Chapter Text
It's been many years since the dark wizard known as 'Voldemort' was defeated. Though peace had reigned since Voldemort's fall, few knew how close the world hovered to darkness once again.
It was only a matter of time.
The Weighing of the Wands
Theodore awoke as he would any other day and slowly sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes before sliding out of bed. He yawned, running a hand through his thick, black hair; a half-hearted attempt to tame the mess it was.
Rather unenthusiastically, he got himself dressed and proceeded out of his room to his kitchen, where he placed two slices of bread into his toaster. Whilst waiting for his breakfast, he turned on the radio that sat on the counter to listen to the local news, something he did every day. In a way, it made him feel closer to his mother.
As he stood in the kitchen waiting for his breakfast, he hadn't even realized that he'd zoned out until the unmistakable scent of burning toast wafted up into his nose. Eyes widened, he frantically popped the blackened bread out of the toaster and frowned as he set them on the plate, buttering them anyway. This had been the third time this last week it had happened, and despite not being particularly happy about it, burnt toast truly wasn't all that bad.
After finishing his breakfast, he quickly brushed his teeth and turned off the radio before heading out the door.
It was no more than a fifteen minute walk to the school from his house, and with the sun shining that morning, it was a pleasant walk, to say the least.
*****
"Gwen! Get out of the bathroom already!"
Silence.
Alex huffed. He'd already spent fifteen minutes outside the bathroom door, waiting on his younger sister. Was she really going to make him late on his last day of school? Normally, he wouldn't have cared at all, and would have even been grateful for the excuse of tardiness. But this was an opportune day for him.
He soon heard footsteps march up the stairs. Rounding the corner was his mother, Tara.
"Are you almost done yelling at your sister so I can get you two to school? I'm running late for work."
"But Mum I—" Alex protested, but she wasn't having it.
"Uhp uhp, no buts. Downstairs. Now." Tara gave her son a look of warning before she spun around, heading back downstairs.
Alex threw up his arms in indignation the moment his mother's gaze left him. He went to follow her downstairs when he heard what suspiciously sounded like a giggle come from the bathroom door. He stopped, but decided against action and continued downstairs, where he found his mother putting in her second earring.
"Got your rucksack?" Tara asked.
Alex nodded, and turned to show her.
"Gwendolyn hurry up and get down here!" She shouted up the steps. And sure enough, mere seconds later, down came Gwendolyn, skipping down the steps.
"Oh now you come out," said Alex irritably.
Gwen frowned. "I thought my hair looked funny."
Alex usually got along with Gwen, but today it seemed she felt like testing his patience.
"Alright you two, let's go, get in the car," said their mother, out of breath.
"Aw mum, it would be so cool if I showed up on my broom on the last day, can I do that pleaaaase?" Alex asked.
Tara turned and raised an eyebrow.
Alex knew the answer now. And with that, he solemnly left, and got in the car with his mother and sister.
Since they lived in seclusion, they did have to drive to school. Though, Alex knew that once they were out of the car, his mother would get to the Ministry by her own magical means.
*****
Outside Cranbrook Primary, students gathered in tightly knit packs, all of whom seemed to be excitedly discussing their plans for the summer.
Theo didn't have any particular plans, and figured his summer would be spent reading, or some such thing. Eventually, he reached the doors to the school, and sighed lightly, passing by the other students, as they entered the building.
A car door slammed nearby. Alex hopped out, slinging his rucksack over his shoulder. Gwen raced to his side as their mum offered a hasty wave before speeding off to her own busy day. The pair of them joined the throng and headed inside.
Alex and Theo, in their own separate little worlds, both found themselves funneling down the noisy school corridors, each lost in their own thoughts of summer and blissfully unaware of the day's impending trouble.
As Theo went to enter the classroom, he was shoved aside by a larger boy, with dirty blonde hair, named Vincent. Vincent had taken it into his hands to harass Theo at any opportune moment throughout all the years they've known each other. Having not expected to get shoved, Theo fell back onto the floor, sending his books clattering to the ground around him. The light above them flickered briefly.
He shot a glare at Vincent, who simply laughed and walked into the classroom, leaving Theo to pick himself, and his things up off the floor.
