Disclaimer: The world of Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling.
Magic Break Can't Be Seen
This was the first time Alexander had ever been in Professor Flitwick's office. Two comfortable looking chairs sat in front of a fireplace, with an appropriately sized desk for the professor pushed under a window. There were bookshelves and books everywhere, and Alexander was almost tempted to go through them. He suppressed that urge, however, as that was not why he was here.
"Please sit, Mr. Dantes, so that we can begin this Career Counseling session," Professor Flitwick said, making his way to one of the chairs by the fire. Alexander reluctantly took the remaining one.
The tiny professor looked over a parchment for a moment, acquainting himself with its contents. Alexander was tense, well aware that the last time he was even near this room, the man across from him accused him of being a liar, a description that was quickly shared with the other professors.
"Your marks are excellent," Professor Flitwick finally said. "It looks as though you'll be able to continue in any of your current classes at the N.E.W.T. Level. Do you have any idea what you'd like to do after you graduate Hogwarts?"
Alexander swallowed his initial response, which was to walk away and never look back, as well as his next one, which was to tell Professor Flitwick to go to hell. Alexander knew nothing but trouble would come from that.
"I hadn't thought that far ahead, professor," Alexander instead said, tacking on the honorific at the end after a moment's hesitations. Just long enough to let Professor Flitwick know he considered not saying it.
Professor Flitwick's face tightened, but he tried to smile anyway. "No shame in that, you're young! Perhaps we should think about what you enjoy doing and work at it from that angle."
Flashes of bleeding gallons of blood into caskets, researching runes, and punishing those who had done him wrong appeared in Alexander's mind before he shook it off. "I like reading."
Professor Flitwick nodded. "A true Ravenclaw! Well, there are a number of bookstores in wizarding Britain, but most don't require more than a Charms O.W.L."
"You don't say," Alexander said, his jaw unusually tense. Professor Flitwick didn't seem to notice.
"If you'd like, I could help you write to a few owners to inquire about positions. You might even be able to start as early as this summer!" Professor Flitwick explained. "How does that sound?"
Alexander could almost hear a tempest howling inside his mind, demanding to unleash his magic upon this room and the insufferable man who called it home. But instead, he chose to open his mouth.
"It sounds like the value of a Hogwarts education is worthless," Alexander said. Professor Flitwick appeared shocked.
"How could you say that! Hogwarts is the finest institute of magical learning in the world!" the tiny professor protested. Alexander gave him his most unimpressed look.
"You just recommended a bright student, one whose marks are reportedly excellent, a job working at a bookstore."
"But you said you like reading!" Professor Flitwick sputtered. Alexander rolled his eyes.
"As you said, professor, I'm a true Ravenclaw. But that is not the issue here. The issue is you just told me to pursue the most useless, condescending job in the world."
Professor Flitwick grew angry. "I cannot give you useful career advice if you do not work with me, Mr. Dantes!"
"A Ravenclaw with excellent marks, possessing a passion for reading? Arithmancer, pursuing a Runes Mastery leading to Curse Breaking or ancient language translation work. Or you could have recommended Spell Crafter or Researcher, but then you'd have to admit that a Muggleborn would never be permitted in those fields," Alexander angrily retorted. It seemed to take the wind of out Professor Flitwick.
"Mr. Dantes, I'm just trying to help you achieve a realistic career. I cannot in good conscience send you off with wild dreams that are unattainable," Professor Flitwick sighed.
"No, you just send off a first-year who spent the night being mercilessly bullied, after calling him a liar. Worse, you let every other professor in Hogwarts know not to trust the word of a liar." Alexander knew he should stop, but he couldn't, this had been building up for years.
"Mr. Dantes, there was no evidence," Professor Flitwick weakly said.
"An eleven-year-old limping through the halls of Hogwarts isn't evidence? Didn't even merit an investigation?" Alexander shook his head. "You don't care about your students at all."
"That's not true!" Professor Flitwick said, rough anger in his eyes and tone. "I care about all of my students!"
"You care? How did I get these scars, professor?" Alexander spat, pointing at the scars that crossed his face. Professor Flitwick looked confused at the sudden shift of topic.
