After bidding the two goodbye, Alfred grabbed a seat next to a blond Finnish boy named Tino (who just recently had proved that despite his easy-going manner, was not one to mess with) at the Gryffindor table. After the sorting had finished(with a silent thanks that a few First years did not end up in his house), and the headmaster had given his famous speech, the feast had begun.

"Oh hello Alfred," Tino greeted him.

"'Sup, Tino," Alfred said back. "How've you been?"

Tino smiled. "I've been fine thank you. The scuffle with Ivan had given me too much attention, no?" Near the end of last year, Ivan, a very tall and intimidating Russian student who was in the Slytherin house, was making remarks about Berwald(a Swedish student about as intimidating as Ivan). After Ivan flicking a curse at Tino when he was told to be quiet, he snapped. After spells flung between each other, the fight turned pretty physical. The end result was Ivan with a black eye, a deep gash on his face and arm, his other arm broken and his leg fractured. Tino on the other hand earned a black eye, a large amount of large bruises, and a fractured jaw and leg. Ivan knocked Tino out, but the Fin had won because of how much damage he inflicted on the Russian; and the fact that he had broken his wand. Both had gotten into a serious amount of trouble, but ever since, everyone was awed by Tino and asking how he did it; and gotten a lot of attention from Berwald. He leaned in, he eyes turning serious and in a low voice he asked: "What about you? Anything with Arthur?"

Alfred slumped in his seat and rested his head on his arms. "Nothing" he said dully.

"I think you should just tell him," the Fin said automatically. "It has been, what, going on five years?" Alfred groaned. His crush had been going on since he had become friends with Arthur. "You really should at least hint it," Tino said encouragingly. A long period of silence fell as Alfred thought this over. Finally, he said the reoccurring thought in his mind;

"What if he doesn't like me back? That would ruin us, Tino, you know it would," he said, looking up at the other. "I would rather be friends than loose him forever." Tino's eyes softened at Alfred's confession. He gave the American a soft pat on the back.

"You'll never know if you don't ask," he said softly. "And you may lose him if you never take the chance to ask." He jerked his head toward the Slytherin table. Alfred looked as well. Arthur and Francis were sitting next to each other. The pair was laughing and apparently making remarks jokingly at each other. He saw Arthur swing his hand toward the other, and Francis ducked while laughing. They looked so happy… Oh hell no.

"You're right," he said, feeling more confident. He would never lose to Francis. Never. After the magnificent feast, Alfred walked with Tino(who was still disturbed after he watched Alfred eat a staggering amount of hamburgers) as their house went up the marble staircase to the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Password?" she asked cheerfully.

"Floccinaucinihilipilification" he overheard a Head Girl or Prefect say.

"What kind of a password is that?!" Alfred cried, amazed at the length and complexity of the password. Why can't they at least be realistic sounding? Tino, who seemed to read Alfred's mind, answered, "It is a word. It dates back to 1741 and, if I am correct, means 'an estimation of something as worthless'." Alfred gave a shocked look of shock as they climbed through the portrait hole the painting had opened. "How do you know that?" he asked shrilly.

"Arthur," he said simply. They climbed the stairs (with Alfred relentlessly asking other topics about Arthur, and Tino resisting) together and when they reached the top to their beds, Tino bid Alfred goodnight. "Night, Alfred," he said tiredly, but with a friendly grin he leaned in and whispered excitedly; "Here's a deal" he began, "If you confess to Arthur, I'll confess to mine."

"Wait, wha-" Alfred began, but Tino had already scuttled away to where his bed and luggage were located. A crush, huh? He thought to himself as he changed into his pajamas. Wonder who it is? He slid in between the covers, drowsiness taking over, and he felt his pet cat Americat climb onto his bed and rest on his chest. His purrs broke the silence of the room as he stroked him. "What do you think," he asked the content cat. "Do you think I may have a chance with Arthur?"

Americat stopped purring at once and looked his owner in the eye. He shook his furry head. "You bastard," he said to the feline. Americat stood on his paws and jumped off his bed to sleep elsewhere. "I didn't mean it!" he called to his cat(who had already disappeared).

From his right he heard a Danish accent say; "Alfred, shut the fuck up, go the fuck to sleep, stop talking to your fucking cat, Arthur, Tony, masturbating- I don't give a fuck- and GO THE FLYING MOTHER ASS FUCKING FUCK TO FUCKING SLEEP."

