Chapter Text
Alex grips her sister’s hand tight as the horn of the Hogwarts Express sounds throughout the platform. Young wizards and witches dodge around them, pushing trolleys and carrying armfuls of bags. Owls screech and cats hiss as they are jostled by the passersby.
“You ready?” Alex asks, and squeezes her sister’s hand again. “Fifth year’s a big one.”
Kara grins brightly at her. She clutches her owl’s cage in her free hand, and she looks up to her other side, where their mother stands. “Of course I’m ready!” It was the start of her fifth year, while Alex would be beginning her sixth.
Eliza Danvers, their mother, ushers them closer to the train. “Come on, you don’t want to be late—and Kara, hold that cage up above the ground!”
Alex picks up her cat’s crate again as they hurry towards the train. Eliza stops them just before they reach the line of students that are filing into the train. She crouches down and pulls Kara into a hug. “You stay safe, you hear? I will send a howler if I hear you’ve gotten yourself into trouble.”
“I won’t, I promise!” Kara laughs. “No sneaking out to Hogsmeade after hours.”
Eliza gives her a stern but gentle smile as she shakes her head. “No sneaking out period. ”
Alex stands silently by as Eliza continues to pester the younger sister, asking if she’s remembered her cauldron and counted her vials and made sure to feed her owl and packed all her robes, and Alex finally sighs and interrupts, “Kara’s fine, Mom. I made sure she packed everything.”
Eliza turns her gaze to Alex. “Good girl,” she praises. “Make sure you take care of your N.E.W.T. classes, and keep an eye on Kara. I know things are… rough, but I need you to still take care of Kara. Okay?”
Alex nods, but doesn't say anything. Eliza frowns. “Alex, you need to promise. You might be living in that dungeon, but I expect you to watch out for Kara.”
“I’ll be fine…” Kara tries, but both ignore her.
She's just got to get another Slytherin jab in before I leave, doesn't she? Alex thinks dryly as she holds her mother’s stare for a few moments, before she looks down at her feet and replies, “Yeah, Mom. I know. I’ve got it.”
“Good.” Eliza stands back up and sighs. “You two better get on that train before all the seats get taken,” she says. Alex grabs Kara’s hand again and gives her a gentle tug. The sooner we get on, the better, she thinks.
“Bye,” Alex mutters. She doesn't wait for her mother to hug her—she knows she won't be getting one.
“Don’t forget to write!” Eliza calls as Alex drags Kara towards the train.
Alex doesn't say anything as she turns away. There is nothing to say.
“Oh, you may not think I’m pretty,
But don’t judge on what you see,
I’ll eat myself if you can find
A smarter hat than me.
You can keep your bowlers black,
Your top hats sleek and tall,
For I’m the Hogwarts Sorting Hat
And I can cap them all.
There’s nothing hidden in your head
The Sorting Hat can’t see,
So try me on and I will tell you
Where you ought to be.
You might be in Gryffindor,
Where dwell the brave at heart,
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry
Set Gryffindor apart;
You might belong in Hufflepuff,
Where they are just and loyal,
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true
And unafraid of toil;
Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,
If you’ve a ready mind,
Where those of wit and learning,
Will always find their kind;
Or perhaps in Slytherin,
You’ll make your real friends,
Those cunning folk use any means
To achieve their ends!
So put me on! Don’t be afraid!
And don’t get in a flap!
You’re in safe hands—though I have none—
For I’m a Thinking Cap!”
Students cheer as the Sorting Hat finishes his chant, and they fall to low whispers with a wave from Professor J’onzz. The Headmaster of Hogwarts gives the students a rare smile and inclines his head in a short nod. “Welcome, students. Let us begin the Sorting Ceremony, and our feast may commence.”
A few students whoop at the mention of the feast, but are quickly hushed by the prefects. Professor Grant unrolls a scroll and begins to call names, and one by one, students line up to be sorted.
Alex smiles softly as she recalls her own sorting. She had been a Hatstall—the first in fifteen years, in fact, at nearly seven minutes of deliberating and internally debating with the Sorting Hat.
Alex had squirmed as the Hat was placed on her head. The Sorting Hat’s voice, deep and gravelly, sounded inside her mind as clearly as if he were actually speaking to her.
“Hmm!” The Hat harrumphed. “Alex Danvers… interesting, interesting. I haven't seen such a complexity in some time. I see quite a bit of bravery, quite a bit of bravery indeed! A spot of ambition, hmm… but a strong sense of loyalty too. What to do with you?”
Little eleven-year-old Alex had squeezed her eyes tight. She thought of the books she read, of how much she liked learning about spells and wizard history and even about muggle science, of how many times her mother said Slytherins were evil and untrustworthy and the remarks her father made about the dullness of Hufflepuffs, and she thinks that Ravenclaw is the obvious choice. “Ravenclaw, Ravenclaw, Ravenclaw…” she thought feverently.
