(This story is set in an AU that we've been calling "ALVerse," to distinct it from the usual Pottertalia.)

Hi there pal, this fanfiction right here was born because of my dear friend's deep love for the magic trio in Hogwarts. It was such a small niche of liking, and she couldn't find a fanfiction that fitted her needs properly. That's why I decided to write it for her. Though, I did take the freedom to add my own interests. So in a sense, this AU is co-created by me (Mina) and the-friend-who-has-no-name.

So the fic itself.. Hm. Well I think most literature speaks for itself, so I feel like if you want to know more- you just gotta get to reading.

Some more "tag" like info though: DenNor subtext, Side-character OCs, and the simple fact that this is an Au where I will have to bend some rules set by Rowling to write an interesting story.

As much as I would like to say it's a perfect add on to canon without anything that couldn't exist in canon, there are some parts in it that might not work with everyone. Nothing too major, though, I think.

Also I am a Finn, so please, just..

Hang on while I try to figure how to English. I went out of my way to include some of my weirder ways of spelling into this weird introduction segment here, so if any weird grammatical thing stung you in the face like an angry bee- Then well..

You can still turn away.

Arthur found the train a strangely pleasant change from his home life. People were already running through the hallway laughing and screaming, which he would have found annoying in any other situation. Luckily, no sound was anything compared to his brothers.

Arthur hadn't been able to sleep that week, and certainly not because he was excited beyond belief to finally go to Hogwarts- but because his brothers were staying up too late and rambling like idiotic chickens. Arthur would never be that excited for something as childish as going to the school he has been dreamed of for the day he heard about it.

He stumbled around with his luggage, trying to find a peaceful compartment. His plan was simple: Go in, and relax. Unlike the other kids, he didn't have to spend the ride freaking out about Hogwarts.

He finally found an acceptable compartment. It wasn't very packed, only one other person had chosen it.

"Is it okay if I sit here?" Arthur asked politely, unlike many of his age he had manners.

The other boy nodded, without lifting his gaze from the book he was holding. The books cover didn't seem that interesting: it was blue and had a bit of golden décor on the sides. Of course Arthur would never judge a book by the cover, he was sure the book must have had intriguing and compelling text!

He casually smiled to himself, and sat on the opposite side of the room. Arthur found the used feeling of the seating fabric quite soothing, it reminded him somewhat of his grandmother's place. He definetly enjoyed his grandma's place, so it was nice.

He turned his head towards the window, the train had already left the station. Outside the compartment kids were screaming and laughing, Arthur would never do something as childish. Arthur was a mature young man, according to his father (most of the time).

It seemed that the other kid was having trouble immersing himself in his book because of the sound, but Arthur found it comfortable. Having a calm quiet moment in his household was rare, so he had gotten actually somewhat attached to screaming as white noise.

He leaned his head against the wall, not the most comfortable position- but it was good enough. He was going to just relax a bit, listen to the train humming along. It was a change of pace he could get used to.

Before he realized it, there was an announcement: "We'll be arriving to Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry in a few minutes. Please prepare to leave the train, and put on your robes."

He slowly opened his eyes back up, he didn't even remember really closing them. He must have fallen asleep.

With a sudden movement he jumped up from the seat, into a more awake position. How could he sleep for so long? How dared he sleep during his first Hogwarts train ride! Arthur felt distraught, like he had disgraced his family name.

He quickly looked around to gather back his understanding of his situation. The compartment had been light up, but outside it was dark, just trees and dark- how exciting.

The other kid was still reading his book, seemingly much more relaxed than before, probably because the screaming seemed to have quieted down.

Arthur leaned back against the seat, and he sighed in relief.

He wasn't the type to snooze off, this was something completely new for him. He let his hand run through his hair, as he tried to think of an explanation. Arthur wasn't going to accept that he could be the reason. It must have been his brothers, they made him tired, with their endless babbling. That was the only explanation that made sense.