"I love you too Mat," he called to the Danish Fifth year, and slowly drifted to sleep. This will be the year, he thought to himself. I know it will.

"Iggy…Oh Iggy…" a distance voice chirped to Arthur. He let out a low groan and hid his face underneath the covers. "Arthur, come now, we'll be late," the voice said, more commanding while tugging at the covers. Arthur tried to keep the covers over him, but the voice was stronger and ripped the covers away. Arthur blinked at the brightness that he was now exposed to. After adjusting, he found the identity of the person who woke him up.

"Nnnn, dumb Frog, why'd you wake me up? And I told you not to call me that!" Arthur scolded while rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He needed to get dressed if he wanted to see Alfred at breakfast. Oh, and to eat, that was important too. He stretched his arms as he stood up and searched for clothes. He glanced up at Francis. "Well what are you still standing here for?" he questioned the other. Francis broke out of the apparent trance that he was in. When the question had reached him, he narrowed his eyes in an annoyed look (was the light playing games or were his cheeks the ever so lightest shade of pink?) and left the dorms. Arthur rolled his eyes and continued to get dressed. Now that I think about it, he thought to himself while putting on his robes, Francis didn't even throw an insult at me, and he has never woken me up before…hmmm…What game is he playing at? I will have to think about this later, Arthur thought to himself. Right now he was starving, and not even Alfred's horrid table habits could not ruin his appetite. After finishing, he dashed out of his common room with his school bag, to the Grand Hall.

"Alfred!" he called to his friend who sitting in between Gilbert, a Prussian sixth year, and Tino, a Finnish fifth year. Alfred waved him over, with Tino giving the American a nudge with his elbow.

"Hey Artie," he greeted, blue eyes shining as usual, but for some reason holding a shred of anxiety. Arthur examined the other; he didnt have crumbs or stains on his face nor clothes and had a tense aura about him; as if he was hiding something. "What are you staring at?" he asked meeting his eye for only a second.

Okay, something is definitely wrong. My Alfred is never neat, nor does he ever seem unconfident. Gilbert seems amused at something from his strange kesesesese laugh, and Tino keeps nudging Alfred as if cueing something. Topping that, Alfred's face seemed to be flushing, Arthur thought to himself. By God does reading and watching Sherlock pay off. "Are you alright Alfred? You seem slightly off," Arthur said.

"Yeah, course I'm fine," Alfred said slightly too quickly, removing his glasses he named Texas.

"If you're sure…" Arthur said hesitantly. He waved Tino goodbye as he headed for his table, but he swore he heard a frustrated sigh from behind. He sat at his table and began to nibble the toast that had shimmered onto his plate. First Francis, now Alfred…What is going on?

"Mr. Kirkland," said Professor Snape, in his same drawling voice.

"Y-yes professor?" Arthur stuttered, caught off guard by his Head of House's sudden appearance.

"Don't stutter like a fool Kirkland, I'm only giving you your schedule," he growled handing him the piece of paper. Arthur took the sheet without saying anything, not wanting to further irritate his potions professor, and glanced over it. Francis appeared next to him, looking at the paper.

"What do we have?" "Defense Against the Dark Arts with Gryffindor, after that, double herbology," Arthur said. Splendid. He could probe Alfred on why he was acting so strange.

"Oh, Arthur, Francis," a voice called. The two teens looked to where the obviously Russian voice came from. "I want to have a Quidditch practice on Thursday, please do not forget," Ivan said kindly (although he left the unsaid words 'or else' shift through the air). Ivan is a sixth year and the team captain on the Slytherin Quidditch team and was also a beater (and a bloody good one he was).

"Got it Vanya," Francis said giving him a thumbs up.

"Please do not call me that," Ivan said gently, although Arthur can practically see the Russian's aura.

"Heh heh, yup, s-sorry," Francis stuttered, also seeing the menacing aura. Ivan nodded and headed over to the Ravenclaw table.

"He's still with Yao?" Francis asked.

"Of course," said Arthur. Yao was Kiku's older brother who was also in Ravenclaw; he and Russia have been going out since their fourth year (third for Arthur and Francis); though many thought that it would end soon because of how much the two bickered.

"Aww man, I thought for sure this would be the year; now I owe five more Galleons to Antonio and Gilbert," Francis said disappointedly. Arthur scoffed at him.

