Vincent had always known he wasn't like the other people around him. He wasn't outwardly strange it not like he went around rambling or threatening people but there was something about him that was off, and the other children could sense it too. For the most part they ignored him, they gave him a wide berth in hallways and common areas but some of them were more unnerved by his presence then the others, those ones attacked him bullied him they waited until they couldn't be seen and harassed him.
To be honest it didn't really faze him to much and he always gave as good as he got, it was just a part of his life at St Bernards boarding school it had been since the day he had arrived.
Vincent had been at St Bernards for the majority of his life his adopted parents had sent him there within a few months of adopting him so apart from the orphanage it was the only home he really knew and he knew it well. His days pretty much followed a schedule wake up dress first lesson, second lesson, break, a quick fight with who ever felt like he had wronged them usually a guy in the year above him Jeremy. After that it was back to lessons until lunch then more lessons until it was time to head back to the dorms and sleep
Lunch was Vincents favorite time of the day, he could usually evade his would be assailants and escape to the back of the school. It was always quiet around the back the only visitors were the older smokers who would chat amongst themselves, but the unpopularity of the place wasn't the appeal between two big dumpsters which sat against the wall of the building was a sturdy drain pipe. Vincent had discovered it one day when he had seen a teacher scorning some of the smokers, knowing he would also be acused if caught he quickly dived between the dumpsters and waited for the teacher to leave. But the teacher had stayed obviously waiting for more smokers to appear around the corner, shuffling backwards to make sure he couldn't be seen he jumped when his back hit a cold hard surface. Turning around he saw the drain pipe, as he continued to wait between the dumpsters he quickly came to the conclusion that the teacher wasn't going to leave until the bell went and he was quickly running out of time lateness was a serious offence at St Bernards. Making a snap decision Vincent decided to climb the pipe, gripping the metal pipe with both hands he began the climb carefully lifting himself up the drain trying his best not to cause the pipe to strain and crack revealing his location to the teacher below.
When he was half way up he had realised the fault in his logic, that the punishment for being late or being suspected of smoking was going to be much less severe than the punishment for scaling the side of the building. But Vincent was not one to quit so gritting his teeth he finished his climb making sure not to look down until he was sitting on the edge of the roof.
He thought looking down would make his stomach turn but he surprised himself at his calmness, looking down he could see the top of the teachers bald head the light practically bounced off it like a mirror. Tempted to spit on the shining target below him Vincent built up a mouth full of saliva before he spotted a better target, hiding in a bush he spotted two of the smokers who unlike their unfortunate friends had avoided being spotted by the teacher. Swinging his legs onto the flat roof Vincent carefully walked along the edge until he was directly on top of the smokers, once he was properly positioned Vincent fired at his unsuspecting victims.
As soon as the spit left his mouth Vincent ducked out of sight and waited until a large cry came from below him "what the hell was that" the smoker shouted revealing his location to the nearby teacher. Vincent chuckled to himself as he heard the teacher shouting at the boys as they tried to run and avoid capture.
After that day Vincent climbed up to the roof everyday, he had always like heights, he liked the fact that he was free up here, the children of St Bernards were under strict surveillance, it was a rare event if a student was more than 3 meters from a member of staff ever. It had always made him think off the way one of his teachers used to talk about rats. There was always one near you even if you couldn't see them.
So the roof became his safe haven from the teachers and bullies below, he would sit up there for the entirety of his lunch break looking down at the students below trying to find Jeremy and his band of morons as the looked for him. When that became boring he began to draw, once you got past the depressing walls of the school the area around him was a beautiful place.
It was one of these lunches when it all began it had started out normal enough Vincent had quickly left Mrs Burges history lesson and had dashed outside, like always he was one of the first out the other kids would hang back waiting for their friends. Making his way around the back of the building he quickly climbed the pipe and sat on the edge of the building, eating his lunch as a sea of children emptied out of the doors below him.
After he had finished eating he opened his bag and pulled out his headphones and a note pad. Putting his Mp3 on shuffle he began to finish the drawing he had started the day before, with his full attention on the drawing and his music blaring Vincent didn't hear the scraping noises which came from the edge of the wall where the pipe meet the roof.
As he finished the shading on a feather of the crow he had drawn he felt faint vibrations in the floor, finally turning around to investigate the cause a feeling of dread filled him to his very core. Standing behind him was a triumphant looking Jeremy flanked by two of his cronies and a third fatter one who was slumped on the floor behind them feet still hanging over the edge. Seeing Jeremy's lips move Vincent tore off his headphones "look who we found boys" Jeremy announced as his idiot sidekicks giggled goofily "you thought you had outsmarted us didn't you Vinny he continued "but we found you".
The initial feeling of dread was quickly replaced by anger "to be honest outsmarting you lot isn't exactly a difficult feat" Vincent taunted "i've seen more slugs with a higher IQ than you lot". He knew that it probably wasn't a good idea to antagonize them but his anger overtook his logic, this was his place the roof was his private place and they had no right to be here. Jeremys smug look vanished, stepping forward he balled his hands into fists "what was that you little weasel?" Jeremy asked still advancing "im sorry" said Vincent "i meant higher than you lot combined" he said getting to his feet and turning his own hands into fists.
Jeremy continued to advance quickly but instead of stopping to punch Vincent like he usually did Jeremy shoved into a surprised Vincent knocking him clear off his feet. Hitting the floor inches from the edge Vincent looked up and Jeremy his fear had returned "what the hell you psycho?" he said trying to get back onto his feet "you could have killed me", looking past Jeremy Vincent saw the scared look on the faces of the goons. This was obviously not part of their plan. "Not a bad idea" Said Jeremy punching him in the stomach knocking the wind out of him, before Vincent could recover Jeremy shoved him again this time sending him over the edge.
