Chapter 1
Alex was back above the Happy Dragon tavern, taking a break from the known lands and the intense ripples his defeat of the Brotherhood had caused. He’d traveled around Jarro for nearly two months healing the lands and the people within them. Settling the sea elves back into their ancestral lands had taken a significant portion of that time. Alex had then gone to the southern cities of Midland in an attempt to find Lupo’s home so that he could explain himself to the young man and his family. Unfortunately, Lupo had left to find an oracle to determine his fate as an adventurer the week earlier. Alex had apologized for the trouble and left the family in peace. He’d debated going after Lupo, but without an idea of which oracle and where that oracle was, which path Lupo was traveling to get there, and how to explain himself should he actually find Lupo, Alex had decided to return to his stepfather. Besides, Alex was tired beyond belief and had hardly had time to be with himself in silence in the past two months.
A strange feeling snapped Alex out of his retrospective daze. A tingling sensation in his hands and feet, one similar but not quite identical to the feeling of a magical place or powerful magic in general, brought Alex to his feet, and he carefully peered out the window. Two oddly dressed men, one in a pitch black suit and the other in plum-colored velvet, were walking casually towards the tavern entrance at 8 am on a Tuesday. Alex was nearly certain that these two were the source of the strange sensation, though he was uncertain as to how. Examining his surroundings more closely, he noticed a thin web of magic that was attempting to calm his emotions and distance his connection from his magic. Alex almost wanted to scoff at the feeble magic, but he was far more alarmed that magic users knew of his presence there and had attempted to stop him from protecting himself.
“Alex?” Mr. Roberts called up the stairs a moment later. “There are two men here to see you.”
“Coming!” Alex called in reply, doing his best to sound excited and surprised. If they were enemies of his, letting them know that he already knew of their presence could be forfeiting an advantage. He quickly grabbed his magic bag, packed all of his adventuring momentos and books into it with the help of his magic so that his room looked slightly bare but obviously normal, and headed down the stairs. Alex held his bag in such a way that he could easily grab one of his weapons from it if he needed to. He walked into the main room of the tavern and sat next to Mr. Roberts, shifting his attention to the two men sitting across the table. Neither of them appeared to recognize his bag, though Alex didn’t trust that assessment. No true wizard worth his salt could mistake a magic bag for something else.
Perhaps they are something else entirely, Alex’s O’Gash whispered quietly. Alex didn’t respond, but he did take note of the words. If his O’Gash didn’t think that they were faking not recognizing his magic bag, they might not be from the known lands after all. That did not, however, explain the potent web of calming and constraining magic still pulsing gently around the tavern.
The plum wizard shifted in the silence as he seemed to realize that Alex would not be the first to speak and let out a short breath. “My name is Albus Dumbledore, and this is Professor Snape. We’ve come to invite Alexander Taylor to our school, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.”
Alex stayed silent. He was uncertain how much these men knew about him and the known lands, and he would not tell them anything they did not already know. Mr. Roberts, after a glance over at him, stayed silent as well.
The older wizard stroked his awkwardly long beard and spoke before his companion, a dour man that had begun sneering at the silence, could. “Have you ever done something that could not be easily explained? Perhaps when you were angry or scared?”
Alex stayed silent, and so did Mr. Roberts. The two men were beginning to become visibly frustrated now.
“Oh for Salazar’s sake!” the man in black snapped finally. “Whether or not you want to admit it, you are a wizard, just as Headmaster Dumbledore and I are. You will be attending Hogwarts for the next three years to train you in the use of your magic so that you don’t accidentally blow up half of the block when you get angry.”
“Now, Severus,” Headmaster Dumbledore chided, “there’s no reason for you to lose your temper.” He turned twinkling eyes on Alex, and Alex felt a creeping dislike for the man. He had yet to ask how Alex felt and had not actually tried to restrain his colleague's temper. Indeed, he seemed just as set in forcing to attend this school of his as the black-haired man. “My boy, I think it would be best for you to come with us for the remainder of the summer until school starts. You can start catching up on what you’ve missed, meet some of your schoolmates, and go shopping for your school supplies.” He stood as if to leave.
