Chapter 1
His mother and father are fighting again.
It was so out of character for them and Tsunayoshi Sawada couldn't help but watch from the staircase, wondering what was going on. They spoke in a language he didn't understand but felt like he recognized from somewhere, but that wasn't his concern.
His mother would throw her hands up in the air, burst into tears, and then begin to shout. His father, inevitably, would hug her and they'd sit in silence and Tsunayoshi would feel like his father was watching him.
He didn't understand the full implications of what was going on. He was only a child. He just knew the situation gave him stomach pains and made him too nervous to sleep.
It took three weeks for them to admit to their impeding divorce.
"A ringo is a…"
"A-apple…"
"Right!" Nana clapped. They were practicing his English on the plane to England. Currently, they were on the food section of the English course book.
He felt like it'd take him forever to learn how to talk in full sentences, but he had to—-he didn't want to be made fun of or deal with getting lost with no one able to help him.
Tsunayoshi didn't like that they were moving to England, but his mother apparently had friends and family living there. She grew up here, she said, here in Spinner's End.
Tsuna never knew that. He apparently didn't know a lot of things about his mother. He didn't even know she was unhappy with Iemitsu, with the way she smiled all the time.
His mother was a practiced liar. That made learning English easier to stomach—-at least he wasn't dealing with what she must go through, having to lie all the time. He could at least try to learn English for her sake.
"Ah, look, Tsuna!" She pointed out the window of the plane and Tsuna leaned over. It was pretty foggy and despite that, Tsunayoshi couldn't help but noticed the nearly identical houses at the floor of the earth. "We're almost there, Tsuna!"
"Yay." He said, exhaling a breath. Don't get him wrong, he was genuinely excited…to get off the plane. He almost wanted to puke by this point and he was so tired of practicing English.
His mothers gaze on him softened. "Tsuna," She started, then seemed to think better of something, only to shake her head and start over. She smiled at him. "Tsuna, we'll be happy here."
He wondered if he was ever happy in Namimori.
Maybe not.
He smiled back after thinking about it.
He was not going to be happy here.
In fact, he was going to die here.
He stared up at the man in front of him, shivering at the sight of his cold gaze. He was an ominous looking man, with pale skin and dark hair and kinda gross teeth, to be honest.
He was glaring down at Tsuna like he was a particularly nasty bug.
"Sevvy!' Nana said, dropping her bags at the sight of the man standing at their doorsteps. Tsuna's head jerked towards her, then back at the man who she was now running towards.
'Sevvy' looked like he was used to the nickname, sighing and then accepting the hug. He did not seem to make any movements to reciprocate, however.
"Nana." He said, surprising Tsuna with the softness in his voice. "A…pleasure to see you after all these years."
But then he glared at Tsuna again.
"This is the boy?"
"My son!" She beamed up at him. "Tsuna, come introduce yourself! This is Severus Snape, a friend of mine.'
There was a silence as Tsuna tried to come up with an introduction. He stuttered over his words and Nana looked patient, but Severus looked increasingly annoyed.
"Why aren't you using a translation charm?"
Nana blinked and Tsunayoshi looked at him with confusion.
"Oh. Right." She rubbed her head. "You know I don't know how to use…y'know."
"Y'know?" Severus repeated back with careful pronunciation, staring her in the eyes. After a moment, he froze as if he had found what he was looking for, then he looked back at Tsuna. "He doesn't…Iemitsu didn't tell him."
Tsuna frowned at the mention of his father. Nana didn't look as happy as she was moments earlier.
"No." Nana said, shaking her head. "He thought it'd be better to be out of the loop, since he might not able to do it either. I agreed, but…" She trailed off. "That man….he….." She whispered into his ear.
"He confirmed it."
"Yes." She nodded.
"Mama, what are you talking about?" He pulled on her skirt. "It's rude to talk to people about others, remember? You said that last week."
Nana laughed and Severus frowned at him, then looked back and forth down the street. "Let's take this inside. But first…"
He brought out a stick, of all things, and then waved it.
At first it was like nothing happened, but then Severus spoke.
"Welcome to Spinner's End, Sawada." He said which made Tsunayoshi jump. He was now speaking in Japanese but with a slight accent.
"You didn't say you could speak Japanese!'
"I don't."
Magic was real and his father and mother kept it secret.
It had to be true, because Severus Snape just transformed one of their boxes into a bunny rabbit.
"I'm a squib, you see." She explained, crying into her handkerchief. "We thought you were too. We didn't…we didn't want you to grow up missing out on a childhood you couldn't have."
"And then that man finally met you." Severus said, as if that explained everything. "He confirmed it. You're a wizard."
Who was this man they were talking about? He asked. They didn't answer, looking at each other with the expression of an adult that thought they knew better.
So Tsunayoshi didn't ask further questions.
He was a wizard and yet his daily life was ordinary as it could be.
Nana didn't know magic. Severus Snape occasionally came to visit, but only during summers and he barely used magic in his presence anyway.
Sometimes, a relative he never knew existed, who had a weird name even with the charm, came to visit with her grandson who introduced himself with the offering of a houseplant that was small and tiny like they were.
Tsunayoshi accidentally killed it in a week. Neville accepted his apologies, giving him a book on how to care for houseplants, but Tsuna never did anything with it.
He felt bad about it, but he just wasn't good with plants. He wasn't good with much of anything, really.
Tsuna laid back on his bed, staring at the ceiling, wondering when his life would be better. He was just so bored.
He turned on his side. He stared at his poster of a robot. He wished he could be a robot. Maybe shoot rockets out of his hands, or something. That'd be cooler than magic he couldn't even use.
Then the door slammed open and Tsunayoshi jumped, falling off the bed.
"Tsuna!" Nana screamed, waving an envelope around. "You're eleven!"
"Yes?!" He screamed back, clutching at his blanket. His eyes were wide at the sight of his frazzled mother.
"H-Hogwarts!" She said incomprehensibly. "You're going to Hogwarts! You're a wizard, Tsuna!"
Ah.
He remembered the name. Snape mentioned it once. It was his place of work. He rarely talked about it and seemed bitter about it, even.
The implications of it all made him shoot up off the floor.
"You mean I can use magic, now?"
Nana nodded, eyes full of tears. "I'm so proud of you, Tsuna!" She ran over and hugged him. "You're going to be so great at magic, I know it."
Tsuna accepted the hug, not even embarrassed about it this time.
Maybe he'd be good at one thing.
Even if he didn't know how to do math, or draw, or do sports, he could try and do magic.
It was a new beginning.