DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANY OF THE HARRY POTTER BOOKS, PLACES, CHARACTERS, OR ANYTHING TO DO WITH HARRY EXCEPT FOR A COUPLE OF MADE UP CHARACTERS; HENRY SHAYDE, ANNE SHAYDE, ALYSSA SHAYDE, AND THE AIDEN DEJAN SHAYDE, THOUGH I DON'T OWN THE CHARACTER. I ALSO OWN MR. TILBET, WHOSE NAME I LAWFULLY HATE.
A/N: I don't much like Aiden/Harry's summers and I'm looking forward to getting Aiden to start school soon, which is way halfway through this chapter, there's going to be a two year skip. The first half is only a few weeks after Aiden learns that he has to take private school lessons at home and that he will have a sister (sorry to those who were expecting more.) He has already started the adoption process.
A/N2: You'll notice this part isn't centered around Harry. It's in more of Alyssa's point of view, starting at an airport.
Once more, these are Dedicated To;
Sierra Sierra, who without her competition for reviews, I wouldn't be writing this well today.
and
Tom, who without his ignorance, I would never have buried myself in this story in the first place
Chapter Five: Meets and a Letter
"Honestly," Alyssa raised her eyebrow as her best friend gazed around with an angry look. "You're parents are never late. It's not like them. You don't think they've forgotten us, do you? They seemed occupied on that phone conversation last week."
"Patience, Tammy." Alyssa herself was quite worried about her parents. They were never late, just as Tammy had said and in that conversation they really had sounded occupied...and undeniably happy. Alyssa remembered that when she asked what was was going on, she got a 'you'll see'. "It's one time. They probably just got lost in the airport somewhere, you know them. I had to find them when they got lost at an amusement park that one time...and I was six!"
"I remember. You were mad at them because they made you leave right afterward. You wouldn't speak to them for days!" Alyssa chuckled at the memory. She knew she had made a big deal over nothing an no one ever let her forget it. "Hey, wait...is that them."
Alyssa craned her neck so she could see over the crowd. Luckily she was tall for her age and could see over some of the people. "Yeah, I think it is...HEY MUM! DAD!" Tammy winced and covered her ears, blushing as people turned to stare at them. Tanny promptly turned around and pretended not to be with the screaming girl. "Come on, Tammy." Alyssa grabbed her by the arm and hauled her over to where her parents were trying to push their way through the crowd. "Geez," Tammy heard her mumble, "could they have gotten a plane to arrive at a busier time?"
Finally, the two girl broke away from the crowd. Tammy watched as her friend ran straight into a boy next to her parents and knock him over. "Oh!" Tammy heard Anne say, "Alyssa? Aiden? Are you okay?" Alyssa seemed to bounce right back up, but Tammy couldn't help but notice how the boy scowled.
"You're Alyssa?" He said, in an odd tone.
"Yeah," Tammy watched her friend say back in a snappy tine. "Who are you suppose to be?"
"I'm Aiden."
"That tells me a lot."
"Alyssa!" Alyssa jumped at her fathers angry voice. "What's gotten into you?"
"What do you mean, dad?"
"He means," The boy said softly, his eyes duller than before, "that he didn't expect you to act this way towards me. I'm used to it though, so you needn't worry. No one very likes me very much. I didn't think you'd be any different."
"Aiden!" Alyssa flinched as both her parents yelled at the strange boy at the same time. Before either of them could continue, however, he started to walk away, shoes rubbing against the tiles. "Alyssa, can you please go after him? Right now, you'll be the only one he listens to. He's trying to fit in, but he's not doing so well."
"What about Tammy? I can't abandon her in order to go find that odd boy!"
"Tammy can stay here with us." Henry said calmly. "Just try to make up with him. He's not used to other people, just try to remember that."
"Whatever." Alyssa stalked after the, already angry at him. Who was he anyway? And what was he doing with her parents. She followed the boy through the airport, which was beginning to empty out enough that she could always keep him in sight. She waited until he was in a relatively private spot then cornered him.
"What are you doing, running off like that. You nearly gave mum a heart attack!" The boy didn't seemed to process her words, so she continued. "What are you, a zombie? You don't look like you could add two plus two."
"Go ahead and say it."
"Say what?"
"What you want to say. I know you're thinking it. I can see it in your face. I'm an idiot, a freak, who knows nothing. I've been told that all my life, so one little girls words can't hurt me all that much, can they?" The boy looked like he was fighting back tears.
