A.N. It's been a month, so we decided to actually update, hehe. Lol, hope you enjoy, and happy new year!! ^-^
The next time Arthur saw Alfred that day, it was as Arthur was walking down to the great hall for dinner. Gryffindor's quidditch team, looking muddy and wind blown, was filing in through the large doors that lead to the fields. Some of them were laughing and talking excitedly as they came in.
"Did you see him after the second hour of her training?"
"Poor guy looked like he was about to collapse. I'll give him credit, he didn't even fail once."
"Not even when it started snowing!"
Arthur stopped and waited for the team to pass in front of him. Some of the team headed up to their dorm, some heading straight to the great hall, still in uniform. He was curious to who that 'poor guy' was, and what had happened.
That is, he was curious until he saw Alfred walk in, at the back of the crowd. His hair was muddy and messy, and there were bags under his eyes. His steps were slow.
"It wasn't that bad." Antonio shrugged. He was standing besides Alfred, holding two brooms, presumably his and Alfred's.
"That was the worst I've ever seen her. I think we should skip dinner, go get you changed." Matthew was standing on Alfred's other side. He looked concerned.
"No, I need to eat," Alfred said. "I need some kind of energy back." he rubbed a hand over his face, pulling off his flying goggles and taking his normal glasses from Matthews kind hand. He put them on, and then he saw Arthur. "Hey, Arthur." he greeted the green eyed boy.
"Good heavens, what did that crazy woman do to you." Arthur asked. Alfred, Antonio and Matthew stopped in front of Arthur.
"Oh, it was brutal!" Antonio cried.
"She had me do the most rigorous work out of my life." Arthur was pretty sure he had never seen Alfred look so tired.
"Including flying drills." Matthew added.
"It started snowing about half way through, then she told me to keep going." he sighed.
"Not to mention how she yelled at you. Oh man." Antonio shook his head. Elizabeta, ever since losing to Hufflepuff in her 3rd year, had been known to work the Gryffindor team like they were in military training.
"Nah, it's okay. I deserved it." Alfred turned to Antonio. "Can you take my broom up when you go to the dorms? I'm going to go eat."
Antonio smiled and nodded. "Yeah, go eat with Arthur, me and Matthew here will be down in a bit."
It was silent as Matthew and Antonio shuffled after the rest of the team, trying to catch up.
"So, am I allowed to sit by you again?" Alfred's voice turned shy.
Arthur's mouth quirked up a bit in a lopsided smile. "Yes, Alfred, you can sit by me again. Just don't fall asleep on me." he teased, and Alfred laughed. He looked so plain exhausted. The American would definitely be sore in The morning, but now his tired body only allowed hunger and a sleepy expression.
"Let's go eat before you fall asleep, you big dork." they walked into the great hall, side by side, heading towards the edge of the room, where they could sit at the end of slytherin table and not be bothered.
The food had already arrived, and conversation filled the air as they sat down. Arthur filled his plate with steak and kidney pie. He was actually feeling hungry, but when he looked over at Alfred's plate, it was surprisingly empty.
"Alfred, aren't you going to eat anything?" Alfred's eyes were half-lidded, and he yawned.
"I probably should...but I can barely lift a fork right now..." He yawned again, and leaned on Arthur's shoulder, eyes closed.
"Alfred?" Arthur shook Alfred lightly, but the American was out like a light. He furrowed his brow, wondering what to do, when he heard laughing and catcalls from the other end of the table. Francis and Gilbert were smirking.
"Get a room, Arthur!"
"You gits, Alfred's just tired!" Arthur flushed red, but Alfred was too heavy to push off, and the Slytherin didn't want to see him crack his head on the floor if he fell too far.
"Sure, if you say so." Arthur leaned a little more to get comfortable, Alfred's soft snores audible next to his ear.
When dinner was over, Arthur tried to get Alfred up without waking him, but he felt like five tons of pure muscle. He saw Matthew getting up to leave and called out to him. "Matthew, could you help me get him to your common rooms?" The Canadian walked over, but even with the two of them, they struggled getting Alfred off the bench. Matthew frowned, looked around him, and finally took a deep breath.
"Gilbert, get your lazy ass over here and help!" Arthur's eyes widened at the usually quiet blond's words, but they seemed to be effective, since the albino approached them.