Alex raised his eyebrow. They really were going to attempt to strongarm him into attending this school. He exchanged a look with Mr. Roberts. “Are you really not going to ask me if I am willing to allow my Alex to go to this school of yours? It sounds like it will be quite expensive, if brand new school supplies will need to be bought. This could just be an elaborate scam. You seem quite practiced at this, and I have seen no evidence of ‘something that could not be explained’ other than your strange suit choice. For that matter, how do you know that Alex is actually one of these so-called wizards?” Mr. Roberts said, putting on a rather good show of being red in the face with indignation and consequently stopped the two men in their tracks. They turned back to the table in apparent shock.
“My apologies, my boy. I didn’t mean to offend.” Headmaster Dumbledore pulled a stick out of his sleeve and waved it at a glass, which promptly turned into an eye-wateringly pink ceramic dish containing lemon drops. “Lemon drop? No? Well then, I assure you this isn’t a hoax. We will be providing the funds for your necessary school purchases, as you are a student without any connection to the Wizarding World. Now, shall we be off?”
“Hang on,” Mr. Roberts said, starting to get angry. “You didn’t answer all of my questions. How did you know that Alex was a wizard? Also, turn my glass back into a glass or pay for it.”
The headmaster looked ready to answer his question without actually answering his question when Professor Snape cut him off. “A couple months ago, the Ministry of Magic was alerted to accidental magic taking the shape of wind in this building by an unknown magical. Here’s your glass.” He waved his wand and reversed the dish. Headmaster Dumbledore looked quite put out by the loss of his dish.
“Were you going to bother informing us about this Ministry of Magic or anything more about this Wizarding World before taking Alex?” Mr. Roberts asked in disgust. “Get out of my tavern. I have a business to run. Come back tomorrow morning if you want my answer on letting Alex attend this school of yours.” He pushed on before either of the men could respond. “It’s been almost six months since the wind. The block is still standing, so you obviously weren’t too worried about that.” Mr. Roberts pushed them out of the door and closed it firmly on their backs.
Alex reached out to feel that the web of magic was still there. He shook his head when Mr. Roberts opened his mouth and pointed to his bag. He was pretty sure that they couldn’t eavesdrop on him through that magic, but better in his bag safe within its protections than sorry. Mr. Roberts nodded and stood next to it. Alex thought his password intently, focusing and putting himself and Mr. Roberts in the bag safely. A moment later, they stood in his library in front of the reading chair placed next to an end table. Alex duplicated the chair and sat down with a sigh.
“Do you think I overdid it with them?” Mr. Roberts asked.
“No, it was perfect. We know a lot more than we did, including what sparked their interest in me. It is interesting that despite their apparent worry over my apparently untrained state they are only reaching out to us now, despite the wind being late February and it currently being August 13th.” Alex could see another worry in the other man’s eyes and spoke to reassure him, as the man would never voice his second worry. “Don’t worry about claiming to control my movements. Your position as my apparent guardian gives you the power to say such things to those men.”
Mr. Roberts relaxed slightly. “Perhaps they got in some trouble for waiting so long? More importantly, do you actually want to go to this school? They didn’t tell us anything about the actual place, nor how I was supposed to contact you, should I ‘let’ you go. Besides, I highly doubt they will be able to teach you anything. Both of them needed those sticks to perform the magic they showed us.”
“It must be quite some trouble to occupy them for a full six months. I’m sure I will find out what it is though, because I highly doubt they will just let it go. They seem like the type to keep on trying, and I’m not sure that they would ask more than a couple times. They might just take me and do something to us to make us accept it. Because of that, I think that short of changing my name and looks and moving to a new location, I won’t have a choice in attending the school. It will be interesting to learn a new form of magic, especially since they don’t appear to know anything about the known lands.” Alex replied.
“Are they truly wizards that could pose a threat to you?” Mr. Roberts asked curiously.
“I doubt they are true wizards. They don’t have as much power as all those I have met, and they seemed incapable of recognizing my magic. Power knows power, and they couldn’t recognize mine. They would likely prove an annoyance to me though, and I’d rather not deal with evading them while I’m trying to relax and recover.”
“You’ll go then? Money wouldn’t be an issue for either of us, but I worry that they will somehow find out about your power or the known lands.”
