Merry late Christmas! Or if you don't celebrate Christmas like me, have a safe and happy holiday season!
So I really really tried to post this yesterday but fanfic kept saying "no server available" or some crap and so I couldn't. I had this story ready, I honestly did!
However, before I babble too much, I just wanted to dedicate this chapter (and this whole story in general) to my wonderful RP partner actualdrunkiggy (Chey). If any of you have a twitter, please follow her! She does amazing role plays and is just an awesome person in general! Thank you for role playing with me despite my odd hours and horrible ability to add plot.
UPDATE: So a lot of people have been telling me they could not see the chapter, and I truly apologize. Whether it be my lack of computer skills of FF's crazy servers, I have decided to re-install this chapter (and fix a few grammar mistakes).
And now, without further ado, I present chapter 3 to you all!
Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia or Harry Potter.
Warnings: Some language.
An entire week had passed and the only thing that changed in the entirety of the grand hall of Hogwarts was the food served at suppertime. Students continued on their monotonous routes from class to class sporting the same black robe and house patch as they had the first evening. Even the weather remained at a constant assortment of dreary clouds and spritzes of cold raindrops here and there. The only big gossips were the large sporting event coming up in the passing weeks and the fact that Arthur Kirkland was a Slytherin.
Arthur, himself, had finally found his rhythm amongst the winding corridors yet the insults from Gryffindor students had not yet ceased. Constantly thrown were his piles of books and a few "playful" attacks from the Gryffindor House who still argued the all-mighty Sorting Hat was wrong. And to top it all off, that American prat wouldn't him alone unless he was in his dorm room, not to say it was much of a sanctuary either.
"Ugh!" Arthur groaned as he walked into his room. The room was much grander than Arthur had originally thought, but Hogwarts was a castle, after all. There was a high, dome-like ceiling that suspended two wooden candle chandeliers over the two oak-wood desks. Contrary to what Arthur had expected, the room had no magnificent paintings or posters on the walls like the grand halls had. The only exception was an olive green Slytherin flag that flapped in the small breeze from the slotted window. Additionally, the canopy beds were much larger than his mere twin bed at his old home since his green gingham duvet – the one he stitched with his grandmother – barely covered half of his massive bed. The second bed, however, was currently occupied by his obnoxious roommate.
Speaking of his roommate, the fifth year student looked up from feeding his small pet canary that would occasionally bring in the post for him. Gilbert Beilschmidt was his name, or "most awesome wizard to ever attend Hogwarts" as he claimed. He was supposed to attend a German academy – some German word Arthur couldn't pronounce correctly and it just sounded like someone screaming at him regardless – but he claimed he was kicked out due to his uncontrollable "awesomeness".
Despite his obnoxious exterior – and his over usage of the word awesome –, Gilbert was the only person who believed Arthur wasn't a demon spawn of the devil - actually he found the entire situation amusing. He himself was an outcast as well - from what Arthur could tell he had only three friends - with the most vibrant scarlet eyes and white hair any one had ever seen. Even in the one family photo on his desk, Gilbert is the only one without rippling muscles, and the stereotypical German blond hair and blue eyes.
"What's wrong eyebrows?" Gilbert asked, his eyes never faltering from his bird.
Arthur glared at his roommate for the ridiculous nickname he would never stop using, despite his constant nagging.
"Don't call me that," he gritted through his teeth. Honestly, the blond Slytherin couldn't fathom why everyone always mentioned his eyebrows - they weren't really that thick! Sure they were darker than his natural honey blond hair color and maybe they were just a tad thicker than others, but they couldn't be the first attribute people notice! If he weren't so mad, he would have slapped that smirk off of Gilbert's face just to spite him.
"Rough first week, I'm guessing?" Gilbert placed the bird and its seeds on his desk before flopping back first onto his bed.
"You could say that," Arthur responded and sat on the edge of his own bed.
"Don't worry, everyone's first week sucks. I didn't know any English when I came here so everyone thought I was this devil child. It fucking sucked. I mean, I'm German and in Slytherin on top of my albinism. The only person I knew was my family friend Eliza who taught me English; it wasn't until my second year that I became friends with Toni and Francis. Just give it some time."
"I don't think my problem can be fixed with time."
"Fine then tell Ol' Gil what's bother you." He sat up against his pillows and patted the open space on his bed as a gesture of Arthur to join him. Begrudgingly, Arthur stood up from his spot and awkwardly situated himself next to Gilbert. "Tough classes?"
"No, it's this stupid Gryffindor kid."
