"Corvus Gaunt, must you always be so difficult? This is the fifth fight you've gotten into this month, and the 12th you've gotten into since summer started. Would you mind telling me why you fought them this time?

I shook my head as dirt fell out of my hair, and wiped away at the corner of my mouth, leaving a bloody red splotch on my dirty white shirt.

"It's their fault, really. They cornered me outside at the park, and insulted me because I apparently have no friends. After that, it's really just about proving the point that I'm not going to let them push me around. Honestly, they're lucky they got off with only a few bruises." I told the headmistress.

"They didn't," she said, pushing her glasses up her nose. "One of them had a broken nose, and another had a broken arm. It seems only the third got off with 'only a few bruises'."

I shrugged off her complaints, and began sculpting my hair to how it normally is - a faux hawk with my sides trimmed down to a stubble.

"And now, to add insult to injury, you're fixing your hair whilst I'm talking to you. Honestly, I don't even know why I try." she said, standing up. "I don't care if you felt your fight was justified, we're going to the other kids' houses so you can apologize, and you're going to mean it!"

I turned back to her, and smiled. "If you say so, Ms. Sarah. Oh, and I'm going to need some more books. I've already read the ones you got me last week."

She looked at me incredulously as I endeavored to roll up my sleeves to look less disheveled than I really am, currently.

"How have you possibly read all of them? I gave you a whole stack of the most boring books I could find, and believe me, that was no easy feat."

"No, no. I found it all fascinating. Especially that one on Arthurian legend. A mythical kind using a legendary weapon to find the Holy Grail, and an ancient, but powerful wizard who supposedly moved Stonehenge from Ireland to England?" I said, composing myself as if I was a wizard myself before letting my arms fall back down to my sides. "If you wanted to bore me, you should have given me a book on poetry or something. I wouldn't suggest it, though."

"And why's that?" she asked.

"Books are the only thing that keep me in here. Well, that and Nagi. If I'm out there, who's to say that I won't get into more fights?"

She let out a deep sigh as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "I hate to break it to you, Corvus, but you've exhausted your monthly book budget. You'll have to wait until next month to get more."

I couldn't help but grow a frown on my face from both the revelations that I'd have to reread my old books (which I hated), for one, and for two, that I have a monthly book budget which I had apparently exhausted.

"What do you mean 'I've exhausted my book budget'? What am I supposed to do now? I asked, to which she chuckled, but not from amusement. More like from when you're so impossibly upset that you feel like that's your only escape from the cruel reality that is life.

"Go to the library, or borrow a book from one of your so-called 'friends'."

My left eye twitched just once as I thought about walking fifteen blocks to the nearest library in the middle of London. "But the nearest library is fifteen blocks away, and I don't think Nagi does any reading in her free time."

"Nagi is your only friend?"

"No." I said, crossing my arms. "You are, too, Ms. Sarah. After all, you've left out a monthly book budget just for me."

I gave her the most charming smile I could muster, to which she smiled, and then reclined on her chair.

"I appreciate you calling me your friend, Corvus, but there are other kids at this orphanage. Other kids with other needs, you have to understand that."

My charming smile faded as it transformed into another frown. I collapsed into the chair next to me, and let the back of my head hit the chair behind me. Ms. Sarah looked at me, and clicked her tongue before getting out of her chair and walking up to me. She wrapped her arms around me, and held me close to her heart as she began caressing my head.

"I know it's tough, Corvus, but we have to make sacrifices. People like you and me know that more than most, but look on the bright side - you're going to turn eleven, soon, and maybe I'll have a present for you on your birthday."

"Forgive me if that doesn't relieve me, Ms. Sarah, but all that means is that I'm one day closer to going back to school in September when I relive the cycle of going to classes where I'm smarter than everyone else, somebody approaches me outside of class calling me a know-it-all so I beat them up after school, the day ends, and then the next day it's the same thing all over again, and that goes on for seven whole months." I said, groaning.

"Then maybe change things up this year. Don't draw as much attention to yourself, and try to make friends this year."

I gently shrugged Ms. Sarah's arms off of my shoulders, and stood up.

"It's not that easy for people like me, Ms. Sarah." I muttered. "And sometimes, it feels like there's nobody alive who feels the way I do. Who thinks the same way I do."

I began walking to the door, and turned the handle. The door pulled back with a creak, and I took one final look at the headmistress at the 7th Street Orphanage. Her gentle locks of brown hair that fell to her shoulders, the tucked-in button-up shirt with a tan vest. The way she wears men's pants that are slightly too big for her because she's too altruistic to get anything for herself. It crushes me to say things like this to Ms. Sarah, but she needs to hear it from me.

"Nobody is ever going to feel and think the same way I do, because there's nobody alive who is like me. Those were the cards that I've been dealt, and the sooner you accept the reality of my life, the better."

