Harry Potter and the Man of Britannia

by DeiDeiArtistic

England, being bored of National life, sends a letter to Dumbledore to work at Hogwarts. However, having neglected both his magic community and the Ministry of Magic for so long, England finds himself bewildered by the "recent" changes. However, can he teach at Hogwarts while secretly being investigated by almost everyone around him? Who, or what, is Arthur Kirkland?

10. Respectful and Suspicious Part 2

Harry Potter and the Man of Britannia

Chapter 6

Respectful and Suspicious

Part 2

DeiDeiArtistic: Okay, wow. I suck. I really, really suck. Damn. Any who, no threesomes to start off this chapter since there were a lot of nays and when I did (oh yeah I was going to do it) try to write it, I kept laughing so hard I couldn't even concentrate to write the damned thing. Maybe someday I'll go back and edit this. IDK. So enjoy this comedic starter of a chapter! :D However, I do have some intentions of starting a spin-off of Arthur's (and perhaps other Hetalian's) escapades with women and or men alike… Maybe though.

Chapter Dedication: To everyone who thought I went on hiatus for not updating in like a year! (I'm legal now. I can finally fulfill my lifelong dream of voting!)

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.

Author's Note: Also, from a blog entry by Hima, I will be address Kumajiro as Wilbur, which sounds similar to Kumsjiro's English name (Will-bear). However, as for Matthew's slip-ups over his name, I won't be using "Tim-bear", "Sam-bear", or "Ben-bear", but names similar to Wilbur and such.

Blog Entry: [http]:/[/][himaruya].[blog61].[fc2].[com/blog-entry-1715].[html] (remove the brackets)

Jpn-to-Eng Translation: [http]:/[/][hetascanlations].[tumblr].[com/post/112205772990] (remove the brackets)

***
WARNING: Use of personal headcanons;
Possible OOC characters; mentions of OCs;
Unbeta'd.
***

I

As the rays of the sun peered through the curtains, Arthur grimaced as the light hit his face. Groaning, Arthur opened his eyes but squeezed them shut as he thought the sun was just too bright that day. Bringing a hand over his face, Arthur grumbled to himself as he rubbed his eyes, trying to will away the headache and the tiredness away.

Unfortunately for him, his wake-up-call was the sudden violent contract and bind in his stomach and he sprawled up to his feet (roughly pushing aside the women who used his arms as pillows) and ran to the bathroom. To say that type of morning wasn't uncommon for the hung-over Brit and to say that it was the worse would have been an understatement. So no, this morning just sucked.

Arthur was inside the bathroom, forced to obey his knotting stomach's violent heaves and jabs and he could only hope to reconcile with his stomach through water and marshmallows* as he emptied what little contents were inside his stomach. Not only did he feel foul, he felt like crap and horribly unattractive at the moment. This was not a great image for Arthur Kirkland, and he was so happy there were no classes for the day. And then that was when Arthur seemed to lose all the air in his lungs as well.

"Fuck!" Arthur cursed as he flushed the toilet and began to wash himself up as best as he could.

Splashing his face with water, Arthur turned his head and inspected the damaged and grimaced. Goddamn, there were bite marks and scratches on his neck. Did he even have make up to cover these marks? Or a turtleneck? That would be too suspicious though… He could just mask it with magic. Arthur sighed and rinsed out his mouth and grimaced. His mouth tasted like tonic, gin, and something else he didn't want to think about.

Massaging his temples, Arthur groaned and headed back into the room he was in before and glanced at the sleeping women still atop of the bed. Walking towards them, Arthur leaned down to pick up his clothes from the floor with a sigh.

"Ladies, not to be so blunt, but thank you for the shag and I say this because I'm quite certain neither of you can hear me right now." Arthur said as he picked up his slacks— and taking a pair of panties out of the pocket.

"Ashton. Alina. I do not mean to come off as rude, but I hope that we do not cross paths in the near future, merely to avoid any sort of air of awkwardness. I hope you two do understand where I'm coming from. Last night was a drunken affair, and will remain as such to just better be off forgotten.

"That said, I apologise for having to leave so soon, but I assure you are very lovely ladies." Arthur thought aloud as he shrugged his shoulders with all his clothes in hand.

When Arthur was given no sort of response from neither woman, which was a given, Arthur summoned up portal and waved a goodbye to the sleeping women. "Goodbye ladies," Arthur said as he stepped into the portal and disappearing from sight.

"Dickhead."

"Just go back to sleep lovely… He was a good shag."

II

Once Arthur had jumped* back into his room (his actual room) he'd dumpt his clothes into the wash and left towards his bathroom to freshen up. The hot water of his shower was refreshing and the silence of his house was a blessing for his migraine. But even then, from the lack of food, having just striped and jumped into the shower, Arthur was light headed and needed to rest and lean against the cool walls.

Sighing, Arthur simply closed his eyes and enjoyed the PITTER PATTER of the water that fell. It was soothing to listen to the soft tones of the mock-rain and how gentle the water was on his skin. He felt refreshed despite the earlier nastiness, and due to his faint feeling, Arthur took time in his shower as he tried to recollect his memories of the night before.

Said memories came back in bits and pieces, the voices of others echoing in his mind, but none of the conversations made any since, seeing that they were all out of context. He remembered talking to Remus and Minerva, a bit to Sybill, and then getting into a heated debate with Snape. Arthur scowled; he remembered the feeling of wanting to punch the Slytherin headmaster.

There was also something about Halloween. Had he told them that he wanted to go to the Hogsmeade weekend with the third years? He must have, but he couldn't remember if Minerva had said yes to that request of his. He'd have to ask when he saw her again, although discreetly because he didn't want anyone overhearing that he was pissed last night. He didn't need anyone else doubting his credibility as a teacher.

Once he was done with his wash, Arthur dried himself up and dressed into a black dress shirt and cadet blue trousers. However, upon looking at himself in his mirror, Arthur wondered if he should put on his wizard's cloak before a wave of self-consciousness passed through him.

If he was to wear his cloak, would Alfred take him seriously? Or laugh. Arthur bit his lip in thought. If he wore his cloak, he'd fit more among the students and staff of Hogwarts, but then there were the chances of Alfred laughing at him and everyone else thinking that he was just an odd Muggle trying to fit in a world of Magics.

However, if he didn't wear his cloak, he'd stick out like a sore thumb and everyone else would think that he was just an odd Muggle trying to fit in a world of Magics…

Arthur sighed and left to his closet to grab his cloak. It might be useful for him later on, but any thought after that dispersed when Arthur stumbled when his vision blanked and he winced in pain from the sudden surge of pain pulsing through his head and the sudden weakness in his limbs. Groaning, Arthur remembered about the migraine medication in his medicine cabinet.

Heading back into his bathroom, Arthur stumbled and clung to a wall when a less-than-pleasant knot pulsed at his temples and he fumbled to grab the pills inside his medicine cabinet. With the battle of pills in his hand, he opened it up and dry swallowed about four pills before pocketing the medication. No doubt was he going to leave the house without it.

Sighing, Arthur left to the kitchen to grab himself some bottles of water from the fridge and a packet of marshmallows from the pantry before heading back to Hogwarts. Arthur grimaced. He knew he had to go back, but in all honesty, he wanted no one to remember much less mention this night. At all. How could he return to Hogwarts when everybody, at least those who went to the pub with him, knew what he did? Hopefully they would just let sleeping dogs lie and not bring anything up. Was it an option to erase their minds? Probably not although very tempting. What he did was rather unprofessional; he was under the influence of alcohol after all, but again he didn't want anybody to doubt his character.

Bias or not, he considered himself to be a good if not great teacher, and he didn't want this setback of sorts to cause everyone to be wary of his actions. So as long as there was no alcohol in his system, Arthur had a sturdy head on his shoulders. If he consumed alcohol at the same rate Alfred ate hamburgers, his drunken mannerisms were unpredictable and mostly he was a walking, foul-mouthed hazard.

But he couldn't not go to Hogwarts, he would just simply ignore everything pertaining to his last night's rendezvous. He would just forget about it and move on with his life. He was a gentleman after all; he had to be composed about this.

"Just keep a stiff upper lip ol' boy, you can do this. It's not the first time you've gotten yourself in a hazardous situation. This isn't your first one-night stand or hangover and God knows it's not the last." Arthur said as he steeled himself just before he jumped to his room at Hogwarts. It was nearly afternoon, so Arthur knew there would be suspicions from the other teachers as well as the possibility of the students for him to now show up, after all, he did miss breakfast. He could pretend that the night never happened, but he couldn't change the fact that the night did happen.

III

Hermione and Alfred were inside the library, Alfred happily aiding Hermione with her search for books as Harry and Ron were busy entertaining themselves with Alfred's comic books back in the common room. Alfred was surprised with all the books Hermione was collecting. All of the books they'd gathered were beginning to make two foot towers of thick, musty, and tattered leather-bound book.

Picking up a brown leather book, Alfred glanced at the cover that showed moving images of a ceramic vase melting from some sort of acidic blue-ish liquid, a clear-glass bottle shattering over the floor and spilling a yellow powder, and somebody grinding up a powdery substance. Cocking his head, Alfred looked at the title of the book: Poisonous, Hallucinogenic, or Remedy? What You Need to Know About Powders, Liquids, and Strange Substances.

Alfred quirked a brow and picked up another book, but the book was plain and lacking any sort of design. The Magical Properties of Plant-based Powders. Curious, Alfred flipped a few yellow, brown-rotting pages and read the sepia-coloured ink and saw that it was an old scientific-based journal of a wizard analyzing the different properties of familiar and odd plants when making potions.

Picking up another book, Alfred saw that one book after the other dealt with powders, potions, or potions making. Was Hermione trying to do some extra credit for Snape's class? Alfred as he lazing thumbed through the book and watching the diagrams move. He wondered if there was a magical copy of Di Vinci's journal because he would just love to see those diagrams and hypotheses move.

"Hey, Hermione, what's with all the books?" Alfred asked as he put down a book. All the books he and Hermione collected covered nearly the entire table they were using. "If you trying to learn about more potions, you don't need to 'cause you're already the smartest in the class. Plus Snape's a jerk, so don't bother trying to impress him with your smarts."

Hermione turned her attention away from the book she held and her cheeks flushed from Alfred's compliment. "Ah, oh, thank you Alfred, but no. I'm not trying to learn about more potions, I'm actually doing research." Hermione answered as she put down the book in her hands in favour of another.

Alfred furrowed his brows and wrinkled his nose in confusion. "What's the difference?" He asked.

"Well, the research I'm conducting has nothing to do with extracurricular activities; this research is simply to put my mind at rest with a troubling question." Hermione explained as she skimmed through her book.

Alfred nodded in complete understanding. "Oh, I know what you mean. I'm like on the same boat. When I was conducting my research on the cosmos, Arthur thought I was a nut, but I totally wanted to see space hands on. So my best brosky Tony like totally helped me build my own rocket ship and going to outer space is amazing!" Alfred exclaimed, flushing when the librarian harshly shushed him. Hermione cocked her head.

"What do you mean 'going to outer space'? You've been up in space? You were an astronaut? But you're only 19! — and who's Tony?"

Alfred winced. Oops. "Um, no. I'm not an astronaut—"

"Then how'd did you go into space, much less build your own rocket ship? Or afford to build one?"

"Hey, you didn't let me finish. I'm not an astronaut, but I was able to go into space with a few other astronauts because I was friends with Gene* and he totally let me get my own ship, cause like Tony convinced him too— yanno, more or less… 'Cause… Yeah! NASA built my ship 'cause Tony got them to!" Alfred said as he thought of an explanation without giving too many details. It was difficult to talk to humans if they didn't know you were a human because it was hard trying to explain a story with telling them how many years ago it took place, or how many years it took— especially when you look too young to know anything or anyone of importance.

Hermione furrowed her brows. "But who is Tony? And Gene? And would anyone go great lengths to build a friend a space ship?"

"Tony's my best bud in the whole world— no universe— and yanno, I got contacts! I can't tell ya more 'cause that's confidential information." Alfred said, pointing a finger at Hermione and winking at her with his "Hollywood" smile.

"But—"

"I'm going to check out Ron and Harry and seeing what they're doing. Bye." Alfred said, waving a goodbye to Hermione and going towards the last of the Golden Trio.

"What?" Hermione questioned as she watched Alfred's fleeing form. Sighing, Hermione shook her head and returned to her research of the mysterious yellow substance.

Reaching into her bag, she pulled out the bag of the odd powder and examined it with a keen eye. "Curiouser and curiouser…" Hermione mumbled. "I've looked through dozens of books and yet I see nothing that could possibly explain this oddity. What type of dust floats so freely to even defy and challenge the properties of gravity?"

Hermione bit her lip and pocketed the bag before pulling out her wand and waving it. "I need books containing dust, powder, magical properties of dust, and glowing [yellow] sub stances." Hermione said to herself as she waved her wand at her pile of books.

But when the books started to rearrange themselves to her preferences, Hermione began puzzled when a book from a book shelf went adrift and floated towards her. Grabbing the book, Hermione gazed over the cover and cocked her head. This… This wasn't what she asked for! She wasn't asking for a book about faeries!