With that solved, he returned back to his professional-esque-train-travel-ability. Arthur had already dressed up in his robe at home, no way was a wizard of his level going to appear in public with muggle clothing. That left him the job of re-checking his luggage.

As he re-folded one of his extra robes, the compartment door opened up again.

From the door a third blond appeared, with two darker haired kids. It seemed much like some strange gang.

"Mind if we sit here? The others don't seem to get that not all master minds want to talk for hours." His voice was boastful, but he seemed nice enough.

"I don't mind." Arthur answered, and then turned his head towards the original compartment kid. The blond just shrugged, and the newcomers took it as a yes.

It didn't take long for the small space have a drastic mood change. This new kid was talking, and doing it awfully much.

"Can you belive how many muggleborns there are here? Must be a new record or something." The boastful one seemed to pick up a conversation that had dropped earlier, focusing on his strange companions that seemed to purely excist to listen to him.

Arthur decided to just ignore it and return back to his robe folding. He couldn't help but to over hear the boastful, piercing, annoying voice through the gentle sound of fabric being folded.

Streangely- Muggleborns, Purebloods, true wizards, all sorts of labels where being thrown nonchalantly around. Not the most enjoyable backround sound.

Arthur didn't mind too much, he had heard that type of voice before. In fact: On a daily basis.

The images of his oldest brother Andrew flashed in his mind from even slightly thinking about the word 'boastful.' Of course, he cursed all his brothers, but Andrew was the worst. He was the oldest, and acted like that made him the best. Since Arthur was a little kid he would tell him how he was terrible at this and that, and how it was supposed to be done. Luckily to Arthur this year in hogwarts was Andrew's last, and he would be at peace after that.

He was finally getting his chance to be the best of his family, the kid who gets better grades than Andrew. The one kid that becomes the greatest wizard of the family, is beloved by his peers and looked up by even the teachers. There was no question about it, he had studied Andrew's school years with a close eye, and knew exactly what to expect from Hogwarts.

While the other kids were nervous and excited, Arthur could avoid such a trap. He was prepared, ahead of everyone from the very beginning. All those nights spent reading his school books, reading extra books, and deeply analysing everything his brothers said about Hogwarts: They were finally going to pay off.

Even above all that, he had his secret weapon prepared. Nothing was going to stop him from becoming a revolutionary wizard when he had da-

"Hey." Suddenly the loud one spoke.

"Huh-" Arthur was snapped out of his thoughts, which once again: nothing new.

"You've been folding those shirts pretty violently. What's up?"

"I have? Ah. How careless of me." He placed the shirt back down, a bit awkwardly. "I've just been thinking quite a lot today."

"Must be rare for you." The kid laughed a bit.

"That's awfully rude." Arthur squinted his eyes, trying to look as menacing as an 11 year old folding shirts can.

"It was just a joke, calm down." Another short giggle. Arthur felt somewhat un-comfortable by the behaviour he was witnessing. "Let's try that again: what's up?"

"Nothing much really, just sitting in a train."

"You're not nervous?"

"Not at all."

"Ah, you're not a mudblood then."

The person who was still entranced with his book seemed to move a bit in his seat, but it wasn't enough to distract anyone.

"No, I am actually from a family of all wizards." Arthur answered somewhat proudly.

"What's your last name?"

"Kirkland. My name is Arthur Kirkland."

"Kirkland?" The kid smiled like some annoyingly full of themselves bag of useless garbage. "The famous bloodtraitor family. Oh, of course you would be from there!"

Arthur moved a bit back, that was un-expected. "What are you getting at?"

"Hah, you don't even understand the bloodline business, how sad." he smirked. "I'm Draco Malfoy, a pure blood. There's not even a drop of muggle blood within my bloodline. My family is rich, my father works in the ministry, and then there's yours. I heard your family members decided to reproduce with every muggle they could get their hands on."

"I'll have you know that it was just my grandfather."

"Like that changes anything. Once stained, always stained."

Arthur's eyebrows furrowed in a furious insecure effort of taking action. "You're not even worth dealing with."

"You're just backing away because you know I'm right."

