ACT I
1989
ALEX BROWN did not want to get up this morning at all no matter what anybody was thinking. It was a dull drab day in Hogwarts Witchcraft and Wizardry and all Alex wanted to do was go to bed no matter what.
From what he could hear from the Gryffindor table were the "marauders" making a riot like they always did. Alex could already feel the pounding headache that was beating sporadically in his head. He lifted up his head from the book he hadn't read two words and his eyes swept across the hall.
He made eye-contact with Regulus Black and he looked as tired as he felt. Regulus and Alex became unlikely friends in their second year and stayed friends ever since. It was an interesting friendship but the two made it work with the others in their group.
The Ravenclaw table was quiet with everyone keeping to themselves and their books. Nobody bothered Alex and it was peaceful. Alex took a quick look at his watch and realized that he had Transfiguration in 10 minutes. He did NOT want to deal with an irate Mcgonagall.
He swept his eye over his plate of uneaten food and thought, "I'm not in the mood" and left it lying there.
He had Transfiguration with the fifth years as well as every other class that he had. Alex was actually brought up a year after his "stellar grades" were shown as well as his "impressive magical prowess" according to Professor Filtwick. Alex didn't see the need to be put a year up but that's apparently what happened.
One of his saving graces was that Ravenclaws didn't share many classes with the Gryffindors. The only classes that were shared with the Gryff’s were Astronomy and Potions which were alright with Alex. The less classes together the better in his opinion.
Nobody really paid attention to Alex and that was the way he liked it. Nobody paying attention to him meant that he could do what he needed to do. He walked fast to the classroom that he already memorized the way too in his first year after a couple of days.
He absentmindedly patted himself down to make sure that he had everything not liking himself to be unprepared. Soon Alex was sitting at the back of the class already zoning out having no care in the world. Professor Mcgonagall came in and started talking and Alex officially checked out for the day. He knew that it was mostly going to be a lecture based period that Alex couldn’t be bothered to take notes for.
He was sitting by the window and he absentmindedly watched the clouds move at a slow pace while trying not to fall asleep at the same time. Finally the bell rang and it was time to go to his next class which was unfortunately potions. Alex didn’t hate the subject but he despised taking it with the Marauder’s of all people.
Since it was Alex’s sixth year, a year after OWLS he was placed in the n.e.w.t courses. Along with him were the marauders, lily evans as well as some slytherins. Thankfully Pandora was in the same class as him so it wasn’t as horrendous.
“Famous last words” he thought to himself as he made his way into the brightly lit room that made him want to sear off his eyeballs. Professor Slughorn was singing praises about Snape and mooching up to some of the more “influential” people. It was mostly student’s who had parents that were in the sacred 28 or some other bs.
Alex dragged himself to the back of the room while cursing everything in all of holy existence because he would like to reiterate that he didn’t want to be here at all. He could already here the rowdy marauders walking through the door with Remus Lupin, and Sirius Black talking and laughing while Peter Pettigrew adding comments.
The golden power couple James Potter and Lily Evans walked in through the door arguing very loudly and passionately. Alex didn’t want to know and he didn’t care enough to know. In his potions class there were 15 students. So when everyone paired up almost everyone had a pair besides one person which was usually Alex who didn’t mind at all.
“Hello class” Slughorn turned to face them after he finally stopped sucking up to other students.
Everyone gave a vague sort of greeting before Slughorn clapped his hands together, “Today we’re making is “Amortentia”
At that moment Alex wanted to fling himself out of this class so fast because really? Was it necessary to make this kind of potion in the most volatile of classes? Alex quietly groaned while hearing the chitters of excitement from all around.
He rolled his eyes because of course they were going to be excited over something like this.
Slughorn clapped his hands together again and stated, “You're going to be working in pairs, the directions are in your textbook”.
Alex shrugged his shoulders and stood up with ingredients already in hand. He made sure that he was prepared so he had a bunch of potion ingredients already stored with him so he didn’t have to make the necessary hustle and bustle to get items that are needed. He stood over the cauldron with a cutting board set next to him as well as the instructions written on a piece of paper.
Alex had actually made this type of potion once before when he wanted to test out certain things so he was already familiar with the steps. He also had a silent academic rivalry with Severus Snape and Alex was always going to be better than somebody like him.
Alex made sure to block out all the noise in the background and went on with what he needed to do. He could see how this type of potion would be considered difficult and would require more than one person to help as a beginner. Alex on the other hand was not a beginner and could quiet do things by himself.