Looking through the book, Hermione grew frustrated to see that it was a faerie tale nonetheless! This was useless to her! She didn't want faerie tales, she wanted actual hard evidence! Not the make-belief.

"Of all things, why would this help me? This is useless! Complete hogwash!" Hermione huffed, slamming the book on the table and slumping down in a chair in defeat. Sighing, Hermione pulled out the pouch of odd dust and stared solemnly at it. "Oh, what am I going to do with you? Your existence is driving the gears in my head to a complete stop. I just… I just want to know what you are, but you don't seem to exist in the world, don't you?" Hermione asked as she looked at the dust, which of course didn't answer back.

Opening up the pouch, Hermione opened it up and pocked the odd dust, and of course, the dust reacted by grouping up in small clumps of yellow matter and floating up towards the sky in a slow motion that seemed to be disturbed by the slightest of shallow breaths. Each blob was always an organic shape, either shaped as a small cloud of dust or little orbs spiraling, twirling, and dancing in the air. It was just so particular and yet there were no records of this?

"I just wish I knew what you were!" Hermione sighed, slamming the pouch onto the table. And just before she could realize what was happening, the golden particles began to glow like before and accumulate into a mass orb.

Hermione gazed at it in confusion as the orb began to condense and shine brightly like nothing she's ever seen. And just when it seemed to settle itself in the air, the orb shrunk two sizes smaller and the structure of it reminded Hermione of a wilting dandelion, though a dandelion with the colour of a daffodil and made entirely out of dust that glowed.

Squinting, Hermione leaned towards the small orb and watch as it spun slowly in the air in a stationary manner. And she than noticed that the orb was getting bigger— no, it wasn't getting bigger, it was getting closer! Gasping, Hermione shot back in her seat to get away from the twinkling orb, but the orb zoomed towards her and seemed to disperse into her forehead.

Gasping, Hermione's hands shot up into her hands and after a moment of staying still, Hermione finally got her answer.

"Angel Dust…" She whispered. It was Angel Dust, but what did that mean?

Hermione glanced at the pouch and nonetheless, there was still Angel Dust inside. Grabbing the pouch, Hermione placed it into her bag. She wasn't sure what to make of this answer, or how she it was the answer. But all she knew was that she felt shaken.

Looking at the faerie tale book from before, Hermione grabbed it and examined it again and saw that it wasn't a faerie tale book, but a book containing tales of faeries. "Perhaps you do have the answer, I just wasn't accepting of it. But you will help me solve the mystery of Professor Kirkland and the Angel Dust, won't you?" She asked, tracing a finger against the reddish-brown coloured leather of the hard-covered book.

IV

After having left Hermione at one the library, Alfred left towards the common room in the Gryffindor tower. After chatting lightly with Miss Lady (Alfred absolutely refused to call the woman "Fat Lady"), Alfred entered into the commons and saw that Harry and Ron were still entertaining them with his comics, as well as some other students. At first, Alfred was a little miffed for others handling his precious comics, but it soon died down when he saw that everyone was treating his babies like fine china.

"So, I take it that you guys like my 'Muggle' comics?" Alfred asked as he smiled at the gang.

"Yes, 've never seen anything like this," Ron murmured as he flipped through the pages of Superman.

"How do you take care of these? Their condition is amazing!" Harry commented as he admired the comics. He was amazed with Alfred having a full collection of the different series, but managed to keep them in precise condition. Even Dudley never managed to do that with his comics. Dudley would always promise Harry to lend him his comics, but by the time Dudley grew tired of them, they were dog-eared, torn, and dirtied with pen marks, rendering them useless as complete rubbish.

Ron on the other hand was more or less awed by the comics. They were nothing that he'd ever seen. At first, he was a bit peeved by the fact that none of the pictures moved, claiming that they would be much better had they moved, but after flipping pages through Superman, he found himself okay with that as he was drawn into the story.

Alfred shrugged. "They're special, so I take care of them as best as I can." Which was true, he kept them in sealed bags and or storage. The only times he ever took them out was whenever he wanted to read them or if one of his stars wanted to read them— or unless a museum wanted to put them in a gallery display.

"That's some special care," Harry noted as he leafed through the comic. "You must've had an awesome childhood with these books around."

Alfred inwardly winced and felt a sharp tug at his heart. Although he knew it was meant to be a compliment, it stung and hurt instead because his childhood wasn't anything like the rest of the human would. To everyone else, Alfred appeared like a nineteen-year old human, and thus lived like any human being— at least that of a wizard.

However, Alfred was not like any nineteen-year old human and he did not live like any human being because he was not normal. He was a Nation after all. Alfred's childhood was far from being a happy one, even if he pretended it was.

…

"Seedling, don't wander far. Strange men wander our land," Seedling recalled his mother saying in her native tongue as he hopped over the rocks and mounds of the earth as he followed his rabbit pounce around the earth in their little game of tag. He felt the grass beneath his feet was soft and moist with the morning dew and the sun peered through the evergreen leaves of the forest that swayed and danced with the wind.

It was bright and all Seedling knew was the horizon-wide forest that surrounded him. He knew all the animals that roamed through the vast fields and forests. He knew the cold nights and the hot days, he knew nearly everything about the land.

He knew everything but the strange men his mother talked about.

His people, they were kind of like him, but darker, like his mother. She had long hair that was black as ebony, it was shiny and straight, but why didn't she braid it like the other women? She said it was because she wasn't married.* Her skin was also dark and sort of red, but it was soft, warm, and comforting. Her eyes were also dark, like black pits, but he liked them nonetheless. They always showed love, knowledge, and determination, but lately they've shown something else as well.

So he trusted his mother when she said not to wander far, to avoid the strange men, and to stay near. He was Seedling, and he would always listen to the Land. His mother's people would call her the Land and that although they shared the Land with other tribes; the Land was not for the taking, as she provided them everything to life, she created all their homes and lives.

So as Seedling listening to the voices of Nature, he stopped when he stood on a cliff. Far away, he saw black smoke arising into the sky, but nonetheless, entirely meaningless. 'Is that from the strange men? They can create fire too?" Seedling thought. "I wonder what they look like…" Seedling thought before shrugging back the thought. No, he promised his mother he'd stay away, so he would, and with that, he continued to play.

…

It had been a while since he's seen his mother. Around him are not his people, the animals, or the plants he's come to know. Ever since he came to were the crying man took him, his 'big brother', he saw a lot of people who looked like 'England'. There wasn't many and they were the people who destroyed his mother's forest, made her sick. He didn't know what to think of them.

And there was also another thing; Seedling didn't go by Seedling anymore. He was "America" now, and he learned that Sapling became "Canada" by the strange people. England said he couldn't see his mother anymore either, that he would protect America from the "savages", but his mother wasn't a savage! England's people were!

…

England's people were now America's. America's people frightened him. They were savages. What man ate his own kin? "His" people were always hungry and he felt it. It hurt and it terrified him. He missed his mother, why couldn't he speak to her? She could teach them how to hunt, how to grow their own food, and how to survive. He told his people this, but the men of the village, those in charge said "gentlemen don't hunt". If gentlemen didn't hunt, America would rather be a savage; at least they had food to eat.

America grimaced and clutched his stomach as a violent churn left him in pain. "England, please come back."

America's people were beginning to riot against each other and he hid from them inside the cabin he now called "home". They were angry, hungry, and fighting to live. America was frightened, starving, and wanting to live. With his adoption of England's people, he was hungry all the time and air was filled with hostility and despair. England rarely ever showed up and America wondered if England would ever come back.

He wanted England to come back, he was scared. His people's savagery was creating or calling something evil. In the late nights, people disappeared and reappeared dead with their carcass ripped up. It was a gruesome sight that haunted America, because he could see shadows lurking around the settlement. And even with these deaths, his people still fought. They were tired and they felt abandoned by Great Britain. And still, they ate each other.

"England, please come back."

…

America was hiding under his blankets shaking. Things were howling in the air, yet everyone didn't seem to notice. A lot of his people were dead. Months ago there were a good 30,000 people, now there were a mere handful of 56 people. It hurt a lot and America had lost a lot of weight like the rest of the colonists. They were like walking skeletons, but unlike the colonists, America didn't have the satisfaction of dropping dead. No, all he could do was drop to his knees and beg for England to return.

"England, please… It hurts."

…

America rushed towards the docks the moment is was reported that ships of Great Britain were near. 'England's back!' America thought with the filling of joy filling him. He thought England abandoned him, but now he was back. Good things happen when England came back. So rushing towards the bank, America tripped as a dizzy spell washed over him.

But before America could pick himself up, someone else did. America began to shake as his eyes swelled up with tears. "England, you're back."

England looked at America and studied the young colony. "America, what… How did…" England was speechless. He didn't know what to say or where to start asking. Only America knew what to say.

"Gentlemen don't hunt." And with that, England raised a brow and looked towards the colonists. The state they were in was similar to how Alfred looked it was grotesquely morbid. And to see his America like this… It was heartbreaking. How could his colonists do this to America?

England swallowed nothing and nodded. "Well, how about we go home and I'll make you some beef stew. Does that sound good?" He asked and America let out the biggest smile he could.

Nodding ecstatically, America wrapped his arms around England. "Yes! It sounds very good!" America cried at the thought of food. "I'm glad you're back." Good things happened when England came back. England always brought back food.

…

"America? Why are you still awake? You should be asleep right now." England asked a very sleep-deprived America. America didn't like to sleep. Bad things happened in the night, and America couldn't let those bad things hurt England.

"I can't go to sleep." America said, holding the pen-knife* tightly in his hand. England leered his eyes and walked up to America, snatching the pen knife. "Why do you have this? What are you doing America?"

America gasped and tried to take back the pen-knife. "No! It's to protect us! Give it back England!"

England snorted. "America, this will do you no good in battles with bears or savages."

America stopped trying for pen-knife and looked at England with teary hurt eyes. "No… You don't understand."

"Understand what? America stop this tomfoolery and go to bed!" England demanded as he pocketed the knife. America stomped his foot.

"No! You don't understand! The Wendigos will get us!" America cried out desperately, beginning to sob right after. England gave him a puzzled look.

"Windy-what?" He asked, putting aside the pen-knife aside. "What are you talking about?"

"Wendigos…" America hiccupped as he wiped away hot tears. "They come at night, watching us, and take some of us, and make more Wendigos."

England shook his head and snorted. "America that makes no sense. Stop making up ridiculous stories."

"No! It's true! Bad things happen when you're not here! Really bad things and it hurts England! It hurts a lot!" America screamed. "We get hungry because we run out of food and— and we attack the natives for their food and when the natives leave, the colonists… They were angry and… and… and…" America began to feel sick as he recalled the events. The horrific events that made his skin crawl that he felt just saying it would make Wendigos come by the dozens.

"And what? What happened America?" England asked, crossing his arms in clear disbelief.

America let out another sob. "They ate each other. They killed each other or waited for people to die, and they… I was so hungry England, but I didn't want to eat that. I…" America sniffed and roughly wiped away his tears. "The Wendigos started appearing later on… T-They'd come at night when it was cold, and they'd howl and nobody seemed to notice.

"T-They just come and… and eat one of the villagers, and then just leave them were the villagers could see them… England, the colonists made the Wendigos comes here because they're angry and tasted their own kind. I don't want them to come back."

It took a while for England to respond back, but nothing America expected.

"America, where did you hear of these so called 'Wendigos'?"

America looked at England with confusion as he sniffled to a stop. "F-From my moth—" America gasped and cupped his mouth. England hated it when America talked about his mom.

England mood went sour and he glared at America. "Don't you dare talk about that savage! If anything, it is she who's attacked this colony by casting those 'Wendigos' on us! She and those savages are mediums of the devil! You will not associate yourself with them! Do you understand!" England raged, grabbing America firmly by the shoulders and shaking him with emphasis.

America shook his head furiously and felt his eyes burn as they began to water again. "Y-Yes sir." He stammered out, rubbing his shoulders as England let go.

Running his hand through his hair, England sighed through his nose and walked away from America, thinking to himself for a moment as he calmed down. Turning on his heel, he faced America, who trembled slightly.

"Alfred… Go to bed. Forget all of this Wendigo nonsense, alright?"

"O-Okay Arthur…" Alfred muttered, hiccupping softly as he wandered off to bed.

When Alfred slept that night, it wasn't a moment soon he heard that bone chilling howl that his bloodshot eyes shot open. England didn't know anything. Arthur knew nothing.

…

Feeling sick, Alfred grimaced and rubbed the back of his neck. Sometimes Alfred wished he could forget memories like that. But as a Nation, he had to carry on the past for the sake of his people and other. It was strange how just a few words can make you relive a whole memory, and Alfred hated it. Even after so long, he still felt the guilt, but that was the way life worked for Nations. Others fall while others prospered. Two Nations could not own the same land, it was a fight for life and the way to live was to adapt and evolve.

"Mmm… I'll see you guys later, okay guys? Take care of my babies, alright?" Alfred said as he left the room in favour of somewhere else. He left so fast, he didn't give anyone a chance to ask why. He seemed fine just a moment ago.

V

Ron cocked his head and turned to Harry. "Well, that was odd. Don't you think so Harry?" He asked as he placed down the comic he read. Alfred had just zoned out on them while they were talking to him, and then he just left without a second thought.

