So after a while, I finally got the third installment of this done! This time, I decided to focus on dear Ludwig, who showed up only for a short time in the first chapter. Hope you all like this next oneshot!
3
The world was just too cruel.
That was what Ludwig Beilschmidt thought, at least.
On average, Ludwig was a very tough boy, taking anything the world could throw at him. To him, the world was a relentless place filled with suffering… but too bad! He would just have to deal with it and be strong, doing his best to succeed in life.
However, there was one thing in the world that he couldn't put up with…
His older brother Gilbert.
Gilbert was a year older than him and had enrolled in the British wizardry school of Hogwarts for the new foreign exchange program. The German teen had gone, happy to leave the country, and got into a lot of trouble while in England. Ludwig could no longer count on both of his hands how many times Gilbert had gotten in trouble for misbehaving in some certain way. Whether it was for the albino skipping class or making the toilets in the girl's bathroom explode (Moaning Myrtle was not happy with that one), owls were always sending letters to their home in Germany.
Once Ludwig got the letter to Hogwarts (even though his family had doubted the letter would be sent due to the school's faculty fear that he would be just like Gilbert), he promised himself that he would work hard to represent his family in the correct light unlike… his brother…
Gott, his brother…
As luck would have it, Ludwig was stuck in the same house as Gilbert upon arrival. Great. When Gilbert had stood to cheer, Ludwig could have shot him. Bastard. This was somehow his fault, all of it! However, the first-years had separate rooms so that made his plight a little more comfortable… but then again, Gilbert could visit whenever he wanted so that up quickly turned into a down.
The day after the sorting was the first day of classes and also a major relief for Ludwig. He had no classes with Gilbert, thank Gott. As he put on his grey robes and green and silver tie, he checked over his schedule. Potions class was first. He shrugged; he was happy as long as his embarrassing older brother wasn't there.
After reporting to the Great Hall for breakfast (and narrowly avoiding the weird American kid that was screaming over the ghosts), Ludwig made his way to the dungeons, getting to Potions before anyone else could. After he took his seat, the other students started to file in, including some with yellow and black ties. Hufflepuffs. In mere minutes, everyone had taken a seat aside from three students. Two of them looked like they were twins, both having the same hair and eyes. They even shared a strange curl, though the location of said curls differed for each twin. The other Hufflepuff was a cheery looking boy with brown hair and bright green eyes. At the moment, he was latched onto one of the twins, pulling on his arm.
"Oh, come on, Lovi! Sit with me!" the boy begged. "Please?"
"No way, bastard!" the grumpy twin (Lovi?) snapped, trying to pull away from the other Hufflepuff. "I'm going to sit with my brother! Right, Feliciano?"
"Eh…?" Feliciano, the other twin, asked, looking confused. "B-but… Lovi… I thought you would want to sit next to Antonio…"
"Feli!"
"Aw, Lovino wants to sit by me?" Antonio exclaimed, his eyes shining. "That's great! Vamos, Lovi!"
"Dammit!" Lovino cursed as he was dragged away by Antonio. "Let go of me you bastard!"
Feliciano smiled at his brother's cursing (at this point, Ludwig assumed that there were hidden messages in Lovino's verbal attacks) and looked around for a seat. However, most of the seats had been taken up and this left nowhere for the little Italian to sit… aside from the seat next to Ludwig. Feliciano shuffled over to him, looking rather shy as he sat down.
"C-ciao…" he stuttered, looking at the blond German. "M-my name is F-Feliciano. Wh-what is yours…?"
"I am Ludwig," Ludwig greeted, nodding his head sharply. "Nice to meet you."
Instantly, Feliciano looked surprised. "I haven't heard that from a Slytherin before…"
Ludwig sighed, rolling his eyes. This was exactly the reason he didn't want to be in Slytherin (aside from his brother, of course). Everyone thought that Slytherins were nasty and unfriendly to all outside their house (well, not that it wasn't true but it didn't apply to all in the house) and Ludwig was not that kind of person. "We're not all horrible people, you know. Some of us actually have a shred of kindness in us."
"Oh… I-I'm sorry…" Feliciano muttered, cringing slightly.
"It's okay," the blond sighed. "I'm sure I'll get used to it…"
Feliciano looked away from the German, focusing his eyes to the front of the classroom as Professor Snape walked in. When the Professor walked by Ludwig, his black robes billowing around him like smoke, the blond had to suppress a shudder. There was some sort of creepy aura radiating from the man in black, something that told Ludwig that Snape meant business.
"Good morning, class," Snape said, his low coming out slowly as he scanned the room. "I am Professor Snape and if any of you have an inkling of intelligence, you will already know what class this is. Today you will learn to make the boil cure potion. Make sure to follow the instructions or else you will gain a one-way ticket to the infirmary." Feliciano noticeably sunk into his chair at this. "The ingredients are in front of you and if you even so much as think about wreaking havoc in my classroom, you will get your first ever week-long detention. Are we clear?" The entire room was quiet and the Professor took that as a "yes." "Good. You may begin."
Ludwig rose an eyebrow at this. That was it? No explanation, no walk-through? He glanced at the board at the front, reading the instructions. Oh well, he would just have to work with what he had…
As he started up his cauldron and began to add the dried nettles, he couldn't help but glance over at the Italian Hufflepuff. The poor boy looked endlessly confused and was currently trying to add too much of the crushed snake fangs.
"That's too much."
Feliciano looked up at him. "What?"
"You're going to add too much," Ludwig said, pointing at the board. "See what it says?"
Feliciano squinted at the board and then stared at the snake fangs, looking perplexed. "Oh…"
"Just take half of what you have and toss it in there," the blond instructed and Feliciano did so, looking up at the Slytherin in approval. "Perfect. Have you ever worked with potions before?"
"No…" Feliciano murmured, lowering his eyes. "I have no idea how to do this at all…"
"Just follow the instructions," Ludwig said. "It's not that difficult. It's kind of like… cooking…"
The Italian perked up at this. "Cooking?"
"Yeah…" Ludwig said. "That's what I said…"
"Like making pasta?" Feliciano asked and Ludwig nodded slowly. "Fantastico!" He quickly turned back to his cauldron, having newfound motivation to complete the potion.
Ludwig couldn't help but smile at how peppy the Italian had become. For the rest of the class, Feliciano diligently worked on his potion, getting some help from Ludwig until it was complete. Professor Snape looked a little miffed that Feliciano had completed it so soon but his mood lightened a teeny bit when he saw that Ludwig had also completed the assignment.
"That went great!" Feliciano cheered after class was dismissed. "I thought I was going to horrible! But you helped me through it! Grazie, Ludwig!"
"You're welcome," Ludwig said with a soft smile.
"What class do you have next?"
Ludwig pulled his schedule out of his robe pocket and looked it over, eyeing his next class. "Charms. You?"
"Same thing!" Feliciano cheered, clapping his hands in excitement. "Come on, let's go!" He grabbed Ludwig's hand and began to drag him out of the dungeons, heading quickly to their next class.
As the energetic Italian dragged the German along, Ludwig couldn't help but smile. Even though it was his first day at Hogwarts, he could already tell that he had made a friend for life.