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In a couple of weeks, Fundy would be faced with a choice. One that would define the next seven years of his life. Potentially even his entire life. And he had a plan to make sure he made exactly the right decision. Which was why he was here, rummaging through his father’s study.
Well, ‘father’. Technically, Wilbur was only his godfather. A distant cousin, only chosen because their family bloodline had been decimated by war and misfortune, and because his birth father valued blood. There was no other justification for leaving a sixteen-year-old as the legal guardian of a toddler. If Fundy was honest, he wasn’t sure even that justification was all that good. But he was glad his father thought like that. After all, it had put him in the care of Wilbur and Wilbur was his entire world.
It was Wilbur who had taught him to speak and then to write and then to read. Also, his first spell, and a hundred other things. Day after day and night after night, Wilbur was there for him. If he was honest, he didn’t remember his birth father or mother. When he tried to picture them, all he would see was Wilbur.
In the beginning, there had also been Sally. But Sally had been gone for a while now. So, it was just him and Wilbur and sometimes family friends and, during the holidays, Wilbur’s old friends from school.
Which brought Fundy back to why he was in Wilbur’s study. School. Specifically, Hogwarts. And what House Fundy would be sorted in.
His father was in Ravenclaw. Is in Ravenclaw. He had been in Fifth Year when Fundy had been thrust onto him, and had dropped out to take care of him. Wilbur had told him that he had expected to never finish his education, at least not through traditional means. Fundy had been more important. But then, Fundy’s heritage had come through. Fundy sprinted through milestones, leaving Wilbur struggling to keep up, his various child-related charts in tatters. Panicking, he had gone to a healer who had said that the stress of losing his parents had triggered some repressed instinct in Fundy, causing him to mature fast. Kitsunes in the wild, after all, could not rely on being taken in by some kindly relative.
So, the arrangements had been made and Fundy, simultaneously both five- and eleven-years-old, would be going to Hogwarts, and Wilbur, nineteen-years-old, with him.
This would make Ravenclaw the natural choice. Wilbur had always talked about what a great fit it would be for him, for his curiosity and intelligence. And Fundy did want to stay with Wilbur. He did. It was just, his father could be a bit smothering at times. Fundy had also read enough books to know that hanging out with a parent, at school no less, was the opposite of cool. He didn’t want to be the opposite of cool.
Meanwhile, hanging out with your kid was only marginally less uncool, and Fundy didn’t want to ruin Wilbur’s last two years of Hogwarts. Not after he had nearly taken them away entirely. Fundy wouldn’t have chosen anyone else to raise him but he knew that was him being selfish. If not for him, Wilbur would already have graduated and been enjoying a child-free young adulthood.
So, Ravenclaw was a mixed bag. As were the rest of the Houses. Gryffindor sounded great, with its long history of pranksters, and Fundy wanted to grow up to be brave, but it also seemed to be a House that valued brute force. Which Fundy thought was slightly at odds with the whole prankster thing, but whatever. He didn’t personally consider playing it smart to be cowardice but his potential Gryffindor housemates might disagree. Hufflepuff, on the other hand, was right next to the kitchen and sounded like it was perfect for making friends. It was, however, how did he put this, seen as the baby house. Cute and cuddly. Harmless. Which, could be useful but also Fundy was rapidly growing tired of being seen as a baby.
So, that left Slytherin. In short, the evil guy house. Though, Fundy didn’t think he could be all that bad, not after Wilbur had told him the Sorting Hat had nearly placed him there, and Fundy did consider himself rather cunning. It was just, ideas of blood purity, from what he had read, had a long history in the House and that kind of thing tended to hang around. Even with active efforts to fight against it. Which, Fundy figured his kitsune heritage dispelled any possibility of him being considered a pureblood. That, and Wilbur, a half-blood himself, had raised him with a healthy appreciation for muggle culture. Especially muggle technology, when they could get it to work.
Maybe Fundy could just leave it to the Sorting Hat, but that didn’t stick right with him.
Fundy eyes caught a glint of silver and his grin widened. It made sense. Of course, Wilbur would hide it away in the drawer where he kept Fundy’s old childhood books. Normally he would avoid that place like the plague. Even now, he had left it to one of the last places to check.
