Curse you, Jim.
Saix and Axel Hogwarts AU, if you consider their names as revealed in BBS to be spoilers, don't read this.
“Come away, Isa,” his mother tugged at his hand. Isa did as he was told with reluctance, following his mother as she led him away, down the path that led to their home. He gazed back over his shoulder at the untidy red haired boy, holding hands with his mother and father, occasionally giving a small jump and swinging his legs up, as his parents lifted him off the ground every few steps.
“Who were they, mother?” He asked, when they were finally out of sight.
“Muggles,” she answered, with a note of contempt. “They're dirty and dangerous; stay away from them.”
*****
“Hi!”
Isa looked up into green eyes, and a face framed by wild, vivid red hair. He didn't say anything.
“What's your name?” The boy planted himself on the ground opposite Isa. He didn't seem intent on going away any time soon.
“I'm not supposed to talk to you,” Isa said, quietly, and went back to his gobstones.
“Why not?” The other boy didn't seem offended, just curious.
“My mother told me not to,” Isa answered.
The other boy looked around. His own parents were sat some distance away on a blanket. Eventually, he turned back to Isa and asked, “Where is she?” Isa only looked up, and over to where his mother sat, out of earshot, reading a book, seated on a chair. The other boy followed his gaze and then said, “Well, she's not looking. She doesn't have to know. I'm Lea.” Isa simply stared at him, blankly, until Lea tried again, “Lea? L-E-A, got it memorised?”
“Isa,” Isa said.
Lea broke out into a huge grin and snatched up Isa's hand, making his eyes go wide which Lea ignored as he shook it firmly and said, “There. Now we're friends.”
Isa pulled his hand back and then looked at it, as though expecting to see some mark left behind, but there was none. Lea carried on unabated; “What are they?” He pointed to the gobstones Isa was carefully flicking.
“Gobstones,” he answered, with another worried glance over towards his mother, who still hadn't looked up from her book.
“Well they look boring,” Lea declared, and followed it up with the demand, “come and play with me!”
When Isa made no move, Lea grabbed his hand and urged him to his feet. Standing up, they were nearly the same height, though Lea's hair gave the impression that he was taller. “Come on!” He said, and pulled Isa by the hand towards the swings. There, Lea let go, and raced to the nearest swing, standing up on the seat and immediately setting himself in motion, leaning back and pushing hard forwards with his feet. “Bet you can't do this!” He said, loudly, urging himself high and then somersaulting off in midair to land neatly on his feet.
Isa just stared at him, unblinking.
“Cool, huh?” Lea asked, brightly. “I can do it higher, too,” he said, and immediately returned to the swing to repeat the performance, but this time his dismount took him soaring high into the air, and he tumbled three times before hitting the ground.
When this also got him little more than a silent stare from Isa he put his hands on his hips and demanded, “Well, say something! Is it cool or not?”
Isa's only reply was, “You're a wizard.”
Lea broke into a bright grin, “I knew you'd think it was cool.”
Isa shook his head. “It was magic,” he corrected. “You're a wizard, like me.” Then he broke into a faint smile. “I think that makes it all right for me to talk to you. Mother says I'm allowed to talk to other wizards.”
This time it was Lea's turn to look as though the last few minutes had sailed over his head. “What?” He asked, intelligently.
The faint smile remained with Isa as he said, “You can do real magic, so you'll go to Hogwarts when you're older, like me.”
“What's a hog warts?”
So Isa explained, telling Lea how there was a secret world hidden from muggles - “That's the people who aren't wizards,” - and a special school just for wizards and that they'd both get letters when they were older, “...and they come by owl post, because that's how all wizards send their letters.”
By the time Isa had finished, Lea was staring at him with his mouth hanging open. “And you're sure I'm one?” He asked, half excited, and half disbelieving. Isa nodded, with conviction.
“Isa!” His mother's voice called, and she sounded annoyed. “What have I told you?”
She came over, obviously in a bad mood, but as soon as she was within earshot Isa piped up, “It's all right, mother, Lea's a wizard too.”
It didn't have the desired effect. Instead, the blood drained from her face and she hissed, “Mudblood.” She glared at Lea, as though wishing him to wither into a dried out husk before her eyes, and then she snapped, “Come here, Isa,” in frosty, clipped tones.
