The Four Houses

Six

"Finley!" He announced. "We can call it Finn. Finley, Finn, Ley. There are so many nicknames!" The fairy buzzed happily at its new name and Frank just shrugged. The name was already decided. By the time class ended, the library was completely out of the two boys' minds as they watched their beautiful Finn frolic in the grass. The two boys were on their stomachs, giggling and floating leaves and flowers over the fairy to gauge a reaction. Of course, the fairy could fly, but the two boys observed that Finn was a rather lazy flier and would only fly when it was a life or death situation. Or when Finn saw a worm. Hagrid watched the two boys play with unbridled amusement. Hagrid had never had such brilliant students in his class before. Of course, Harry on the Hippogriff was astounding, but first years playing so well with fairies was on an entirely different level. For as many years as he had been at Hogwarts, he had never seen first years excel so quickly. He glanced up at the sky. The boys had around thirty more minutes until the next class so Hagrid let them be. 

Twenty minutes later and the boys were saying goodbye to Finn. They were already cutting it close by wasting forty seconds on getting Finn a new crown to show off to their fairy friends. Kylan carefully made a small flower crown before delicately putting it atop Finn's head. Finn had buzzed happily and immediately went to go brag to his friends. The next class was potions, which they both collectively hated, so the two prolonged their goodbyes with Finn for a little longer. The two then rushed to potions to escape detention.

Frank and Kylan were terrible at potions. There were moments when pure luck guided the way to their success and in those moments Professor Snape, or Sevvy as Frank called him, would be glaring at the pair, intent to catch them in a mistake. It wasn't that Severus hated the pair. Quite the opposite. He was thoroughly unbiased towards the two boys and wanted nothing more than to ignore them as he did with all of the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuffs. But when the two boys were with Clara and Alec, his mind ran wild. Especially when Frank would refer to him as Sevvy. It reminded Severus of his past, of the four boys who tormented him because of the girl he still loved even after death. So whenever he saw Frank laughing at something he said or Kylan rolling his eyes and putting the ingredients half-heartedly into the potion of the day, Snape felt his heart harden and his gaze grew cold. 

Today was no different. The class was challenged to make a Wiggenweld Potion, much to their discouragement, and after gathering up the needed materials, the students all sat by their cauldron and followed the recipe exactly. Except for Frank and Kylan, who were too busy discussing Finn to realize that they were doing anything wrong. Well, Frank was doing something wrong, Kylan wasn't even trying. 

"Is the potion supposed to be purple right now?" Frank asked, glancing into the concoction with worry. Kylan glanced in, uninterested.

"How much salamander blood have you added in?"

"This is the third round," 

"Must've heated it up too much." Kylan glanced up from his book momentarily and waved his wand. The potion quickly turned to the correct indigo color and Frank whispered a light thank you. A first-year Ravenclaw saw what Kylan did and, out of jealousy, raised her hand.

"Professor, Kylan used magic to fix his mistake!" Both Frank and Kylan glared at the girl who gave them a tight-lipped smile while raising her eyebrows. Frank and Kylan exchanged worried glances as Snape peered over their cauldron, eyebrows raised.

"Did you?" Frank shook his head while Kylan shrugged, maintaining could eye contact with Snape. What could he do? Sue them for correcting their potion? Snape almost looked away for a moment before collecting himself. "I asked you a question Mr. Peters, Mr. Rashier." The class grew quiet as Kylan's gaze grew colder.

"Just a simple wand wave sir. Don't worry, the potion is just fine." Kylan was taught, although debatably violently, to always be polite to those older than him. Who knew what power they would have over his life. His cheeks still hurt from his mother's lectures. Snape raised his eyebrow and peered back into the cauldron, his disappointment gone and interest booming.

"What spell did you use?" Snape asked, genuinely curious about the boy's powers. He would have to consult Dumbledore after classes. Frank glanced worriedly between the two and Kylan shrugged, unsure of whether they were in trouble or not.

"I just waved my wand and thought about cooling the potion. It happened. May we get back to work, sir?" Snape hesitantly nodded, turning away as the two boys sent the flabbergasted Ravenclaw a harsh glare before Kylan went back to reading and Frank went back to adding the salamander blood more carefully. Snape watched them with great intensity until the end of class, noting how fast Kylan was reading and how precise Frank was being. Occasionally, Frank would cast a worried glance in Snape's direction before widening his eyes and looking away.

"I think you broke him, mate," Frank whispered, not daring to look up again in fear of making eye contact with the devil. 

"Really?" Drawled Kylan, flipping the page. 

"He hasn't looked away from us!" Kylan's cold gaze looked up to Snape who quickly looked away. The ten-year-old boy was intimidating, even Snape was scared. Frank had finally finished the potion. Raising his hand, he put off the fire and ladled some of the potion into a container for Snape to check. The potion was flawless, absolutely flawless. It almost beat Clara's hard work. Snape gave them a tight-lipped nod of approval and the two friends ran out of the potions, ready to tell the other two everything.