Hello! My name is Malorn Fairytail, and I'll be adopting the amazing story by Slice of Cheese because of the amazing potential it had, and there will be changes in how I present this story and there's the fact that Slice of Cheese was a much better author than I am...but I'll try my best! And with that being said...Welcome to the rewritten Prologue!
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or The Underland Chronicles world or characters, they belong to J.K. Rowling and Suzanne Collins respectively.
Chapter 1: It should've been him.
Gregor missed the Underland far more than he could have imagined, months had passed since he had last seen the Underland, more specifically his friends, Nike, Howard, Mareth, Hazard,Vikus, Aurora...Luxa and...Ares, to name a few. His family had stayed at the apartment for a few months after Gregor last left the Underland. Gregor's grandmother fell ill, and she passed away in her sleep, peacefully. After that, however, they moved to the family farm his father's brother owned. His uncle joined their family in mourning, his mother had passed away, and everyone was in pain.
Even with Grace taking small jobs, Steve couldn't get a job in the town as he wasn't fully recovered. They couldn't pull in enough money even with the farm, they were too many people. That much was clear at the beggining. They couldn't stay afloat for long. It wasn't bad, the animals were pretty cool at first, at least to Gregor they were. The chores that were given to him helped him keep his mind off of the Underland, and his own experiences during the war. The amount of lives he had taken, it still frightened him how he could be so good at killing. They lived there for about 4 months before Grace...My mother, had to go to 'dire lengths' to keep them off the streets. Gra- My 'mom' had to call an aunt that I hadn't even known I had. Because she is so horrible. Obviously much worse than Grace. If that was even possible.
It wasn'tlike he was bitter that the woman who raised him. Who loved him. Pulled him away from the last place he felt at home at. Away from Luxa. It made him wonder what would have happened if he had not returned home after rescuing his father? If his father and Boots had gone home on their own and he had stayed in the Underland and trained? He knew it was futile though, the past was in the past, and his father was to sickly to just drop on his mother without an explanation. And even if he was bitter...she was still his mother, and he loved her.
The Underland...He had few reminders of the Underland besides the large amount of scars covering his entire body, the very same reason he couldn't go outside without wearing pants and long sleeved shirts. The only others he had was the photo of he and Luxa, the one with her temple resting against his cheek, and their smiles still showing sadness, due to the war that had been just outside Regalia's door. He also had the claw of Ares, the one he had been clutching when the shiners had taken him back to Regalia.
Kids shouldn't have to go through that, no war, bloodshed or violence...Having their closest friends die...
It should've been him.
Thinking about it still made his heart hurt. He shoud've been the one to die. It's not like he could fit in anywhere in the overland anymore. Ares would have been a hero, he would have a good life, could have finally been accepted by the fliers once more after he had forsaken his and Henry's bond to save Gregor's life. The warriors life, in his first journey int he underland.
Ares had saved him so many times, yet what had Gregor gone and done? Gotten him killed.
Ares.
It should've been him.
-o-o-o-o-
June 26th, 1992
In the summer, the family arrived at an airport, which was a dull grey, with white floors, there were lots of pots with plants decorating the main lobby area, the ladies working at the front told them that their flight was delayed, because of course it was in this deadpan 'I don't want to be here' look, Gregor and his family had to wait on one of the old couch things for what seemed like hours since their plane was delayed, when they finally boarded the plane, Boots, Lizzie and he sat together while Gregor's mom and dad were seated farther up the plane. Gregor zoned out as Lizzie and Boots watched a movie. And he found his thoughts returning to Ares.
"Gregor? Are you okay? You're looking kinda pale." Lizzie seemed pretty worried. Gregor ignored her.
His head was pounding. Maybe the airplane was getting to him?
Ares.
Would England be okay..? What would school be like, what if people saw his scars?! Would he make any new friends?
Ares.
"GREGOR!" Lizzie snapped at him, shaking his arms, Gregor turned to look at his sister, the time on the farm had tanned her slightly, she was taller too, but still so...Innocent? She was the codebreaker all right, he saw in her lap one of those cubes with the colors and stuff. Although she seemed to have started ignoring it when the plane began to play a movie.
"Stop muttering to yourself, me and Boots are trying to watch the movie," Gregor looked sheepishly at the other passengers who glared at them when Lizzie had snapped at him. He turned to view the screen, it was currently playing...Home Alone? Something similar to it at least. It passed through his thoughts that he had been thinking aloud earlier, and it made him wonder how long he had been doing it for.
Lizzie obviously knew something was bothering him, and knowing him, it was nearly 100% about the Underland.
Gregor turned his attention to the movie, relaxing in his seat.
It should've been him.
-o-o-o-o-
He was startled awake when the wheels hit the landing strip, he struggled against imaginary hands for a few seconds, grasping the claw of Ares with his right hand, before settling back and shaking his sister awake, they grabbed their bags, and once seeing their Father and Grace, they walked over.
