The castle was beginning to get cold enough for the friends to wear coats, something Frank begrudgingly agreed to. He already felt weak due to being sorted into Hufflepuff and now the weather was forcing him to show his weakness again? Disasterous. Frank crossed his arms while standing next to Kylan during Care of Magical Creatures, his pout slightly protruding from his scarf. Kylan was hiding behind Frank while reading a muggle book he stole from a Ravenclaw sixth year. The book was rather intriguing, something about star-crossed lovers. He had finished all of the books in the Ravenclaw common room and was now craving more. Frank promised to go with him down to the library to fulfill his needs after class. The only bonus about Care of Magical Creatures was that neither Frank nor Kylan felt the need to take notes. They just memorized Hagrid's movements and gestures. They could recall an entire lesson with one hand movement reminder. Frank lost interest rather quickly, memorizing Hagrid's body language before glancing at the colony of fairies the group up front was watching. The fairies seemed more enraged than usual, the students were probably upsetting their usual lunchtime. Frank stuffed his hands in his pockets to keep warm. Frank felt pressure on his ear and swatted at it, thinking it was Kylan. He felt a tug again and cursed, turning to Kylan.
"Will you stop tugging my ear? You can just whisper if you have anything to say!" Kylan looked back up at Frank, confused, before glancing to his shoulder, eyes widening. Frank looked as well and gasped loudly. A fairy had landed on his shoulder and was standing very calmly next to his ear. A high-pitched buzzing noise echoed through Frank's eardrum causing Frank to wince slightly. He offered his hand to the fairy to which the fairy happily jumped down from his shoulder and perched.
"Well, I'll be damned!" Hagrid's rough voice sounded, pushing through the students to look at the seemingly friendly fairy. "Seems to have taken a liking to you, this one. Nice fella. Hello," Hagrid kindly waved his large hand at the mystical being causing the fairy to frown and buzz menacingly. Hagrid chuckled, unphased by the fairy's rudeness, and patted Frank harshly on the back. "The fairy's not going to leave yer side now. Might as well get comfortable. It can be your new pet." Frank's eyes widened in horror. Frank didn't want a pet! The last time he had a pet it was a pet ant and Alec stepped on it within the first ten minutes of the ant's adoption. Frank hesitantly looked down at the fairy and back up at Hagrid. Hagrid let out a jolly laugh. "Oh, don't worry! It won't leave its home. It'll fly back once you get far away, but whenever you come near it, the fairy will fly to you. Guaranteed." Hagrid turned back to the other first-years who were watching the scene in innocent wonder. "Try and befriend a fairy with a partner. Fifty points to Hufflepuff for being so quick."
Kylan and Frank sat at the base of a random tree, watching in amusement as the fairy tried to pick up a rock to throw.
"I wonder what gender it is," Frank whispered, hypnotized by the fairy tale creature. Kylan smiled lightly, his cold gaze softening as the fairy grabbed a piece of grass and played with it.
"You think it understands gender?" Frank shrugged, watching the fairy hesitantly fly to Kylan's hand before sitting. Frank had never seen Kylan act like a ten-year-old, but seeing the childish gleam in Kylan's eyes as he smiled down at the fairy made Frank's heart twirl with pride.
"Maybe not. What's a gender-neutral name?" Kylan thought for a second, genuinely wanting a perfect name for their perfect fairy.
"Alex?"
"Too common,"
"Morgana?"
"Too magical,"
"Frankie?"
"Too close to home," They both thought for another moment, letting the buzzing of the fairy assist them in their thoughts. The fairy flew onto Frank's leg and now was buzzing an entire symphony of words. Kylan suddenly clapped his hands together.
"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.