Saint Cecilia's
Leo Lestrange was fifteen years old when he discovered magic existed. No one really explained it to him, unfortunately, it just sort of happened. And by happened, Leo means he accidentally blew out every window in the orphanage he had been dumped at. And as if that could be written off easily enough, he had thrown about nearly every single thing that hung on the walls toward the cause of his outburst in the first place.
That awful nun, Sister Beatrice, was a right piece of work, in Leo’s honest opinion. She seemed to take great pleasure in caning the children in her care, as if she simply waited for them to slip up enough for her to have a reason to have a go at them. Leo was caned just the other day for forgetting to ask permission before leaving the kitchens. Sister Beatrice takes great offense to the seemingly rude behavior of the children. All the punishments the Sisters dish out to Leo hardly phase him these days, having grown up with the lot of them.
The caning was the worst, he had decided at a very young age. When the offensive wooden stick would strike at just the right angle, connecting rather painfully to the spine, it was enough to make Leo cry. Isolation was far above the most preferred punishment they could dole out. A couple of days locked in a closet was easier to recover from than the caning.
All this to say, Leo was no stranger to being punished by the nuns that took care of them. He had been at the orphanage since he was a boy, he knew what to expect now, and how to prepare for it.
But William was new. So young, and little. Just nine years old. His father had run off years previous, leaving just him and his mum. Unfortunately for little William, his mother got sick, and that was that. She died, and with no family clambering to claim the little guy, he was sent here.
To Saint Cecilia’s Orphanage.
He’d made it a whole week before Sister Beatrice had gotten ahold of him. Leo had only made it a couple of hours. Sister Beatrice didn’t go easy on William. She had caught him stealing extra bread after dinner, and through all the tears and snot, all the children heard William woefully explain he was just so hungry. They knew that feeling good and well. They had all tried the same stunt, snagging a few extra pieces of whatever was left out. And they had all been punished for it. But where they got thwacks on the backside of their hands, a healthy dose of bloody knuckles to go with it, William was caned. Hard.
The other children rushed from the room quickly, muttering about Sister Beatrice being in one of those moods as they rushed to do their evening chores. So eager to be out of the way that they were tripping over themselves to fight over who got to clean what.
But Leo stayed.
And fumed.
William was a sobbing mess now, red in the face, tears sticking his eyelashes together, dirty blonde hair sweat slicked to his forehead. Leo made a move forward, to put an end to this showing, but as if a wild animal, Sister Beatrice turned quickly, striking Leo across the face.
“You do best to mind yourself, boy. This is of no concern to you. Be gone with you.”
Leo’s left ear was ringing, a sharp pulsing mapping from ear to chin where the cane made contact. He was a little dazed, having never been struck across the face before, unsure how to react. His entire body had been a go for the nuns, for whatever punishment they saw fit for him, but never his face. Never something so on display.
Until now.
While Leo turned to stone, William wailed.
And then all the windows went. The sound was earsplitting. It felt as though a wave of Leo’s anger had shot out from him, pushing for the nearest exits, of which they found the multiple windows on the far side of the room. Glass had gone flying out into the garden. The shattering had Sister Beatrice pausing in her abuse, looking in terror at the now forever open windows. She turned to Leo without even taking a breath, raising her cane at him, and saying, “I knew you were lost the moment you showed up. I saw your darkness that very day. You demon,” She spat the word out as if it burned her. And it likely did, considering she was saying Leo was essentially the devil himself.
Leo had no idea what happened, how it happened, still staring in awe at the windowless windows. William took his chance to run from the room, not looking back once. Sister Beatrice brought the cane down with more power Leo thought her capable of. It struck his shoulder, sending reverberations through his entire body as he fell to his knees. He had no time to react before the next blow landed, at the juncture between his shoulder and neck, causing him to careen over, landing on his hands and knees. She wasn’t holding back anymore, Leo thought, thinking of William. He thought she had lost it on the boy, but this was something else. She thought he was a demon, and he figures if she beats him to death then she’d be alright with that.
The assault continued, the cane coming down over and over again on Leo’s head, neck, back. His ears were ringing, and eyes going blurry. He didn’t think he was a demon, but he also had no idea what could cause the windows to explode as they had. He felt it come from him, this much he was sure, but if he wasn’t a demon, what was he?
Another strike to his head, just as he had turned his face over, had the cane connecting to his right eye bone. The pain had him yelping, bringing his hands up to cover himself, wishing for it to stop. He would give anything for it to just stop.
