To be honest, Atlas never found it out of the ordinary to be a wizard. Even though he was raised in an ordinary all boys orphanage until he was 6, he took the news of being a wizard very well. It all started one day while he was playing with the other boys when a caretaker came to him and told him he had a visitor, which that was odd in its self because one did not usually get visitors when they lived in a orphanage unless they were getting adopted.
When he reached the visiting room, there was a man sitting in one of the chairs at the small square wooden table facing the door. The man was broad shouldered and had a slightly muscular build. He had a mean looking face with dull short brown hair and tired dark brown eyes. The man stared down at the young boy. His eyebrows drew together in a confused frown.
"Is this really the boy?" he asked the caretaker. To which she answered a soft yes.
The man got up and knelt in front of the boy. He knelt staring into the boys eyes for a while. Atlas all the while stared right back at him. Never wavering. Showing more courage than any 5 year old would normally portray. The older man took note of this.
"You have courage, young one." He mumbled to the boy, smirking slightly.
The boy blinked at him, not knowing what to say, but mumbled a quiet "Thank you" so as to be polite.
"You do have unusual coloring, don't you?" the man asked. Atlas raised his eyebrows at this. He had been told by the other children that he was weird looking but he hadn't known it to be quite so weird that an adult like this man would mention it to him.
The young boy was slightly bigger than children his age with a slight build and fair skin. His hair was short and had bangs that fell over his forehead. But the thing that people had a hard time grasping was that this young boy had white hair. Yes, white. Not platinum blonde. White. His unusual coloring did not stop there. It also went into his large child like eyes. While his left one was an ordinary dark brown, similar to the one the older gentleman possessed, the right was a light ruby red.
"Yes, sir." was the only thing the other boy said as he turned his face down, as of ashamed of his coloring. The older man took note of this.
"Nothing to be ashamed of, my boy." Atlas looked back up to the man. "Sir?"
"It just means you have something a little more special about yourself." he told the boy. "Don't let it bother you."
Atlas gave the man a small smile and turned his face down again, embarrassed. The gentleman smiled softly and ruffled the boys hair gently. Then stood and started speaking to the caretaker.
As Atlas busied himself with smoothing down his hair once again, he thought to himself that this man wasn't as mean as the impression he gave.
He and the caretaker talked for a while longer and than turned to the boy. The man knelt down to him once again and began to speak.
"How would you like to come with me. A special boy like you shouldn't be in a place like this."
Atlas looked at him with shock and wonder, "You mean it?"
"Yes." he said sincerely. "If you would like to come with me."
Atlas looked to the caretaker, who gave him a soft, encouraging smile. Turning back to the man, he gave him a smile and a small nod. Which was returned with a smile from the man.
"Alright than." He held out his hand to Atlas. "My name is Tristen Castro. It's nice to meet you, Atlas."
He took his hand, tiny compared to Trisen's larger adult one, and shook it like he had seen adults do.
It was that same day that Atlas was told he was a wizard. Tristen had told him he had come across Atlas' file while searching for a new apprentice for his line of work and that he had become interested in him after reading it.
Atlas asked what it was that Tristen did. Tristen told Altas that it would take time to get to know what he did and how it benefited the wizarding world. Atlas told him he was prepared to learn about the wizarding world.
"I'll need to know these things, won't I?" Came his argument. To which Tristen smirked at how smart this kid was. "Very well."
Over the next 6 months, Atlas learned about the wizarding world. He learned about some of it's history, that ordinary people had no idea that witches and wizards even existed or that their world was hidden inside if theirs. That it was governed by the Ministry of Magic and inside the Ministry there were many different kinds of departments. Tristen told him that he worked under a special section of the Auror's office within the Ministry called the 'Guardians' and that it is very hard to get into this specific branch.
The Guardians, he learned, were a secret group that specialized in, not just keeping all of the wizarding world safe, but special people within this world protected, such as the Minister of Magic, head's of office, etc. Not anybody can get this protection but every now and than when a witch or wizard learned of this group they could but in a request to have a guardian assigned to them. Not all request are excepted, of course.
Atlas had decided after learning of this group that he would accept the reason that Tristen had taken him home and agreed to become his apprentice. Tristen had been delighted that Atlas had accepted his offer. He started Atlas' training right away.
He taught Atlas different kinds of fighting styles, such as karate, judo, even sword fighting technique's. The training was hard and long. Lasting for hours at a time. When they would finish Atlas would be sweating and out of breath. He would stumble to his room and collapse onto his bed and fall straight to sleep. Tristen would sometimes come to Atlas' door and watch the small 7 year old sleep and feel horrible to put this young boy through what he is, but he had to in order for him to become what he needed to be.
A couple months later, Atlas collapsed during a training session unable to breath. Triten had been told later at Saint Mungo's that Atlas had developed asthma. Not a very serious case of asthma but he still needed to watch out on Atlas' physical exertion.
Atlas had later apologized to Tristen for becoming weak. Tristen had pulled the boy into a firm hug and told him, "Never apologize for being something you can not help being. It is not your fault that you are what you are." This gesture had brought tears to the young boy.
Another year went by without anymore incidents. Atlas became another year older and had become quite the young fighter, even though he still couldn't take down his master yet. Since Atlas would not be getting his wand until he was 11, Tristen only had him study some magic spell books. Nothing to complicated for the boy, just basics before he started school.
It was around this time that Tristen had been assigned to a pure-blood wizard family. He would be moving into the Mansion the with the family to be with them 24/7 as their guardian. He would be taking Atlas with him to complete his training.