So that’s what Alex did in the two hours that were given. He knew that they were going to be working on this specific potion for a week so each step had to be perfect.
Pour Standard Potioning Water into a gold cauldron and place over a very low flame
Bruise the Peppermint Flower heads with a mortar and pestle and sprinkle into the lukewarm water
Take whole Peppermint Leaves and drop into the water
Add Powdered Moonstone, one tbs at a time, stirring anticlockwise three times between each spoonful While the potion is still moving, sprinkle Rose Thorns into the water and leave to rest for an hour
Remove from heat and cover with a silk cloth in a dark place to steep
After doing the first part of the potion he finally unblocked everything and realized the class was almost over. The potion so far made was actually looking pretty good. Alex realized that over the course of next week Slughorn was going to be insufferable about this thing and would make them write essays and compare and this and that.
Alex was already dreading it.
He sat down and reread part II of the potion and it was already standard things that he already knew.
Part II
Over the course of the next seven days, uncover the potion once a day to stir seven times anti-clockwise and re-cover
On the ninth day of brewing, place cauldron over a low flame
Carefully place Ashwinder Eggs into the potion one at a time, gently stirring without direction
When steam begins to rise, add the victim's lock of hair or drop of blood to the potion
The potion will become pearlescent in color and must be removed from the heat
Strain the liquid into a vial for storage
The bell finally rang again and that’s when Slughorn finally made his way to Alex to see how he did.
“Perfect,my boy I couldn’t expect nothing less” He exclaimed
Then he continued and mentally Alex pleaded to not keep talking but guess what he did?
TALK
Slughorn continued, “I’d like you to please reconsider in joining the slug club”
Alex already had a denial at the tip of his tongue, “I’m sorry Professor but I have prior commitments” and then Alex took his leave walking away to the final class of the day which was Ancient Runes.
The only class that he shared with the “Golden Couple” and he quickly made his way to the back so he could zone out, pass the time and pass out in bed.
Professor Lane walked up to the board and started talking about the previous test and how bad half the class did. Alex wasn’t paying attention to the speech at all and was drawing little flowers all over his parchment paper with ink.
The professor was explaining some hardcore rune concept which was actually easy and not as difficult as she made it out to be since Alex taught himself an easier method and was too lazy to do the long way. Ancient Runes was Alex’s best and most favorite subject. He’s loved it ever since he’s read about it as a first year skimming books in the Hogwarts library to hide from the main hall.
Something about runes was that they easily clicked with him and didn't make him think. It was just connecting puzzle pieces together to make something more.
The bell rang again and Alex was about to yell hallelujah and make a run for it before professor lane called out, “Mr.Brown can you come here for a second”
Alex mourned his bed but walked to the front of the room
The professor then spoke, “Since I know what a prodigy you are with Runes I would like for you to tutor two students”
Alex had a sinking feeling in knowing where this was going, “Who Professor”
“James Potter and Lily Evans”
Chapter II
“Heaven have mercy on me” Alex whined to his best friend Pandora Rosier who was watching him moan with an amused expression on her face.
She snorted, “It’s not going to be that bad”
Alex groaned even louder, ‘Why would the Golden Couple even need my help in the first place?”
Pandora hummed out a reply, ‘That is interesting to think about”
Alex continued, ‘Both Potter and Evans aren’t stupid and get decent grades, there are rumors that next year there going to be Headboy and Headgirl”
Pandora raised an eyebrow at him, “Maybe that’s why they're doing the tutoring in the first place, so they could get decent grades”
Alex looked at her confused, “But why me though, like there are a million other people that can tutor him”
They both were walking towards the Ravenclaw dorms while Alex was complaining his way through and Pandora offered sound reasoning.
“Alex you have the highest grade in the O.W.L.S as well as the class, it makes sense why she asked you to tutor them” Pandora mentioned to his unamused face
Alex grumbled, “Doesn’t mean I have to like it” after Pandora answered the riddle, which was: The more you take, the more you leave behind. What am I?
“Footsteps”
And the door opened with Alex continuously complaining when Pandora finally turned to him and stated, “It gets you a decent excuse out of dealing with Slughorn ''.
Alex thought to ponder for a moment, “That’s true”
Pandora rolled her eyes, “You’ll be fine”
Alexander dropped himself on one of the couches and sighed even louder, “I don’t want to tutor anybody”
Pandora cheekily grinned, “Well smartest wizard of his age you have too, have you met up with them yet?”
