A Brand New Dawn

“This place is amazing!”

Our group had just left the magical bank; Gringotts, and Alyssa was all over the place. It was clear the magic was energizing them quite a bit, and I had to admit that I was a bit amused.  I understood that it wasn’t always great for them, but it was clear that; at least for now, they were genuinely having a good time. Watching them flit from one window to the next trying to take in everything was almost adorable in it’s own way.

Though at the same time, it kind of sucked that neither of Alyssa’s fathers had come shopping. Not that either of them could have. Kriptonians were never great with magic and the energy that even I was picking up on without any  training, it would probably actually give him some kind of anurism. 

Bruce on the other hand had definitely taken it from Grundy. He had five broken ribs, his leg was several flavors of busted, and his hip was broken bad enough that even he knew that he needed to take time off. He was down willingly levels of bad. Gringotts probably would have killed him.

“Please try to calm down Mx. Wayne.” McGonagall gently scolded, shaking her head as they quickly returned to the group. “I know this is a lot to take in; and I’m awair of your current diagnostics, but please try to stay close.”

Minerva was a beautiful older woman. She was a tall, lean woman, with warm, light golden skin with some light wrinkling around her eyes. She had a sharp, pointed nose, and her eyes were small, a brilliant sky blue, behind thin, oval glasses.  She had long, mousy brown hair that was pulled up into a bun, the front of which was streaked with white. 

 The woman was in elegant emerald robes, detailed slightly with black, and a pointed emerald witch hat.

“We do have a plan, Alyssa.” Oliver added, chuckling softly. “Wands, then books, then robes and then whatever else we need.”

“I’ve never used a wand.”

“You… Use quite a bit of magic.” McGonagall noted, glancing down at the powerful kid. “You’ve never needed a wand?”

“Nope.” They popped the 'p', shaking their head. “But it will be interesting to try it out!”

It thankfully wasn’t much longer before we were headed into Olivander’s. Not long after heading through the door; however, Alyssa’s eyes got a sort of glossed over look, a rarity even for them. As they whited over Alyssa reached forward, giving the air a small shove, a man appearing as they did.

He was fairly short, with milky skin. He had short, curly white hair, and small black eyes that sparkled with amusement as he pushed himself back to his feet.

He was in a dark gray shirt, under a brown pin striped button up, and brown pants.

“A perceptive one, fascinating.”

“You walk the shadows. I belong to the shadows.”

“Alyssa you’re talking kinda like Bane. It’s kind of creepy.”  I sighed, shaking my head as I crossed my arms. “She’s from a place known as Silent Hill, it’s… Kinda messed up.”

“It’s fucked.” Dad said, shaking his head. “Accursed, and dark.”

“I can sense that, something that many would call an evil magic to you, but you yourself. You’re doing your best to help people. Let’s see…” The man dipped into the back, opening a wand box, holding it out for her.  It was slim, dark, stained in a gradient of deep cherry at the tip to black at the base. Taking it Alyssa flicked it, a flaming butterfly floating around in the air before sizzling out.

“Yes, yes. That makes sense.” He gave a nod. “13 inches, quite flexible, Blackthorn with a phoenix feather core.”

“Thank you, sir,” Alyssa gave a nod as he turned to me.

“And the boy who lived. You’ve been through quite a bit. I wonder, it would make quite a bit of sense…” The odd man quickly started digging around for something, returning with another wand. Smiling I took it, giving it a flick causing a gold spiral to surround me, a Nightingale fluttering through the air before vanishing.

“Fascinating.”

“What?” I asked, tilting my head. “What is?”

“11 inches, holly wood, nice and supple, with a very interesting phoenix feather core.” He nodded, “Curious indeed.”

“Why?” Alyssa prompted, crossing their arms. “It clearly means something.”

“The Phoenix who gave it’s feather for that wand, only produced one other.”

“Oh, I see. So it was the person who murdered the Potters, Voldemort owned the wand.” 

“We don’t say that name Mx. Wayne.” McGonigall’s voice was sharp, but hushed as she glared at Alyssa.

“Why not?” He tilted their head. “It’s not a taboo, and that’s coming from me. I come from Silent Hill, a cursed place really. Like hellishly cursed.”

“True but that name frightens a lot of people, and we just don’t use it."

"It's still not a taboo."  Alyssa  crossed his arms.

"He was that kind of evil though Alyssa."