“Ravenclaw, eh? Wouldn't be a terrible choice, no. You have a thirst for knowledge that would be befitting of the house… and yet, I see within you a desire to protect those you love at any cost and a great ambition to achieve your goals. Nothing can stop you! Perhaps Slytherin would be a sound option…”
“No!” Alex had retorted internally, trembling with the horror of the thought. “Anything but Slytherin!”
“Anything?” The Sorting Hat had seemed to laugh. “Why the fear?” He paused and hummed thoughtfully before he chuckled, as though with a sudden revelation. “Ah-ha! I see a fear of scorn, do I not? And yet, Slytherin would be just the place to help you achieve your dreams… You hope to be an auror, yes?”
Alex had only nodded in the slightest. Thoughts of all the ways her mother had insulted Slytherins ran through her mind, and she felt like she might be sick.
“Hmm. Such a job requires courage, which I see much of in you, as well… perhaps I should consider Gryffindor…”
The deliberating had been excruciatingly long, until the Sorting Hat had given a final hmph and roared, “SLYTHERIN!”
Alex’s smile fades. I was so excited to be sorted until he mentioned Slytherin, she thinks. Then I was just afraid. She remembers how she had walked down to the Slytherin table, trembling at the thought of what her mother had said. And yet, the Slytherins had whooped and cheered at having her, and despite how… difficult they could be at times, she can't imagine what another house would be like.
“SLYTHERIN!” The Hat shouts, and Alex blinks. She’d missed the name, but she claps along with her house as a young girl, beaming, hurries down to join the table.
“Hey.” Alex looks up to see Lena Luthor, a fellow sixth year, slide onto the bench beside her. Lena had been another long decision—not quite long enough to be considered a Hatstall, but certainly long enough to make people curious. According to Lena, the Sorting Hat had gone back and forth between Ravenclaw and Slytherin, and Alex could see why. Although Lena was certainly ambitious, she was also incredibly smart, and didn't seem have that stereotypical Slytherin ruthlessness to her. (Alex would never admit it, but she sometimes wondered if Lena was smarter than she was.)
“Where were you?” Alex asks. Lena and Alex weren't exactly friends—not that Alex really had many people she’d consider friends—but they'd been friendly ever since Alex had saved her life in their third year by stunning a Hippogriff that had been insulted by another student and had decided to start rampaging on them. Lena was one of the few Slytherins that Alex didn't feel would sell her out for the right price, and she figured the feeling was mutual.
“In the bathroom,” Lena says, breezily. “Did I miss anything?”
“I wasn't really paying attention,” Alex admits with a shrug.
A girl across from them, Siobhan, rolls her eyes. “Of course you weren't,” she sneers.
Alex scowls as she makes eye contact with her. While Lena and Alex might not be the type of person Alex’s mother makes all Slytherins out to be, Siobhan is a classic Slytherin through-and-through. While clever and often charming, she was absolutely willing to stab anyone in the back if it meant she’d get a leg up. Once, in their second year, Siobhan and Alex had been competing for the place of being top of the class in Potions, and Siobhan had snuck out after hours, broke into the classroom, and rubbed Oil of Newt all over the inside of Alex’s cauldron, as well as the cauldrons of several other successful students. Their potions the following day went horrifically wrong, and Siobhan not only received top marks for the term, but was given a luck potion. Instead of using it for something like acing a test or ensuring she’d dominate in a duel, she gleefully informed Alex that the spoiled potions were her doing, drank the potion, and asked out the Hufflepuff boy who’d been flirting with Alex for weeks to the Winter Ball.
So, yeah, saying that Alex and Siobhan didn't get along was something of an understatement.
“Two boys and one girl to Gryffindor, a boy to Hufflepuff, and the last girl just came to us,” Siobhan sighs, casting Alex another incredulous look.
Oh, fuck off, Alex thinks.
“Ugh,” Lena groans. “Gryffindor better not get all the first-years. I swear, if we lose the House Cup to them again , I'm going turn all their stupid scarves into weasels.”
Okay, so maybe Lena was a little more Slytherin than Alex often thought.
“I hear they've got a new captain for their Quidditch team,” Leslie Willis, a fifth year, says, as she leans in closer. “Apparently she's pretty good. Can't get a name, though.”
Alex snorts and crosses her arms. “Yeah, right. They're probably just bluffing. Either way, there's no way we’re losing to Gryffindor this year.”
“We better not,” Siobhan hisses.
Alex just rolls her eyes, and she smirks a little as she notices Lena do the same. Alex is both the Captain and Seeker for Slytherin’s team, while Lena plays as one of their chasers. Siobhan, however, hasn’t touched a broomstick since first year flying lessons, but that has never has stopped her from making snide remarks towards Alex when games don't go so well.
