"Somethings wrong, he's changed, it's like he doesn't even see us anymore" Arthur heard someone cry, his sight muffled by another persons body. The blond suddenly felt his cheeks wet with tears as a sob left his system, all he wanted to do was cry.

"Art, there's no need to cry you've got us here, we love you" the same person who was cradling him close declared as he ran his hands through Artie's blond locks.

"Brother, what's happened to Allistor, why's he hurtin' us?" Artie gurgled his small voice startling the older two. Dylan (Wales) flinched considerably while Conner (Northern Ireland) just looked lost for a moment, his eyes gleaming with unshed tears.

They turned to have a silent conversation, while Arthur clutched Dylan close, his body trying to curl into the older boys.

"I don't want to leave you two, but I'm afraid that I no longer have a choice" Conner sighed, before he kneeled down to caress the small boys face. Artie didn't want to turn around. He didn't want to let go of his brother. He didn't want to see his face as he told him that it was his turn to disappear.

"I can't, w'en I turn awound you'll tell mwe that you're leavin'!" Artie sobbed as he pressed his face into Dylan's chest. Conner smiled sorrow overtaking his features as he startled to ruffle his little brothers hair. Arthur slowly looked around, his eyes filled with tears while Dylan's clothes were drenched.

"I love you so much, so no matter what happens now, I want you to remember me like this, right now, promise?" Conner asked his voice shaky as he held out a pinky finger to the baby Kirkland. Dylan's fist clenched as he looked at his brother.

"Why do you have to leave us too, wasn't Scottie enough?" The Welsh boy cried out, not wanting to let the other out of his sight.

"Ha, you better not let Allistor hear you calling him Scottie nowadays" the oldest laughed as he pulled the two boys into a hug. Arthur felt the warmth that his brother produced as they sat huddled in the mansion basement. Cold echoed around them as the three boys sat together cherishing their final moments together.

"Conner, please we can escape right now, we'll go and leave this place forever" Dylan pleaded, the body shivering in fear, as the minutes ticked by. Conner looked taken aback for a moment before he placed a comforting hand on his brothers shoulder.

"He'd kill us before we left the house, and I can't put you two in that much danger" the eldest moaned. Arthur looked terrified for a brief moment.

"But big bwother would leave wus here awone" the four year old muttered out his reply, not wanting to anger the eldest and make him hate him like Allistor already did.

"Oh, Arthur I can't I'm sorry, I don't want to leave you, I don't want to" the other muffled his cries into his jacket allowing himself a moment to panic in front of the two onlookers. Conner's continuous sobbing made Arthur's heart swell up in worry for the other.

"Big bwother will wove his bwothers forevwer?" The latter questioned as he patted the formers head. Conner went silent for a moment, his startled eyes leaving his hands to let his eyes meet up with the youngest.

"Yes, forever and ever" the Irishman told them, his hands reaching out to take one of each of theirs.

"Dylan I want you to look after Arthur now, he's our little brother and for that we must keep him safe from Allistor, and from now on, me..." Conner trailed off, his words sounding forced and horrified. Dylan's eyes widened before he nodded violently. "I will, I'll keep him safe for you, I won't let Scottie hurt him ever" the Welsh boy announced, as he pulled Artie back into his arms.

The second oldest out of the Kirkland brothers puffed out his stomach in pride as he looked at the youngest pair in the family. He looked relieved at the third oldest's answer and smiled at them both for a moment taking in their features. Dylan's hair was slightly tinted red, like Allistor's and his eyes were the same emerald green colour that they were known for having as a family. He noticed that the Welsh boys eyes had a hint of blue in them that made them almost turquoise, he suddenly found himself smiling at how beautiful the younger brother was. His hair was long like his own, the front styled to be slightly longer than the back, just like Arthurs was.

"You're going to have to cut Artie's hair from now on, lets go with a shorter hair style" the boy laughed as he ruffled the baby's blond locks. Artie was different from the other brothers, his hair was a lovely dirty blond colour, and his eyes were as vibrant as the forest in sunlight. Soft but breathtaking was how to describe his features and Arthurs heart, well even at the age of four, Conner knew that it was pure enough to withstand any evil.

"Blow us all away little brother" the Irishman whispered to the child before the group felt a familiar presence invade their senses.

"It's time, lets go" The Scottish teen bellowed, his eyes like stone and he glared at them.

"I love you, remember me, remember me, I love you" Conner cried as he felt the red-head pull him away from them, a wand at his throat. Arthur screamed, his hand reaching out to grab his brother but being held onto to Dylan who was clutching onto the four year old while rocking him back and forth.