“I suppose, but I still don’t understand the points of that kind of a taboo on a code name. Obviously not his birth name.” Alyssa huffed. "Like... Bitch."

“Alyssa.” Oliver scolded. “Just respect the taboo.”

“Okay, okay. Um… Mr. Olivander. You see this swirl carved into the wand. Can it be painted gold?”  They asked, trailing it with their pinky finger.

“I don’t see the issue, but it will cost a bit more.”

“That’s no issue.”

“And if I may make a suggestion, bronze might be more appropriate.”

“Your right, thank you.” He nodded. “Will that be long?”

“We’ll return when we finish the rest of our shopping.” Oliver gave a nod. “Thank you again.”

Quickly the two adults paid, and the group headed out.

“Robes are next.”

“The school uniform.” Minerva nodded.

“I’m not wearing a singular uniform.”

“Alyssa.”

“All I’m saying is as someone who is Demi-fluid, I sometimes feel feminine, and others masculine, but never really fully. At least not this form, but really”

“They are robes dear; they are the same for everyone.”

“Right.” Alyssa nodded. “I suppose that makes sense I just wanted to be sure.” 

“You’re going to be quite the handful, aren’t you?”

"Look, I don't really mean to be but there are some things that I need to be honest to you about. First of all I am very rouge sympathetic, which helps quite a bit because I know their rules. And I can't even pretend to be calm about everything that he did, and even staying calm like this is hard." Alyssa's voice trembled a bit as they paused in place. "But really what that man did was unforgivable. Completely unforgivable. He put a child in so much danger. Enough that Slade fucking Wilson; a man who has Mirikuru madness, felt bad for him. He just felt so fucking bad, and he handed Harry over to Oliver Queen. Oliver fucking Queen. Who he HATES!"

As much as I knew the trauma happened to me, I could feel my heart breaking for Alyssa. The way their voice was shaking, the shadows of the street shifting and contorting. For a moment I was worried they would start to shift, or that they would have a meltdown, but I realized I was just genuinely worried about my friend as he struggled to catch their breath. 

Heading up to them I gently pulled them into a comforting hug, petting his shoulders to help get them to relax. As they did he gently pulled back, whipping their eyes before giving a small nod.

“Look. I know… I trust  that you had nothing to so with that, or what happened to Sirius, or any of that.  But it is going to take some time for me to fully let walls down around his ally.”

“I understand.” McGonigall’s voice was gentle; soothing, as she knelt in front of the nervous kid.

“I’m also kind of a bit unstable at times.” He shrugged, though they were smiling weakly.  “And I may cause some trouble. For that I apologize Professor.”

“Thank you.”

“What are you the most afraid of?”

“I’m... Sorry?"

“That’s really personal Alyssa.” I scolded, gently swatting their arm. “I’m very sorry about that professor, their very-“

“I have Pupaphobia.”

“The fear of puppets and marionettes. I also have a semi specific form of Pediophobia, or the fear of dolls. It’s mostly old dolls, like porcelain dolls. And like really old mascots but let’s be real, who isn’t afraid of those demonic things.”

“I don’t think I’ve out that much of thought into it. I’ll let you know if I can think of anything specific.” She smiled softly. “But I suppose that I’ve always had a similar dislike of dolls.”

“Thank you.” Alyssa gave a nod. “That means a lot to me.”

Heading into the store, I smiled as a kind woman headed up to me. She was very short and smiling warmly. She had beautiful blue eyes, and pale peach skin. She was in a pink dress decorated with darker swirls.  Her hair was short, white, and fairly swirled.

“Hello, are you two here for robes as well?”

“Yes.” I nodded.

“Did you make all of these?” Alyssa asked, scanning the dresses and robes that were being shown off.

“Of course, dear.”

“They are amazing, have you ever worked with a material known as Poly-Kevlar? It’s rather flexible, easy to work with but also really resilient.”

“No, I don’t think I have, but I would be willing to look into its practical uses when I have the time.”

“That’s great.” They smiled.

“Now, let’s get started with you.” Malkin said, leading me to the side. Quickly she draped some black robes over my head, before guiding me next to another boy.

“The woman out there, talking to the Muggle, do you know who she is?”

I turned to the pale boy and nodded.  He was around the same height as me; if a tough taller even, with round features and a button nose. His eyes were angular, naturally a bit narrow and thickly lashed, his eyes a bright blue kissed with ice in the centers. His skin was genuinely snowy, but oddly warm at the same time, and his short; well combed hair, was a snowy-blond that was very nearly pure white.