“Pick up a broom and then you can talk,” Lena retorts, crossing her arms.
Alex can't help but grin at the way Siobhan immediately withers. Siobhan, for as terrible as she is, has always been desperate to be liked—and lately, she's been especially eager to have Lena befriend her.
Siobhan opens her mouth to say something, but the Sorting Hat interrupts her with a roar of “HUFFLEPUFF!”, and she glares silently at the young boy who scrambles down to join his house’s table.
“Whatever,” Siobhan sighs. They watch as the hat is lowered onto another boy’s head, but it has hardly touched his head for a moment before the hat declares he is a Gryffindor.
Lena lets out another groan and slaps her palm to her forehead. “We’re doomed,” she mutters dubiously.
The next three, two boys and a girl, are sent quickly to Gryffindor. The Hat deliberates for a minute apiece on the next two girls, before the first is sent to Slytherin and the next to Hufflepuff. Alex brings her attention back to Lena. “How was your summer?” she asks.
Lena scowls, and Alex has a feeling that she asked the wrong question. “Oh, I’m sure you’ve read the Prophet.”
Alex frowns lightly. “No,” she says. “Did something happen?”
“Ouch,” Siobhan sniffs. “Insensitive, much?”
Alex looks around at the table, but no one seems to want to answer. “What?” she asks. “Am I missing something here?”
Lena frowns and stares down at the table. “Well, if I don’t tell you, someone will. Lex was shipped off to Azkaban in June. Happy?”
Alex blinks, surprised. She didn’t know a lot about Lex Luthor, aside from his strong blood purity sentiments. She knew that Lena was close to him, and that Lena, like Kara, had been adopted into her family, but otherwise, Lena didn’t talk much about her family. I’ll see if she wants to talk later, Alex thinks. She wouldn’t want to do it like this. “I’m sorry,” Alex offers, quietly. “I seriously had no idea.”
“I’d ask you how yours was,” Lena murmurs. “But I have been reading the Daily Prophet.”
Alex swallows thickly. “Um,” is all she manages.
Lena sighs. “I'm sorry, that was rude. I'm sure they'll find him.”
Maybe, Alex thinks. But she doesn't want to talk or think about… that , and she stares down at the table silently.
“How many more kids until this is over?” Leslie huffs impatiently. “I'm starving.”
“Too many,” Alex mutters.
The rest of the Sorting, however, goes smoothly, and it isn't long before the last boy is sent to Hufflepuff.
“How many did we get?” Lena asks, a touch of hopefulness in her voice.
“Seven,” Leslie reports.
“And Gryffindor?”
“Eleven.”
Lena lets out a final groan of defeat before she leans forward and rests her forehead on the table. “I'm going to start paying extra attention in Transfigurations,” she mutters.
Later that night, after the festivities have ended, and after all the first years have been led to their respective dormitories, Alex sinks into her bed with a sigh. Her chubby cat is already fast asleep at the foot of her bed, and she figures that she can unpack her things after classes tomorrow.
“Hey, Alex,” Lena says, as she leans in the doorway to the girl’s dormitory. The wing is relatively empty, aside from a few girls who are already asleep. She seems to hesitate, as though remembering the awkward moment at dinner regarding their summers, and stares at the floor for a few moments before speaking. “Um, if you want, some of us are sneaking off to the Dueling Dungeon. A couple kids brought some Firewhiskey and some others got ahold of some Muggle liquor.”
Alex bites her lip. Part of her wants to. Slytherins, to their credit, knew how to have a good party, and she was already feeling a little shitty after dinner and wouldn’t be opposed to a drink or four. Then again… Classes did start tomorrow, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to start off with a hangover.
“Another time,” Alex promises. “But I’m pretty tired.”
Lena smiles a little and nods. “Sure,” she says. “Next time. Night.”
Alex sprawls out on her bed and sighs again. She has a feeling this year is going to be a very long one.
Alex is awaken as a heavy stack of papers lands directly on her face. She lets out a tired grumble and pulls the papers off her face, and scowls as she realizes it’s the Daily Prophet. Kara’s barn owl sits, perched on Alex’s bedpost, clacking his beak impatiently.
“What do you want?” Alex asks, voice still hoarse from sleep. “I don’t have any food for you, and I’m sure as hell not giving you any cat food.”
The owl lets out a small roo of displeasure and ruffles his feathers before he lifts off and flies off her bed, across the room, and straight up the chimney.
That can’t be safe, Alex thinks, dryly, before she sits up and glances down at the newspaper on her lap. She stiffens instantly at the headline and swallows. Oh, Merlin’s beard…
After nearly two months of searching, renowned auror Jeremiah Danvers is still missing after reportedly going after a number of radical blood purists. According to Minister Mardsin, Danvers was one of the top aurors in the Ministry before he went missing. Danvers was responsible for breaking up numerous radical groups throughout Europe, including those who made attempts to build a resurgence of Death Eaters.
