April 22th, 1991, Monday

o.o.o.o.o

Nearly 10 years later from that fateful day Arthur Kirkland could only describe his current mood as frustrated. Despite the fact Arthur tried hard to focus on his book about dragons he found it difficult to ignore the increasingly heated argument coming from downstairs. It was just after dinner and his older brothers had sent him up to his room with the excuse they needed to "discuss" something without him in the way, but considering the loud yelling downstairs it sounded more like they were about to murder each other.

Arthur had to admit he was curious about the topic though. Since even Patrick arrived for a rare visit from Ireland it meant it had to be about something serious.
Adding the fact Arthur wasn't allowed to hear the "discussion" made Arthur sure it was either about him, the government and/or the Ministry of Magic.

Once again Arthur tried to force his focus back on the book, but the voices downstairs steadily grew even louder and louder for each minute until they suddenly cut off to an abrupt stop. For a short while the only thing heard was a tense silence until the door to the kitchen opened and slammed shut, soon followed by a pair of footsteps which stopped somewhere around the stairs.

"Arthur, drag your ass down here!"

So now they wanted him down there? Arthur scowled frustrated, but sat up on his bed and put down the book on his nightstand.

"What do you guys want, William?" he yelled back, annoyed.

"Get down here and you will find out!"

Fine, if that's how it was then he supposed he had to go down. N-not that he was curious about what his brothers wanted with him, mind you! He couldn't care less, but his brothers would clearly not leave him in peace until Arthur went down to see what they wanted, that's all! With this in mind Arthur quickly left his bed and went through the door out from his room, ran down the stairs and then turned left into the kitchen where he assumed his brothers still were.

The kitchen was fairly large and square, and since they only moved here less than a week ago the white tiles on the walls were actually still visible and not covered by soot from his brothers' so called cooking. Yet. The stove, cupboards, fridge and the refrigeration were all against the left wall in the kitchen, which is also where the doorway into the living room was. The square dinner table for four was on Arthur's right side and gave you a beautiful view over the gardens through the big windows. Sitting around the table also turned out to be where Arthur found his brothers. Apparently the argument was over for now though, because knowing his brothers they didn't sit down during their fight.

"Well, what do you four want?" Arthur asked with in annoyance and crossed his arms over his chest.

Right now Patrick was on the left side of the table closest to the window. His messy hair was similar to Arthur's own, although his hair was a mix of orange and blonde compared to Arthur's own blonde hair. Patrick's hair was also somewhat longer, and like everyone else in the Kirkland family he had the famous thick eyebrows. His green eyes had a tint of yellow and they were currently glaring daggers through the window as if the glass had personally insulted him and then rubbed salt into the wounds.

Next to Patrick sat William, who looked like he could be Patrick's twin if it wasn't for the slightly darker and longer hair tied into a low ponytail. He always wore an earring made of silver in his left ear and currently looked like he wished his glare could kill Scott. With short, bright red hair and a normally grumpy face Scott was the youngest of Arthur's older brothers, and was also the one who sat the closest to where Arthur stood. An important thing to note about Scott was the fact he was the one with the hottest temper of the brothers, but was still nice to everyone as long you stayed on his good side. Even Arthur was grudgingly forced to admit Scott was pleasant enough, at least during the times he didn't teas Arthur, which was something Scott liked to do often. Unlike Patrick and William he also had bright emerald coloured eyes, like Arthur, and looked unusual happy right now. Arthur had a bad feeling about it.

Meanwhile his oldest brother, Dylan, sat on the right side of the table, closest to the window, and somehow managed to look both bored and annoyed at the same time while he quietly watched the garden through the window. He had dark brown hair, and even though Arthur knew it was dyed he had no idea what Dylan's natural hair colour was. Unlike his other brothers Dylan's hair was also much shorter and not as messy, something Arthur found a little unfair. Arthur could even go as far as saying it looked somewhat straight. Dylan's eyes were in a lighter green than Arthur's with just a tiny, tiny hint of blue surrounding the pupils. Personality-wise Dylan was by far the calmest one of the older brothers and the one most difficult to anger. However once you actually managed to anger the man you better hope you either were a faster runner or quick enough to apparate away to safety. Let's just say Dylan's anger was something to be feared and nothing you wanted to be on the receiving end of.