“You must never speak to that mudblood again. Do I make myself clear?” She rasped, wanting to shout, and also not wanting to raise her voice.
Isa looked at her balefully, almost on the edge of tears, and protested, “But he's my friend.”
“You can make better friends,” she snapped.
*****
Dear Lea,
Mother says I'm not alowed allowwed allowed to talk to you ever again because your a mudblood. She says it means your dirty and youll give me wrong ideas. You didnt look dirty to me. Maybe you should have a bath every day and then shell calm down.
Can we still be friends?
From Isa.
Dear Isa,
Your mum sounds like a clean freak. My dad says my auntie June is one because she gets up at three in the morning to vacuum the house and you always have to take your shoes off at the door. But if we can still be freinds then Ill have a bath every single day.
This owl is really cool! You werent kidding about owl post or being a wizard were you?
From Lea.
Dear Lea,
Mum says you being dirty cant be solved by having baths. I think she might be a clean freak but she doesn't do any cleaning in the house because our house elf does that for us.
I dont care if you went swimming in stinksap every day. I still want to be your friend. Ive never had one before.
Why would I joke about being a wizard? The owl's name is Polygius but I just call him Poly.
From Isa.
Dear Isa,
Were bestest friends now. My mum says shes glad I have a pen friend even if she screamed at Poly when she saw him. My mum is scared of birds but I think she scared Poly more.
Whats a house elf?
From Lea.
*****
“Isa!” Lea called, running over to him, flush faced and breathless. “I got it! I got it! I got my letter!” He was practically jumping for joy. Over the years, they'd both grown, and Isa was now just a fraction taller than Lea.
“I told you,” Isa replied, calmly. “Which house are you going to be in?”
This drew another blank look from Lea. “They have houses?” He imagined separate buildings, like his own home.
“Four of them. Mother says I'll be in Slytherin. All my family were. They're ambitious and cunning, and then there's Ravenclaw, who are all swots, and Gryffindor who are stupid bullies, and Hufflepuff are the leftovers.”
Lea pulled a face. “I think I'd rather be in Slytherin.”
Isa nodded. “So long as we're together, right?”
“Yeah,” Lea said, smiling brightly, “then it doesn't matter.”
*****
“I cannot stop you,” Isa's mother said, on platform nine and three quarters, “from mingling with mudbloods and blood traitors at school,” she looked down at Isa, who thought, rebelliously, that she hadn't been able to stop him outside school, either, “but I will ask you to remember your heritage and live up to it.”
Isa didn't answer. His mother had, reluctantly, eventually, permitted him to spend time with Lea. She disapproved of him, and refused to let him into the house, but when it was clear that short of confining Isa to the house for the rest of his life, and banning him from using Polygius, there was no way she could stop the two being friends.
She sighed, and spoke more softly to her son. “You'll make other friends here,” she said, “people more worthy of you. Promise me that you won't let him lead you into trouble at school?”
Isa frowned. He hated it when his mother went like this; it was hard to argue with her, no matter how much he wanted to, because all he wanted was to be hugged. She made him feel guilty for breaking her heart. “He's not that bad, mother. You'd see that, if you gave him a chance.”
“Why did I have to raise you to be so headstrong?” She lamented, and then she pulled her son close and hugged him tight. Isa returned it, and found that he didn't want to let go. “Go and get on the train,” she said, as she let him go.
He kissed his mother on the cheek before he left her, making his way onto the train where he met Lea in one of the corridors.
“Your mom still telling you I'm a bad influence?” He asked, with amusement.
“Naturally,” Isa replied. “Let's find a seat.”
They found one halfway down the train and stowed their luggage out of the way. Isa put his new owl's cage on the table as he pushed his trunk out of the way.
“Thought of a name for her yet?” Lea asked, conversationally. He was rather jealous, since his own parents hadn't let him have an owl on the grounds that it wouldn't be fair on his mother, but he tried not to show it. It hadn't been until he'd seen Isa's house that he'd realised that Isa was, or at least his family were, stinking rich.
“No,” Isa admitted. His mother had bought him the owl so he could stay in touch without using the school owls. Isa was at a loss for what to name her, and was slightly embarrassed to be carrying around such an obvious sign of how pampered he was. “Any ideas?” He asked Lea as he sat down, and searched out of the window for a glimpse of his mother.