"All Gryffindors are fucking pretentious assholes. They all think they are better than us because they had 'The Trio' and Headmaster McGonagall. But they keep forgetting that we had Merlin! So you're going to have to be more specific than that stupid Gryffindor kid," Gilbert retorted.
"That America one!"
"Oh, Alfred? Yeah, one of the new Gryffindor Prefects. He's pretty clumsy and harmless, in my opinion. So what did he do to you? Did he make fun of your eyebrows?" Arthur glared after Gilbert's comment.
"No. He made me feel...helpless. On the first day we were attacked by pixies and he had to "save" me even though he set the whole thing up! Then when I answered a question wrong he corrected me in front of the entire DADA class. Then the Professor took ten of our points and gave them to Gryffindor. And that's just the beginning of it! He had the audacity to attempt to be my friend, as if I need him! His gestures of kindness are probably all just a ploy anyways so he can gain my trust and break me in front of everyone. Every time I see him, I feel so...unwanted." There was a pause.
"You don't have to tell me twice," Gilbert explained softly, his words breaking the tense atmosphere.
"At least you can overcome it! You have friends now! I'm worthless!"
"You're not worthless! You're just…"
"The butt of every joke."
"No offense, but it doesn't take much skill."
"Excuse me?" Arthur asked a bit hurt and with a raised eyebrow. He thought he could trust Gilbert, so much for that. The albino sighed.
"Look, kid, you're like a first year except you take classes designated for fifth years. I hate to break it to you, but someone's gotta tell you: just because you're a Kirkland it doesn't mean that you can just catch up on five years of studies. You barely know any magic and for god's sake! Come on, I've gotta agree with Alfred, an immobile spell is a basic spell. Not to mention you're reading Hogwarts: A History and nobody in the right mind reads that!" As if to exaggerate his point, Gilbert flung Arthur's copy of the book around in the air. Immediately, Arthur snatched the book from Gilbert's hands. Even if it was a piece of literary bollocks, it was a book nonetheless and Arthur could never see a book harmed.
"I will have you know what I finished that book!" Arthur said with a roll of his eyes. Gilbert pouted.
"Geez, you're like my brother: no fun at all."
"I bet he's a lot smarter."
"Not with magic he isn't. In his studies, maybe, but certainly not magic."
"Fine oh magical master, will you help me?" Gilbert laughed.
"Hell no. Why would I help you? I have more important things to do."
"Like what?" Arthur asked and cocked his eyebrow. "Getting pleasure from reading those magazines or harassing your Hungarian friend?"
Gilbert pouted knowing fully well that Arthur had won this time.
"Fine, but only this one time."
It had been one long week and in Alfred's mind, he still was not friends with the infamous Arthur Kirkland. No matter how many times he attempted to help him with a potion or a spell, he scoffed at the Gryffindor or ignored him completely, leaving him with the cold shoulder the entirety of his classes. Alfred didn't even do anything wrong; in his mind, he had merely saved Arthur's life. It was a mere childish game of cat and mouse that grew old quickly. But perhaps when he stuck his hand into the cage, a bolt on that old cage had suddenly turned loose…
"Al? Are ye okay?" Seamus asked glancing at Alfred with worried green eyes, and if Alfred had been looking, he knew his look was serious. Instead, Alfred rested face down on one of his astrology textbooks; the only part visible was his tangled hair and the clothes on his back. Since classes had finished for the week, he wore only a grey woolen sweater that itched worse than the cable knit sweater his mom knitted for his first Christmas present at Hogwarts. His red and yellow striped tie was loosely knotted around the collar of his white button-down undergarment and was tucked haphazardly into his beige cargo pants.
"Mhm, fine," Alfred grumbled as an answer. He shifted slightly before resting his chin on the little comfort the book supplied and gazed past the others to the Slytherin table. He could pick out every other student at the enemy table however Arthur never seemed to be one of them. He wondered when Arthur would come down; everybody had to eat, even if one was a Slytherin. Maybe he just didn't eat?
"Really?" Seamus raised a thick eyebrow smugly. "I can see that you hardly touched your food, and you always eat your food." Alfred cursed internally. He absolutely hated how Seamus treated him like he was his child or something along those lines. He would constantly ask "have you eaten your dinner? And I mean all of your dinner?" or "did you iron your robes yet? You know how easy it is to wrinkle them!" or even "did you remember to bring your childhood Teddy Bear?" Alfred turned sixteen the past summer, for Merlin's sake! He didn't want his best friend as some sort of babysitter. He had a car and a credit card and a Prefect Badge but Seamus saw beyond mere physical trinkets of age and still seemed to treat him like he did with Peter.