Alex looked at her with a deadpanned, “I just found out today, I have to set up a meeting time soon”
Pandora snorted, “Let me guess you want me to ask Regulus to ask Sirius to ask James and Lily when to set up an appointment”
Alexander furiously nodded with a puppy dog eye on his face, “would you?”
Pandora grinned at him, “Yes I will you lovable doof.”
Alex finally dragged himself off the couch with a, “Tell Barty I’m in my dorm if he needs me”
Pandora called out after him, “I will”
The Ravenclaw dormitories were Alex’s sanctuary in peace and prosperity. He had his own room too because of his stellar grades and role in being a prefect. Alex walked in his room tugging off his perfectly cinched tie as well as the canvas bag draped across his body.
He unbuttoned the top two buttons of his crisp white shirt and collapsed on his bed utterly done with the day. Alex was fazed at the different stars that shone brightly on his dormitory and felt the hazy of sleep tugging at him. He couldn’t go to sleep, he knew that with the amount of work that he had pressing from today and the previous classes.
The lull of sleep was too much and Alex wandlessly put a time limit for two hours and then knocked out into oblivion.
Hours later he woke up from his alarm ringing and he felt even more dazed out than before.
He dragged himself out of bed and went to the bathroom to splash some water on his face. Alex stared at himself in the mirror with bloodshot eyes and messy brown hair. His skin looks paler than usual but made it work somehow.
He sat criss crossed on his bed with all his work surrounding him with a tired thought permeating his brain, “When will I get to leave this place”.
Alex had always wanted to explore the world instead of being stuck in England forever. He was born in London but his family moved to America when he was 3 then came back to England because Alex’s father used to go to Hogwarts and wanted Alex to go. His relationship however with his Mom and two sisters weren’t great.
All three were muggles and weren’t really interested in magic or Alex. His dad was a disgraced pureblood after falling in love with his mother and his family promptly disowned him. The thing was that only his father got disowned, not any wizarding/witch descendents from him.
That’s how Alex got his pocket money from the vault that was secretly opened by his father that was opened just before he got disowned. His father made sure that every month 400 hundred galleons should be transferred to the account and there was nothing his family could do about it. His family name was Raleigh and they were pretty close to being named the sacred 28 but for some reason, weren’t.
Wizarding magic was kind of funny since magic officially decided that Alexander was going to be the future lord of the Releigh family much to their consternation and to his father’s amusement.
His Aunt and Uncle despised him because they and their kids were supposed to be the future lord lady and heir but instead he “cheated” and took the title from them.
Alex couldn’t find it in him to care about all that drama at all and just wanted to finish his studies and leave the hellhole that was considered Britain.
Alex looked down at the paper in his hand and thought of song lyrics or something that began to look like lyrics.
He thought about the city that he loved most, “New York”
So with a quill in hand and stacks of paper surrounding him he wrote
Walkin' through a crowd, the village is aglow
Kaleidoscope of loud heartbeats under coats
Everybody here wanted somethin' more
Hours later with the sunlight blinding him and his body aching he had a finished song.
Alex looked at his work and smiled
He was going to figure out the beat and everything on his guitar but before he could he glanced at the time and panicked. It was currently 8:20 in the morning and he had potions in like 10 minutes. Alex flung himself out of bed and looked at the mirror. He looked like crap but that was nothing new.
Alex didn’t have time to take a shower soo he had to spell some cleaning spells and then tugged on a button down and put on his cloak forgoing the headache of a tie. He hated wearing a tie because of how constricting it was. His brown hair was a mess but he dragged a brush through it while making sure he had everything in his bag.
It was only Wednesday and Alex was already done with the entire week and wanted Friday to come soon enough.
He looked at the time again and noticed he only had three minutes left to make it from the Ravenclaw dormitories and book it to the potions room. So Alex did what he did best, hauled ass like someone was chasing him. He was infinitely grateful that most students were already in different classes so they didn’t see him run like a manic through the halls.
Alex was distracted so he didn’t have time to stop when a flash of someone came into his visions.
“WHOA” James Potter yelled and easily caught Alex by his waist
Alex felt a jolt and already compressed whatever that was
He simply didn’t have time to think about what that even meant because he had to go. Alex struggled himself out of James Potter’s hands and pushed up his glasses with a muttered, “Sorry” before jogging while his heart was beating out of his chest.
