Harry Potter and the Man of Britannia
Chapter 5
Not Serious Enough
Part 3
DeiDeiArtistic: Last of Chapter 5 in correlation to Chapter 7 of HPPA
Chapter Dedication: Truth's Apprentice
Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia or Harry Potter, likewise any of the preexisting characters or places.
Claimer: I own the plot of this story and any fictional character or idea that is not mentioned in either Hetalia or Harry Potter. I also own Jonathan E. Anderson.
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WARNING: Part I is rated T for mild gore.
Part V is rated T for mild violence.
Part VII is rated T for mild adult themes.
Use of personal headcanons.
Unbeta'd
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I
After having left Snape's office, Alfred hurried over to Arthur's classroom (one of them at least). His mind was still going over what had happened; regret twisting his stomach into knots with needles attaching to his heart like a pin-cushion. He didn't mean for that to happen — well he did mean it, but not for it to come out like that. He knew Arthur favored his child self than his current self much to his dismay, so why was Arthur mad? Wouldn't he have been happier? However, of course, Arthur was far from happy. Alfred sighed. Arthur was so hard to please…
Nearing Arthur's room, Alfred passed by Professor McGonagall in the hall and turned his head away as to avoid looking at her. When he rounded up to Arthur's classroom, he found the door opened and peered inside. Arthur was standing at his desk, rummaging through a drawer for something. However, Arthur must've sensed his presence as he suddenly stopped what he was doing.
"Come in and close the door as you do so." Arthur said, though not moving a centimeter.
Alfred slightly jumped from Arthur's cold demeanor, however did as he was told and entered the room, closing the door as he went. However, when he looked back at Arthur, he found the Englishman stripping away his shirt.
"Woah — Um… Don't you think this is uh… All of a sudden?" Alfred said, moving a hand to cover his reddening face. "And what if somebody sees? I mean, I'm pretty sure the portraits are going to be gossiping about this, so—"
Arthur shifted his head to send Alfred a horrified face. "What the hell are you blabbering on about you imbecile! Fucking prat! I was shot and my shirt was dirtied! — Insolent git." Arthur fumed, folding the shirt onto his desk and next to the First Aid kit.
Alfred blinked. "Where'd you get the First Aid?"
"From my desk of course. Do you think I want Pomfrey to inquire as to how I was shot by a Muggle weapon on wizard grounds?" Arthur scoffed, rolling his eyes as he shuffled through the kit. "Come here, I need you to pry out some bullets chips."
"Dude who shot you — and ouch, the bullet broke?" Alfred asked as he hurried over to Arthur and given the First Aid.
Arthur settled himself on the edge of his desk as Alfred came behind him and expected the bullet wound, grimacing at the sight as he took out a steel scalpel and turned the blade to an angle as he tilted it towards the frayed skin that was beginning to heal. Without a word, Alfred applied pressure into the skin and dragged the blade across the pale skin with smeared rust-red blood. He heard Arthur hiss, but continued his work, creating a foreboding cross among the raw flesh that cried such thick tears. He peeled at the skin, scrapping along carefully, and scraped the bone in which was embedded with broken pieces of metal.
Inspecting the bullet pieces, Alfred furrowed his brow as he grabbed a pair of pliers and worked at the wedged metal, all the while, Arthur was gritting and hissing through his teeth. When Alfred was able to pull out a fragment piece, he examined the bullet piece.
"Think I know why the bullet broke. Not only is this thing super old, it seemed to have gone through some tough weather. Whoever shot you either didn't pay attention to the bullet that they used, or used it knowingly…" Alfred trailed off, setting aside the metal.
"Bastard," Arthur cursed, wincing only slightly as Alfred began working his way at dislodging the other pieces of metal. Each little nick Alfred caused as he scraped along the bone, it would send a prickling jab up his spinal cord. One particular nick caused Arthur's arm to spasm. "Careful at what you are doing, I don't need you paralyzing me." He scowled, looking at Alfred at the corner of his eye, as best he could at least.
"Hey, I'm doing my best." Alfred pouted, chipping away a bullet fragment. The chip loosened well enough for Alfred to pick it out, setting it aside next to the other piece. "So who shot you? You never told me." He asked, working on the rest of the bullet chips.
"Rossi," Arthur answered after a moment of silence, the only sound in the air was Alfred scraping and taping along his bones to remove the metal chips.
Alfred placed down the silver tools in his hand. "Scotty? He shot you? Why?"
"You know he hates it when you call him that." Arthur muttered.
"I know," Alfred admitted. "That's why I call him that."