"You seem out of it," Peter began. His index finger immaturely prodded at Alfred's cheek for a reaction but received only a silent exhale in return rather than his usual explosion of cuss words. "Actually you're not acting like yourself at all!" Seamus glared daggers through his deep green eyes at his brother.
"What he means is: what's been bothering you? Is it something at home or school?"
"School, I guess," he sighed, his eyes still fixed on the Slytherin table.
"Is it a girl? Is it a Slytherin girl?" Peter teased with a chuckle as he noticed Alfred's gaze. For a second year, he was quite observant. "Come on! I want to know her name! Is she pretty! What year is-" Seamus slapped his shoulder for that.
"I just," Alfred started and removed his focus from the Slytherin table to the two Kirkland brothers. "I'm trying really hard to be Artie's friend but he keeps pushing me away." He paused and lowered his voice unconsciously. "All week he's been an utter jackass to me, no offense."
"None taken," Seamus scoffed. Alfred was quite relieved at Seamus' nonchalant attitude towards Arthur. When Alfred had made the utter mistake to make fun of Gavin's eyebrows as a third year, Seamus punched him so hard he had a black eye for an entire semester. And when anyone asked about it, Alfred had lied and claimed he was in a fight back in the States.
"You're not mad?"
"Hell no," Peter answered for Seamus with a bright smile. "He's a prick and a jerk and nobody likes him."
"Peter!" Seamus scolded and threatened to slap his arm once more. From what Alfred could tell, Seamus and Peter did not have as healthy of a relationship compared to the other Kirkland brothers. Alfred merely suspected it was the fact that there was such a large age gap – six entire years – in between the two or merely the fact that Peter remained an immature twat.
"He's just...different," Seamus tried to articulate, turning back towards Alfred. "Just explain to us what's been bothering you about him."
"Nothing that big, really," Alfred mumbled. He really despised those rumors about Arthur that flew around the halls of Hogwarts like those pixies on day one. Words of "evil" and "outcast" and even "death eater" came up on more than one occasion and yet he had never heard a single nice word, even from the Slytherin house.
"Well I heard about the incident in DADA on the first day," Seamus began.
"It sounded awesome!" the youngest Kirkland gushed. "I totally wish I were there!"
"Peter! You're missing the point!"
"He blames me for doing it when all I tried to do was save him! Did you know that he doesn't know the immobile spell? And he doesn't seem to know anything about magic."
"I've noticed that too! When he first came to live with us he thought all of it was extremely odd," Seamus pondered.
"What do you mean?"
"Well...nobody has ever seen him perform magic and he wasn't placed in Gryffindor."
"Maybe he's a muggle!" Peter blurted.
"We don't use that word, even if it is Arthur."
"But he could be a muggle disguised as a wizard! Why else was he sorted into the house of evil?"
"Peter that is a horrible thing to think of!"
"No, Seamus. I think Peter might be on to something."
To Be Continued...
A/N: If you have read this story before, you will remember that this wasn't it's own chapter. But I think it adds a lot to the plot and I changed the time period so it should be a bit better :)!
This chapter has some of my favorite character so write, so if you want to see them make a reappearance, just tell me! Gilbert definitely makes a few more appearances (if you read Glisten you know) and the Kirkland brothers have a big part in this story so I hope you don't hate them too much!
Also this story is unbeta-ed, so please either point out my mistakes so I can fix them or bear with them until I do!
Now to respond to reviews:
Katie-Kat1129: You are lucky you did not see the original haha. Anyways, thank you kindly for the review!
Guest: I can try to update faster but I don't know...I did finish applying however I still have tests and my classes :/ Thanks for reviewing!
Elizabeta H. Austria: Thanks for the nice review! And I feel your pain; I just want them to be happy already!
Guest: Thank you for reviewing! I don't know when they are going to kiss, probably in a few chapters sadly...
Anonymous1: Fair enough! Thank you for liking my other fics as well! If you really want to know I could post a story that is merely just a summary of the entire plotline of that fic. It probably won't be available until the summer, though...
Guest: I am sorry this got deleted but I thank you for returning and reviewing!
Loeily: *blushes* Thanks! You're as awesome as Prussia!
I just want to thank all of you for reading and especially a giant thanks to those who reviewed!
PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW BEFORE YOU HIT THAT LITTLE RED [X] IN THE CORNER! IT IS REALLY APPRECIATED!
****And a big shout out to Chey! Happy Holidays and happy almost birthday!****
See you all in 2014!
-SecondStarr