A Foreign Affair
A Theo Nott Romance
Chapter 1:
Acknolwedgements: This is a fanfic for J.K. Rowling's characters and conceptions in "Harry Potter". I do not claim rights to characters other than Alessandra Aragòn-Morales and similar original characters. All other familiar names, places, and titles belong to J.K. Rowling.
Rating: T for some coarse language, alcohol, violence and dark themes, and some sexual content.
"¡Alessandra! Venga abajo! Lessie!"
"¡Un minuto, Mamá!"
Lessie sat at the bay window of her room; the afternoon breeze blew through the curtains, and lifted the strands of her dark hair that had fallen from her long braid. Her dark eyebrows were knitted together in concentration as she wrote in her thick journal. Finishing her thought, Lessie put her quill down and snapped her journal shut before she jumped out of her seat and bounded down the marble steps of her large San Diego home.
"Mamá," Lessie called once downstairs.
"There's a letter for you!" Her mom's answer floated from the kitchen.
Lessie broke out into the grin and dashed into the kitchen. Sure enough, she found her mother stirring a pot at the stove in their large kitchen. Though they had house-elves, Valeria Aragón-Morales wanted to be the one to cook for her family. On the center island was a crème-colored envelope.
Lessie picked up the envelope. In elegant calligraphy-Alessandra Julieta Aragón-Morales—her name was spiraled on the front. On the back, Ilvermorny's crest sealed the envelope.
Lessie slid her finger under the flap of the envelope and extracted a letter. "It's probably the letter from the results of the Exchange Program," she said. Her heart hammered wildly. This was it!
Valeria put the wooden spoon down and she turned to face her daughter. "Well," she asked, "what does it say?"
Lessie extracted the letter and scanned the contents. "Dear Miss Alessandra J. Aragón-Morales, earlier this year you applied to Ilvermorny's trial exchange program. Based on your merits, recommendations from peers and professors, and your application, we are pleased to inform you that you have been selected to pilot Ilvermorny's global studies program—I got in! I was accepted!"
"Congratulations, mijita!" Valeria went to her daughter and kissed her forehead. Lessie smiled as she put the letter back in her envelope—she would glue it in her journal later.
"Now, help me with dinner," asked Valeria, already walking away. "Your brothers and father will be home very soon. As will your sister and her husband. Remember, Maria and Miguel are visiting today."
X
Dinner was a loud and boisterous affair as all of Lessie's immediately family gathered outside to eat. Because all of the family was there, and to celebrate Lessie's accomplishment, Spanish wine from the Aragón vineyards—Valeria's home country—was served.
"I believe a congratulations is in order," Carlos Morales, Lessie's father said over the chatter of his family. Everyone quieted to give him his or her attention. "Lessie has been chosen to pilot the Exchange Program with her school. We are so proud of her."
Everyone turned to look at Lessie who tried not to shrink under the sudden attention. There was a long pause of silence.
"Which school will you choose," asked Maria, Lessie's older sister, breaking the silence. Her back was straight her posture stiff.
"Hogwarts," Lessie answered without hesitation. "It's the best school outside of Ilvermorny."
"That's very far away," Michael, her eldest brother, said, his brown eyes narrowing.
"It is," Lessie agreed, guarded.
"She will go," her father decided, his eyes locked on his youngest child, and Lessie felt the tension leave her shoulders. "Everyone is good at something, and Lessie's talent, like her mothers, is magic."
"Bruja," Jonathan, the brother that was six years older than her murmured quietly enough for only her to hear. Lessie bit her bottom lip to keep from flinching.
o
Lessie sat in her room later that night, quietly listening to the crickets outside of her window when her father came into her room. Lessie smiled gently when Carlos took a seat next to her at the bay window.
"If you keep frowning like that, the wind will turn and your face will change," said Carlos with a gentle smile. Lessie crossed her eyes and made a face, but she found her father's beliefs in old wives' tales endearing.
"Is it really okay for me to go, Papá?"
"Go," her father said, nodding solemnly. "Home will always be here when you need us."
"Will it?" Lessie drew her knees to her chest and frowned again. "They don't like me. They've always thought of me as strange."