That caused Arthur to chuckle, however just before flinching. With his wound still exposed to the nipping air and soreness all around, Arthur still found discomfort in his position, especially when Alfred nicked his spine again. "Are you almost done there? I'd like to be healed by the time class comes around."
Alfred blinked before flushing just the slightest. "Oh. Um… Almost— just need to stitch you up." Alfred muttered as he grabbed a disinfectant wipe and cleared the raw area, dabbing the skin carefully as he wiped away the blood that trickled down. Folding the cloth in quarters, Alfred set it aside to ready a needle and thread for stitching. Smoothing out Arthur's skin and pinched the ends, he poked the needle in and felt Arthur tighten up slightly under his touch as Alfred weaved the thread into his skin.
Although Arthur, or Alfred, were used to pain as mundane as simple stitches, it still left an uncomfortable sting, but it was bearable nonetheless.
"Done." Alfred said after a moment or two, grabbing another disinfectant wipe to clean up whatever blood was there. He took another wipe and used it to clean the surface of the scalpel, repeating the same process with the pliers and needle. When he was done, Alfred looked over at Arthur, only to find him gone. "What the—"
Turning and looking about, Alfred jumped when Melahod* appeared before him. Arthur soon appeared from the black abyss, wearing a new pressed shirt, a light grey-pinstriped, long-sleeved polo with a green waistcoat and a new pair of dark gray slacks. When Arthur stepped out from the portal, he flattened out his attire to get rid of any wrinkles and glanced at Alfred, who smiled sheepishly.
"Oh, there you are." Alfred muttered as he folded up the blood-smeared wipe in quarters. Holding out the folded wipes, Alfred offered them up to Arthur. "D'you want these? Or—?" He asked, giving them a little shake.
Arthur accepted the red-tinted cloth and strolled over to his desk and over to the First Aid kit and grabbing two small plastic baggies. "Yes, I'll bury these when I have the chance." Arthur said, placing the bloodied cloth inside the baggy and tossing it inside the kit. With the other baggy, he repeated the same process with the bullet chips.
"M'kay," Alfred said mindlessly, looking around. "So do you think you'll be alright? I mean, lots of people saw you like that, how are you going to handle that?" He asked, glancing at Arthur.
"Handle what?"
"Handle that, you know with the whole 'Ello, I apologize for bleeding on your floor Dumbledore' thing."
"I'm sorry; I don't know what you mean."
"Dude! I just got done pulling out the bullets from your back and gave you stitches! Why are you acting dumb— Oh…" Alfred said, realizing what Arthur was doing.
Arthur shook his head, rolling his eyes. "It took you well enough."
"Hey…" Alfred mutter, sending Arthur a displeased look.
"Never mind that, I have a class to prepare — and shouldn't you be getting to class?" Arthur asked, going over his desk and picking up a leather-bounded book from it.
Alfred blinked before chuckling softly. "Oh not right know, but in the afternoon I have Defense Against the Dark Arts."
Arthur seemed to be perked up by that. "Oh really? Professor Lupin. Wonderful man he isn't he? A little quirky, however an alright bloke to drink with." Arthur mused, smiling. "Yesterday though, he was very eager for today. Something about his lesson plan… I wonder what he has planned for you all."
"I don't know, but whatever he's doing I hope it's awesome." Alfred said, grinning in anticipation.
Professor Lupin was an awesome and likeable man. Although there were days in which he looked as if he'd woken up from death, Lupin was handsome despite his greying hair. From the Golden Trio's remarks, Professor Lupin seemed to be the first who was actually capable to teach the Defense Against the Dark Arts class. The previous DADA professors had never stuck around long, though Lupin seemed quite promising.
"I'm sure it is…" Arthur muttered, flipping through the book in his hand to see what he'd be teaching that day. He'd had already taught about the time during his mother's time, as best as he could though. She left little for him to remember as she often sang about her history when he was young Albion* as she often called him.
(Of course Malfoy was always the thorn in his side whenever he taught, always insisting Arthur was mad and making everything up. However Arthur persisted he was not and if the Slytherin continued with his incessant behaviour he'd dock points from the Slytherin house — Malfoy promptly quieted down.)
As he looked through his time table, Arthur saw that as of today he'd start teaching about the revolts against magic kind during 410–937 A.D. (after the death of his mother Britannia*), or also known as the [Briton] Wizard Mutiny. When the Romans were leaving Britannia, remaining Romans, especially Roman wizards, were attacked by Britons (wizards respectively) who were imposed by the Roman wizards to stop casting any form of magic and they, by far, were very unforgiving folk.
Closing up the book, he laid it on his desk and turned towards the blackboard, reaching for a piece of chalk and writing down 'WIZARD MUTINY — 410–937 A.D.'. Alfred cocked his head as he read the text.
