Disclaimer: I own only the plot and the OCs. Everything else is J.K. Rowling's creation.

Prologue

Mr. L. Colchester

The Attic at the Top of the House

509 Middleton Road

Chadderton

Oldham

Thaddeus Colchester turned the all-too-familiar envelope over to see the official Hogwarts seal on the back. He half expected McGonagall wouldn't even bother sending his useless son an acceptance letter. It was a waste of parchment, ink, and time, because he'd be damned if he'd allow the bastard, blood-traitor to pollute the Colchester name by flaunting his peculiarities within the hallowed halls of Hogwarts.

He stood and walked over to the flaming hearth. He just barely let go of the letter to toss it into the fire when a small hand shot out with lightning swiftness to snatch it out of the air.

"That is not your decision, father."

Thaddeus turned to sneer at the very object of his contempt. Lucien held his Hogwarts letter to his chest as he backed away from his father, a fierce scowl written across his young features. Thaddeus could admit that the boy was classic Colchester, with his thick jet-black hair and slate blue-gray eyes that were typical for all males of their family tree, but the boy had been sullied by sharing his mother's womb with his squib twin brother. Now, Thaddeus wished that he had had the foresight to kill Lucien when he had dealt with Stephen. Now his heir-apparent was corrupted; a muggle-lover of the worst kind, and an even greater humiliation than his late brother had ever been.

Thaddeus stepped toward Lucien threateningly, "Give that letter to me, now." He snarled in a low, rumbling tone.

Lucien took another step away flashed his father an obscene hand gesture, and took off up the stares toward his bedroom. He locked his door and leaned back against the wood as his father attempted to turn it into mulch with his bare hands. He couldn't magically unlock the door since there was an anti-intruder jinx put on it the last time Lucien's maternal uncle visited to give him some sort of sanctuary from his abusive, overbearing father.

Suddenly, everything went quiet. And then Thaddeus started chuckling darkly from the other side of Lucien's door, "It doesn't matter if you keep that letter or not, because in the end the decision does rest with me. I'll never pay for your precious school supplies."

Lucien waited a few more minutes after he heard Thaddeus' footsteps fade down the hall before he leaned his head back against the door and sighed heavily before smiling mischievously, "We'll see about that, old man."

Lucien moved toward an old steamer trunk in the far back corner of the darkened room. He unlocked the muggle padlock and flipped the latches and opened the lid. Various items were inside, most of which were muggle in origin. He carefully rummaged through the contents until he pulled out a small, tattered pouch that had been sewed back together several times already. Lucien closed the lid of the trunk and dumped out the contents of the pouch onto the top of the lid. Several coins spilled out, and Lucien smiled excitedly. He began counting his money, and found he already had forty-two galleons, eighty-one sickles, and twelve knuts. The sickles could be exchanged for four more galleons, and Lucien supposed that what he had would be able to stretch just enough so that he could purchase all of his school supplies on his own.

He put all of his coins back into his pouch and went over to a large area rug in the center of the room. He lit the wick of an oil lamp to give him some light, grabbed two feet of parchment, a quill and ink, and sat cross-legged on the rug.

He opened the seal on his letter and began to read. He tucked the Hogwarts ticket to Platform 9 ¾ into his coin pouch for safe keeping, scanned the letter confirming his acceptance to the school, and started looking over the list of supplies he needed. He felt a little anxious, seeing what all he needed, and he knew that robes were expensive on their own.

Instead of dwelling, Lucien wrote back his confirmation to Professor McGonagall.

"Tobey." He called out, and a small, hunchbacked house elf apparated into his room, "Yes, young master."

Lucien rolled his eyes at the honorific, knowing it was hopeless to try and break them of calling him that, "Yes Tobey, could you take this to the owlery and send it off immediately to Professor McGonagall at Hogwarts. And be certain that nobody sees you." He explained, sealing the return envelope and handing it to the small elf, "And be sure that you're careful. I wouldn't want my father to see you helping me."