After making it to the room with barely any time to spare and Alex breathing periodically because he was not used to that much exercise for a long period of time. No one was paying attention to him when he sat at his usual seat and he held his arm and carefully pulled a sleeve up under the table.
Just as he suspected, James Potter was one of his soulmates which meant Lily Evans was too. Alex stared at the mark which had an intertwined J and L and he wanted to laugh or cry hysterically because there was no way.
Alex did not expect a lot of things but being actual soulmate with the two people he never thought would be his soulmates. That was interesting to think about.
Chapter III
Alex was trying to hide himself when he saw James look for him in confusion. He knew that James might’ve felt something but he didn’t make skin-to-skin only Alex did when he grabbed James' wrist. James only touched his waist which was interesting.
After checking the potion to stir Alex put his head into his hand and wanted to groan out loud because of course something like this was going to happen. Just something he needed, more drama, and that’s what he was trying to avoid for the life of him.
His friend group actually consisted of Pandora, Barty, and Regulus. He didn’t really see the need in talking to a bunch of people and liked it that way.
Alex already felt stressed out enough dealing with his family and school and now he has to worry about soulmates.
It wasn’t rare to have more than two soulmates but it was rare to find them after the age of 13. As every year goes by your bond gets weaker and weaker until by the age of 17 it ceases to exist. Alex was 15 turning 16 in a couple of months. He had about a year and a few too accepted the bond.
Since James and Lily already “found” each other it wasn’t really necessary for Alex to be part of the relationship but apparently magic decreed that he has to. Now Alex was running on a time limit which wasn’t bad but still stressful on top of other things to reveal his part of the bond to Lily and James or deal with the sickness which then leads to you know where.
He didn’t really care about the concepts of soulmates after seeing the detoritation of his parent’s relationship as soulmates. Sometimes it just doesn’t work out no matter how much magic wants to and the bond will dissolve itself until a way
The bell rang and Alex quickly walked out the room to his next class which was herbology while pondering over his situation. He still had to tutor both of them. Pandora slipped him a note when leaving the class, and it was the time that James and Lily agreed on.
He skimmed through the note while walking absentmindedly to class and realized he had to meet them on Tuesdays and Thursdays for 2 hours.
“Dang how bad at runes do you have to be” Alex thought to himself amused
Today was a Thursday so that meant today he had to teach his soulmates.
Once he walked into herbology he dragged his feet to sit down at the near back because he wasn’t in any mood to think about work. Alex absolutely hated it when all his achievements were minimized to how “smart” he was. Everything he did was met with derision because of course he was smart enough to do the expected thing.
He hated when people thought it was easy to get where he was today.
Professor Sprout came to the front of the room and Alex thought, “Oh thank god we got lecture based today”
Did he take any notes at all?
Absolutely not
The class passed by in a daze with quiet scratching of quills and Professor Sprout going on and on until the bell finally rang.
Alex just had another two classes which were Defense and Arithmancy until he could sequester himself back in his dorm before he had to tutor Lily and James.
Since Arithmancy was an elective and Regulus had pretty high grades in that class he was able to take the owl and sit with the sixth years.
Alex found it quite irritating to be moved a year up since he wanted to just stay with his friends but instead he was stuck with people he didn’t know or want to know. He walked quickly too DADA so he could just get this day finished with. He shared it with the Hufflepuffs which hey they were sweet but a little irritating at times.
He assumed they didn’t like him because he was a year younger or he’d always manage to get the correct answer before. Alex couldn’t care any less about that and kept his hands down anyways. It was the professors who always saw the need to call on him.
The Ravenclaw’s didn’t like him because of him skipping a grade and his simple way of doing things and simply not caring, and the less to say about some of the Slytherins the better. They didn’t like him because of his lineage as a filthy half-blood with a disgraced pureblood and mudbloods as parents.
Alex couldn’t find it in him to care and found it funny when his cousin who was a second year tried to insult him.
It brought him great joy to look the 12 year old in the eye and say, “I’m still the heir and will be the lord dearest”.
Alex was petty when he wanted to be and had no shame in admitting that. Even if he had to say it to a child but whatever.
The Gryffindors were interesting, some acted like the hufflepuffs or the ravencalws and there were a few straggler that were on the slytherin side.
Alex simply did not care, he was at Hogwarts for his dad once he graduated he was never setting foot back in Britain ever again. He’ll keep the family name of course just to spite his aunt and uncle but that’s it. His dad knew of his feelings about the matter and firmly supported him.