"Ah-yeah, this is your history-wizard stuff class, isn't it?" Alfred asked as Arthur began to prepare for his class.
"If you mean by a History of Magic class, then yes it's my 'history-wizard stuff' class." He mocked, as he took out a scroll of parchment from his desk and casted a duplicating spell. After the copies were made, Arthur went around his room to place a scroll down on each desk.
The original scroll was some brief information regarding how early Britons took Roman magi into their hands and took back Britannia from Rome. However, of course, there was much more than that. Britons were furious of the years Romans kept them under whip and treated like second class citizens. Civil wars, revolts, and invasions were what killed Britannia — the personified form that was.
Alfred pouted at Arthur's sarcasm, but said nothing, choosing to sit on Arthur's desk instead. "So where's Excal?" He asked, kicking his legs into the air back and forth.
"Either being pampered by the house elves in the kitchen or wandering around Hogwarts again — though I do believe he's being pampered at the moment, he loves the roast salmon they feed him." Arthur thought aloud.
Alfred laughed. "Aw, he's your cat — aren't you afraid he'll leave you for one day if he's always out?"
"Excalibur is a loyal cat," Arthur defended, pursing his lips into a pout. "He isn't just going to leave me for a bunch of house elves."
"Whatever you say," Alfred sang-song, ignoring the chalk that flung out and hit him square behind the head.
II
When Alfred had left to his DADA class, Professor Lupin was yet to be there. So, as the class waited for the professor to show up, Alfred was sitting around with the Golden Trio. Everyone was already settle for class, ready to start, however with Lupin MIA, they simply chatted for whatever time they had left before Professor Lupin arrived. Alfred was talking more about his great homeland of America [again] when Lupin finally arrived carry his old tattered briefcase. He settled down his briefcase on top of his desk and turned to the class with a small grin on his face. He still looked worn out and scruffy, however he didn't look like on the verge of death when he first arrived to Hogwarts.
"Good afternoon," Professor Lupin said with an eager grin, clapping his hands together and rubbing them together. "Would you please put all your books back in your bags. Today's will be a practical lesson. You will need only your wands." He instructed, looking around the room as the students filed all their belongings back into their rucksacks and held out only their wands.
Alfred exchanged a curious and confused look to Ron, Hermione, and Harry, wondering what exactly they would be doing. Were they going to learn a new spell? Was that the practical lesson? However, from what he heard from Ron, they had never had a practical lesson — unless that one time their teacher from the year before had let loose a cage filed with wild pixies.
As the class shuffled out of the classroom with their wands, the moment they rounded the corner Alfred cried in terror. Peeves the Poltergeist was sticking gum in a keyhole whilst also floating upside down in midair. His tongue was sticking out and he wore a wide Cheshire cat smile about his face.
While Hermione was trying to calm down Alfred, who was trying to walk back into the DADA room, Dean and Seamus tried their best to hold back Alfred. It was a surprising because Alfred was very resistant and he was dragging them back to the DADA class with him.
That Arthur said Peeves wouldn't do anything while he [Arthur] was at Hogwarts; Alfred couldn't help but see another empty promise. The poltergeist terrified him because this one had the ability to hurt him. Alfred was never fond of the supernatural and tried to best to deny it, but it was there and that's what terrified him, and he hated it.
"Alfred, calm down! It's only Peeves! He's not going to hurt you!" Hermione insisted and she walked before Alfred as said American walked back in return.
"Yes he is! You don't know what he's capable of!" Alfred cried out as he pushed forward, through dragged back by Dean, Seamus, Ron, and Harry.
"Alfred, he won't hurt you!" Harry added, trying to pull back the American. However, before anyone could do anything, Alfred shook them off and ran back into the DADA room.
"Alfred!" Seamus called out before turning back to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "I'll go fetch him and try to calm him down, okay?" He said, leaving before following Alfred.
III
Back inside the DADA room, Alfred was hiding under his desk in fetal position. So what if he was a little scared of Peeves or ghosts? Why did that matter to others? Alfred clenched his sides and buried his face into his legs. However, despite that Alfred felt somewhat or rather guilty. He never knew whether to hate magic or to thank it.
"Alfred?" Harry called out; entering the room she had left not too long ago.
Alfred looked up and winced when he smacked his head against the desk. "Ow." He muttered as he rubbed the back of his head as he got out from under his seat. "Seamus?" He questioned when he saw Seamus standing in front of the door.
"Alfred, are you okay?" He asked, walking towards him.
"Hm? Um, yeah…" Alfred muttered as he stood up. "Yeah, I'm okay."