"Serves you right, betting on other's love lives, I didn't know you could be that shrewd," he said gathering his things together. Arthur ducked the attempted swing from Francis. "Now, now frog, wait until Defense Against the Dark Arts," Arthur said slyly. Francis waved him off. Arthur continued to bounce to his class until he began to think. Why are he and Francis getting along (look, he even calls him Francis!) and why is Alfred acting so strange? He was always told that he handled things the wrong way (there was this one incident with a cursed chair that Ivan broke…three times…), but certainly he could not be overreacting, could he? Come to think of it, Alfred has been acting a little off for a while. It would always be small things; avoiding to graze hands, dropping the Quaffle during the matches he played against him, having table manners (?!), and being such a gentleman around him (well, he may have installed that in him but never less!). Arthur let out a sigh as he pushed the door open to his class.

'Oh well', he thought. 'I'll just slip some Veritaserum into his drink later on.' Arthur settled his things onto a desk he chose near the back. Other students soon began trailing in, and soon Alfred came and said goodbye to Tino before taking the seat next to Arthur.

"Hello Alfred, I assume you will still not tell me what is troubling you?" Arthur said glancing at his friend.

"Lovely to see you as well and I have told you earlier that I am fine" Alfred replied, putting on a British accent. Arthur studied his friend, still not convinced, until their (new) professor spoke.

"Alright class," she addressed, "Once again, you have a new Dark Arts professor, and you shall address me as Professor Squivx. And I will tell you now, being in your fifth year will be a living, pardon my language, burning hell that contains over nine thousand spontaneously combusting suns. Many students have mental break downs because of the amount of information imposed on them and one time there was a suicide attempt."

The entire class looked horrified at this. She smiled at them and continued, "So now that you know this helpful tidbit, let us begin roll call."

'Oh I like this teacher,' Arthur thought to himself, feeling a grin spread on his face. 'I like this teacher a lot. She reminds me of Mitarashi Anko from the one manga Alfred reads… Naruto was it?'

"Francis?"

"'Ere mon chere," Francis said nearby, making his accent thicker than usual.

"Alexander?"

"Here."

"Emma?"

"Here." The names went on and on until Alfred and long after, Arthur's name was called.

"Arthur?"

"Here," he called, while raising his hand.

Professor Squivx looked down at her paper before looking back at Arthur. "Do you have a brother? Flaming red hair?" she asked. "Yes," he breathed; he didn't much care for his older Scottish brother. She grinned at him. "I haven't last seen him since he was a small child," she said. "Your parents and I were friends back when we went to Hogwarts, and I attended their wedding. We lost touch years before he was born though, how are they?"

"F-Fine," he said looking down, fuck, he stuttered. He wished she would stop discussing his family and start teaching already.

"Hey," Alfred said quietly, "You okay?"

"Of course," he said, forcing a smile, and for extra measure he added, "And it's 'Are you okay', git." Alfred still looked unsure, so what does the idiot do? He raises his hand and says:

"Uh, excuse me, Professor?"

"Yes Alfred?"

"My friend here is sick, may I take him to the Hospital Wing?" Arthur threw him a dirty look. Squivxs looked confused.

"But he looks fine to me besides how it looks like he wants to wring your neck." A few of the students laugh at this. 'Don't you dare,' Arthur thought to him, but Alfred continued.

"No, he's sick alright," he said, glancing at Arthur. In one quick move, he stomped on Arthur's foot and knocked him off his stool. The stool clanged loudly when it hit the floor, and Arthur felt his face flush from embarrassment and felt a few tears spring from the sudden pain. He heard some of the students chuckling.

"Oww," he said, trying to stand up.

"See?" Alfred said, gesturing toward him. "Can't even balance himself, and he's in pain!"

'Jee, I wonder why?' Arthur thought to himself, finding that he couldn't put pressure on his left foot. He winced as he went over to put the stool back.

"Well," Alfred said getting up, and gathering him and Arthur's things, "I will just be taking him soooo…see ya!" he said, pulling Arthur out of the class. The last thing he saw was the complete baffled look of his Professor. "Nice acting skills Artie," Alfred said, once in the deserted hallway. "I thought I would have to improvise a bit more, but the limping and wincing really sold it off, I think."

"I wasn't acting; you really hurt my foot git!" Arthur said, his voice coming out more watery than he intended. He winced as spikes of pain went up his leg as he tried to take a step. "Now I'll really have to go to Madam Pomfrey," he said wiping the tears from earlier. Alfred's eyes went wide, filled with shock.

"Hey, don't cry, I-I didn't mean it, I was just-" he said putting his hands on his shoulders eyes now being filled with concern. Cry? Arthur thought to himself. I'm not even crying, my foot just hurts, does it look like it? Arthur shoved Alfred's hands off.

