Disclaimer: The world of Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling.
Magic Break Can't Be Seen
The Hogwarts Express softly rocked as it sped toward its destination, the gentle patter of rain almost relaxing as it left London. It clicked, it clacked, and it echoed with the greetings and laughter of children as they reunited after a summer apart. It was the perfect place for them to reconnect before they focused on learning magic at the world-famous Hogwarts.
Alexander Dantes wasn't connecting with his peers nor even sitting with them. He was instead looking out the window, enjoying the passing scenery while he reflected on his summer holiday. It had, after all, become a turning point in his magical studies.
A conversation with his father, Adrian, at the dinner table one evening allowed Alexander to solve the greatest question Rune Masters had been asking for centuries. Namely, how were runic alphabets created? The answer, perhaps unsurprisingly, had to do with blood.
Ancient civilizations had spilled whole kingdoms worth of blood, which was the first part of the equation. The next part involved speaking specific words or carving certain symbols which are then filled with blood. Alexander had long since known that everyone has magic in their blood, only in differing amounts, and the concentration of said blood in one location could lead to the creation of a Philosopher's Stone. And apparently, it could also lead to the creation of new spells or runes.
If you spoke a language long enough with enough freshly spilled blood on hand, the magic within the blood would slowly start to seep into that language. This was why Nordic and Latin languages had so many bastardized spells; they were among the most popular languages of warmongers at various points in history.
But some languages died out and lost the spoken word. So, instead, all of their magic resides in their written word, or runes. This did raise the question of why you couldn't use Latin script as runes, but Alexander reasoned that this was because the armies of the time shouted their messages, not carved them into the bodies of their enemies. Thus, the magic would be more closely associated with the spoken word rather than the written word. Which wasn't to say it was impossible to create Latin runes, just that no one had figured out how.
Magic had a consistent methodology across the globe. It was also continually evolving, only becoming more intricate and refined as more magicals were born, lived, and died. Alexander reasoned that it might one day become so advanced it would develop true sentience about it, but wagered that would be many hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of years in the future. It was still a fascinating prospect, however, and one he was eager to explore further.
When Alexander had first discovered wandless magic, after his wand was snapped in his first year, he had experimented with many different spells for weeks. He felt how his magic formed within him, and replicated what he experienced as often as he could to make it feel normal. He hadn't thought much more about it until a few weeks ago when he developed this new theory.
He called on his magic to perform a levitation charm, but rather than let the spell end after a moment, he tried to examine how it felt internally. The magic seemed to rest in his feet before surging up his body to his hand. If he focused on the feeling, he could describe it as being as light as a feather. When he cast a basic transfiguration spell on a sock, to turn it into a sweater, it felt like pins and needles forming in the joints of his fingers, not unlike the sensation of having a limb fall asleep.
He tried dozens of spells and felt how the magic seemed to move all over his body before leaving, directed at whatever he was focused on. He noticed how casting the same spell over and over again made it form just slightly faster each time.
It wasn't until he cast a stunner at his pillow that he realized what his magic was doing. On his forehead, between the eyes, it felt as though something heavy had hit there. When he looked at himself in the mirror, he could almost see the faint outline for a basic stunning ward on his brow, but the image vanished the moment he blinked. But he saw it, and that's all that mattered.
It took him another week to write down the spell formulas, an area of Arithmancy that wizards used to prove why spells work, for all the spells he knew. Casting them one at a time, he kept an eye out for runes forming within him, and to his glee, he began to see them. At first, the spells would form too fast for him to notice any definite shapes, but with practice, he eventually began to see the runes. There were usually three to four times as many runes needed, but the spell formulas were all present in one form or another.
As a fourteen-year-old wizard, Alexander Dantes solved a problem that had been stumping wizards for centuries. He couldn't wait to get to Hogwarts and prove it by creating a runic alphabet. And the conversation that led to Alexander figuring it all out?
Where did Magicals come from?
Magic Break Can't Be Seen
While his mind was a whirlwind of thoughts, the rest of the world did not sit idly by, waiting for Alexander to notice it. The compartment door slid open to reveal two girls, both wearing green trimmed robes, looking at him with curiosity in their eyes. His mother's parting words flashed through his mind:
"Try to make some friends this year, Alex," she had said to him fondly. She hugged him. "You're far too special to live your life alone."
Despite not wanting to, Alexander wanted to disappoint his mother even less, so he nodded politely to the two girls. "Good morning, Davis. Greengrass," he said.
"Dantes," Tracey Davis replied. Daphne Greengrass was just giving him a searching look. "Would you mind if we join you? It seems as though all the other carriages are full."
