Lily's theme.

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Snakeskins

This World and That One

Oil prices, foreign investments, tariff changes, import taxes.

Global initiatives, international sponsorship, supreme councils, world summits.

There was an awful lot for Nations to keep busy doing without ever stepping foot through a magic portal or touching an enchanted piece of anything.

Sporting events, internal corruption, natural disasters, changes in leadership.

If a Nation wanted to, or they were particularly unfortunate, they could find centuries of work in the modern world without even bothering to bring magic into it. The Wizarding World, as a rule, was deceptively quiet. Magic folk simply didn't make up enough of the population to become a major chagrin: they were a minority made up of minority groups, independent from the systems which kept the rest of their neighbours alive and happy. Everything from sceptic systems to resource allocation: food, fuel, and transport, were entirely separate between muggle and wizard.

That was why it took England and Italy almost two months to come together again on the Hogwarts issue. And Arthur wasn't going to lie: part of that was his own refusal to talk about it.

"And I think that about wraps things up for today!" A conference in London went about as smoothly as their kind could expect, paperwork sliding into briefcases and friends standing up and stretching before hurrying to mingle and make small talk. Whatever their bosses expected to get done at world meetings, they all knew that the social aspect was where the real work happened between Nations.

"Ve~ England!"

"Italy! You can't just leave your bag here!" For some strange reason, Arthur thought Italy rushed up to him to say something about his report on the Euro-rail line and the maintenance costs that had begun building up to support it. When Germany's gruff voice chased the Italian across the floor it was just part of another normal day, so Arthur almost didn't notice it when Italy grabbed his arm and made sure to get a good grip on him before looking back with a smile for his friend.

"It's too heavy! Why don't you carry it for me instead?"

"Don't be a child! Come here and clean your space at once!" Of course, much like Greece and a few other nations at the table, Italy's seat was pushed back where he'd jumped up in a hurry, and his documents and paperwork were still scattered around with a few pens and a coffee cup resting on top of the mess.

"England and I have something important to discuss first!" It wasn't unusual for Italy and Germany to butt heads anymore. It never escalated very far, but the childish back-and-forth was customary. What was different was Italy using a third party to get his way. "Something magical! But very serious. Did you want to join us, Germany? You have to prepare a UN report on the Status of Education soon, so why not include a section on Wizarding schools and standards of safety and care?"

Germany's square face balked at once, wide shoulders shrugging and squirming under the grey panes of his suit as he lifted his hands and made up some sort of rambling excuse. Arthur wasn't listening anymore because at his final point, Italy had begun digging his fingertips down fiercely into his arm to make his meaning pristine: the last few weeks hadn't changed how he felt about the Hogwarts deaths, and he didn't want Arthur wriggling his way out of a thorough discussion.

"I'll leave you two to talk then." And Germany was absolutely no help, because the bare utterance of 'magic' sent him hurrying off to do anything else. Even after he was gone, Italy's grip didn't loosen up.

"Actually, there really is something I need from my desk!"

"You don't need to be so two-faced about it." Arthur grunted, letting himself be dragged along by his hostage arm back around the wide table. Italy only released him to start stacking papers and cleaning up as Germany had wanted, a smile fixed to his face and eyes cinched shut to make the expression stick a little longer. "I know you're upset, so-"

"Mm! Yes, so is there somewhere private where we can talk?" He didn't pick up everything, just whatever he thought he'd need before turning back around and snatching Arthur's wrist back up in one cold, hard hand. Nations were filtering out of the board room now, but there were always the ones who liked to linger and they were the ones Italy probably wanted to avoid.

"This way..."

Another meeting room on the same floor, significantly smaller, and vacant for at least the next two hours if the chart on the wall meant anything. The door wasn't locked as Arthur shuffled inside with Italy hounding him closely, but the other Nation did turn around and fiddle with the handle until it gave a tell-tale click of a settled lock. Wonderful.

"Have a seat, England."

"Italy-"

The laptop bag Italy was carrying was the same one from his last trip to London, and the top zipper was still undone from his fast clean-up in the other room. When he reached inside there was the loud slap of paper hitting the table next to them, but his arm moved so fast to put it there that Arthur barely saw the blur, just felt the wind hit his face from the blow.

"They're gone." Italy really was angry, not even speaking could disrupt his smile.

