Disclaimer: The world of Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling.
WARNING: This chapter is dark, violent, and not for those who are easily triggered by graphic content. The section in particular will be bolded so you may skip over it. The summary will be available in the Author Note at the bottom.
Magic Break Can't Be Seen
Alexander Dantes walked through the portal that led to non-magical London, his trunk nowhere to be seen, and a harsh look his face. The crowds of Hogwarts students and their families parted for him like the sea before Moses, most unaware that they even moved until they bumped into someone or something else. The air was almost palpable with fear and horror, and the reason was simple.
Every inch of Alexander's exposed skin was covered in vicious, almost-healed wounds. Each were sealed shut with muggle stitches, barbaric to even think about for the witches and wizards on the platform. The pattern on his neck and arms indicated that the wounds covered the rest of his body. Were anyone on that platform to describe the injuries to someone who wasn't there, they'd claim it was as if Alexander's skin had been shredded to pieces, before being poorly stitched together by an overly enthusiastic child. It was horrifying.
Due to the ease at which the occupants parted, Alexander quickly made his way onto the Hogwarts Express and seated himself in an empty compartment. He wasn't alone long.
"What happened to you?" Daphne Greengrass demanded as she rushed into the compartment. Her sister, Astoria, and best friend, Tracey Davis, followed closely behind her.
"Daphne, Tracey, Astoria," Alexander greeted each with a polite nod, but his voice made the three girls flinch. It was hoarse, as though he had screamed far too much. "I hope you had a pleasant summer."
His polite comment sent alarms off in each of their heads. Daphne placed a gentle hand on his wounded arm, feeling the horrifying stitches on underneath, and it proved to be the tipping point for Alexander.
He began to laugh and cry, and it sounded quite demented to the three girls. Tracey quickly cast a silencing charm on the compartment and closed the blinds so that no one would come across the odd sight.
"Sorry," Alexander said in a watery voice, "but I think you can guess I've had an awful summer. It started with my family being murdered."
The three girls were shocked into silence.
Magic Break Can't Be Seen
It happened a week after Alexander arrived home. The family was enjoying each other's company on Jack's eleventh birthday, choosing to have a simple night in this year. Jack and David were busy playing with the former's new video game, an item that proved fascinating to Alexander and had him questioning his father, Adrian, about electronics.
A knock on the door surprised everyone, but Alexander's mother, Cynthia, answered it. She gasped softly, alerting Alexander and Adrian something happened but walked back into the living room under her own power. Something about her eyes seemed off to Alexander, her smile too fixed. He realized what was wrong the moment five men wearing robes and skull-like masks walked into the room.
Alexander surged to his feet, but one of the men was faster, flicking his wand up. "Crucio!" the man shouted. Alexander found himself writhing on the ground, unable to stop himself from screaming at the pain. The curse ended a moment later, but the pain lingered, digging in deep.
"Alex!" Adrian shouted. He didn't seem to know what to do. "What did you do to my son?"
The men laughed. "Just a little taste of the Cruciatus Curse, don't fret. We brought plenty enough to go around."
The pain started up again, but this time the cries of Alexander's family echoed him. Alexander slowly unclenched his eyes to find one of the men standing above him. "Cheer up, little Mudblood. You're not the only magical in your family!" he said, dropping a Hogwarts letter on his face. Despite the pain coursing through his body, Alexander could clearly read Jack's name on it.
"No," Alexander said, desperately hoping that his brother wouldn't experience the same fate he had his first year. He felt sick when he realized it was from far kinder compared to what was happening now.
Another wave of pain followed only this time it wasn't the Cruciatus. Jinxes, hexes, and curses hit Alexander and, judging by the pained screams around him, also his family. He tried to focus through the pain, but couldn't. An utterly unknowable amount of time passed Alexander by.
"Aw, I think mine broke," one man said minutes, or maybe hours later.
"Mine did. Didn't even get to try out the fun curses on it," another replied.
"I might have cursed mine too much. She snapped her own neck," another one said. Alexander couldn't help the sob that escaped him.
A wand poked him in the face. "Mine's still got some life in him. Let's make him kill his father!"
"It's on its last legs, might as well grant it some mercy!" All five men laughed uproariously.
"Imperio," a voice said. Alexander found that the pleasant haze of the curse counteracted the pain of his torture enough that he could focus. With his focus brought fresh horrors to his mind, though.
His mother lay in front of him, her limbs and neck bent at wrong angles. Next to her lay Jack, eleven years old and dead, as would anyone who missed that much of their throat. David was nailed to the wall behind him, limp and unmoving. And Alexander's father, a man whose strength had never faltered or failed his family, was tied to the staircase with barbed wire, one eye plucked out, and the other swollen painfully shut.
"Please, help my family," Adrian begged, his mumblings ignored by the five men. They were focused on Alexander.
"Get the Mudblood up, Hilliard," one of the men in the back ordered.
"Shut up, Duny, this is harder than it looks."
Hilliard. Duny. The names were familiar, and the voices even more so. With a sickening feeling in his gut, Alexander realized who two of these men were. His childhood tormentors returned.
"How do you expect the be a Death Eater if you can't even force one Mudblood to obey your will?" Duny asked. As Alexander's tortured mind and body warred with pain and the Imperius Curse, he could see his father's lips; he could read the words he mouthed.
Fight, Alexander. Fight.