Privately, Alexander doubted that. But rather than call them out on it, he shook his head in reply. "I don't mind. Do you need help with your trunks?" he asked, gesturing to the racks above the seats.
"Yes!" Tracey almost shouted. Alexander and Daphne looked at her, the former in surprise and latter in exasperation. Tracey blushed. "I mean, please."
Purposefully drawing his wand, he enunciated the Levitation Charm clearly and stored the trunks in the racks above the seats. As the two girls sat across from him, he could spy an almost disappointed look on Tracey's face. Retaking his seat, he returned his attention to the window and the landscape passing them by.
Tracey fidgeted out of the corner of his eye. She leaned into Daphne and whispered, not at all quietly, "I thought you said he knew wandless magic?"
"I thought that what happened at the end of last year would remain a secret," Alexander said out loud, causing Tracey to flinch. "Or at least, that's what you led me to believe, Greengrass."
She didn't flinch or blush, which Alexander appreciated. Despite her circumstances at the end of last year, Daphne Greengrass was made of sterner stuff, despite what her porcelain features implied. She stared back at Alexander cooly, unafraid of anything. It was a mask, Alexander could tell, but he didn't feel the need to break it.
"I tell Tracey everything," she finally said. A small crack in her mask formed as the memory of the event replayed in her mind. "I needed to tell someone..."
Alexander reluctantly nodded and averted his gaze, allowing her to calm herself down. He had no judgment for her. He knew what it was like to be unable to do anything while others overpower you.
Rain pelted the window as the compartment fell silent, each occupant occupied with their thoughts. Ten minutes, twenty, half an hour went by before anyone moved, and it was Daphne Greengrass pulling out her wand. She emptied her pockets of half-formed figurines and began to poke them with her wand, trying to force the transfiguration to complete.
The silence seemed to get to Tracey the most. She was fidgeting, her eyes darting from the figurines to Alexander, to the window outside and back again. It finally grew too much for Alexander, causing him to sigh and make eye contact.
"Is something wrong?" he asked.
"Why don't you have any friends?" Tracey Davis asked with all the bluntness of a hammer. Alexander was shocked and began to consider leaving when she threw up a hasty hand. "Sorry! That came out wrong. What I mean is, well, you're the smartest in our year, why does everyone in Ravenclaw seem to avoid you like the plague?"
Alexander briefly considered telling her to go to hell but found his curiosity too strong to resist. "How do you know where I rank in the class? I don't even know that."
She gave him a mischievous smile. "At the end of last year, I had a detention with Professor Flitwick for shoving a dung bomb into Goyle's bookbag when he wasn't looking. He made me stay afterward to clean the classroom, but I guess he forgot to secure his desk, as I found the Ravenclaw records in the top drawer. Had the past three years in it."
Tracey leaned forward eagerly. "Except for Exceed Expectations in Transfiguration and Potions, you have Outstandings in most courses. Arithmancy was weird, though, because instead of a grade, Vector just wrote a rant about something being impossible."
"Fascinating," Alexander deadpanned, "but that doesn't tell me how you know the class rankings."
She shrugged. "It was on another piece of paper, marked for professor's eyes only. You're even beating Hermione Granger! The know-it-all!" she finished with a giggle.
Alexander rolled his eyes but couldn't help but feel faintly pleased. He knew it was a meaningless rank overall, that his wandless magic and research into runic languages deserved far more acclaim, but he couldn't help but feel pleased his intelligence was noticed. Daphne's continued casting caught his eye.
She was transfiguring a pile of rocks into a village made out of crystal. He watched as she spoke the spell correctly, making the wand motion with precision, but always ending in the tightest of little twirls, a flourish that threw off the concentration of her magic, disrupting her focus and intent.
"You're adding a flourish," he suddenly found himself speaking. Both witches turned to look at him in surprise, and Alexander found himself blushing. "At the end of your spell, you do the wand movements correctly, but you're adding a flourish, and it's throwing off most of the magic."
Daphne's eyes narrowed at him. "You should not tell a witch how she should cast her spells," she warned. Alexander turned to the window, finding his eyes drawn to her in the reflection.
Daphne and Tracey shared a look before she tried the spell again. Alexander watched her wand movements carefully and was pleased to see she stopped herself from adding the flourish at the end. The transfiguration completed correctly, creating a crystalline horse rearing back on its hind legs.
"How do you not have an Outstanding in Transfiguration too?" Tracey demanded. Alexander barely turned his head to reply.
"McGonagall thinks I'm a liar. She marks every assignment I turn into her a Troll, but she can't argue with practicals or exams," Alexander answered with surprising honesty. His eyes darted in the window between the two girls.
