Where He Was Put
The child beneath the sorting hat's wide rim was a thin, knobby looking boy. While the hat whispered it's judgement, the foot of said boy tapped a nervous rhythm only the to be sorted student knew the song to. And just as it seemed that forever was about to pass them and that a new word would have to be made-
"Ravenclaw!"
The students and professors of the Great Hall clapped for the newly minted Ravenclaw, but not Padriac. And when he looked to his older brother, Allistor, and his younger, Dylan, he saw their hands laid still on the table of Gryffindor as well.
Capturing the attention of his eldest's brother's jade eyes, Padriac mouthed "Well?"
Lips thin and ugly, Allistor brought his thick brows together and turned away from not only him, but Dylan as well. Sharing a look with beryl eyes, Padriac worried the inside of his cheek when he saw a similar sentiment of bewilderment lay inside them. Sighing, he turned himself away to watch the rest of the students be sorted.
(when he looked to Ravenclaw, he saw familiar forrest gazing back at him).
The next morning when Padriac should have been eating the first breakfast of his sixth year, he instead loitered outside of the Ravenclaw commons in hopes of catching his wayward brother. How had little Arthur ended up in such a mousy house? With a temper and mouth like his, he seemed destined for what all Kirklands before him had been. Gryffindor (not that they wanted him or anything, but you know, it's the principle of the thing and with such familiar backgrounds they should all have the qualities necessary for the family house). Yet...somehow, he'd convinced the hat otherwise.
If Padriac had say, he would have let the little prat go on his merry way to being a bookworm shut-in; but...
Allistor. The ass.
He'd ordered him to get answers from their youngest brother as his older brother was too busy - or so Allistor said. After ten years of having Al for a brother, Padriac knew better than to ask "why". It usually ended in a brawl and with him on the ground nursing a black eye or bloody lip.
Just about ready to nod back into his morning doze, Padriac saw a familiar shrimp try and sneak past him. Lurching forward, he grabbed Arthur by the back of his robe and dragged him the opposite direction of the Great Hall.
"Hey! Hey!" His youngest brother cried in desperate tones at other students passing them by in the corridors of Hogwarts. However, too many knew Padriac's reputation, were unconcerned or simply too young to stop him. Eventually, Padriac brought them into the Charms room. It would be empty until half past ten and so it made for a perfect interrogation room.
Shoving Arthur at a desk, he took the one across from his brother and demanded "Spill."
Forrest eyes glimmered with puzzlement. "What?" He squeaked.
"Spill, I said!" Padriac growled as he cracked his knuckles for good measure.
Twitching in his seat, the Ravenclaw's eyes skittered along the objects behind his older brother as he tried to figure out just what it was his step-brother wanted. "Spill what?" He questioned.
Rolling his eyes, Padriac snapped "Why ye're in Ravenclaw!"
"The hat placed me there."
The older scoffed. "Of course it did!" Reaching out, he took his brother's collar and gave it a good shake. "Now tell me why it put ye there!"
"I don't-"
At the cat eye green's hard glint, Arthur gulped and began to revise his answer.
"The hat said something about my need to be ah, different, and sarcastic wit as being prime reasons why I should be in Ravenclaw instead of Gryffindor..."
Leaning in so close that Padriac could see the light freckles on the bridge of Arthur's nose that had only ever shone prominently once after a trip to Italy with their family, he hissed in the boy's face "And ye didn't tell it nae?"
"Why should I have? Ravenclaw seemed like a very nice option after that" Arthur grumbled, his head turning away from him. "And besides, it's not like being in Gryffindor was any dream of mine."
Padriac raised an eyebrow. "Oh? That so?" He sneered, "Then I guess ye think ye're too good fer our family, right?"
"Oh belt up! It's not like you can actually say anything! You aren't a Kirkland!" And Arthur made a valid point, Padriac wasn't. Shifting then, the child demanded "Where's Allistor? What about Dylan? Why aren't they here!? Why's it always you, Paddy? Why don't my brothers ever come? Why do they..." he paused, licking his lips. "hateme."
"What?" Padriac whispered, hoping he'd heard the slur of words wrong.
Forrest met cat eye. "Hate me. Why do they hate me?"
The older's face crumpled and he tried to find a way to tell what he always knew in the darkest trenches of his heart to the little firstie he'd been calling his brother in more than word since nine and a half years ago. "They don't," he finally uttered.
"Yeah, right."
Standing up, Padriac knew Arthur had to feel as if he was looming; but maybe that was okay for what he was about to say. "They don't ye nitwit! They love ye so fuckin' much they'd rather make me do the hard stuff with ye. If I screw up and ruin the relationship between the two of us, it ain't the end of the world fer anybody because as ye said; I'm not yer real brother."
Walking off from the table then, Paddy felt his hands shaking. He put them in the pockets of his robes and murmured "And I never tell 'em nae 'cause what if they stop wantin' me for a brother then? What do I do then lad? I got one blood brother and he's more a Kirkland than I can ever be. If somethin' happens between your ma and my pa, who's he gonna go with? Me and pa? I think not. So I gotta..."
He went toward one of the window's and saw his distorted reflection gazing back.
"I gotta be as good a brother as I can to ye all and that means..." he sent a smirk back to his younger brother's reflection. "It means ye get the bad end of the stick."
He heard the scrap of wood against rock and before he could fully turn around, Padriac felt two skinny arms with knobby elbows squeeze him. "You know Paddy, even if mum and pa broke up, we'd still think of you as our brother, right? Or I would, anyway."
"Thanks." The older sighed and even hugged his brother back for all of a moment.
Forrest green looked up with a sparkle in them and Paddy gave him a light shove. "Now scram, I'll tell our brothers the hat wouldn't listen to ye."
"Thanks Paddy!" And with one last smile, the boy ran off to his first breakfast as a student of Hogwarts.
Left alone, Padriac closed his eyes and tried to commit the pleasant face of his younger brother face to memory and tell himself what he was doing was for everyone's good and no matter what Allistor threatened, it was for the best. No one had to know that Arthur wanted to be inRavenclaw.
Except him. But he'd keep this one secret for his younger brother and maybe, maybe it would enough to make up for everything else he'd done to the boy over the past ten years and then some.
Just a bit of a Hogwarts AU. I really feel like I'm enjoying the whole Ireland and England thing, what about you guys? Do you like them too? No?
Names:
Padriac/Paddy-Ireland
(Al)listor-Scotland
Dylan-Wales
Arthur-England
Thanks for reading and please review!
If you liked this, you may also like:
Trick or Treat - "Northern Ireland wants to go trick or treating. Who cares if he's physically too old? It looks like fun! But of course he doesn't want to go alone..."
or
Ascendant - "In this Super Power AU for Hetalia, some characters are cast as villains and others as heroes, but as all people know, it's not always so easy to label one group good and another evil."