He withdrew the silver container, hearing the powder shift inside. Satisfied, he tidied the study and absconded to his room.
The dreaming powder used to be a lot more accessible. Wilbur had purchased it so that Fundy could experiment with his visions, after all. But then Fundy had started having nightmares. He might have given it if Fundy had asked, but Fundy personally found asking for forgiveness to be a surer method.
He mixed the powder into a glass of water and gulped it down. Then he waved his hands, turning off the lights, and lied down on his bed.
As he waited for it to take effect, he couldn’t help but reflect on the problem with divination. Or, rather, the problem with everyone’s approach to divination. Fundy just didn’t get why people didn’t get it. Divination wasn’t entirely accurate. How could it be? The future was nothing about a collection of possibilities, the universe’s most difficult equation. Not even the muggle’s supercomputers could figure it out. But that didn’t mean it was useless. You just had to factor in the margin of error.
Knowledge was power. All the great wizards and witches had known that. That’s why Hogwarts was founded. Which meant even knowledge with a significant margin of error was better than no knowledge at all.
Fundy, sure in his course of action, fell asleep and let the dreams come.
Blue and silver. Curiosity and creativity. Knowledge and intelligence.
The House of his father.
In Ravenclaw, he never gets too close with his roommates. He isn’t enemies with them, mind you, but they are concerned merely with theory, not practice. Certainly not practice that lands them in detention or loses them House points. In fact, most of the First Year Ravenclaws are like that.
As for the older years, there is a distance between him and them. Wilbur is always there for him, but most times it hinders more than it helps. Still, Fundy feels loved, and he knows he’s always just one room away. On the seventh night, he gives in and sneaks into Wilbur’s dorm. Without a word, Wilbur lifts his blanket and Fundy curls up into him. It’s not the last time. Wilbur’s roommates always pretend not to notice him.
There is George. He’s a bit weird and he sleeps more than he studies, but he’s good at chess and he has dreams too. He’s also a Third Year and is the one to get Fundy into the Wizard’s Chess Club. Outside of the dorms and Wizard’s Chess Club, however, Fundy doesn’t see much of him; he has his own friends.
First Year is, ultimately lonely. But that loneliness is not without its benefits. He spends hours in the library, even in the forbidden section. Especially the forbidden section. He manages, somehow, to never get caught doing anything too incriminating. Eventually, he discovers a book an Animagus. Shapeshifters. Fundy has kitsune blood in him, but the most he can summon is a tail and ears.
How much mischief could he get up to, if he could properly turn into a fox? And he had no doubts it would be a fox. Even without his heritage, it would be a fox.
So, with some mishaps along the way, Fundy becomes an Animagus as a First Year. Wilbur is equal parts proud and furious when he finds out. He allows Fundy to remain unregistered.
Somewhere along the line, he meets Niki, a Hufflepuff. She sneaks him into the kitchens and they are friends from then on. Eventually, Eret, a Slytherin prefect, catches them, but they promise to remain silent in return for cookies. Soon, Fundy finds out Eret gives as good as they get when it comes to pranks.
Then Second Year comes and with it Tubbo and Tommy. Two muggle-borns, coincidently family friends of Wilbur. Tommy is sorted into Gryffindor and Tubbo promptly follows. Later, Fundy would find out that the Sorting Hat wanted to put Tubbo in either Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff, but Tubbo refused to be in any House that didn’t have Tommy in it. Tubbo joins the Wizarding Chess Club and they spend hours and hours on matches. Sapnap, George’s friend, is also in the club, but Fundy still hadn’t forgiven him for nearly killing Fungi, Niki’s cat. Even if they had settled it with a duel.
Wilbur spends more time with Tommy than with Fundy, despite being in different Houses, and Fundy tries to not let it bother him.
Third Year comes and Wilbur is gone. The Ravenclaw Tower suddenly feels empty and Fundy spends as little time there as possible. Some nights he sleeps in the courtyard, under the stars, as a fox. Other nights he sneaks into the other dorms. Eret keeps him updated on Slytherin passwords and lifts their blanket just like Wilbur used to.