On the table was a folded newspaper, an utterly useless thing to carry around to a meeting- until Arthur saw the picture on the front page start moving. His eyes bungled the name of the paper and the article underneath it, confused for a moment by looping Italian script that only formed shadows of words he already knew.

A rough translation of borrowed words told him what Italy was trying to say: the Rosetti family line had collapsed. The details were hidden in words he'd need too long to sit down and properly read to himself, but there on the front page were several photos of smiling wizards and witches, a family with generations of magic and gold to them, crowned by two bright young children sitting front and centre, brother and sister, whom Arthur had seen buried a month earlier in Florence.

"Feliciano, I-"

"Do you know what happened yet?" Arthur wasn't sure what he'd been trying to say, but Italy was still smiling and both of them were standing perfectly still across from each other. He wished Italy had asked a different question.

"It was suicide, Italy, I'm sorry."

"Do you need me to pull up the numbers on young adults who commit suicide just weeks before graduating from school?"

"Italy-"

"He was a solid student, you sent me his Hogwarts transcripts yourself: he was going to graduate."

"Yes, but-"

"How often do children take their own lives when they have family living in the same school house? I understand bullying, Arthur, but don't be ridiculous."

"It was a tragedy, Italy! Suicide is always a tragedy, the entire school was shaken by it, but I don't know what you expect me to do about it!"

"You can tell me who he was fighting with." He was still smiling and damn it if Arthur didn't find it a little creepy when Italy was suddenly that much closer to him. "Tell me why she scratched her own face until she bled."

"The students won't talk about it." Arthur hated admitting it, but he also knew how dangerously close to losing his temper Italy had to be to start acting like this. He wasn't supposed to be aggressive, he was one Nation the rest of them could always count on to make the argument for peace. "I mean it. You left to escort the bodies home to their family and I stayed behind until the end of semester: the students wouldn't say a word to me or their professors. Slytherin house especially, and the most I got out of the other three were snide looks and no real remorse at all."

"You just said the entire school was shaken."

"They were... for a while."

Italy opened his eyes and he quietly put his smile down. He didn't glare or rage, he just looked at Arthur and stared straight at him until they were looking through each other. It was not a kind moment, and the feeling matched the way Italy spoke to him after collecting his thoughts.

"Hogwarts spawned one of the most terrible wizards of this age."

"Yes... yes it did."

"He came from Syltherin house."

"He did..." And he'd followed its founder's ideals far beyond what Salazar Slytherin himself had ever conceived. To bar muggle-born students because of the threat their muggle families posed to the magical world and the immense trust that had to be placed in people who weren't even magical, just related to those who were.

"The same house where two of mine took their lives."

"That's right."

"Lives no one else in that school is mourning?"

Arthur didn't answer that time, he was afraid to admit that- that he was afraid to admit something at all. He didn't like being intimidated by something Italy had to say, he found himself suddenly chaffing against the awkward hold the other Nation had him in, brown eyes unblinking when a few minutes before he'd refused to open them. When Arthur continued to stand there in silence, it just riled Italy up a little bit more.

"I want Hogwarts' international status revoked."

"What!?"

"Either it happened because they were Slytherins or it happened because they were Italian. I won't see another ounce of Italian gold enter Hogwarts coffers until I have an answer!"

"You're being unreasonable-" He wished he hadn't said that, because Italy's temper burst:

"I won't let another one of my children die because your school is full of black magic!" One flimsy door wasn't going to keep Italy's voice locked up when he shouted, one threatening hand raised and pointing straight at Arthur. "I lost enough of them during your awful war! That school is dangerous, there's no heart left in it if its own students can kill themselves and there isn't a single friend left behind to tell their parents what happened or why! I want Hogwarts blacklisted from the Triwizard Tournament and its international Quidditch funding suspended! You put children in robes that turn three quarters of their own school against them, and then teach them to keep secrets from their own nation! Is there even such a thing as an English wizard anymore, or do you just have wizards who happen to live in England?"

"That's enough!" How dare he! "If you think it's so easy to get a bunch of moody teenagers to talk then I'd like to see you try! Why don't you just enroll yourself in the damned school and see how far that gets you!"

"And see first-hand just what kind of hate you're breeding on that mountain?" Italy hissed back, his volume falling back to a normal level as his anger, harsh and loud, was either burning itself out or just slowly sinking back down into whatever smouldering pit he stored it in. "I'd do it just to prove I care more than you do."