Tracey looked satisfied with this information and was settling back in her seat comfortably, but it was Daphne that he focused on. She was busily transfiguring the rest of her pebbles into crystals, each wand movement precise and with no hesitation at the end. Alexander belatedly realized that Daphne Greengrass was faking her transfiguration, doing it wrong on purpose to get him to reveal the extent of his knowledge, to get more information. As the train sped away, Alexander found himself reluctantly impressed by her cunning.
Magic Break Can't Be Seen
It was perhaps, the most pleasant experience Alexander had ever had on the Hogwarts Express.
Daphne and Tracey did not feel the need to fill the air with needless chatter, the forming choosing to perfect her little crystal village while the later revised her summer homework quietly. Every once in a while, Tracey would ask Daphne a question about it but would occasionally throw the odd question at Alexander, always probing for more information. And to his surprise, he found himself willingly helping her with her homework.
It was odd but nice.
They arrived at Hogwarts without issue but rushed to the horseless carriages and the shelter they provided from the heavy rains. Their haste might as well been without purpose, as when they entered the Entrance Hall, they were soaked to the bone by water balloons, thrown by Peeves. As Alexander sat at the Ravenclaw table, he used his magic to dry his robes, so he wouldn't be sitting there shivering like the rest of his house. They had magic for a reason; they should learn to use it.
The first years were sorted quickly, but before the food appeared, Headmaster Dumbledore stood.
"Welcome, one and all, to Hogwarts. There are just a few start-of-term announcements we need to go over, so please bear with me before we may eat. Now..."
He droned on about several unimportant matters to Alexander. But at the end of Dumbledore's speech, the ancient wizard said something that caught his attention.
"Now, Quidditch has been canceled this year." A wave of boos met Dumbledore, and he shook his hands placatingly. "I know, I know, but I think you'll all enjoy the replacement this year, as we're bringing back the famous TriWizard Tournament!"
The students began to talk excitedly about what this would mean. Dumbledore continued speaking. "Delegations from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving a day before Halloween, to get settled in before the choosing of the champions! Yes, this is an exciting time."
Students from other schools coming here to compete in some sort of tournament? That could be interesting to do. Alexander wondered if he should try to become the champion for Hogwarts.
Albus Dumbledore spoke once more. "Now, before you get too excited, only students who are of age by Halloween may enter. I'm sorry, but it's for your own safety."
And just like that, Alexander felt his interest in the Triwizard Tournament die.
Magic Break Can't Be Seen
Alexander had mixed feelings about Professor Moody. On the one hand, the ex-Auror was brilliant, really knew the material, and was competent enough to teach it. On the other hand, he seemed overly fond of making people jump and was awfully twitchy with his wand in hand. But it wasn't until a few weeks into the term that Alexander decided how he felt about the professor.
And it was cautious.
After a lesson on the Unforgiveables, three spells that, if any witch or wizard were to use them on another, they'd be arrested and sent on a one way trip to Azkaban, Professor Moody revealed he'd be casting the Imperius Curse on all of them. They would experience the feeling of domination, of not being in control of their own body, and forced to do something. Professor Moody, no doubt, wanted to use it as a fear tactic to scare the students away from the Dark Arts.
Alexander was okay with that. His issue was how gleeful the professor seemed to be over the idea of casting the spell on students. Professor Moody seemed to almost salivate at the thought, licking his lips in glee. It made for an incredibly uncomfortable sight that filled Alexander with unease.
So when the day arrived, Alexander paid careful attention. He watched as, one by one, his fellow students succumbed to the spell, being forced to sing, dance, or act like an animal. Some of the students laughed, but not one of the students who had already experienced the curse joined in. It was finally Alexander's turn.
"Imperio," Professor Moody said, his wand pointed at Alexander. A sense of calming, peaceful emotion seemed to fill his mind. Alexander watched, almost detached, as it tried to sink into his mind but seemed to be rebuffed by something. He almost twitched when he realized his Occlumency, a skill he had been slowly practicing for years, was finally being tested.
It didn't work perfectly; Alexander could feel the spell on him, feel how it told him to relax. But the rest of his mind didn't want to relax, didn't want to obey. And then came the order.
Smack a pure-blood, the voice ordered. Smack them as hard as you can.
Which was why, when Alexander looked to his left and saw Crabbe's grinning laughing face, he didn't hesitate to smash his fist as hard as he could into Crabbe's nose. The haze disappeared instantly from his mind, and he shook his head to clear his thoughts.
