Two

31 August 1012

Mother finally convinced Father to allow me to move out of our personal quarters and into the student section of the castle. This caused a big row between them though, as expected. Mother wants me housed with her students since they are the most academically driven but Father says that is impossible since he does not want me associating with muggleborns (he used a more vulgar word) or halfbloods.

...

Alexi muttered a drying spell to dry the ink in his new journal before snapping it shut and tucking it underneath his feather mattress. His father did not know about his journal and he preferred to keep it that way. As he blew out the candle beside his bed, Alexi smiled as he imagined how it would be to live with the other students. He would be housed with his father's selections, a concession his mother did not want to make but had settled upon eventually after his father threatened not to let Alexi move out at all. He needed independence, she said.

As he drifted off to sleep, he could hear his parents arguing yet again, this time not over raising him. They were arguing about a spell that Godric wanted to impose. He wanted to create a grand spell that bound magic within the body, needing a conduit to release it, something he called a wand. He thought witches and wizards abused their powers. His mother supported Godric but kept bringing up the possibly of random dangerous magical bursts and situations that a magical person may find themselves without a wand but the need to defend themselves. His father was against the idea entirely. He stood firm in his belief that the gods had granted them the power of magic without the need for a preposterous tool like a wand. For once, Alexi agreed more with his father. He did not want to have to use some piece of wood to cast a spell. This debate was swirling through his head when Alexi slipped into an unconscious state.

...

Alexi woke to sound of house elves busying around his room. The bang of his favorite house elf Meera dropping his truck jerked him to attention.

Today was the day. The day he could tell the other Hogwarts students that he was not being coddled. That he was just like them. According to the position of the sun outside his window, he had slept most of the day and the rest of the students should be arriving soon.

Vaulting himself out of his bed, he slid into his private bathroom and slipped into the already steaming bath Meera had prepared for him. As he soaked himself awake, he knew he would miss Meera's company but he wanted to fit in. He muttered a spell to summon the light green block his mother brought back for him from her trip. Something called soap. It was supposed to make him "smell presentable".

His half sister's loud voice brought him out of his daydream. Most thought Helena Ravenclaw is soft spoken. Most didn't know her like Alexi does.

"Are you going to stay in there all day till you shrivel up or are you going to go down to the Great Hall and be normal, little brother?"

Today is a first for his sister as well. Seven years his senior, Helena just convinced her mother that she is capable of teaching, though not to the degree that she had hoped. Their mother, the wise woman she is, decided that Helena would teach Transfiguration alongside with her. That argument was nearly as loud as the ones between his parents. His headstrong sister did not want to be coddle but she did not have the same slyness as Alexi possessed to worm her way to what she wanted. She, like Alexi, favored their mother in appearance. Tall, thin, dark hair and eyes with an air of power and intelligence. Alexi had always been curious why his eyes differ from his family's so much. While his mother and half sister have nearly black eyes and his father has steel grey, Alexi's were an eerie pale silver-green.

"Yes, sister. I am coming. Please leave the room so I can dress."

"I shall summon Meera." Helena turned to exit the room.

"No need, sister. I am capable of doing it myself."

Helena smiled knowingly. She understood the desire to break free of what was expected of the children of the founders of this institution.

"As you wish, little brother," she stated before shutting the door behind her.

After extracting himself from the now cold bathwater, Alexi muttered the same drying spell that he had used the night before to dry the ink in his journal. He opened the door, peaking his head in to make sure his sister had left, continuing onto his giant ornate wardrobe. He threw open the wood double doors and extracted a silk pale green shirt, the same color as his eyes, and a pair of black leather pants along with a pair of matching black leather boots that laced up his lower leg. Forgoing the annoying smallclothes that just bunched up in his pants, he wiggled into his pants and fastened a black leather belt in his middle, over the green shirt. Crossing to his bed table, he placed his necklace around his neck that held a small silver hammer on a leather thong, a gift from a traveler.

Taking a quick glance in his looking-glass, Alexi decided to ignore his long wet dark brown hair, knowing it would annoy his father that he was not completely up to his grooming standards. Though he did not really feel keen on being part of Slytherin house, he did concede that the color green did suit him. Due to clothes being so expensive and difficult to come by, the Founders made the decision that the students did not have to purchase uniforms, since the owning of books and supplies were very much more important, that student were able to provide their own clothes as long as they denoted their house by color. Crimson or gold for Godric Gryffindor's house, yellow or black for Helga Hufflepuff's, blue or bronze or brown for his mother's and green or silver for his father's.

Alexi grabbed a brown leather satchel on his way out, slinging it on his left shoulder. The bag, which was a birthday gift from his sister, was already filled with books on Charms and Potions along with a handful of quills and a stack of parchment tied together with twine. Taking one last look at his room, he closed the door with a small smile and bound down the hallway in the direction of the Great Hall.

…..

Alexi slid into the Great Hall through a door hidden behind the painting of some long dead Roman wizard to find the tables full of students already eating. He inched his way over to the table littered with green-clad youths, attempting to avoid looking up to the head table that held the Founders, meaning his parents, along with his sister, who's eye he quickly caught. Helena was trying to hold in laughter at his brother's late appearance, knowing his fierce parents would tear his ear a new hole later for his tardiness. No, the son of two of the Founders needed to be perfect all the time.

Spotting an empty seat between a boy with short white hair and a girl with blonde ringlets. Alexi plopped not so gracefully down, knocking over the boy's pumpkin juice with the swinging of his heavy satchel.

"Watch it!"

"Sorry." Alexi said as he yet again muttered the drying spell on both the table and the boy's silvery shirt.

"Whatcha got that bag fo'? Classes are not till the mornin'." The boy's voice was mocking.

"Sod off, Ritchell. He can carry a bag with him if he pleases." The girl to his right with the ringlets spoke up. She has pretty blue eyes, Alexi noticed. "My name is Carolina Greengrass. Who might you be?" Carolina fingered a piece of his wet hair between her pale fingers. His breath hitched before he answered barely audibly.

"I am Alexi Mikhail Mathias Ravenclaw Slytherin. I mean, I am Alexi. Alexi Slytherin. I apologize. I am not around people my age that often." He could feel his cheeks grow hot. Carolina giggled.

"Clearly not. Son of two of the Founders? Or are you just unfortunate with that mouthful of a name?"

"Yes, Rowena is my mother and Salazar is my father."

"Well, are you not special, now are you?" Ritchell chimed in with his oily voice.

"No, I am not. Not truly. I am just like you. A student. A normal student."

"Sure you are sweetheart", said Carolina, still playing with his wet hair.