Pain
Alice's fingers ached as she finished the last stack of newspapers, carefully aligning them with the others on the high shelf. Her eyes burned from the strain of sorting through countless pages, and the musty scent of old paper clung to her clothes. She had been at it for hours, tirelessly organizing the jumble of newspapers and books the librarian had pointed out earlier. The task had been overwhelming at first, but Alice threw herself into it with a determination that bordered on fanatical zeal. She needed those ten Galleons.
A distraught Alice had traced her footsteps back to the library after the failure of the blood test. One look at her face and the librarian had barked a nasty laugh as she realized that there was no inheritance. Out of money and having no food, Alice had asked if the librarian needed anything done around here. The librarian had led her to an old archive room and told her to sort everything in alphabetical order.
When she finally placed the last book in its rightful spot, a sense of grim satisfaction washed over her. She wiped her sweaty brow with the back of her hand and straightened up, trying to ignore the pang of hunger gnawing at her stomach. With a deep breath, she approached the librarian, who sat behind her desk, flipping through a large, dusty tome.
"I've finished," Alice said, her voice slightly hoarse from the dry air and exhaustion.
The librarian didn't look up. "Finished what?"
Alice blinked, a cold shiver running down her spine. "The books and newspapers you asked me to organize. I've put them all in alphabetical order."
The librarian's eyes finally lifted from her book, staring at Alice with a disinterested expression. "Do you have a contract?" she asked, her tone flat.
Alice's heart skipped a beat. "A contract?"
"Yes, a contract," the librarian repeated, her voice dripping with condescension. "You know, a written agreement? Something that says we were to pay you for work?"
Alice's hands balled into fists at her sides as anger and disbelief surged within her. "You told me you'd pay me ten Galleons for doing the work! I spent hours sorting through all that mess!"
The librarian's lips curled into a smirk, and she shrugged carelessly. "If it's not in writing, it didn't happen. You're lucky I even let you stay here at all. Now, keep your voice down. Proper witches and wizards are trying to work."
Alice's eyes burned with unshed tears, but she refused to let them fall. Her chest heaved with the effort of holding back a scream of frustration. She had been played and humiliated, and there was nothing she could do about it.
"You're a big, fat pig. A cheat," Alice hissed through clenched teeth.
The librarian's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Watch your tone, girl. Or should I call the Aurors and tell them we've got a runaway orphan causing trouble in the library?"
Alice's blood ran cold at the threat. She knew the implications of what would happen if she was caught.
"No ma'am." Alice meekly said. Alice knew it would do no good. She was in enemy territory, and the librarian held all the cards.
With a final, furious glare, Alice turned on her heel and stormed out of the library, her steps echoing loudly in the quiet halls. She would burn this. She would burn that fat pig. She would burn this library. She would get her 10 galleons, come hell. Come high water.
Outside, Diagon Alley was quieter than before, the shops beginning to close for the night. Alice walked aimlessly, her thoughts a storm of bitterness and regret. She had been so close to getting her hands on some money, so close to gaining some small measure of control over her life. But now, she was back to square one, with nothing to show for all her hard work.
Don't Get Mad. Get Even.
The library's lights were still on when she snuck back inside. Odds are, if the library closed, their security measures would be a lot more stringent. It's what the muggles would have done. Shoplifting from superstores was a lot easier during the days than it was after hours. Obviously, she had no intention of stealing anything.
Alice remembered from her time sorting that the librarian had some sort of boiling pot and pipits near the archive. Chemicals, or potions as the mages called them, were most likely to be a poor combination of old books and papers. Getting through the back was hilariously easy. A self-operating cart was carrying books from old storage into their various sections. Alice hid inside it till the archive's stench hit her nose and she got out. She hid between the shelves, waiting to see if she had triggered some sort of spell that would alert security. Fortunately, nothing happened, and Alice leaped to work.
She took the entire apparatus and placed it on the shelf, between the books. She made sure to place it higher up to correspond with the librarian's height. She then proceeded to randomly mix the potions together with whatever organic material she could find near her. Already the concoction hissed nastily and alternated between vivid colors.
Now for the coup de grace, Alice turned up the flames to the maximum and let the fire roar. Well not really roar but a chef would've been concerned. Honest!
Out of petty spite Alice, took as many books and trinkets as her bag could hold. Luckily, she had the foresight to bring Vernon's gym bags with her. She glanced at all the books available to her. This was like being left unsupervised at the candy store! The books were old and looked second-hand. But beggars couldn't be choosers and right now Alice was happy to get her hands on as many things as possible.