Led by Lord Voldemort in the Second Wizarding War, Death Eaters were infamous for their blood purity sentiments, and resorted to illegal curses to torture, maim, and kill those who stood in their way. Although ultimately stopped by Harry Potter, their beliefs are still strongly held throughout the wizarding world.
Despite the recent election of Minister Mardsin and her efforts to promote peace between muggleborn and pure-blooded wizards, hate crimes seem to be spiking in recent years. Many wizards are wondering— are these just random acts of hate, or is another wizarding war headed our way?
Cont. Pg 9.
Alex’s mouth feels dry, and her throat is too tight as she balls the paper up before she throws it into the fireplace. There was no fire, and she didn't have the energy to grab her wand and incinerate it, but she's sure someone will burn it soon.
Alex bites back tears as she grabs her trunk and opens it to find her robes. Damn the Prophet , she thinks, bitterly. And damn that stupid owl for bringing it to me.
Today is going to be, undoubtedly, a shitty day.
Alex trudges into the Potions classroom, hefting her cauldron and books to store away in the classroom. She isn't exactly thrilled by the idea of having N.E.W.T. level Potions first thing in the morning, but Professor Armstrong had told her it was the only way he could fit her into one of his N.E.W.T. classes this year.
Alex frowns as she sees the students already there. There are a few Ravenclaws, and two Hufflepuff boys, but the room is primarily Gryffindor, and Alex just heaves a heavy sigh as she sits on a stool at an empty table and sets her cauldron down.
“Is first period Potions so low in attendance that they started bringing in Slytherins?”
Alex glances up from the table. A girl stands before her, arms folded despite the smirk on her face. Alex can’t decide if it’s friendly or mocking, but based on the red-and-gold Gryffindor scarf, she wouldn’t be surprised if it was the latter. “I have to take it to get all my N.E.W.T.s,” she explains, begrudgingly. “Otherwise I can’t be an auror.”
The grin only seemed to grow. “Auror, huh? Looks like I’m going to have competition.”
The professor’s voice interrupts them, harsh and full of irritation. “Sit down, Sawyer. Right by Miss Danvers will do.”
Both girls wince. Alex glances at the girl out of the corner of her eye as she moves to sit. This wasn’t how she hoped to start sixth year—stuck with a cocky Gryffindor.
Professor Armstrong clears his throat, and the students still standing quickly find seats and fall silent. “Thank you,” he begins. “Welcome to N.E.W.T level Potions. You are here, presumably, because you need the grade to get some top-notch job, or you wouldn't be wasting your time here. This class will not be easy, and I will not give you an Outstanding just like that. That being said, I'm trying out a new method this year…” he yawns as he settles down at his desk and puts on a pair of glasses. “You will each have a partner to work with for the duration of the year. This partner will be whoever you are currently sitting with— and no, Mister Schott, they will not be negotiable.”
Alex glances over her shoulder to see a Ravenclaw boy’s hand drop, face looking crestfallen.
Me too, she thinks, looking back at the girl beside her and grimacing. Me too.
The girl has the nerve to stick out her tongue .
“What are you, five?” Alex hisses.
The girl just rolls her eyes.
“What's your problem?” Alex demands, already seething. “Did I step on your robe on the way in?”
“Danvers!” Professor Armstrong barks. “Keep it down. I'm not finished.”
The Gryffindor girl beside her casts her a triumphant grin, and Alex just burns with rage.
Armstrong began to drone on about how they were expected to study with their partner outside of class and would brew potions in class in their pairs. He then went on to talk about Potions safety, and Alex began to seriously consider banging her head against the desk—both out of boredom from this first year nonsense and out of utter irritation towards the girl beside her, who just seemed to grow more infuriatingly amused every time she looked at Alex.
Finally, Armstrong dismisses them, telling them to be prepared to brew tomorrow, and the students begin to collect their things.
The Gryffindor girl smirks again as they both stand. “Looks like I'm stuck with you.”
God , Alex was going to hate that stupid , dimpled smile. “I–I–” Alex stammers furiously, before she spits, lamely, “I'll have you know that I'm great at making potions.”
The girl just raises and eyebrow and snorts. “We’ll see.” She offers Alex her hand. “Maggie Sawyer.”
Alex scowls and crosses her arms. “Alex Danvers.”
“Right…” Maggie says, and closes her fist before she drops her arm awkwardly. “Guess I'll be seeing you around, Danvers.”
“Don't count on it,” Alex mutters as she whips around and storms out of the Potions room. She doesn't care that she will obviously have to be seeing Maggie soon.
Fuck this day, she thinks. And fuck Maggie Sawyer.