Chapter Text
Young Salazar Storm has been an orphan from the day he was born into this boring world and the only fun he ever has is with the garden snakes who visit him whenever he needs a break from the other kids. To be fair, they do often single him out and chase him down for being so weird. He just has to get angry or upset and strange things start happening. The snakes don’t mind him though. They don’t think he’s weird or strange. They talk to him and are glad to be heard for once. It’s not a very common gift they had told him when he first called out to a young one who was afraid. He reassured it that he would not harm it and it was shocked when he could understand it. He was three at the time. Now he’s eleven. He doesn’t look it exactly, slightly short for his age but with flat black hair and dark brown eyes. Despite being a gentle soul to those he lets in, he can be a bit ‘dark looking’ to those around him. Little does Salazar know, but he’s actually the spitting image of his father. He's not just eleven, but eleven years old exactly. Letting out a sigh, he leaves his room and is promptly shoved into the wall by an older boy: Danny Barns. He’s sixteen and knows he can shove Salazar about without getting punished for it.
“Can’t wait to give you your birthday beats later, Sazzy!” Danny calls back, laughing in amusement.
“It’s Salazar.” Salazar says half-heartedly, angry at the boy but knowing it’s pointless by this point. He sighs and heads downstairs where the other kids are already at the table, ready for breakfast as they chat loudly without noticing him. He’s not surprised. They only notice him when the weird stuff happens. Why would his birthday be any different.
“Hey, Sal. Why don’t you sit down, and we can start breakfast?” One of the carers suggests from the adjoining open-plan kitchen, looking over at him across the counter. Salazar sits in the middle of the table in the only empty chair and is ignored, as expected. Breakfast is served and he barely eats half of it, even after the other kids are made to give him birthday cards (most writing ‘Sal’ to save the trouble of writing his whole name). He gets some pocket money from the carers and a promise of cake when his party (he didn’t ask for) begins later. He slumps in his seat and looks at the table as he waits for the other kids to finish up. He barely notices when the kids start panicking around him and only looks up when they all stand so suddenly. They’re staring at the open window in shock, but he can’t see past them all. Surprisingly, he doesn’t have to try and see it as it comes to him. He jumps when an owl flies through the open window and lands directly in front of him. A letter is held in its beak and it holds it out to him. Seeing his own name handwritten on the address label, he takes it from the owl. It stays there as if waiting for something and he cautiously opens it, everyone stood in stunned silence.
Dear Mr Storm,
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 September 1. We await your owl no later than July 31.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress
“Well, come on then, what is it?” One of the kids demands.
“I’m a wizard…” Salazar admits, forgetting momentarily how stupid that sounds in his shock.
“Yeah right!” The kids scoffs.
“It’s a prank.” Another declares.
“Kid’s just desperate for attention.” Danny claims, a dark look at both Salazar and the owl. The carers are unsure. How would Salazar get not just an owl but a trained owl to come bring a letter like that and time it perfectly? It can’t be his doing. Magic isn’t real…though that would explain why strange things happen around the kid.
He was upset that they got a fake tree instead of a real one a few Christmases ago. Next morning, a real tree was in its place. It was so big that it would have needed two people to carry it in, but the doors were still locked…from the inside and no-one knew how it happened. Another time, Salazar got cornered by kids from school on the playground. The teacher went to stop them when they pushed him down, starting to kick at him when they suddenly went flying back by some freak wind surge. Once Salazar had to have a different hairdresser who ruined his hair by shaving off a large patch when they slipped after Danny caused havoc in the barbers. Next morning, Danny screamed the place down when his was suddenly bright pink that somehow glowed in the dark and wouldn’t revert back to its natural colour, not even by all the dyes they put on it. If anything, it only made his hair glow brighter. Eventually, he had enough and shaved it off completely. His hair grew back and was thankfully back to its natural brown, but they were all confused by the whole ordeal.
So perhaps him being magic, as crazy as it first sounds, may not be so…extreme to think about when first hearing the news of it said out loud. “They want my owl back.” Salazar cuts through the tension and he looks up at the carer stood closest. Maria. She was always the most willing to help them with their troubles. “Can I go? Please? Even if it’s a prank, what’s the harm in seeing its conclusion?” He asks innocently and Maria gently takes the letter and reads it over for herself. Behind her, Brian (the other main carer), hovers over her shoulder to read it along with her.
“Salazar, come with us.” Brian insists and he’s lead to the private office just down the hall from the breakfast room, leaving Hailey (another carer) to watch the other kids. They all jump when the owl follows them and flies into the office, making itself comfortable by perching on the coat rack. “O…kay.” Brian says, glancing warily at the owl but sees it’s just waiting patiently. He shakes his head and turns back to the boy. “There’s something you should know. It’s about your mother.”