What happened after that was confusing, Vincent remembered falling seeing the smug face of Jeremy disappear and the feeling of nothing underneath him except the pull of gravity and the sound of rushing wind and his tie flapping around him. But then Vincent twisted his body around now facing the floor which was rushing to meet him, a hot burning feeling spread through his body and suddenly Vincent stopped falling and began to glide forward, the sound of his clothes flapping was gone replaced by a calmer more organised flapping. Gliding down slowly Vincent aimed for a tree on the edge of the exercise track, landing easily on the lowest branch suddenly a hot feeling rushed over him and Vincent began to wobbled as he tried to balance and sit on the branch under his feet.
Looking back at the roof Vincent could see Jeremy and his friends as they stared at him in the tree shook and awe on their faces. Clambering out of the tree Vincent looked around to see if anyone else had seen what he had done, but what had he done he should be dead or at the very least severely crippled. It just didn't make any sense had he flown, maybe it was a miracle maybe St Bernard was looking over him like the headmaster said each morning in assembly.
After that day Jeremy and his friends never bothered him they seemed to be scared of him, one day he had accidently ran into Jeremy in the hall knocking his book to the floor. Jeremy was ready to attack until he realised who he had bumped into, he quickly ran off down the hall leaving his books scattered on the floor.
Other weird things began to happen after that, he would wake up in the middle of the night with black feathers covering his bed, and on some night after having vivid dreams of flight or birds he would wake up in a different part of the school.
But the weirdest thing was that animals began to follow him around the school it was just moths and flies at first but then bigger animals like rats and mice it got so bad that at its worst point the tree around the school where so filled with ravens and crows that they look pitch black from a distance.
The weirdness did not go unnoticed by the staff of the school they began forcing the students to attend weekend sermones at the local church and they even brought in a priest to cleanse and bless the buildings. Eventually when all that failed they began to work out that the common denominator was Vincent and just after his eleventh birthday they called him to the headmasters office for special meeting.
Vincent was in the middle of a history lesson when it happened, Mrs Burges was droning on about henry the eighth and his many wives not that Vincent was paying attention, his was too busy making faces at the crows outside the window. It was a slow day for the birds there were only three of them.
His attention was brought back to the class when he heard his name announced "Mr Grant" Vincent look back to the teacher at the front of the class and was met by the confused stare's of the entire class looked down at himself for an explanation to their stare's his name was called again.
Looking at the front of the class he saw his teacher standing next the the headmaster himself "come with me Mr Grant" he said arms crossed already annoyed at having to repeat himself. Vincent quickly got out of his chair and followed the Head out of the class and down the hall making sure to leave a little space between them, Vincent wasn't sure why he was being summoned but he had heard rumours of surprise exorcisms being performed on student but he was pretty sure that wasn't true. Or at least he hoped.
When they came to the heads office Vincent was pushed inside. He had never been inside the heads office before, he had never been caught doing anything that would warrant it, he never got caught. It was a old looking room two bookshelves dominated the left and right wall and the other was just a big window looking out over the exercise field, a large oak desk sat in front of the window with a leather throne like chair behind it on which the head sat down gesturing for Vincent to sit on one of the two chairs opposite him.
Still exercising caution Vincent eased into the chair and was surprised to see another man sitting in the other chair next to him. The man had been hidden by the tall back of the chair he was sitting in, but now Vincent had noticed him it was hard to take his eyes off of him he had long blond hair tied in a ponytail which stretched so long that he had it resting on his knee it was neatly tied and covered in golden rings each ring spaced out a inch or two. His hands were covered in what appeared to be mood rings of different size and shape each changing colour in order giving the effect of a rainbow creeping across his fingers. The oddest thing was that a man with such weid features was dress in an normal but expensive looking three piece suit. The man bowed his head as Vincent sat down "Mr Grant" said the Head trying to bring the attention back to him "this is Mr" he was cut off by the man who jumped to his feet and thrusted his hand at Vincent "Mr Stepside" he said shaking Vincents hand vigorously before jumping back into his seat "sorry for interrupting but i do prefer to make my own introductions". "Okay" the Head continued "as i was saying this is Mr Stepside he is from a prestigious boarding school and according to him and the papers your parents have sent me he is here because you have been selected to be apart of his school".
"What school?" Vincent asked, he barely talked to his adoptive parents but he liked to think a complete move would be something they would share with him "Hogwarts" said Mr Stepside as he pulled out a small pouch from his jacket pocket. "Well i for one have never heard of Hogwarts" said the Head "and i am not willing to realise Vincent on the hearsay of a few letters.." the Head probably would have continued but all of a sudden Mr Stepside threw the contents of the little pouch into the Heads face. Vincent expected the Head to shout in anger grab Mr Stepside by the collar and throw him off the grounds but instead he sat in his chair motionless even his facial expression stayed fixed.
"Good know we can talk" said Mr Stepside depositing the pouch back into his pocket, Vincent got out of his seat and waved his hand in front of the head face but he remained still as a statue "what the hell was that? he asked". "a little mixture of ground hob tooth, some jot weed and of course a little pinch of hexenjuice" Mr Stepside answered "some basic potion ingredients" Vincent looked back at him unsure in his sincerity "what like a magic potion?" he asked. "no it a magic powder not a potion" said Mr Stepside matter of factly "now sit back down we have a lot to discus".
