CHAPTER 1

The Prodigy

10 years had gone by and Alex had just turned 11, the boy now stood at 5'1" and was built like an athlete due to the physical exercise he did every morning since turning 7. He looked like the perfect mix of both his parents as he had inherited their best qualities, his mother's grey eyes and his father's square jaw and good looks. He had a caramel skin tone and short curly brown hair with its sides shaved off. If anyone on the outside world were to see Alex use magic, they would be able to tell that his magic was powerful, far eclipsing that of and ordinary 11-year-old and along the magical power of most 5th year Hogwarts students, although he constantly worried that he was not good enough. Just before lunch, he stood at the far end of the basement opposite his father as they got ready to carry out their duel, an activity that had become a daily ritual for them since he turned 10. He had mastered basic combat spells that were found in the Hogwarts textbooks. He had already learnt all he could from the OWLs level textbooks and was about to move on to NEWT level books.

He got into his duel stance with wand ready as Tink began the countdown, "3…2…1…. BEGIN!" Alex felt a sudden rush of adrenaline as he began his assault on his father, 'Stupefy, Petrificus Totalus, Expelliamus, Immobulos,' thought Alex as he went through his arsenal of non-verbal spells, his father cast the protego charm blocking his oncoming barrage and conjured a massive spear and threw it at his son who rolled out of the way whilst simultaneously casting Fumos, a Smokescreen spell to hide his current location, he then continued his barrage, 'expulso, triplexi saggita, stupefy, 'he then shouted "Spikus Glaceli" and conjured 4 ice spikes which he threw to his father who again blocked the first two spells using a shield charm and transfiguring the ice spikes into chains which made their way towards Alex, whilst firing his own barrage of spells keeping Alex on the defensive, Alex used his swift dash to move out of the way, leaving behind a white mist as he moved to the opposite side of the room and transfigured the chains into a flock of birds. As Alex was about to carry out another attack when he felt the prodding finger of his father's legimens in his mind, he was momentarily distracted when he was hit with a stupefy spell, knocking him out.

After he was revived his father went through all the mistakes he had made during the duel. "Your chained attacks are good but you should rely on more spells in your arsenal lest your attacks become predictable an easier to counter," said his father "Your Occlumency is progressing well," Alex brimmed with pride receiving his father's praise whilst also taking to heart the advice he had been given. As they walked out of the basement into the main entrance which doubled as the reception area for guests, they ran into Isolde who had just concluded a Herbology lesson with their mother. Isolde was shorter than Alex but had the same skin tone as her brother, excluding her caramel skin tone and long curly brown hair she was the spitting image of her mother. "So, did was you beati-I mean duel with father go Alex?" Teased Isolde as she giggled. Alex was tempted to jinx her but comforted himself in the knowledge that she was going to be duel their father after lunch.

Amelia popped in for a quick visit and to talk to Hilda about work, Hilda and Samson had insisted that she stay for Lunch but she had turned down the offer saying she had plenty to do including shopping for Susan's school supplies. She left after hugging Isolde and Alex.

Tink had prepared lunch for the family of four and they were enjoying their food when an owl flew in carrying a letter with the Hogwarts stamp, "About time, I was worried they had forgotten about me" Alex said as he opened it to view its contents.

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 Steward,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.

Yours Sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Minerva McGonagall,

Deputy Headmistress

"Congratulations darling, we are all happy for you" said Hilda as she read the letter and the list of requirements for first years. "Looks like we are going shopping tomorrow". as the day ended all Alex could think of was how his first day at school was going to play out, if the lessons were going to be a breeze since he had mastered most concepts that were going to be taught .What he was most curious to discover were the secret chambers and vaults Salazar Slytherin had left in the castle, he had found out of their existence when he was doing research in the family library and had found an old diary of one of the Gaunts that went to Hogwarts. 'I bet they have secrets that have been lost for generations, such as grimoires and scrolls of ancient spells and magic'. a voice interrupted his train of thought and he looked to the door to see his sister standing there. "I wish I could go with you to school this year; home is going to be boring without you here" she said. He looked at her trying to read her expression before replying, "don't worry you will join me next year, look at it this way you get an extra year of training, by the time you arrive you will be able to kick my butt in a duel". The girl brimmed from ear to ear hearing this statement and declared that she wasn't going to let her brother down and was going to be better than him when she arrived at school next year. She then hugged her brother and ran back to her bedroom to sleep.

Alex was left thinking if it was possible if she could catch up to him. He had noticed that whilst he found learning new spells and concepts to be near easy, she seemed to have a difficult time, where it would take him a single try to learn a spell and five tries to master the spell, she would take four times as long, he attributed this to her being younger than her and thought nothing more of it. Soon he drifted to sleep dreaming of what his first day would be like.