Lea seemed thoughtful for a moment. It was a moment that stretched on while Isa spotted his mother and waved to her. Lea took a break from thinking to wave to his own parents; his mother was carrying his little sister on her hip, pointing at the train window and encouraging her to wave.
Before long, the train set off, carrying their parents out of view, and Isa settled down and asked, “So?”
Lea pulled a face, shrugged, and then suggested, “Athena?” He couldn't think of anything else, but then, neither could Isa or he wouldn't be asking Lea.
Isa certainly seemed contented enough with it, looking at the eagle owl in her cage and repeating, “Athena.” Then he shrugged. “It'll do.”
*****
The train journey was long. Before it grew dark they changed into their school robes, and Isa pointed out how odd it was to finally see Lea in real wizard's wear. Lea, grinning, did a twirl.
By the time they got into the station, Isa and Lea were tired and hungry, but a more pressing concern was starting to weigh on their minds.
The view of the school as they crossed the lake took their breath away. Isa heard Lea give an audible, “Whoa,” at the sheer scale of the place. Isa was impressed, but better at not letting it show. In any case, the cynical side of him already knew that first years were taken across the lake precisely because it had more impact.
He stood next to Lea as they disembarked, and made their way into the Great Hall. Every pair of eyes in the room seemed to be on them, and as the Sorting Hat was carried, on a stool, to the front of the room, Isa stood up straighter, and prouder. Then the hat began to sing, extolling the virtues of each of the four houses; Gryffindor, brave and bold; Ravenclaw, sharp and clever; Hufflepuff, just and loyal; Slytherin, ambitious and driven.
Since the students were called in alphabetical order, “Cole, Lea” was called before Isa. Lea threw a fleeting, nervous smile at his frind before he made his way up to the chair and sat down.
“Well, well,” murmured the hat, inside Lea's ear, “Loyal, no question, and brave too, so where to put you?” Lea smiled, nervously, fidgeting on the stool. The hat had come down over his eyes, and was squashing his hair. In his head he kept hoping and repeating, over and over, Gryffindor, Gryffindor, Gryffindor... He knew what Isa had said, about how he'd probably be in Slytherin, and the thought of being separated from him made him uncomfortable; he didn't want to be, but he also really wanted to be in Gryffindor.
“But of course,” the hat continued, as though it was unaware of Lea's silent prayers, “with that combination there really is only one choice for you and that is GRYFFINDOR.”
The hat was removed from his head, and Lea bounced off the stool, punching the air as he ran to the Gryffindor table. On his way, he caught sight of Isa, who looked crestfallen, and suddenly Lea found himself hit with a guilty pang in his stomach.
“Selwyn, Isa,” was called much later, and Isa looked pale but resolute as he made his way to the stool and sat down.
“Oh dear,” the hat said, almost sarcastically, “now this one will be tough. You have a Slytherin's pride and ambition, and a Hufflepuff's loyalty.” Isa could hear the hat murmuring, reading his thoughts as it continued, “And a lot of bravery to be willing to give up on that pride for the sake of your friend. But are you brave enough for Gryffindor?” It asked him.
“I want to be in Gryffindor. I don't care what happens,” he whispered, quietly.
“Are you quite sure?” Asked the hat, as though it was taunting him.
“Yes.”
“I think that counts as brave enough.” Isa swore he could hear a smirk in the voice before the hat shouted, “GRYFFINDOR!”
Isa slipped off the stool, trembling slightly as he made his way to the Gryffindor table. He could hear Lea whooping above the din of the other students and went to sit with him.
“You're a Gryffindor!” Lea yelled, clapping him on the back, and then throwing his arms around Isa's shoulders. He was happy enough to want to dance. It was only when he looked down to see that Isa was pale and sullen than he settled. “What's wrong?”
“My mother will kill me,” Isa replied, simply.
“Oh yeah,” Lea said, dully. “But we're together,” he said, hopefully, looking across at Isa. “That's what counts, right?”
Isa looked at his friend. He didn't want to tell him that he was only here because he'd face anything he had to, just so long as he wasn't separated from Lea, so instead he gave him a weak smile and nodded.
