Arthur

...

Up until now, Arthur's summer had been pretty normal.

He spent the summertime roaming the prepossessing streets of London. The Big Ben clock tower had always captivated him whenever he looked at it - especially the fact that it was rumored to be haunted. Everything that had to do with the unreal and incomprehensible seemed to interest him.

Arthur sat down the chair on the balcony of his house, the warm breeze of May making his hair flow with ease into the wind. The London Bridge can be seen in the distance, as if to greet him a good day. He wanted to write a poem, yet despite all the wonderful things he could write about, none of it struck him as interesting. Asking his siblings wasn't a very good idea, either.

"You're always writing about the scary paranormal stuff," his younger brother Peter said. "Try writing about other nations and their history instead - something real that actually happened."

"I wanted to do something unique," Arthur told Peter. "Go bake some snacks for us to eat with Allistor instead."

"Why don't you do it?" Peter asked.

"My boy, do you want to die from food poisoning?"

"You're mean," Peter said. And with that statement, he left.

Arthur, with no idea what to do, clicked the pen in his hand absentmindedly and yawned.

A muffled scream echoed from the kitchen downstairs.

Arthur put face in his palm. He set the pen on the table and immediately ran down to see what kind of trouble his siblings had gotten themselves into.

...

"What's all this commotion about?" Arthur shouted over the cries of Peter.

"There's no more flour left, and Allistor is being mean to me!" Peter said while Allistor laughed rambunctiously, taking multiple pictures of Peter.

"You two, stop it!" Arthur yelled as he sighed in exasperation. Allistor held up his hands in a placating way as he was trying for a look of remorse, yet for him, it was always a losing battle.

Arthur rolled his eyes. "I'm going to get my coat and go to the market to buy flour," he said while glaring daggers at Allistor. "When I return, make sure that the two of you have made up, okay?"

Allistor offered Arthur a mock salute, completely losing it and laughing so hard. "Okay, okay! Just get going already, jeez!"

Arthur rolled his eyes, grabbed his coat from the nearest coat and hat stand, took hold of his umbrella, and opened the door. Immediately, a fresh breeze greeted Arthur as he stepped out of his house.

As Arthur navigated the winding streets of London, he felt the presence of something strange. It sent a chill down his spine, but he ignored it. Just for safety precautions, he kept his right hand in his coat pocket, where he kept his wand. After all, he would just go to the marketplace, buy flour, and go back home.

...

Alfred

...

"Man, London is so amazing! I'm really glad we got here already!" Alfred said, his hands on the boat that sailed under London Bridge towards the dock.

"Mhm," his younger and quieter brother Matthew, agreed. "London bridge looks beautiful, eh?" Matthew went back to sightseeing and taking pictures.

"You know," Alfred said, "you're going to fill your camera's memory on the first day..."

"I can always transfer the pictures in my laptop, Alfred," Matthew scoffed. "Now please ignore me while I take pictures. I m-mean, we're going to move into our new house soon..."

"Our new house, oh yeah!" Alfred punched a fist in the air. By now, some of the other passengers stared at him strangely. "I wonder what it's going to be like! Ooh, I wonder if our new house has enough capacity to fit my computer desktop? You know, for games and stuff..."

Matthew tried to glare at his older brother, which was kind of hard to do, since Matthew never glared at anyone. "We're here to look for a school to spend our high school together in, remember? You need to work on your grades. You're lucky you even got to high school, eh?"

Alfred leaned against the railing of the boat and laughed softly. "Lucky, huh?"

The two brothers spent the rest of the ride in silence. Every once in a while, one of them would point to interesting monuments or places. Most of the time, Alfred would point to random birds in the sky and Matthew would contemplate why his elder brother had such a childish attitude.

Finally reaching the dock, Matthew and Alfred were on of the first people to get off the ferry. Both of them had a backpack and a suitcase each, so they had no trouble getting off.

Alfred breathed in the cool breeze. Matthew, on the other hand, tried not to get his curl tangled anywhere or pulled by anyone. Alfred remembered that one time Matthew's curl got pulled. Ever since then, Matthew learned that he couldn't trust just anybody.

...

Matthew let out a sigh of relief as he held out a map of London. They've almost reached their new house. "Hmm...so all we have to do is pass through the marketplace, take a left, then two rights, and we're there. Why is London more confusing than Ottawa..."