Seamus frowned and crossed his arms, clearly not believing in his story. "Alfred, I know you are not okay. If you were, you wouldn't be here, and you wouldn't have ran away from Peeves screaming like a little girl."
"Hey! I was totally not screaming like a little girl!"
"But you were running away from Peeves."
"No! I wasn't! I was… I left my wand here. And I came to get it." Alfred lied, taking out his wand.
Seamus laughed and walked over to Alfred's side, slinging his arms around Alfred's shoulder. "You already had your wand you goof. It's okay that you were scared. But look, Peeves isn't going to hurt you, and neither are the ghosts. They're friendly for Pete's sake!"
"What? No they aren't! They're going to hurt me and turn me into a zombie! I can't turn into a zombie!"
"Alfred, they aren't going to hurt you. I've been here for almost three years and none of the ghosts, or Peeves, have turned anyone into zombies. You're safe." Seamus urged, shaking Alfred's shoulder. "So what if ghosts make you cower and hide that tail of yours between your legs, everyone's afraid of something."
"Hey I do not cower or have a tail. I'm the Hero! Not some frightened cat!" Alfred scolded, furrowing his brows and pouting.
"Whatever you say." Seamus sang-song, laughing at Alfred's annoyance.
"But—"
"Alfred, you'll be safe," Seamus repeated before poking Alfred in the chest. Smiling, Seamus laughed. "Really, I don't know why you're attending Hogwarts if you can't handle seeing a ghost. I mean, heroes aren't afraid of ghosts, are they?"
"No, but they do have a weakness. My weakness is those who stay alive even though they're supposed to be dead." Alfred deadpanned, holding his sides as he shivered in fear.
Before Seamus could continue, Dean came into the room. "Hermione, Alfred. The class left into the staff room."
Alfred looked at Harry with uncertainty before Dean added, "Don't worry Alfred, Peeves is gone."
Alfred flushed with embarrassment, but he, Seamus, and Dean left the DADA room and Dean showed them toward the staff room that the class was in. When they entered the room, Lupin was explaining something about a "Boggart", but the class turned to look at the three students entering the room late.
"Eh-heh… Sorry about that…" He apologized lamely as he received odd stares from the class.
"Glad you could join us, now, step in with the class and I'll be happy to resume." Lupin said, motioning the three boys to join their peers.
Alfred paced over to the Golden Trio and Hermione was more than happy to tell Alfred what he missed in class and what a Boggart was. 'So a Boggart turns into what we fear? So like an abandoned McDonald's shaped Boggart?' Alfred grimaced, because that wasn't a pleasant thought to think of.
Soon, after being down with his explanation, Lupin advised the call to say out "Riddikulus", without their wands, and Alfred cocked his head, but went along with it, calling out "Riddikulus" along with the class. After their short practice, Lupin called up Neville and asked him what he feared the most. The Gryffindor was so embarrassed and ashamed to admit that it was Snape while the class laughed at him for it. Alfred didn't exactly agree to that.
After explaining the Boggarts could only be defeated through the laughter and coaxed Neville of how to defeat his Boggat. The class laughed at the idea of Snape dressed like Neville's grandmother, however the laughter ceased when the wardrobe violently shook.
"If Neville is successful, the Boggart is likely to shift his attention to each of us in turn," said Professor Lupin. "I would like all of you to take a moment now to think of the thing that scares you most, and imagine how you might force it to look comical…"
IV
And the Professor's instructions, the class went silent with thought. Each pondered what they feared most. And how could they make whatever they feared funny. It was sort like an actual way to defeat one's manifesting fear or phobia. A test if they could win against their fears. But how does one laugh at the face of what terrifies them? And could they ever be read to face that fear?
Alfred thought for a moment. What did scare him the most? McDonald's closing down? Running out of snacks? Or Arthur never loving him? Or worst, ghosts? Would the Boggart turn into Peeves? But, how would he make Peeves, or ghost in general, look comedic? What if he made Peeves unable to move? But how was that funny? What if he made Peeves wear a dress? That would look funny. However, what if the actual Peeves saw? Alfred blanched. However, before Alfred could continue on his thoughts, he heard his name be called.
"Jones? Are you ready?" Lupin asked before turning to Neville. "Neville, we're going to back away. Let you have a clear field, all right? I'll call the next person forward…Everyone back, now, so Neville can get a clear shot —"
Like instructed, everyone, including Lupin, took a step back, leaving Neville all by himself in front of the wardrobe. The poor Gryffindor was trembling as he held his wand, staring at the wardrobe, which shook as violent as ever. Whatever was inside the wardrobe was desperate and eager to come out, and Neville looked like he was going to be sick.