When they got to the mansion, they introduced themselves to the family. They introduced themselves as the Malfoy's; Lucius, the head of the House, his wife, Narcissa and their son, Draco. It had appeared the young Malfoy was surprised that another boy around his age would be one of their protectors. Atlas had bowed to the boy to be polite as he was his new charge and would be following the family from now on. Draco had blushed ever so slightly and turned away running up to his room. His mother had yelled up at him with no response and then apologized about here son.
Over the next few weeks as Atlas' training and studying continued, he noticed that the pale blonde boy had watched him every now and then. He would catch him watching him work out outside through a window. Glancing up to find him watching him read. And several other instances that he would get a chuckle out of.
Eventually, Draco got up the nerve to talk to the slightly older boy.
"So..." He started. "What's it like?"
Atlas looked up from his book at the blonde boy sitting across from him in the study.
"I'm sorry. You'll have to be a little more specific." He stated. Mentally cringing because he thought he had sounded a bit rude without meaning too.
"I mean the fighting." Draco said a little more excited. Glad that the older boy talked back. "Father and Mother would never let me fight like you and Castro do."
"I'd imagine not." Atlas chuckled. He gave the question a bit of thought, then answered. "You know, I've been doing it so long that it has just become part of my daily routine." He shrugged, "It's really nothing special."
Draco looked a little disappointed. "That isn't an answer." The boy stated. Atlas gave him an apologetic smile and turned back to his book. Draco however had other plans and continued to talk to Atlas, who in turn would talk back to him. Eventually the book was forgotten, in favor of getting to know the Malfoy heir.
Weeks passed and the boys got to know each other more and more. Draco came to watch Atlas and his master train every now and again. He would ask to join in and Castro would deny him. Stating his mother would have his head if Draco got hurt in any way. Draco would pout and Atlas would chuckle and get back to his training.
Draco had a fright one day when Atlas had difficulty breathing on one of these occasions. Castro just told him to calm himself or he would stress out Atlas even further. Draco tried to calm himself the best the 8 year could. He watched as Castro calmly talk Atlas into taking deep breaths, holding them, then slowly releasing. Atlas caught his breath again after some time. Castro told Atlas that they were done and for the next couple day so he could rest his body. Atlas, weak from the ordeal only nodded his acknowledgement.
Castro got Atlas into bed soon after that, Draco trailing behind them. He stood at Atlas' door as Castro got Atlas into his bed. The older man turned to the door seeing Draco still standing there. "He'll be alright." He told the young boy, who nodded in response. He walked to the other boy and told him that Atlas will be back on his feet by the next morning and not to worry himself.
"Just give him some space to calm down for tonight. Alright?"
Draco nodded again. Glancing toward the bed where the other boy buried himself in the blankets, before turning and leaving the room.
The next couple days, Draco watched Atlas carefully to see if an attack would happen again. The other boy though acted as though the attack never happened. Which puzzled Draco until he asked the white haired boy why. The other boy stated that he shouldn't dwell on things that he could't help and knew would happen again.
"I'm always going to have this decease. Why would I want to think of every little attack that I'm going to have." He told the other boy. Draco made a noise of acknowledgement and let the other boy get back to his reading. He pulled out a book as well but didn't pay to much attention to the pages.
The boys grew together becoming good friends. Atlas became more open to Draco and Draco thought of Atlas as an older brother he could come to for advise. Both boys would joke around and tease each other. They had fights like all friends do, but would quickly get over the fight and be friends again.
When Atlas turned 11, Castro told Atlas that he would be holding him a year back from going to school. He told him that Mr. Malfoy had asked his master to have Atlas attend school with Draco so Atlas can be there all 7 years Draco would be at Hogwarts School and be there to watch over Draco while away from home. Atlas nodded his agreement to his task.
When Draco was told he was very happy that he would be in the same year as his best friend. So when the next year came around they both got there letters and were taken to Diagon Alley to get their school supplies. The last stop they made was to Ollivander's Wand Shop. Draco entered first, trying to hide his eagerness, followed by his Mother and Father. Atlas went to follow the family into the shop when he accidentally bumped into someone.
He turned to see a rather thin boy with messy black hair and round glasses. "Sorry" the boy muttered. "No, that was my fault." he bowed his head slightly. "I apologize."
The boy looked around awkwardly, not really knowing what to do. "Harry!" A deep loud voice called. Atlas looked up to see a very large man with thick, bushy hair and beard waving his large hand at the boy. The boy, Harry apparently, looked back at the man over his shoulder, waved, then turned to Atlas. "Um...good bye. Sorry again." he said hurriedly.
Atlas watched him as he ran up to the man, curiously.
"Atlas." His master called to him quietly. "Let's go."
"Right." Atlas said returning to the task he had been doing.
When they purchased the new wands for the 2 boys, they returned back to the Malfoy Manor. The boys were sent to their rooms to get ready for the train to school the next morning. Atlas and Draco said their good nights to each other as the separated to their different bedrooms.
After Atlas had finished packing, he laid on his small bed and stared at his new wand. It was 11', rather small to him, made of Oak, slightly lighter colored than Atlas would have thought, and had a dragon hearts strong core. All and all his wand wasn't all he was expecting, he thought he would have something more like his masters or Mr. Malfoy's, long and dark colored, but he was perfectly fine with his wand. Ollivander had told him that his wand was rather loyal and to be honest he really didn't understand what he meant by it.
He put his wand away and then pulled the blankets over himself. Falling asleep ready for tomorrow to come.