In the defense classroom they were currently learning about the Patronus spell, a difficult spell that they were expected to perform before there n.e.w.t.s. At the moment the class didn’t seem to be doing well and Alex watched that trainwreck happen while the demure professor ran back and forth trying to fix them.
Alex mastered the Patronus months ago when he was on an insomniac binge and felt like it. It took him about a week before he got it.
His patronus was a gazelle which was interesting to think about.
While everything was doing whatever that was Alex was humming a melody underneath his breath. It was quite catchy actually and was writing down the lyrics absentmindedly while waiting for time to pass.
He slowly tapped the beat out and the song was being written in his head. Alex was actually having fun while songwriting when the bell rang. He mentally groaned because really at this time the bell just had to ring?
Now it was time to go suffer in Arithmancy, the most boring class next to history of magic. Professor Vector would be teaching and Alex would mentally uncheck himself from the class period. Yes Regulus was there but even he was bored.
Alex also just realized that Severus Snape and Lily Evans were in that same class as well, he just never bothered to pay attention to that small detail until day.
Once walking into the room Alex chose to sit by the middle row since the professor had an habit of calling unsuspecting students in the back to answer questions. Alex was not about to be one of them so the middle row was safe.
He sat down tiredly next to Regulus who looked at him with a raised eyebrow, “What’s wrong?”
“I’m tired” Alex whined tiredly
Regulus smirked, “Oh is tutoring the couple already bad enough?”
Alex scoffed, “I haven’t even started tutoring them?”
Before Regulus could say anything else the class started with Professor Vector's drawling voice of boredom.
Chapter IV
The class period ended and Regulus and Alex walked to lunch with Regulus quietly murmuring about some of the theories instead of “the problem”. That’s what Regulus was going to call it and he was going to be sticking with that name.
He hummed along to some of the frankly interesting theories that Regulus was talking about in Arithmancy and Alex was thinking about ways that he could tie that with runes. Alex had no qualms as to not sit with the Slytherins with Regulus and that’s exactly what he did.
He’s been sitting there since first year so they had to get used to him. Alex wasn’t a rowdy person so people besides his friends never really noticed him there until someone pointed him out. It was funny when they looked over, did a double take then rub their eyes in confusion.
Reggie would flick a galleon into the “shock” pile that’s been growing since their first year. It was amazing since they converted all their earnings to muggle money and blew it all on arcades. It didn’t take long for Alex to convince Reggie to go. Well he wasn't convinced he kinda just forced him there and made him have fun and realize that all muggle things weren’t bad and his parents were a bit on the crazy side.
They spent the money last year by concocting this elaborate plan between parents into buying cheap plane tickets to America and Alex taking Reggie sightseeing in New York.
That was one of the craziest things they both have done and still can’t believe that they actually managed to get away with it.
So far this year alone they’ve amassed a total of 72 galleons since September and it was currently April. They had a total of 358 pounds which was pretty impressive. It wasn’t really a heartbreak for Alex and Regulus to spare a galleon when someone noticed Alex.
He supposed he should feel offended but at that point it was kind of funny and really helped in saving money.
“What are you two nerds talking about” Barty Crouch Jr. their other best friend along with Pandora and Evan Rosier followed suit arguing about something as siblings do.
“Runes” Alex answered
“Your stupidity” Regulus snapped back
Alex shook his head in amusement as he watched the other two have a go at… whatever they were doing.
He surveyed the great hall and noticed Lily Evans staring directly at him. Her green eyes burned a hole in his face and Alex pretended like he couldn’t see anything despite the glasses shoved on his face.
He was brought back to the conversation with Pandora’s teasing grin.
“Oh please don’t-”
“Oohhh are we talking about unshakable xandy tutoring his most hated couple” Barty crowed
Alex groaned, “There not-”
Once again he was painfully cut off with Regulus smirking, “He’s forced to tutor them for two whole days every week until N.e.w.t.s”
Alex glared, “some friends I have”
Pandora hushed him, “Do you think they can break the academically genius’s stone cold heart”
Alex complained slightly louder, “There soulmates for heaven's sake”
Before anyone could say a thing more a menacing shadow fell over their section of the table. Surprise surprise it was snape waltzing in like some d-grade villain that his dad had fun teasing.
“Brown a word” Snape hissed discontentedly
Alex looked at him with a dead eyed stare and mockingly hissed back, “Severusss, a pleasure but i’m quite busy here”
Pandora and Evans snickered quietly in the background while Regulus hid a grin and Barty snorted with no shame at all.