"Yeah, that was rather strange of him. Was it something I said? Or was that Alfred being… Alfred?" Harry asked. Alfred seemed to go in a trance and his eyes grew dark and Alfred didn't seem to be with them anymore— and not in a physical sense.

"What's wrong with Alfred?" Another voice asked which turned out to be none other than Hermione, holding onto a sepia-coloured book.

"He just zoned out while he were talking to him and then just left." Harry explained as he placed down the comic.

Taking a seat, Hermione shook her head. "Well, enough about Alfred. He is a bit strange... Anyway, I found out something about Professor Kirkland." Hermione said primly.

Harry and Ron shared a look, but nonetheless allowed Hermione to speak her discovery.

"Remember the golden dust from the other night? The one Professor Kirkland turned into?"

Both the males before her nodded, but they couldn't help feel the rising skepticism residing in their gut. It's not like they didn't want to not believe Hermione and her discoveries about the professor, it was that they couldn't believe therm. They just seemed… implausible, even for a community of wizards.

"The golden dust is actually Angel Dust! I read through all sorts of books, but none of them had any useful information about Angel Dust. All but one." And with that, Hermione held up the book about faeries.

Ron and Harry gaped at Hermione before huddling next to each other and whispering to each other.

"Harry, I think she's lost it! She's talking nonsense and of all the books in the world, she thinks a pansy book about faeries is going to help us learn about Kirkland!" Ron whispered coarsely with a shocked look about his face.

"Well, maybe she's… Or… Well what if… What if—! Um..." Harry was lost for words. How could he possibly defend Hermione with everything she's said? Yes, some of the things she's said are worrisome and dubious, but so was the professor. And sure, Professor Kirkland was a tad out there, but only when it came to his past (he was not even in Muggle phonebook or wizard's directory), but the man himself was fair and nice.

Hermione crossed her arms and huffed at the twos constant whispering. "I am not a looney! The dust itself told me!"

The looks Harry and Ron gave her weren't reassuring.

"Look, when I was researching, I couldn't find anything. So, when I was about to give up of all things, I wished what the dust was, and then the strangest thing happened. The dust began to morph into a tiny ball, and disappeared inside me, and then for a reason unknown, all I knew that it was positively Angel Dust. I don't know what exactly Angel Dust is, but I know it can grant wishes, or morph into doppelgängers, but I'm sure it can do more. If you don't believe me, why don't you try it yourself?" Said Hermione as she pulled out the pouch of Angel Dust tossed it towards Harry. "I'm not making this up."

Catching the pouch, Harry looked at Hermione before looking at the pouch skeptically. Turning towards Ron, he and the Weasley boy shared a look before Harry opened up the bag. They should at least give it a try. What harm could it possibly do?

With that said, Ron looked at Hermione. "Alright, we'll do as you say and 'wish' to see if anything happens, alright?"

Beaming brightly, Hermione nodded with satisfaction.

With the bag in hand, Harry reached his fingers inside and cupped some of the golden dust. Rolling the cool dust in his hand, Harry watched the dust pool and twirl at the center of his palm. Sighing, Harry closed his eyes and began to make his wish, Ron following his lead.

"I wish… That I knew what this gold dust in my palm is."

"I wish for the same thing." Ron quickly inputted.

Hermione leered at Ron. Magic was a delicate matter; you had to be precise and specific with what you said! "Ron." Hermione said in a wary tone.

Ron huffed and shook his head. "I wish I knew what this gold dust in my palm is."

When the golden dust began to shimmer, Hermione jumped and clapped her hands. "Open your eyes! Open your eyes! See—! I wasn't fibbing!"

Opening their eyes, Ron and Harry's brows rose in surprise when they saw the glowing dust in their hands. They were even surprised to see it float up and morph into a bright glowing orb. However, Hermione did not expect the boys to sprint away from the glowing orb.

"What are you— Just stop! That orb is harmless! It's going to educate you!" Hermione fussed as she watched Ron and Harry evade, avoid, and sidestep the floating orbs. This was just ridiculous.

"This isn't natural! Dust doesn't do that!" Harry argued, tripping over the tea table in order to get away from the freely flowing orb of dust.

"Are you actually going to say that in a school run by magic? It's not dangerous! It is simply granting your wish!" Hermione fussed, shaking her head in disbelief. "You agreed to do this, did you not? So why are you backing out now?"

"Fine! If it makes this glowing orb stop following me!" Ron huffed, stopping in his tracks to allow his "wish" to happen. The moment he stopped, Ron expected something to happen, but nothing did. So when he turned around, he was about to speak when the orb of dust zoomed straight into his mouth.

Clamping his hands around his throat, Ron began to throw a fit before calming down he realized he wasn't choking. Did he just eat the orb? "Hermione, I think I just ate my wish." Ron said as he gave Hermione a dumbfounded look.

Seeing his friend eat the orb, Harry began to chuckle and smile at Ron's misfortune, Harry didn't see the orb floating straight towards him and he too suffered the same fate as swallowing the orb as well. Coughing, Harry wheezed until he felt nothing in his throat. Wincing, Harry looked at Hermione. "Uh… Hermione…"

Hermione blanched. Did they just eat their wish? It was a simple task and yet—! All they had to do was make a wish, wait, and then the wish would be granted and they just ate it!?

"Ron! Harry! Of all the things you could have done, you did that! Are you—! I am not the looney one here! I wouldn't eat my wish and I didn't!"

"Angel Dust…" Both boys had said, causing Hermione to stop her rant.

"What?" She asked, looking at her friends with a perplexed face. Did the wish still work? Even after it was eaten?

"The dust really was Angel Dust," Harry started, feeling speechless.

"Who would have thought…" Ron murmured, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Your wishes, they were still granted?" Hermione asked, getting closer to the two boys to make sure she hadn't misheard.

"Does this make the professor an… angel?" Ron asked, scrunching his face in mere confusion. Did angels even exist anymore? Or did they ever exist in the first place?

"Well, I don't know and I don't want to conclude anything just yet. There are still things about the professor we must still find out, all we know is basic information and it isn't enough to draw a solid conclusion. We don't want to make the same mistake we did with Quirrell."

"Hold on, now you're saying that Kirkland is secretly evil?" Ron said, sending Hermione a displeased look.

"No, all I am saying is that we can't just say that Professor Kirkland is an angel just because of this dust and we couldn't possibly prove that he is— and I don't have enough dust to give everyone to believe that this dust holds magical properties." Hermione said as she stared at the pouch of dust. Wait. "Give me the pouch, how much dust is left inside?"

Harry picked up the bag and peered inside, wincing. "Er, not much." Which was true, the small pouch was hardly filled with any sort of dust, which was just lightly piled at the bottom of the pouch.

Snatching the bag from Harry, Hermione peered inside and gave a dejected sigh. "Oh no…" She murmured, looking sadly at the pouch. After a moment of thought, Hermione looked at Ron and Harry with a determined look. "Alright, we cannot use the last of the dust, only if it was an emergency, understand? This is all I have to study from, alright?"

Neither of the boys objected this, Hermione was the brains of the group, so she knew what she was doing. Or so they hoped.

Tucking the pouch into her bag, Hermione grabbed the book she showed the boys earlier. "As I said earlier, when I was researching about the Angel Dust, no books had any information regarding it."

"And that faerie tale book does?" Harry asked, sending a skeptical look at the book Hermione held.

"No, not directly at least, but I do believe it may have clues about it. And it's not a faerie tale book; it's a bestiary about faeries." Hermione explained, opening the book to show the boys the detailed pages of faerie depictions and information. Ron frowned.

"Hermione, there's just one problem. All these faeries look human, and faeries don't look like that." Ron pointed out, pointing at a picture of a light-haired faerie, a female, whose hair draped over her shoulders and adorned in blue petals, although the image seemed to be faded from time, and she held a stick in her hand.

Hermione shook her head. "Yes, but the author of the book had stated the 'Magics did not have Complete Sight, and thus could not see faeries for what they truly are'." Hermione explained, turning to the page to show Ron what she had just cited.

"And who is the author of the book?" Harry asked, curious about the book. A bestiary of faeries?

"I cannot say, I think this was an observation journal of someone of the past. If you look at the book, it was handmade." Hermione pointed out, which was true. The edges of the pages were frayed and uncut and upon closer inspection, strands of thread bounded the book together. "But please do believe when I say that this book can help us. Faerie dust is also known to have magical properties, and if I study this book closely enough, I can perhaps guess the other properties of the Angel Dust, and see how Professor Kirkland ties into this, alright?"

Harry and Ron thought for a moment and both the Gryffindor boys sighed. "Alright, we trust you."

From the acceptance of her friends, Hermione smiled brightly and leapt to her friends, hugging them both tightly. Pulling back, Hermione was a lot happier than before. "I won't fail you two! We will get to the bottom of this mystery!"

VI

When Arthur returned back to Hogwarts, Arthur was growing nervous about facing the other teachers. He'd jumpt into his room at Hogwarts, and was currently looking at himself in the mirror. The dark circles under his eyes were still visible, but only slightly. His hangover had faded to nothing more than a mere little headache thanks to the pills and marshmallows.

Sighing at his reflection, Arthur took a deep breath and left his room and traveled to the Grand Hall. Students roamed the halls and corridors, Arthur softly cursed when he realized that he forgot to get his cloak. Nonetheless, Arthur went about his way to the Grand Hall, by passing many students, Arthur wondered how any of the teachers could handle so many students yearly. Even Arthur didn't have to deal with so many Nations at hand.

As he entered the Grand Hall, Arthur was met with Remus, who was as raggedy as ever, and smiled lamely at him. "Hello Remus, how are you today?" He asked as he seated himself at the staff table.

"It was typical, nothing extravagant," Remus said as he grabbed himself an apple. "What I'm interested was how was your morning? Hmm?" He asked, smiling knowingly and Arthur.

Arthur flushed and coughed into his fist. "Well, if you mean by the splitting headache I woke up with, um, not to well to start of a morning…" Arthur said as he used his fork to cut up his eggs. "I'm fine now though, a little tired, but I nothing I can't handle."

Remus snorted. "I can see, but how was your night?" He asked, nudging Arthur's side.

At this, Arthur choked and bounded at his chest to get the air back in him. "I can hardly think this is the time to talk about that! And not to mention, a gentlemen doesn't kiss and tell."

Remus wiggled his brows and Arthur couldn't hold back a muffled laugh.

"Alright, alright. It was… everything a man could dream or hope of." Arthur said as he resumed to eating the rest of his meal. He however did jump when Remus slapped the back of his shoulder with a hearty laugh.

"I have to say Arthur, I would have never in a million years have guessed you are that type of man." Remus said, taking a bite of his apple.

"Well I could hardly blame you, I was pissed drunk and well my… friends have told me I could be quite… the sight when I'm drunk." Arthur said as he waved away the thought. "Nonetheless, there is a time and place for everything, so I believe right now is not the time for that."

"Alright, I've teased you enough, but let me ask. What do you plan for this 'Halloween party' of yours?" Remus asked, making Arthur raise a brow.

"Have you really not ever had a Halloween party?" Remus shook his head.

"I've spent most of my Halloweens in Hogwarts, and after graduating, I've spent my time working. I never really had time for a Halloween party." Or friends to share one with, but Arthur didn't really need to know that.

Nodding, Arthur sighed and leaned over the staff table, placing his elbows on top of the table and weaving his fingers together to rest his jaw atop them. "Well, Halloween parties are a tradition for me, so what I plan to do is make it extravagant— and that it to make it scary, thrilling, and of course fun."

"But you're also going to Hogsmeade, aren't you? When will you have the time to do this?"

Arthur shook his head. "Oh I'll have time. Hogwarts is the only place to use magic to set up a party. All I have to do is get the decorations and see a few friends." Arthur said, pulling back from the table and crossing his arms. "That— and I also have a few tricks up my sleeve."

Listening to Arthur, Remus nodded and smiled. "Then I can't wait to see what you'll do to Hogwarts."

"Neither can I," Arthur said, finishing up his meal. As he made a move to get up, Arthur jumped when he felt something jump into his lap. Looking down, Arthur smiled when he saw Excalibur nestled in his lap, although he frowned when he saw the toad in his mouth. Isn't that—

"Trevor?" Remus asked, looking at the toad being coddled by Excalibur. Why did Excalibur have Trevor in the first place?

Taking the toad from the Scottish Fold, Arthur ushered the cat away and got up. "Well, I'd better give Neville back his toad." Arthur turned his nose towards the cat and tsked. "Why did you have Trevor? You better have not have planned to eat him." Arthur chided as he walked away. Excalibur only cocked his head and followed his master and Arthur made his way over to the Gryffindor table to give Neville back his toad.

At the Gryffindor table, Neville was seated next to Hermione and Arthur tapped his shoulder to gain his attention. The Golden Trio had stopped talking in favour of paying attention to their odd teacher, like why the professor was holding Neville's toad.

"Is this your toad Neville?" Arthur asked, lowering the toad towards Neville. Neville's brows rose and he gasped as he took the toad from Arthur's hand.