"Aha! See what can happen? It's not just party tricks the Imperius can make you do; it can make you attack anyone! Write that down," Professor Moody ordered as Alexander quietly made his way back to his seat. A few students later had Harry Potter jumping into a table, which resulted in the insane professor throwing more of the curses at him, until he could finally beat it.
The class ended, and Moody vanished into his offices, leaving the students to dismiss themselves. Alexander was among the last to leave and was surprised to find Daphne Greengrass waiting for him by the door.
"You were faking," she said without preamble. "How did you fake that?"
He shrugged. "It's easy to fake what you would be willing to do anyway."
She said nothing else as she turned and walked away, graceful like a dancer. Alexander shook himself from his thoughts and went to his hidden rooms. He wanted to practice Occlumency more after experiencing how useful it was first handed.
Magic Break Can't Be Seen
Not even a week later, Daphne and Tracey found Alexander in the library, standing at the edge of his table with a stack of books in hand. He blinked up at them in surprise.
"We're here for our tutoring session," Tracey loudly said. A few students looked at the group curiously before focusing on their own tasks.
Alexander's brow furrowed. "I wasn't aware I was tutoring anyone," he said at a mild volume, unsure if he should be overheard or not by eavesdroppers.
"Oh, you're not," Tracey said in a quieter tone, sliding into an open seat. "Well, unless you want to. But we figured sitting near you would at least allow us to improve our grades by proximity, if anything."
Things made sense now to Alexander. They just wanted to improve their grades, so they were going to try to study with him. A pity that wouldn't work.
"So what are you working on? Potions? Runes? I still need to do that Charm's assignment on summoning charms," Tracey rambled, flipping over one of Alexander's books. She blanched. "What language is this in?"
"German," he replied, a small smirk on his face. "It's a historical text on lumber charms."
"Why are you reading this? Is it extra credit?" Tracey asked, slightly panicked that she missed something in her previous Charm's class. Alexander shook his head.
"We have magic. It's capable of so much more than what we learn in classes. It's almost criminal how little magic we actually learn here."
"What do you mean?" Daphne Greengrass spoke for the first time. "Hogwarts is the greatest magical institution in the world."
Alexander sighed before waving his wand, using the motion to disguise the silencing spell he wove around their table wandlessly. He wasn't going to get kicked out of the library for talking again. "A meaningless title. Look, what would you consider a Great Work of Magic?"
The two witches looked stumped. "You mean like enchanted objects?" Tracey asked. Alexander shook his head but looked at Daphne.
She seemed to think about it for a moment. "The Valley of the Magicians in Egypt. It's where the tombs of the Priests of Egypt are. Some of their wards have lasted to this day."
Alexander nodded. "That's a good example. But what about modern wizards? What are they creating?"
The two witches fell silent, so he continued. "Modern witches and wizards have no appreciation for magic. They view it as a toy. They disrespect it because they're so unwilling to use it to its full potential. Greengrass, you finished your crystal village, correct?"
She jumped as the focus suddenly turned to her, but nodded. "Why not make it lifesize?" Alexander asked.
Daphne raised an eyebrow at that. "Because it's impossible."
"Is it?" Alexander challenged. "Or is it no one has ever tried? Or figured out a way to make it happen. You're the Slytherin, what is your ambition?"
"I want to be a powerful and respected witch," she heatedly said.
"Why?"
Daphne was stunned into silence again, so Alexander spoke. "What would it gain you to be known as the most powerful witch in the world? A hoard of enemies you'd have to defend yourself from constantly. Jealous companions who would seek to take what is yours. Or maybe you want wealth, why? With our magic we want for almost nothing, what use is a pile of shiny disks?"
Alexander sighed. "I want to make a Great Work. I want witches and wizards to be inspired for generations to create, to challenge, to forge ahead new paths, and discover new things. I want them to become explorers, tinkerers, so much more than paper pushers! We could be so much more."
"You don't want to be wealthy?" Tracey asked, shocked that anyone could not want to be rich. Alexander shrugged.
"Wealth is meant to be used, not hoarded."
"What about powerful, wouldn't you need a lot of power to create anything like that?" she asked. Alexander looked her straight in the eyes.
"Then, I will become powerful. I will find it, I will make it, and it may take me my entire life, but I will do it." He slashed his wand through the air to dispell the silencing spell and stood up. "I hope you find what you want in life."
He walked away.
Magic Break Can't Be Seen
Alexander was draining his blood.
As he drank another Blood Replenishing Potion, he felt the small amount of lightheadedness he was experiencing vanish. Before him was a casket large enough to fit Hagrid standing, with five more behind him comfortably. He had spent the better part of two weeks slowly draining his blood into it, replenishing himself with potions provided by a mischievous Mopsy, who no doubt stole them from Professor Snape.
