Authors Warning: Some of the chapters in this work contain violence, descriptions of graphic and mildly gory scenes, and heavy anti-muggle/non-pureblood sentiment.
My goal is to write a story that fits within the cannon of Harry Potter while exploring new territory in the Wizarding World.
Chapters 1-8 are fully edited by myself and I will continue to finish the rest asap. Looking for an Alpha/Beta editor to help with pacing, storyline, and grammar :)
This story centers around the events involving Draco Malfoy and Alyona Beckett that took place adjacent to the events of the original golden trio.
I plan on writing at least seven stories to go along with the original events of Harry Potter.
Please leave a review of comment if you have any. Your feedback is most appreciated, weather it's positive or negative. It all helps me create better content for you all.
Please enjoy the story, and thank you for reading :)
~Licorice Wands~
~September 1st, 1992~
King's Cross Station, platform nine and three quarters, and the Hogwarts express. These things for many, were nostalgic and iconic. For others, these locations may have been dreadful and stress inducing. No matter what particular feelings a person decided to associate with these places, it all had to do with the destination, Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
The platform was full of parents and students alike as the Beckett family made their way through the crowd.
Alyona Beckett, the family's youngest child and only daughter, held on to her mother's hand as they and the rest of the family navigated the busy station.
Alyona gazed ahead at the express with her pale blue eyes, admiring the train's glossy exterior. The mid-day sun shined down through the gaps in the stations old roofing, illuminating the bright red paint of the express as well as Alyona's light-tawny complexion while the crisp breeze that swept through the station gently tousled her long and wavy golden blonde hair.
The family all donned very clean, classic, and neat outfits in rich hues of deep scarlet and rosy pink as they tried to politely nudge their way to the front of the crowd so that Alyona could finally climb aboard.
Mister and Misses Beckett, being the statuesque, affluent couple that they were, looked down upon their little girl, both happiness and sadness in their eyes, not wanting to part ways with their darling daughter until the Christmas season.
After Alyona and her two school-age brother's had their luggage checked, misses Beckett became unable to set aside her concerns.
"You're sure you have everything? Three bags seems light for a whole school year. You're sure you brought enough clothes? You packed all of your uniforms? All of your books and supplies?" Misses Beckett asked as her pale skin became flush with unnecessary worry. While she could come off as a bit intimidating due to her stature and arrogant resting face, misses Beckett was every bit as beautiful and kind as anyone could ever hope to be.
Alyona sighed, rolling her eyes at her mother.
"Mum, I don't think we could have been more thorough. How many times did we open up everything and check, and double check, and triple check?"
Misses Beckett took a deep breath as she ran a hand over her raven hued tresses that were pulled tightly into a neat updo hairstyle.
"Alright alright. It's just that…I couldn't get by the first week after your brothers would get to school without receiving a letter from them asking for your father and I to send them something that left behind."
"Hey! That only happened once," Adonis, the eldest brother protested as he crossed his arms. His voice commanding in nature.
Misses Beckett chuckled, "Yes once with you, and at least three to four times with the rest of your brothers.
The other three Beckett brothers chortled at their mother's attempt to playfully embarrass them.
"Although I'd like to, I can't make any promises that it won't happen again this year. That goes for him too," Apollo joked as he attempted to discreetly point towards his younger brother, Alden.
Mister Beckett then stepped up to his daughter and kneeled down to her level.
"Now, remember what I told you. Keep your voice to a minimum. After last year's incident we can't afford to have any other mishaps. Is that clear, sweetheart?"
The Beckett patriarch's deep baritone was strong and serious, letting anyone who he spoke to know that he was not one to be crossed. His forest green eyes looked piercing against his deep and rich skin tone.
Alyona nodded her head delicately, "I understand."
Their daughter eventually noticed that she and her family seemed to be blocking the way of others trying to board, resulting a few visible faces from parents and students that weren't shy about showing their impatience.
"I need to get going and so does everyone else behind us. I love you both."
Alyona hugged her mother and father one last time, her tiny arms barely able to wrap around her father's strong and masculine frame.
"We love you too," Misses Beckett responded as both parents flashed sweet smiles at their daughter.
Alyona waved to her two oldest brothers, promptly picked up her rosy colored backpack, and headed inside the train to find an empty seat.
She wasn't sure where her other brothers had chosen to sit, but once she found an empty cabin, sweet relief befell her. She preferred to just look out the window and daydream instead of making small talk.
Once the four remaining members of the Beckett family found the window with their youngest member in it, they all waved as the express started slowly moving. Alyona waved back and maybe even shed a small tear at the thought of being away from her home for so long.
Eventually the platform came to an end, marking the start of a new beginning as the train had completely left the station and took off toward Hogwarts.
~ooOOOoo~
As the express sped through the English countryside, Alyona admired the beautiful, vibrant green landscape right outside her window. She stared at the beautiful rolling grassy hills and blue streams connected with one another, seeming to go on for eternity beyond the horizon.
The train cabin was rather roomy with green, quilted, cushiony benches on either side with matching back rests. Alyona was unsuccessful at finding her brothers once boarding the train, as they had slipped away from her view amidst the rest of the rushed students. Because of this, she was left in the large compartment all by herself.