However by now Arthur had begun to lose his patience with the fact his brothers' seemed content to ignore his question, so he decided to repeat himself.

"What do you want?"

It was almost a little unnerving how everyone suddenly snapped out of it as if they had been in trance and then shifted their gazes to Arthur.

"Well lad," Scotland grinned at Arthur as if Christmas came early and motioned for him to sit down on the empty chair at the edge of the table, which also happened to be the chair between Scott and William.

"Since ye' turn 11 tomorrow something fun is going to happen."

Alright, that caught Arthur's attention. His brothers normally never made a huge deal out of birthdays in general, so what was so different about this one?

"Arthur," Dylan began with a serious voice and Arthur shifted his eyes to his oldest brother.

"As you probably already know children with magic usually receive a letter from Hogwarts on the day they turn eleven years old, and you happen to turn eleven tomorrow."

Arthur nodded. He already knew about all this, but wondered how this mattered now.

"When I asked you about it a few years ago you told me Kirklands were home-taught everything about magic though. What changed?" Arthur questioned, and from the corner of his eyes Arthur saw how Scott's grin fell a little. However it was still Dylan who answered.

"We encountered a problem while we tried to-"

Dylan suddenly made a weird sound as if something had got stuck in his throat and began to cough with a grimace of pain at the same time as his expression briefly changed into one of annoyance.

"What did you try to do?" Arthur pressed, but Dylan only waved away the question.

"It's nothing. Anyway, your magic is only growing stronger for each day, and we thought it was about time you went to a school instead of having private tutors."

"We will most likely not have the time to teach you much magic because of our jobs," Scott added. "So you might as well go to a school which will teach you the basics for us."

It was obvious his older brothers tried to avoid his question, but Arthur also knew none of them would tell him anything once they decided to keep quiet, so Arthur let it go for now. Instead he seriously considered what Dylan and Scott told him. Apparently he used to be very sick when he was younger, although it was not something he remembered a lot of, and therefore he had been home-schooled by private tutors his whole life up to now.

It used to be fun, and Arthur liked the subjects and teachers he had, but in the end it became rather… lonely. His brothers almost always worked, and even if they sometimes were able to work from home it didn't change the fact they couldn't be with Arthur during that time. When Arthur and his brothers lived in their old house the neighboring children hadn't been mean, but they knew he was different and tended to avoid him even during the times he was allowed to go out and play. Needlessly to say Arthur didn't really have any friends in his own age, but if he began in a school made for the different… Was it possible he could…? N-not that he needed any friends of course! He was perfectly fine of his own, thank you very much! Besides, to learn how to use his magic better was more than enough reason to go to Hogwarts. He wanted to go. Arthur had wanted to go to Hogwarts ever since the first time he read about the school in one of his books.

"I-", Arthur began.

"You don't have to, of course," Patrick decided to interrupt and locked eyes with Arthur.

"If you want to you can just continue like you have done until now, or even begin in a normal school," William added.

It was rare for Patrick and William to agree with each other on something, and it became clear to Arthur this was what his brothers must have been arguing about. For some reason Patrick and William didn't want him to go to Hogwarts, something Scott wanted. Arthur imagined it was Dylan who in the end was forced to break up the fight and tell them to just ask what he, Arthur, wanted to do. Dylan had always seemed to be the sanest one of his brothers after all.

"Of course he wants to go to Hogwarts!" Scotland proclaimed loudly. "It's the best school for magic in the whole world!"

Wanting to know what his oldest brother thought about this Arthur turned towards Dylan with a raised eyebrow, however Dylan decided to be of no help.
He only shrugged and came with the sooo helpful advice:

"It's up to you, Arthur. At Hogwarts you'll be able to learn how to use your magic, but you will also be stuck there during most of the years until the day you graduate, with the exception of the holidays. It's a big change compared to how you have lived so far. If you want to you can continue like you have done until now or begin in a normal school instead, and I'm sure we can figure something out if you still want to learn magic. However it will still not be as much as you would have learnt at Hogwarts."

"I…" Arthur began, but was once again interrupted by Patrick.

"I don't like it - he shouldn't go to Hogwarts!" Patrick stated and sent Dylan a dark glare.

"He hasn't even received a letter yet," William warned. "He might not get one either!"