"I'm sorry Art, we can't do anything, I'm sorry" Dylan hummed, his body shaking furiously. The two flinched and gasped as a pained scream came from upstairs.

"Conner" Arthur yelped as he noticed who the voice belonged too.

The pair remained embracing, holding their hands over the others ears as loud screams of agony poured down to the basement.

Arthur almost screamed as awoke from the nightmare. Luckily, he was trained to not make any noise when he was in pain, because he was sure that he would have woken up the other three boys who were peacefully sleeping in the dorm. The Brit looked down to see Kiku spread across his chest, the ravens hair was spread out on his body. The rest of the Japanese boys body was snuggled close with one of his arms around Artie's waist.

"You're so cute" Arthur mumbled as he combed the ravens soft hair out of the way, smiling softly at the boy who loved him so much.

"Don't say embarrassing things, Arthur" Kiku spoke shocking the blond, as the ravens eyes were still closed. He leaned up for a moment, rubbing his eyes to make them adjust to the light.

"Sorry, did I wake you up Kiki?" The green-eyed boy teased as he watched the Japanese boy stretch with a fond look etched onto his face.

"Don't call me Kiki, and it doesn't matter" Kiku assured the other as the Brit frowned momentarily. Kiku observed Arthur for a moment, the other boy was shaking lightly but expertly keeping it under control in order to look put together in front of his friend.

"Was it Conner and Allistor or Dylan?" Honda sighed as he looked at Artie expectantly, the taller of the two just shook his head for a moment as if to rid the memory from his brain.

"Conner..." he muttered ashamed to admit that the nightmares still hadn't left his mind in all the time since he'd known Kiku.

"It's okay, maybe you just miss him, I know that it doesn't count but it's still his face" his friend reasoned as he carefully watched Arties reaction to his answer.

"Perhaps, but then I've been missing him for a good seven years now" Arthur laughed bitterly, biting his lip in order to stop himself from letting out the cry that was desperately trying to escape his body.

"How about we try this spell that allows these little lights to form memories of people and things, the images are a little different from the real thing but you'll get to see them again, for a moment?" Kiku Honda asked his kindness making Arthur be taken aback for a moment. Arthur looked at the bed for a moment his heart pounding in his chest at the idea of seeing them again.

"You'd look at them with me, even after what they did?" Art asked his confusion making Kiku grin at him.

"Yes, because they didn't hurt me, the monsters that they are now did, those brothers that you loved, I love too" Honda laughed, his arms reaching out to hold the shocked British boy. Mattie moved to watch the pair, not wanting to let them know they had woken him up, he quickly looked at his own brother when he heard a faint noise pour from the body next to him. Alfred gave him a glance that only Mattie could understand before they got up from their bed almost silently and walked over to the other two. "Can we watch too?" Alfred asked making Arthur flinch as he looked at the twins.

"We want to know them too, because we want you to trust us, Kiku we want you to be able to tell us your past too" Mattie carefully explained his voice soft and caring. The Kirkland looked bewildered for a moment before an adoring smile managed to find its way onto his lips.

"I'd love to watch with you, Kiku what's the spell?" Artie asked the silent boy who cast the spell softly onto Arthur who laughed at the tickling sensation that the spell was causing him. Before they knew it hundreds of little lights had formed around them, almost firefly-like in size and colour, they lit up into pictures. Their colours adjusted according to the image that Arthur wanted to see. The British boy thought about Conner and Dylan, or more importantly, their kind gazes as he brought them flowers during a Quiddich match that he could barely recall.

As the image of a brunet with startlingly bright emerald eyes lit up in front of them, Mattie couldn't help but admire how beautiful the boy was. He looked around twelve, and his smile was one of the most breathtaking things that the Canadian had ever actually encountered. Alfred watched in amusement as the lights danced across their vision, he really wanted to reach out and grab the lights.

Somehow he managed to break out of the transfixed state the spell had put him in to look at the others. Mattie was filled with joy at the image of the brunet, while Arthur had an expression that he couldn't quite place. Kiku was watching with interest but turned to meet his eyes when he noticed that he wasn't the only one who was looking at the others. In the corner of his eyes Alfred saw that the picture had changed to another person all together.

This boy was older and had slightly curly red hair and a smile that told him that he truly cared about whoever he was looking at. The picture suddenly came to life in front of him as the person seemed to be laughing as the image almost zoomed out in order to show two dancing males and a small blond boy clapping along. The whole family looked overjoyed with whatever had happened, with a light red-haired boy and the same brunet as before absorbed in the dance.