Lea responded by ruffling Isa's hair and then pulling him into another hug. “It'll be fine.”
“Come away, Isa,” his mother tugged at his hand. Isa did as he was told with reluctance, following his mother as she led him away, down the path that led to their home. He gazed back over his shoulder at the untidy red haired boy, holding hands with his mother and father, occasionally giving a small jump and swinging his legs up, as his parents lifted him off the ground every few steps.
“Who were they, mother?” He asked, when they were finally out of sight.
“Muggles,” she answered, with a note of contempt. “They're dirty and dangerous; stay away from them.”
*****
“Hi!”
Isa looked up into green eyes, and a face framed by wild, vivid red hair. He didn't say anything.
“What's your name?” The boy planted himself on the ground opposite Isa. He didn't seem intent on going away any time soon.
“I'm not supposed to talk to you,” Isa said, quietly, and went back to his gobstones.
“Why not?” The other boy didn't seem offended, just curious.
“My mother told me not to,” Isa answered.
The other boy looked around. His own parents were sat some distance away on a blanket. Eventually, he turned back to Isa and asked, “Where is she?” Isa only looked up, and over to where his mother sat, out of earshot, reading a book, seated on a chair. The other boy followed his gaze and then said, “Well, she's not looking. She doesn't have to know. I'm Lea.” Isa simply stared at him, blankly, until Lea tried again, “Lea? L-E-A, got it memorised?”
“Isa,” Isa said.
Lea broke out into a huge grin and snatched up Isa's hand, making his eyes go wide which Lea ignored as he shook it firmly and said, “There. Now we're friends.”
Isa pulled his hand back and then looked at it, as though expecting to see some mark left behind, but there was none. Lea carried on unabated; “What are they?” He pointed to the gobstones Isa was carefully flicking.
“Gobstones,” he answered, with another worried glance over towards his mother, who still hadn't looked up from her book.
“Well they look boring,” Lea declared, and followed it up with the demand, “come and play with me!”
When Isa made no move, Lea grabbed his hand and urged him to his feet. Standing up, they were nearly the same height, though Lea's hair gave the impression that he was taller. “Come on!” He said, and pulled Isa by the hand towards the swings. There, Lea let go, and raced to the nearest swing, standing up on the seat and immediately setting himself in motion, leaning back and pushing hard forwards with his feet. “Bet you can't do this!” He said, loudly, urging himself high and then somersaulting off in midair to land neatly on his feet.
Isa just stared at him, unblinking.
“Cool, huh?” Lea asked, brightly. “I can do it higher, too,” he said, and immediately returned to the swing to repeat the performance, but this time his dismount took him soaring high into the air, and he tumbled three times before hitting the ground.
When this also got him little more than a silent stare from Isa he put his hands on his hips and demanded, “Well, say something! Is it cool or not?”
Isa's only reply was, “You're a wizard.”
Lea broke into a bright grin, “I knew you'd think it was cool.”
Isa shook his head. “It was magic,” he corrected. “You're a wizard, like me.” Then he broke into a faint smile. “I think that makes it all right for me to talk to you. Mother says I'm allowed to talk to other wizards.”
This time it was Lea's turn to look as though the last few minutes had sailed over his head. “What?” He asked, intelligently.
The faint smile remained with Isa as he said, “You can do real magic, so you'll go to Hogwarts when you're older, like me.”
“What's a hog warts?”
So Isa explained, telling Lea how there was a secret world hidden from muggles - “That's the people who aren't wizards,” - and a special school just for wizards and that they'd both get letters when they were older, “...and they come by owl post, because that's how all wizards send their letters.”
By the time Isa had finished, Lea was staring at him with his mouth hanging open. “And you're sure I'm one?” He asked, half excited, and half disbelieving. Isa nodded, with conviction.
“Isa!” His mother's voice called, and she sounded annoyed. “What have I told you?”
She came over, obviously in a bad mood, but as soon as she was within earshot Isa piped up, “It's all right, mother, Lea's a wizard too.”
It didn't have the desired effect. Instead, the blood drained from her face and she hissed, “Mudblood.” She glared at Lea, as though wishing him to wither into a dried out husk before her eyes, and then she snapped, “Come here, Isa,” in frosty, clipped tones.