The next blows that Leo had prepared for never came. Only a crashing sound that came hurtling toward him and Sister Beatrice. It was as if the entire house had caved in on itself around them, centering around the scene. But it wasn’t that. As Leo cautiously lifted his head, he saw every frame, painting, and crucifix had collided into a singular pile over Sister Beatrice. She seemed to be struggling, if the muffled cries were anything to go by, but the pile of objects over her held strong against her, refusing to budge.
Leo stood, wobbly, and just watched. What else was he to do? Help her? She had seemed rather determined to kill him a moment ago. He could feel the blood dripping out of his ears. So, he just watched.
It felt like hours later that someone finally came into the kitchen.
Leo was still standing over the pile that was Sister Beatrice, who had since stopped struggling. Either from passing out, or accepting her fate, Leo was unsure.
“Are you alright, sir?”
Sir?
Are they talking to Leo?
He turned his head to the incomer, seeing an older man, with a grey beard and greyer hair. He had weird clothes on, looking more like robes than anything else. And a stick. Not a cane, thank God, but a small stick. Like a twig to start a fire with.
He was watching Leo like he was a wounded animal, unsure if sudden movements would scare him away. Leo felt like an animal alright, feral and rabid, ready to be put out of his misery. A second person entered the room, a woman. She was younger, brown hair framing her face, showing off her too-kind-looking eyes. She wore the brightest green robes(?) Leo had ever seen, and carried a twig similar to the man’s.
“Hello,” she inched her way into the room, closer to Leo, eyes never leaving his face, “my name is Erma Lawson. I’m a healer. Could I take a look at your injuries?”
A healer?
“Like a doctor?” Leo asked.
The man seemed floored that Leo had actually spoken. The woman looked rather pleased with herself. “Kind of, yes. I can take care of your injuries better than any doctor, though.” Leo could tell when someone was bragging, and this Erma Lawson seemed rather boastful of her supposed skills. No matter, if she could get the constant ringing to stop, Leo would let her do whatever she wanted to him.
He looked around the room, finding the kitchen chairs still in a relatively order position. Erma Lawson followed him, letting him sit while she waved her twig around him. The man walked in a circle around the mish-mash of objects, seemingly inspecting it, before turning to face Leo.
“I’m Podric Higgins, son. I’m an auror under the Improper Use of Magic department. Will you do us the favor of dispelling of this so we could free the lady underneath?”
Improper Use of Magic?
Leo felt waves of something flooding over his face as the ringing finally stopped. He wasn’t focused so much on Erma Lawson anymore, staring at Podric Higgins as if he had grown another head. Which, who knows, he might, considering he had just told Leo he works for some sort of magic department.
“Pardon?” was all Leo managed to say.
Podric Higgins did not seem impressed by that response, raising one stringy grey eyebrow at him, before gesturing to the clutter. “Do away with this magic, boy, so we can move on to the actual cleanup.”
Before Leo could really rile the man up by saying pardon again, a third person entered the room. He was younger than both the auror and healer. He was wearing normal clothes, thankfully, though he, like the others, carried around a stick. His glasses hung off his nose, as if ready to fall off his face. He swung around the room, taking it all in, before focusing on Podric Higgins.
“Auror Higgins, I kindly ask that you change your tone with the child.”
The child?
Leo did not like that term at all. He was no child. He was fifteen, for goodness sake! The nuns were about ready to throw him out, and Leo was ready to agree with them!
“Excuse me, Tilman?”
Auror Higgins did not enjoy being told to change his tone by someone that could only be a few years older than Leo. Erma Lawson seemed to be struggling to hold in her smile, as she took in the two men. She winked at Leo, stashing her twig somewhere in her sleeve.
“This is a case of accidental magic, as is commonly seen with children that are just discovering their magic. As it was accidental, asking him to be rid of the magic that caused this is rather rude, don’t you think?” the man pushed his glasses back up his nose, as if he just realized they were slipping down.
“Accidental magic? The boy’s at least sixteen! This is no accident!” Auror Higgins argued, gesturing around the room as he referenced the accident.
“I’m fifteen.”
All eyes turned to Leo then. Why he felt the need to correct his age was beyond him, but he jutted his chin out anyways, staring down this Auror Higgins. He didn’t know the new man that joined the group, but he could tell Auror Higgins was most definitely not on Leo’s side, so best to team up with the newest ally available.
“Sixteen, fifteen, it doesn’t matter! He is no child having an accidental outburst of magic! He’s about ten years too late for that excuse!”
Erma Lawson sighed, laying a hand on Leo’s shoulder, and said, “There’s quite an easy way to solve this. Tilman seems to think it was an accident, and you think it wasn’t. How about we ask the person who did it, huh? So, did you do this on purpose?”