Before Neville had any type of chance to faint, Professor Lupin was on the ready. "On the count of three, Neville," he warned. "One — two — three —now!" And with that, a shot spiraled from the professor's wand and hit the lock of the wardrobe, unlocking it and the class waited in silence now that the wardrobe stopped shaking.
Then, without any type of warning, the doors of the wardrobe burst open, causing a few students to involuntarily jump, and many watched a Boggart Snape step out of the wardrobe. Boggart or not, this Snape was as menacing as the real Snape. Cold eyes with a piercing gaze, a hooked nose, and an unwelcoming scowl upon his face. Without a word, the Boggart Snape began to reach inside his black robes as Neville coward before him.
"R — R — Riddikulus!" Neville yelped, pointing his wand at the Boggart.
At the spell, a loud CRACK was issued and the Boggart Snape jumped back. Snape was now adorn in a outrageously ridiculous outfit — a long green dress with lace-trimming, a large-brimmed hat topped with white mesh, and a massive cherry-red handbag with a crocodile-skin pattern. Looking at the new attire he was sporting, Snape looked at Neville with a confused face.
However, from the odd display, the class burst out in laughter. Never in their years would they have thought they would have seen the infamous Potion master in a ludicrous outfit like that. It was terribly unlikely, and yet there he was dressed like Neville's grandmother thanks to Neville, his grandmother and her fashion sense, the Boggart, and Professor Lupin for his lesson plan.
Alfred covered up his laughs as best he could, trying his best not to find the situation funny, but that was the point he guessed. Seeing Snape like this, he guessed he wouldn't be able to look at Snape with a serious face for a while. Not with this image popping up in his mind. Seeing the class was eager to try their own Boggart, Lupin quickly called up Parvati.
The Indian girl went up, prepared to face her Boggart, but the moment the Boggart Snape turned to her, another CRACK was heard. Where Snape used to stand was now a mummy. Alfred inwardly cringed, and Parvati flinched. As the mummy limped over to her with its arms raised out, Parvati held out her wand and cried out firmly, "Riddikulus!"
Yet again, a CRACK was heard and soon the mummy was nothing but a pile of dust and rotten bandages.
"Seamus!" Lupin called out and Seamus was soon out in front of the class, eager to take on the Boggart.
CRACK and soon the Boggart was a banshee and with the shout of "Riddikulus!", the banshee was without a voice.
One name after the other, Lupin called forth the students, who were more than happy to see their Boggarts defeated at the hands of them. Although some became timid to see the Boggart morph into what the feared most, the fear quickly died away and the students, in a since, defeated their fear.
With laughter arising from every morph and crack, the Boggart had changed into a rat that chased its tail with no success, a snake that danced wildly, and then a grotesque eyeball. The Boggart was undoubtedly confused, but that only seemed to encourage everyone.
Soon Dean was called up and the Boggart morphed into a severed hand, which soon began to walk around like a crab. Alfred chuckled at this as the hand reminded him of Thing*. With another shout ("Riddikulus!") the severed hand was caught onto a mousetrap and Lupin called on Ron to step up.
Ron came forward with a sight jump to his step, but stepped back once the Boggart shaped itself into his worst nightmare and some students even cried in terror. A large hairy spider engulfed the room and Ron froze in front of the spider, simply staring at it as if he was ready for the spider to consume him. However, Ron pointed his wand at the giant beast and cried out "Riddikulus!"
The Boggart spider fell down and began to roll and bounce around the floor as its legs had disappeared. The floor bound spider then rolled up to Harry's feet, but then Lupin called on Alfred to go against. Sharing a look with Harry, Alfred shrugged and walked up, kicking the Boggart back as he did.
V
The moment the Boggart hit the floor, the Boggart morphed into Alfred's greatest fear — but it wasn't something he expected. Alfred cursed himself for not knowing any better. He shouldn't have been concerned with his mortal feelings. Materialistic fears were absolutely pointless to him, but he'd gotten rather careless over time that he's forgotten. He wasn't only Alfred F. Jones; he was America too and will always continue to be America.
Getting up to his feet and patting away dust was Jonathan E. Anderson* — the Confederate States of America, Confederacy for short.
America and Confederacy stared of at each other, the Confederacy wore a grin across his face while America scowled. Confederacy was dress in his grey uniform adorned with mock medals. In his hand was a large gold staff that waved around the betraying and brainwashing flag of the rebel, gold tassels framing the Confederate flag. The Confederate States looked very similar to America; however, his hair was paler as was his skin, and his eyes looked more grey than blue, and he had no Nantucket. It was also notable that he was a some shorter than America, but not too short.
