Chapter 2
“Egotistical.”
“Hm?” Draco asked, glancing up from the book list that the school had provided. Alyssa had their cauldron properly filled with books, though their list had been a bit longer than the standard set. “Who?”
“That Lockheart fella, all of this. He’s an egotist at the bare minimum.” Alyssa shook their head, wrinkling their nose at the cover of one of his books. “He’s pathetic really.”
“Don’t be like that Alyssa dear.”
“Miss Weasley.” Alyssa’s cheeks went slightly red. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t trying to be too rude, but his type rubs me the wrong way.”
“Isn’t your father somewhat similar?” Ron sneered and Alyssa shook their head.
“Oh, not really. He’s a billionaire playboy sure, but he’s also genuinely a philanthropist. And if you ask anyone it’s clear he’s a bit of a-“ Despite speaking to someone that genuinely hated them, Alyssa let out a soft chuckle. “He’s a bit socially awkward, he only manages to get around because he’s charming in that sense. Genuinely a good person. Not Mr. all to white teeth and massive creep energy. Type of famous that’d take advantage of his fans.”
“Now you are just being rude.” Molly bristled slightly but seemed to relax at the genuine frown that crossed Alyssa’s face. “You’ve been hurt, haven’t you dear?”
“I don’t remember all my lives, I only vaguely remember the one that came right before this one. I still flinch if there is an aggressive dog on the television, or on the street. I’m not generally scared of them but-“
Ron let out a series of growls and barks and Alyssa’s shoulders went tence. For a moment Draco though she was scared; as did Ron clearly who was laughing despite the earful his mother was giving him, but a moment later Draco could see that they were struggling to restrain themselves.
“I’m sorry about that Alyssa dear.”
“It’s- Fine.” Alyssa’s jaw was set tense, but they relaxed after a few deep breaths, clasping their hands behind their back as a Cheshire cat like grin crossed their lips. “Oh, Miss Weasley that reminds me. Thank you for allowing me to help with the school expenses.”
Draco bit his lip to stop from chuckling as Ron immediately blanched.
“Oh, of course dear. I mean you were rather insistent and then your charming father- Oh if he wasn’t gay.”
“Mum.” Ron protested, face going a dark red.
“So your Alyssa. And you must be-“ A fairly small voice squeaked from behind Molly. Draco hadn’t noticed Harry walking up, or the girl that had now gone a very bright shade of pink.
“Harry Queen. I much prefer my birth father’s name. Hold’s less connotation.”
Draco hadn’t seen Harry turn on his father’s charm, but the girl let out a squeal and practically fainted as he took her hand. Alyssa was canning them over as well, but Draco couldn’t even pretend to know why. Harry had told him that she was arguably the smartest in the group and quickly he figured out why.
“You have very nice bone structure, and your posture is immaculate. If I were to guess you could probably be the second youngest player in Hogwarts history if you play your cards right. Not nearly a Seeker, but you could clearly take the hassle of being chaser.”
“I- ah!” Draco hadn’t thought it possible for the young girl to go even redder, but as Alyssa took Ginny’s hand the girl genuinely stumbled a bit.
“Oh, I will have you know I am completely aromantic, and in any case I found who I belong to in a Soul mate capacity. I didn’t mean to fluster you.” Alyssa said, producing the darkest, blood red rose out of the nothing Draco had ever seen before tucking it behind the girl’s ear. “And I’m afraid my sort ‘a brother here isn’t interested in… Girls.”
“Oh.” The girl deflated and Harry swatted Alyssa’s head.
“That doesn’t mean that we can’t be friends. Don’t mind them too much, they don’t like crowds, so they tend to get really analytical.”
“Mum wants to get into line to see Lockheart. I think he’s kind of charming. But not like Harry.”
“No, most people wouldn’t be as Charming as Harry Potter.”
That caught Lockheart’s attention, the crowd parting as he rushed forward dragging Harry to the desk, an arm uncomfortably around the boy’s shoulders.
“Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived has come to meet the great Gildroy Lockheart.” The man boasted and Draco felt his blood run somewhat cold at the grinning man.
“Let’s get out of here.” Alyssa suggested, talking Draco’s arm and dragging him away a bit. He could faintly hear Ginny talking with her mother before she ran up as well. “He’s a proper creep, flashy fuck boy.”But really-"
“You… Alyssa, were you assaulted? I don’t want to undermine, but the level of bitter you have towards that man is… A little worrying.”