"Not everything revolves around you."

"Maybe not me specifically, but my family is an un-stoppable force of power. Don't mess with me, I could destroy your future. If you had one."

"How about you shut your mouth?"

"Are you afraid of what comes out?"

"Nah, I'm just done listening to your bloody voice."

"And why is that?"

"Because all that comes out is sourceless rubbish!"

"You're just an insecure idiot!"

"Look who is talking!"

"Your eyebrows are bigger than your future!"

The sound a book slamming pierced the arguing kids' thick heads.

Everyone in the train turned their attention towards the so far absolutely quiet blond. His deep blue eyes had a strength to them that kept them quiet.

"What now?" Malfoy said with a childish annoyance.

He breathed in deeply before speaking "I can't read if you're shouting pointless insults at each other."

Arthur found the boy's voice strange, mostly because of the accent. A strong accent as a matter of fact, the type that you still understood but knew that they didn't speak much English at where ever they were from. Inexperienced, was probably the word he was looking for. Yet the voice itself sounded like it could be gentle, even warm, when not used to showcase annoyance.

"He started it." Malfoy said, which everyone silently agreed was childish.

"It doesn't matter who started it. What matter is who is the mature one and stops trying to be a victor in a stupid argument."

"Hm?" Malfoy titled his head, his face turned from defeat to purely acted wide-eyed wonder. "What did you say? I didn't quite understand."

Huh? Arthur couldn't help but be taken back, what he had said was clear even with the accent. No-one could not understand what he said unless-

Oh.

The boy looked at the ground, instantly breaking eye contact. The almost menacing presence had quickly turned into a ghost-like visibility.

"Did a cat get your tongue?" Malfoy said, in the most disrespectful tone anyone ever could in a situation like this.

The boy just looked away, and opened his book. His movements looked forced, it was painful to look at.

"Ah well. Doesn't really matter. I doubt you even had anything important to say." Malfoy smirked and turned towards the door. "You might as well stay quiet."

And as suddenly as he had arrived, he left. His goons smirked as well, but it lacked any believability.

Arthur was left a silent bystander at his seat. He breathed in, out, and looked at the silent husk that was left of the already almost absent boy.

He closed his travel trunk, he could fold his pants later.

"It was, uh-" He started. "Very nice of you to speak up."

No answer.

"I let it get pretty heated up, I should have just stopped encouraging him, huh?" He said. Arthur found it hard to keep eye contact intact, and slowly moved his attention to checking his robe for any dust.

"I can't belive how rude he was."

Another announcement flooded through the train, they had arrived.

The boy closed his book quickly, got up, grapped his luggage, and speed walked to the door.

"I thought you were easy to understand-"

The compartment door slammed.

"..Ah." Arthur sighed.

That didn't go according to plan.

Once he left the train, he was guided through a small forest path to small boats. It was tradition for first years to enter the school this way for the first time. He noticed that the boy and Malfoy were both in the group, but too far away from him to really affect him.

He decided to try to focus on himself for now, he didn't know about those two to let them drag his Hogwarts experience down.

The path finally reached out of the forest, and behold: Hogwarts.

Arthur couldn't help but to be impressed. He had seen it in photos many times, but it was much grander in the real world. He wasn't jumping from excitement like the other students, but certainly impressed. The castle was huge, and looked at the same time inviting, as well as menacing.

Hagrid, the keeper of keys, as well as their escort told them to climb onto the itty bitty boats. Arthur watched as the students climbed on, but soon found himself joining the last boat to leave the shore. It wasn't that bad, he got to see the lantern army of small boats from the best spot.

He climbed on, his boating companions included a young boy and a really tall girl.

"'Sup" the girl spoke to him right after leaving the shore.

"..Sup?" Arthur found himself smiling, he didn't mind it much.

"Yeah, 'sup." The boy joined in.

"Is that like what's up?"

"Yeah."

"Well, in that case: Pretty good." He nodded, just to show an understanding that he actually lacked. "Heh, I thought my way of speaking was laid back."