Confederacy had a cocky look about him; in his mouth was a piece of tobacco and his skin was scuffed with smudges of dirt. His hands were far more calloused than America's, and parts of his uniform were torn, but sewn back together. He held no rifle or musket, but he did have a sword tucked in its sheath at his side. However, the more Confederacy and America stared off at each other, the smile the rebel worn began to fade and turned more into a glower.
He began to look more heated with pent up rage and gave America an accusing look.
America's greatest fear was civil war and the rebirth of the Confederacy.
Stepping forward, Confederacy waved around his flag, the class gasped when the pointed the sharp point of his flag at America's face, and angry, power-driven look painting Confederacy's face with fire burning in his eyes. Confederacy was anger and America could feel it. It made him sick to see the deceiver before him, so smacking aside the staff, America hand went behind to grab his gun, however found a wand instead.
The Confederate States of America charged forward, taking a large swing of his staff to hit America, but America took out his wand and waved it at Confederacy.
"RIDDIKULUS!" America raged at the crack of the spell.
The Boggart Confederacy looked at America with slight confusion, as nothing happened, but soon, the gold staff the Confederacy held began to turn a vivid glowing red and the Confederacy dropped the staff with blistering hands. The gold staff began to melt and curl into a ball and the flag it held began to catch on fire and the fabric began to burn and turn to ash.
The moment the flag began to burn, the Boggart Confederacy began to burn as well. The Confederacy was on his knees, yelling as his flesh burned and looked up at America to ask "Why?", however let out an angry shout, one that could rival a banshee's, and clawed at his face as his flesh burned away until nothing was left but charred bone, melted metal, and ash.
All the while, America watched silently as he watched his old enemy cease to exist — again.
The class watched in silence, some horrified and confused by what they had seen, America stepped back as Lupin stepped in front of the Boggart and the Boggart sprang back to life, changing into large, white glowing orb that floated in midair.
"Are you okay Alfred? Who was that?" Hermione whispered, looking at Alfred with concern.
Alfred shrugged. "Yeah, I'm okay. — and it was no one." He said dully, which was quite off-putting to Hermione. Alfred then turned to look at Professor Lupin and his Boggart, but Hermione was still looking at Alfred with an unconvinced face.
"If you say so…" Hermione said, turning back her attention to the Boggart and Professor Lupin.
Looking at the orb with an unimpressed look, Lupin said out with a bored, almost expecting, expression, "Riddikulus."
With a snap, the orb feel to the floor as a mere roach and the professor called up Neville once more. "Forward, Neville, and finish him off!"
Neville stepped forward in front of the class, although unlike before, he was ready to face his Boggart. In fact, after the Boggart morphed into Snape, Neville didn't cower or shiver, instead he looked far more determined that he took a stepped forward and held out his wand determinedly.
"Riddikulus!" He shouted and for the second time that day, the class saw Snape in his wacky outfit and Neville let out a confident and loud laugh that the Boggart had burst into ash and little steams of smoke rose through the air, and thus, the Boggart was finally defeated.
"Excellent!" cried Professor Lupin as the class broke into applause. "Excellent, Neville. Well done, everyone…Let me see…five points to Gryffindor for every person to tackle the Boggart — ten for Neville because he did it twice…and five each to Hermione and Harry…"
VI
As everyone left the staff room, everyone was chattering excitedly about what had happened in the staff room. They were all reliving the moments and retelling what they had saw and felt during their lesson with the Boggart.
Everyone seemed happy with the lesson except Alfred, Harry, and Hermione. Ron on the other hand was talking vividly about how he handled his Boggart as the four walked back to the DADA room to collect their things. He couldn't even believe that he was able to defeat a spider that big!
"Can you believe it? I made that spider look like it was only half a millimeter big! Of course I knew I could defeat it." Ron said, crossing his arms with a confident look.
Harry and Hermione shared a knowing look but said nothing. Alfred rolled his eyes, but chuckled softly.
As they entered the DADA room, when Alfred was collecting his things, he looked up when Ron said something to him.
"Hey Alfred, who was that bloke, that uh… Your Boggart." Ron said, scratching the back of his head as he wasn't exactly going to ask, "Hey who was that bloke that you had burn to his [fake] death?"
Alfred blinked and stood straight. "He's no one." Alfred answered, looking around and shifting his feet.
"Was he you? He looked a bit like you." Ron asked.
Alfred jumped and looked at Ron wide-eyed. "WHAT!? No of course he's not me! He'll never be me! Not ever!" He cried out, mortified.
Not wanting to continue the conversation, Alfred quickly left the room with another room and the trio looked at each other sharing a look of confusion.
"Well… That was odd." He said after a moment of silence.