“I… Don’t know. I don’t remember. Like I said this wasn’t my first form but… Technically it wasn’t my second either. It’s a bit more complicated than that but… I did grow up; I was a lot older than this in what I still feel like was this life. I remember that life very clearly, it was far from a bad life, but… I’ve repressed a lot of things, and I don’t know how I became a child again. I just remember my home burning down, and that dad was dead.” Alyssa dropped their head and let out a heavy sigh. “But really, it’s not that. He just makes me a bit uncomfortable. It's probably just-“
“So you really are hiring yourself out then Brother.” The sneer was all too familiar, and Draco found himself face to face with his sister. She was tall, with fair skin, though she had more taken after their mother. Her dark brown- nigh black hair, and her dark blue eyes. She had pale skin like Draco’s through, sneering as Alyssa gave her a once over. “And who are you?”
“Alyssa Wayne, child of the Haloed Sun.” Alyssa smiled, though there was a harshness to her voice.
“Cassiopeia, there you are. So you found that disgrace.” Father said and Draco felt his skin bristly. “Not surprised to see you hanging out with blood traitors and mud bloods. Vermin like you do need all the pity you can get.”
Mr. Malfoy was a tall man as well, with fair skin and cold pale gray eyes. His hair was a brilliant platinum blond, long though neatly kept back in a ponytail.
“Mr. Malfoy.” Alyssa’s voice was court, tone clearly catching the man off guard. “I would say it was an honor to meet you, but I don’t have much energy left to lie.”
“Alyssa, let’s just go outside.”
“Yes, control your-“
A sickening snapping sound filled the air as the elder Malfoy went stumbling back, collapsing into a nearby bookshelf. Blood poured from his very clearly broken nose, the shadows of the library creeping and crawling like tendrils around him, daring him to say anything against their master.
Malfoy looked down right horrified as one of the bouncers offered him a hand up, but he released himself slapping the man’s hand away.
“You absolute-“
“I know what I am. Fun fact, you can’t have me sent away to your prison. According to current laws, both of this world and the muggle one, you could only maybe get me charged a fine.” Alyssa’s smile was wicked, haunting, and Malfoy looked horrified again. It doesn’t take Malfoy long to figure out why. Alyssa’s eyes are jet black and there is ink pooling out of them. “I am the Child of the Hailowed Sun, a Gothamite. No mater what; so long as I follow rogue law, I would be sent to Arkham. As long as I didn’t use one of the unforgivable.”
Alyssa’s eyes returned to normal, but tear lines remained faintly on their face.
“I’m going to go outside, get cleaned up. See you at School Ginny.”
“He’s going to be our professor?” Alyssa whipped around on Harry fast. “That absolute egotist, of course he would make us use the expensive books that he wrote. They are absolute shit, worthless. DADA is going to be a joke again this year. At least I got some proper books on the subject for myself.”
“I don’t get what everyone sees in him. He’s just an egotist, maybe even a narcissist.” Harry nodded, sitting across from them on the grass. Draco sat somewhat between them, keeping to the edge as to not be in the way. “I know we’re not going to learn that much this year, but you shouldn’t worry yourself too much with him alright?”
“Easier said than done when I’m going to have to put up with him all year.” Alyssa rolled their eyes and leaned back on the blanket. “Worst is I read his autobiography; the fucker was a Ravenclaw. I mean, sure, if he had presented his books as fiction, I would absolutely think they were cheesy, but no. he insists they actually happened. It’s not even like they are all that consistent chronologically. I doubt any of them happened, he’s probably just some fraud who’s made a web of lies to try and look like some big hero.”
“You read them all already?” Draco tilted his head.
“Somewhat quickly, but I’m properly working my way through them now. Definitely not worth the money they cost.” They shook their head, summoning the books. Magical Me had sticky notes of all colors filling the pages; as did Break with a Banshee, both bloated due to them. They were clearly about halfway through Gadding with Ghouls, and it was clear that they had a lot to say about it as well. “I’m referencing what is said within his textbooks and his autobiography, and things just don’t line up. The time line is technically the best within Magical me, but things between the stories in that and the actual ‘text books’ don’t match.”
“So the man’s a fraud.” Draco shrugged, it’s not really that big of a deal. I mean that’s not great hiring practice, and it’s going to make classes suck, but he’s not dangerous like Quirrel was.”
“I guess, but that don’t make it that much easier for me.”
“Your right. You’re going through some changes this year. But we do have a mystery at least, maybe you can focous on that.” Harry suggested and Draco gave a small nod. “I want to know why Dobby wanted to stop Harry from going back to school.”
“That’s a good question. And we could look into what killed Myrtle, at least see if we cant figure some things out.” Alyssa said, sending the books away and relaxing a bit. “Hopefully things don’t get too bad this year, but I know it’s going to be exciting.”