Communication Problem
The Gryffindors all thought Raphael was a quiet guy.
No, scratch that, everyone in their batch thought he was quiet.
He never talked in the great hall during the sorting feast, he just remained silent despite the fact that he was being called. He didn't even look up and just continued on with his eating like nothing was going on around him. At some point, Percy Weasley gently tapped him on the shoulder to ask him a question, he did answer, but it was vague and never complete.
He just went on with his night, ignoring everybody, even when Peeves the Poltergeist dropped a bucket to scare them while they go to their tower, he didn't once flinched. He just crossed his arms and looked up at the poltergeist with disinterest.
He was definitely different from his brothers.
The loudest among all of them has to be Michelangelo. His laughter filled the halls and his mouth ran, keeping ay conversation going no matter the topic. His fellow first years crowded around him like flies to a candlelight. His bright and sunny attitude was a breath of fresh air in the seemingly gloomy school.
The second loudest, in their opinion, had to be Donatello. He would always ask questions and theories in class, always answering the questions, giving the house of eagles a ton of points. Him and Hermione Granger have this sort of rivalry between each other. His questions often baffled their teachers.
"I noticed how muggle technology doesn't work here, may I ask why?"
"Is there a way to somehow redirect the magic in the castle into something else?"
"Is there a possibility that magic can be used as an alternative battery source?"
It never really did make sense for most of them, Professor Flitwick had to apologise to his fellow teachers for the Hamato's constant cornering after class. The other teachers seemed to not mind, but those of pureblood were just confused. Professor Snape, shockingly enough, indulged in his questions and was a big help.
Leonardo was among the quiet ones. He only spoke when spoken too, his words polite and sometimes quiet. He does answer a few questions from time to time, where his confidence truly shined. The teachers always commended him for being so polite and all in all, a good student. He can be seen talking to his brothers most of the time, keeping up with Mikey's animated ramblings and Donnie's scientific drabble. He also talked to Raph, the Gryffindor answers all the time with a small smile.
He never does that to his fellow housemates.
Raph was quiet. He can be seen up early in the common room, reading a weird picture book ("It's a comic book." Dean Thomas says. "It has drawings that tells a story." "Why doesn't it move?" Ron asks. "It just doesn't, pictures don't move in the muggle world." "Wicked..."). He was silently brooding near the open fire and despite the area being normally loud, it never once bothered him.
If someone tried calling him, he never answers.
Even in class, when he's called, he never answers, nor looks up at the teacher and would often times look like he's in his own world.
That got him into a lot of trouble, getting points reducted off because he decided to ignore the teacher.
The Gryffindors soon enough agreed that he was a rude prick. The prefect cornered him and told him off about losing points but he just stared at them and shrugged before walking away.
Their opinions changed about him... He was a complete asshole.
It was in one of their joint Potions class that they actually found out why he was being that way.
The class was silent, waiting for their Professor to arrive. Ron and Harry sat next to each other, the latter dreading the class because the teacher just seemed to loath him. At least he shared that title with Raphael, who was near the back of the class, sitting right next to his brother, Leonardo.
The two were whispering amongst each other, hands were moving in some weird way the others can't seem to understand why. The muggleborns seem to have a bit of a clue on what it is, but they can't figure it out. It was at the tip of their tongue.
The door banged open, causing some kids to jump in their seats, the other a Slytherins laughed at their reactions. Leonardo and Raphael didn't even react and continued with their little conversation, the older looking up before back at his brother.
The Potions Professor notices this, however.
"Hamato and Hamato, care to share your little chat?" He sneered.
Everyone turned to look at them. Leo can be seen elbowing his brother, who continued to do the same hand movement they did before. There was a sharp and annoyed "What?!" coming from his mouth before his brother pointed towards the teacher.
"Well?" The Professor urged on.
The Gryffindors by this point were groaning and dreading the points that they were going to inevitably lose. Since Professor Snape had a bit of a favoritism problem with his own house, they know he'll let Leo off lose. Said Hamato looked at them with sympathy and the word sorry in his mouth.
Raphael just looked up at the Professor with another one of his "I don't care" looks.
"If you answer me now, I would let you off easily." Professor Snape tried once more.
Raphael kept on staring and rolled his eyes, causing some of the Gryffindors to wince. The Slytherins were absolutely enjoying the show. The Professor narrowed his eyes at the blantlant disrespect before Raphael turns to Leonardo once more, the hand movements returning.
"You sure?" Leo asked.
Raph gives him a nod.
"If you say so."
That made Professor Snape's eyebrows quirk up.
"Raph is deaf."
That got the muggleborns of the class to look at him fully. Hermione smacked her forehead, the signs were obviously there! Of course the others wouldn't notice, as far as she knows, there probably aren't deaf people in this school. This was their first time ever even experiencing it. Harry had to now explain to Ron what he was doing with his hands. Raph was doing sign language, the language of the deaf and mute.
"He can read lips pretty well but uh..." Leo gave Raph a flat look. "Do you really want to make me say it."
Raph smirked at his older brother and made a so-so motion with his hand. Leo sighs deeply before finally relenting.
"He says he can't understand you from the way to purse your lips when you talk."
This caused an involuntary laugh to burst out from Ron, Harry quickly clapping his hand on his mouth to muffle it.
"I said something a bit meaner, but sure." Raph says, apparently proud of himself.
The potions professor scowled at the two siblings.
That ended up getting Gryffindor ten points off, five for Raph's rude comment and three for Ron's laughter and two for Harry not stopping him in the first place.
It didn't really matter though, they did get some points back because Raph genuinely didn't hear the questions given to him and some of the Gryffindors (mostly the muggleborns) apologised for what they may have said to him.
"Nah you're fine." Raph says. "My brother Donnie would fix my hearing aid eventually. Says he will 'get it in tune to the magic around us so it wouldn't explode'. I'll be hearing your nasty whiny voices once he's done."
Yeah... Raph was still rude.