest read, Hufflepuff House. "Hufflepuff's mascot is a badger. Cool, right? I honestly think it's way better than an eagle or a snake! Although, having a lion as a mascot would be nice." He looked up thoughtfully, pondering the thought.

Ludwig looked very intrigued. "Tell me about the other houses. What do you have to be like to get into Gryffindor and Ravenclaw?"

Lovino spoke up for the first time in the last fifteen minutes. "Ravenclaws are the nerds, Gryffindors are the jocks, Slytherins are the bullies, and Hufflepuffs are the bullied. As you can tell, as Hufflepuffs, we get the raw deal."

Feliciano rolled his eyes at his brother. "No we don't!" He looked back at Ludwig. "To get into Hufflepuff, you have to do what is nice more often than not, to get into Ravenclaw, you have to make wise decisions, to get into Gryffindor, you have to be brave, and to get into Slytherin, you have to be clever and do what is necessary. Does that give you a better idea of how things work?"

Ludwig nodded, narrowing his eyes as he processed that information. "I think I'm all four of those things, though. I'll probably be put into Slytherin just because of my family as a tiebreaker," he grumbled, leaning his face against the cool window.

"Maybe, but let's hope you get Hufflepuff, hm?" Feliciano smiled. He stood up. "I'm going to get into my school robes now, if you don't mind. I'd like it if you looked away, please."

Ludwig blinked and looked away. "Oh. Of course." He looked out the window instead, watching as farmlands and forests passed by in what seemed like blinks of an eye.

Ludwig clung to his seat as the train came to a screeching halt at Hogsmeade Station. He looked out the window, trying to take everything in before he'd have to get off the train. Feliciano grabbed his arm, however. "Come on, we've got to get off." He started leading Ludwig out of the compartment, but Ludwig protested.

"Hey, what about my trunk? I can't forget that!" he exclaimed, trying to pull away.

Feliciano just held him tighter. "Don't worry about it, they bring your luggage to your dormitories." He pulled Ludwig off the train as he followed Lovino. The air was frigid outside, and Ludwig had to pull his robes tightly over his body to keep from freezing on the spot. Lovino looked quite comfortable in his scarf. Suddenly, Ludwig felt a panging jealousy for that boy and his warm clothing. He had anticipated the cold, and yet Ludwig had not.

Feliciano let go of his arm finally, leaving the area he held colder than the rest of Ludwig's arm from the sudden absence of heat. Feliciano gave Ludwig a fleeting glance, yelling out, "You'll follow the gamekeeper, I've got to go with my brother. I'll see you in the Great Hall for your sorting!" He was moved along with the rest of the bustling crowd, his voice trailing as he got further and further away.

Ludwig blinked, suddenly feeling very exposed and very alone in the commotion. He looked around frantically for the gamekeeper Feliciano had mentioned, finally hearing a ringing female voice crying out, "FIRST YEARS, COME THIS WAY! Yes, all first years-that means you, little boy!"

A thin woman draped in heavy furs that hung loosely on her bony figure walked up to Ludwig. She held a brass lantern that cloaked the area around it in a soft golden glow, and gave her gaunt face a skeletal, iridescent light. Despite her eerie face, her eyes were a warm and welcoming shade of brown. "Come on, little boy. First years have to cross the lake. Follow me."

Ludwig looked at her with curiosity as she walked away. A group of kids around his age followed her closely, and Ludwig jumped right into the group, still trying to take in the scenery as he walked along.

The skinny woman led them beyond the station to the docks, where several rowboats sat tied to the rickety wooden deck. The woman pulled out a slender wand that was just as knobby and bony as herself and gave it a swish. The ropes moved and untied themselves, looking like snakes in the low light. The woman raised her lantern to look over the group of children. "Alright, pile in. A warning to all of you, though: you might get a little wet. The boats like to be rough on the water." She climbed into the largest rowboat and sat at the front seat.

Ludwig climbed into the nearest boat, and was accompanied by two bespectacled young blonde boys and a small blonde girl with a purple ribbon in her hair. He looked over the other passengers curiously, opening his mouth to say something in greeting when all of a sudden the boat lurched forward, tipping them backwards. The children shrieked and gripped the sides of the boat in terror, and the skinny woman glared back at the them. "Hey! Calm down back there!" she barked.