Alyona was so zoned-out from looking outside at the picturesque scenery that she almost missed her chance at something from the trolly.
The most faint sound of a woman shouting, "Anything from the trolly!" had finally caught her attention and pulled her back to reality. Alyona grabbed her white leather wallet and headed down the hallway of the train at a rushed pace.
The sound of her kitten heels echoed down the hall of the passenger car as she quickly walked towards the cart full of treats. Once she had made it, the trolly witch turned to her and kindly asked what she would like.
"I think just two licorice wands, please,"
The trolly witch nodded and grabbed two wands for the girl.
"That'll be one galleon and two sickles, dear."
Alyona nodded, opening up her wallet only to be met with the bottom of it. She realized that her all of her money was in a plastic zip-lock bag in her backpack, courtesy of her father not remembering that she was old enough to carry a wallet.
"I'm sorry, I have to run back to my cabin to get my money's, is that okay? It'll just be a moment."
Just before the trolly witch could answer, a smooth voice interrupted.
"Here. Don't have her go all the way back to her compartment, I'll buy them for her".
Alyona looked behind her to see a tall and slender, white-blond haired boy reaching out with the money to pay for her items. His pale and pointed face was rather severe with menacing grey eyes.
"That's very kind of you," said the trolly witch with a heartfelt smile.
Alyona was taken aback at this act of kindness from a complete stranger.
"Oh wow, thank you. But, please let me pay you back at least. Maybe once we're off the train and I have my bag with me?" She pleaded while she was handed her sweets.
The tall boy looked surprised before letting out a prideful scoff.
"I don't need your money by any means, just take this as my good deed for the day."
Alyona smiled, kindly accepting his offer, "Thanks."
With her snacks in hand she started to head back to her designated cabin. All the while she could have sworn she felt his pale eyes watching her as she gracefully walked away from where he stood.
~ooOOOoo~
Some time later, while she was looking out of the window, trapped in another one of her daydreams, Alyona heard the door to her cabin open, slightly startling her.
Assuming it was one or both of her brothers finally find her her cabin to check up on her. She looked over to see the same boy from the trolly encounter earlier.
"Oh, hi." Her voice was timid as she reached for the bag of money in her backpack.
Please, take this as a thank you for earlier, what you did was so nice."
Alyona put forth her hand containing the sum for the purchase that he covered.
The boy politely and gently pushed her hand away from him with a smirk.
"It really was nothing, my cabin door was cracked open, I overheard the situation and decided to help."
"Well, thank you again," she said sweetly.
"So, might I ask what your name is?" The pale boy asked smoothly.
"Beckett, Alyona Beckett," she answered shyly as she tucked some of her long, wavy tresses behind her ear.
The boy displayed somewhat of a smitten expression on his pale, handsome face. While his grey eyes lit up at the sight of her beauty.
"Alyona? Wow, that's a pretty one. I've never met anyone with that name before. It means 'light' doesn't it? In Russian?
Alyona's eyes went wide, stunned to not only hear him pronounce her name correctly on the first try, but to also hear that he knew what it meant.
"Y-yes, that's right," the girl replied in a shocked tone.
The boy grinned, recognizing that he had already greatly impressed her with his knowledge.
"Ah, I see," his voice was smooth, "A pretty name for a pretty girl."
Alyona displayed a soft rosy blush around her cheeks in response to his kind words.
"You're really sweet. What's your name?"
The boy angled his head to almost look down at her in a haughty manner as he gave a proud grin.
"I'm Malfoy, Draco Malfoy. Draco is Latin for dragon, or serpent, whichever one you fancy more."
Alyona felt a bit starstruck. However, on the outside, she did her best to remain calm and collected. She couldn't help the way she was fixated on the fact that a Malfoy was sitting in the same cabin as her. She knew that surname, but then again so did everyone. Weather you knew them for good reasons or bad, to not know the Malfoy family name meant that you must have lived under a rock or deep within a cave your whole life.
"It's nice to meet you," she said,"I think I met your dad a couple weeks ago, at the ministry. My dad works there too."
Alyona's voice was soft, sweet and delicate, like the fragile petals of a blooming rose.
"Well, my father doesn't really work there. I'm not too sure what he does exactly, but he doesn't have to work. We're plenty wealthy as is."
That was an obvious fact.
"He did mention you though," Draco added.
"He did?" The girl asked, her tone sounding genuinely surprised.
"He did. He mentioned how pretty you were, I can see why."
Draco stared at her for a moment, taking in her lovely appearance.
"Your hair is really pretty — your eyes, as well," he added.
The sun beamed through the compartments window, drenching Alyona's golden tresses and blue irises with bright rays of light, further adding to her beautiful vibrancy.
"Oh, thank you," she said timidly.
"What are you doing sitting here all alone? You don't have any friends?" He pondered.
"Well, my brothers are on the train…somewhere, they boarded just before I did, but I lost them somehow. I just decided to take the opportunity to sit alone look out of the window and learn something, as my grandparents would say."