Alyssa sighed and helped the boy steady himself. "Your name's Aiden, right? I'm Alyssa." She held out her hand. "We're going to start over right now, okay? I'm not all that good at talking to strangers and I was just startled when I ran into you. I'm sorry."
He shook her hand, but she couldn't help but notice how thin his fingers were. It puzzled her. Who was this mysterious boy? "I've known your name for awhile now. It kind of scared me that they hadn't told me about you yet."
"So I should know about you then?"
"Yeah," he scoffed, "You're parents are adopting me after all."
Alyssa's eyes widen and she looked like she was struggling to form words. She finally seemed to give up and stalked back the way she came, giving the distant figures of her parent murderous glares. Aiden walked by her, feeling small next to her obvious rage. "Mooommmm!" Aiden winced. She sounded very, very mad. "Were you ever planning to tell me if I didn't come home for the summer?"
Anne and Henry gave her small smiles, unaware that she wasn't fooling around. "You were coming home today no matter what, so we just wanted to surprise you. We thought you'd be thrilled."
"Yeah? And did I have a say in this?"
"No."
Two Years later
Aiden stood in the middle of the room. It was seemingly empty, but he knew by now that looks could be deceiving. His brown eyes scanned the room for any flaw...or anything that would give him a hint that something was going to happen there. Unfortunately, it was all to calm. Aiden sighed, putting his search on auto-pilot. His teacher could make him wait hours, as he had done so before.
So much had happened in the last two years, most of it he couldn't tell his parents nor his sister, as the adoption had gone through and he now held the Shayde name. He had hated the times when he kept secrets from them, yet now it was he who had the secrets. He and his teacher.
Flashback
The first few weeks of his homeschooling, Mr. Tilbet had sat around teaching Aiden pointless things like math, reading, and improving his writing. He could really care less about the subjects. Then it all changed when one day Aiden was trying to do a bit of math and Mr. Tilbet stopped him with a glare. "Have Henry and Anne stopped questioning what we do during lessons yet, Shayde?"
He'd been confused. "Yeah. I told them we just do math and stuff. There's nothing special. It's just school...something I have to do."
"That's what you told them?" Aiden nodded, suspicious of his teacher. "That's good, but you're incorrect about one thing."
"What's that Mr. Tilbet?"
"First," He leaned back as if they were going to have a long talk. Aiden knew they just might. They had another hour before it was time for the teacher to leave. "my real name isn't Mr. Tilbet. I had to think of something that sound relatively muggle." The man leaned forward. "Is your real name Aiden?"
Aiden stayed silent, wondering how this man had learned his secret. "No."
"I took a big gamble by guessing you weren't just Aiden Dejan Shayde, like you said you were. I sensed something...something wasn't right. How many glamour spells have you cast on yourself?"
"What are glamour spells?"
"It was accidental magic, then."
"Magic?" Aiden laughed. "Magic isn't real. Magic is in fairy tales with the Happily Ever After endings. Magic is for elves, and dwarves. Magic is only in storybooks where everyone has the greatest lives they possibly could. Magic isn't real."
"That's what you think." the man laughed. "You're real name is Harry Potter, correct? Harry James Potter? If it is, then there's isn't a chance that you can deny it. Harry Potter, as unbelievable it is for someone who's grown up with muggles you are a wizard. And a mighty powerful on eat that if you managed to cast such strong glamour spells on accident."
"So what does that make you?"
"it makes me a wizard too. Though I'm only Mr. Tilbet to your parents, I'm known as Korry Xora, once a supposed Death Eater. Idiots at the Ministry of Magic couldn't tell the difference between me and my twin brother. I'm neutral."
"Death Eaters? Ministry of Magic? What's all that?"
"I'll teach you over the next couple of years. It's too confusing to tell you everything right now. You're needed in our world and I've taken it upon myself to teach you some of the basics before you go to Hogwarts, the wizarding school."
"I'm not going back to being stupid Harry Potter!"
"I never told you to," he said as if it were obvious. "It's common fact that Aiden Dejan Shayde's name is on the List of students going to Hogwarts at eleven. Simply put, Aiden will take the place of Harry in our world. Harry Potter will eventually cease to exist and they'll grateful that you ended up being a wizard."
"So, this is real? I'm a wizard who's going to go to a wizarding school when I'm eleven and eventually save the world from some destruction?" Aiden thought about all the things he could do with magic and smiled. "I'm in. When do we start?"