The lips went still, and Adrian's body went limp. Alexander felt focus return to him, overpowering his pain with rage and grief, and all of it directed at the men in front of him. He looked at the man he knew to be Duny.
"Very funny, Hilliard, now get a move on," Duny said.
"What are you talking about? I'm trying to get him to move over to the muggle!" Hilliard protested. "Move you stupid Mudblood!"
"No thanks," Alexander rasped, making all four men in front of him flinch. And then he jerked his hand in front of him.
A piece of banister broke off and flew through the air toward Alexander. It made no pause as it entered Duny's back, ripping through his chest, and sending blood, bone, and muscle everywhere. Before the improvised weapon could hit Alexander, it stopped in front of him, turning to point at Hilliard. In less than a blink of an eye, it was impaled through the Pure-blood's throat. Both men fell to the ground.
The remaining Death Eaters raised their wands and began to launch spells. Alexander flipped the coffee table in front of him with magic, using it to block the spells at the expense of the wood. A heartbeat passed before he banished the wooden fragments at the Death Eaters, distracting them thoroughly from what Alexander did next:
He snapped their necks.
His magic burned, angry and furious, through him. It latched on to the two men, lifting them into the air by their necks before twisting, ending their lives with far more mercy than they offered their victims. They collapsed to the ground.
Alexander screamed in pain as barbed wire wrapped itself around him, from head to toe. The metal sliced into him repeatedly, and the pain was so great he lost his balance and crashed to the floor, driving some of them deeper.
Alexander had forgotten the fifth Death Eater, who was cunning enough to use the deaths of his friends as a distraction. "I don't know how you did that, Mudblood, but you'll pay for it with your life!" he spat, raising his wand.
But Alexander's rage and magic were not as bound as his body. He roared, uncaring of the pain, uncaring of the torment he'd experienced thus far, and flung every bit of magic he had at the Death Eater. It smashed into the unprepared wizard with the force of a bull, throwing him against the wall with a brutal crunch. But before the wizard hit the floor, his body, and the bodies of his companions, vanished in a whirl of magic.
Alexander's head fell to the ground as the pain hit him once more. He thought he could hear frantic voices calling for an ambulance, but then everything faded black.
Magic Break Can't Be Seen
"I woke up in a non-magical hospital a few weeks later. The police were understandably very interested in what happened, so I made it seem like it was gang activity," Alexander explained. The Hogwarts Express rocked softly around them, as they sped their way to Hogwarts.
"Alex, I'm so sorry," Daphne said, clutching his hand tightly within her own. He gently squeezed her back.
"Thank you," Alexander sighed. "Because of my age, the courts gave me the option of emancipation. I took it. It was an easy choice considering I spend most of the year at a boarding school in Scotland."
Money had never been an issue. His parents both worked and left tidy sums behind, but Alexander would never have to work a day in his life if he didn't want to. The Philosopher's Stone was capable of transmuting lead into gold, as well as other minerals into other, more precious metals.
As for taking care of himself? He had done that for years at Hogwarts. It was almost as if it were some cruel training so that he would be prepared for the worst moment of his life. Alexander tried to ignore the bitterness from that thought and focused on the present.
Astoria and Tracey were looking at him in horror but sympathy. He briefly wished he had asked Astoria to leave, that the third year wouldn't have to hear about the terrors that haunt their society, but realized she was probably already aware. She was in Slytherin, and the house was never going to be very kind.
Still, it was understandable when the pair made their excuses and left, leaving him alone with Daphne. He squeezed her hand and marveled at how soft it was.
"Sickle for your thoughts?" he asked. She gave him a half-hearted glare.
"My thoughts are worth at least a Galleon," Daphne said snobbishly, her nose pointed upward mockingly. Alexander smiled only slightly at the joke. "My parents are worried."
A pit of dread formed in Alexander's belly. "What about?"
"Me. Us. My family. I told my mother and father about you when I arrived home. They were concerned, especially since several Dark Wizards have written to them, requesting a meeting. They're worried that my association with an," her face twisted unpleasantly, "undesirables, could bring tragedy upon our family."
As much as Alexander wished to hate her parents, to deny that anything would go wrong, he only had to think back on what happened to him the past few months. Which made what he was about to do, all the more painful. "I think they're right."
Daphne's head whipped around so sharply that her hair flicked his face. "What?" she asked dangerously.
He held his hand in front of her, showing one unblemished side before flipping it over, shoving off dozens of stitches. "This is what happens, Daphne."
"I don't care about the scars," she angrily retorted.
"And I don't either," Alexander replied. "But I don't want to see you being hurt because of me. I would rather experience it all over again than have it done to you."
Daphne was silent for the longest time. "Sometimes, I hate you. Always the hero, aren't you?"
Alexander swallowed painfully. "Not always."
"I'm sorry, that came out wrong. You're always willing to fight, to defend others, aren't you?"
"I will bear the costs, so they don't have to," he whispered, stroking her hand softly.
She sniffed. "I'm not letting you break up with me."
Alexander gave Daphne a sad smile. "We must." She only shook her head.
"You need to think like a Slytherin. We won't publicly date. But you're crazy if you think I'm going to let you go, Alex."
He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. "Thank you, Daphne."
Magic Break Can't Be Seen
AN: Bolded Summary: Alexander's family is murdered by five Death Eaters. Duny and Hilliard, the two boys he got expelled in his first year, were among them. Alexander violently killed them but was greviously injured.
I hope you all enjoy Year Five!