The tiny blond boy was giggling as he clapped, and the older red-head ran over and picked him up, before cradling him in a dance as well. From what Alfred could tell, the song must have changed because the eldest and youngest were slowly rocking and spinning.

The brunet boy began to bow to the other and held out his hand while the other faked a blush and fanned himself before grabbing his hand. Their bodies were pressed together as they started to waltz. The dancers stopped momentarily to laugh uncontrollably, including the smallest Kirkland who was looking at his brothers as if they were princes.

"Wait this memory..." Kiku muttered aloud as Arthur grasped his hand without looking, Honda grinned without thinking.

"My third birthday, I will always remember it" he laughed slightly as he saw the Japanese boy tense up as if he was remembering something bad. Artie squeezed his hand reassuringly before looking to the lights again. The picture seemed to allow a new person to enter. A tiny boy who was toddling away from his family, who seemed to be quite chaotic as they wondered away without realising.

"Allistor" Arthur stated as he pointed to the video-like lights, it was the elder of the group he gestured to.

"That's Conner" he then said, motioning to the brunet. "And the other is Dylan..." Arthur trailed off. The twins turned back to the picture in front of them, now understanding who was who. Allistor- as he now knew him- moved to lift the babbling child smiling kindly at the baby. He seemed to say something to the others before the tiny blond ran up to him and inspected the baby before motioning to where the family had disappeared to.

They seemed to chase after someone with long hair that reached his shoulders, and another two boys, one was tiny like Arthur with raven hair and the other was taller and giddy. It was easy to tell that they had left the toddler because of the overly-excited Korean boy who was now being told off by an older person. Conner's lips moved, making the long-hired boy turn around quickly.

He seemed shocked for a moment before bowing low. The little raven almost seemed to copy his movements and also ended up bowing to the Kirkland's who blushed and rubbed their necks.

The long-haired boy smiled coyly, his hands reaching out to take the babbling baby. Arthur ran over to the baby once more, asking the older one a question before the Asian man smiled and moved the child down for the blond to kiss the two year old on the cheek.

"Yao, Leon and Yong Soo" Kiku stated pointing to the people in order of how he was saying them. Mattie's eyes widened in realisation as he looked towards the Japanese boy.

"So the little boy is you, and others are your own brothers?" The smaller twin asked, getting a nod from Honda as a way of saying 'yes'. Alfred chuckled, before watching the images again. Yao patted Arthurs head as he moved away from the baby.

The child seemed to speak to the Chinese man before Yao blushed darkly. Allistor had gone bright red too, as the boy looked up with an expectant expression. The Scottish man held out his hand and bowed asking for something that Alfred thought was a dance. Yao laughed but decided to join in, allowing Allistor to place his hands accordingly before starting to move into a dance. Baby Arthur held out his own hand to the little Kiku and the toddlers began to dance sloppily, falling down every couple of seconds but giggling and getting back up.

The two other brothers had chosen someone to dance with, Dylan with Yong Soo and Conner rocking the baby Leon. Mattie stated to giggle at the adorable memory that was playing out in front of him. He noticed that Kiku and Arthur were absorbed in the memory with lost looks on their faces. Mattie smiled at them, before reaching out a hand to grasp their already entwined ones.

"Your past is beautiful Arthur" the younger twin told him, his heart pounding at the look in the others eyes. Alfred watched in fascination as the Japanese and British boy shook away the lights on that were creating the images in front of them.

"Eh, wait, why'd you do that?" The Canadian asked, worry laced into his voice. The two others laughed before pointing to the clock. "One it's time for school and two, because the rest of what happened that day is another tale altogether" Honda sighed, his heart falling at the idea of going into a class this early in the morning. "Don't sulk, it will be good to get some lessons into us, I've never been to school before so this is all new to me" Arthur chuckled, making the three boys turn and give him looks that screamed 'pity'.

"Get dressed dude, today is going to be painful for ya'" Alfred groaned as he lifted off his top in front of Artie, who blushed and looked away. The twins were suddenly not shy as they started getting changed in front of the other two. Kiku was blushing and looking at his feet before running into the bathroom. Five minuets later, he emerged fully dressed and composed to see that Artie and the twins were also dressed and ready to go.

"Lets go, Artie stay close" the Canadian muttered as he left the dorm holding onto his brothers hand. Arthur had probably never felt quite as afraid as he had been the moment he entered the Gryffindor common room. All eyes turned to them, some of them burning with fury and others sparked with curiosity. Either way, Arthur didn't want them looking at him, with their stares came the reminder that he would never be able to fully escape his family's reputation and would forever be infamous.