I shut the door, and made my way to my room, where I briskly shut my door, and turned the lock before laying down in my bed with my snake curled up on my stomach. I waited for hours in my bed - just staring at my ceiling, counting the number of splotches and stains left there by previous orphans. After a while, the light stopped peeking in through the gaps in my drawn curtains, and the creaking in the house stopped as curfew was enacted, and the other orphans went to bed. I stealthily crawled out of my bed, and wrapped Nagi around my neck. I began tiptoeing over to my window, and I slowly lifted the glass.

Ms. Sarah never realized this, but she had given me this room, she gave me the perfect environment for sneaking out. A metal stairway rose to the top of the building, and my window was placed in the middle of it.

My leg stretched to the other side of the wall, and after I crawled out, I pushed the window back down. I walked up the metal stairs, and approached the edge before sitting down, and staring out at the city of London. I reckon I should consider myself lucky - I've never had to deal with the noise and racket of the city since we live in the suburbs of the city, so this… it's peaceful.

"I wonder, Nagi… will anything change when I get older? Maybe… maybe my parents are still alive. Maybe something happened to them, and they had to give me up. I can't believe that they would just leave me here… I refuse to believe it."

"Perhapsss… maybe they did leave you here for a reassson, or maybe they left you becaussse they didn't want you, but you are here now. You should deal with the cardsss you've been dealt, even if you don't like them."

I looked at Nagi, and frowned, although my hand was drawn to her chin. My finger began to scratch at it, and she nuzzled a little closer. This - this is probably one of my biggest secrets. I can talk to snakes, not just Nagi. I can still remember when I told Ms. Sarah that I could - she immediately took me to a doctor for a mental examination. After that, I knew better than to trust her with my secrets.

"I'm okay with being an outsider, Nagi. I just wish I knew even one person who could truly understand me." I said, looking at Nagi. Her tongue flicked out at the air, and I could have sworn that her brows had furrowed slightly out of frustration. "Er, other than you, of course."

"I once felt like you, child." I looked behind me, and saw a well dressed man with a bald head, and a right eye with a white iris. "I felt as if the world was against me, until I found him. We were… brothers, yes, brothers. We were drawn to each other's intelligence, and eventually, our bond was stronger than blood."

The man approached me with his hands in his pocket, and then sat down next to me, dangling his legs out from the edge, just like I was.

"When we eventually left to follow different paths, it wounded me, but we each went on to do a great many things."

I paused before asking "I'm sorry, but who are you?"

He chuckled as he stared up at the sky. "Who are we all? What makes us, us?" I followed his gaze up to the stars, and then brought it back to his as he stared into my eyes. "As for me? I am simply a man trying to give you everything I was denied. You can call me Gellert."

I couldn't help but trust the man, even as he gave me a small toothless smile. He… he seemed wise beyond his years, even as kooky as he appears to be. I held out a hand, and returned that smile.

"My name's Corvus. Corvus Gaunt?"

He took up my hand, and began to shake it before mouthing 'I know.'

"Someone who can talk so easily to snakes, as if the snakes speak in their native tongue - only one family I know of is capable of such a feat - the House of Gaunt."

"The House of Gaunt?" I asked.

He let go of my hand, and waved his hand in the empty space in front of us. Seemingly out of nowhere, bright green lines appeared - first creating a kite shield-like shape, and then four more lines appeared, crossing over each other nearly a dozen times until the edges met each other, and created two snake heads staring away from each other.

"This is your family crest. The insignia of your family's status. Your family was once great and powerful, but now has shrunk until now only you remain."

"How did you do that?" I asked, but he only grinned.

"You can talk to snakes, but creating lines out of thin air is out of question? I'm sure you've done things you can't explain. Something thats basis can't be discovered using mere science."

"Maybe, but I can't do that!" I gestured to the lines which had gradually started to fade

"Eventually, you will. Sooner than you think, too." he explained. "Your world is about to change completely - it's up to you as to how you respond to the change."

I slowly shook my head in doubt, and stared back up at the sky. I heard a dull *Thwip!*, and when I turned back to Gellert, I found only a small journal with three shapes all centered on the leathery cover. A triangle with a circle centered into it, barely touching the edges, and a vertical line connecting each half of the circle, almost like it's indicating the diameter.

My hands cautiously reached out for the book, and as I picked it up, Nagi's tongue flicked out, and touched the cover.

She didn't give any indication that it was dangerous, and merely slithered into my lap. I flipped the cover, and looked at the front page where a note had been written in some of the neatest handwriting I've ever witnessed.

"To Corvus Gaunt - the Last Son of Gaunt

When I heard of your existence, I could scarcely believe it. You've shared your name with some of the most powerful wizards in written history, including one of the four founders of Hogwarts - Salazar Slytherin. I meant what I said - I want everything for you what I never got, and I believe this journal can help you. It contains just a fraction of my knowledge.

If you thirst for more, come find me in Austria.

Sincerely, Gellert."