"Come on, stupid," he said to his friend, failing to not wince as he took a step. Alfred looked at him while they made their slow walk to the Hospital Wing. After he heard Arthur's small squeak of pain, he seemed to have enough because he picked the small teen up bridal style and continued to walk at a faster pace.

"Alfred!" Arthur hissed, taken extremely off by the sudden closeness, "Why-? Put me down!" he hissed, flailing his arms and legs and feeling his face heat up again.

"No way dude," he said, struggling to hold the flailing Brit. "We'll get there faster like this, and plus it's a hero's duty!" he said proudly. "And I would stop moving if I were you," he added, with a smirk Arthur stopped struggling, still clutching Alfred's robes. He was right, that wouldn't help at all, and plus he didn't liked to be carried because he was afraid to be dropped.

"I swear if you drop me…" he said, clutching his robes. Why did they have to be on the other side of the building?

"Don't worry, I got ya," he said with a grin looking down. They continued walking in silence until Alfred asked, "So you're not going to tell me what upset you in DA?"

"Nothing upset me! You know how I feel about my brother," Arthur said, glancing at the floor. They should be close now…

"How come I never met you parents?"

Arthur froze, why is his family being brought up all of a sudden? He gathered his courage back together before saying, "I've told you this as well; they're gone on business or vacation a lot."

Alfred looked at him before saying, "I just thought I would have met them by now, even when we were little, I only remember Scotty picking you up from school or cooking and watching you at your house." Scotty wasn't his brother's real name; Alfred calls him that because of his Scottish appearance and accent. His real name is Allistor "Ah, here we are!" his tone lightening as he opened the door to the Hospital Wing.

"You two again?" said Madam Pomfrey amazed as they walked in. She sighed, "Alright Jones, set him down, what happened this time?" Alfred gently laid Arthur down on the bed. Arthur felt cold on the side that touched Alfred, and it felt strange not hearing the American's heartbeat, which for some reason was beating rapidly. Arthur narrowed his eyes and looked at his friend, telling him to explain.

"I-er-we-uhhh…" he said rubbing the back of his neck. "Heh heh, well… he kinda-er-hurt his foot in class."

Madam Pomfrey rolled her eyes. "Alright Kirkland," she said rolling up her sleeves and raising her wand. "This may hurt a bit." She flicked her wand over his ankle.

White hot pain shot up his leg and he yelped, feeling tears spring in his eyes and roll down his face. But soon the pain died and all that was left was a dull but still slightly painful throb. "That's all I can do for now," she said. "I would have done something about the pain, but we don't have it at the moment because I thought we wouldn't need it so early," she finished, casting a look at Alfred. She looked back at Arthur. "I would have you stay the night, but the fifth years really need their classes so you may go unless you still can't walk."

"That's all right, Madam," Arthur said rotating his now healed foot. It still hurt a tad bit, but he could manage. "I'll go back now, thank you," he said standing up and taking his stuff from Alfred. "Come on you," he said to his friend as they walked out, in the back he heard Madam Pomfrey mutter something about 'teenagers'. The second that the door closed Arthur slapped Alfred over the head.

"Ow! What was that for?" Alfred asked, rubbing the place Arthur hit. "For stomping on my foot for which caused us to miss class and come here, shoving me out of my seat, embarrassing me in front of the class-"

"It was more the back of the class," Alfred interrupted, which earned another slap.

"Embarrassing me in front of the class," he continued, "And carrying me all the way down as if I'm some damsel in distress, and-don't you dare interrupt me," he threatened before continuing, "And-and-" Arthur let out a huge puff of air as he felt his steam dying down. He let out a frustrated sigh as he felt his cheeks increase in color. "Let's just go back to class," he said tiredly, now leaning against the American.

Alfred looked at him, a beam of light hitting Texas, obscuring one eye from view, before grinning at him and saying confidently, "Alright, let's go!"

"Well, it's nice seeing you two again," Professor Squivx said loudly as the two walked in and sat in their seats. She pointed to the chalk board, "Copy notes from these chapters from your textbook and answer the questions at the end for homework. And," she said raising her voice for the rest of the class to hear, "I want a eleven inch paper about the subject due Monday, you may pack up and talk amongst yourselves."

Arthur and Alfred stood up, as they didn't take anything out of their bags. Tino came by to join the two.