“I will need to be careful,” Alex agreed. “Still, it should be an interesting way to spend some time. If I really don’t like it after a few days, I’ll return here or to the known lands, no harm done. Besides, if they truly are going to pay for my schooling, it could be like an all-expenses-paid vacation with learning!”
“You’d better pack tonight then. Fancy waiting tables in the meantime? Some of the customers, especially Mrs. Sherman, will be glad to see you back at work again.”
Alex smiled and nodded, transporting them both out of his bag.
“Fine, go to that Hogwash school!” Mr. Roberts exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air and stomping off to the kitchen. He threw a wink at Alex over his shoulder. Alex, glad to see that Mr. Roberts had understood the danger of being spied on, headed upstairs to get changed into a more work-suitable outfit than his basketball shorts and T-shirt.
The next morning dawned bright and early for both of them. Alex had packed his clothes and anything he thought he might need to maintain his clueless cover into his magic bag the night before. He wrote a note explaining the presence of foreign magic to Mr. Roberts, still uncertain what they could hear, see, or sense with that web of spells. Alex then enchanted it to glow a gentle blue 24 hours later if the magic was still in place, so that Mr. Roberts would know to be careful with his words and with the thought that they hadn’t detected any of his magic since then and were highly unlikely to sense it if he focused on hiding whatever he worked. Mr. Roberts wasn’t stupid enough to just mention the known lands in any case, but it was better to know. Alex would not be telling them that he could sense their magic. They had attempted to weaken his connection to his own magic, and hiding that talent and his magical prowess could come in handy if the people he would apparently be joining couldn’t sense magic like he could.
At 7:58 am, a sharp knock sounded on the door. Alex, who had come downstairs twenty minutes earlier to give his note to Mr. Roberts, exchanged a look with the man and went to answer it. The same two men stood outside the door. Headmaster Dumbledore beamed at them.
“Ready to go my boy? Excellent! Severus will take any luggage you have. Let’s be on our way then!”
Alex hugged Mr. Roberts and stepped out of the door to stand next to the two odd men.
“Where’s your luggage, boy?” Professor Snape sneered.
Alex raised his empty-looking bag in simultaneous answer and challenge. He really didn’t appreciate feeling coerced into going with the two men, even if he was certain he wouldn’t have too many problems wherever they were going. Not much seemed threatening after being on the other side of the wall and breaking reality, not to mention the other things he had faced on his journeys.
Don’t be too sure about that, his O’Gash answered. Alex would have asked a question, but his arm was grabbed before he could respond. The subsequent trip through space, especially with the complete lack of warning he’d been given, was less than pleasant. He thought the sneering man had likely done that on purpose as a way of getting back at him for his general attitude, and Alex wondered for a moment what their neighbors would have thought if they’d caught a glimpse of three men suddenly disappearing. There’d been no disguise spells, and Alex doubted that there were any preventive measures at all based on a glimpse of Mr. Roberts’ wide eyes he’d had before being sucked through a tube. Mr. Roberts knew about magic, but he could not perform it anymore than a cat could fly.
Alex staggered when they landed. His stomach was not pleased with the journey, but the nausea faded after a moment. The black-haired man seemed almost disappointed that he hadn’t thrown up, and the older man seemed shocked about the same thing. Alex almost went to ask why he hadn’t been warned before thinking better of it. He was unlikely to be given a straight answer, and it was probably best if they thought he was dim enough to not notice their shocked and somewhat hostile glances. A paper was shoved abruptly into his hand.
“Memorize that,” the angry man snarled.
Alex took his time looking down, disappointed in Headmaster Dumbledore’s lack of response to the aggression, and decided not to trust any of the adults until they had thoroughly proven themselves if these two were seen as trustworthy enough adults to convince parents to let them take their children. If he and Mr. Roberts hadn’t known about magic and been certain that he could protect himself against threats, they probably would have either slammed the door or called the cops upon seeing them on their doorstep that morning, if not both. The paper burnt itself into ashes the moment he’d memorized the words. Alex might have been injured if fire, for the most part, didn’t harm him, but the two men beside him didn’t even look concerned at that possibility. That confirmed it for Alex. He could not trust the men beside him in any way, not when they didn’t appear to care that he could have been injured as a direct result of their actions.