"Your brothers and sister are jealous," said Carlos. "Think about it, they love your mother, and you are from your mother and me, how could they hate you?"
It was true, her siblings were all her half-siblings, Valeria was Carlos's second wife after his first wife passed away. Carlos had met Valeria—a beautiful pure-blooded Spanish witch when he was on a business trip to Spain many years ago.
"See," Carlos said, seeing Lessie scowl as she let the information sink. "They don't know how to show it, but they love you very much. If you need them, they will protect you."
"I suppose." Lessie giggled when her father pulled her into a hug. Of all his children, Carlos Morales had the softest of spots for his youngest child—her adventurous and ambitious heart was just like his.
"Your mother has told me about Hogwarts," said Carlos. "So, when you go, I want you to only use your mother's name."
Lessie pulled back to look at her father. Her hard-working, intelligent, No-maj father had a knowing look in his dark eyes. Lessie bit her bottom lip. She knew over in Europe the stigma against half-blood and no-maj born witches and wizards was strict. She was determined to change it. Therefore she nodded after a moment's hesitation.
The next day when she sent her confirmation letter to Hogwarts, she applied as Alessandra Julieta Aragón.
X
"Be safe, Alessandra," Valeria murmured as she kissed her daughter's forehead. Worry creased the proud Spanish woman's brow as she searched her daughter's brown eyes.
"I will, Mamá," Alessandra promised.
"Maybe she shouldn't go. Carlos." Valeria turned to her husband as they waited by Platform Nine-and-three-quarters to see Lessie off. "The rumors that Hogwarts isn't safe. Even though Ilvermorny is in session, Lessie can go back-"
Carlos touched his black mustache, as he often did when deep in thought.
"No, I'm going to Hogwarts." Alessandra looked at her parents. Shortly after sending in her confirmation letter, Ilvermorny and Hogwarts informed Lessie's family of the recent events of the last school year: the return of Voldemort. Lessie's family grew worried, and Lessie knew in her heart that more than ever, she needed to go.
The whistle from Hogwarts Express startled Lessie and she took both of her parents' hands and squeezed them once before she started to walk away. "I'm going," she repeated and offered her parents a smile before she turned to board the train. There was no going back now.
o
The door to her private compartment slid open, pulling her from her thoughts. Lessie looked up into the face of a tall boy with a book in his hand standing at the opening. He was thin with brown hair and eyes that reminded Lessie of her beloved Pacific Ocean. He also reminded Lessie of a rabbit by the way his teeth seemed just slightly too big for his mouth. His face was impassive when he regarded her.
"You look new," the boy said.
"I kind of am," Lessie offered a smile. "To Hogwarts at least."
"You're not from around here," the boy raised an eyebrow at her.
"No," said Lessie, "but you're accent tells me you're from here."
"I'm not the one with an accent," the boy raised a dark eyebrow at her, cocking his head head at the sound of her American accent. Something about his blank facial expression reminded Lessie of her mother—the guarded expression of those born into nobility.
"I suppose you're right. My name is Lessie."
"Lessie?" The boy quirked his eyebrow even higher. The boy regarded Lessie carefully, as if making a decision. Finally he entered the compartment and shut the door, sitting across from her. Lessie smiled with slight satisfaction.
"It's short for Alessandra."
"You can't be a first year," the boy commented, and Lessie felt him glance quickly at her face and body. Lessie was average height and already had a well-developed figure, but she was sure that the boy that sat across from her would make her feel small if she stood in front of him.
Lessie smiled slightly and held up a hand and the boy scoffed, as though unused to being told what to do—just like her older brothers. "So many questions," Lessie laughed. "How about you? Don't I get to know your name?"
"Nott," the boy said at last. "Theo Nott."
"Theo," Lessie said, "short for Theodore."
"Theo," Theo insisted and Lessie laughed, figuring she was right in guessing his full name.
"Well it's nice to meet you, Theo. And I'm not a First Year; I'm a Fifth year. I'm actually an exchange student from Ilvermorny."
"That Muggle-loving North American school?" Theo laughed insolently, and Lessie felt anger flare at the sound.
"Muggle?"
"You don't know what a Muggle is? You know, non-magical people?"