"Yes. Yes it was." Hermione added, looking at Ron. "Perhaps we shouldn't ask again. Some fears are meant to say secret and unexplained." She said with an accusing tone.
Ron furrowed his brows and waved his hands. "What? What did I do?"
"Nothing…" Hermione sighed, grabbing her books and what not.
Ron looked at Harry as to ask of why what he had done was wrong when Hermione said aloud.
"He [Professor Lupin] seems like a very good teacher," said Hermione approvingly. "But I wish I could have had a turn with the Boggart —"
"What would it have been for you?" said Ron, snickering…
VII
As Alfred left back to Arthur's History of Magic class, Alfred waited until all of Arthur's students left the room. Entering Arthur's room, Alfred promptly closed the door and walked towards Arthur.
"Alfred? What are you doing here?" Arthur asked and he was erasing the chalk board. Something about Roman Wizards capturing British Wizards and killing them…
Without answering Arthur's question, Alfred walked right up to Arthur and wrapped his arms around him, burying his face into Arthur's neck. Arthur tried to push away Alfred, but the American was stubborn to let go.
"Alfred! Have you lost your mind! What the hell do you think you're doing you daft pillock?" Arthur fumed as he tried to push away Alfred, wincing as his wound was still in the process of healing.
However, he stopped trying to push away Alfred when he felt the other one trembling. Smoothing out the other's uniform, Arthur softly patted Alfred back as he allowed the other to hug him, obviously for comfort than for any other reason.
"Alfred?" He whispered softly as he heard the other cry softly. It was odd to hear Alfred cry, but not something he hasn't seen before. "Alfred, tell me, what's wrong?"
Alfred didn't say anything nor did he move. However after a moment, Alfred said out shakily. "I saw him again — Anderson."
Arthur blinked. Anderson? What was so scary about him that made him — Oh. He hadn't heard that name in a while. And Alfred just came back from Lupin's Boggart lesson, didn't he? Arthur continued to stroke Alfred's back. He would have never guessed Anderson to be Alfred's greatest fear… But then it was completely understandable.
"And what did you do?" Arthur asked, wrapping an arm around Alfred, resting his chin comfortably on Alfred's shoulder. There was hardly a height difference between him and Alfred, so neither had to tip-toe or hunch over.
"…I said the spell Lupin told us to say and watched Anderson and his flag burn."
Arthur's eyes widen and he stopped patting Alfred. "Alfred! That was — that was — you know there were children there! To show them such gore is heinous!" Arthur gasped, arching his neck slightly to look at Alfred through the corner of his eye, though he could really only see the back of Alfred's ear given their position. "You know better than that!"
"I know… I just…I didn't want to see him. I wanted him gone and I just felt so angry and scared. Scared that he'd come back again." Alfred cried out, hugging Arthur tightly.
Arthur grimaced. "Ah-ah! Alfred — careful, my wound hasn't healed yet." Arthur choked out, trying to pull back Alfred. When Alfred loosened his hold on Arthur, Arthur sighed in relief. "I know you must've felt terrified and angry. He split your states and created years of panic for you, but he's gone. It's been years since then and he isn't going to just come out of the blue."
"But he could." Alfred murmured, fear evident in his voice.
"And if he did, he would have a hard time adjusting to the world we live in now. You evolved. He didn't."
"And how are you so sure?" Alfred asked, pulling away. "How do you know he won't come back and replace me?"
Arthur leered. "Nobody will ever replace you, do you hear me? Hypothetically, if Anderson were to comeback, who would stand by his side? Your states love you, a little rebellious yes, but they're loyal to you are they not?
"And what about Kiku? The two of you play video games and read those comic books, not to mention with the Frog as well. What about your brother, mother, and Violeta? Yes you have your quarrels, but you spend time with them. Face it, you have more allies and friends than Anderson could get in this time and age. And even if he could get some to stand by him, you — not him — are a world superpower! Act like it!"
Alfred was speechless and simply stared at Arthur. Who knew he would get so made about this? However, Alfred's eyes widened when Arthur cupped his cheeks to stare him in the eye.
"Now, are you going to stop this nonsense?" Arthur asked sternly.
Alfred didn't say anything.
"Answer me when I talk to you," Arthur hissed, shaking Alfred's head a little.
"Y-Yeah." Alfred said, blinking away some tears and placing his hands over Arthur's.
At that, Arthur sighed and looked at Alfred sadly. To see Alfred broken down like this was so unlike him. So human…
Thumbing away some tears, Arthur simply gazed at Alfred, turning his head every which way. Patting Alfred's cheek, Arthur smiled softly, beginning his hands down. "Cheer up lad, we all go through things we'd rather avoid." He said knowingly. "We all have our bad days and our good days, but none of us can pretend not to be bothered by our past.
