They heard a multitude of things from their brother, and even if they didn't like him, they always liked listening to Hogwarts' stories, ever since Bill and Charlie started their education, nothing seemed to fascinate them more than listening to the life in Hogwarts, well, except for one thing.
"FRED AND GEORGE WEASLEY. WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" A screech reverberated from the lower part of their house.
Their love for pranks.
"Uh-oh. Looks like mum already found it." A grin showed on the redhead.
"I don't know what you are talking about, brother." And the other redhead responded to the grin in the same manner.
Every time their brothers came back from school, they would practice their 'pranks' for when they finally entered Hogwarts, of course, to test them and make sure they worked, their family members were the one who had to suffer the consequences.
Even though their target was always one of their older brothers, for some reason the youngest and their parents always seemed to fall right into them, which always brought them trouble, just like now.
A set of steps could be heard, heavier and angrier, getting closer to them, until it was too late. "YOU TWO ARE GROUNDED UNTIL SEPTEMBER WHEN YOU ARE TO LEAVE STRAIGHT TO HOGWARTS!" Their mother screeched, making them feel like they were about to go deaf.
—--------------------
"So, how did it go this year?" Asked Fred excitedly.
Charlie was about to bite into a slice of bread when he turned towards his brother. "What do you mean?"
"You know what! About Hogwarts!" George asked this time.
Charlie looked towards Bill who just chuckled at their excited brothers. "Didn't we mention it already over the winter break?"
"Mention what?!" The twins shouted while jumping up and down on their seats.
"There is this crazy boy who at the start of the year-"
"OH, HIM!" One of the twins interrupted their brother, remembering the tale, and while it wasn't particularly exciting, they found it curious, and wanted to try something like that at the beginning of their school year.
"Who are you talking about boys?" Mr Weasley said from behind as he picked up a slice of bread.
"The Lionheart boy, dad." A certain venom could be discerned from the way Percy talked about the kid.
Mr Weasley raised an eyebrow, posing a questioning look over his three oldest boys. "The one who burned the hat?"
Percy let out a disgruntled growl. "That's right, that one. I'm sure he did it on purpose to show off, well, it backfired on him."
"Now, now, from what Bill and Charlie told me, he seemed pretty out of it in that situation.
And to be honest, I knew the Lionhearts." He turned left and right, almost as if scared of something.
"His parents?!" Fred and George chimed in.
"Well, no, not personally, what I mean is that I knew of their feats ever since their Hogwarts' school years and the following after that. In fact, from what I've been told, they were one of the first to fight off-"
"Don't you dare tell them more than that, Arthur! They are too young!"
"Ah! Mum, c'mon! We are old enough." George said exasperatedly.
"No is no and that's it!"
"Yes, mum." The twins said dejectedly at the same time.
And yet, in the back of their minds, a plan was brewing.
—-----------------
"About your group of… friends, Armand. Have you thought about what we discussed over Yule?" The patriarch of the Malfoy family spoke.
Silence governed over the dining room, Armand put down his silverware with the Malfoy emblem engraved on them.
"I thought we already went over this, dad. My friends are okay, and their grades are on par with mine, we are always competing for the top stop in our year."
In the uncomfortable silence, there was the sound of someone swallowing saliva. It was Armand's younger brother, Draco, nervous for his older brother.
"Dad, I also don't understand what's wrong with Armand's friends." He spoke in an innocent tone.
An exasperated breath left Lucius' mouth before he began talking. "The problem is their lineage. I would have forgiven it if it were only the Bailey girls, even if they are in the neutral faction, at least their blood is pure, but the other two…
Avery and Burke have told me about your little altercation at the beginning of the year."
He paused for a moment before continuing.
"While I understand that the two of them are below us and you don't have to listen to them, what they told me is true, you shouldn't mingle yourself with those people.
The recklessness of those two." Lucius shook his head in a disappointing manner.
"Especially the Lionheart kid, I don't know what he is doing in Slytherin, because his behavior so far has shown that he deserves to be in nothing else but the house of those muddy lions." He spat out the last words with a tint of poison.
"And you know what I think dad, I won't stop hanging out with them, they are the first friends I made." Armand looked at Lucius defiantly, with a sharp look in his eyes.
Their stare down lasted but a moment before Narcissa interjected.
"Now dear, let's all calm down for a moment. Don't you think things would be resolved if we invited them over? Then we can see if they truly deserve to be Armand's friends." She caressed her husband while saying it.
Lucius stood quiet for a moment, until he decided to agree in the end. "Next summer break, they can come on your next summer break, but they need to show that they are indeed qualified to be Malfoy's friends."
With that, he stood up from his seat and left the dining table, leaving his wife and children to eat the rest of breakfast without him.
—-----------------------------------------
"So he had a crush on you?"
"Yeah! I don't know if he got over me or something, but it was endearing, I did tell William to tell him that I couldn't date one of my students though." A mischievous smile showed on Leah's face. William's cousin and the Professor Against the Dark Arts for the first years.