"You've always had them, haven't you?" the tiny man said.
A freezing wind blew through the office before Alexander ruthlessly asserted control over his magic. "I received these scars nine months ago when five Death Eaters broke into my home and tortured my family and me, when they were murdered! I showed up to Hogwarts, covered in half-healed wounds and not one professor asked me about them. Not one request from Pomfrey to heal them. Nothing," Alexander hissed. He stood up.
"None of you have ever offered me help. You want to know what I'm going to do after I graduate Hogwarts, professor? I'm going to leave Wizarding Britain."
Professor Flitwick's mouth opened and closed, unable to voice anything after everything Alexander had just unloaded upon him. Alexander shook his head in disgust and left. He had once come to this man for aid and had been turned away, to be tormented without mercy in a place that promised safety. Never again.
Magic Break Can't Be Seen
The next few weeks were filled with numerous annoyances from his fellow fifth years, specifically the ones in Ravenclaw. And it was purely because they were idiots.
Out of habit, Alexander had been sitting in the library, brushing up on his Arithmancy so he would be ready for the exams. He had been quite annoyed when his fellow Ravenclaw fifth years periodically joined him at his table, giving him sideways glances. They insisted on asking him trivial questions about Charms and Transfiguration concepts they could easily read from the books, interrupting his own study time.
So, Alexander would move around the library, but they followed him like lost ducklings. Padma Patil, in particular, was aggressive about him studying with them, demanding he look over her notes in Potions to see if she missed anything important.
His response was simple; crumpling them up in a ball and tossing them at the irritating witch. Telling her that the only thing missing was his ability to care had not calmed her down, and to Alexander's glee had resulted in the entire group being banned from the library for a week. That it included himself was no bother, as he could read on his tablet anytime he liked.
It came to a head one day during lunch. Alexander had just tucked into his meal when he found himself surrounded on all sides by Ravenclaw fifth-years, staring at him intently.
"We need your help, Dantes," Anthony Goldstein said. He fidgeted with his Prefect Badge nervously under Alexander's gaze. "You're the best in our year, and we want to pass our O.W.L.s."
Alexander slowly finished chewing his food before answering. "So go study," he said, before eating another bite.
"I told you he'd be a pain," Padma Patil muttered.
"Please help us, Alex?" Lisa Turpin asked, leaning in close. She smiled at Alexander when she realized he had stopped moving entirely. "I would really appreciate it," she said, completely misunderstanding why he froze.
Alexander painfully swallowed the bite of food in his mouth, taking a sip of water to help it go down. "Turpin?"
"Yes, Alex?" she asked. The other Ravenclaws seemed pleased he was responding to her.
"Go sit on a cactus."
Their part of the table was silent for a moment as they all digested that. None seemed so shocked as Lisa at the blunt suggestion. Alexander took the opportunity to stand up and move away.
Magic Break Can't Be Seen
The O.W.L.s were a welcome relief to Alexander when they finally arrived. The other Ravenclaws were slow to leave him be, always trying to corner him to convince him to help them study. He had to hex most of them more than once to get the message to stick: They weren't interested in helping him years ago, and he wasn't interested in helping them now.
Alexander breezed through the Charms, Transfiguration, and Ancient Runes exams, finding that all of his studying over the years to be more than adequate. That he cast all his spells silently, a skill not taught until the next year, only impressed the examiners.
He suffered through his Herbology and Potions exams, however. He had neither the patience nor the inclination for the two fields, finding the former to be tedious while the latter an exercise in memorization. He had far more important things to think about than tables of ingredient interactions.
Defense Against the Dark Arts was rather amusing. Of the five professors Alexander had for the subject, only two were worthy of the title. Still, self-study would guarantee him passing the theoretical, but the examiner's faces when he proposed beheading a dark wizard assaulting him? That was priceless. Still, Alexander gave a forceful laugh, to which the examiner gave a nervous chuckle, and changed his answer to the useless Stunning Charm. The examiner nodded at that, pleased, and Alexander walked away, wanting to smack the old fool upside his head.