"Trevor! Where did you find him? I've been looking for him all morning!" The clumsy Gryffindor boy asked and he looked at the small toad in his hands.

"Excalibur had him, but I haven't the faintest clue as to why." Arthur explained, looking down at his pet in wonderment.

"Oh, well, thank you for finding him Professor Kirkland." Neville thanked, pocketing the small toad.

"Not at all, Neville." Arthur said, waving goodbye to the Gryffindors and heading towards his Muggle Studies room. He needed to write a few letters…

VII

Entering his room, Arthur strolled over to his desk and took out some papers from a compartment. Grabbing a pen, Arthur sat down in his seat and thought for a moment. He needed to think out who he needed to talk and what he would say. Even with magic, he still needed help with his Halloween parties. But who to write to was the question. Teetering the pen between his fingers, Arthur bit his lip and began to tap the desk with his pen.

He thought about the most decorative people that he knew. There was Matthew, but given that it was a Halloween party and taking place inside Hogwarts, Matthew, like Alfred, had little tolerance to ghosts. There also Francis, but Arthur would rather die that ask the Frog for help. His brothers? Arthur shook his head. No. That was just a terrible idea, so that idea was thrown to the gutters.

Or perhaps he should contact Lukas and Aurel? Or were they busy with their own plans? What of his Commonwealth? And which of them would be more than helpful...

Sighing, Arthur brought the pen up towards his lips and rolled the cap over his bottom lip in thought. Humming, Arthur brought the pen away and shrugged. Might as well try all and see who is able to help him.

Writing the letters, Arthur placed them in separate envelopes and sealed them before heading towards the owlry. Once he was at the owlry, Arthur looked around and saw no one else there went forth with his business. Looking around, Arthur sought for which owls he should use to send his messages, as the birds would have to travel far to deliver the messages.

Taking a selection of a grey, brown, and honey brown owls, Arthur gave a letter or to send towards his "friends", if you could call them so. Directing the owls of where their flight path would take, Arthur saw each owl fly off and watched the birds fly and he crossed his arms and hoped they would reach their destination.

And seeing that he was done with his errands, Arthur headed towards his room. He had papers to grade after all.

VIII

On the day of Halloween, almost everyone on Hogwarts was bustling with excitement for their first Hogsmeade weekend— all except Harry. It had been almost a little over a week since Hermione discovered the true nature of the golden dust, Angel Dust (which could oddly withstand being eaten). And in the days prior of today, everybody had been giving Harry a pity party, including Alfred.

Harry did not need everyone's pity or suggestions; he just wanted to go his on his day without somebody stopping him to tell him how sorry they were or if there was a way for them to help, or even go as far as saying that Hogsmeade wasn't all that great, but then go about all the things they were going to buy. This only made Harry further depressed, but he tried awfully hard to put it past him.

So as he ate breakfast, he felt somewhat happy that Hermione and Ron offered to get him some sort of memento, so that he wouldn't truly be left out of the Hogsmeade experience. He noticed that the two seemed to have gotten on better grounds even, no longer bringing up their little spat about Crookshanks and Scabbers, which was a relief to Harry. It was difficult being in a friendship when two of your best friends were giving each other the silent treatment.

Alfred on the other hand was just as excited to go to Hogsmeade that he had been following Professor Kirkland the entire morning. He seemed to have gone back to normal since that night in the common room. The trio could clearly see how annoyed Kirkland was with Alfred. He was holding his fork so tightly they feared it would suddenly snap in his hand.

There was also another thing. Apparently, Professor Kirkland would also be chaperoning the trip to Hogsmeade. McGonagall explained it was a recent development, but nothing to worry about. None of the students complained, as they saw nothing wrong with it. However Malfoy did object to the idea, saying that Kirkland would just "get lost there too." Nobody understood this until Malfoy started gloating that the first time he met Professor Kirkland it was in Knockturn Alley and the man was just wandering about the place without a clue. He didn't shut up until Seamus asked why he was in Knockturn Alley in the first place.

So as Harry accompanied Ron, Hermione, Alfred and nearly the rest of Hogwarts at the entrance hall, McGonagall, Kirkland, and Fitch were up at the doors watch the students file out. Fitch held a long list and was grumbling to himself as he accounted for all the students allowed and not allowed to go to Hogsmeade, and every once in a while, he would send a suspicious leer to a student or two and grumble to himself once more.

Snickering, Malfoy along with his two chumps Crabbe and Goyle diverted Harry's attention away from the student. "Staying here, Potter? Scared of passing the Dementors?" He shouted out smugly, turning towards a Crabbe and Goyle who were shaking with feign fear to mock Harry.

Harry ignored him and made his solitary way up the marble staircase…

IX

When Alfred had reached Hogsmeade with the rest of the Hogwarts students, Alfred was bouncing off the walls when he looked around the little British village. It was nothing he'd ever seen, but before he could even go running off, McGonagall stopped all the students to lay out the rules of their responsibility while at Hogsmeade.

"Now children, while you are here at Hogsmeade, you are to act appropriate and stray from misbehavior. You are representing Hogwarts and thus you cannot act like a crowd of unruly hooligans, understand?" McGonagall started, looking at the children with a stern eye. "You may look about the shops, but if I hear any incident of thievery, you will be standing by my side or Professor Kirkland's the entire trip here. Aside that, you are to not travel astray and will cooperate with the buddy system, so find a group and stay with them. Is that understood?"

With a chorus of "Yes Professor McGonagall", the Gryffindor headmistress was pleased with the answer and nodded. "Alright, you may go off about your business. But remember! All offenses will be given corresponding punishments!" McGonagall shouted as the large group of student dispersed into the wizarding village. "Also on a side note! Professor Kirkland will be holding a Halloween party at Hogwarts and he insists you all dress in costume! So remember to buy yourself a costume while you're here!"

Looking around, Alfred quickly left to Arthur side and wore an eager grin on his lips. "Okay! Where are we going first?" Alfred exclaimed as he bounced on his heels.

Arthur crossed his arms and sent Alfred a displeased look and snorted. "Calm down. First, because today is Halloween, we'll be going to the Gladrags Wizardwear, we're— well you— are going to get yourself a Halloween costume as McGonagall had said. Then after that, we'll locate a branch of the Magical Menagerie and then we can look around— or at least you can." Arthur said as he looked around.

"M'kay," Alfred hummed as he looked around the snowy village.

Walking about the village with snow crunching from their steps, Arthur and Alfred had set off to find the Gladrags Wizardwear in order for him to get a costume. From the cold weather, Alfred was clutching his cloak with him while Arthur was content with the red turtleneck he wore, which Alfred found strange because he was wearing a hoodie underneath his cloak and he was still cold. He wondered if Gladrags Wizardwear had any sort of magical winter wear that would keep him warm all winter. Wouldn't that be wonderful?

When Alfred and Arthur found Gladrags Wizardwear, Alfred noted the building to be a bit tattered looking, like an old comfy, even if ugly, sweater stuffed in closet for so long enough, yet once taken out to still be enjoyable to wear for the fond, old memories it held. Standing before the old little shop, Alfred looked at Arthur who ushered him to go inside.

Stepping inside the shop with a chime signifying his and Arthur's presence, Alfred raised a brow in interest. The store looked like some old flea market filled with clothes and accessories. There were racks filled with draped clothing with assorted colors, from bright blues to gloomy greens to rich reds and the fabric of each ensemble ranged from scratchy wool to lustrous silks. There were odd hat racks that danced or walked around the shop, carrying tipsy-turby top hats, flamboyant fedoras, tittering ties, bashful bows, and even much more miscellaneous hats and ties. There was even a wall dedicated to rows and columns of queer socks, from frivolous flashy socks, to plain yet scented socks, to even invisible socks.

'Weird,' Alfred thought as he read the little advertisement of Gladrags Wizardwear's Specialty Socks! Why would anyone want invisible socks? 'It's probably not even invisi— holy crap it is!' Alfred thought as he felt a pair of cotton socks in his hand and yet saw nothing in his hand as he held up the pair. What exactly was the point of invisible socks? How could you ever tell if they were dirty or what if you lost one? Or, well, both in this case. Shaking his head, Alfred deciding to just ignore the odd socks, he could see why they were considered a specialty…

"Alfred what are you doing? You're supposed to be looking for a costume, aren't you?" Arthur asked as he gestured to his left. "Why don't you try over there? I'm sure I saw some costumes over there."

"A'ight," Alfred hummed, sidestepping some spinning racks, Alfred saw a space dedicated to Halloween. He found it interesting to see little much of anything. How did wizards exactly celebrate Halloween? Surely the Muggle-born would know, right? But if they would always be at Hogwarts during Halloween, would they even know what "trick or treat" mean? He had to talk with Arthur about that, but first he had a costume to find.

Looking over the costumes, Alfred's choices were a bit limited, but how many times before had he shopped late for Halloween and have to make due with cheap or tacky Halloween costumes? Looking at a troll costume, Alfred hardly humored the thought of being a troll and looked at the next costume. Faerie? Nope, not even going to try. It was when Alfred nearly brushed aside a werewolf costume, his attention perked and Alfred grew interested.

Examining the werewolf costume, Alfred found it morbid and mangy— "Perfect! Dude, I wonder if I could add jeans and a letterman to this— I'd be like MJ!" Content with his finds, Alfred came over to Arthur with a smile on his face. "Look! I'm going to be a werewolf, awesome right?"

Turning back and seeing the costume in Alfred's hand, Arthur nearly panicked by Alfred's choice of words. "Ah, yes, but I'd be careful with what you say, alright?" Arthur said as he took out his pouch of money. "Come on, over to the till."

"Alright, pirate money." Alfred snickered as he walked over to the register to with Arthur.

"It's not— just give the man your costume so we can pay and leave!" Arthur huffed as he readied his money.

When Alfred had gotten done with Alfred's costume shopping, he and Arthur left Gladrags Wizardwear, Alfred holding his purchase happily. He'd never had a Halloween quite like this— with wizards and whatnot, but he imagined that it would be amazing, because instead of using tricks and mirrors and calling it "magic", he would be seeing actual magic. Of course, it's not as to say Alfred had never seen actual magic before, but old tricks and mirrors were just a nice, homey touch considering all the effort placed into them in order to pull them off in front of crowds.

As he and Arthur shuffled through the snow, passing by an Ollivanders Wand Shop, it wasn't long before the two covert nations found a Magical Menagerie and Eeylops Owl Emporium and Alfred was running circles around Arthur in excitement. He was going to get a pet of his liking, and even though nothing was wrong with Whaley, Whaley wasn't exactly a portable pet like a cat or dog…

"I'm gonna get a pet! I'm gonna get a pet!" Alfred chanted, causing people to cast amused, bemused, and confused looks at Alfred, but he couldn't are less because he was going to get a pet!

"It's 'going to' not 'gonna'." Arthur chided before huffing in disbelief. "Now, before we go in, Hogwarts only allows cats, toads, and owls inside the campus. Understand? So you will enter the stores with the mind of getting a cat, owl, or toad— nothing else."

"But Ron has Scabbers and he's not a cat, owl, or toad." Alfred pointed out. Arthur opened his mouth to speak but stopped and thought for a moment.

"You're getting a cat, owl, or toad. Nothing else." Arthur growled as Alfred let out a gasp as he feigned shock and surprise.

"Not even food? I can't my little pet a snack or even a toy?"

Arthur sent Alfred an unamused looked, although his brows furrowed with displeasure. "You know very damn well of what I meant." Alfred only replied with a cheeky smile.

"Still, why is Ron allowed to have Scabbers?"

"I'm going to assume nobody actually cares that he carries a rat with him…"

X

When the two had long entered the Magical Menagerie, which was by the Eeylops Owl Emporium, Arthur was following Alfred around the shop and watching Alfred fawn over all the different creatures. This shop was no different from the one in Diagon Alley, and so it too smelt putrid and Arthur was taking shallow breaths to avoid breathing in the scent of foul odors.

They were currently at the cat sections of the shop, and Alfred had his face pressed up against the bars, "purring" to get a cat's attention— it however paid no heed to Alfred. Pulling back from the cat's cage, Alfred pursed his lips and hummed.

"Hmm… I don't think I want this—" Alfred peered at the brief description of the cat. "British Shorthair. I need something more American." Alfred giggled as he turned his attention to the other cats on display.

Arthur rolled his eyes at Alfred's attempt to "talk" with the cat. "Hurry up and pick one already, or do you plan to spend your entire trip here?"

"Hey, hey. Don't rush me. I don't want to pick a cat that hates me or something. My cat's gotta be amazing and totally awesome 'cause then Excal'll have an amazing and awesome friend!" Alfred exclaimed, skipping down the row of cats and kittens.

Stopping, Alfred examined a number of calico, tabby, and different breeds of cats that made him coo or laugh. However, one cat got his attention. It was a moderately sized cat, probably as big his forearm, and it held an almost majestic air about him. The cat was mostly a variant of white hues sans for the brown-grey patches of fur around its neck and along its tail. The fur was long and shaggy on its body and tail, and it came short and fluffy along its legs and face. The ears were a fair size and sharp, the snout was somewhat short and stout and the eyes were the most brightest stark-blue eyes Alfred hard even seen.

