I don't own anything. Written by M~
The four boys walked to the Gryffindor common room. They gathered on a couch and were sitting by the fireplace, chatting away, when Hermione came in. She stood awkwardly by the group in silence.
"Hi, umm, Arthur, Alfred... Harry and Ron. How are you?" Hermione stammered. Arthur and Alfred just smiled but her usual companions gave her weird looks.
"What's up Hermione? You seem a little bit off today," noted Harry. She looked taken aback but nodded with a slight blush.
"I wanted to ask Arthur and Alfred if they knew anything about the two foreign students in Ravenclaw... It's for the Magic Around the World class taught by Professor Beilschmidt, an extra project of course," she said waving off other questions.
"Well, if you want to know about Roderich, he loves music and he is a Beethoven fanboy. As for Elizaveta, she likes... her frying pan," stated Arthur. Hermoine nodded in confusion at the last statement, thanked them and left. They sat in silence until Ron and Harry burst out laughing.
"What is it?" asked Alfred.
"It's just that... she is like family at some points and a friend at others. She's lucky though, she has the most functional family out of all of us," said Harry.
"You have a dysfunctional family too? My brothers' are extremely annoying, especially my older brother Allistor," Arthur said, thinking of the man who lived north of him, "What about your family, Harry?"
Arthur realized he said something wrong when the whole room went quiet and you could only hear the crackling of the fire. Ron started to rub Harry's back in a calming motion. Harry gave him a sincere look that told him to stop, and Arthur felt strangely happy about that for some reason.
"They are going to find out anyways so they might as well hear it from me," Harry said to Ron, before looking right at Arthur, "My parents were murdered by Lord Voldemort, or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. So, I've been living with my abusive Aunt and Uncle and my greedy cousin for as long as I can remember."
They sat in silence before Alfred sighed melancholically.
"My brother tried to control me too much and I rebelled to become independent. I don't think he will ever forgive me for it. I think he secretly hates me after all these years," Alfred said solemnly, his gaze never straying from Arthur.
They sat there quietly again until Ron spoke up.
"Well, I like my family... mostly... usually... on occasion. My brothers are extremely annoying, especially Fred and George and my little sister, Ginny, is even worse," giggled Ron.
Harry and Arthur smiled at the thought of Ron's strange family. Alfred chuckled and got up and ruffled Ron's hair. Ron grinned widely up at him and Harry rolled his eyes and smiled. He felt something in his heart break a little when they both turned their attention to Arthur. The American and the ginger tackled Arthur to the ground, hard. He cringed at the thought to an injured Arthur. I'm just worried for my friend's safety, but it should be fine. Arthur is an extremely good wizard and why did they even tackle him? His eyes narrowed when he saw Alfred nuzzling his nose into Arthur hair. He didn't like his new friend being this close to Arthur even if they new each other before.
"Come on guys. Let's head upstairs to our beds. We don't want to find a "present" from Ron's brothers," commanded Harry. The other two got up and walked up the stairs. Harry offered a hand to pull Arthur up off of the floor. Arthur smiled and took the gesture. He was pulled up to fast and stumbled into Harry, who caught him.
"T-thank you. For catching me and g-getting the other two off of me," Arthur stuttered. He leaned off of Harry and stood straight.
"You're welcome," Harry replied. He quickly looked away when he felt his cheeks heat up, "Let's go or the other two will begin to worry."
Arthur nodded and shuffled behind Harry to join the other two in the boys' dormitory. He was hiding his flushed face from Harry and followed him silently up the familiar staircase to their beds.