"Hello Alfred, Arthur, I trust you are feeling better, no?" He greeted with a smile.

"Hi, Tino, and yes I'm much better now," Arthur said.

"Hey Ti," Alfred said. Tino stared intently at Alfred, flashing a look at Arthur before returning to Alfred. The American in return cocked his head shrugged with a smile. The bell soon rang and Tino left the classroom.

"I would ask what that was all about," Arthur said leaving the room with the other, "But you wouldn't tell me, would you?" Alfred gave him a smile and went off to his class. Arthur, on the other hand, went to the greenhouses for Herbology.

"WELL IF YOU'RE SUCH A OUTWORDLY COWARD ABOUT IT I WILL JUST HANDLE IT MYSELF!"

"IN YOUR DREAMS FROG, YOU'RE SUCH A SISSY THAT IT HAS YOUR PICTURE NEXT TO THE WORD IN THE BLOODY DICTIONARY!" Arthur yelled back, grabbing hold of the plant that was spitting green slime.

"WELL THAT'S NOT VERY GENTLEMENLY NOW IS IT MR. EYEBROWS?!" Francis yelled back, body slamming Arthur onto the floor to grab hold of the plant. Arthur gasped. He did not just make fun of his eyebrows and his gentlemen nature.

"I'M THE BEST FUCKING GENTLEMAN THERE IS, YOU PERVERTED FROG, AND MY EYEBROWS HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS!" he screamed back, trying to shove Francis away from the plant, slime getting on both of them. The rest of their class stared at them.

"HAH," Francis laughed, "THOUGHS THINGS HAVE BEEN STUCK ON YOUR FOREHEAD FOR YEARS, TELL US, WHEN WILL THEY TURN INTO BUTTERFLIES?!"

"THEY'LL TURN INTO BUTTERFLIES WHEN YOU—" "

THAT'S ENOUGH!" Arthur and Francis looked up to find a fuming Professor Sprout standing in front of them. "IF YOU TWO HAD PAID ATTENTION EARLIER, YOU WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN FIGHTING THE DAMN PLANT FOR NEARLY THE ENTIRE CLASS. TWENTY POINTS FROM SLYTHERIN!" she roared. "NOW SIT DOWN!" she plucked a tiny leaf near the base of the plant, and the spewing beast turned back into a small, harmless looking bud.

"Git," he said returning to his seat. "I told you to do that but nooo…" Francis, in return, gave him a rude gesture from under the table. After Sprout had calmed down and were taking notes, Francis asked:

"Hey, why did Alfred take you out of DA? We all knew you were fine, at least I did."

Arthur shrugged. "I don't know, he thought I wasn't well so he pushed me off my chair. We actually had to go to Pomfrey because he messed up my ankle," Arthur said. "Why?"

"Mmm…" he said while shrugging. "You were all red and sweating when you came back and Alfred's robes were ruffled so I wanted to know." Arthur nodded and continued to take notes. Why did he want to know?

On Thursday afternoon Arthur strolled out onto the Quidditch field with his Comet Two Sixty, the skies were clear, and there wasn't too much wind: Perfect Conditions.

"Alright," Ivan said, clapping his hands. "Last year was, once again, was a perfect season. But we can't take chances this year, or any year for that matter," he looked around at his team. "We will be playing against Hufflepuff in two weeks' time. As this is the first practice and that this is Hufflepuff we are talking about, I say we just do some simple warm ups and drills, alright? Let's start." And they all kicked off the ground while the balls were released. While the others headed off to their sessions, Arthur looked for the Snitch.

There he thought, as he saw a streak of gold near one of the players. Dodging a Bludger, Arthur swopped under his teammate in a graceful arc and chased after the gold object. Come on… he thought to himself, reaching out to grab it. He swung out of the way of another Bludger, getting oh so close to the Snitch. I'm so close. . . It was in his reach! He reached out his hand, and closed his fingers around the golden sphere. And there he felt once again that everything was okay, that nothing could stop him, not even his past.

Oh, how he wished he felt like this all the time!

A/N: Hello again! I would first like to apologize for posting this so late. I'm still new and I didn't know how! ^w^"

But about the story, I wanted Arthur to have a tad bit of mystery to his childhood, (although I of course wanted to add Allistor), and I think Alfred and Tino would be friends wouldn't they? I am also thinking of adding a bit of FrUk to this but I don't quite know yet...

I would love to see what you would think so please review if it is not too much trouble!

Up next, Halloween!

~Ai-Sensei