Thanks for checking out this story, which is rated M for explicit language, violence, abuse, and suggestive sexual situations.
This story is dedicated to the children at Hogwarts in the 1990s, particularly those who wanted to get a proper education, but got royally fucked over because of all of the shit Harry Potter and his friends kept getting themselves into.
I don't own the Harry Potter franchise... of course it belongs to Rowling.
Summary: One wizard's mistake leads to changes over a decade later in inter-house dynamics at Hogwarts. Starting in 1989, prior to Harry Potter's introduction to the wizarding world.
The West Side of Hogwarts to the Dungeons Down Below
Chapter 1 – Sabene
March 1989
A pair of bare feet dangled inches above the floorboards in the Leaky Cauldron. No shoes, no service didn't apply in wizarding establishments.
Sabene—the eleven-year-old girl—had been wandering the pub long enough for the moon to pass through the sky. Someone had yet to kick her to the curb. Considering that she was still here, it seemed that there was an unspoken open door policy at the Leaky Cauldron. If she continued to stay quiet and out of the way, perhaps everyone would forget she was sitting in this chipped chair with uneven legs. The distracted wait staff ignored the mostly empty glass of water in front of her, understandably, as she wasn't a paying customer.
She had no money, not even a knut. This was the reason why she was clutching her stomach as it writhed painfully beneath her palm.
She only had the clothes on her back and a necklace the eldest witch, and leader of her community, had given her before banishing her to London.
Sabene had been successfully distracting herself from the pain in her stomach by watching patrons pass by. She kept her focus on the various wizards and witches that passed through the pub, trying to absorb as much information as she could about this unfamiliar place.
Magical Britain. It was exceptionally unfamiliar to her, then again, so was most civilized society.
A loud growl emanated from between her short, pale fingers as she clutched her writhing stomach—the hunger could only be ignored for so long.
Yet, a quick movement from the corner of her eye caught her attention.
A woman with fluffy hair quickly weaved between the tables, impatiently dragging a young boy towards the bar. The woman had only let go of her tight grip around the boy's forearm to speak animatedly to the barman. The boy immediately took this opportunity to gain space between himself and the rushed woman.
Wearing a scowl, the boy rubbed his forearm where the woman's firm grip had just been. The woman absent-mindedly reached back for the boy as she was seeming to wrap up her short conversation with the bald man behind the bar. The woman's talon-like fingers grasped at the air, which the boy desperately attempted to avoid.
The hungry girl left her seat in the back of the pub just as the boy leapt backwards, knocking into a man behind him causing his bowl of pea-soup to careen onto the floor. Her mouth watered in anticipation as she slowly walked towards the commotion, watching the sloppy mixture contact the floor. The man twisted around in his seat to give the young boy an earful, allowing the girl to swipe the soggy bread off the soup-soaked floor while everyone's attention was elsewhere.
No longer starving, Sabene wiped the sweat from her brow as she hid in the shade of a narrow alleyway between the cool stone bricks.
For her, it was entirely too hot in the summer of this foreign country. It was the heat of the day, which she was bound to suffer for as she was acclimatized to a northern latitude. She had come from a place that was practically blanketed in snow the majority of the year—a place that the sunlight would barely touch for months at a time.
At the end of the day, she was as sure-as-hell glad the sun always went down in London. Thankful that, here, there was no such thing as the midnight sun.
It wasn't long before the sweat returned on her brow. She had left her northern solitude less than a week ago, her body was not accustomed to the weather.
There were a number of characteristics of this society that she was not accustomed to. Besides the weather, there were throngs of people. She couldn't recall ever seeing that many people gathered in one place. These people—mostly wizards and witches—couldn't fall into one category in her mind. A clash of extraordinarily different peoples, a mélange of cultures bustled around the alley, not all of them human.
She didn't know how to blend into the crowd. It was impossible because no one seemed to be blending in.
Sabene cursed under her breath as her eyes followed another cloaked figure that passed by the mouth of the alleyway she was crouched in. She felt more comfortable in this particular section of the wizarding shops as there were far fewer people and the blasted sun struggled to penetrate through the narrow passageways leaving the area cooler and darker.
A gasp escaped her lips as a hooded figure suddenly turned down into the narrow alleyway. Thankfully for her, the man's progress was slow due to the alleyway being so narrow. He had to turn sideways in order to slip between the walls, allowing the girl time to vertically scale the surrounding stone. Her foot found a slab of stone that stuck out far enough from the rest for her tandem feet to rest comfortably on. The grey fur cloak that covered her happened to blend perfectly with color of the surrounding stone. The camouflage combined with the darkness of the alleyway allowed her presence to be unknown to the stranger passing beneath her.