"If you're laid back then I'm halfway through the floor." The boy giggled.

"That doesn't sound very relaxing anymore."

"I'm so relaxed that it's not relaxing anymore."

"Oh my god."

Arthur found the change of tone very pleasing, maybe he should have joined the screaming kids in the train.

"I'm Brook by the way." She offered her hand for Arthur to shake.

Arthur obliged without a doubt. "I'm Arthur."

"Vlad." The boy said, raising his hand a little. Arthur supposed handshakes weren't cool enough for him.

"Like the vamp-"

"Don't."

"Can you belive we'll be studying in a big magic castle?!" Brook masterfully changed the subject.

"Not really." Vlad smiled widely, he was enjoying the company. "I still can't belive wizards are real."

"Or that I'm one of them." Brook nodded.

"You took the words right out of my mouth."

Arthur smiled, it felt good to be the one who actually knows more than others. "It must be exciting for people from non-wizard families."

"You're a full-on wizard?!" Brook squeaked with excitement.

"Yup." Arthur nodded. "Family of 4, and 5 if you count my mother's first son. We're not directly related though."

"That's a lot of wizards." Vlad smirked to himself, he was sitting quite comfortably in the seat that was supposed to hold two people.

"I suppose so." Arthur shrugged with a smile.

"Aah, I can't wait to learn to turn tables into flaming frogs!" Brook excitedly wiggled in her seat.

"Why would you want to turn tables into flaming frogs?" Arthur said, playing along with the excitement.

"Because I can!" Brook Threw her hands in the air as a glorious showcase of true excitement.

"Yeah, what else would you turn them into?" Vlad nodded. "Mahogany fire frogs sound fun."

"Or Oak."

"What are you two even talking about?" Arthur held back laughter, this was the type of behaviour he needed for his plan. Though he did genuinely find it enjoyable.

Vlad and Brook argued about different wood types for a bit, and then the conversation calmed down for a moment.

It wasn't a heavy silence, nor an awkward one. It was a genuine silence of just feeling joy.

Of course it didn't last long. "Hey, Arthur?" Brook spoke up.

"Yes?" He said.

"Which house do you want to go to?" Brook tilted her head, she seemed curious.

"Slytherin." Arthur nodded proudly. "What else?"

"..Slytherin." Vlad raised his eyebrows in an expression that could only be described as a disappointed but above you.

"What?" Arthur picked up on the animosity right away.

"Isn't that the house for evil?"

Arthur couldn't help but let out a "Hah." and rolls his eyes. "Of course the propaganda has reached you already."

Brook seemed to feel un-comfortable from the way she was having trouble choosing which person to point her eyes towards of.

"Slytherin is the house for people who are smart, brave, and loyal. They work towards a goal with talent and efficency. It is a house for those who don't have time for idiotic distractions." Arthur spoke like he would have prepared a speech. "It isn't evil. People have just used their talents in the wrong way a few too many times."

"..So evil." Vlad said, his voice was emotionless, he just sat there. Not snarky comments or smirks.

"How do you even get evil from that?!"

"How many evil wizards have come from.. I don't know.. Ravenclaw?"

"I'll let you know that Ravenclaws have a tendency to stab each other in the back!"

"So what's propaganda and what's true?"

"Just use some common sense-"

"I want to go to Hufflepuff." Brook suddenly cut them off.

"What?" Arthur looked at her in a very un-pleasant way. What kind of a person changes a subject like that?

"No need to be rude." Vlad said, still with no flavour.

"Well excus-"

"What about you, Vlad?" Brook quickly repeated her amazing subject changing skills.

"Gryffindor. Of course." Vlad said, he at least bothered to smile to Brook. It had a tinge of smug resentment towards Arthur though. "The best house."

"There's no such thing has a best house!"

"Yet you wonder what else there even is besides Slytherin." Vlad's words stinged.

"Oh bloody hell, how about you just shut up." Arthur threw his hands out too, not with excitement but frustration.

"Sure." Vlad rolled his eyes and turned his head to the side.