Introduction to Magical Theory for First Years by Helena Rook? Check!
Common spells for everyday witches and wizards by -? Wait, the author's name was missing but she didn't care. Check!
Map of Magical London. Ok boring but Check!
Historical Lies & Ministerial Cover-ups 101 by Rita Skeeter? Double check!
A pouch of galleons that seemed heavy! CHECK.
The potions started to boil and started nastily hissing and bubbling. Portions of it would shoot up in the air. Her instincts told her to run. And run she did. Her breath ran out after running two blocks and her legs refused to carry her. She turned to see black smoke rising in the air and the sound of rapid pops going off. A siren went off what sounded like an alarm, and she saw numerous stern-faced witches and wizards materialize out of thin air and rush towards the library.
Whoa, mages can teleport too?! Alice excitedly thought before skipping away, whistling merrily into the night. Today was a great success!
Fish & Chips
Regardless of the political and cultural differences between muggles and mages, the eternal delight of fish and chips transcended everything. Alice munched on them as she read the charms book, she had "borrowed" from the library. The range of spells she read about was truly great. There was a spell for cleaning dirt. For conjuring light. For levitating something.
The list went on and on. However, that was where the "PG" section ended, and the book was torn open. Inside it, there were pages from another book sewn in. Alice pouted at the vulgar vandalism of a knowledge source. A paper suddenly glowed red and levitated in front of her, as if bidding her to take it. She gingerly reached out to touch the paper, but when nothing happened, she snorted and snatched it.
Greetings Young Mage!
You have been privileged to be receiving from the MARAUDERS charity fund. Tired of learning boring old spells? Well, be bored no longer! Turn the pages over to find some of the best from Marauders. Each page has a unique new spell to ensure that when you solemnly swear to be up to no good, you never get caught!
Good luck with your future pranks young one and remember! If nobody saw you do it, you never did it!
Regards,
Prongs, Padfoot, Moony, & Wormtail
After reading the bizarre time capsule letter, Alice only had one thought running through her mind. Who the hell are the Marauders? She flipped the history book to see if anything of note was in there. Finding nothing on the so-called "Marauders", she pouted and tossed it away.
Who cares? Alice thought.
She had a wand. Check.
She had a spell book. Check.
She didn't have an adult hovering around her shoulder telling her to behave. Check.
She gingerly took out the Figg wand and looked at it in wonder. "Hogwarts: A Legacy" had told her that most mages received their first wand when they reached eleven. She pouted at the fact that this was not her new wand. Oh well, she would practice as much magic as she could. She was determined to absolutely dominate every subject at Hogwarts and swore to do so. Who knew how much magic wizarding families taught their children before sending them to Hogwarts.
11 whole years! Damn it! Alice angrily thought. She had a lot of ground to cover.
Setting the large spell book between her legs she burrowed under her booth and decided to start from the light spell. The shop got really dark around midnight as Knockturn Alley didn't have a lot of lights like some of the other alleys.
Not that she was afraid of the dark of course!
The spell for conjuring a light orb at the tip of one's wand is one of the easiest spells to cast and is taught during one's first year at Hogwarts. To cast the spell, imagine your magic spilling forth in an outward direction, away from your body out of the tip of your wand. No complex wand motion is required. The spell to turn off the light is nox. Simply concentrate and chant the incantation,
Lumos! Alice angrily muttered while angrily tapping the wand repeatedly against the booth's leg. The damn thing just wouldn't work. She was a witch. Not a bloody muggle. Why won't the damned thing work for her? A treacherous voice inside her whispered that she didn't belong there.
She wasn't a real witch.
She was a pretender.
She was a squib.
She would fail in magic at Hogwarts, and they would send her back.
"She can't do it. She is useless." The voice said in an excited woman's voice. "Look at her! She can't even cast a basic first-year spell!"
"Stop it!" Alice angrily whispered as she held her head and squeezed.
"Imagine it, Alice, hundreds of students are all able to cast Lumos and you are the only one who can't!" The lady said in a sing-song voice. "They will kick her out of Hogwarts on day one!"
"Fool! Bitch! Freak!" Vernon's voice said. "You are useless! As useless as your mother and father were! Drunk whores!"
"Stop it! Stop it!" Alice muttered, tearing at the hair of her scalp, eyes stinging with angry tears. "Stop!"
"You will die in darkness little Alice!" The woman said. "A witch too stupid to even cast light spells!"