"Oh! You mean No-maj! I forgot you had a different word for them. Yes…we're friendly with the non-maj community, specifically if there is a witch or wizard with no-maj lineage—"
"You mean Mudbloods," said Theo. He shook his head, unbelieving of Lessie's ease in talking about them.
Lessie flinched at the word. She knew that one, and throughout her magical schooling, she was taught to never use that word because it was the same as discriminating against someone's skin color.
Theo's clear blue eyes noticed Lessie's involuntary movement. "You're not one of them are you? A Mudblood?" Theo scoffed. "I would manage to find the last remotely private compartment occupied by a Mud—"
"No," said Lessie, raising her head high. "I'm not. And you don't have to sit here. Don't you have friends of your own?"
"Acquaintances," said Theo. "Friends is a strong word."
"Fine, don't you have other acquaintances you can talk to?"
"Touched something sensitive, didn't I," asked Theo, completely unapologetic.
Lessie frowned as she was torn between irritation with the boy across from her and finding his British accent charming. "I was told Hogwarts was less tolerant than Ilvermorny, and you are a fine example of that, Theodore."
"I wouldn't expect you to know anything, Alessandra," Theo shot back. "Especially if you come from a pitiable school like Ilvermorny."
"Ilvermonry is just as good a school as Hogwarts," Lessie fired back. "I'll have you know, Theodore, I am the top of my year and that's why I was selected for the Exchange Program, and I chose to go to Hogwarts because—" Lessie stopped herself.
Theo sat back, smug satisfaction and curiosity on his face. "Because," he prompted.
Lessie took a shaking breath and ran her fingers through her long black hair, unaware of Theo's watchful eyes catching her every movement. "Because, I'm interested in foreign affairs and I wanted the opportunity to learn from the best school in Europe," Lessie answered, telling most of the truth.
o
Theo regarded Lessie. Minutes before he entered her compartment, he had left the compartment that held Blaise Zabini, Greg Goyle, and Vincent Crabbe—he had no interest in such trivial conversation such as Draco's new position as a prefect or what girl let Vincent feel her up over the summer.
Then there was Lessie, the American girl that sat across from him. Hours passed in their compartment and she refused to talk to him again, which was fine by him; he wasn't much of a talker to begin with. Every so often, Theo would look up from his book to see Lessie with her knees up as she wrote in her journal, brushing strands of her long, black-as-night hair out of her eyes.
When the Express rolled to a stop, Lessie stood and shrugged on her black Hogwarts robes, and Theo did the same, seconds later. He watched as Lessie began to reach up for her trunks.
"Leave them," said Theo, and Lessie turned to him for the first since she stopped talking to him. Theo paused as she turned her face up to him, her cinnamon colored eyes on his. Theo cleared his throat, "the trunks are always brought in for us."
"Okay."
Students filed out of the train and Theo tapped Lessie's arm, silently guiding her to where the other Fifth years waited to be escorted to Hogwarts.
Theo raised an eyebrow when he heard Lessie make out a quiet gasp when the carriages arrived.
"You see them too."
Lessie looked up at Theo, tearing her eyes away from the skeletal horse figures with wings that pulled the carriages. She nodded once.
"Not everyone can."
"Can you see them," asked Lessie as one of the last carriages pulled to a stop in front of them. Theo nodded once as he followed Lessie into the carriage, followed by other Fifth years.
X
The carriages stopped in front of the school and the students piled out one by one. Theo exited the carriage first and held out a hand to help Lessie out. Lessie hesitated for a second, and Theo smirked.
"I don't bite," he said.
Lessie rolled her eyes at the boy, but took his hand anyway, as delicately and lady-like as her noble-birthed mother taught her to be. "Thank you, Theodore."
"Alessandra Aragòn?"
Lessie paused and saw an older witch with a severe face wearing a beat up old hat calling to her from just inside the castle. Lessie glanced at Theo, before parting from him.
The woman offered Lessie a smile which softened her features only slightly. "I'm Professor McGonagall."
"Oh," Lessie smiled, "it's good to finally meet you in person."
"Likewise my dear," said McGonagall. "I wanted to introduce myself as well as give you a chance to sort into your house before you enter the Great Hall and before the first years. I figured you'd rather watch the ceremony than participate with the eleven year olds."