The most exciting thing to happen was the second to last day of examines, on the night of the Astronomy practical. Alexander, like the other students, was rather tired of the exams at this point but trudged up the stairs dutifully to take them.
As they sketched out the night sky on their parchments, a rustle of unease went through the students. Despite his inclination otherwise, Alexander found his attention drawn to the grounds of Hogwarts, where Umbridge was leading several red-robed figures.
"Why are Aurors at Hogwarts?" someone in the crowd asked. Even the examiners seemed far too interested in what was happening to corral the students back to their exam.
They were far too away to hear words, but Alexander and the other students watched with a great deal of interest as the five figures marched towards Hagrid's Hut, near the edge of the Forbidden Forest. And then another figure appeared.
Professor McGonagall, in all her Scottish glory, bared down on the five witches and wizards like the angry woman she was. They could hear the barest edge of her shouting, but not enough to listen to what exactly was being said. And then the night was lit up with the blaze of four stunners, sent from the Auror's wands, to smash violently into Professor McGonagall.
On this, Alexander was split. Four stunners were dangerous to anyone unshielded, as it ran the risk of causing permanent nerve damage. Add that to Professor McGonagall's advanced age, and there was a genuine possibility of her being forced to retire because of this unwarranted attack. But then there was the fact that for the past five years, the woman had been making Alexander's life unpleasant, refusing to mark his homework and glaring at him as if he stole her kittens.
So he shrugged and returned to his exam.
There was a faint roaring and more flashes of spellfire, but Alexander barely took note of them, only finding them to be inconvenient in completing his exam. A few minutes later, he rolled up his parchment, handed it in, and left, to take a well-deserved rest before his final exam.
Magic Break Can't Be Seen
The last day of O.W.L. testing arrived, and it slammed into the fifth year students like a mountain. The examiners saved the most challenging exam for last, History of Magic, somehow knowing that after five years of sleeping through the class, most of the students would probably not do well anyway.
Unless they were like Alexander Dantes, who viciously read every historical text he could get his hands on over the past five years, studying how magical societies rose, grew, and fell all over the globe.
While it would be inaccurate to say the History of Magic was Alexander's favorite class, it would be accurate to say he had a fascination with history, specifically on what caused societies to fall. While History of Magic at Hogwarts was mostly biased towards British History, it did have more than enough leads to other magical communities around the world, each with fascinating takes on magic.
Over the years, Alexander had pieced together a very clear view on the actual Wizarding World, not the biased opinion the British magicals had of it. And what he found was disappointing.
The most forward-thinking country in the magical world was France, considering how relaxed its creature laws were toward Veela, who maintained a significant presence there. However, that was before you dug deeper to find how they forcefully evicted werewolves from their territories, often by use of illegal Portkeys, to dump them in the wilds of North America.
Globally there seemed to be a contempt for muggles, reluctant acceptance to outright hatred for muggle-born and muggle-raised, and outright accepted superiority of pure-bloods. The only exception to the last were the magical nations of North America, but they seemed to be dealing with a constant rise in werewolf population and thus ignored on the global stage as isolationists. Imagine that.
Because of this extensive study, Alexander's History of Magic breezed by quickly, although he was sure some of his correct answers would be marked wrong considering they were not parroting the British propaganda Wizarding Britain was shoving down their student's throats.
As he sat there patiently, waiting for the exam to be over, Alexander allowed his gaze to wander the Great Hall. A few students had fallen asleep, their exams stuck to their faces by drool and ink. A few more had given up entirely and were gazing around bored or doodling on their exams. Alexander could also see Hermione Granger a few rows ahead, frantically scribbling on her test. He privately wished whatever examiner who had to grade that one good luck, as even he had heard of her legendarily lengthy homework essays.
A nodding head a few seats past Granger alerted Alexander of another student about to fall asleep. The chaotic black mess told him it was Potter, and Alexander watched in amusement as his nodding head oscillated wildly before slamming forward with a thunk, waking the Gryffindor as well as startling everyone in the room.
One of the examiners rushed forward. "Are you alright, Mr. Potter?"