"None of you have to like it since it is Arthur's choice," Dylan reminded them and sent Patrick a look which clearly warned him against arguing about it.

"I want to," Arthur hurried to say before anyone else had the chance to interrupt him. "I want to learn how to use my magic at Hogwarts."

Scott's grin immediately widened while Dylan looked like he just accepted the answer. In turn William didn't look very happy, but neither did he say anything else about it. However Patrick stood up so quickly and with such force the whole table shook and his chair fell down while he stomped out from the kitchen and into the hallway. Arthur, who understood it was his answer which angered Patrick, ran after him. The rest of his brothers chose to not follow.

"Where are you going?"

Patrick had already put on his shoes and then went for his coat.

"I have a plane to catch," he snarled back in anger.

Arthur did not flinch at the harsh voice, really, so obviously the angry expression on Patrick's face softened because of something else.
With his expression changed into something Arthur then almost thought looked like regret Patrick ruffled Arthur's hair.

"I have to work tomorrow, so I need to catch my plane back to Ireland. I only stayed long enough for me to discuss a few things with our brothers," Patrick explained.

"Didn't you promise last week you were going to stay for my birthday?" Arthur asked with a slightly accusing voice.

Patrick shrugged. "Something came up, and apparently my coworkers are too stupid to take care of it by themselves."

"Oh," was the only thing Arthur could muster in answer while he tried to convince himself the lump in his stomach wasn't disappointment.
Considering the look Patrick gave him at the moment Arthur didn't think he was very successful.

"Look Arthur," Patrick said with an almost sad sigh. "I still don't think you should go to Hogwarts, but if it's what you want then you should go. I had a feeling this would be your answer anyway - you and magic have always been inseparable since the day you were born."

At the last part Patrick's expression turned a little bitter, but Arthur wasn't sure why, so he decided to stay silent for the moment.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Patrick suddenly muttered after a few seconds silence while he began to rummage through his left pocket in his coat.

Soon enough he let out a "aha" when he found what he searched for and handed over a small, rectangular gift wrapped in thick white paper to Arthur.
A birthday gift, Arthur realised with eager anticipation.

"Since I'm not going to be here for your birthday," Patrick explained with a mutter and looked away when his face turned a light red. However Arthur was too focused on the small gift in his hands to take notice.

"May I open it now?" Arthur eagerly asked instead, without looking away from his gift.

"No, save it for tomorrow when it is your actual birthday."

Arthur nodded to show he accepted the answer and looked up at Patrick again. "Thank you," Arthur said, but then seemed to realise what he had said and quickly added:
"N-not that I needed a birthday present! I just accepted it since you already went and bought it anyway!"

To Arthur's annoyance Patrick had the nerve to look amused at his words.

"It's nice to know you are yourself even like this," Patrick laughed and opened the door.

Arthur had no idea what that was supposed to mean, so he decided to look grumpy just in case.

"I have to go, but I'll see you next time Arthur."

"Bye," Arthur muttered with a small wave and watched as Patrick apparated away to, what Arthur assumed was, the airport.

However the moment Arthur closed the door he suddenly noticed how the rest of his brothers stood in the doorway to the kitchen.

"Aw, did he give you an early birthday present," Scott teased with a grin when Arthur locked eyes with him.

"Patrick must be going soft, it's the end of the world!" William exclaimed in an exaggerated dramatic voice and held his hands over his heart.
Even Dylan had the nerve to look amused at the scene. Traitor.

"Shut up!" was Arthur's intelligent answer to his teasing brothers before he ran down the hallway and up for the stairs, red in embarrassment.

Only when he was in the safety of his room and locked the door did he glance down on the wrapped gift he had received from Patrick.
He allowed himself a small smile and placed the gift on top of his book about dragons on the nightstand. Tomorrow couldn't come soon enough.

o.o.o. (End of Chapter 02) .o.o.o

Author Note:

I hope you're liking this so far! Please comment/review if you want to, so I know if you like my story.
If anyone recognize this story it's probably because I also upload it on my Deviantart, but don't worry - I'm still me.
(I'm Kakashi95fan on DA, so if you want evidence on the fact I'm the writer of this story you're free to leave me a comment and ask me there.)

Again, I hope you enjoy this, and thank you so much for reading!