"Oh my God, this cat is like the Adonis of all cats. It's like a fucking lion and a wolf!" Alfred gaped and he gawked at the cat. Arthur furrowed his brows and looked at the cat's description.

"That's a Maine Coon, Alfred." Arthur informed as Alfred fawned over the cat's appearance. "Or American Longhair if that's American enough for you."

"It looks so fluffy and soft and so amazing! Arthur I know what cat I want to get!" Alfred beamed as he looked at Arthur.

"It is the Maine Coon?" Arthur guessed, raising a brow at Alfred. Alfred nodded and made a grab for that cat.

"I'ma call him Courage 'cause he's like a lion with that mane of his." Alfred said as he lifted up the cat by its underarms. The cat's long and fluffy tail swished and the cat extended out its forearms as the cat stared bemusedly at Alfred.

"Alfred, that's a girl." Arthur corrected as he looked at the cat.

Alfred cocked his head. "What? How can you tell?" Alfred asked as he looked at the cat-in-question.

"Well, do you see a prick on that thing? — that, and only female cats have three shades of colour." Arthur explained.

"Color."

"Oh of course, forgive me. It's not like I made the language or anything important."

"Can I still call her Courage?" Alfred asked, adjusting the cat in his arms so that Courage could relax in his arms.

"I don't think she'll mind," Arthur said as he started over to look at animal accessories and necessities. "Come on, you need to pick out her food and whatnot for her. But don't go overboard; I will not help you carry anything."

"M'kay," Alfred hummed as he walked over to Arthur. Looking at the number of collars, cat toys, and treats, Alfred thought about getting Courage a collar, but decided against it. She would look silly with a collar considering her very fluffy, longs haired coat. However, she wouldn't look too bad with a ribbon.

So fingering through the choices of ribbon, Alfred selected a fuchsia ribbon with black polka dots, a mouse toy, and then a few cat treats for Courage. Done with his light shopping, Alfred turned toward Arthur.

"Okay, I'm down, can we go to the register, I don't think I can hold all of this." Alfred said, gesturing to all the materials and Courage in his hand.

"Yes, yes." Arthur said, taking out his pouch of money in order to be ready for their purchase.

Once at the counter, Alfred settled down Courage first and followed by the materials afterward. Grabbing the ribbon, Alfred carefully tied it around Courage's neck and Arthur then ringed for the cashier, who was tending to some ferret merchandise.

It didn't take long for Arthur to pay for everything, and with the snacks and toy in bag, Alfred was doting on his new feline, brushing his fingers through Courage's long fur. With everything paid for, both the Englishman and the America were almost out the door when Alfred stopped.

"Uh, Arthur?"

"Yes?" Arthur asked, pausing at the door and turning back to Alfred.

"Why does it say that you're missing?" Arthur contorted his face in confusion.

"Why would I be missing? Where does it say that I'm missing?" Arthur asked, following Alfred's gaze and stopping when he saw a poster with his face on it, which was interesting as it was a Muggle photo. Aside that poster was newsprints and another poster of Sirius Black…

"What the—?" Arthur asked as he grabbed the paper from the wall and looked at it, flipping it back and forth to see for the authenticity of it.

HAVE YOU SEEN THIS WIZARD?

NAME: ARTHUR KIRKLAND

AGE: BETWEEN LATE TEENS AND EARLY TWENTIES

HAIR: ASH BLONDE

EYES: GREEN

REPORTED MISSING IN SEPTEMBER BY THE ENGLISH MUGGLE PARLIAMENT AND WITNESSES HAVE REPORTED KIRKLAND TO HAVE BEEN SIGHTED IN DIAGON AND KNOCKTURN ALLEY IN LATE AUGUST. ONE REPORT IS THAT KIRKLAND HAD STOLEN ITEMS OF VALUE FROM GRINGOTTS— IT IS UNDECIDED IF THIS REPORT IS CREDIBLE OR NOT.

IF YOU SEE THIS WIZARD, PROCEED WITH CAUTION. IT IS UNKNOWN IF THIS WIZARD IS A THREAT OR NOT. IT IS HOWEVER KNOWN THAT HE HAS HAD CHARGES OF DISORDERLY CONDUCT, OPEN CONTAINER, DUI (Driving Under the Influence— similar to Apparating While Obnoxiously Lashed*), TRESPASSING, AND VANDALISM IN THE MUGGLE WORLD.

IF SEEN, CONTACT THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC OR THE ENGLISH MUGGLE PARLIAMENT.

Arthur gaped when he saw the who-to-contact. What in the world was this supposed to mean? "Was it absolutely necessary to talk about my past record? It's like they're trying to make me out to be some sort of rogue on the run!" Arthur growled before folding up paper and pocketing it. "I am not a threat to anyone and I didn't steal anything!" He huffed sourly.

"So do you know what was up with that?" Alfred asked as they left the store, the shop's attendant staring blankly at Arthur with a perplexed look about his face.

Arthur sighed. "It's blasphemy is what it is. I'm not missing, I didn't steal anything, and they know that— or at least they should. Regardless, I'll deal with that matter later." Arthur said, brushing away the question. "Now, anywhere else you want to go to?"

Alfred looked at Courage and hummed. "Hmm… How about Honeydukes? Ron was talking about it earlier when we were in the carriages." Alfred said as he nuzzled Courage, who didn't seem to mind Alfred's affection. She just seemed to ignore him. "Oh God, it's like hugging a cloud." Alfred cooed into the cat's fur as he and Arthur began to walk about the village.

Arthur shrugged. "Alright."

XI

As Alfred and Arthur made way to the sweet shop,they entered Honeydukes and Alfred felt as if he was at Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. There were aisles and shelves littered with teeth-rotting goods and the entire store was jam-packed with people crowding the aisles, tables, and shelves as the grabbed for the colourful sweets.

"Alfred, you'll have to leave Courage outside," Arthur started as he grabbed Courage from Alfred's hands along with Courage's things, and in return gave Alfred his money-bag. "The bronze coins are knuts, the silver are sickles, and the gold are galleons. Can you remember that?" Arthur asked as he fixed Courage in his arms. The Maine Coon responded by pushing Arthur's face away with her paw.

"Bronze knuts, silver sickles, and gold galleons. Got it." Alfred chimed as he left Arthur's side in favour of exploring the shop.

"I'll be with Professor McGonagall, so make sure you find somebody you know to travel around with, alright?" Arthur called out, frowning when Alfred's response was just a wave. Sighing, Arthur left Alfred to do his shopping.

Looking about the colourful shop, Alfred picked up one of the candies. "Exploding Bonbons? They don't really explode…Do they?" Alfred asked as he subconsciously grabbed his jaw. He placed the candy back down. He liked having his jaw, so no Exploding Bonbons for him.

Looking again, Alfred picked up another candy. "Fizzing Whizbees?" The candy didn't look questionable like the other candy, so he grabbed a package and began to look for more candies. As he peered around, there was a table offering free samples of a new fudge of sorts.

A lot of the treats looked very delicious while others very questionable. While there, picked an assortment of candies, from Honeydukes famous chocolates to gummies, Alfred picked the most alluring types of sugary, sour, and odd sweets. When he paid for his items, there too was missing person's poster of Arthur, but Alfred paid no attention to it. By the time Alfred left the candy shop, Arthur had lost quite a few galleons and Alfred was happy with his purchase.

As he left the store, Alfred saw Hermione and Ron heading over to Zonko's Joke Shop. Catching up with the two, Alfred waved hello and asked how their time was at Hogsmeade. Ron begrudgingly explained that they had first dropped by Dervish and Banges so the Hermione could buy some more school supplies and the left to the Three Broomsticks, Hogsmeade's Post Office, Gladrags Wizardwear, and that they decided to go to Zonko's.

"Oh, Alfred. Do you know why there are posters asking for Professor Kirkland? They're saying that he's missing, and the papers make him out to be a danger to us." Hermione asked, pulling out one of the posters from one of her shopping bags. "Though I do wonder why the Ministry would use a Muggle photo… Quite strange really…"

"Oh that, oh it's nothing. At least I think so. It's prolly a joke or something." Alfred said as he shrugged off the question.

"But why would someone joke about that? It sounds pretty serious to joke about Alfred." Hermione asked, puzzled by the, well, the fact that Alfred was so easy to brush off the subject.

"Arthur's a good guy, so you don't have to worry about him doing anything. Now about those posters? I don't know, you're kind of asking the wrong person," Alfred chuckled weakly as the trio headed over to Zonko's.

Hermione pursed her lips. "Hmm..." Hermione hummed, thinking strange of the situation.

Upon entering Zonko's, Alfred concluded that it was the toy-equivalent to Honeydukes. Instead of candies, toys, tricks, and practical jokes lined up the store's walls, windows, tables, and dangled from the ceiling. Confetti was popping and glitter littered the floor as little broomsticks spiraled in the air along with little batty toys and wind-up frogs hopping about. Bells were jingling, horns buzzing, whistles blowing, and crackers cackling as odd potions boiled, bubbled, and popped.

The store was filled with kids fiddling with the strange nick-knacks and Ron was telling Alfred all the pranks that could be pulled off with Zonko's tricks. Alfred liked this shop— it was like a magical joke store and it was.

"This place is awesome!" Alfred said as he walked about the colourful shop. If Matthias and Gilbert were here with him, they'd go crazy with the shop! Why weren't they this involved in magic again? Or were they and just didn't talk about it? He should bring it up to them because setting off these tricks during meeting with old man White or Ludwig in the room would be a hoot. Heck, he was pretty sure Lovino would want in on this if it meant to piss off Ludwig. So looking around the store, Alfred picked up all sorts of tricks like Dungbombs and Hiccough Sweets. There was even a fake bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans that came in rancid flavours and then there were some Sugar Quills here as well.

Picking up a bottle that read "TRY ME!", Alfred peered at the label. "Transfoamation:* Just lather it on to see what happens next…" Alfred cocked his head and wondered for a moment. Alfred placed the bottle down. It was probably best not to see what happens next.

Toying with a box of Dancing Lizards*, everyone turned their heads when Professor McGonagall entered the shop. "To all Hogwarts students, we will be going back to the castle shortly, so please make your purchases quickly." And with that, McGonagall left as quickly as she entered.

Hermione looked towards Ron, "Oh we need to go to Honeydukes! We promised Harry!" Hermione said, pulling Ron out of the shop after he bought some Shock-O-Choc, Dungbombs, Wild Witty Confetti*, and Sour Punch Limes*.

"Well, we wouldn't have to hurry if we didn't spend so much time at the post office!" Ron huffed as he followed Hermione out of the store.

Alfred laughed at the two and went to make his purchase. As he paid for his sweets, there too was another missing person's poster of Arthur, although of course it seemed more like a wanted person's poster. Alfred took the poster and looked at it. 'Man Artie, who'd you piss off for this to happen?'

XII

Upon gathering at Hogsmeade Station, McGonagall and Arthur accounted for all the students before ushering them inside the train on the return trip back to Hogwarts. Alfred had to say, his experience here was amazing and he liked it. It was something he'd expect from a back, but it was real and that's what made it amazing. Still, he preferred his magic at home, but European magic was fine too. It was more practical.

So as he and other students filed into the corridors of the train, Alfred seated himself next to Hermione and Ron, and both were admiring their newly-bought goods. They bought a stash of candy, Hermione had some new quills, ink, and parchment, and Ron had his tricks and treats. All the while, Alfred was happy with his candy and his tricks— and wait, where was Courage and Arthur? Getting up, Alfred was up about to leave to look for Arthur when the man-in-questioned entered the corridor with Courage in hand.

"Courage!" Alfred cheered as he took the feline from Arthur's hands. Burying his face into Courage's fur, Alfred chimed in delight. "Oh my God, she's so soft."

"Yes, you've already made that point Alfred." Arthur said, handing Alfred the bag filled with Courage's things. Ron blanched.

"There's another of those things!? Oh Merlin's underpants! Scabbers is going to have a heart attack!" Ron groaned as he buried his face into his palms. Hermione gave him a worried look.

"Um, I'm sure he'll be alright? Just— erm— look out for him." Hermione said, looking at Courage, who was kneading her paws into Alfred's cheeks. Arthur was looking at Alfred with a deadpanned look.

"Well, my business is done here. I'll be will Professor McGonagall. We'll be back at Hogwarts with a moment's notice." Arthur informed as he disappeared into the train's corridors.

Alfred left back into his seat and toyed with Courage, the cat meowed and tried nipping at his fingers and using her paws to grab his hand. Alfred giggled and continued to mess with Courage. Hermione smiled to see that Alfred was enjoying his new pet; however Ron on the other hand was miserable about Scabbers.

When they finally returned to Hogwarts, it was disk and all the students took to the carriages and began the trip around Black Lake, chattering excitedly with each other about what they did and saw at Hogsmeade, as well as gossip as to why Arthur Kirkland was a Missing Person in the Muggle world.

When Alfred, Hermione, and Ron found Harry in the common room and dumped all of his candy before him.

"There you go," said Ron. "We got as much as we could carry…"

XIII

While the students were busy in their corridors and preparing for the feast and Halloween party, Arthur was in his room going through his letters. Jett, Chase, and Raj were unable to go due to their own plans, but Lukas, Aurel, and Matthew were able to fit him into their schedule, which made Arthur happy that they could come. Only they could understand his passion for the magic world and they didn't annoy him either, so he was quite content at the moment.

