Chapter Text
Alec had always been a little different. As a child he’d been quiet and reserved, preferring to be neither seen nor heard. In his primary schooling years he often had become a target for bullies due to not being the loud, cheerful boy everyone else expected him to be. He didn’t play sports. He hated playing quidditch with his peers – though he would never admit the main reason for his hatred of the sport stemmed from his extreme fear of heights. Instead, he would prefer to sit down with a large book and read.
His parents often expressed their concern over him. They worried he was becoming an outcast amongst his peers, which would make it difficult for their plans for him in the future to succeed. Alec needed to be confident and likeable, not shy and stand offish. As they sent him off to Ilvermorny on the first day, they made sure he understood that the time for his childish behaviour to stop.
“Train at least four times a week on the broom. Next year you can trial for the quidditch team.”
“Put away those silly books. The only ones you need to pay attention to are ones that will help you with your studies, not ones to do with – with killing birds or whatever it is you’re reading.”
“Talk to the other children. Make some friends. Don’t spend all your time shut up in your dormitory. Maybe you’ll even find yourself a pretty girl.”
Nothing they said had an effect on him. The only time he touched his broomstick was when he’d offered to help clear up after watching one of his professor’s struggling to pick them up – she’d obtained a hip injury in her youth that occasionally caused her pain. Books became his only friends, and there was not much to say about finding a pretty girl. It wasn’t until the middle of his fourth year that he began to understand why he didn’t pay much attention to even the prettiest of girls in his school.
When his third year began he had his younger sister and adoptive brother with him. Unfortunately, the two were the complete opposite of him and had quickly made friends with half their year on the first day - which was only unfortunate for how Alec, who'd been excited to have someone to sit with during meals and to talk to between classes, was once again alone.
But he preferred it that way. Kind of. He’d never had a friend to confide in or to trust. He struggled to imagine what it would be like, but he’d seen the pain others felt when they argued with their closest friends. He’d seen large groups divide over arguments that left everyone suffering and angry. This made him think that maybe he wasn’t missing out on much. In fact, he was able to confidently tell himself that being alone kept him safe from all the pain friendship seemed to cause.
Then, he was transferred to Hogwarts.
~
“This isn’t fair!” Izzy shouted at their parents. “Just because you guys made a dumb mistake doesn’t mean that we have to pay for it!”
“Isabelle!” She didn’t let her father continue.
“No! How can you even consider this? This is our home! Our friends are all here!”
“You’ll make new friends,” Maryse told her with an air of finality. “Go pack your things. We leave in one hour.”
“This is bullshit!” Izzy screamed before slamming the door behind her, eyes wet with tears. Robert sighed, running a hand tiredly through his hair.
“You know we love you all, right?” Robert said. Alec and Jace nodded. “This is what’s best for our family. You’ll see.”
“Go pack, you two. Don’t forget anything. We don’t plan on returning.” Maryse dismissed them, hard eyes watching them nod silently and leave.
“Izzy’s right. This is bullshit,” Jace said once the door shut behind them.
“Jace…” Alec started. Jace rolled his eyes.
“Yeah, yeah. I got it the first time. ‘It’s what’s best for our family’. ‘We’re doing this for you’,” he imitated his parents in frustration. “You can’t believe they’re for real. This is about them trying to save face.”
Alec was silent as Jace ranted, letting him blow off some steam before entering their shared dorm. He understood his siblings' anger. They’d been there for four years and had made themselves a home. They didn’t want to give it all up. Alec couldn’t deny that he’d have preferred to have stayed in America where, despite his lack of friendships, he had a sense of stability in having forged a routine over the past six years.
“Don’t forget your potions textbook,” Alec pointed absentmindedly towards the bottom drawer where Jace usually stuffed the book. Jace grunted in thanks as he added it to his suitcase. “Look, there’s nothing to be done. We’re moving to Hogwarts no matter how little we want to. Might as well make the best of it.”
“This just sucks,” Jace groaned. He zipped his suitcase up and fell onto the bed. “This is the last time we get to lie here. It’ll be the last time we share a dorm too, probably.”