The Gryffindor grunted something back and held a hand to his forehead. The examiner nodded and said, "Well, if you're sure, Mr. Potter. Off you go."
Alexander watched, incredulous that Potter didn't care to finish his exam as well as impressed at the daring it took to walk out of it early. The Gryffindor hurried past him, holding his hand to his forehead, covering his infamous scar. Alexander was mildly surprised that drops of blood oozed past his finger. Did Potter hit his head that hard to make it bleed?
The door shut behind him, and the latest distraction was gone. The sound of quill's scratching parchment filled the air, and Alexander looked around the room, bored out of his mind. He couldn't even look up at the enchanted ceiling and watch clouds pass as someone had disabled the enchantment for the duration of the test.
Eventually, Alexander's eyes rested on the examiners and how relaxed they looked. Putting both his hands on his desk, on either side of his exam, Alexander stilled, focusing his gaze on the nearest window. But his magic was not, as he commanded it to make their hair dance. The result was not what Alexander had expected.
The hair on top of the examiner's head moved, but so did the rest of the hair on their bodies. The exam was briefly paused as every single student looked on in surprise as the O.W.L. examiners moved around wildly. And only Alexander knew the reason why. Disgusted, he cut off the magic immediately, and much to the disappointment of the students, the spectacle was over.
As the adults tried to restore order, a soft giggle behind him made Alexander turn. Daphne Greengrass sat two rows behind him and one seat to his right, and his heart stuttered painfully when he realized she was looking directly at him. He gave her a pain-filled smile and turned away.
The exam finished, and Alexander followed the other students outside in a crowd, the pressing bodies for once not painful as he too desired the freedom fresh air provided. He had barely exited the castle when a soft hand grabbed his, and the smell of lavenders filled his nose. Despite how much it hurt, he felt his body relax at the presence of the one person at Hogwarts who he cared to be around.
"Could we talk?" Daphne Greengrass asked.
Alexander knew he should have said no, that his mind was already listing all of the reasons that this was a horrible idea. But Alexander chose not to listen to it, chose not to obey its cold logic. Instead, he allowed his wounded heart, raw and broken, to speak for him.
"Always."
Magic Break Can't Be Seen
They were sitting near the Whomping Willow, which seemed to be aggressively eyeing a boulder near its roots. How a tree with no eyes or sensory organs of any kind could see, Alexander had no idea, but that's what feeling the tree gave him. This part of the grounds was empty, as most of the students were near the lake, enjoying the cold waters.
Alexander was already regretting his answer to Daphne's question, her blinding smile making his heart ache in such a painful way that he wanted to run away from his her, his feelings, everything. But while he was no Gryffindor, he had plenty of bravery, so he walked beside her to this private spot.
"I hope you've been well," he said softly, knowing he needed to say something. "Have you been practicing your wandless magic?"
She smiled. "Yes, although I've missed our lessons."
"The lessons or how we relaxed afterward?" It slipped out before Alexander could stop himself, and in less time than it took to blink he regretted saying it
But Daphne only smiled at him. "Yes," she replied. Alexander felt a warm feeling burn through him.
Silence fell between them, and Alexander found his gaze drawn to the Whomping Willow as it began to slam its branches into the boulder. The earth shook slightly with each thud, and Alexander wondered why anyone would want such a violent tree in a school for children.
"Alex, we need to talk," Daphne said. Oh, how he loved hearing her say his name. It brought warmth and comfort to his ears and his heart. He could listen to her talk for ages and never grow bored of her voice.
But she made a statement, and one he knew he could not avoid. "We do," he agreed. But he didn't know how to start.
Fortunately, Daphne did. "I didn't want us to break up," she stated firmly.
Alexander sighed explosively and opened his mouth to reply, but Daphne kept speaking. "I know that I should have sent you a letter on Christmas, but I wasn't thinking straight! My father was blocking my mail and didn't tell me, and I just assumed that you and I would catch up at Hogwarts once the holidays were over! I'm sorry!"
Daphne began to get emotional, tears filling her eyes, as she frantically tried to explain. Alexander wasn't going to let her shoulder all of the blame and knew he had to speak now.