He had clear instructions for them in their letters to jump into his room inside his room in Hogwarts and then from there then on, all they had to do was set up the decorations with a little help of magic. So all that left was for Arthur was to get the supplies, which shouldn't take long. They were inside his home.

So jumping back towards his home, Arthur wandered to his hall and then proceeded to enter inside his basement, which seemed to have collected quite a bit of dust. Wafting the air, Arthur eyes watered as he flicked on the lights and Arthur cupped his mouth as he wandered to the end of the basement to prop up a window or two.

Sighing as the air began to freshen up, Arthur looked around and began to search his basement. Opening a door to two, reveal underground tunnels and rooms, Arthur peered through every one until he stopped at one and sighed with content.

"There you are," Arthur said as he patted away dust from a rather large box, Arthur opened up a box and peered inside and was confirmed that it was indeed a box filled with decorations, and that the other two boxes around it were too filled with Halloween decorations. Stepping back, Arthur pondered for a moment. He needed to get these boxes to Hogwarts.

"Nazure, Juniper; can you come help me for a tick?" Arthur called out, waiting for the faerie to appear. It wasn't a moment soon that Nazure and Juniper appeared before him.

Juniper was a male faerie and he countered Nazure's shrinking abilities by specializing in making things grow bigger. His skin was darker than any sun-kissed skin and his short ginger hair was frayed with traces of sun-bleached blonde hairs. His eyes were a light pale brown and dark freckles brushed along his cheeks and nose. He was dressed in yellow and white daisy petals and there was a grass knot tied around his wrist. His wings were short, wide, and undulated like a butterfly, but they had thick waves of white and brown following the dichotomous pattern of his veins with hues of yellow speckled across his wings.

"What do you need help with Mr. England?" The two faeries chorused as they hovered in the air, Nazure like a bee and Juniper more like a butterfly.

"First, I need Nazure to shrink theses boxes, can you do that?" England asked as he looked at the cyan-clad faerie.

Nazure looked at the boxes and nodded. "Yes Mr. England, I can do that." And with that, Nazure zoomed over to the boxes, sprinkling faerie dust over all the boxes until they shrunk into a minimal size. Walking towards the now small of boxes, England picked them up and pocketed the item.

Turning around, England smiled and offered his hand towards the faerie. When Nazure perched herself on top of Arthur fingers, she smiled as England pressed a kiss onto her head. Seeing that her work was done, Nazure curtsied before disappearing into seemingly nowhere, but simply returning to the Fae Kingdom.

Looking at Juniper, England held up a finger. "Hold on a tick, I need to get something just before we leave for Hogwarts, alright?" England said and he walked up towards a wardrobe inside the basement. Opening up the wardrobe, England peered through the contents. The clothes and accessories inside were old and riddled with age, but still intact. These clothes were some of the clothes that survived in through the ages and as England sorted out through the clothing, England smiled and took out an ensemble of 18th Century wear.

It was a suit with a simple white loose, rustled dress shirt, but it had a double-breasted brocade shawl-collar with a dark red floral pattern, a white, patterned waistcoat, and the breeches were black, but upon closer inspection, one could make-out intricate floral designs as well. There was also a greatcoat and it was black as well, but with white, red, and gold lace and embroidery decorating it, along with some accessories as well like a black and red cane with a gold lion head as a handle. Grabbing the suit, England grabbed a pair of black and white Hessian boots and looked for something to place his "costume" inside. He found a suitcase and decided to stuff the suit inside.

Turning towards Juniper, England nodded. "Alright, I'm ready. Hold on, I'm going to jump back towards Hogwarts, alright?" England said, watching Juniper fly towards him and holding onto his neck as he balanced on his shoulder. Jumping back into Hogwarts, England briefly wondered about Hogwarts' "impassible" security precautions and continued with his plans. As he set down the suitcase, England took out the miniature boxes from his pocket and settled them on the floor. "Alright Juniper, you may tend to you request now." England informed as he motioned to the boxes.

"Ay Mr. England." Juniper answered as he glided over to the boxes and dashed his pixie dust over to boxes to grow them in their original size. Once down, Juniper bowed and hopped onto the hand England offered and awaited his kiss to the head.

As England bid Juniper goodbye and began to open up the boxes to take out the materials. However, as England pulled out some black mesh, England jumped when somebody jumped onto his back. Shouting out in surprise, England elbowed the person behind him and sprinted away before turning back to his attacker of sorts— which turned out to be Romania, who was dressed as… Well England wasn't quite sure.

Romania sported a patterned brown hooded robe of sorts, the pattern being mix of white spots and lines. The costume had long sleeves with the ends of the robe split into four long cuts and the leggings Romania wore underneath sported the same pattern as the costume.

Rubbing his stomach, Romania groaned to his discomfort and looked up at England with a frown. "Uh, ouch, Arthur. That was uncalled for."

"As was jumping on my back Aurel. Hasn't anyone told you to make your presence notice before introducing yourself to someone? Honestly that scared me half to death!" Arthur huffed as he stamped his foot.

Aurel flicked his wrist and rolled his eyes. "Probably, but that isn't important right now. Me, Lukas, Francis, and… Matthew are going to make this place absolutely wicked that even the ghost will be afraid." Aurel boasted before heading out for towards Arthur's door and heading out.

Arthur's face contorted into one of anger. "Francis!? I did not invite that bloody frog to come here! Why would you—"

"Ah… No. I didn't invite him." Aurel called out as he left down the hall, his boots clicking against the cold stone floors.

"Then who—" Arthur groaned and rubbed at his temples. "Matthew…" Without a doubt the younger nation would have done so, and perhaps not even intentionally, more like the frog just latched himself onto Matthew for the ride. Just what he needed: a dose of aggravation, however before Aurel ran off too far…

"Wait! Aurel, what exactly are you dressed as?" Arthur said as he narrowed his eyes, still trying to make out the costume, if it was one.

Aurel stopped and turned on his heel, looking down at himself and then Arthur, looking quite exasperated.

"What? I'm an octopus!"

"…What."

"The Mimic Octopus to be exact. Nifty, eh?"

"…"

XIV

When Arthur followed Aurel into the Grand Hall, rounding up all the other nations, Arthur did a headcount and was content that there weren't any other ticks that joined along. Aurel was swishing his one of his tentacles as Lukas toyed with a strand of straw in his mouth. Matthew was his quiet self and Arthur ignored the other presence standing by him. All the nations were lined shoulder-to-shoulder and a few were dressed up, and by few it was just Aurel— unless Lukas wearing a frayed straw hat with hatched crossings sketched on his cheek meant something…

"Alright, thank you all for accepting my invitation to help me and Dumbledore decorate Hogwarts. We appreciate the help." Arthur began as he pointed to the boxes next to him. "These boxes are filled with the decorations, so use whatever to your heart's content. Just be careful though, some of the objects inside are cursed so try not to break anything."

"Ah… That sounds easy enough, right Lukas?" Aurel smiled as Lukas gave a stout nod.

"Just enough to amaze the students, but to still scare Alfred." Lukas spoke out bluntly, causing Arthur to cough into his fist to conceal his actual plans.

"Such a kidder, aren't you? Righto, any questions or shall we move on to decorating?" Arthur asked as he looked around.

"Yes, now why do you need our help black sheep? Can't you just twirl your little wand and be done with this already?" Francis asked as Arthur narrowed his eyes in agitation.

"Do you see the size of this castle? Even with magic, it would take me a while to decorate, and if you've gotten any word from Rossi, which by no doubt you do — and a penny for a thought, I did not what so ever appreciate the little present you and my brothers plotted for me — you know why I need help." Arthur snapped as he leered at Francis.

At this Francis smirked and turned his head towards Matthew and whispering something and causing the Canadian to frown a bit while he laughed instead. Said Frenchman was twirling his hair with his sycamore wand and looking awfully smug to Arthur. He was dressed in a stark-white blouse and wore form-fitting black trousers with dark brown brogan shoes. His hair was tied back and his bangs fell to the side of his face and Arthur was sure he could see a hairpin or two. Just something about him made him want to pull a bag over his head— or in a body bag.

Matthew was probably the most casually dressed person in them room. He was clad in a large grey tee with a brown jacket over it, and then a pair of faded jeans and tennis shoes. Alongside him was also his bear, Wilbur, and the polar bear was awfully lax beside his owner, resting against Matthew's leg. Arthur wondered if he needed to be on a leash or something.

Pursing his lips, almost wanting to edge the Frenchman to say something else so that he could strangle him, Arthur nodded. "Alright, if no one has anything else to say, we'll begin— also, don't go search for Alfred. The last thing I need him to do is cause a ruckus." Or ruin the surprise.

Stepping over to Dumbledore, in which stood McGonagall, Snape, and Filch at his side in observation of the sudden people who had popped out of nowhere in Hogwarts. The two professors had seen the sudden strangers walk through the halls as if it was their right and Filch made it aware to allow that he had let anyone in with his constant ramblings of "I swear I didn't let them in professor."

Regardless of the oddity, Dumbledore was grinning to himself with his hands folded over one another as they draped down his lap. He seemed very relaxed and pleased despite Hogwarts somehow being infiltrated by strangers whereas McGonagall was more or less confused and anxious to know what was going on. Snape on the other hand, although just as aware of the situation as McGonagall was, seemed more menacing and annoyed in the presence of Aurel, Lukas, Matthew, and Francis.

"Professor Kirkland, not that I'd like to come off as rude, but who are these men?" The Transfigurations teacher asked as she looked around like a doting mother who had just found strangers just lurking about her home.

"Yes," Snape drawled out as he leered at Arthur and then the covert nations. "I believe we do have to right to know of these… trespassers."

Arthur scoffed towards Snape, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. "They're not trespassers— except for the frog. Punish him any way you like. Hell, if you even transfigure, turn, or curse him into an actual frog, I'd be in your debt." Arthur said, humming as if he was actually contemplating on whether to do as he had just said. "Regardless of that, they're my colleagues of the 'Muggle' world, Francis included unfortunately." Arthur sighed before he saw Lukas waving at him. "I'll be but a moment."

Heading over to the other Nations, Arthur walked towards Lukas when said Nation pushed a staff into his arms. Looking at the staff, Arthur recognized it as his old staff just before he moved onto his wand. It was made out of dark oak and it was a quite beautiful one at that. It was elongated and polished, and at the narrow tip of the staff, it twirled like a drill, and at the wider end of the staff, it split into two and twirled as well. The staff was grooved and most noticeably, it was shaped like a snake with two heads with jades for eyes.

Arthur cocked his head and looked at Lukas with astonishment. "Where did you find this?" He asked as he traced his fingers across his staff. How long has this been missing again? A couple some hundred years?

"It was in one of those boxes you brought in." Lukas informed as he twirled his alder wand before using it to cover the now-black curtains of Hogwarts with black mesh and ribbon.

"Oh…" Hmm, he wondered how it got there. "Well thank you for finding it."

"The faeries informed me that she broke your wand." Lukas spoke, concentration on the curtains as he did so.

"Unfortunately so," Arthur sulked as he looked down at the staff in his hand.

"Do you know as to why?"

"She wanted to have some fun is what she said. Although I don't understand why of all times, doesn't she understand how badly this can turn out for me?"

"Perhaps if you get Feliciano or Lo—"

"No!" Arthur scoffed as he turned to Lukas with an abhorred looked about his face. "As if I want any of those two near me much less ask help from them. I can deal with this on my own; Alice said she would fix my wand anyway so there's no point in dragging in those two."

"And when would that be?" Lukas challenged as he finished up with the wall décor. Arthur puffed out his chest and quickly deflated.

"Thank you for finding my staff, but if you'll excuse me, I'll be helping the others with the decorations." And with that, Arthur turned on his heel and stalked over to his decorations, feeling a bit peeved by Lukas' suggestion. As if he would stoop so low to request help from the Vargas brothers!

With these thoughts on his mind, Arthur tried to busy his mind with thoughts of Halloween décor as he began to wave his staff as he channeled magic into the jade stones, the jades glowing as more and more magic entered their being. As Arthur did this, the nation took note to keep his use of magic to a minimum lest he face a grieving consequence. Looking into some of the boxes, Arthur rummaged around and pulled out an age-riddled box. Upon opening the box, there lie tiny stone creatures which looked like skeletons of mangy, rabid animals, and each of the strange animals were sitting as if they were begging. Along their bodies were strange engravings and inside the box was some black chalk.

Grabbing the chalk, Arthur knelt down and began to draw on the floor a summoning circle and then scribble in Ænglisc around the circle. Chanting softly, Arthur set the stone pieces into the circle and continued to chanting until the chalk cackled and a bright flash appeared and the little stone creatures now stood at knee-height and as the moved around, their joints cracked and rattled as they moved around and all the creatures looked towards Arthur as they waited for further commands.

Arthur pointed towards the boxes, "Go help the others but putting up those decorations. When you're done, return to me. Understand?"