“Professor Minerva McGonagall.” I responded.  “She is helping me and Alyssa out.”

“A teacher? Shouldn’t you be here with your parents?"

“They’re dead. Well kind of, it’s a bit more complicated then that.”

This caught the boy off guard, and he tilted his head.

“Kind of? How does that work? Really they are either dead or they aren’t.”

“My birth father, he isn’t who most people thought he was. Everyone thought that my parents were James and Lily Potter, but… My father is actually Oliver Queen.”

“Are your parents our kind?”

“So the famous Harry potter is a half-blood?” The boy wrinkled his nose and I let out a soft sigh.

“I have a question for you, and I mean this genuinely. What would you classify Alyssa as?”

“What were her parents?”

“They don’t have any.” He shook his head as the kind which worked on tailoring his robes. “She is a manifestation of a cult’s god. They were; quite literally, born asexually.”

“Well… I mean…”

“It was a cult that we believe had no real magic of their own, but we can’t even say that for certain, they have documented history of successful alchemy of sorts, and the ability to cause othering. But they definitely didn’t use this type of magic, the type we favor and that Hogwarts teaches.”

“Well. Mudbloods-“

“What does that mean?”

“What?”

“That word, I want you to define it.”

“It’s just calling things as they are.”

“You believe that muggle born have dirty blood?” I tilted my head.

“Yes.”

“So… In breeding and incest are not dirty? Because that’s kind of inevitable with ‘pure’ blood stuff. Even in muggle history.”

“What?” The boy’s face when a bit pink with anger. “I never said that. But it’s for the best that you keep to your kind.”

“You’re an albino, correct?”

“Yes?” He nodded.

“That has many causes, but one of them is in-breeding. Part of me can’t help but wonder if your parents are related at all. I’m not saying there aren’t nuances to things, but when you get to the situation of having the same family members having two titles. Even still the tree would be so tangled at the top it would be hard to see who shared what genetics, which are the reason that the closer in the family people who have kids are, the more defects the child is likely to have.”

“You’re a smart ass.”

“I’m just trying to make you think about things. You were clearly raised into it, but you never did give me your name.”

“Draco Malfoy.”

“Harry Queen.” I nodded. “It’s good to meet you.”

“So, you were raised by muggles?”

“Brilliant ones too.” I nodded. “And it’s not like I’m low on money on that end. The Queens are rich, though I think that there needs to be a better way to help those in lower classes.”

“Perhaps.” He gave a nod. “So, you’ve never played Quidditch?”

“Oh, Sirius taught me how to fly on a broom.” I chuckled with a soft smirk. “But I can do something that you probably can’t.”

“And that would be?”

“Like three types of martial arts, but my father taught me how to use a bow and arrows.”

“So?”

“So? Have you ever shot an arrow? Dad can shoot 29 arrows per minute, and can needle hole a gun from 500 yards.”

“Needle hole?”

“Hmm. That might not actually be the real term, but simply he can shoot an arrow into the opening of a gun.”

“Muggle technology is so primitive.”

“… That’s just false. Magic messes with certain frequencies but it’s not primitive.” I shook my head. “Guns are definitely; in a colloquial sense, a bit barbaric, but not primitive.”

“Technicalities.”

“I suppose.” I nodded.

“Alright, you’re all done.” Malkin said, nodding to Draco.

“It was good talking to you. And Draco… Ask your father to actually explain why you don’t like muggles. Mention people like Superman and Martian Manhunter and get back to me alright. If you get a proper argument then we can talk about it, but if you just get a because I said so, I think you should really consider your reasoning.”

“Tch, whatever.”

“I don’t think you are innately a bad person, just think about it.” As Draco left, Malkin led Alyssa to the spot he had once stood in.

“Who was that?”

“Someone who’s going to be rather interesting I think.” I nodded, smiling as the Lady got to work.

“Seemed like the spoiled rich boy type. How long do you figure it takes me to break him into a charming playboy type.”

“Don’t corrupt him, let me try to get through to him first.” I shook my head. “He deserves a chance to get out of what his parents have taught him. To become a better person.”

“Agreed.” She nodded. “He had something else to him. I’m not sure what but… it will be interesting to see where this goes.”