"Do we really have to walk all the way?" Alfred complained. "Why don't we just take a cab or something..."

"I d-don't want to waste money, eh," Matthew said. "Also, we're nearly there, so just hang on tight, a-alright?"

After walking for a few more minutes, Matthew gave a self-satisfied smirk. "Alright, we've reached the marketplace, now let's see, we'll take a-"

"DUCK!" an unfamiliar voice suddenly says.

Matthew immediately tackled Alfred to the ground as a spark of light passed through where Alfred's head should have been. If it weren't for Matthew, Alfred would be dead by now.

The sky immediately darkened and civilians screamed and scrambled everywhere, looking for a place to hide. Was it like this everyday in London?!

The guy on the entrance to the marketplace, the one who told them to duck, remained standing.

"Do you want to kill yourself?!" Alfred shouted over to him. "Duck as well!"

Instead of ducking, the guy stretched out his arm and pointed a really straight stick at something in the sky, his green eyes full of anger.

"GOD DAMN YOU, GILBERT!" he said. "NOW, OF ALL DAYS?! YOU NEARLY KILLED SOMEONE-A MUGGLE, NO LESS!-WITH THAT STUPID AVADA KEDAVRA CURSE! YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO DO MAGIC OUTSIDE OF HOGWARTS-"

"Kesesese~!" Another voice, this time coming from the sky, said. "So little prefect Iggybrows can't do anything to stop me? You're a shame to our house, Kirkland. A SHAME!"

"W-What's going on?" Matthew mumbled softly. "I hear the words "Hogwarts," "Muggle," and "magic." Could this be what I think it is..?"

"If it is, then you're thinking about something really strange," Alfred told him. "I, as a hero, should stop these two from killing each other-"

"No, you idiot! Listen to them!" Matthew hissed as he pointed towards the sky.

In the distance, on a broomstick, as near as Alfred could figure, flew an albino with grayish-white hair, blood red eyes, an unwavering grin much similar to Alfred's, and he held something similar to the guy on the marketplace entrance.

"JUST GET OUT OF HERE, YOU BLOODY WANKER!" the guy on the entrance said. He aimed the stick to the albino on the flying broomstick. "AND WHEN I SEE YOU AT SCHOOL, I'LL KILL YOU! STUPEFY!"

Instantly, a beam of red light shot out from the end of the guy's stick and dashed towards Gilbert. Gilbert dodged it and flew away laughing.

"Suck it losers! Kesesese~!" And with that, he was gone.

The sky immediately brightened again and the guy from the marketplace entrance put the stick back in his pocket.

"All I had to do was buy flour from the marketplace, and this happens!" the guy walked up to Alfred and Arthur and outstretched his hand to help them up. "What're you two lads doing in London?"

Matthew was the first to stand up. "We were g-going to our new house supposedly, but we were attacked b-by that guy in the broomstick..." he said as he brushed his hands against his jacket to smoothen it.

"Oh?" he said. "Do you need some help with some of your stuff? Business with my brothers can wait, and it also looks like you're carrying a lot. Oh, before I forget..."

He held out a hand. "Name's Arthur Kirkland."

Matthew and Alfred took turns in shaking it and introducing themselves before proceeding to walk to their house, Arthur tailing along beside them.

...

Matthew

...

"Arthur, t-there's this question that I've been m-meaning to ask for some time now..." Matthew said cautiously.

"What is it, then?" Arthur said.

"Well...I saw and overheard your scene with Gilbert earlier, and I..." Matthew took a deep breath. "Well...are you, by any chance, a student of Hogwarts?"

Matthew noticed the little tint of pink that appeared on Arthur's cheeks. "I didn't mean to be so loud, but that idiot Gilbert just..."

"I asked you a yes-or-no question, eh?" Matthew said.

Arthur sighed. He had no choice. "As a matter of fact, yes I am. What's it to you?"

Matthew's eyes brightened. Ever since coming to London, he always loved the idea of actually getting a sneak peek at Hogwarts - the world's most famous wizarding school! It'd be really cool of Al and him actually got to study there! But all that, of course, was a mere fantasy.

"U-Um...it's a pretty famous school..." Matthew said sheepishly. "I-I wish...no, nothing."

Arthur smirked. "Is that so?"

Alfred yawned. Matthew nearly forgot that his brother was there. Why he was so quiet right now, Matthew had no idea.

At last, they reached their new house.