The little minions looked at each other and clacked their teeth and nodded, knuckle-walking over to the boxes and climbing into the boxes and helping the other nations grab items and even putting up ornaments. When Arthur turned around, Arthur saw that Dumbledore and his company were still there, although it seemed that Filch had taken his leave. Arthur smiled sheepishly.

"Those are a few of my stone minions, they're harmless— to an extent at least— so there's nothing to worry about." Arthur said as he waved away the stares. He however grimaced from the sudden stab he felt in his hand. Glancing at his palm, a circle was beginning to embed itself into his hand causing a searing pain, but it only lasted a few seconds. Well, he guessed that was a sign to put a stop of his use of magic— for the while at least.

When he looked around, Arthur smiled as Matthew decorated the walls with life-like cobwebs. Francis was busy creating illusions of rats, spiders, and wolves skirting across the walls and halls, and spying around the corners and props of the Grand Hall. Aurel was using the material from the boxes to create a haunted look of a grave yard with remains of fallen warriors. Helmets, shields, and swords scattered the floors and black rope hung down from the high heavens as if mocking the gallows. White cloth covered tables and chairs and an illusion was casted to make the Grand Hall graced with dust as it was abandoned.

And with Dumbledore's own decorations, pumpkins filled with candy floated around alongside with candles, and there was a cloud of bats fluttering about the ceiling, weaving through long bright orange streamers the swayed and curled. Admiring the outcome of much of the decorations up so far, Arthur felt quite happy for himself (as well as thankful for the help provided to him) from the outcome of the Grand Hall's soon-to-be Halloween celebration party.

"Oh Arthur, seems like you have a few skeletons hanging around!" Francis joked as he waved around the skeleton towards Arthur. Arthur smirked and waved his staff towards the box of skeletons.

The skeleton in Francis' hand shuddered a bit before turning its head and "looking" at Francis and waving a hand in front of his face. Francis jump and released the skeleton with a cry, Matthew turning towards the Frenchmen in concern before shaking his head. The skeletons inside the box then began to crawl out of the box, falling onto the floor before picking themselves out and limping towards Arthur.

"Scatter yourselves around the castle and play dead." Arthur ordered as the skeletons did just that. This wouldn't seem too usual as charmed skeletons weren't something unheard of. "A little mischief with some skeletons may excite the children, they're completely harmless, so no harm should come to the children."

"I trust you Professor Kirkland," Dumbledore, turning towards McGonagall and Snape as Arthur left over to talk with Aurel.

XV

Watching Kirkland with his "colleagues", Snape was the first to speak his mind. "How can you trust this man? He is too suspicious and somehow these 'colleagues' of his snuck into Hogwarts despite all incantations that protect Hogwarts from intruders! How could they have possibly entered the grounds, bypassing the Dementors and us?" Snape hissed under his breath as he watched Kirkland and his friends.

"And not to take any sides, but while we were at Hogsmeade, there were these posters all around." McGonagall said as she pulled out one of Kirkland's missing person's poster from her person.

Dumbledore raised a brow and Snape took the poster away from McGonagall. "Charged with disorderly conduct, open container, DUI, trespassing, vandalism?" Snape read aloud as he looked over the poster. "Dumbledore, how can you trust this man if he has a criminal record in the Muggle world? If he's a danger to the Muggles, then isn't he a danger to us as well? How much do you know of this man anyway?" Snape pressed, the poster crumpling from his grip.

Dumbledore's eyes shifted between Snape and McGonagall before he sighed and nodded. "Severus, Minerva, let me tell you something about Sir Kirkland. He is not what he seems, I'm sure you can tell that." Dumbledore started as he watched said man working alongside his friends and minions. "I was telling the truth when I said that Sir Kirkland hasn't changed a bit since the last I meet him— physically at least. Well, I wouldn't say that really, he was in very poor shape the last I remember him, but usually he's like the man you see before you."

Snape and McGonagall shared a look. To them, Dumbledore started talking nonsense again. As eccentric as Dumbledore was, they were starting to doubt the man's credibility as they were starting to grow concern over the children's safety as well as their own for a 'friend' of Dumbledore of whom they've never heard of before. And frankly, Kirkland filled the bill of being a threat to their safety.

"And when was that?" McGonagall asked as she raised a brow. "The last time you saw of Mr. Kirkland?"

Humming, Dumbledore tilted his head up and entwined his fingers together. "Hmm… I'd say that was… Fifty years ago? Give or take." Dumbledore said as calmly as possible.

McGonagall's eyes widen in shock and she looked back at Kirkland as she tried to make sense of what Dumbledore had just said. "No that couldn't possibly be!" McGonagall said in aghast. "Even the most powerful wizard can't stop himself, or rather his body, from aging, and yet Kirkland looks no older than twenty!"

Snape turned to Dumbledore. "What you say can't possibly be true. You couldn't have known the man from fifty years ago!"

Dumbledore shook his head. "Oh but what I say is the truth, however I met Kirkland… Hmm… About forty, forty-four years before that? I remember that I met him in my time to Cairo, I met him there after I got my Gold Medal for Ground-Breaking Contribution. He shook my hand and told me he was never prouder to have me as a British Youth Representative to the Wizengamot. He's a bit of a flatterer really." Dumbledore as he chuckled from his old memories.

"Then his flattery has done nothing but cloud your judgment." Snape uttered as he flashed a glare at Kirkland. "If what you say is true, than just how has he managed a feat?"

"Arthur is a trustable man. How he's lived for so long without aging, I cannot say. But from the times I've met him, he is a man wiser than I when he reminisces of the past. He will be a good influence towards the children, he knows much more about magic than anyone else in this building— well, along with his friends." Dumbledore said as he looked at Snape. "Now, if you let me, I will go talk to Professor Kirkland about his progress with his plans."

McGonagall looked between Snape and Dumbledore and sighed from the release of tension. "Severus, if Dumbledore trusts Professor Kirkland, we should at least give him a chance. It would be unfair to judge him if we do not know his life story."

"Speak for yourself Minerva. I still find myself untrusting towards the man, if we could call him that."

McGonagall gave Snape a sorry look.

XV

"Good afternoon Professor Kirkland, Mr. Popa." Dumbledore said as he walked up toward Arthur, Aurel at his side. Aurel smiled and tipped his head as if to tip a hat to the Hogwarts headmaster. "Ah, that is a lovely staff you have there, Professor." Dumbledore chimed as he looked at the old staff in the English nation's hands.

Arthur looked down at the staff in his hands and flushed lightly. "Thank you. Back before wands became popular and handy, my brothers had this staff made for me when I became a druid." Arthur said as he looked at his staff.

"A druid you say?"

"Yes, before I learned Romanized magic, I knew Celtic magic thanks to my brothers and whatnot." Arthur said as he twirled the staff in his hand.

"Oi, oi, Arthur. You think this good enough? Or should I add something more?"

Arthur hummed as he watched and studied the floating lights. "Hmm… Aurel, can you make the colours red, orange, yellow, and white? — Yes, that's perfect." Arthur said as Aurel began to do as he asked for. As Arthur made small commentaries to Aurel's magic orbs, Dumbledore watched them converse with a small smile on his lips.

"That's quite interesting…" Dumbledore murmured as he thought over what Arthur had said as he watched Aurel creating orbs of glowing light to pulse around eerily as they floated around.

"Um…Sorry to interrupt, but Arthur, what are these?" Matthew asked as he held up a fairly large jar was what looked like black dust— shaking black dust. Arthur paid him no heed and the soft-spoken man tried to catch his attention yet again. "Ah… Arthur… The jar. I know that you're busy but I'm not sure what to do w—"

"Ah, Professor Kirkland," Dumbledore interrupted once he saw Matthew having trouble gaining said man's attention.

"Hmm?" Arthur hummed as he turned around to looked at Dumbledore. "What is it— oh! Matthew!" Upon seeing the jar in Matthew's hand. Inspecting the jar, Arthur scratched under his jaw before snapping his fingers. "Ah! Those are soot sprites— at least from what Kiku said. I just use them as decorations and they're quite harmless. A little shy, but they can take orders so as long as you give them something to eat or they'll run away and it's hard to recollect them…" Arthur sighed as he crossed his arms. "Regardless, go back to the box from where you got them and search for a smaller jar that's filled with little colored sweets, bribe them with that and they'll do as you say." Arthur advised.

Dumbledore smiled and turned to Matthew. "I'll help you with that; it seems your hands are quite full." Dumbledore offered as he walked over to the near-empty boxes with Matthew. Looking through the boxes, Dumbledore saw extra unused bundles of cloth, candles, ornaments, and eventually the jar Arthur had talked about. Grabbing it, Dumbledore looked at it and chuckled. This looked like hundreds-and-thousands*.

Opening the jar, Dumbledore turned to Matthew. "Shall we Matthew?" He asked as he gestured to the jar in Matthew's hands. Matthew glanced at the jar than Wilbur and nodded.

"Alright," Matthew said before turning his head unsurely as he opened up the jar.

The moment he opened up the jar, Matthew jumped when all the soot sprites began to seeming pour out of the jar and crawling all over his arm and body, a few falling down wispily as the soot sprite ran out toward their freedom. Their movements were light, skittish, and somewhat ticklish, but nonetheless, Matthew couldn't help but shudder because it felt like dozens of tiny, furry, spiders were crawling down his body.

When all the soot sprites gathered on the floor, they all bunched together until they piled into a small mound and Matthew and Dumbledore's feet. Wilbur had wedged himself between Matthew's legs and inspected the strange fuzzy black sprites in curiosity.

Matthew chuckled as a few of the sprites were jumping towards the jar of hundreds-and-thousands. "I guess we should feed them now?" Matthew said as he watched the tower of soot sprite lean and wiggle from the ambitious soot sprite. Even if they were a bit odd, they were somewhat cute— in a sense.

"I guess it does," Dumbledore said as he dipped his hand into the jar and grabbed a handful of the colorful sweets.

As the treats tumbled down from Dumbledore's palm, the soot sprites went crazy and both the wizard and visiting covert nation could hear little squeals of delight as the sprites raced to collect the most of the strand, circle, and star shape sugar treats. Once the soot sprites had their due, Dumbledore shared a look with Matthew, a smile on both their faces.

"Alright— um— you guys," Matthew started awkwardly. "Go about the room and halls and just hang about the walls and stuff. Don't hurt anyone though, just amuse them, okay?" Matthew finished as he looked at the soot sprite.

Both he and Dumbledore were surprised when the soot sprites began to what looked like nodding and the piled of soot sprites dispersed and while some sprites crawls along the floors, others floated in the air like jellyfish in water.

"Why're they so dirty?" Wilbur asked as he got up on his hind legs and now stood up at Matthew's waist. He was trying to grab some of the flying soot sprites, but when he did, they'd disappear in a cloud of soot, and then pop back to life to resume Matthew's orders.

"Oh don't do that Willy, you'll get dirty. They're soot sprites, so they're made from soot. You know, ash from fire wood." Matthew said as he bent down towards Wilbur's height and frowning at Wilbur's now-dirtied paws. Wilbur lifted up one of his giant paws and pressed the soft of his paw against Matthew's cheek, causing the Canadian to pull back and cough from the soot.

"There, now you're dirty too!" Wilbur stated as he went back on all fours.

Matthew turned to look at Wilbur and huffed at his bear. But a moment or two from staring at Wilbur, Matthew sighed and ruffled the polar bear's head. Getting up, Matthew smiled at Dumbledore.

"Thank you for helping me."

"Not at all. Say, how would you like to stay for the night? Although you're not a student or teacher at Hogwarts, you did help out with the preparations for the feast and party. I would be unfair for you to miss out on what you helpt create." Dumbledore said as he put aside the jar of hundreds-and-thousands.

Matthew blinked in surprise and sent a warm smile to Dumbledore. "Oh no, I couldn't possibly impose on you. It would seem rude; the children should be the ones to enjoy the festivities, not me." Matthew said as he politely declined the offer.

"No, no. I insist. You wouldn't be imposing at all so don't worry." Dumbledore said.

Matthew scratched the back of his neck and chuckled nervously. "Well, if you insist that it's not a problem. But I'll have to talk with Francis. He and I made some plans tonight— and I'll have to ask if he's fine with me staying." Matthew said as he averted his eyes. "But knowing him, he'll probably want to tag along…"

Dumbledore smiled. "Wonderful! The more the merrier!" He exclaimed as if Matthew made his decision final.

When Dumbledore looked at Arthur, said Englishman was calling everyone to finish up what they were doing.

"Alright everyone, that should be enough." Arthur called out as he gathered everyone's attention. "Thank you all for the favour, I'm in your debt— and by that I mean everybody but Francis' debt."

Francis scoffed and wrinkled his nose. "And you say it like that's a bad thing."

"Generally it is. I know I would want to be in your debt." Aurel laughed as he high-fived Lukas. "Looks like we can go home now, would you like to get a snack before we go back? Well, not here of course…" Aurel chatted light-hearted with Lukas as they left the Grand Hall and soon disappeared. It was noted by the Hogwarts staff that the two did not take the usual exit of Hogwarts…

XVI

With Lukas and Aurel now gone, Arthur was now shifting through with what was left in the boxes so he could organize all left over materials inside one box. With everything compactly packed, Arthur waved his staff over to them and shrunk the items, pocking the items and nearly screaming in surprise when Matthew seemed to have popped out of nowhere at his side. Why was he still here!?

