Chapter Text
Needless to say Ludwig had been prepared for his first day. Anything could happen at Hogwarts and he packed accordingly. He would not be taken by surprise.
As he milled about, seeking an opportune moment to run into the portal he was suddenly ambushed by a little Italian boy. The boy was going so fast that when his head made contact with Ludwig’s stomach he went flying.
“Help me!” the boy sobbed over his wheezing form. “I’m lost and I can’t find the Platform!”
When he finally had enough breath to speak he grunted, “Get off me.”
The boy scrambled off, still crying, allowing Ludwig to sit up. “Who are you?” he demanded immediately. “Why did you attack me?”
“I didn’t attack anyone!” the boy cried uncontrollably. “Lovi got mad at me again and left me alone and now I don’t know where to go!”
After hauling him to his feet, Ludwig determined that this was indeed just a lost student. He released him. “Stop crying!” he scolded. “This is not behavior befitting a Hogwarts student!”
“Hogwarts?” he hiccuped. “Do you by chance know how to get on the train?”
“Yes, and I will tell you if you stop crying!”
He beamed and nodded in affirmation. “Thank you, thank you!”
Ludwig picked up his dropped luggage, temper easing. He must’ve been desperate to approach in that manner. “I am Ludwig Beilschmidt of the house of Beilschmidt. What is your name?”
“Oh me?” he pointed at himself. “I am Feliciano Vargas!”
“Vargas… Where have I heard that name before…”
“Probably Grandpa! Grandpa is pretty famous!”
Before Ludwig could ask for clarification a voice broke through the soundproof barrier.
“FELICIANO, YOU STUPID BASTARD, WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU? YOU’D BETTER BE HERE OR ELSE I’LL BEAT THE TOMATOES OUT OF YOU!”
The voice broke at the end, as if the screamer had started crying. Despite the death threat, Feliciano looked around eagerly. “That’s my brother! He’s looking for me!”
“How did he break through the barrier?” Ludwig wondered, but he didn’t have much time to think before Feliciano was dragging him through.
“Lovi? Lovi! I’m here!”
Lovi, as Feliciano had said, was in the middle of a crowd of concerned wizards, sobbing into a Gryfinndor’s shoulder.
“Ah, Lovino look!” the Gryffindor encouraged. “Your brother has come to find you!”
Lovino did, wiping the tears from his eyes and stormed over in such a rage that Ludwig was tempted to interfere. “You bastard! Why did you wander off like that?”
“I didn’t wander off Lovi,” Feliciano protested. “You were angry and I got distracted by all the muggles!”
“That’s what wandering off is, you bastard!” He spun on his heel. “Come on, and don’t leave again, you idiot bastard!”
“Vee~were you worried about me Lovi?”
“Who was worried?!”
Ludwig speechlessly watched the two walk off with the Gryfinndor following close behind. This seemed to be a normal interaction for them. How strange. He glanced around at the other families who had turned back to their own matters now that the drama was over. There was a loud boy, declaring himself to be the one who would defeat the Dark Lord, and his apparent twin by their unmarked clothes, whispering sadly to his parents, “I’m Matthew, your other son.”
There was the infamous China family, which mainly consisted of an upperclassman named Yao dragging a bunch of unwilling students behind him. The Nordics, a group of friends who gave out jarring different impressions bustled about in one corner, fussing over the littlest one. The Kirklands, a Slytherin wizarding house infamous for their blood purity skulked about in another corner, having another argument. The beautiful Katsuya was accompanied by her odd little brother and her even odder little sister who carried a knife in one hand. Ludwig blinked and it was gone, leaving only a little girl sticking onto her frightened brother’s leg and begging him not to leave. Even the egotistical Francis, one year older than Ludwig and famous for his playboy ways had his sisters smothering him with goodbye hugs.
Ludwig sighed, wishing for the first time he hadn’t insisted on going alone. If he’d known he’d be surrounded by all this affection he would’ve let his parents come with him, no matter how embarrassing they were. Even his brother, arguably even more full of himself than Francis, would have been better than being alone.
As if his thoughts had summoned him, his bag exploded, leaving his grinning brother in its place.
Ludwig gaped for several seconds in silence before blurting, “Brother?”
“Haha West, you didn’t think you could get rid of your awesome brother that easily, did you?” Gilbert said, climbing out of the ruins of his bag. Ludwig, having dealt with his brother for many, many years recovered quickly.
“What-Why were you in my suitcase?”
“Well,” Gilbert began, kicking a shirt off his foot, “after I heard you insisting to Mom and Pops, I knew you wouldn’t want me along, so I climbed into your suitcase after you went to bed, and boom! Here I am!” His grin faltered. “Though maybe not your broomstick. Or your textbooks. Or a couple pairs of robes. Or that ridiculous hat, I mean why they make you buy a hat-”
“Brother!”
“Well, I had to take out something! Even your awesome brother can’t fit into that tiny suitcase without taking some stuff out first!”