Once the sun became fully hidden behind the buildings, she left the safety of her perch. She wandered back to the main line of shops, discovering that the crowds had dwindled significantly. She was able to navigate through the street without fear of anyone straying too close.
Her mouth watered as she passed by Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor and the cafés further along. The bread was only enough to keep the hunger pains at bay.
Two women in their early twenties were chatting and laughing at a table in front of one of the southern cafés after enjoying their dinner. They continued to converse while their half-eaten food remained untouched for at least five minutes.
She was thankful for her ancestry and her experience growing up in such a harsh environment—she had lost her pride long ago.
However, she had never gained any patience, especially on an empty stomach.
"E-excuse me, miss?" she cleared her throat, which had been raspy from the lack of use.
"Yes?" she responded, looking down at the young girl.
"I was wondering if you wouldn't mind…" her eyes snapped down to the half-slice of hamburger remaining on the woman's plate. The smells of the sliced onion, beef, and black pepper caused her to lose her train of thought, "I-I'm sorry to bother you, I just wondering if you would share the rest of that burger."
"Where are your parents?" The woman with a half-eaten salad asked.
"It's fine." The woman with the half-slice of burger eased her friend, "Sure, take it. I need to be watching what I eat anyways. It's not like we're in Hogwarts anymore." She winked at the girl.
"Thank you." She blew out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding. She gathered the leftovers gratefully.
A handful of days passed. Sabene started a pattern of napping during the heat of the day, often in the shade of narrow alleyways just outside of Diagon Alley. For food she resorted to either begging or snatching meager leftovers from people leaving the cafes.
Surrounded by the magical community in Diagon Alley, she was able to observe the children. All of the children she saw were ignorant and seemingly innocent to the world around them, many of them carelessly frolicked within the shops and alleyways. All her peers, apparently devoid of any magical skill.
Since an early age, she had been raised in an entirely different culture where magic was encouraged to be used by everyone – including children. She had been raised surrounded by a particular branch of magic.
Soul magic.
The name itself is self-explanatory; an ancient form of magic which uses the soul – it has been long forgotten by the majority of those who practice magic. The soul is an eternal part of a human being's spiritual identity, yet very little is known about the nature of the soul or how it is used in magic.
For good reason.
It is known that the soul cannot be recovered once it has been lost. A grave error could potentially lead to the practitioner an empty shell, their spiritual identity lost forever. The consequences would far outweigh the risk.
All magic has potential for misuse. The more obscure branches of magic–such as soul magic—often have governmentally-enforced restrictions placed on them. Sometimes governmental restrictions go far overboard with obscure branches of magic, labeling anything unknown or misunderstood as dark magic. Unintentionally, sometimes intentionally, encouraging wizards and witches who practice these magics to remove themselves from the control of governments by moving outside of the jurisdiction.
Often groups of witches and wizards sought out a new homes in sparsely populated areas. Practitioners of soul magic had an upper hand in creating these settlements. Due to the complexity of the magic, one spell that is not commonly used is the fidelius, the magical concealment of a secret inside a single, living soul.
The fidelius was guarding the settlement she was raised – Mustonen Settlement— named after the Mustonen family that founded the settlement.
The remote location of the village left her ignorant to the world around her, but it gave her the opportunity to train her body, magic, and soul into what she was today. She was stronger for it. From what she had seen so far, the British population seemed to be completely infatuated with wands. The entire concept of a wand seemed utterly ridiculous, she had no idea as to why they were so dependent on them.
Besides wands, the adult wizards and witches seemed dependent on spells.
Where she came from, once a child performed accidental magic, that child was encouraged to perform other bouts of "accidental" magic by any means necessary, including physically harming them. Using physical threats on the children was a faster method, as the child was more motivated to stop the negative treatment.
Extreme emotions and moods heightened the chances of accidental magic. Due to the expedited need for control, in her case, the accidental magic led to harsher treatment that in turn led to more suffering for Sabene and more instances of accidental magic in a vicious, self-perpetuating cycle.
After a while, the children would begin to exhibit mild degrees of control over their magic and would be able to use it with intent.
No spell was needed—nor silly wand waving.
Britain was completely backwards, as the entire population seemed to be completely infatuated with waving their glorified kindling and muttering the incantation.
Except… one.
The first several chapters will be relatively short, but the chapters should lengthen after the main characters are introduced. Next update is planned for the next blue moon... which is actually closer than you think. There'll be two full moons this month.
Thank you for reading. Please review and leave your thoughts - positive or negative.