"Aiden, Aiden. You're much too impatient. I was getting to that yet. I'm going to continue to teach you some muggle stuff so you don't look too ignorant in front of the muggles, but the other six hours I'll teach you spells, charms, and whatever else I'll be able to within the course of the next two years or so. Since, you're not old enough to acquire I wand, it's best if I teach you wandless magic. It's nearly impossible for a full grown wizard to learn but someone as young as you can easily learn." He took out a stick and handed it to Aiden "Wandless magic is an ancient art, one that almost no one teaches their kids these days. It's highly dangerous if the magic gets out of control. Accidents happen, but nothings going wrong with you. You're stronger than most your age, so you should be able to deal with it. I'm dismissing you early today. Aiden, you must never tell anyone what you are, no matter what. Muggles are afraid of wizards, and I don't know how your parents would react."
"So this is a secret?"
"A major one, Aiden. I'm a wizard too and if you break your promise to me and tell any of them...even the girl...I'll have to go away and never tell you anything else again. Wizardry is strange to muggles, those with no magic that is, and they're afraid of it. If their ever to find out magic is real, the whole community is in mortal peril. Go now, Aiden, and tell no one. We'll meet again on Monday and I'll start on a basic stunning spell.."He chuckled. "Though I'm not sure whether it's a first years standard spell or not.
'Okay...what should I call you, though? You don't seem to like Mr. Tilbet very much."
"In front of your parents and sister call me Mr. Tilbet. In private I'm simply Korry."
"Sure, Korry. I'll be here on Monday." Aiden frowned before he left the room. "You won't call in sick will you? That's not very nice."
Korry laughed. "I promise you I won't call in sick if it kills me."
"Cool."
Aiden's eyes sharpened as there was a slight movement to his left. He whirled around on his heel and released the curse from his palm. "Stupefy" He muttered under his breath and the spell raced towards Korry who was ready for it. He knocked aside the weak spell with a laugh.
"I'd appreciate it if you would try not to stun me every time I walk in the room, Aiden." He frowned suddenly. "Is there something wrong today? The spell was weaker than usual. I'm used to you at least knocking me off my feet."
"It's nothing, Korry. I was just preoccupied. Today is my staged birthday. You know, since Alyssa and I are posing as twins and everything since we moved here. It makes everything a lot more easy to explain. I don't like being known as the adopted one and how was I suppose to explain why we were born within a two months of each others? It was easier that way."
"It'll put a lot less attention on you when you both go to Hogwarts then."
What do you mean both of us?"
"You picked an extraordinary family to join, Aiden. Alyssa is a muggleborn witch. I've noticed various signs from her while watching her. I think you should both get your letter later tonight."
"So..she's going to school with me? Won't she wonder where I learned all this magic. They'll suspect you."
"That, Aiden, is why you will hold back all the magic you already know and pretend to not know any of the spells. Relearn it all, as if it never was learned in the first place."
"But what about...you know...I've never went long without changing."
"Aiden, I don't know how you managed to find out your Animagus form, let alone achieve to change into it. You're just going to have to find a way to change every so ofter. The animal spirit in you will be more restless than usual, but you should e able to control it. Wolves are noble creatures, and you're a noble boy. You'll figure it out. Just don't worry about it much and nothing can go wrong."
"Korry there's something I never told you."
'What, Aiden?"
"I don't have one Animagus form. I have three."
"Three!" He shouted. "It's hard for most to achieve one form. There's been two in the entire wizard history that have ever had two forms and three is impossible. Are you sure you're not mistaken? There are certain things that may seem like you've changed?"
"Want me to show you?'
"Yes, I need to see this for myself."
Aiden sighed and let himself imagine the wold first. Sleek, black, a shadow. It could twist through shadows as if it were one itself. The eyes were an emerald green, a reminder of who he really was. Harry Potter. He'd long since named this form Shadow. While he was still a wolf, he imagine his second form, beautiful gold feathers. They were always in perfect condition. This was a creature he didn't know what it could be, so he named it. Myst, shortened from Mystery. "A Phoenix." Korry murmured thoughtfully. Aiden closed the Phoenix's eyes, which were also green. He changed into his last form, a white tiger, who once again had green eyes. It was his signature, the green eyes were. He'd named it Vivor. He never had been exactly sure why. Finally, he returned to his human form, looking to Korry for approval.