At this point most of the wizards were staring at them and Ludwig flushed. His brother was a thousand times worse than his parents, just by virtue of not knowing when to stop. As he was thinking that, Gilbert began summoning his luggage back to them.
“Brother, you can’t use magic outside of school!”
“Don’t worry West, your awesome brother won’t be caught!” Gilbert gestured to the adult wizards casting magic around them.
“That’s not the point!” But when his brother gave him back his repaired suitcase filled with clothes it was a little harder to argue with him. He switched tactics. “What about your school? They could expel you!” His eyes widened. “Wait, shouldn’t you be in school right now?”
“You shouldn’t worry so much, West. At your age, you could get wrinkles!”
“Don’t avoid the question!”
“We won’t see each other for the entire year! I’m just trying to wish my baby brother goodbye! Is that such a crime?”
“No, but-”
“Look West, your train is leaving!” Gilbert whirled him around. “Better get going if you don’t want to be late!”
“But-”
“I’ll be fine, really West!” Gilbert shoved him into the train. “See you in July!” Then he took off sprinting. Ludwig watched, dumbfounded, as he broke through a window onto a waiting broom and took off with a gaggle of his school friends. His brother never ceased to amaze him.
“Wow, was that Gilbert Awesome?” The loud boy from before whistled. “Thought he attended Durmstrang, wonder what he was doing here.”
“He was seeing me off,” Ludwig said, patting the dust from his robes for being thrown to the ground the second time today. The boy turned a thousand watt smile at him.
“Dude, you know the Gilbert Beilschmidt?”
Ludwig didn’t even want to know what had gotten his brother such notoriety among his classmates. “Yes, he’s my brother.”
“That must be epic!”
Ludwig huffed. “No, actually-”
“I mean, did you hear about the Great Prank War? ‘Course you must’ve! It was a tradition at Durmstrang, but Gilbert wiped everyone else out. Living with him, you have front seats to the whole thing, dungbombs and all!”
Ludwig started to think this was not the kind of person he wanted to fraternize with.
“Well, I’ve got to find a seat-”
“Don’t bother! You can sit in my cabin!”
“Eh? But Alfred, we don’t have any-”
“No, it’s really fine,” Ludwig said, trying to edge away without being too obvious.
“Don’t be ridiculous, what kind of person would I be if I didn’t pay homage to Gilbert’s brother?” With that, he grabbed Ludwig’s arm and dragged him along with surprising strength.
“Really, I-”
“No, no, I insist!”
“But Alfred, there’s no-”
“Tell me about your brother! His favourite weapon? The dungbomb, right? That’s mine, but if he has one too, that’s totally fine! We can just settle it the next time!”
With that, Alfred dragged him into the cabin, slamming the door behind him. There were two people already inside; the Vargas brothers he had met before.
“Who the hell are you?”
“Ludwig!” Feliciano cried joyfully. Lovino’s head cracked around so fast Ludwig was surprised it didn’t snap.
“How the hell do you know this bastard?”
“This is Gilbert Beilschmidt’s brother!” Alfred declared, forcefully sitting Ludwig down.
“Who’s that?” Lovino demanded.
Alfred whirled around. “You don’t know who Gilbert Beilschmidt is?”
“How should I know who that is?”
“Lovi-”
“Oh I see how it is, goody two shoes.”
Lovino snarled, “I’ll show you who’s a goody two shoes, you bastard-”
Feliciano pulled Lovino down. “Lovi, don’t get mad just because Antonio sat with-”
“I’m not mad!” Lovino screeched, turning beet red. “I’m glad that bastard left!”
“Right, right, sure,” Alfred said sarcastically.
“I am going to kill you, you-”
“SHUT UP!”
When they had sufficiently quieted, Ludwig continued, “We are all now students of Hogwarts! Our actions reflect onto our school, as well as ourselves, and I will not stand to see such impudent behaviour from my classmates! Is that clear!”
A few seconds of silence, and then, “So, you’re not Gilbert Beilschmidt’s brother?”
After a long and detailed explanation detailing how Ludwig in no way approved of his brother’s exploits and was quite law abiding and no, he wasn’t playing a prank on him, Alfred declared them all boring and left in search of his brother. Throughout the entire tirade, Lovino glared daggers at him for reasons he couldn’t even fathom. Needless to say, when another boy with choppy dark hair timidly asked if he could sit with them, Ludwig was glad to make room.
“I am Kiku Honda.” was his short introduction. Feliciano pumped him for more information, wizarding house, favoured Hogwarts house, field of study, Quidditch team? “I am excited to attend Hogwarts,” he said reluctantly. “I believe this is a rare opportunity and I intend to make the most of it.”
“You know,” Ludwig said, “I think we’re going to get along just fine.”
As it so happened Antonio, the Gryffindor from before, popped by to grab a furious Lovino and the quiet Kiku got kidnapped by a boy insisting he was claiming the doll in the name of Korea (he was wearing a Hogwarts uniform, so it should be fine) so Ludwig and Feliciano got stuck in a boat with the Alfred from before. Ludwig was dreading the journey ahead but instead of talking about Gilbert, Alfred smiled sheepishly and actually apologized for kicking up such a fuss. He’d just been so excited to meet a fellow of Gilbert’s he’d just been a little overzealous, see. Ludwig, who hadn’t been expecting to get an apology at all, was quite pleasantly surprised.