Finally, Alfred was secure, and they started the long journey of lugging him up the stairs to the seventh floor.
"Ugh," Arthur groaned. "This boy is pure dead weight."
"It doesn't help that he's wearing his gear too." Gilbert whined. They were slowly making their way up the stairs, one careful step at a time.
"You only make it worse by complaining," Matthew said.
"You have it easy, you're just leading the way!" Gilbert protested, nearly shouting at the boy in front of them.
"It's not my fault you're the stronger one. You can carry him much better than I can." Matthew retaliated. Arthur watched the interaction with growing interest. He had never seen Matthew respond with such lack of hesitation or such sass.
"Maybe if you tried carrying heavy things you'd get stronger!" Matthew turned around and grinned. He honest to god grinned, and if that wasn't flirting with Gilbert, then Arthur didn't know what was. Matthew didn't grin at anyone. Arthur smirked.They managed to make it to the Gryffindor common room in one piece. Gilbert was surprisingly clumsy and Arthur had to save Alfred from falling on his face several times, but they made it.
"Alright, since I'm a Slytherin, I'm going to go. The portrait probably won't open if I'm here anyway." Arthur said. His back was hurting him from being hunched over from the added weight.
"You seem to forget I'm a Slytherin too, Arthur." Gilbert huffed. Arthur rolled his eyes.
Matthew shrugged. "Maybe if I ask nicely, she'll let you in." He turned to the portrait of the lady, who started at him. "May my friends enter?"
The lady nodded. "Password?"
"Gillyweed." The Fat Lady swung open the door and the trio, plus Alfred, clambered through the opening to the common rooms. To Arthur's surprise, there were only a few people around, and no one looked up.
Matthew laughed softly, "They probably won't notice you if you're with me." They continued up the stairs to the dorms and finally reached Alfred's bed. Gilbert decided to shift his weight so that Alfred landed unceremoniously on his bed, his head hitting the headboard with a thonk. Matthew and Arthur both looked at Gilbert, who shrugged.
"My arms were tired."
Arthur shook his head. "Well, he's probably going to have a headache when he wakes up, but at least he's in bed. It's time for me to head back to the dungeons." The three walked down the stairs to the entrance, passing by Gryffindors going to bed. This time they did get a few looks, but no one actually did anything, so they were safe.
"Make sure you don't get caught by any teachers. Or Peeves." Matthew stood just inside the door, and Arthur climbed out of the common rooms. Gilbert lingered a little longer, but Arthur gave him a hard look.
"If you get caught because you decide to stay longer I won't help you." Gilbert rolled his eyes, but he left too. Once outside the door he turned around and gave Matthew a little half-smile.
"See you tomorrow, Birdie." Arthur noticed the small smile on the Gryffindor's face and the red across his cheeks, and then the door closed.
"So," Arthur smirked, casting a side glance at his Prussian friend. They were headed to their proper common room for the slytherin house. "Matthew's pretty cute, aye?"
Gilbert started to smile softly before he caught himself. "Arthur, oh my god-"
"You do like him!" Arthur teased.
"No, I don't!" Gilbert's pale face was quickly turning red.
"You so do! I mean, come on, 'birdie'?!" Arthur laughed. Gilbert covered his face with his hands. Arthur would later recall how nice it felt to be on the opposite side of the teasing about crushes.
"Okay, so maybe I like him a little..."
Arthur smiled earnestly. "I'm happy for you. You haven't had a crush since first year. Matthew is pretty great, too, I must say."
"Yeah," Gilbert said, a dreamy look in his eyes.
"You should ask him to yule ball." Arthur suggested. "It would be a good first date,"
Gilbert seemed to be thinking. "Yeah, that would be pretty awesome! You're going, right? you have to!"
"Well, I don't know, actually." Arthur frowned slightly. They started up a staircase, Arthur distractedly running his hand up the hand rail.
"You should go. With someone. Someone awesome." Gilbert said with a tone of finality.
"We'll have to see, in due time."
"Hey!" Gilbert jumped up a few steps, turning to block Arthur's path. "You should go with Alfred, and me and you can have a double date!" Gilbert's face was lit up like a Christmas tree with excitement. Arthur could only stare up at Gilbert's face, not even trying to deny how much he would enjoy that.
"All in due time, Gilbert." Arthur brushed past Gilbert. Gilbert laughed loudly and followed after him.