"That's was amazing! The skill it must have taken you to master each of those. You never even had to return to your human form at all. Have you named them? I've heard that makes the transaction much smoother."
"Yes. The wolf I named Shadow, but you already knew that. The, what did you call it again, the Phoenix? Yeah, well, I named him Myst. I figured out about him a couple of months ago. The white tiger I've only changed into twice after today. I've called him Vivor. It just popped into my head."
"Vivor is a curse, actually." Korry said. Aiden looked at him surprised. "The Nightmare curse. Vivor Timor."
"So I named my last form after a curse, a Nightmare curse at that. Well, that's going to look great."
"Aiden, this is going to be our last lesson for awhile. It's Friday and I have a guess that once Henry and Anne find out you're not behind they won't need me to teach you anymore. I might never see you again, but I want you to remember all I've taught you. Keep your mind shields up so Dumbledore doesn't know about anything about you being Harry and me teaching you. That's suicide. And whatever you do, made sure you keep the fake thoughts where he can always see them. I don't think you'll like trying to figure out how to stop Albus Dumbledore from questioning how an eleven year old 'muggleborn' can do more powerful Legimancy and Occlumency than him."
"I know, Korry. I'll never let you down."
"Then go on now. Class is over. And " He looked as though he were concentrating on something suddenly. "You might want to get that letter the owl is giving your sisiter right...now."
Aiden was gone faster than you Hogwarts.
The boy practically fell down the stairs, grinning from ear to ear. Henry smiled inwardly. He'd never told Anne the complete truth about the state the boy had been in when he'd found him. She'd only seen him two days after Henry had started helping the boy to heal. He could still remember the boys grey colored skin, how light was was when Henry had carried him back to the house. He knew that he was lucky to have found the boy when he did. At that time, the boy was slowly dying. Henry had felt pity on the poor little boy right away, and never noticed how much the boy had wormed his way into Henry's heart. He was proud to have Aiden as his son. "Has anyone gone to get the mail yet?" He inquired and Henry looked up suspiciously.
"Why do you want to know? Are you volunteering? If you are then there must be something going on..." Henry didn't get any farther because a pot smashed into the side of his head. 'What the-"
"Shh, Henry. You were teasing the boy. You deserved a good wallop upside the head. And I've been wanting to try that for a while anyway. What does your head feel like? Lightheaded? Do you feel like you're going to pass out-?"
"Anne, I'm not one of your patients. I'm glad too. Do you do that to some of them on a regular basis? I thought some of them looked like they'd lost their brains. Well, at least now we know how. Is this why you almost got fired that one time, because I understand their motives now-"
"Henry..." She warned, doing a little windup with the pan. "What were you saying?"
"Nothing dear. Nothing at all."
"Good." She put the pan down, well out of reach of Henry, then sat down herself. "I sent Alyssa out a minute or so ago. She should be back soon enough." She reached and took Aiden's hand. "Aiden? I was curious what you and Mr. Tilbet did today. You haven't told us in months it seems and I'm still concerned about your education. You were so far behind."
"Don't worry, mum."
"Hey, mum!" Alyssa voice was shrill, overexcited. Aiden felt a surge of excitement himself, but controled it and leapt up along with Henry and Anne, trying his hardest to look concerned. "Dad, Aiden, you've go to see this! It's really weird!"
"What is is, Alyssa?" Henry stopped to process the rom in front of him with a little displeasure. His daughter was standing stock still in the entrance to the doorway, holding two letters in her hands. The rest of the mail was scattered on the floor at her feet, forgotten.
"Dad, look at these letters." He took them and looked doubtfully at the address. He shrugged. "I can't read them. They're your mail, whether they look silly or not. Here, Aiden you've got one too."
Aiden took one quick glance at the address and even he couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable. Even though Korry had warned him about this, it was slightly unnerving that they knew where you slept right down to the room in the house. Deciding not to dwell too long on the cover, he ripped it over and read the first sheet of paper.
HOGWARTS SCHOOL
of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore
(Order of Merlin, First Class,Grand Sorc., Chf Warlock,
Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. Of Wizards)
Dear Mr. Shayde,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted
at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find an enclosed
list of all necessary books and equipment.
Term begins on September 1st. We await your owl by no later
than July 31st.
Yours Sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress
Aiden looked over at his parents and his sister who looked truly shocked. "Hey," he tried to sound like he was unsure of himself too, but it was nearly impossible. He felt lucky that they didn't notice. "There's another sheet behind that one." They immediately took out the other sheet and Aiden settled with reading his own, even though the look on Anne, Henry, and Alyssa's faces nearly made him laugh out loud.