Alice angrily grasped the wand and squeezed her eyes close. She poured as much magic as she felt, the booth around her started shaking and the junk around started levitating. Of course, Alice didn't see any of that happening. She grasped the wand and mentally imagined a muggle dam bursting open. Alice opened her eyes.
LUMOS! She yelled and it was as if a supernova was going off. The light blinded her instantly. It was getting hot in her booth.
"Stop!" She yelled to get the light to go out. It didn't. The heat was growing too hot for comfort and she started sweating.
"Wait! There was a spell for turning it off?" Alice wracked her mind to try and find out what it was.
"Nox!" She yelled as she suddenly remembered it and the light went off.
Silence prevailed in the shop as Alice stared at the wand in wonderment. It looked burnt. It definitely was burnt at the top as the smell of the wood confirmed it. A rush of hope went through her body. She could do magic! She just did her first spell!
"Hell yeah!" Alice said and clapped her hands in excitement.
A coughing sound went off and Alice went deathly still in her booth. Another wave of cough and groan.
There was somebody else in the shop with her. Suddenly, there was a flurry of activity near her. Dogs barked and there were rapid knocks. Alice crawled out of her booth and hid beneath the window.
"Official auror business!" A man's voice shouted in an authoritative tone. It sounded like he was at the building opposite her.
"Hold yer horses, I am coming." A groggy voice.
"He is delaying. Break down his door!" The voice ordered.
"Reducto!" A woman's voice shouted. Alice peered up to see what was happening.
"Damn you!" The man yelled from inside.
"Stupefy!" Another voice yelled, "Grab him!"
The "Aurors" dragged the man outside and the lead wizard leered at him, "My my Borgin. It's been a while. Meet any old buddies lately?"
Borgin, Alice identified as the man on his knees, shouted back, "You know damn well I haven't Madeye! Why don't you let me fucking live in peace?"
Moody pointed his wand at him and Borgin heaved out air as if he had been punched in the stomach. He spat at the floor and the one known as Mad-Eye ordered, "Get inside! Tear the place apart and see if you can find the target. I can smell him in here."
A few of the Aurors went inside and Mad-Eye ordered to the rest, "Spread out. Break down the doors of all these shops. I want him found. And I want him found today!"
A witch approached Alice's shop and Alice reigned in her emotions. The woman pounded at her door and yelled, "Official Auror business! Open up!"
Alice pretended to be sleepy and grabbed a tablecloth she had been using as a blanket. She opened the door and the Auror yelled, "Auror business! We have learned there are –"
The auror paused to find a sleepy little girl staring at him in annoyance. Summoning her most babyish voice, Alice asked, "Whatcchu want?"
"Er," The Auror stammered, "Little girl, are your parents' home?"
"Uh-huh," Alice said and wrapped the tablecloth around her tightly.
"Can you wake them? We need to talk. It's urgent." The Auror said.
"Nuh huh. Mommy's sick. She said not to bother her, or she will spank me." Alice said.
"Right." The Auror said. "Get your father then?"
At that, Alice went still and the Auror looked at her in bewilderment as the girl teared up.
"Uhm, little girl, are you ok?" The auror asked.
Alice sobbed and heaved, "M-my p-Pa is dead. Mom said he d-died in the first war. The dark lord killed him or something."
The witch sighed at that and squeezed her eyes. From the street's end, Mad-Eye yelled, "Veronica! What's the darn hold up!"
Veronica sighed again, "I am so sorry to hear that little girl. Just be careful. There is a bad man on the loose tonight. Stay indoors and lock all your doors and windows. Can you do that for me?"
Alice nodded, still teary-eyed, "Yes miss."
Veronica nodded and went in the opposite direction. By now Mad Eye had joined Veronica and started to berate her for being too slow on raids. He then turned and Alice visibly gasped at seeing the man's appearance. He was ugly yet scary-looking at the same time. He even made Yuri look like a small puppy in comparison. Weirdly enough, he had a weird eye that seemed mechanical. The man locked eyes with Alice and grinned at her scared expression.
He blew a raspberry at Alice before walking away, cackling into the night. Alice took this an opportunity to promptly shut the door and lock it. It was a while before the Aurors' presence vanished as they moved deeper into the Diagon Alley. Alice went straight to her booth and breathed out a relieved sigh that was premature as the shadows pulled back to reveal an injured man leaning against a pillar on the opposite end.
"That was some acting little girl. Have you considered trying out for Broadway?" The man said.