“I guess I should reintroduce myself, start over a new leaf or something. I’m Alfred Jones,” he said, pointing at himself. “and this is my brother-”
“Matthew Williams!” the boy beside Alfred stretched out his hand. “My name is Matthew Williams. Nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you too.” Ludwig shook his hand, wondering how he had missed him. Matthew was like a more subdued, polite version of his brother with single strand of hair that curled out of place.
“So you’re Jones, and you’re Williams…” Feliciano frowned. “I’m confused.”
“Don’t worry, we get that a lot!” Alfred wrapped an arm around Matthew and drew him closer. “We’re actually cousins, see, but Matthew’s parents are practically mine!”
“Haha… yeah. Practically.”
The sorting was next. All the freshman fiddled nervously as they waited to be called up and Ludwig was no exception. The house chosen would determine their entire future. According to rumor, no house was above the others. Gryffindor? A pile of brave, chivalrous idiots. How about Ravenclaw? Nerds, the lot of them. Surely Hufflepuff-? Kind and sweet pushovers. Then- Slytherin? Are you kidding me? Evil Dark Lords in the making!
Okay, maybe one house was below the others, but inside of bloodline purity, there was no better choice to begin a career.
Thankfully his turn was rather early; he didn’t think he could wait through the line of freshmen like the Vargas’. At first he was a little dubious of the tattered old hat that called out names but as soon as he put it on he realized how wrong he was.
I assure you, I’ve been sorting longer than you’ve been alive.
My apologies, he thought. I will not make the same mistake again.
See that you don’t. Hmmm…. Very, very loyal and hardworking. Less power hungry, and not very cunning. You’re smart, you plan and think and won’t just rush into danger.
Which house then? Hufflepuff?
Shush boy, patience. You’re very loyal, yes, but you’ve a very highly attuned sense of self-preservation.
The memory of Gilbert accidentally setting a hippogriff after him filled his mind.
Yes, I suppose with a brother like that, you must have.
His temper came back. So Slytherin?
No. You have the leadership and ambition, but with your cunning you would not make it there.
Wait, did you just-
“RAVENCLAW!” The teacher took off the hat, leaving Ludwig baffled as to whether he had just been insulted.
Alfred was sorted into Gryffindor, just as Ludwig had expected of him - taking down the dark lord, seriously - while Feliciano got Hufflepuff, the perfect match for his airy self, Ludwig supposed. As for Williams…
“Williams! Matthew Williams!” the strict-looking teacher barked. “Is there a Matthew Williams here?”
The crowd of students began murmuring. No one dared miss the sorting, it was their debut into society and even the worst troublemakers couldn’t stay away. The teacher repeated the name, “Matthew Williams, please come to the front!”
“I’m right here.”
Professor McGongall blinked and looked down. Matthew Williams was standing right in front of her. All the students spun around fast enough to give themselves whiplash.
“Very funny, Jones. Take your seat.”
“No, but I really am-”
“Sit. Down.”
He walked over and sat on the stool, to peals of laughter all around.
“Jones, sit down at your table,” she expanded. Jones shook his head.
“I don’t have a table yet.”
The teacher grew with her fury while Jones shrank but he still did not back down.
“Jones, you stand to be in serious trouble if you continue to act in such a childish manner.”
“I’m not doing anything wrong.” But his voice was full of tears and Ludwig found himself feeling bad for the young boy. He glanced over at the Gryffindor table and to his shock saw Jones talking with the boy next to him, seemingly oblivious to his lookalike’s plight. Ludwig looked back.
Of course. Matthew Williams. The boy was about ready to cry, judging by his face, and the teacher was wavering between fury the ritual had been interrupted and frustrated confusion. Ludwig stood hurriedly, hoping to straighten out the mistake before it could get worse.
“Come on Jones, stop wasting our time!” a Slytherin, Arthur Kirkland, shouted from his table. Matthew turned to him.
“I am Matthew. Why won’t anybody believe me?”
And then he burst into tears.
It took approximately the entire Gryffindor table plus half the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs to keep Jones from murdering Kirkland. A couple of Slytherins took the opportunity to get some licks in and it dissolved into a full-out brawl. Spells flew through the room, hitting friendlies and foes indiscriminately. Someone set off a bunch of exploding snaps. The staff had to physically pull apart the children while the more sensible students remained, horrified, at the sidelines. Matthew had been escorted out earlier by some of the smarter Hufflepuffs, and thank goodness for that because by the time Jones was through with Kirkland it looked as if he’d been run over by a wayward truck. The Kirkland brothers had been the ones to take Jones down with a well placed hex before having to be restrained themselves.
“Well,” Kiku commented, watching the last of the patients be wheeled away to the hospital wing. “That was an interesting first day.”
“You don’t say,” Ludwig replied weakly.