"Don't delude yourself." Italy stepped away from him, not because he was intimidated but just to give them both space to breathe again. "I'm not going to just sit by and watch you dismantle a legacy like that for no reason."

"Dead children, England." He bit back, and Arthur wanted to grind his teeth at the reminder. "I don't need a better reason than that."

They parted in an unkind way.

Summer was ticking by, day by day without anything to show for it. The most Feliciano could do by the end of another hot week in Rome was try to get his brother to look at him again.

"Lovino-"

"Look, if you want to do it then do it." He'd talk, there was no problem getting South Italy to talk, but where he was standing in their kitchen slicing vegetables for a summer meal, he wouldn't turn around and look at him. "I get why, and frankly if they'd been mine instead then I'd probably just as pissed off as you, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna like it."

"I don't want this to be a thing between us."

"You've been re-reading those creepy books again, and I know you went down into Wizarding Rome last week to have a look around: I'm not mad, I just don't like it."

"What happens if we leave it alone and the same things start happening all over again?" The knife in Romano's hands slowed down until the cutting edge just stopped against the wooden board, the spring onions he'd been chopping just sitting there with the steel stuck half-way through them. "I went and had a talk with Vatican yesterday too; I know he has the same reservations you do."

"You weren't here when they started setting fires, Feliciano." South Italy just wouldn't look at him, he finished his cut and put the knife down, but standing there in an office shirt and slacks, Feliciano just watched his brother lean over the counter without trying to face him. "Water resistant, wind resistant, they just burned and burned until the entire wizarding quarter was gone, and then they vanished through the smoke threatening to destroy the rest of the city."

"Lovino..." The silence was heavy, but it was the kind of quiet that was only deep, not long.

"I can't handle getting involved with their kind anymore, I won't watch the rest of our people get caught in the middle again." Romano stood a little straighter after letting his head hang for a moment, and with his eyes set on what he was doing he scooped the onions up and dropped them in a hot skillet waiting on the stove next to him. They sizzled and were followed by mushrooms and garlic, the leafy greens for the salad he'd already been working on coming back under the knife so he could place the slices in a bowl for mixing. "But you're right. If England and Scotland can't control whatever's going on in that school then it's time for the international school to step in. It's America's anti-terrorism plans applied to the magical world, if you know there's black magic starting up somewhere then crush it. Investigate and fix the problems yourself, or just close the damned school. Just do something."

"I'll try and talk to England again about all of this." But while he was home for a break in between conferences, Feliciano still wanted his brother to just look at him...

"Just do something. Do something before... we all get burned again."

Arthur didn't expect to see Italy come back to London so soon after their last encounter. He was also surprised when his Italian counterpart was simply standing there on his doorstep in the late summer rain, hands in the pockets of another fine suit, a black leather suitcase sitting on the curb next to him. He had his eyes down and didn't look up as boldly as he had a few weeks before, but while standing there and letting the rain come down on him, Italy spoke first.

"You said the students at that school wouldn't talk to you." This again...

"They wouldn't say anything to anyone, it's like they'd all been hexed."

"What about each other then? Within their own houses, their friends?" It really meant this much to him, didn't it? It really was this frightening to imagine what should have been one of the safest wizarding schools in the world slowly collapsing in on itself and surrendering to a recent past of cruelty and darkness... "England, what if I really did go to Hogwarts?"

It was the last thing Arthur expected to hear when Italy looked up at him again. It was... almost ridiculous.

"As a student?"

"As a student." And then he shrugged, as if admitted how stupid he knew the idea sounded. "Age charms aren't so difficult and it's not very hard to write up paperwork for myself: I do it for drivers' licences and stuff every few years anyways."

"I'd tell you it's a seven year commitment you're making- unless you're going to drop out!"

"As long as it means finding the answers I need? I can't let this go, England, I just can't."

The silence this time was different from that angry board-room meeting. No screaming, and they weren't both clutching their tempers like it was their last chance at remaining civil. It must have been an impossible effort for Italy to keep his head up and look at him, because his eyes fell all over again and England was left standing there watching the rain drip off the other Nation's wet, curling red hair.

"Come inside then, you idiot. I'll make us some tea."

"I just can't let it go."

And that meant they were going to figure a solution out instead.