Characters' current ages (during flashback): Satoshi Ueda & Jeffrey Knumlach- 7. Shiro Ueda- 5. Sandra Ueda (Satoshi's mom)- 27. Shotaro Ueda- 28. [Satoshi and his friends are 16 before the flashback starts]

"I can't believe next year'll be my last… Feels like just yesterday I was being sorted," Satoshi breathed, gazing after his younger siblings as they made their way back to their House tables. Grinning casually, he scanned the crowd of witches and wizards in search of the trademark red hair belonging to two of his best friends, Fred and George Weasley. He positively beamed when he located them and laughed when he saw that George was trying to make Fred stop kissing Caitlyn Lumbach. He strode over to the twins, saying quick and ecstatic greetings to Lee Jordan and Jeffrey as they approached him.

"All right, Ueda?" George called cheerfully, ignoring the death glare Fred shot him for separating him from Caitlyn.

"You bet. Everything is just rainbows and butterflies," Satoshi exclaimed. He plopped himself down on a bench at the Gryffindor table, his friends immediately doing the same. "Hey, I gotta show you guys something I found when I was digging through a bunch of old stuff," he indicated while digging through his bag. Grinning victoriously, he held out a moving photo displaying two young brown haired boys. Jeffrey's ears turned a shade of pink, yet he couldn't help but grin along with his friends.

The picture was of Satoshi and Jeffrey when they were much younger, beaming and making faces and poses for the camera. Satoshi looked exactly the same, except he was a lot scrawnier, scruffier, and tinier, plus his eyes seemed too big for his face. Jeffrey, on the other hand, was almost unrecognizable. Nobody would ever guess that his round, double-chinned face would eventually become square-jawed and relatively handsome. While his arms were now well toned (to his embarrassment, some bolder girls would occasionally ask to feel his muscles), the Jeffrey in the picture had short chubby arms. The only thing that remained similar throughout the years, really, was the youthful glow in his hazel eyes as well as how he styled his spiky brown hair.

"Ah, I remember the day I first met you," Satoshi sighed pleasantly, staring up at the ceiling of the Great Hall which displayed a mild September day. Naturally, he transitioned into a flashback.

It was 9 years ago, and Satoshi and Shiro had gone to the market to fetch the newest copy of the Daily Prophet. In one hand, Satoshi held the paper, and the other was wrapped around his younger brother's own hand. He was smiling brightly, humming nonchalantly, when something caught his eye that made him come to a halt. Standing on the porch of the house across from his own- a house he knew to be empty- was a young man with his pudgy son. Without waiting to analyze what they were doing, Satoshi slid his fingers off of Shiro's and bolted toward his home. "Sato, wait for ME! I'M TELLING MUMMY YOU LEFT ME!" Shiro cried. Pouting heavily, he stomped off after his brother and entered their house through the back door.

The very moment Satoshi set foot in front of his house, the door was swung open. Shotaro stood there, his vaguely present smile increasing drastically at the sight of his eldest son. "Ah, hey there little man! Did you see we have new neighbors?"

Satoshi nodded so enthusiastically that he must have given himself a concussion. "I did! It's a man and a boy, and daddy, that kid is so FAT!" The comment made Satoshi erupt with laughter while the smile slid off of his father's face. Satoshi's laughter only died down when a devastated sort of groan or whimper sounded behind him. Still grinning broadly, Satoshi spun around to see the boy he'd just joyously called fat standing there with his father.

"Satoshi Vincent Ueda! What an awful thing to say!" Shotaro frantically shot up his gaze to look at Jeffrey's father. "I am so sorry, he's a… troublemaker, this one… Satoshi, apologize right this instant." Satoshi raised an eyebrow skeptically.

"How can I say sorry to someone when I don't know his name?"

"M-my name is Jeffrey…" the other boy sniffled, inching closer to his dad.

"Oh! Well, I'm sorry Jeffrey. I wasn't trying to be mean," Satoshi insisted happily, rocking back and forth on his heels.

"But you certainly weren't trying to be nice. So you better not say anything like that again, young man," Shotaro told him sternly. Satoshi gave a salute, hugging his dad's legs before spinning back toward Jeffrey and staring at him as if he was something fascinating.

"I really wasn't making fun of you or nothin'… Like, I call my mummy fat all the time and I love her tons!" An expression showing he just got an idea crossed Satoshi's face. "Come on, let's go inside! We can play, and start being friends!"

Jeffrey gazed up at his father, silently asking for permission. Mr. Knumlach bit the inside of his cheek, and then reluctantly nodded. Satoshi's face lit up; he grabbed hold of Jeffrey's sausage-like fingers and trotted off to his room. The last thing he heard before disappearing up the stairs was Shotaro's voice saying "I really am sorry about Satoshi, he's… not too keen on manners. The polite son is his little brother…"

Once in Satoshi's bedroom- the walls covered with Quidditch posters and the floor cluttered with toys- the boys both sat on his bed. "So are you mad at me, Jeffrey?"

"No, I'm not mad… I know I'm big," Jeffrey murmured, staring around the room curiously.

"It's not like there's anything wrong with it, as long as people can like you! Again with my mum, I personally think she's a fatty, but she's soooo nice and loves us bunches… Then again, it's not really her fault she's not skinny, I mean, she had 4 babies plus there's another one in her tummy now…"

Jeffrey's jaw dropped, and his gaze snapped to Satoshi's face. "Wow, so that means you'll have… 4 siblings!" he gasped. "I don't have any…" There was no mistaking the envy in his tone. Satoshi clapped his hands once.

"Well then ask your mum for one!" He suggested. "Have you done that already?"

A shadow seemed to pass over Jeffrey's round face. "I can't… My mum doesn't love my daddy anymore, I don't think," he whispered. Satoshi drew in a deep breath, obviously agonized at hearing this. "Besides, Mummy is in New York- you know, in America. So, I won't see her that much. Once a month, maybe…"

You would think Satoshi was ready to burst into tears. "Aw, man! That's really sucky… Don't worry though, we're gonna be such good friends that you won't ever have time to be sad." An awestruck happiness seeped into Jeffrey's features. "So what do you like, Jeffrey?"

And so the boys started speaking of Quidditch, Muggle girls, and comic book characters, feeling fairly certain they'd grow close but having no idea how unbreakable their friendship would become.