I flipped through the pages, grazing over the lines of what looked to be spells, incantations, even various experiments of questionable ethics. One thing was for certain, though, the secrets written in this journal are fascinating. My hands flipped back to the first page, and I began memorizing the contents immediately. Little did I know just how much this small journal would affect my life, and Gellert along with it.

Eventually, hours of reading became days, and then a week. And then, my birthday came, but I hardly got the present I thought I would.

"Erm, Corvus, there's an older gentleman here to see you. He says he wants to talk to you about your prospective future." Ms. Sarah said. I immediately smiled, and mouthed 'thank you', as I began running towards the direction of my room. I burst through the door, expecting Gellert, but he was hardly the 'older gentleman' I expected.

He wore a nice suit, along with a scarf that reached down nearly to his hips. His hair was long, and white, and his beard was just the same. The man smiled at me with warm eyes, but I don't think it was from pleasure. More like… he was trying to get a read on me.

"Hello, Corvus." he said. The old man was sitting on a chair that had a good view of the outside, but his attention was solely drawn to me.

I tried to get anything out of the mysterious man as I stared into his eyes, but nothing could be extracted. Whoever this man is, he's good at keeping his secrets. Very good.

"Are you some kind of doctor?" I asked.

He shook his head 'no', stating "I am a headmaster. A headmaster for a very prestigious school, if I do say so myself." The two of us blankly stared at each other, and I could tell he was observing me just as much as I was observing him. "If you don't mind me asking, why would you think I am a doctor?"

"I'm different. Very different when compared to the other kids. Thought maybe you heard about me from some other kid. Maybe a parent. Thought that you'd want to test me in person for some psychiatric essay or theory."

"So you think you are mad?" he asked.

"No." I responded. "I think that you think I'm mad."

"Hogwarts doesn't accept mad people. Hogwarts is a school. A school of magic." The two of us stared at each other before the man asked me a question. "You can do things, can't you Corvus? Things that other children can't?"

I scoffed. "What do you want me to say? That I can look at a person, and know what they're thinking of without them saying anything? Or that sometimes I can lift things without even touching them? Cut the small talk - who are you?"

He looked at me with the slightest bit of hesitation, and then said "I'm like you, Corvus… I'm different."

"Prove it,"

My dresser caught on fire, as if it was an illusion, but it wasn't one. I could feel the heat radiating off of it, even from where I'm standing across the room.

"I think there's something trying to get out of your dresser, Corvus."

I walked over the dresser, and pulled the top drawer. In place of where my folded clothes would be stood a sole sealed letter. Ignoring the potential danger of the still-burning dresser, I grabbed the letter, and brought it to my face, observing the seal. It looked like a shield sectionalized into four parts, each containing its own animal. A lion, a badger, a raven, and finally, a snake.

I looked at him in confusion, to which he said "Open it."

The flames on the dresser died down, and then disappeared as if they had never been there in the first place, which I thought was odd, but my curiosity further lied in the letter, which I promptly opened, and began to read.

"Dear Mr. Corvus Gaunt

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Students will be required to report to the Chamber of Reception upon arrival. Please find an enclosed list of all necessary book sand equipment. Term begins on September 1st. We await your owl by no later than the 31st of July.

Your sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress"

I pinched the letter slightly, and felt an additional page slide out from behind it.

"That page will inform you of the required materials for your first year. I will make sure another member of the faculty ensures you will find everything you need without difficulty."

"And what currency am I to buy it with? I live in an orphanage." I said to him. "I'm not exactly drowning in money, and the orphanage certainly can't afford to send me to a boarding school."

"I do believe your mother has laid out quite a bit of money for you. Enough to get everything you'd ever want, and more," he said, getting up.

"Tell me more about my mother." I said. "Where is she? Is she even still alive?

He began walking out the door as he said "Another time. When you are old enough," He stopped right as he got out of the doorway, and said "I shall be eagerly waiting for you to be sorted on your first day of school."

And he left. I went to follow him into the hallway, but he disappeared as if he was never there. Much like… much like Gellert.

"Well? How did your meeting go?"

I turned around, and saw Ms. Sarah excitedly bouncing from behind me.

I smiled widely, and turned my head playfully. "Are you so eager to see me leave?" She frowned as I teased her, but stopped when I held out my letter to her. "We have a lot to talk about, Ms. Sarah, desperately."

Hello, Guys! This is my first fanfic, so I hope it really isn't too bad. I'm always hoping to improve, so tell me what you think of my fanfic as we go on. I plan to do some polls when it comes to certain decision (you'll see when they come), so be on the lookout for those. One last thing before I go, I sometimes get lost in the writing, so there will often be an influx of detail at certain parts, and so if you don't like detail heavy writing, this may not be the fanfic for you. Hope to see you next chapter - CStrain

(Two more Notes: 1. I do not own, nor claim to own the Harry Potter IP. Those belong to our fantastical overlord J.K. Rowling, and 2. Corvus is an original character. His only relation to Harry is the same as Voldemort's.)