"Now, I'm not saying that it's silly to fret over things like this, or that we should forget them. It's our job to remember these things and we have a set of choices given to us. We either fight and make sure it never happens again; we allow it to happen and allow ourselves to meet to our fates; or we adapt.
"Now, what are you going to do?"
Alfred thought for a moment before nodding. "It's okay. I know where you're getting at."
"Good, but I don't want you going about the rest of the day like some depressed ninny. So I'll only do this once, do you understand?" Arthur said before cupping Alfred's cheeks and bringing the American's head towards his.
He was glad Alfred wasn't too tall, so it made it less awkward. Closing his eyes and tilting Alfred's head, Arthur opened his mouth and pursed his lips slightly, he moved forward. Feeling his lips brush softly against Alfred's, Arthur opened his eyes when he felt himself being pushed away gently and never meeting Alfred's lips.
Looking at Alfred for an explanation, he blinked in confusion when he saw Alfred smiling.
"What are you smiling for? I haven't even kissed you." He asked, feeling confused by Alfred's actions. Normally Alfred wanted Arthur to kiss him.
"But you were about to, and that made me happy, but…" Alfred trailed off, trying to remove any type of tear tracks on his face with his sleeve. "But for the wrong reasons. I don't want a kiss from pity or one just for the sake that I won't walk around like a 'depressed ninny'. I want a kiss because you want to kiss me, not a little pity kiss." He finished, explaining his reason for stopping Arthur.
Arthur folded his arms and rolled his eyes in disbelief. "That's completely stupid. A kiss is a kiss no matter what the reason. 'Pity kiss'. Unbelievable."
Alfred laughed. "Maybe I'll make you see one day Artie, until then, keep thinking that a 'kiss is a kiss', because it's not."
"It's Arthur and stop acting as if you know everything!" Arthur growled, clenching his fists.
"Maybe I don't know everything, but I certainly know a few things. Maybe that's why you're getting annoyed. That I know something you don't." Alfred smirked, looking at Arthur playfully.
"Oh you insufferable little prat! It's like you want me to hit you!" Arthur huffed, turning his back on Alfred, but wincing slightly from his wound.
"Ha! Do you want to kiss me? Or hit me? Make up your mind old man!" Alfred laughed; ignoring the angry look Arthur flashed him. "So, dija bury those wipes yet?" He asked, changing the subject completely
"Hm? Ah, yes. Just outside the courtyard," Arthur said, taking a seat in his chair. "It'll probably take a month or two until anyone notices anything."
Alfred nodded before something occurred to him. "Wait, when did you have the time to bury them?"
"I excused myself from class with the lie that I had to go to the loo, but I sent a doppelgänger to quickly go bury the wipes." Arthur explained.
"Oh…" Alfred thought aloud, shifting on his feet.
"A clone Alfred," Arthur sighed, placing his elbow on his desk and resting his head on his palm.
Alfred flushed. "Hey! I know what a doppelgänger is!" He huffed, pouting at Arthur.
However, Arthur never answered and was staring out the window.
Alfred clenched his fists and stamped his foot. Puffing out his cheeks, he turned red. "Hey! Don't ignore me!" He cried out.
Though, unknown to Alfred, Arthur was quietly chuckling to himself, finding the American's annoyance and wanting to be the center of Arthur's attention to be quite cute… Not that he thought Alfred was cute. Just cute in a stupid way.
i
Melahod* — Greek: melan- dark, black; hodo- path, gateway; meaning "dark/bright path/gateway"
Luxitiner* — Latin: luc- bright, light; itiner- route, way; meaning "bright/light route"
Albion* — An old name for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, but corresponded more to England.
Britannia* — England deceased mother; an old name for United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, but corresponded more around Great Britain; there was also a province named after her as well.
Thing* — Thing as in the Thing from the Addams Family. (Owo)
Jonathan E. Anderson* — The Confederate States of America; my headcanon name for the Confederacy, and the way he looks is also how I picture him.
ii
You guys should love me because originally this was going to be five-six pages, but I made it longer and added a certain part or two so I wouldn't disappoint you guys. =_=
(Also that it bugged me because it was almost about to be five-to-six pages)
So yeah, I busted my brain to see who I could possibly make it longer because if not, this would have been posted days ago!
I also gave you parts to fangirl about, so yay me. =3=
Also, this is the last part of Chapter 5, see next is Chapter 6 (Chapter 8 to HPPA).
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So, some screen time for Seamus! I figured he and Alfred would be like buds. Owo
Also, how do you like Alfred cockblocking himself, eh? ;3