"Oh dear, don't embarrass the poor boy like that, I had a crush on one or two professors. It's completely normal at that age." Said William's mother from the side.
"Well, you didn't come over to their houses over summer vacation, so things are a bit different, don't you think?" Winked William's father.
On the other end of the table Allen was sitting with his face red as a tomato. 'Damn, they are talking as if I'm not here. But better for them to think it was a silly crush than what actually happened.'
"Don't worry mate, I'm sure they'll stop teasing you about it in a couple of days." Reassured William.
"You know, I'm surprised about something. The two of you don't seem like Slytherins at all" Said one of William's brothers as he caressed his chin.
"Wha-! What's that supposed to mean? Are we not the most ambitious and resourceful people you've ever seen?!" William stood up proudly from his chair as he puffed out his chest, showing off his emerald green robes.
It caused the whole family to burst out laughing at the scene. Allen, without even meaning to, laughed as well along them.
"Honestly, yeah, you are right." Allen wiped off a tear that came out after laughing so much. "I don't even know why I'm in Slytherin if even my name suggests that I should be in Gryffindor!"
William grinned at Allen. He knew how much of a conflict his last name caused him, but to see him now joke about it, it made him proud of his friend.
"I'm Lionheart! Not Serpentheart! Or Viperheart!"
The room roared with laughter, Allen alongside it. It was the loudest he had ever laughed since reincarnating into this world.
—----------------------
"Daddy."
"No, dear, and that's final."
"You promised me they could visit."
A tired sigh left his mouth. "Alright, your friends can come over and stay, but only if your mother approves."
"She already did, thank you daddy, I love you, bye!" Sophia hammered the words one after the other, hugging her father just as fast as she left the room.
—-----------------------------
"Dad, do you think I can stay at the main residence when my friends come over?"
The man posed his hand on top of his chin, as if debating the question in his mind. "I don't see why not." Then flashed his daughter the brightest of smiles as he hugged her.
Elsie returned the hug back to her father. "Thank you!"
"By the way, is your friend okay?"
"Which one?"
"You know, the one who turned blind for a few days, what was his name again… Ah! Lionheart! Is he alright staying with muggles? We could always invite him over until the family head agrees to your cousin's proposal of having them over again."
Elsie shook her head. "It's okay, he's staying with William, his family is also magical, and from what they told me, they are enjoying the time together." A chuckle left her mouth as she finished talking.
Her father looked at her with a warm smile as he patted her head.
"Apparently he had a crush with our Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts!"
"You don't say." Her father spoke incredulously.
"Yeah! And you haven't heard the best part, the professor is actually William's cousin, so they've been teasing Allen about it non-stop!
Hehehe."
Elsie giggled to herself and her father chuckled alongside her.
"That's what he gets." She muttered under her breath, making her father raise an eyebrow.
—---------------
"Damn redheads! What'd I ever do to them?!"
A few giggles could be heard from behind him. "You have to admit, it was funny, and nothing happened! It was just water, which you dried off in less than a minute, so no harm done." Sophia explained.
"Of course, nothing really happened, but the fact that it happened is a huge thing! You don't know how those twins are, if they see they can pull your leg they'll drag you down!"
Elsie raised an eyebrow. "But… It's their first year, how do you know them so well?"
"I've… I've heard rumours about them and their pranks these past couple of weeks, you know?
That's why I know." He quickly made up an excuse on the spot.
"Hmm, that's true. I've also heard about it in our common room." Elsie said pensively.
Shock crossed Sophia's face. "Wait, for real? I haven't heard any of that!"
Elsie nodded her head, crossing her arms. "Yeah, they've been focusing on the first years more than anything, but yes, once you are caught in the crossfire, they'll never stop bothering you.
Some of them have even asked the older students to teach them spells to fight back against them, but it's not like they have done an incredible feat of magic or anything like that. It's just some prank toys."
"Hmm, hmm." Allen and Sophia nodded along to Elsie's explanation, listening intently.
"Then, what are you going to do?"
A few seconds passed before he answered. "More like, what can I do? I don't want to scare them for life if I use my eyes and for some reason I feel like if I did use my eyes on them, it would only end up worse for me." Allen shivered at the thought of the Weasley twins hounding him for the rest of his time at Hogwarts for an explanation regarding his bloodline magic.
"Well, let's leave it like that for now, and if they do something, then I'll send a curse their way or something." He shrugged.
Sophia and Elsie looked at each other, shrugging their shoulders. "If you say so."
"So, about Defense Against the Darks Arts, what do you think about the new professor?"
"Hmm? I think he's alright… A bit crazy if nothing." Allen pondered for a bit about it. Their professor was an old man with a beard so long it reached his feet. One eye always looked in the opposite direction of the other and all he wore were old dusty robes.
To be honest, he seemed like a senile old man from the streets, but he was competent in the field, apparently the reason why he got the position is because he's an old friend of Professor Dumbledore and used to travel around Europe to fight dark creatures.
'I don't want to know anything about the defense professors for a while, at least until they stop teasing me about Professor Baker.' Allen thought as he massaged his brow.