Brook was left speechless, she didn't try to fix the mood up anymore.

They all climbed out of the boats once they entered the indoor docks.

Arthur found himself far away from Vlad, the book boy, Malfoy, and Brook. It seemed that he could have done the friendship part of the plan better.

They all entered the great hall. It was nice. Floating candles are pretty cool.

Arthur couldn't bring himself to try to get into the magical wonder that he assumed the others were enjoying, but that was what he wanted, right?

Brook was the first of the people he knew by name to enter the stage, she got into Hufflepuff. Arthur was somewhat happy about that, she hadn't done anything wrong.

More names go by, as Arthur looks around the ones that have already had their houses chosen. He notices Andrew quickly, laughing, being in the spotlight. Not surprising. He didn't see any other familiar faces, though.

"Lukas Bondevik." McGottaGoFast said in another invitation to the stage.

Arthur turned to look, and to his surprise – It was the kid with the book. He walked on the stage, not looking particularly anxious, that's good.

Lukas sat down on the chair, and the hat was placed on his head. It didn't take long for everyone to notice that it was taking long, he must have been a toughie.

Arthur felt somewhat quilty of what he did in the train, if he could have controlled his temper Lukas wouldn't have had to get insulted like that. Of course the main convict was Malfoy, but he couldn't deny his own participation.

"Slytherin!" The hat finally decided on something.

Arthur felt strange all of a sudden, was he happy Lukas was a Slytherin?

He wasn't planning on more than apologising to Lukas, but this could change things. He hadn't decided to exactly befriend Lukas, but certainly the kid seemed much more intresting. Being a Slytherin was something they shared as a similarity, and Lukas seemed smart in the train.

Arthur decided to keep an eye on this Bondevik kid.

Soon he was sorted as well. It was quite a quick response form the hat. The hat did try to suggest throwing him in Gryffindor, but that sounded grossly wrong to him.

He walked to the Slytherin table, and sat on the first empty spot he found. The food looked delicious, and his brother didn't seem to be trying to talk to him. Arthur did wonder if his brother even noticed that he was already sorted.

He had a good time sitting there, getting welcomed by the people around him.

Until the name "Vlad" Echoed into his ears.

Arthur turned towards the stage.

The chin-length brown hair was un-mistakable. Vlad walked on the stage, and he seemed to be the more relaxed snarky version once again.

The hat dropped on his head, and it almost immediately tried to say something. Suprisingly, it stopped before anything meaningful came out.

A silence of whispering fell on the room, people were very confused why the hat changed it's mind so quickly.

After a bit of whisper discourse, the hat finally decided on something: "Gryffindor!" It shouted, even though sounding a bit unsure.

Vlad though, seemed happy enough. He was invited in by the house with joyful clapping, and people quickly moved onto the next kid.

Arthur felt weird following Vlad's sorting like that, like it would have been wrong to some degree. He couldn't quite place why, and so he decided to try to ignore it.

After the sorting, everyone begun eating. it was a very enjoyable evening meal, and Arthur found himself feeling quite stuffed afterwards.

Everyone was taken to their houses by their houses main prefects, and Arthur found himself laying on a fluffy mattress on a fancy bed in a dark but nice basement. Certainly an unique feeling.

As he looked above him, he felt.. Pleasant. Even though both boat ride and train ride were absolute disasters, he was interested in the school year ahead of him. He still had his goals and plans ready, and nothing was going to stop him from being the best wizard in his family. Not even some annoying Malfoy, or biased Vlad.

Even though he had the talent to conquer them all on his own, it didn't bother at all to have his secret weapon at his side.

Dark magic.

SO THERE'S THAT

If you enjoyed that, I hope you'll stick around to see the next. This fic already has over 10 chapters written beforehand (I got a little excited), so weekly updates for a while! After that you're just going to have to wait, unless I get excited again.

if you enjoyed that and it isn't too much work, please leave a review. Those make my day, and the-friend-who-shall-not-be-named would probably freak out (in a good way.(I would freak out too, tbh.))