Alexander couldn't find it in himself to care. The man was a useless teacher and favored his Slytherins far too much to be healthy. Maybe the man was compensating for something, but Alexander didn't care to find out what. He had more important things to do, like trying to create a runic language using his own blood.
He was reading a book on Chinese water magics when it happened. His free hand was fiddling around with the pouch that hung from his neck, the one that contained the last shard of the Philosopher's Stone in it. Alexander must have tugged on the cord too hard as it came loose in his hand. He fumbled frantically with it, but all that happened with his desperate fumbling was that the pouch opened, and the shard flew through the air. With a soft plop, it fell into the casket of blood.
A rush of air and magic pulled Alexander forward, and a blinding light momentarily took his vision from him. With a thud, he fell to the ground, bleeding all over the place.
Stemming the blood with a whispered spell, Alexander blinked the spots from his eyes. Slowly his vision cleared, revealing the casket to have imploded violently, turning it into so much kindling that he couldn't possibly repair it with magic. Of the gallons of blood he had emptied into it, there was not a single drop to be seen.
Crouching down low, he began to sort through the pile, curious as to why it was bone dry. It only took him a minute to uncover why and it made him whoop and holler like a lunatic.
The Philosopher's Stone was no longer a tiny sliver of a shard. It was now the size of a grape.
Magic Break Can't Be Seen
Despite his concerns about being discovered, Alexander immediately began filling a new casket with blood. As he started anew, he looked at the Philosopher's Stone, admiring it from many angles. The tiny stone thrummed with power, and Alexander feared that it would draw attention were he to add more magic to it. As it was, he carefully examined it with magic, writing down every fact he discovered, no matter how mundane. He didn't know if he would ever need to know that the stone had a constant temperature that mirrored the human holding it, but reasoned it was important somehow.
He then resecured it in the pouch, adding whatever charms, enchantments, and runes he could to the flimsy material to protect it. Unfortunately, he couldn't add much but found the little bit of protection he gave it enough to ease his troubled mind.
A few days passed and when he found himself reaching for the pouch again, Alexander forcibly put his hand on the table in front of him. He was in the library, searching for a way around his problems with expansion charms, namely with how to secure and stabilize them. Having an expanded space contract violently, or even twist upon itself, turning it into its own little bubble dimension, was not something he wanted to have happen.
Alexander paused. A bubble dimension. Something that is always there but unable to interact with this dimension. But how to even reach it? The power needed would be astronomical, on the level of dozens, if not hundreds of witches and wizards. And how would you even get to the dimension in the first place? It's not like you can just pop there...
Alexander stilled. He very carefully shut his book, collected his bag, and made his way out of the library. Alexander strolled, giving no indication to the outside world that his thoughts were flying faster than a shooting star. It wasn't until he reached his secret rooms that he called out.
"Mopsy!" he called out, the eagerness in voice making his voice tremble. He paid it no mind though when the House Elf appeared with a pop.
"How can Mopsy be helping, sir?" she asked, looking up at him with large, bulbous eyes.
"How do you pop?" Alexander asked, almost crazed for the answer.
"Mopsy goes to where she is needed," the confused House Elf explained. Alexander shook his head.
"No, no, I know. But Wizards Apparate. But they can't Apparate on the grounds of Hogwarts; the wards are too thick and heavy here. So how do you do it?" Alexander asked.
The tiny creature was silent for a long time. "Mopsy just pops," she finally said with a small shrug. Alexander almost groaned in frustration. "Sorry Mopsy can't be of more help, sir."
Alexander rubbed his temples slowly. "It's alright, Mopsy, thanks anyway." Just as she was about to pop away, he was struck with a thought, and he called out to her to wait. "Wait! When you pop places, say between here and the kitchens, do you go anywhere while you are in between?"
Mopsy nodded. "Of course, sir! Sometimes Mopsy goes to the laundry, or to clean the bedrooms, to Great Hall..."
As the little elf explained all the places she's been in the castle, Alexander didn't resist groaning. He had a gut feeling he was on the right track, but Mopsy couldn't understand what he was asking. Alexander knew they would learn Apparation in their sixth year, which meant two more years until he would have his answer. He couldn't help but feel frustrated, though; he wanted his answer now.
He had a brain wave and looked Mopsy in the eye with such directness the elf stammered herself into silence. "Mopsy. Could you pop me to the kitchens?"
The tiny elf nodded fearfully and held out her hand. Taking a deep breath to ready himself, Alexander took it.
Magic Break Can't Be Seen
AN: Start of Year Four.
I hope you're enjoying the story!