In Slytherin it was a big rule in etiquette to call people by their last names until said person gave permission to use first names. Alex couldn’t give one less foot about that and it took great pride in them by irritating all the annoying purebloods using their god given name.
It brought him utter glee when he casually brought up their name in the same mock way they liked to insult his bloodline family, his grade, how much of a swot he was, how unkempt he kept his hair and on and on.
Alex would stand there and quietly smile and say a simple “Thank you ___ I will rectify those mistakes immediately when you fix your foul mouth.”
And then he would go on a tangent of systematically pulling out every point as to how they are incorrect, untrue and gossip.
He’d then say something about ego and jealousy and their parents not loving them enough which means they have to take their anger out on something and instead of doing that go to a mind healer.
That part of the speech really got them angry to Alex’s sick satisfaction.
Some flounder, some bluster and some try to hex him but Alex was always ready with a shielding charm and an alibi.
Snape's eyes harden, “I don’t believe you heard me.”
Alex was already done with the conversation from those two words and whined in his head, “Can’t he be his creepy oily self somewhere else?”
Alex rolled his eyes hard, “I’m busy right now, i’ll talk to you when my mood feels like it and i’m not in the mood”.
“Yeah shoo” Barty gestured
Before Severus could say anything else his attention was caught by one of the wannabe death eaters that Alex didn’t bother to learn the name of.
It was obviously customary to give Alex a sneer but he sneered right back. He never got the reason for the surprise looks he got back when he returned the same response people gave to him.
His father explained to him the concept, “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind”
Yes, going back and forth gets you nowhere. Alex’s philosophy was too hit 'em where it hurts psychologically because bones and bruises stay but mental trauma is forever.
When he finally walked off Alex blew a sigh of relief
He was regretting taking that sigh when he noticed what time it was.
“Alright time for me too leave” Alex announced getting up from the bench with Evan jeering in the background, “to your loversss”
Alex gave him the bird and Evan sputtered while Pandora and Barty cackled behind him. In all that noise Alex didn’t notice Peter Pettigrew giving them curious looks.
Chapter V
While walking to the library Alex was thinking deeply about squirrels. Why was he thinking about squirrels? He didn’t know but hey it was better than thinking about anything else. In all honesty, Alex loved to explore the forbidden forest and made animal friends there too.
His one muggle-born Hufflepuff friend that nobody knew he was friends with liked to call him, “Cinderella” much to his embarrassment.
Alex made it to the library and sat down at one of the back tables and patiently waited for the both of them
10 minutes later both Evans and Potter were in the library walking toward his direction. Alex took a quiet breath and stood up.
“Hi” Potter started with an easygoing smile
Alex grimaced awkwardly and stated back, “Hello”
Evans nodded at him and all three sat down in awkward silence because Alex didn’t know what to say or what to do in this situation.
Alex cleared his throat and asked, “What do you guys need help with”
James looked at him with a hopeless look on his face, “Everything”
Lily rolled her eyes, “There are some concepts that we’re currently struggling with at the moment”.
Alex nodded and he took out his Book of Notes. This book had everything in it and had an expansion charm which was technically illegal but Alex wasn’t out here flaunting it.
He cleared his throat, “We’re starting from the beginning”.
Lily looked at him questioningly, “But why do we need to know the beginning?”
Alex explained patiently, “I need to figure out where your messing up so badly and that usually happens when you don’t know the basics or miss something basic”
James nodded in agreement and stated, “Well let’s go back to the basics”
Alex noted that Lily looked uncomfortable to even be admitting that she may not know the basics as well as she believed she knew them. It was actually a common case with runes because in the beginning it was easy and people liked to think they were unstoppable once they figured a little something out.
You could get cocky really fast and that’s what made Alex have the highest scores in his exams because this was one class Alex obsessively reviewed constantly. The basics were burned into his brain ever since second year.
Yes yes he knows that they took classes for Ancient Runes officially in third year but hey can you blame him, Alex found them interesting earlier on and just studied them more.
The basics as Alex kept repeating constantly were the letters of the ancient alphabet which were in the rune dictionary. It was significantly possible to pass the class without it but Alex just found it plain stupid when people did.
After 20 minutes of silence with Lily and James working on whatever they knew while Alex was sketching out something he got the pieces of paper back and was shocked.