“You must never speak to that mudblood again. Do I make myself clear?” She rasped, wanting to shout, and also not wanting to raise her voice.
Isa looked at her balefully, almost on the edge of tears, and protested, “But he's my friend.”
“You can make better friends,” she snapped.
*****
Dear Lea,
Mother says I'm not alowed allowwed allowed to talk to you ever again because your a mudblood. She says it means your dirty and youll give me wrong ideas. You didnt look dirty to me. Maybe you should have a bath every day and then shell calm down.
Can we still be friends?
From Isa.
Dear Isa,
Your mum sounds like a clean freak. My dad says my auntie June is one because she gets up at three in the morning to vacuum the house and you always have to take your shoes off at the door. But if we can still be freinds then Ill have a bath every single day.
This owl is really cool! You werent kidding about owl post or being a wizard were you?
From Lea.
Dear Lea,
Mum says you being dirty cant be solved by having baths. I think she might be a clean freak but she doesn't do any cleaning in the house because our house elf does that for us.
I dont care if you went swimming in stinksap every day. I still want to be your friend. Ive never had one before.
Why would I joke about being a wizard? The owl's name is Polygius but I just call him Poly.
From Isa.
Dear Isa,
Were bestest friends now. My mum says shes glad I have a pen friend even if she screamed at Poly when she saw him. My mum is scared of birds but I think she scared Poly more.
Whats a house elf?
From Lea.
*****
“Isa!” Lea called, running over to him, flush faced and breathless. “I got it! I got it! I got my letter!” He was practically jumping for joy. Over the years, they'd both grown, and Isa was now just a fraction taller than Lea.
“I told you,” Isa replied, calmly. “Which house are you going to be in?”
This drew another blank look from Lea. “They have houses?” He imagined separate buildings, like his own home.
“Four of them. Mother says I'll be in Slytherin. All my family were. They're ambitious and cunning, and then there's Ravenclaw, who are all swots, and Gryffindor who are stupid bullies, and Hufflepuff are the leftovers.”
Lea pulled a face. “I think I'd rather be in Slytherin.”
Isa nodded. “So long as we're together, right?”
“Yeah,” Lea said, smiling brightly, “then it doesn't matter.”
*****
“I cannot stop you,” Isa's mother said, on platform nine and three quarters, “from mingling with mudbloods and blood traitors at school,” she looked down at Isa, who thought, rebelliously, that she hadn't been able to stop him outside school, either, “but I will ask you to remember your heritage and live up to it.”
Isa didn't answer. His mother had, reluctantly, eventually, permitted him to spend time with Lea. She disapproved of him, and refused to let him into the house, but when it was clear that short of confining Isa to the house for the rest of his life, and banning him from using Polygius, there was no way she could stop the two being friends.
She sighed, and spoke more softly to her son. “You'll make other friends here,” she said, “people more worthy of you. Promise me that you won't let him lead you into trouble at school?”
Isa frowned. He hated it when his mother went like this; it was hard to argue with her, no matter how much he wanted to, because all he wanted was to be hugged. She made him feel guilty for breaking her heart. “He's not that bad, mother. You'd see that, if you gave him a chance.”
“Why did I have to raise you to be so headstrong?” She lamented, and then she pulled her son close and hugged him tight. Isa returned it, and found that he didn't want to let go. “Go and get on the train,” she said, as she let him go.
He kissed his mother on the cheek before he left her, making his way onto the train where he met Lea in one of the corridors.
“Your mom still telling you I'm a bad influence?” He asked, with amusement.
“Naturally,” Isa replied. “Let's find a seat.”
They found one halfway down the train and stowed their luggage out of the way. Isa put his new owl's cage on the table as he pushed his trunk out of the way.
“Thought of a name for her yet?” Lea asked, conversationally. He was rather jealous, since his own parents hadn't let him have an owl on the grounds that it wouldn't be fair on his mother, but he tried not to show it. It hadn't been until he'd seen Isa's house that he'd realised that Isa was, or at least his family were, stinking rich.
“No,” Isa admitted. His mother had bought him the owl so he could stay in touch without using the school owls. Isa was at a loss for what to name her, and was slightly embarrassed to be carrying around such an obvious sign of how pampered he was. “Any ideas?” He asked Lea as he sat down, and searched out of the window for a glimpse of his mother.