Draco chuckled at her statement, "That's pretty good advice, my father tells me all the time how I don't spend my time wisely no matter what I do, I think he just gets on an authority high sometimes."
Alyona wanted to keep up the light-hearted tone of the conversation, but she could tell that Draco's joyous demeanor had fallen slightly after he made that last statement.
For a brief moment the two stared at each other's light eyes until Draco finally broke the silence.
"So, this is your first year, I presume?"
Alyona nodded, "It is, how about you?"
"It'll be my second, I'm rather excited to go back, too. It's nice to get to be around my friends all year, life back home has always felt somewhat…isolated.
There was an obvious air of sadness in his answer. The obvious pride in his voice sunk, turning sorrowful.
"How so?" Alyona asked.
Draco looked as if he had snapped out of a saddened trace and quickly responded.
"I suppose it's not important."
"Well, I'd really like to be friends. Maybe you could show me around the school during our free time?" she said in an effort to cheer him up.
"I'd be honored," He replied with a smile, "By the way, I have some more sweets with me that I don't think I can finish, would you like any of these?"
Draco held out his hand to reveal some chocolate frogs and a bag of jellybeans. Before she could reply, he made her another offer.
"Or if you'd like, I can go get you something from the cart once it comes 'round again. I'd hate to see you starve on nothing but two licorice wands."
Alyona smiled, "You're sure you don't want any of these?"
"I'm very sure," he said as he brought over the spare snacks over to her side of the compartment.
"Thank you,"
While sitting closer to her now, he took a moment to glance over her outfit and the backpack that rested on the ground near her feet.
"All of this pink, it's a bit much, isn't it?"
Alyona wore a pink turtleneck jumper with a white pleated skirt. She had rosy pink frilly socks that went up to her knees that accented herwhite maryjane style shoes, topped off with a white headband that adorned her long locks. She had a small pink backpack and her white leather wallet on the seat next to her on the window side of the cabin.
"Well, pink is my favorite color," she said shyly, feeling embarrassed for something that was so normal to her. "The head to toe black is a bit much, isn't it?"
Draco chuckled at her playful attempt to mock his previous tone.
Draco was wearing an all black suit that fit him as if it was tailored to his exact proportions. Considering his family's financial status, it probably was.
"Black is classic, and always looks good," Draco stated in a simple tone, "But I suppose it won't matter since we'll be in robes all year anyway."
Alyona agreed, "Ya, I'm kind of grateful for the uniforms. No need to worry about what to wear on a daily basis."
He nodded, "I'll bet you'd look wonderful in all black~"
Alyona blushed once more, "Thank y—"
The blonde witch was interrupted by the sound of her compartment door sliding open once more.
Standing in the door was a well-dressed, dark-skinned boy. He was wearing a suit similar to Draco, very well tailored for sure, just not quite as posh looking as the one worn by the Malfoy heir.
"There you are…You said you just needed to use the toilet and you've been gone for ages, we thought you jumped off the train or something. Why are you in here?"
"Oh, I just got…a little sidetracked on the way back," Draco said in a sly tone of voice.
The boy standing in the doorway suddenly went from seeming confused and inconvenienced to pleased and intrigued in an instant.
"Ooo, who is she?".
Draco scoffed at the flirtatious tone his friend had switched to. Glaring daggers at the boy for daring to take in Alyona's good looks.
"This is Alyona Beckett, she's new this year and I just thought I'd be a bit of a welcoming party."
"How delightful," the boy said, his tone of voice suggesting that he was thoroughly interested in the girl sitting next to Malfoy. "Anyway, I came to ask if you plan on coming back to our cabin. We have a chess game to finish."
Draco raised his hand to grasp his sharp chin to ponder for a moment.
"Would you like to come sit with us?" Draco offered Alyona.
She smiled, yet shook her head.
"You go back and finish your match, I don't want to intrude."
"I suppose you'd probably distract me from winning," Draco smirked mischievously before turning back to the other boy, "And win, I shall."
Alyona watched Draco as he stood up and began to head out of her cabin. He turned around and gave her one more small smile.
"See you at school," he said before gently sliding the door of her cabin closed and heading down the hallway.
Alyona just sat there with butterflies in her stomach. A Malfoy had just been sitting and chatting with her.
As she returned to her daydreaming state, she had her encounter with Draco playing on repeat in her head. She closed her eyes and pictured his handsome face and the natural charm that he possessed. She was definitely already falling head over heels for the Malfoy heir.
~ooOOOoo~
It seemed that it wasn't much longer before they had arrived Hogsmeade station. After feeling the train come to a full stop, Alyona opened her eyes to see students outside her compartment shuffling past, hurriedly.
She gathered her things and began to head off the train, being one of the last students off after waking up from her unintentional nap. She stretched her limbs and waited for her feet to wake up from sitting for so long. Once she stepped through the doorway of her compartment she saw no signs of any exiting students.
Alyona had initially assumed that she had woken up right on time, but quickly realized that she had over slept after seeing how empty the station was.
She started walking towards the gate that began the path up towards the castle when she heard a whistle a few meters away. She turned to her right to see the same pair of steel-grey eyes that she recognized from on the train...