“You know we’re lucky to have been able to share in the first place,” Alec said, deciding not to mention that the only reason they were allowed to share a room even though they were two year levels apart was because Alec had been bullied each time he was put into a room with his own peers.
“What if we’re in different houses there? Did you know that a hat chooses our houses for us there? A hat!” Jace repeated incredulously.
“Whatever happens will happen. We can’t change it so we might as well roll with it,” Alec stated. Jace muttered something under his breath before sitting back up.
“Guess it’s time to leave.” Alec could hear the genuine disdain in his voice as his eyes roamed the walls of the room for the last time.
“Yeah,” Alec agreed.
~
The news had broken out of Maryse and Robert Lightwood’s association with the Circle, an elite group of witches and wizards who opposed muggle borns. The Uprising, a significant event of their history, occurred sixteen years ago when the Circle rounded up hundreds of muggle borns and killed them in protest to their rights in the wizarding community.
When the Circle became overpowered by the aurors many went into hiding while others pleaded victim of the Imperius Curse, claiming no choice in their involvement. The Lightwoods had been some of the few who were never caught by the authorities. At least, until a man held captive in Azkaban revealed a list of people who were never punished for their involvement, his madness leading him to betraying the people he once worked so closely with. Maryse’s and Robert’s names were both on that list.
To say their children were distraught to learn of this through a newspaper article would be putting it lightly. Izzy shouted and cried at them, first begging for it all to be a lie and then giving in and despising them for their prejudice ways that led to so many deaths. Jace avoided his adoptive parents as best he could, not wanting to face them after learning that the people he’d been infinitely grateful to have in his life were the monsters they were taught to fight against. Max didn’t know much, having only begun his first year when the news broke out, but he knew enough to understand his parents were once the bad guys.
Alec felt numb. Never in a million years could he have imagined his parents being a part of something so cruel and vicious. Sure, they had never been particularly warm and fuzzy but he never would’ve thought they had played a role in one of the biggest events in their history – at least, not on the side that caused hundreds of innocents to die.
As soon as word got around about the Lightwoods’ involvement in the Uprising everything changed. The bullying for Alec got so much more violent at school and Izzy and Jace’s friends all turned away from them. Even Max’s friends started avoiding him after learning of his parents’ mistakes. When they started receiving death threats from anonymous people they knew it was time to leave.
Izzy and Jace still held onto the hope that their friends would see that they weren’t like their parents. Alec knew they wouldn’t. Their minds had been made up; the Lightwoods were all guilty of out-dated prejudiced thoughts.
So, the decision was made. It was time to start anew.
~
“Everyone’s staring at us,” Max tugged on Alec’s hand nervously as they walked through the corridor as a group. They, Izzy, and Jace were being led to the Headmaster’s office to be given the school rules and a brief introduction to how classes and school life worked. The castle was different to the one in America, Alec thought to himself. It looked older and larger, though that could be because he hadn’t had time to explore the rooms of the castle as he had at Ilvermorny. Perhaps once he had time to properly explore he’d feel like the castle wasn’t so huge.
“Just ignore them,” Alec said. He’d always hated being the centre of attention. He hated it even more with dozens of glaring eyes and looks of disgust met his gaze at every turn.
“Here we are,” the professor muttered the password before gesturing for the Lightwoods to climb the staircase that had appeared. Alec quietly thanked the professor for showing them the way before hurrying to catch up with his siblings. Regardless of the hostile way the professor had treated them, he refused to stoop to the level everyone believed he currently sat comfortably. He wasn’t a rude person and wouldn’t let other’s opinions change that about him.
Professor Garroway greeted them at the top and had them sit in the four seats in front of his desk. His eyes were kind but guarded, as if he didn’t know what to expect from the Lightwoods in front of him. “Welcome,” he said to them all. “I’m sure you all must be tired from your trip so I will try make this quick.” And he did. After being warned from the Forbidden Forest and told to be wary of the moving stairs, they were given a few details of their classes and each handed a small collection of papers that held information on the rules of Hogwarts.