A house squeezing itself into existence was not the strangest thing that Alex had seen, but he did wonder how it was possible. Looking closer at the magic surrounding the house, however, he could see that it had only revealed itself, not popped into existence. He also spotted some pretty nasty ancient curses woven into the protections and wondered curiously who lived here and why it was determined safe to be in. Any house that allowed the master of the house to torture the inhabitants at a moment’s notice was not exactly safe. The adults in the Wizarding World really must not care what happened to others, even children, as Alex could see several auras grouped together that looked to be younger than eighteen in the house. He made a mental note to try finding anything potentially hidden with the same spell work though, because he wasn't certain that he would have noticed the house without actively trying if not for the paper key he'd read.
“Let’s head in, shall we?” the headmaster asked cheerfully, not waiting for an answer or seeming to notice the enmity or silence of his two companions. He certainly didn’t show his own surprise that the boy, someone completely new to their world, hadn’t been at all shocked at a house appearing out of nowhere. Dumbledore attributed that and the few seconds of inaction to the queasiness the boy was no doubt still experiencing. He was sure the boy, like all the others he’d recruited, even young Tom, was absolutely thrilled and excited to be here. Dumbledore led the way, opening the door and leading their little group to the kitchen where all of the members of the Order inside the house, plus a couple curious teenagers, were no doubt lying in wait.
Alex still didn’t appreciate being strongarmed into doing whatever his companions wished, but decided to go along with it for the moment. The door swung open, revealing a dusty hallway and a strangely large, hollow leg-shaped umbrella stand covered in strangely textured skin. It looked similar to the skin of the trolls he’d come across, but it hadn’t turned to stone despite the sliver of sunlight that fell on it from the quickly opened and shut doorway. Perhaps a dangerous and secretive subspecies of troll? If some trolls didn't turn into stone at the touch of sunlight, they would be far more dangerous. Alex would need to be wary of the creatures in this world, not just the people in it. He walked down the hall to the door that had all of the auras in the house, save for one unfortunately small badly mangled jet black aura, and waited for one of the men to open it.
Surveying the room as he stepped into it, Alex couldn’t help but notice the absolutely ancient kitchen in the corner and the dusty, old feel of the entire room. The people in it, most dressed strangely in a weird type of dress, turned to look at him. Alex evaluated them in return. One of them had a strange wild edge to his magic that reminded Alex of the creatures that had attacked the caravan he was on a full moon a couple months previous. Two, one young, one old, looked haunted and bone-thin, and the older one had a dark tear in his magic. The younger one had a weird dark bulge in his power centered on his forehead that looked suspiciously similar to the mangled aura elsewhere in the gloomy house. The rest of the auras looked fairly normal, based on what he could tell about these people from his very limited interaction with them.
Looking at the strength of the power, Alex realized that the two men next to him had the most power in the room, Headmaster Dumbledore more than Professor Snape. The younger too-thin one had a lot of potential power as well, but most of it appeared to be trying to run his body. As he looked at the people in the room, he noted that he was as tall as or taller than most of them, most likely due to the fact that his body, thankfully, was growing the way it already had in the known lands, even if it meant that scars sometimes appeared overnight. He didn’t know how the gateway worked, but he was happy to write this off as a side effect of the magic and move on.
A moment later, suspicious green eyes from that same boy, the one with the weird dark blob surrounding his head, turned on him. “Who are you?” he asked warily. Alex would be surprised if that thing wasn’t interfering with the boy’s mind and health somehow, because breathing in fouled magic all the time could not be healthy.
“Alexander Taylor,” Alex replied, cutting the two men that had taken him from the tavern off before they had the chance to speak. He noticed their small jolt of surprise and realized with a small amount of surprised satisfaction at the jump that this was the first time they had heard him speak. Alex wondered for a moment what they would do if he refused to speak and why they hadn’t been worried that he hadn’t spoken at all yet before pushing that aside to focus on the conversation. He wouldn’t be offering his nickname to these people until they had proven trustworthy, and they had definitely not earned his trust. “Who are you?” Alex asked in return, watching surprise flit through the green eyes as if he expected to be recognized.
“I’m Harry Potter,” the boy replied, looking like he expected some big reaction.