"Hey Arthur, why don't we go and get some breakfast before out first lesson" Kiku offered, his hand reaching out to grab the other eleven year olds. A blast of murmurs filled the room some of the people 'whispering' were certainly not subtle as Arthur squirmed at the attention.

"Don't be afraid, we won't let anyone hurt you" Mattie smiled lightly at his own declaration, his eyes shining with kindness and trust. Artie took a moment to think about what the boy had just told him and realised that he was more frightened to how others would treat Matthew then how they would treat him...

'Matthew Williams-Jones you are so special' he thought to himself as he allowed the sweet words to lull himself into following them, the addition of Kiku's reassuring hand was also helpful.

Arthur thought it was strange that Alfred was not shunned for speaking openly to him, in fact in the ten minuets they had been out of their dorm, he'd already managed to make a ton of friends. Mattie laughed quietly at how his brother had decided to become Arthur's very own personal campaign manager into making everyone at the school know that he wasn't like his brothers. The boy practically yelled it at the people who eyed the green-eyed boy wearily.

"He's really going all out isn't he?" Arthur whispered cautiously to Matthew who giggled in response to the boys question.

"I think he really wants people to like you, if everyone knows that you're good then their less likely to hate you" The purple-eyed one replied, patting the Kirkland in encouragement. Kiku didn't comment, though he seemed amused by the situation as he silently watched his best-friend squirm.

"Don't enjoy this" Artie muttered turning to the raven who couldn't help the smirk that fell onto his face as he was caught watching the boy.

Arthur groaned at the boy who was still clutching his hand with all his might. Although Alfred was certainly helping, many of the children who lined the corridors would still look at him as if he was a demon. They would snarl as he walked past and many glared at him as if he'd just kicked their puppy. All in all, Arthur believed that the day was going quite well, even if it had only just began.

Mattie was comfortable just observing the way that Artie reacted to the constant string of insults, rumours and discrimination that almost everyone in the room was showing to Arthur. He noticed the small twitches in the boys face as people glared at him and the soft look of understanding he constantly held in his eyes. Mattie realised that he respected the youngest Kirkland brother more than he thought that he ever could respect someone with the boys background. Even in times of turmoil and cruelty the eleven year old stood tall, and yet still held no grudges towards those who knew nothing of him but a name.

Their first class was something called 'defence against the dark arts' and from the title alone Arthur knew two things that would definitely occur. The first was that he would be the top student in this particular subject.

With his background and large array of knowledge, it was clear that he could already defend himself against almost any dark spell that came his way. The second was the crippling anxiety that was forming, because Arthur knew that the teachers would take his opportunity to tell the class about his family and more than anything, they would stress to Arthur the importance of not hurting anyone.

From the title alone, Arthur could tell these things, it was the same way as you look at a pen and know it was for writing, it was an instinct that he'd learned overtime. He eyed the three students next to him and hoped to god that at least one of his friends would also he in that class. Arthur looked down at the slip of paper that held his timetable and leaned towards Kiku in order to show him what was on it.

The boy simply nodded before allowing his own timetable to appear in front of him.

Kiku let out a sigh as he noticed that they were in practically the same lessons for everything par three subjects. Matthew quickly joined them and looked at the timetables frowning slightly at the fact that he only had four lessons with Arthur and only five with Kiku.

The Canadians first lesson was 'transfiguration' and Arthur would be the first to admit that the class sounded as if it would be boring. He gave his best-friend a shaky smile before looking at the room number and setting off to find where they were supposed to be.

"Good morning class, I am professor Romulus and I am the defence against the dark arts teacher at Hogwarts" A man introduced as they were walking into the lesson, he simply pointed at two seats in the back of the classroom before moving to greet the next students that entered the room.

The students soon flittered into the classroom where Kiku and Arthur were seated, each of them having a unique reaction to the pair. The same typical responses seemed to occur with added small twists to their expressions or hurtful words they would spit out. Artie continued to ignore them along with the raven, they didn't want to start a fight on their first day at the school, even if everyone else seemed to be aiming for it.

"Well, I'm done with that now, welcome to my class" Professor Romulus declared as he walked to the front of the classroom.

"In this class you will learn to defend yourself against evil or dark wizards, any questions?" Romulus asked, his expression being void of any emotion as he spoke to the class. A couple of hands shot up across the room making the man groan slightly before addressing the kids. He nodded to one of the eleven year olds in the front row making their lips turn into a sly smirk.

"Are we learning to defend ourselves against the murderer in the back of the room?" The kid asked, his entire demeanour screamed Slytherin making the teacher grumble.