“Thank you,” Alec said, eyes already scanning the pages for the important stuff.
“Tonight during dinner you will each be sorted into houses. Normally, the sorting is done on the first day of the school year, but we will have to make do. Until then, Professor Starkweather has offered to show you around the premises.” They were all shocked to see the familiar face of Hodge Starkweather, the man who had trained them for years in physical combat. He’d also taught them ways to better control their magic, allowing them to rise to the top of their year levels with their advanced skill.
“Long time, no see,” Hodge smiled their way, bringing them in for a familial hug. “You’ve all grown since I last saw you.”
“It has been three years,” Jace commented. Hodge ruffled his hair and nudged them to the doors.
“Let’s begin the tour now or else we won’t finish in time for dinner.”
~
Alec could feel the nerves tumbling around in his stomach. While in many of the books he’d read the feeling had been described as butterflies fluttering in his stomach, he thought it felt a lot more like rocks tumbling around in him. His breath caught in his throat as Professor Garroway explained the delay in their dinner by announcing the arrival of new students needing to be sorted into new houses. He wiped his sweaty palms against his robes nervously, trying – and failing – to smile gratefully to his sister as she latched onto one of his hands. He could tell she was also nervous.
“We’ll start from the youngest,” Garroway declared. Alec felt Max tense up beside him and gently pushed him forward once his name was called. He kept his eyes on the ground as he climbed the steps, fingers twisting with his robes as he sat on the stool. The hat placed on his head was silent for a few intense moments before shouting ‘Gryffindor!’ across the room. Despite the students’ – and professors’ – clear hatred towards the Lightwoods, people still clapped for the boy and made space for him at their table.
Izzy was sorted next into Slytherin, and though the claps were as loud for her as they were for Max it was obvious many were unsurprised to see her sorted into that house. Alec briefly recalled the stereotype of all evil wizards and witched from Hogwarts having come from the Slytherin house. Jace was then sorted into Gryffindor and joined their brother with a smile brightening his face.
Alec felt like time slowed for him as he took his spot on the stool. A part of him admittedly hoped to be placed with his brothers or Izzy so that he wouldn’t be alone. The hat didn’t seem to agree with him, deciding that ‘Hufflepuff!’ would be the best house for him. He quickly took his seat at the table, offering a small smile to the boy who had moved to let him sit beside him.
With the sorting completed food appeared on the tables and they were given permission to eat. Alec watched as the people around him immediately began piling food onto their plates, conversation filling the air. Alec bit his lip as he grabbed a small bun of the plate and began tearing it apart, chewing on small pieces as the people around him ignored his existence. He caught sight of Izzy, feeling relieved to see she was speaking animatedly with someone at her table, a small grin on her lips as she spoke. He turned back to his half-eaten bun just as the boy next to him started speaking.
“You know you can eat anything, right?” Alec looked at him in confusion, unsure whether he was talking to him. Sure enough, the boy’s eyes were on him. “The dishes refill by magic when they are emptied. The house elves cook more than enough to keep us all fed every night.” Alec didn’t know what to say, so he settled for spooning a small portion of the Caesar salad in front of them onto his plate.
“My name’s Simon,” he introduced himself. His glasses slipped down his nose slightly.
“Alec,” he said. It was rude to not give you name when someone else offers theirs. Simon seemed to perk up at Alec’s first words spoken to him.
“You’re from Ilvermorny, right? I’ve never been to America before, but I’ve seen pictures and it looks amazing!” Simon said excitedly. His mouth was opened to continue when the boy sitting next to him elbowed him sharply and muttered something into his ear. Alec caught the word ‘Circle’ and ‘muggleborns’ and felt himself deflate slightly. He had felt surprisingly happy to have someone talk to them, even if it was only for a short amount of time. He saw as Simon’s face fell and tried not to feel hurt when the boy turned away from him slightly. No other words were spoken to or from Alec through the rest of dinner, which he’d suddenly found himself unable to stomach.
At the end of dinner Alec was led to the Hufflepuff common room and shown where he would be sleeping. He learned after unpacking his belongings that Simon slept in the bed opposite his.
~