HOGWARTS SCHOOL
of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY
Uniform
First year students will require:
1.Three sets of plain work robes (black)
2.One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear
3.One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)
4.One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)
Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags
Course Books
All students should have a copy of the following:
The Standard Book of Spells (Grade One)
By: Miranda Goshawk
A History of Magic
By: Bathilda Bagshot
Magical Theory
By:Adalbert Waffling
A Beginners Guide to Transfiguration
By: Emeric Switch
One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi
By: Phyllida Spore
Magical Drafts and Potions
By; Arsenius Jigger
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
By; Newt Scamander
The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection
By: Quentin Trimble
Other Equipment
1 wand
1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)
1 set glass or crystal phials
1 telescope
1 set brass scales
Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad
PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS
ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS
"It's a rather well planned out joke." Anne sniffed. She couldn't stand pranksters, "It must have taken a long time for them to plan out such a useless prank. It's really a shame that all this work has to go to waste. I wonder why such a smart person is sending out pranks rather than putting their brains to actual use."
"Mum?" Alyssa said. "I kind of forgot to tell you. Two owls gave these to me on my way back from getting the mail. I think we should at least try to find out if it's real or not. Why would someone go to the extreme of training two owls to deliver mail?"
Anne looked hesitant. "Fine. It says here the direction to a place called the Leaky Cauldron. We'll go there today, right now would be nice, actually, and see if this letter is true. If it isn't, you are going to be in major trouble for making me follow a prank that will end up making me look stupid."
"So, we're going now, right?" Aiden couldn't suppress his excitement anymore. "As in this very moment?"
Anne laughed, but sobered up as she realized it was pure joy. "Aiden, Alyssa, I want you both to know that this is probably a joke. There's no such thing as magic. I've been brought up knowing that. If this is a real school with real magic, then I'll allow you both to go. But I want you both to know that there's more of a chance that this is a cruel joke played by cruel people, okay? Not too much disappointment form either of you, you hear?"
They nodded eagerly and Henry shouted, "Okay, all of you...into the car on the double!"
Ten minutes later Henry, Anne, Aiden, and Alyssa were staring at a rather shabby looking pub. "Okay," Anne admitted. "There is a place called The Leaky Cauldron, I'll give you that. But it's a pub and my children will not be going in there. And anyway," She glanced around at everyone else who were walking by the building as if they weren't seeing it. "I go by this place daily and this place has never been here before. I'm sure of it."
"Anne," Henry sighed, "you told me yourself that you tend to ignore these types of places. Let's just take a quick look. It can't be that bad."
"Whatever." Anne hung back as both Aiden and Alyssa took the first steps into the pub and was instantly overwhelmed by what they saw. There were wizards and witches there...that he could be sure of. With the odd robes and the pointed hats, they couldn't be muggles. They were the first wizards he'd met other than Korry, and it was a nice change.
"Hello!' Aiden jumped as an old man, obviously the bartender, appeared in front of the small family, a smile pasted on his face. "I'm Tom. I own this old place. By the looks on your faces, I'm going to take guess you need help into Diagon Alley to get school supplies?" Aiden nodded eagerly and Tom chuckled. "Awful eager aren't you? You mind me asking your names?"
"I'm Alyssa." Alyssa finally spoke up. 'And this is my brother Aiden. We're twins." She added quickly, remembering the story they'd agreed on. "These are my mum and dad, Anne and Henry. They aren't witches or wizards though."
"Quite alright, quite alright." He muttered, "Follow me." He led the way to a door half concealed by several older wizards who were chatting about Quidditch. Aiden remembered the few times Korry had managed to get him out of the house to try out the wizard sport. He loved the feeling of flying.
Tom took out his wand and Aiden looked at it enviously. Slowly the old man tapped a couple of bricks and an archway appeared nearly instantly. Aiden watched Anne's face turn from disbelief to acceptance in those mere few seconds. "Welcome," Tom said, turning to the family, "to Diagon Alley."
Okay, this one was a long one for me and since I wrote this all at one time without stopping, I'm pretty tired right now. This is my longest by far and I'm amazingly curious how I managed to write 4655 words...Amazing!! Originally, I was planning to only put about 1000 words in each so I'm pretty happy. No ruining my happiness by flames! If I made a mistake, then simply message me and I'll fix it.