The doors slid open and a blond boy with short, summer-colored hair highlighted with a dusty brown and vivid green eyes stared at Isolde, eyes narrowing beneath short bangs. He wore the robes of Gryffindor, and his eyebrows were extremely thick; Isolde thought they were hexed. He carried himself proudly, standing tall for his unremarkable 5'9'' frame in the doorway.

Heracles darted in front of Isolde, shielding her from the boy's view. "What do you want, Arthur?" he snarled. "If you came to talk, we're studying, like usual."

Kiku tapped the left side of Isolde's plain robes with his white wand produced from his sleeve, and the Ravenclaw standard appeared on her plain black robes. He hid it just as quickly as he pulled out his wand.

"Who are you hiding back there?" Arthur demanded. Kiku nodded to Heracles and just as he was about to step aside, Arthur, with a surprising strength, brushed past him.

"This is Quellan. Second year. She needs some brushing up on potions," Kiku lied smoothly for Isolde before she could speak.

Arthur's monstrous eyebrows narrowed as he scrutinized Isolde with his glare. "She looks a lot like those bloody Beilschmidts, doesn't she, Alfred?"

Another blond boy, well-sculpted and muscular, peered into the compartment. His cornflower-colored eyes were strikingly bright and lively, full of energy. Like Arthur, he also wore Gryffindor robes. "Hell, she does! You're right, Arth!"

"We should welcome her, da (1)?" the tallest boy, almost 6'5'', asked from the doorway. His hair was a pale, bleached blond, almost ashen in color.

"She's a second-year Ravenclaw, I don't see why you'd do that," Heracles defended, knowing his other methods of welcoming first-years. "She doesn't know about any of you, Ivan."

"She should," Arthur snorted.

They're countries, Isolde realized. Old Fritz was still weighing down her shoulders, and she felt his stout body tense.

"I suggest you leave, kudasai, (2)" Kiku said coldly, turning to Isolde once more. In a low voice, he spoke and pointed to the potions book, as if he was truly tutoring her, and Isolde bent over it with him. "My spell will last a bit longer. You need to stay out of sight from the Gryffindors, particularly the old Allies from World War Two. They somehow knew you were coming. You have a brother, right, a twin?"

Isolde nodded and Kiku continued.

"Alright, you need to pass this information to him quickly. If you see a Chinese boy with long hair or a very good looking French boy, turn and walk quickly the other way. They've caught on you, so I suggest you use these at all times," he pressed a cylindrical container into her hand, "avoid joining or being associated with Slytherin at all cost. Your sister and her husband may flaunt their status and their masks as purebloods, but your older brother has much more sense. Join Ravenclaw, you'll be safer with us. They could hurt you very easily."

Isolde noticed he didn't note any of their methods.

When Isolde looked up, the boys were gone, and so was Heracles. Kiku motioned for her to leave, telling her Heracles would be fine, so Isolde slipped the container into her deep pocket. She exited the compartment and swiftly walked down the train, stopping a few compartments down when she found two strikingly similar young men sitting across from each other.

She opened the door easily and slid it closed behind her before tackling the older of the two.

Both of the men wore their darker blond hair in messy, attractive ponytails, and one had a scar stretching from his right eyebrow down his cheek. The older had dark, stormy gray eyes, and the younger had ones that mirrored the sea, like Isolde's orbs.

"Christoph!" Isolde murmured into his shoulder. Her brother was tall, the same height as Gilbert, towering at 6'2''. His stern expression was marked by long years of learning and harsh experience.

His long arms wrapped loosely around his younger sister's torso, and the younger of the nearly-identical brothers snorted. Isolde leapt off Christoph and enthusiastically tackled the other boy in the compartment: her twin, Viktor.

"Schwester, (3)" Viktor said emotionlessly. "You should leave. It's not safe for you to be seen with us."

If the twins had been anywhere but on the train to Hogwarts at that moment, Viktor would have embraced his sister. He would have hugged her close, teased her, and instructed her to put her long hair in a ponytail.

Times were different now, and they didn't have the luxury of fooling around with each other anymore.

"She must know how her days will be set," Christoph argued. More like how they'll be dictated, Isolde thought rebelliously. "Let her stay a few minutes and I"ll explain."

"Why won't anyone tell me anything?!" Isolde demanded. "Everyone tells me I'm in danger, and that I should avoid my own family! What did I do that suddenly made me a target?! You guys can stick together, but why can't I…"

"Because you're too nosy," Viktor pointed out. "Like Wyn. She's the one that got us in this mess, after all."

"But-"

"Just listen," Christoph sighed and cast a spell identical to the one Heracles had cast, making sure no one would listen in on their conversation.

"Our sister and her husband are daring. They did something extremely dangerous last year, in spite of the oath we all took to stay under cover. Well, Arthur and Alfred and them always break that one with their haughty Gryffindor pride wins and such, but it doesn't matter. Why that matters us is because Slytherin proved that they are still dominant over Gryffindor, and that's made the Allies bitter. They're out for our family, they want to ruin and destroy us again so we know who's boss. Half of us aren't even countries anymore, Isolde," Christoph sighed.

"You still haven't told me what it is that RUINED our lives!" Isolde exclaimed.

"They won the Quidditch cup and rallied the house to win the House cup. Gryffindor's never lost either since the Second Wizarding War," Viktor explained. "And they've proven to the Gryffindors that we, as a family, and Slytherin, as a house, have been growing stronger. They proved that beneath all their scheming and pride and worthless ambition that they are a threat."

"He's right," Christoph said. "And somehow, when Gilbert and Ivan went out drinking last summer, he revealed one of you two. That you were coming. I can never trust him again."

"Maybe you should relax a bit, bruder," Isolde coaxed. "He only let it slip. He was drunk, after all."

"The point is, he never gets drunk," Viktor pointed out. "His alcohol tolerance is quite high these days."

"So they're lying. So what?"

"Arthur has some pretty bad plans for either one of you. He's outraged by the loss of both cups, and this year is the year of the Triwizard Tournament," Christoph said. "He can't risk losing face in front of two other elite Wizarding schools, especially since he's the Gryffindor prefect this year. That means he'll be putting his name in for the Triwizard Tournament. Possibly other peoples', like your sister. She's formidable even though she's not a country anymore."

"Your point being…?"

"They'll enter either one of you in if they have to," Christoph paused uneasily. "They've gone mad. They want to kill all of us now."

"Fat chance."

"They'll start slowly, Ivan'll make sure of that. Starting off with you two. They're hunting you down, Isolde," Christoph said. "And when they do it, they'll make it look like an accident in front of as many people as possible. Naturally, they're saving Wyn and Gilbert for last, but you two will be attacked first.

"The youngest always hurt the family the most."

(1) Yes (in Russian)

(2) Please (in Japanese)

(3) Sister (in German)

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