“What’s the point in taking the class if you don’t want to learn it?” He was irritated because these basics were taught when they were 13. The didn’t know anything about anything.
Alex looked at them head on, “explain runes to me”
Lily looked like a deer in headlights, “What”
Alex shrugged, “Explain it to me, tell me what’s the basis of the class, what you got out of it and what you're trying to learn or well explain any of those questions I just asked.”
Both James and Lily spluttered while Alex cut them off annoyed, “You took this class to make it look good for whatever career your taking whatever I don’t care about that”
“However , he continued I’m surprised you two made it this long with the lack of knowledge i’ve seen”
James rubbed his neck guilty and Lily avoided eye contact
Alex muttered with a deadpan voice, “You cheated, quite well actually”
James grinned awkwardly, “Yeah remus knew something so we usually copied off of him but then he decided to drop runes and we uh never really learned properly”.
Alex sighed deeply and groaned quietly, “So that means I have 3 years of runes to teach you”
Lily finally spoke, “We both got an A”
Alex looked at her unamused, “By sheer dumb luck”
“Anyways we got four years to catch up so that means all your free time is mine” Alex sarcastically grinned at both.
James groaned, “What about quidditch”
Alex shook his head, “You want that O than you gotta make some sacrifices”
Lily snorted, “Why do we need an O to get into our preferred fields”
“I guess out lesson begins now” Alex began
James and Lily pulled out a fresh sheet of paper and Alex began to talk
“All right, some fundamental facts about runes are that runes were ancient alphabetic writing systems that were mainly used in ancient Germanic or Nomadic regions….”
So for the next three hours even it was specifically stated for two but Alex dared to say he enjoyed teaching the two. James was a funny person to talk to and Lily’s sarcasm rivaled his own as well as her questions. It wasn’t the worst thing that Alex went though.
Alex looked at the time and it was nearing curfew
“Alright guys we have to go”
James whined, “But we were having so much fun”
Lily nodded sadly, “I could talk to a person with more intellect instead of just relying on Remus”
Alex grinned while James yelped, “Hey” defensively
Alex cleared his throat, “Well see you guys next Tuesday”
James pouted exaggeratedly, “Can we get you for three days professor brown”
Oh yeah that was a new thing for James to call him “professor brown” and somehow Lily just decided to follow him on that.
It was embarrassing and his friends would never let that go.
Alex glared, “Don’t call me that”
James pouted, “But why not”
Alex rolled his eyes harder and turned to lily, “Answering your annoying boyfriends inquiry yes i’ll teach you guys tomorrow too”
Lily grinned and Alex realized she had pretty eyes before going, “nope not going there”
The trio parted ways and Alex thought, “Well that wasn’t horrendous”
Chapter VI
When Alex came back to the Ravenclaw dorms Barty was waiting for him with a teasing grin on his face.
Alex sighed loudly, “Don’t even”
Barty ignored him because of course he did, “How did it goo?”
Alex paused, “It was fine”
Barty crowed delighted, “So you didn’t hate it”
Alex snorted defensively, “I didn’t say that”
That’s when Pandora came into the common room and Alex wanted to groan even louder because Pandora was an interesting person to talk to. She was also the one that can easily get answers out of Alex.
“Nope i’m leaving” Alex grinned mockingly as he attempted to walk away
“Sit” Pandora snapped amused
Alex wanted to whine but he sat down because no one disobeyed Pandora if you knew what was good for you.
“Should I start barking” Alex huffed discontentedly as slid himself on the couch annoyed
“Hush puppy” Pandora sniped back at him
Barty snickered, “anyways how did it go, i’m noisy I NEED to know”
Alex sighed, “It wasn’t bad”
Pandora squealed, “Oh my god…”
Alex cut her off, “I’m not going around marrying them so calm it”
Of course he got ignored again and he just threw his hands up and walked to his room with Pandora and Barty cackling in the background.
Alex surveyed his room and wrinkled his nose at the mess that was piled up. Papers were scattered on every surface of his room with hastily scribbled notes and songwriting. HIs guitar was strewn on one side of the bed and on the other were a pile of clothes.
Alex didn’t want the house elves to suffer though cleaning up crap that he messed up so he politely asked them to leave it.
They were horrified and it took two years with a lot of bribes until the houseleves left his room alone (mostly). Sometimes they pop in every now and then to clean something up.
Alex muttered cleaning spells and in ten minutes his room was clean and orderly. He sighed deeply as laid on his bed thinking about going to sleep but alas he had work to do and songs to write so he just didn’t.