“Nice to meet you,” Alex replied. He watched a small frown appear on Harry’s face and wondered at the cause. After a few more moments of silence, it became clear that everyone was expecting something from him and would apparently not be introducing themselves. Alex sighed. “I would like to know the names of the people that essentially kidnapped me,” he said bluntly.
Twin grins spread across redheaded faces. “Well, my dear kidnapee, I’m George and that’s Fred Weasley.”
Alex, noting that the one who spoke was most likely Fred, not George, was sure they would have continued on in that streak if another redhead, this one likely their mother, hadn’t jumped into the conversation before they could.
“I’m Molly, dear. What do you mean by kidnapped?”
“These two guys, Headmaster Dumbledore and Professor Snape, showed up yesterday, said I would be attending a school I’d never heard of before, Hogwash or something, came back this morning after being turned away, and pulled me through a tube or something until I stood in front of this house. I still have no clue what’s going on or how they found me, or any idea of how to contact my guardian, since I don’t see a phone here,” Alex explained. He enjoyed the horrified expressions of everyone at the mention of ‘Hogwash’. He knew full well that the name was Hogwarts, but he had basically no information on his current situation and didn’t even know the names of everyone in the room.
“Do you mean to tell me that Professor Snape and Headmaster Dumbledore didn’t explain anything?” a tall, severe looking woman asked, sounding horrified.
“Nope!” Alex exclaimed a little too cheerfully. He had no idea what her name was, but the glare the woman turned on the two men was worth the flippant answer. The woman stood up from her chair and pulled the two men out into the corridor. The start of a long talking-to that Alex heard before the door closed had him suppressing a smile as everyone in the room winced.
“That was Professor McGonagall, and I’m Hermione Granger,” a prim girl sitting next to Harry Potter and another redhead said. She elbowed the boy next to her.
He winced and said, “Ron Weasley,” through a mouth of food.
“Ginny Weasley,” the girl sitting across from him said quietly.
“Remus Lupin,” the man with the wild-edged magic said.
“Sirius Black,” said the older too-thin man with a mischievous smile.
“The mass murderer?” Alex asked in surprise.
“Allegedly, but I never got a trial, just prison,” the man said.
“I thought there was a Ministry of Magic or something? Doesn’t that ensure trials?” Alex asked, confused and concerned.
“It should, but the Ministry’s full of complacent fools,” Ron Weasley said angrily through another mouthful of food.
“Reassuring,” Alex muttered. Louder, he asked, “Is there any way I could get some of that food? Professor Snape and Headmaster Dumbledore didn’t bother giving me time to eat before we left.”
The door, which had cracked open behind him, shut abruptly as the rant started again. Molly Weasley bustled over with a full plate of food and pushed him into the seat next to Ron. For a few minutes, silence reigned as Ron and Alex ate and everyone stared at Alex. He did his best to ignore the attention and focus on the food, though the staring was a bit rude and creepy. The door swung open again just as Harry asked, “Why are you here?”
“Ah, good question my boy.” Headmaster Dumbledore said, twinkle somewhat diminished after the angry tirade he’d just been rightfully subjected to. Professor Snape slunk in after him, Professor McGonagall apparently too angry to rejoin them. “You see, Alexander here has recently come into his magic. He’ll be joining Hogwarts in his fifth year, so I expect all of you to do your best to help him catch up on the knowledge he’s missed.”
“What do you mean by came into his magic?” Hermione Granger asked.
“Just that, my dear. A couple months ago, he had a burst of accidental magic that was picked up by the Ministry. Can I trust that you will help him catch up with his studies?”
“Yes, of course, but doesn’t accidental magic happen before children turn eleven?” the girl asked.
“It appears that’s not always the case, Ms. Granger,” Professor Snape’s cold voice sneered. “Here are your books, Mr. Taylor. Good day.”
He shoved a large stack of books that had apparently come out of nowhere into Alex’s arms and turned on his heel. He strode away, and Alex imagined that if he’d been wearing one of the dress things that it would have flared very dramatically. Alex set the books on the table, noting that they all had a small ‘1’ etched on the bottom of the spine, probably indicating that they were for first year students, and went back to his breakfast. He very determinedly ignored the silence that had fallen again as everyone stared at him to figure out what made him different from the other children who all had their accidental magic before eleven and joined the school in their first year. The silence was much shorter this time, but was broken just as abruptly.