There is a transfer student though. A Second Year. Fundy meets him on the train. He looks nervous, so Fundy sits down and talks with him. Learns his name is Ranboo. Once they get to Hogwarts, Fundy directs him to Tubbo. He’s sorted into Hufflepuff, yet spends equal time sitting on the Gryffindor table. Which Fundy can hardly complain about; he often sneaks between tables as well.
One night, he convinces Ranboo to come to the Astronomy Tower. Grinning, he then convinces him to get on the flying pig he had just transfigurated. They both end up in the infirmary, but neither care. He is told to find a more healthy outlet for his energy, however, so he signs up to be a commentator for Quidditch. He is soon fired for bias. Completely unrelated, he learns the Slytherin Seeker, Dream, has the greenest eyes in existence.
Fourth Year approaches, but suddenly it fades and instead—
Red and gold. Bravery and courage. Daring and determination.
Another lonely First Year. Through a quirk of numbers, he is given a dorm room all to himself. He uses the time to pull as many pranks as his heart desires, researching this thing called Animagus on the side, until one day he targets a Slytherin prefect, Eret. Then he has no time for research, only the prank war he finds himself embroiled in. At the end of the year, they call a mostly-truce. They, however, remain friends long after the war is over.
Fundy finds a secret passage to the Ravenclaw Tower and, when the empty dorm is too much, sneaks in. Fundy slips under the blankets and Wilbur wakes up just long enough to hug him tight.
Second Year and he is no longer alone. Tubbo and Tommy suddenly share his dorm. Their fourth bed is empty, so Wilbur sometimes sneaks in using Fundy’s passage and plays his guitar for them. On occasion, Fundy brings Eret along. They become a little group of five.
He and Tubbo decide to sign up for Wizard’s Chess Club.
Then Third Year and Wilbur is traded for Ranboo. Fundy finds a way for Ranboo to sneak into their dorm, and he brings out his notes on the Animagus process. Excitement fills the dorm. There’s more, but Fundy can’t see it. Instead, he sees—
Yellow and black. Loyalty and Hard-work. Fair and Patient.
First Year and Fundy is sorted into Hufflepuff. Dorms at Hogwarts had long ago become gender-neutral, unless one requested otherwise. Fundy was thankful for that; he used to have nightmares about transphobic staircases. He was also thankful for that because it meant he got to room with Niki.
Hufflepuff was wonderful. The very air made you feel like you belonged, and there was always some food to grab. While he may chaff under certain values – all was fair in pranks and scams, after all – but those values also provided him with the perfect camouflage; no one suspects the Hufflepuff First Year.
No. One.
Until Eret, that was. Fundy doesn’t mind, however. He got a prank war out of it, and a friend.
Fundy only sneaks into the Ravenclaw Tower once or twice.
Second Year, bored, Fundy becomes an Animagus. Niki cheers him on, and, eventually, joins in. Turns out, she was a fish at heart. That had caused a moment of panic which led to Fundy dumping Niki in the toilet.
Third Year, and Wilbur is gone. Fundy was okay with that. The whole House was there for him. A Second Year is transferred to Hogwarts, and Fundy takes Ranboo under his wing. Fundy wants him to make friends, and so he goes with him to Quidditch sign-ups. Ranboo doesn’t make the team, but Fundy does. Turns out, Hufflepuff needed a new seeker.
In the matches, he’s never able to beat the Slytherin seeker to the golden snitch. It’s a small price to pay, however, to see Dream in action.
His vision clouds and –
Green and silver. Cunning and ambition. Resourcefulness and pride.
First Year, and Fundy barely has any time to be lonely before Eret takes him under their wing. They do this through a prank war, but Fundy wouldn’t have it any other way. Eret doesn’t let Fundy be affected by the whispers or the stares or the cold-shoulders. Or, at least, they did their best. Still, they find the secret passage to Ravenclaw Tower and use it.
In the forbidden section, he finds a book an Animagus. He takes it to Eret, who promises to help him achieve his first transformation by the end of the First Year.
He does.
In Second Year, he asks for a tutor for potions. He gets Dream. Dream, who actually treats him like a member of House Slythern. If he’s honest, he’s not that great at focusing during their sessions, but still his grade improves. Dream suggests he joins Wizard’s Chess Club. His friends, Sapnap and George, are members.
He reaches for Third Year, but the dream fades. Completely. And all he’s left with the darkness of sleep and the question: which House?