"I am sorry as well," he said. Daphne blinked at him in confusion. "I was angry with your father, not you, and I took it out on you. And that's unforgivable."
"Alex, I don't blame you!" Daphne protested.
"But I blame myself. You have never given me a reason to doubt you, but I did, and that is inexcusable. So, I am sorry that I threw our relationship away so callously." Alexander looked down as shame burned his cheeks. Daphne's arms wrapped around him a moment later as she buried her face into his shoulder.
"I could never hold that against you. You were hurt, you thought I didn't want you and had my father write to you to chase you away. I'm surprised you didn't curse me, to be honest," Daphne said.
Alexander wrapped his arms around her tightly, relishing in the sensation, and how right it felt. "I could never."
The stood like that, holding one another and just basking in the glory of it while the Whomping Willow pounded into the boulder. With a loud crack, it split, startling the two students apart.
"I suppose this is what happens when you don't communicate with your partner," Alexander said. "You break under pressure."
Daphne nodded. "Honest communication. No lies, no secrets between us."
Alexander grimaced. "Do secrets that break everything we know about magic count?" Daphne turned to face him with horrified eyes, causing him to sigh. "So yeah, are you familiar with the Philosopher's Stone?"
Magic Break Can't Be Seen
The year ended. Umbridge had somehow been forced out of the castle by Potter and his friends, who had then flown off to the Ministry of Magic on Threstals of all things. But Alexander didn't even pretend to care about the excited gossip around the school as he was focused on much more important things.
He and Daphne were talking once more. His revelations about the Philosopher's Stone and how runic languages, and magic in general, were created stunned her into silence for an hour. When Daphne finally snapped out of it, she warned him never to tell anyone else these things as it would only bring misfortune upon them both. She was relieved when he easily agreed, not that it was difficult for him to do so.
Alexander trusted Daphne. There was no one else in the entire world that knew and understood him the way she did. He was a little wary of her sister, Astoria, or best friend, Tracey Davis, knowing, but Daphne agreed to keep his secrets silent as well. She admitted that knowledge of such things would only make them targets, and she had no wish for her sister and best friend to be endangered in that manner.
Their brief reunion was timely as Daphne revealed a spell that her mother had used when she was in Hogwarts. It linked two mirrors, allowing two people to talk to one another no matter the distance. It took some doing, but Alexander and Daphne worked out a way to apply it to the stone tablets.
Alexander's Christmas gift to Daphne was a copy of his tablet. He found that it was impossible to copy memories in a Pensieve; their nature was far too fragile to permit that. Instead, he had found a new use for an old spell. Utilizing the same spell that once allowed him to read his non-magical books in London from Hogwarts, Alexander found he could use the same spell to read the memories on a tablet that had no books added.
Since the new tablets were not pulling the memory to them, merely reading it remotely, multiple tablets could read the same book without issue, or at least six could as that's how many Alexander tested. While Alexander kept the Pensieve tablet in a safe place, the new tablets didn't have the memory function, as he deemed it unnecessary. Still, it was an incredible Magical Artifact and one that Daphne had put to great use for studying for her classes.
With the new spell that Daphne provided, the tablets could now double as communication devices, allowing them to talk and see each other whenever they wanted. When Alexander pressed for the history of the spell, Daphne admitted with a blush that her mother had learned it from Sirius Black and that the pair had an odd relationship while they were at Hogwarts. Understanding Daphne's desire to drop the subject of her mother's teenage dating years, Alexander did so, instead focusing on upgrading their tablets with the new spells.
Which was why, as Alexander watched the Hogwarts Express pull away with Daphne on it, he felt no loss. There was nothing for him to return to in London, no family to greet him as he got off the train. Instead, Alexander turned and began to walk away from Hogsmeade, entering the Forbidden Forest.
All Alexander had was his mind, his magic, and his tablet. He was going to roam Great Britain, exploring it, and surviving off the land. He wondered if he could do it.
He looked forward to finding out.
Magic Break Can't Be Seen
AN: End of Year Six.
I hope you're all enjoying the story!