"Matthew! You—! Eh?" Arthur raised a brow as he saw Matthew's face covered with some black smudge. Frowning, Arthur peered back into his box and tore off a piece of plum purple curtains. Licking a bit of the cloth, Arthur grabbed Matthew by the chin and began to wash Matthew's face. "What is this all over your face?" Arthur huffed as he took hold of Matthew's jaw to clean up the black smudge on Matthew's cheek.

Matthew tried to squirm away from Arthur's hold and his cheeks flushed with embarrassment. "N-No Arthur. It's okay, it's— it's just soot. You— You don't have to do this." Matthew insisted as he fidgeted from Arthur and the cloth.

"Stop fidgeting. I can't clean this bloody mess off with you moving about like that." Arthur huffed as his paternal instincts kicked in. He wouldn't allow Matthew to walk around with soot on his face! And now that he thought about it. "Matthew! Why are you covered in soot?"

"It was the soot sprites! They crawled over me!"

"And why did you let them do that!"

"I was only letting them out of the jar!"

"Well couldn't you have done it a bit cleaner?"

"Arthur! I would have needed to change anyway! I was going to get dressed up for Halloween and—"

"Arthur! Quit babying him! He can take care of himself you know. He does not need you to fret over his every need." Francis said as he entered through the hall with Toris in tow. Pressing his hand in a modest gesture against his chest, Francis smirked at the mother hen of an Englishman and the too-polite Canadian. "Trust me, I know all of Matthieu's needs, and he doesn't— need— you." Francis purred almost sultrily.

Matthew's face heated up and both he and Arthur were in tune to scold the Frenchman with a firm (and shocked on behalf of Matthew) shout, "Francis!"

Francis laughed and waltzed over to the two and he patted Arthur on the cheek in a smug manner. "Oh calm down. I merely kid, no?" He laughed as he stepped away and turned on his heel. "Now, I presume we are done?"

Arthur glared at Francis and sighed, taking the cloth away from Matthew's face. "Yes, you're done." Arthur said as he clenched his jaws. "Thank you for helping out." Arthur spat out as he glared at the Frenchman. Francis smiled and clapped his hands.

« Oh ! C'est bien ! — Et il n'y a pas de quoi. Matthieu, on y va. »* Francis said as he turned to Matthew and ignoring Arthur's annoyed glares.

"Actually, Dumbledore invited us to stay since we helpt out with the decorations." Matthew said as he gestured to Dumbledore. Arthur and Francis raised their brows in surprise and looked at the wizard in question.

« Quoi ? »*

"Speak English you pillock." Arthur hissed as he flared his teeth at Francis.

Francis huffed and crossed his arms. "I do not have to if I do not wish to."* He argued back in an almost childish manner.

"Francis, enough— Arthur, we were glad to help, and is it okay if we stay?" Matthew asked as he held a finger up to Francis to keep him from saying anything else to provoke or anger the Englishman. They were such kids at times it was ridiculous.

"Matthew speaks the truth. You're welcome to stay if you'd like." Dumbledore said as he looked at all of the covert nations.

"If Matthieu's going to stay, then I'll be more than happy to stay!" Francis chimed happily as he clapped his hands.

Arthur's eyes widen and he looked at Dumbledore desperately. "Dumbledore, I speak from experience, but this is a bad idea."

Dumbledore cocked his head. "And why is that?"

"It's not that I don't trust Matthew, it's that I don't trust the frog over there. He's a pervert and will touch anything that walks on two legs." Arthur said sternly before looking down at Wilbur. "Maybe even four."*

"Ey! I heard that!" Francis huffed as he sent Arthur a glare. Had Matthew not stepped in front of him, he was sure to tackle Arthur.

"You were meant to." Arthur deadpanned as he kept his gaze at Dumbledore and ignoring the frown Matthew sent him.

"Oi, but I will not be touching anyone! I do not touch children!— or polar bears!" Francis huffed as he defended his honour, but he calmed down with a sultry purr. "Besides, I have Matthieu. Why would I want to touch anyone else?"

"Francis," Matthew started, unamused with Francis sense of humour.

« Désolé. »*

Matthew sighed and turned his attention back to Arthur. "So, can we stay? I promise that I'll keep Francis in line while we're here. Is that alright?"

Arthur thought for a moment and sighed through his nose. "Alright, but you better have that frog on a leash. If I even hear that he is groping a wall, he will be hearing from both my fist, understand?"

Matthew smiled weakly at Arthur. "Yes, I'm sure Francis will understand."

"I am still in this room! Do not act like I cannot hear you!" Francis huffed as he through his hands in the air in irritation. Matthew placed a hand on his shoulder and gave him a sympathetic look.

"I'm sorry, but I have to say something so Arthur would let you stay." Matthew said before looking at Francis with a deadpanned look. "And I'm sorry, but I do agree with Arthur. You tied up my brother and didn't tell me where he was for nearly two months."

Francis chuckled dryly. "Ah… You're still mad about that?"

"It's rude to kidnap my brother and send him overseas in nothing. Frankly it bothers me that you didn't even think to tell me. I don't like to be the last person to find out where my brother is."

At that, Francis sighed and nodded. "Alright, alright. Next time I will tell you if I plan to tie up your brother again."

"Thank you because then I at least know he'll be okay." And with that, Matthew waved at Dumbledore and smiled warmly. "We'll be back shortly; Francis and I would like to get ready if you do not mind."

« Matthieu, je sais que vous êtes en colère contre moi, mais je peux vous faire sentir mieux.»* The Frenchman cooed into the Canadian's ear, although that had earned him an elbow to the stomach.

« Ah ! Tais-toi ! Tais-toi ! »*

« Euh… Comme si ils comprennent… »* Francis grumbled as he rubbed his stomach sorely as both he and Matthew began to walk away although shortly disappearing the moment they turned the corner.

As soon as all the Nations left, Arthur messaged his temples. "Oh god I hope Matthew can keep up to his words. That stupid French wanker…"

Dumbledore grinned and concealed a laugh. "Well, at least he's a lively person."

"Too lively if you ask me. Doesn't he realize no one takes him seriously?"

"Well, if it doesn't bother him, I don't think it's anything to fret about. Now, don't you have something to get ready for?" Dumbledore asked as he perked a brow. Arthur cocked his head.

"What do you— oh! My costume!" He exclaimed as he ran towards the hall before turning back. "Ah, well, I best be going, thank you for letting me do this Albus."

"Not at all, it's the least I can do. And besides, this sounds like a wonderful festivity, so I see no wrong with it." Dumbledore exclaimed with a wave of his hand. "If that's all, I'd better get go check on the house elves and make sure everything is alright."

"Ta," Arthur said as he headed towards his room. With the children primping in their dorms, Arthur still had time to get ready, although he was a little anxious with Francis deciding to stay for the party. He just hoped Matthew could at least make sure what Francis wore was school appropriate. He didn't need any other reasons for anyone to question his persona…

i

water and marshmallows*— Drinking water helps hydrate the body, as alcohol is a dehydrate, and eating three marshmallows helps the hungover person recover quickly from a hung-over. I don't know the magical properties of marshmallows though.

jumped*— Nation jargon for "country jump"

Gene* — Eugene Francis "Gene" Kranz; head of NASA from 1960-1994.

She said it was because she wasn't married* — Native American woman have been known to braid their hair as a sign to show that they were married and it was a part of their tradition, however this may change from tribe to tribe.

pen-knife* — another term for pocket knife! It is not a spy weapon of a knife cleverly disguised as a pen (that's what I thought when I first heard the term "pen-knife"… It's kind of disappointing really. No, it's really disappointing actually.).

Wendigos* — A Native American (Algonquian) demonic creature deriving from those who indulged in eating human flesh, often either from possession or manifesting from a human spirit that has participated in eating human flesh.

Apparating While Obnoxiously Lashed* — Also known as AWOL; it is a misdemeanor set by the Ministry of Magic to keep all licensed (and unlicensed) apparators from apparating while under the influence of any sort of inebriating substance to prevent any cases of splinching.

Lashed* — British slang for "very inebriated"

Transfoamation* — foam that randomly transforms the user and or object into anything in the world. It is often used for practical jokes or in Transfiguration classes. WARNING: Do not consume Transfoamation even if it takes the form of food.

Dancing Lizards* — A miscellaneous item in which lizards dance.

Wild Witty Confetti*— a confetti cannon that cracks jokes.

Sour Punch Limes*— a puny combination of "sour punch" and "punch line"; this lime-shaped treat has a joke printed on it, and when it's eaten, the consumer endures a sour punch taste, and the punch line is now imprinted in their tongue with edible ink.

hundreds-and-thousands* — British term for sugar strands (another Brit term), sprinkles, sparkles, jimmies, nonpareil, confetti, whatever you want to call them. Hundreds-and-thousands is said to be the most often use word (or phrase) to describe sprinkles (in the UK).

« and »: This is part of French punctuation-grammar rules as quotation marks ("") don't exist in French.

Spaces: the spaces between the words and "!", "?", "«", and "»" are necessary (same with the semi-colon) in French. The spaces aren't necessary with commas and periods— and the Oxford comma doesn't exist in French either.

Oh ! C'est bien !* — Oh! That's good!

Et il n'y a pas de quoi* — And you're welcome; literal meaning to il n'y a pas de quoi is "there is no what"

Matthieu, on y va* — Matthew, let's go; literal meaning of on y va is "we're going [there]" and there are other ways to use on y va, depending on the context of course.

Quoi ?* — What?

I do not have to if I do not wish to.* — You're prolly wondering why I asterisked this, but France is said to be so in love with himself, he refuses to learn another language, especially English. So in here, although he'll know English, he'll refuse to speak it out of stubbornness.

"It's not that I don't trust Matthew… Maybe even four."* — France is said to love aka is attracted to everything beautiful and wishes give his love to all that is beautiful, be it man, woman, or maybe even non-human beings… (T3T) Anywho, England is hinting that and France is taking offense because it was hinted, but not necessarily confirmed by Himaruya.

Désolé* — [I'm] Sorry

Matthieu, je sais que vous êtes en colère contre moi, mais je peux vous faire sentir mieux* — Matthew, I know that you are angry with me, but I can make you feel better

Ah ! Tais-toi ! Tais-toi !* — Ah! Shut up! Shut up!

Euh… Comme si ils comprennent* — Uh… As if they understand…

ii

Alfred's flash backs were during the early 17th Century, or 1600s. Frankly, from what I observed, a lot of Hetalians (not all), think America's colonial days were all fluffy and adorable with "England pampering his little brother/son", though in fact England was almost going to stop sending supplies and people to the Americas because everyone kept dying and or eating each other— and then Virginia "found" (an English citizen smuggled tobacco overseas) and then America was like "We can finally make more money!" (But King George III was like "This stuff is bitter and I'm concerned about the health of my citizens." And America was like "Fuck that. We can make money by trading with other countries!") I could be wrong, but that's what I learned. u.u

iii

I have to thank alexdemyx for their "Sorting" fic (if you could call it that). It features all of the nations (or most of them) and what house they would belong to and what want they would have. Uwu That credit may go unnoticed because IDK if they've read this story, but crediting people is important so nobody call foul. :/

And yes, the bit with the soot sprites was inspired from Studio Ghibli's Spirited Away because I couldn't resist the reference. ^w^ And I'm sad because Hayao Miyazaki retired, but I'm grateful that he provided us great movies. ^u^

As for the use of French, I can research for hours about French grammar and whatnot, but I may not be entirely correct, so if you see a mistake tell me!

(Honestly, I like what the French call the punctuation symbols (that exist in English), because my most favourite is les points de suspension, or the ellipses […].)

iv

Speaking about mistakes, critiques are welcomed!

Do not be afraid to critique me! I am the most chillax person when it comes to critiques! I will not get defensive or angry over something like "you have typos" or whatever.

You see a flaw in context (grammar or story wise)? Tell me and I will fix!
You see some [major] OOCness? Tell me and I will do my best to portray them and their personality!

Also, as for a critique, critics give advice, flamers don't. Although I don't expect to see any flamers, you are allowed to critique my story!, no need to ask or be afraid to! :D

You don't need to review (although that is welcomed too), but if you want to critique, critique.

Also, questions are allowed! ^7^

v

So, wow. I took forever to update this, eh? Oh the joys of purposeful procrastination and school.

But fucking shit man. You guys prolly didn't think I was ever going to update since the last time I update this was a year ago (plus extra) and every now and then I got people favouriting it and following this story and leaving kind reviews (thank you for the reviews, I really needed that. It really boosted up my morale for this story.)

But like always, I'm still not happy with this chapter. OTL Regardless, to the next bitch of a chapter! /unf kill me now.

—DeiDeiArtistic

P.S. My sister has been calling me a "fake HP fan" for my HetaPotter fic because I haven't read past the 3rd book and I haven't even watched all the movies (because ABC Family doesn't do fucking chronological order of the movies).

P.P.S. Don't have a Tumblr and be the person to have not yet read anything past the 3rd book. Too many people don't tag spoilers so a lot is ruined for you m'kay QAQ