"Tobey will see to it, young master," and with a small bow, he disapparated away.

Now that that's settled…

Lucien decided that at first light tomorrow morning, he would steal some floo powder and go to Diagon Alley to buy his supplies. Although it was a little early, Lucien knew that it he got the most important things now, he still had plenty of time to find enough money for the rest of his supplies in time before he went to catch his train.

Tobey returned a little while later to report that he had sent off the letter, and to say that Lucien would not be allowed down to supper that evening, or any other meal for the next week, as his punishment for defying his father and clearly disrespecting Thaddeus' hold on the family.

Lucien took this all in stride. It wasn't the first time Thaddeus withheld food from him to prove his point.

"That's fine, Tobey. Thank you, you may go back to your regular duties now."

Tobey hesitated a moment, feeling a little sad for his kind young master, but finally obeyed the suggestion that was no less a command.

Lucien tucked his money pouch inside his ragged cloak, making doubly certain that it was firmly secure and that he wouldn't lose it before he left his bedroom and went down to the family sitting room, where the main hearth was situated. He grabbed a little bit of the floo powder, just enough to make the journey but not so much that it'd be missed, spoke out clearly yet quietly, "Diagon Alley!" and dropped the powder.

Immediately he was in the bustling streets of the most popular Wizarding shopping district in England. Although it was still a little early, the alley was teeming with life.

First on Lucien's list was to get his wand. He made his way through the crowds, easily threading his way through as he strode toward Olivander's.

The happy tingling of the bell above the door announced his entrance, but Lucien didn't see anyone respond.

"Hello?" He called out.

A elderly man, with a shock of white hair atop his head and kind brown eyes that traveled up the length of Lucien's rather short stature – short even for an eleven-year-old boy – and he smiled at him, "Welcome to my shop, young man. Are you here to purchase your very first wand?" He asked, although it was clearly routine.

"Yes sir." Lucien replied anyway.

"Well then, let's get started." The old man started scanning the multitude of short, long navy boxes before pulling one out and extracting the wand. "10 ¾ inches, oak, unicorn hair, relatively supple."

Lucien simply touched the tip of his forefinger to the hilt of the wand before shaking his head, "That's not the right one." He muttered.

Unperturbed, Olivander started searching again, "How about this one? 9 ½ inches, phoenix feather, elm, rigid."

Lucien gripped the hilt and moved his elbow a bit, before he held it out to Olivander once more, shaking his head.

"Hmm…let's see then." Olivander murmured as he continued searching. Soon he came back with another wand. "Let's see if this one is better. 12 ½ inches, cypress, dragon heartstring, reasonably supple."

When Lucien took hold of the hilt, a wave of heat swam up his arm and warmed his chest. He smiled, and nodded slowly, his face alight with awe, "This is it." He breathed.

Olivander smiled brightly, "I'm glad you found your perfect match." Olivander so loved to see the expressions on the young ones' faces when they find their wands for the first time.

"How much then?" Lucien asked.

"Seventeen galleons."

Lucien gently set the wand down on Olivander's desk as he pulled out his pouch and counted out the correct amount, holding it out to the older man, "Thank you." He said.

"No, thank you. Now have a good day."

Lucien nodded, grabbed his wand, and left the shop. He couldn't get enough of that feeling of just how the wand synchronized with him. He could still feel his magic bonding with his wand, and it was an incredible sensation.

He wondered which shop to go to next. He settled on getting his cauldron, since it would help him carry his books when he eventually got around to getting those. The pewter number two cauldron cost fifteen galleons, and although it was hefty, it was necessary. He immediately went to Flourish and Blotts and got his schoolbooks taken care of. With his books taken care of, Lucien was down to his final galleon, and he still needed his brass scales and glass vials. The uniform would be a problem, but maybe he could find one lying around the house.