“One day i’ll get some decent sleep” Alex vowed to himself, “That day won’t be today”
He sat criss crossed on his bed and took out the questions assigned for DADA. The teacher wasn’t horrendous this year but who knows at this point. The worst year he ever had for Defense Against the Dark Arts was his second year. They had a man who they called Professor Grimshaw but he sucked at teching. All he did was read whatever he was reading and left the rest of the class doing busy work FOR DIFFERENT SUBJECTS.
His teaching came to an end when he went missing in June two weeks before school was officially over.
In that year Alex was really into runes and he would read books about them in boredom and it helped a lot.
He already had the book that had answers for the questions given. He just had to skim it and before doing that he took a little radio out that he tweaked to work with magic. He then turned it on and an abba song was softly playing.
Alex grinned and got to work and before he knew it hours passed and when he looked at the time it was very late in the morning.
“Huh three am” Alex muttered underneath is breath
Alex put aside all the work that he’s done and finished and curled up on the bed and his eyes slowly slipped closed sending him to a dreamless sleep.
He already made up his mind not to go to class tomorrow and went to sleep easy.
Hours later Alex woke up still feeling like crap but got up just in time to get ready for his next class which was apparently Charms which wasn’t bad. He wasn’t exactly jumping up and down since it was shared with Slytherins but they thankfully minded their own business and left Alex alone since they knew they weren’t going to get a response from him.
He sat down by his normal spot and started doodling whatever on the parchment in front of him. Today they were reviewing some charm’s theories by themself but Alex practically had them memorized at this point because those theories were important to runes so he studied them fervently.
The older slytherin’s looked down at him for him being a “blood traitor” like it was his fault that his father decided to marry him mom and then leave his toxic family.
Did he care about the opinions they had?
No why would he, Alex had like ten million things to worry about and thinking about what others perceived of him was not on the list.
He ran a hand through his hair and slightly squinted at the board cursing himself for forgetting his contacts AND his glasses.
The class passed by in a blur with Alex having a page of half-hearted notes written down with little doodles drawn all over them. The curly-haired boy was surprised that he even managed to write that much when all he wanted to do was take a nap.
All he had left was three classes lunch then take a break and go tutor Potter and Evans
“Easy Peasy” he groaned discontented
The rest of the day passed by in a blur and if you asked him if he remembered anything, Alex would probably stare blankly and go, “huh”
At lunch he was picking at his food not really in the mood to eat anything when Barty jabbed him on the side, “Why are you so somber today”
Alex rubbed his eyes, “No i’m not”
Regulus raised an eyebrow, “You haven’t said a word”
Alex scrunched up his nose, “I’m tired, I don’t need to speak all the time”
Pandora pat his head like a cat, “Poor child, sad child itty bitty child tired”
Alex whined but leaned in her touch, “Stooooop”
Regulus snickered at the disgruntled look on his best friend’s face, “You need a better sleep schedule”
Alex sighed, “I know but this is the year before n.e.w.t.s and I don’t know how you guys aren’t as stressed out”
Evan didn’t look up from his food, “because not everyone’s a workaholic dear”
“Shut up darling”
“Not until you sleep at a normal time sweetheart”
“I’ll start sleep at a normal time until you don’t drink your way in a grave loves”
Regulus cut them both off, “ladies your both beautiful”
Both of them in unison snapped out, “Shut up Regulus”
Barty snickered, “Yeah reggie don’t get in the way of their lovers quarrel”
He then hardened his eyes, “also i can see you’re not eating Alex”
Alec mumbled, “I’m not hungry”
“Sure you aren’t, eat the damn sandwich before I feed it to you”
He mocked Barty underneath his breath and then eventually finished the sandwich and looked at the time.
“I’m going to go take a nap”
Pandora hummed thoughtfully, “you do have your lovers to teach”
Alex blushed hotly, “don’t start pandora or else everyone here can know about you you and xeno-”
Pandora shrieked, “shutupshutupshutup”
Barty Evan and Regulus looked at each other and looked back at the both of them with a mischievous smile on their faces.
Alex then got up, “I love youuu”
Pandora screeched, “ALEXANDER BROWN GET BACK HERE”
Alex sent a peace sign with a grin ignoring the usual burning holes that were sent to them and kept walking. He was actually going to take a nap and then go tutor then sleep again. He didn’t finish all that work yesterday for nothing.
END OF ACT I