Alice sat stunned. She had forgotten all but the coughing man! Thrice damn it! She took breaths to calm her racing nerves before looking at the man. He had pale yellow eyes that seemed to faintly glow in the dark.
"Who says I was acting?" Alice shot back in a faux confident tone. The man gasped in pain and clutched his ribs before chuckling.
"D-don't make me laugh. It's painful." He gasped. "I checked both floors before crashing in for the night. There's nobody here. How in Hekate's name I missed you is beyond me. Must be accidental magic reacting to your need for safety."
Alice said nothing but fumbled as she pulled her wand and aimed it at the man. He laughed at her again before gasping in pain. "Adorable. Adorable and brave. But let's be realistic here girl, at best you will give me a faint nosebleed. Even like this, I can easily close the distance between us."
"I am not afraid of you," Alice whispered.
"No." The man said, "You are terrified."
Alice gulped as she realized just how right the man was. She could barely cast a light spell and this strange man most likely had decades of magical experience on her.
"Relax. I don't want to hurt you. I think we can help each other out here." The man said.
"I'm listening," Alice said.
"First things first. I am John. Who are you?" He said and gasped under the painful exertion of talking. He coughed and Alice caught a glimpse of his teeth.
Did he have fangs? Alice wondered in horror.
Thinking quickly, Alice said, "Lilith."
"My my. What a powerful name you have young one. Not even a variation. Just a straight-up adaption of the Dark Mother's name." He said. "I wonder who was stupid enough to name you such."
He looked her dead in the eyes, "You didn't mention a last name."
"Ain't got one, mister," Alice replied and the man burst out laughing.
"A bastard?! How rich." He cackled. A spark of white-hot rage erupted inside Alice as she glared at the man.
"Call me a bastard again. See what happens!" Alice shouted and the man looked at her before laughing even harder. In his carelessness, he never noticed his sleeve falling down his forearm revealing a vivid red tattoo that made Alice pause. She had seen it before, yesterday. The history book had a close-up sketch of it. It was a dark mark.
The dark mark was a tattoo that was considered to be the highest honor a follower of the Dark Lord could achieve in his service. It signaled that the witch or wizard was in the Dark Lord's inner circle and highly favored by him.
That son of a bitch. Alice angrily thought before perishing the thought. She couldn't have her revenge right now. The man was too powerful.
"Say kid, were you raised proper?" John asked.
"My parents were mages if that helps," Alice said.
"Yes, but what kind of mages were they?" John asked.
"I dunno. Mom never told me. She said that stuff out there was too dangerous for her to tell me that." Alice told him. "She said that if the ministry got wind of it, they would separate us and throw Mom in Azkaban."
"Ah. That answers my question." John said.
"Now tell me, Lilith. How would you like a chance to earn our Master's favor?" John said.
"You mean You-Know-Who?" Alice asked and John nodded, his eyes glowing ever more malevolently.
"What is it?" Alice asked.
"See, I was supposed to make a pickup from the library. A large sum of galleons from a dead drop made by a dear friend." John said. "Unfortunately, that gold wasn't there. There were rumors that the man had betrayed our lord. I guess that and the Auror's presence vindicates it."
Damn it. Alice swore as she tried her level best not to stare at the galleon bag lying beneath the bag in her booth.
"Who was it?" Alice asked.
"Oh heck. I don't see the harm in telling you. Make sure you tell every proper family you speak to about this. The rumors were true. Lucius Malfoy did betray our lord." John said.
"Right. What did you need again?" Alice asked and the man chuckled.
"My bad, my lady." He said and slightly bowed at her. "I have a safe house. A lovely little hamlet a few meters away from Hogsmeade. It's called Feldcroft. I just want you to go in there and activate my ring." He spoke. "Do that, and I personally mention to our lord of how a young witch like you did something so mighty for him."
"I thought the dark lord was dead?" Alice said and a furious expression crawled across John's face before he took a deep breath and smiled again.
"All in good time, little Lilith." He said, "All in good time."
He snapped his fingers and locked eyes with Alice. A strange warmth wrapped around her and John's voice sounded like the sweetest thing on this Earth. He sounded like a king of old. Noble. Majestic. Proud. A king who cared for the little people.
"Come here little Lilith." He sang and Alice's rushed to obey, just for a chance to hear the majestic voice address her again. She felt pinpricks on her neck, but the pain vanished away in an instant and Alice felt heavenly.
She soon walked outside the abandoned shop and hailed a knight bus to Feldcroft.
FIN
Author Notes: Read and Review!