Lea seemed thoughtful for a moment. It was a moment that stretched on while Isa spotted his mother and waved to her. Lea took a break from thinking to wave to his own parents; his mother was carrying his little sister on her hip, pointing at the train window and encouraging her to wave.
Before long, the train set off, carrying their parents out of view, and Isa settled down and asked, “So?”
Lea pulled a face, shrugged, and then suggested, “Athena?” He couldn't think of anything else, but then, neither could Isa or he wouldn't be asking Lea.
Isa certainly seemed contented enough with it, looking at the eagle owl in her cage and repeating, “Athena.” Then he shrugged. “It'll do.”
*****
The train journey was long. Before it grew dark they changed into their school robes, and Isa pointed out how odd it was to finally see Lea in real wizard's wear. Lea, grinning, did a twirl.
By the time they got into the station, Isa and Lea were tired and hungry, but a more pressing concern was starting to weigh on their minds.
The view of the school as they crossed the lake took their breath away. Isa heard Lea give an audible, “Whoa,” at the sheer scale of the place. Isa was impressed, but better at not letting it show. In any case, the cynical side of him already knew that first years were taken across the lake precisely because it had more impact.
He stood next to Lea as they disembarked, and made their way into the Great Hall. Every pair of eyes in the room seemed to be on them, and as the Sorting Hat was carried, on a stool, to the front of the room, Isa stood up straighter, and prouder. Then the hat began to sing, extolling the virtues of each of the four houses; Gryffindor, brave and bold; Ravenclaw, sharp and clever; Hufflepuff, just and loyal; Slytherin, ambitious and driven.
Since the students were called in alphabetical order, “Cole, Lea” was called before Isa. Lea threw a fleeting, nervous smile at his frind before he made his way up to the chair and sat down.
“Well, well,” murmured the hat, inside Lea's ear, “Loyal, no question, and brave too, so where to put you?” Lea smiled, nervously, fidgeting on the stool. The hat had come down over his eyes, and was squashing his hair. In his head he kept hoping and repeating, over and over, Gryffindor, Gryffindor, Gryffindor... He knew what Isa had said, about how he'd probably be in Slytherin, and the thought of being separated from him made him uncomfortable; he didn't want to be, but he also really wanted to be in Gryffindor.
“But of course,” the hat continued, as though it was unaware of Lea's silent prayers, “with that combination there really is only one choice for you and that is GRYFFINDOR.”
The hat was removed from his head, and Lea bounced off the stool, punching the air as he ran to the Gryffindor table. On his way, he caught sight of Isa, who looked crestfallen, and suddenly Lea found himself hit with a guilty pang in his stomach.
“Selwyn, Isa,” was called much later, and Isa looked pale but resolute as he made his way to the stool and sat down.
“Oh dear,” the hat said, almost sarcastically, “now this one will be tough. You have a Slytherin's pride and ambition, and a Hufflepuff's loyalty.” Isa could hear the hat murmuring, reading his thoughts as it continued, “And a lot of bravery to be willing to give up on that pride for the sake of your friend. But are you brave enough for Gryffindor?” It asked him.
“I want to be in Gryffindor. I don't care what happens,” he whispered, quietly.
“Are you quite sure?” Asked the hat, as though it was taunting him.
“Yes.”
“I think that counts as brave enough.” Isa swore he could hear a smirk in the voice before the hat shouted, “GRYFFINDOR!”
Isa slipped off the stool, trembling slightly as he made his way to the Gryffindor table. He could hear Lea whooping above the din of the other students and went to sit with him.
“You're a Gryffindor!” Lea yelled, clapping him on the back, and then throwing his arms around Isa's shoulders. He was happy enough to want to dance. It was only when he looked down to see that Isa was pale and sullen than he settled. “What's wrong?”
“My mother will kill me,” Isa replied, simply.
“Oh yeah,” Lea said, dully. “But we're together,” he said, hopefully, looking across at Isa. “That's what counts, right?”
Isa looked at his friend. He didn't want to tell him that he was only here because he'd face anything he had to, just so long as he wasn't separated from Lea, so instead he gave him a weak smile and nodded.
Lea responded by ruffling Isa's hair and then pulling him into another hug. “It'll be fine.”