"Definitely."
MgGonagall removed the beaten hat from her head and handed it to Lessie. "When you're ready, place it on your head."
Lessie took the hat, turned it once in her hands and put it on her head. For a second, nothing happened, until she heard a voice in her head.
"What a mind," the deep voice said. "I see you have a desire for knowledge and adventure, but your mind is most intriguing. Your desire for self-preservation is remarkable. I also see a great determination…" Finally, the hat echoed outside of Lessie's head: "SLYTHERIN!"
Lessie felt her heart skip a beat. Her mother had told her about Slytherin (Valeria had been a Gryffindor), and McGonagall's face confirmed her mother's stories.
"Last table on the left," McGonagall said before putting the hat back on her head and leaving to greet the First years.
Lessie frowned slightly as she entered the Great Hall. Students were still filing in as Lessie made her way to Slytherin's table. She smiled slightly when she saw Theo at the table; as irritating as he was, she was glad for his familiar face.
She tapped his shoulder as she neared him. "Scoot over," she said. The corners of Theo's lips quirked up slightly as he relented, opening up a space for Lessie to sit beside him.
"Excuse me, who are you?"
Lessie glanced up at the girl across from her who addressed her abruptly. The girl had a face that reminded her of a pug. Beside her was a boy with pale blonde hair and water colored eyes. Both regarded her almost disdainfully.
"Lessie," Lessie answered, raising her chin as well, playing the arrogance game all the Hogwarts students she'd interacted with seemed to enjoy. "I'm the exchange student from Ilvermorny. I was sorted here."
"Oh, we were informed of that," said the pale blonde boy. He rolled his eyes. "Seems like your school isn't a lost cause if you've been sorted into our house. I'm Malfoy. Draco Malfoy." Draco held out a hand.
Lessie sighed and took it, squeezed once and quickly released it. She didn't trust this kid.
"Pansy Parkinson," the pug-faced girl smiled at her. "We'll have to catch up later."
"I look forward to it," Lessie lied through her teeth.
X
Lessie sat in a vacant Slytherin's Common Room well after midnight next to the fire. She quietly ran her fingers through her hair unbraiding and re-braiding it as she mulled over the night's events. Hogwarts was indeed going through some dark times.
"I hope running into you in my private sanctuaries won't become a regular practice."
Lessie looked up to see Theo, carrying a book again, dressed in black lounge pants and a white V-neck t-shirt.
"Oh forgive me your highness," Lessie said her voice dripping with sarcasm. Theo smirked as he sat in front of her on the floor in front of the fire.
"Are you cold?"
Lessie nodded and drew her blanket tighter around her—mostly because she suddenly felt shy in her black silk camisole and shorts sleep set. "I grew up in Southern California where it's always warm. This will take a little time to get used to."
Theo nodded and picked up his book, beginning to read.
"Why are you down here so late?"
"I have a hard time going to sleep sometimes," said Theo, shrugging his shoulders. "I read until it becomes easier."
Lessie felt herself soften at Theo's words. He might be arrogant, but he was still human.
After a few minutes of silence in front of the crackling fire, she stood, feeling ready to brave the cold. "Good night."
"Alessandra."
Lessie paused when she heard Theo call out to her. She turned, raising an eyebrow at him. "Lessie," she prompted.
"Lessie sounds like a name I would give to someone lesser than me," Theo scowled, and Lessie wondered if Theo noticed heat creep up her face at his explanation.
Theo's blue eyes then seemed to soften. "Alessandra, you said you're here to learn. Just…be careful about who you trust."
"Dully noted," said Lessie. "Good night, Theodore."
"Theo," Theo prompted.
Lessie paused. She had no good reason to call him "Theodore" other than to annoy him, and she could get used to him calling her by her full name. "Fine," she said. "Good night, Theo. Thanks for looking out for me."
Author's Note: I have recently grown fond of Theo...so welcome to a new journey! This story starts during the students' Fifth Year (Order of the Phoenix) and possibly beyond!
I have a request! Do I have any fancy friends good at making story images? I can't think of or find a good graphic icon for this story. Tips and ideas are welcome!
Your reviews are love!