Auror Higgins’ eyes bugged out of his head as he guffawed.
“And why, pray tell, would he answer truthfully, Healer Lawson? If he admits to doing this on purpose, he knows the consequences! He deliberately attempted to cause injury to the muggles around him! That is very clearly against the law.”
Muggles?
The man, Tilman, came over then, ignoring Auror Higgins’ attempt to stop him. He placed himself firmly between Leo and Auror Higgins, blocking both from seeing the other.
“Neither of you understand what I’m saying. There was no register of a magical child at this residence before today, roughly seventy-five minutes ago. Do you see? This is a case of accidental magic, as he has never showcased any magical talents previously. Would you condemn a child for coming into their magical ability later than others, Auror Higgins?”
Magical child… or demon?
Which did Leo prefer?
“You’re telling me this fifteen-year-old boy was not on the magical registry before today?”
Tilman heaved a large sigh, as if tired of repeating himself. “Yes, that is exactly what I’m saying.”
Healer Lawson couldn’t quite believe it, as she turned Leo toward her firmly, eyes wide, “Are you enrolled in Hogwarts?”
Leo looked between her and Tilman, who had turned to face the two of them, wondering what answer she was hoping for.
“What’s Hogwarts?” he settled on, of which he received scandalous looks from both Auror Higgins and Healer Lawson.
“Merlin… Has this ever happened before?” Healer Lawson asked, turning to Tilman, letting her hand drop from Leo’s shoulder. Auror Higgins kept looking at Leo like he was going to lunge for him. Nobody seemed that worried about the pile of clutter of Sister Beatrice anymore.
“It happens every few centuries, it seems. A previous Hogwarts professor didn’t attend until his fifth year,” Tilman explained.
“How long ago was that?”
“Oh about four hundred or so years ago.”
Silence hung heavy in the air after Tilman gave his answer. Leo was waiting for somebody to explain more of whatever in the world was going on. It all seemed jumbled in his mind, stuck and not going anywhere. There are aurors, and healers, and magical departments, and just plain magic in and of itself. He’s lost in the conversation, unfortunately.
“So, Tilman, what do we do about this then? It’ll take us ages to disengage whatever magic this is. And we need to repair the windows of the residence still, as well as administer memory charms to likely the entire neighborhood.”
Leo sighed, reserving himself to remain confused until Sister Beatrice was freed and somebody could focus on explaining rather than fixing.
Tilman pulled up a chair, sitting across from Leo. “What were you feeling at the time of the incident?”
Leo blinked, “Pain.”
All three stared at him, with Healer Lawson offering a look of undisguised pity.
Tilman nodded, jerkily and slowly, but continued, “And what were you thinking?”
“That I wanted Sister Beatrice to stop hitting me.”
Auror Higgins seemed to rapidly change his opinion of Leo in that moment, moving away from the clutter, and muttering about small-minded muggles.
“Well, you succeeded very well!” Tilman exclaimed, clapping his hands together. Healer Lawson knocked him in the back of the head, glaring at him. “What I mean is that you can let go. You are no longer in danger of being hurt by Sister Beatrice. Even after she is freed from her… crucifix prison, she will not be permitted to touch you again.”
Leo’s eyes narrowed, “But what of the others?”
“Pardon?”
“The other children here. I don’t know what all this magic stuff is, but I doubt the others have magic, since you said there were no magical children registered here. That means they’re all in danger of what happened tonight, just without me being there to… to… cause a distraction,” Leo finished, lamely.
Auror Higgins leaned on the table then, letting it act as a barrier between him and Leo. “I can promise you, boy, that that woman will not be allowed around children after this. To ensure that, though, she must first be released.”
Leo chewed on his cheek, looking between the three adults around him, before sighing. He felt it, somewhere deep within him, like a rope was let go. He had been holding it, fiercely, without really knowing it, keeping the tension. But he let it go, loosening the rope, and he felt more than saw the pile of wall decorations groan as they relaxed to the ground. Sister Beatrice came bursting from the pile like a monster clawing out of the ground. She seemed to pay no mind to the others in the room, eyes landing on Leo instantly.
“You insolent, evil little boy!” she raised her hand, making to strike him again, before she was frozen entirely. Ice covered her from head to toe, and Auror Higgins had his stick pointed directly at her.
“What a terrible woman,” he said, saying something else that had Sister Beatrice floating into the air and out the door.
“That is magic,” Tilman said, smiling brightly at Leo.
Leo smiled back.