Grace grabbed Boots from Gregor's arms and held her, Gregor's father has gotten better over the short time, so Gregor didn't have to drag his suitcase for him, Steve was dragging his own suitcase, one of those ones with the wheels and extendable handles, with Grace's duffel bag over his other shoulder.
They took a bus to the home of this mysterious aunt. Apparently her name was Helen, and she and her husband, Jack, had a daughter named Hermione.
Grace walked up to the door with the others following suit and knocked on the door and a woman opened it and gasped in surpise but also happiness? Can you gasp in happiness? Apparently so, as this woman had done exactly that. She hugged Grace, then pulling back she inhaled and began to speak, mostly about how happy she was to see all of them, including Gregor, Lizzie, Boots and Gregor's Dad, Steve.
It was something along the lines of "Grace it's been so long since I've seen you! And this must be Gregor, and Lizzie and Margaret!... It's so great to finally meet all of you!"
As a man, who was probably Helen's husband Jack, spoke to Steve cheerily. A girl approached the door, seeming curious. She looked somewhat similar to him, although it was very little similarity, similar hair was probably all they had in common is what he would have realized if he thought about it more, but he was just curious about meeting some of his long last family, she reminded him of Lizzie, maybe she was a genius like her? Maybe it ran in the family? Or Ripred was right and Gregor was just an idiot, or both.
Probably both.
Gregor paused and wondered how Ripred was doing, he had recently been named the 'Peacemaker' after obtaining a second diagonal scar across his face, causing the scars to form an X. Gregor had a sneaking suspicion Ripred did that to himself however... He once again pried his thoughts away from the Underland and looked at his cousin, she was rambling to him about how strange it was she had never figured out about her aunts family.
She had a british accent, obviously,
"Seriously, my mother should've told me...made a wonderful suprise however, so do you like books? Are you even my cousin?" His cousin finally minished her spiel.
"Well, no, Lizzie is probably the biggest bookworm in the family, and no I'm not your cousin, I just like to follow families around, hobby of mine." Gregor replied matter o-factly to Hermione before his tone became much more sarcastic near the end.
"Rude much?"
"Much. You seem quite nice then, My names Gregor, you?" Gregor asked her.
"M'names Hermione, we got a letter for you,"
"Who's the letter from? I don't think anybody we knew knows the adress to your house." Grace asked her sister.
"Well, it's from the school Hermione goes to, it's pretty famous apparently, and it only accepts students who have potential...to be amazing?"
Gregor opened the letter and began to read aloud.
"Dear Gregor,
I've been notified that you entered the country, the american ministry of magic doesn't have you listed as a wizard and therefore you must have not recieved schooling, so I have taken it upon myself to send you this letter of acceptance to our magic school, Hogwarts."
Gregor couldn't compute what the letter had just said."Magic...Wizard...Hogwarts..?" Hermione looked at him like he was an idiot before his mother spoke up.
"Wizard? Helen, you said this was the school your daughter went to? They sound like nutjobs. And who names a school 'Hogwarts'?" Grace stared at Helen, expecting an answer, but Gregor then began to read aloud again.
"Anyways, if you join the school, there is a fund at Hogwarts for those who require assistance to buy books and robes. You might have to buy some of your spellbooks and so on secondhand, anyways you would be joining as a second year when the school year starts so I hope Hermione won't find it terribly difficult to ready you for the second year and to teach you the basics of what she learned during her first year." Gregor finished reading and looked up.
"Look, Grace, I can assure you that this school is real, and I hope you send Gregor there, since the school would be free and he could still learn the things he would at a standard public school. He would be able to learn magic Grace! It still amazes me that magic is real! Think of all the things he could learn! The school itself is amazing, and we've talked to the staff there and apparently there's no bullying and the students are on their best behavior, think about!" Helen told her sister.
Grace was definitely unsure about it, she didn't want her son to get involved in some other crazy hidden world, but she admitted that it was the correct choice, and made sure to talk to her son about it later, she wanted to make sure that he wouldn't talk about the Underland and that he wouldn't even consider fighting.
June 27th, 1992
The next day, Gregor found Lizzie chatting with Hermione on a couch, Lizzie seemed to have set a book down onto the coffee table in front of the couch, a TV was hanging from the wall in front of them, though it was off, they were talking about the book while Boots played with some colorful cubes on the living room floor.
Hermione turned to her male cousin and asked "Should we get started then?"
Gregor sighed and nodded, and with his slave drivers Lizzie and Hermione at his side, he began to learn Herbology.
-o-o-o-o-
AN
Also, I know this isn't important but does anyone else see Gregor's father as Eren Yaegers from Attack On Titan? Just me? K.
Also, Gregor's dad doesn't have a name right? Phew, anyways, I'm calling him Steve, and his family name will be Collins, after the author. Gregor's grandmother will be from his side of the family, otherwise, why would Grace keep their mother from her sister?
I do not think that Hermione's parents have had their names divulged, and I read somwhere that some people believed their names were Jack and Helen, so I decided to use those names.
R&R, have a nice day!
-Malorn Fairytail Out~!