With the majority of his things paid for, Lucien now was faced with another problem. How was he to get inside his home without getting caught? Lucien pondered this before shaking his head and used his last galleon to purchase floo powder to get home. He refused to be intimidated by his father. Yes, he might scold him, and most likely the bastard would punish him for his actions this morning, but he had gotten what he needed, and he was just that much closer to leaving for Hogwarts.

The moment he set foot into his house, Thaddeus stood like a dementor in the sitting room, his arms crossed over his chest and his legs braced apart. Lucien hugged his cauldron to him, which housed his schoolbooks and pouch of leftover sickles, knuts, and train ticket.

Thaddeus looked incredibly furious. It was nearly enough to make Lucien feel the slight stirrings of fear, but he stamped it down and glared back at his father, "You can't say anymore that I can't go to Hogwarts, father. These were all bought with my own money." He started boldly.

"And you most assuredly stole it all from me or your brother. Just as you stole the floo powder."

"For your information, floo powder is hardly a thing to be missed. I only used a pinch. And I didn't steal the money from anyone! If you must know, I converted the muggle money Uncle Mathias gave me for my birthday and had it converted into Wizarding money. So you can stuff your half-bit accusation right up your ass. I will be going to Hogwarts, and there's not a damn thing you can do to stop me!"

The back of Thaddeus' hand struck Lucien's cheek with a resounding crack. "You dare to talk in such a way to me? You filthy blood-traitor! I could kill you!" He shouted as he rained his fists down on Lucien's back, shoulders, and head. They were left unguarded as Lucien curled himself around his cauldron. He carefully removed his wand from his cloak and held it to his chest as well, to make certain that Thaddeus wouldn't snap it as he delivered Lucien's punishment.

"Crucio!" Thaddeus roared with all of his rage, and Lucien screamed in agony, but continued to guard his precious cargo from Thaddeus' added kicks in addition to the cruciatus curse.

It seemed like an eternity before suddenly a voice rang out in the room.

"Father, please stop!" The cry from Lucien's younger brother, Theo, was disregarded. Thaddeus was beyond outraged by his oldest son's insubordination. "You'll kill him."

"I don't care." Thaddeus spat as his foot struck the side of Lucien's unprotected head, and blood burst from the boy's temple.

"You wouldn't want to be sent to Azkaban over such a useless life, now would you?" Theo attempted to reason.

Thaddeus did pause for a moment, considering, then he gave one final kick to Lucien's head and then he stepped back from the boy crumbled into a heap on the floor.

"Get out of my sight!" Thaddeus roared.

Lucien glared at his father the entire time as the boy got to his feet and left the room.

Lucien barely made it to his room before he crumbled to the floor, feeling dizzy and a little nauseous. He kicked the door to his room closed and he put the cauldron and his wand on the floor away from him, checking them for damage, and found that he was the sole receiver of his father's rage. That was fine, Lucien would live. He had been dealt worse before.

He rolled onto his back, gingerly probing the cut in his temple to gauge how deep it was. He supposed that he had a concussion, and he breathed an exasperated sigh.

The loud crack of apparation sounded in the small space of his bedroom, and Tobey was there, holding a box of medicinal materials.

"Young master, Tobey will make you feel better." The little elf squeaked in alarm at Lucien's condition.

Lucien did say anything; he simply allowed the elf to perform his aid without any interference.

"Would young master like a bit of water?" Tobey asked.

"That would be fine, and then that'll be all I require from you. You needn't be punished for helping me." Lucien stated.

"Yes, young master." And Tobey conjured a glass and water, handing it to the boy. "Tobey hopes that you feel better soon."

With that, Tobey disapparated out of his room.

September first couldn't come fast enough. All Lucien wanted was to gain some reprieve from his father's tyranny. Even though he knew that he would still be required to come home over the holidays and summer, any amount of peace would be more than welcome.

"Soon, I'll be out of this hellhole."