“What about her?” Salazar asks as Maria gets him to sit in the chair in front of the desk. Brian sits on the edge of the desk, facing the boy as Maria draws out a set of keys to unlock the nearby filing cabinet. She rifles around until she pulls out a file from it which he just catches his name printed on the label of it. Sitting behind the desk, she opens the file and flips through it until stopping partway to pull out an envelope taped to a rectangular A5 sized parcel which she hands to Salazar. She nods at it to get him to read the address.
For Salazar to open the day he receives his letter from an owl.
Salazar looks up at them in shock and Brian sighs out as if letting a massive weight fall of his chest. With slightly shaking hands, Salazar pulls of the tape and opens the envelope first, reading the letter inside.
To my darling Salazar,
Yes, it’s true, it’s all true. You are a wizard. A powerful one I expect given by who your father is but power does not have to define you or where you have come from. I hope they raised you well, whoever has. Many terms may seem confusing from now on so I’m leaving a book behind to help you understand my world and in hopes you will find it helpful to learning of the new world you’re about to become a part of. I will also give you instructions on how to get your supplies and the key to my vault, 516, at Gringotts, the wizard’s bank ran by goblins. Don’t stare at them. It’s not the wisest thing to do as they do keep safe all the money you’ve inherited from me. It’s not much compared to some but it’s enough to get you by for all your school years plus some extra expenses. It’s yours nonetheless, no-one else’s. You have no living family. Don’t feel the need to expose your wealth to impress people. By all means, use it how you will, but if you buy your friends then how is it real?
I wish I could have raised you but it’s too dangerous, far too much for me to be around you, to raise you as my own. Do not waste your life trying to find me as, by the time you are reading this, I will have long since gone into the afterlife. Know this I made mistakes in my youth and by the time I realised it, it was too late to get out of it. I met some bad people who I joined and began working for a cause I lost faith in once I saw its true colours. You’ll know who they are if you ever see them. The dark cloaked, faceless ones. Wherever they walk, death follows. Their master may have fallen, but they would not have changed their believes. They’re too arrogant to see any other way. I was too but then I saw them hurting innocent children, just babes, for being born in the wrong family. It broke something in me and changed me to my very core. It was too late by then. Once you join them, it’s impossible to escape their control, your father’s especially.
Your father…he is a monster and he does not know that you exist. I cannot put it any blunter than that. Despite the circumstances of how you were conceived, know that I would never take you back for anything. You are my precious baby boy and never let anyone tell you what you are or what you should be. You be whoever you want to be. And it may sound alarming to hear but you have to know that he is an evil man who hates people simply for how they were born. You may even hear these terms at Hogwarts. Your father, Tom Marvolo Riddle, loved nothing more than hurting others and was an very evil man. You may see some of him in yourself, but you are not him. It’s how you choose to live and use what power you have on the world that matters most, Salazar.
Be kind and look out for those weaker than you as help may come in the unlikeliest of places.
Your mother, Sabrina Storm.
Salazar stares at the letter, the information now seeping into him and he then opens the parcel. The carers look anxious to read the letter but don’t pry. He doesn’t show it to them. It was from his mother to him, not for them. The parcel, as mentioned in the letter, contains a book scrawled in the same handwriting. He is thankful for the contents list she added to the inside cover and uses it to skip ahead to how to find his supplies. A pub called: The Leaky Cauldron, apparently. He then flips back to the first few pages to see instructions on sending the owl back. Following this, he asks for a spare piece of paper and Brian hands him one which he writes his acceptance of going to Hogwarts on it. He jumps when the owl lands on the desk in front of him and stands very still as he cautiously ties the paper to it. He then opens the window and the owl swiftly flies back out of it, disappearing in the distance with its mission on the way.
“We need to go to London to get the supplies from a place that only magic people can see. Non-magical people…” Salazar finds the right page again. “Um, muggles, can’t go inside.” It wasn’t the truth…exactly, but he’d rather go alone than be made to follow them around when he has a perfectly good guide himself.
“Are you sure, Salazar? Maybe if I just…” Brian goes to take the book, but Salazar stands up, holding it protectively to his chest.
“It’s from my mother.”
Brian stills with guilt at the realisation of this. Salazar has nothing from his mother until now and they’d kept this from him for all these years. Of course, he wouldn’t be so keen on handing it over like yesterday’s newspaper. Maria smiles kindly at Salazar, nodding to the book. “Salazar, did your mother say anything about your family or…”
“No. I’m the only one still living.” He informs and Maria nods.
“We’ll make arrangements by next week when we can take you to get your supplies. We’ll discuss it between us and decide who’ll be taking you then. We’ll get them by August at the latest. But it will have to be planned in advance as we are quite busy right now for the next few weeks, Salazar. Sorry about it but we’ll take you early as possible, but it won’t be for a little while.”
“That’ll be fine. Excuse me.” Salazar gathers up the letters and keeps hold of the book as he leaves the room, knowing that his life will never be the same again.