"Oh yeah, first of all, this class isn't about killing people, and hurting others is not what this class is about" the teacher spoke out seemingly remembering something that he had been told. Arthur patted himself of the back in his mind, thankful that the teacher wasn't just looking straight at him during his little declaration. Kiku on the other hand looked less than impressed at the fact that the teacher had been told to say that when in the presence of Artie.

"And murderer huh, well lets check that" Professor Romulus grinned, his smile making the class feel monumentally uncomfortable.

"Well, I can't check whether someone actually killed someone, lately a spell to show whether someone had used one of the unforgivable curses has been created" the teacher told the class, that was now deadly silent. Some of the kids looked confused, searching the room with their eyes in order to locate another student who didn't know what the 'unforgivable curses' were.

Romulus looked at Arthur for a moment, his expression tortured, he seemed to grimace as he looked at Artie making the youngest Kirkland wonder what he had done to the man. The teacher quickly cast a spell that the students couldn't quite make out.

Suddenly, Romulus stood up, as if it was against his own will, as did two other people in the class. Arthur felt his body being controlled as he was forced out of his seat, the other students glared at him knowingly as he realised what the spell was for.

Across from him, Kiku had also been forced up out of his seat. Arthur felt guilty that the other boy was put into the position of being shown to have cast an unforgivable curse in front of the class. It was because of him after all...

"Hmm, so Arthur, Kiku and I have all cast an unforgivable curse" the teacher hummed, as the spell wore off. Arthur refused to speak to the teacher for the rest of class. Luckily for him the teacher seemed to hate him, though he couldn't quite think of why the man would dislike him.

Well, he could think of one reason, but he didn't believe that the teachers would be prejudice towards him too. Kiku had seemed to go on speech strike after the man had cast the spell, though Arthur could tell that this was probably because he was being forced to re-live some horrid memories.

When the class ended, Arthur noted that he'd learned nothing that he didn't already know from his brutal lessons from his brothers. Kiku still seemed out of it as he approached him, a sad smile etched onto his face.

"Kiku do you want to skip the rest of the classes, I don't think that you're going to be able to concentrate and I would rather just stay with you" Arthur convinced the raven, who gave him a deadpanned nod before moving close to the other, ignoring personal space.

"I know, it's okay Kiku, it's okay he had no right to cast that bloody spell" Arthur grumbled, nuzzling the smaller boys neck with a worried expression on his face. The two of them decided that their dorm was probably the best place to hide out for the rest of the day as they walked towards their room.

"Arthur, am I a bad person?" The Japanese boy asked, earning a shocked gasp from the blond. "No, you are definitely not a bad person, if you are bad then I'm evil damn it" the Brit decided his anger getting the better of him. His best-friend was one of the kindest, level-headed people of all time and he deserved so much better than this.

"What happened that day was not your fault and you should never doubt that, I was there remember?" Arthur told the other, his body shaking with anger at the fact that Kiku even considered the idea that he was a bad person.

The raven smiled softly, hurt shining in his eyes still.

Artie gazed at him for a moment, he could usually tell when the other was sad after knowing him for so long, yet this was something that he couldn't just soothe away with kind words. No, unfortunately Arthur knew from personal experience that this was something that Kiku was going to have to deal with alone and learn from his own consciousness.

"I think we're going to get into trouble for skipping but who cares?" Arthur giggled, holding his friend close in order to comfort him better. The other male, gave him a look that said 'sorry' making Arthur chuckle at the cuteness of his friend.

"Don't be, I hated that first lesson, bloody hell I can't even imagine more of this" the Brit sighed rubbing his head as if to relieve himself of the pain of learning. Kiku was trying not to giggle at his friend, who was both lucky and unlucky for the fact that he had never attended a real school before.

Arthur was just taught spells by his brothers who would beat him or curse him if he didn't manage to cast the spell correctly. The raven's face fell as he remembered all the times that he had to patch up his friends back and torso from the amount of bruises and wounds that he would get from them. At first he thought that the male was insane if he believed that going back to the house and getting hurt was helping anyone.

Then he learned about Lovino and realised that his friend was trying to protect the others who were being hurt by quietly waiting until there was a way to break them out, and then going for it. After that, Kiku had learned that the Brit was much more than another evil Kirkland. Artie moved to snuggle closer to his friend as if he knew exactly what the other was thinking about. Kiku laughed as his hair tickled his neck.

"You're my angel Kiku, so you can't be bad" Artie muttered, placing a small kiss to the Japanese boys head. Kiku smiled in joy, wanting to tell the other that in comparison to Arthur he was nothing.

Arthur chuckled at the sweet expression on the polite boys face, still Arthur Kirkland had never gotten over the fact that he was not the first of the group to kill another, no, that was Honda Kiku.