One of the blonde boys spoke up. "We didn't do anything! The boat just moved by itself!" he protested, a worried frown on his face.

The skinny woman gave a faint smile of amusement. "Oh, I wasn't talking to you dear. I was talking to the boat." she said, as if it was a completely normal thing to say that she was talking to an inanimate object. She glared at the wooden boat. "Behave yourself. Now, let's head into the castle, shall we?" She waved her wand again and the boats shot forward, moving without any rowers or oars to be seen. The children had to cling to the sides of the boat to keep from losing their balance.

Ludwig looked up at the dark castle as it came into view, squinting his eyes through the spray of water. Its many towers looked foreboding in the low light, speckled with the yellow lights of many windows. He smiled nervously at the massive building, inwardly wondering how on Earth he'd be able to navigate such a place. His thoughts trailed as they rode across the lake, the spray dampening his face and the wind messing up his neatly slicked back hair. He overheard the two blonde boys fussing in the back of the boat. It was rather amusing, since one was loud and obnoxious, and the other was quiet and passive-agressive.

"Oh come on, Matt! It's just a little water!"

"It's getting all over me, I'm cold!"

"Wimp. You're gonna be in Hufflepuff with an attitude like that, you dingus."

"I-I don't care if I'm in Hufflepuff! I hear they're nice!"

"Ha! Hufflepuffs are the easy targets, don't come crying to me when you start getting bullied by Slytherins just because you decided to be a wimp and become a Hufflepuff!"

Ludwig looked back at the two boys. "I met two Hufflepuffs on the train, and I met one who was a grouchy pain in the butt. I don't think it's about being wimpy, they wouldn't make a House just for the wimpy kids."

The boy with the slightly curlier blonde hair glared at the other boy. "Yeah, see? Hufflepuffs can be...whatever the word for not-wimps is!"

The louder boy grinned. "You should get into Ravenclaw with a magnificent vocabulary like that!" he laughed sarcastically.

The quieter boy whimpered, "W-Well you should get into Slytherin for being so mean! I hear Slytherin is full of meanies like you, Alfred!"

The louder boy named Alfred cackled. "And I'll be the best damn Slytherin ever!"

The quieter boy gasped in shock. "Y-You said the 'D' word! I'm gonna write Mommy an owl and you'll get into trouble for that!" he threatened.

Alfred froze. "D-Don't tell Mommy I said that! Please, it just slipped out!" he pleaded.

"Well why shouldn't I tell? You've been a meanie this entire trip!" the quiet boy frowned.

Alfred whimpered and hugged his brother. "I'm sorry, Matt. Forgive me, dude?"

The quieter boy named Matt sighed and hugged his brother back. "Okay...but stop hugging me, you're wet too." He gently pushed his brother away.

Ludwig chuckled at the exchange the two boys were having. "Are you two brothers?"

Alfred smiled gleefully at Ludwig. "Yeah! Can't you tell? We're twins! Well...fruiteral twins, but whatever!"

"Fraternal twins, you keep getting that wrong," Matt corrected.

Alfred ignored his brother and kept grinning at Ludwig. "I'm Alfred. Who're you?"

"I'm Ludwig, nice to meet you," Ludwig replied politely. He was about to ask another question when the boat came to an abrupt stop. The girl sitting next to him nearly tumbled out of the boat. She gripped the side of it, breathing heavily in horror. Ludwig frowned at her. "Are you alright?"

The girl nodded, but her arms were trembling. "Th-These boats are too scary…" She jumped off of the boat and ran onto the solid stone dock within the building as quickly as she could.

Ludwig stepped off of the boat and followed the rest of the group and the skinny woman past a set of tall oaken doors to a room with high, vaulted walls within the building. The skinny woman looked them all over. "You all stay here until you're called into the Great Hall, alright? Excellent." She tottled off, leaving the children to wait. Whether they were dreading their call, or awaiting it with excitement was up to the children to decide.

Ludwig took a deep breath. He was finally here. It was time to be sorted and get this over with.