Alex, nearby, had just as much disdain for Vincent as anyone with half a brain. Of course, the incident was hard to miss. When no one came to help, Alex waved goodbye to his sister to go help the boy. He approached with an outstretched arm. "Hey, you alright?"
Theo was in the middle of collecting his books off the ground when he noticed the unfamiliar boy standing before him. Theo blinked at him, having not expected anyone to notice, much less step in. That wasn't how it worked in Cranbrook Primary.
Glancing up, he gave the boy a brief look of hesitation before accepting the helping hand. "I'm fine.... Thanks," he said in a low tone, once he was back to his feet.
Alex smiled and began helping him with his books. "You know, you shouldn't let someone like that get to you. One day we'll be gone, and he'll still be here scrubbing the floors like a loser."
Theo couldn't help but to crack a small smile at that. "Maybe you're right," he said, nodding lightly. "Anyway, thanks again... um...." he stammered, not sure exactly who this kid was.
"Alex. And you're Theodore, right? Reid? Well, anyways, we better get to class. It might be the last day but old Mr. Crawford is just as nasty as ever."
"Oh, um, yeah, that's me." Theo nodded, now recalling seeing Alex in class, but not having actually spoken to him until now. He glanced back toward the classroom at the mention of Mr. Crawford, and furrowed his brow, once again nodding. "Probably should," he agreed. With that, he followed Alex into the classroom.
*****
Mr. Crawford was, generally speaking, a wanker; A popular name Alex had heard his older brother, Wyatt, use quite often (Especially when he told Alex about Mr. Crawford).
It was horrible the minute class started. The door slammed shut as the old man made his way in.
"Alright you horrible little children. Get out your books. Now," He said.
For a moment, no one did anything, bristling slightly under the clear hatred they'd grown used to. Until Alex spoke up.
"But, sir, it's our last day, what could we possibly—" he began as Mr. Crawford was writing something on the board.
But Mr. Crawford shut him down.
"How many times do I have to tell you that I will not tolerate back-talk in this classroom Mr. Carter? Hm? I said... get out your books," he growled.
Reluctantly, everyone did as he asked and awaited the final lesson of the year to begin.
*****
Theo sat silently at the back of the classroom listening to Mr. Crawford drone on and on as the hours slowly trickled by like the sand in an hourglass. Upon hearing the bell ring, he almost immediately shot up out of his seat, eager to get out of the classroom and away from the miserable old man. Seeing the other students standing up, he proceeded to the cafeteria feeling pretty hungry after having only had burnt toast for breakfast.
Upon entering the cafeteria, Alex saw Gwen in the corner of the room with her head down. Since different years had their lunches separately, this was of immediate concern to him. He went to the table and sat down.
"Hey... what's up?" he said calmly.
Gwen slowly raised her head. It was clear she had been crying.
Alex felt a great anger rise up in his chest. He already had a feeling what this was about; One of Vincent's lackeys came over at that moment, suppressing the urge to laugh.
"Alright there, airhead? Hurt your feelings, did I? Didn't realize stupid people even had feelings," he teased.
Alex was not going to have it.
Shooting up, Alex got right in the boys face and grabbed him by the collar. This, in hindsight, was probably not a good idea, regarding the boy's sheer size.
"Leave. Now," he growled before shoving him.
The boy frowned, his lip curling to a sneer.
"You'll pay for that," was all he said before walking away, leaving the two siblings.
Alex sat down next to Gwen, encouraging her to stay for his lunch as well. "We'll make an excuse later, yeah?" He asked.
Gwen nodded, wiping a tear from her eye.
"Thank you, Alex," she said.
Alex nodded and gave her a half-smile. After this, Alex went and retrieved his lunch, which to his dismay happened to be chunks of chicken and peas in a thick, gluey white sauce served over a thin slice of limp bread. In other words, slop.
Theo was usually one to sit by himself, or with one or two of the classmates he was still friendly with, after distancing himself from the other students. After retrieving the rather sad looking tray of food, from the lunch line, he glanced around for somewhere to sit and noted Alex, who appeared to be sitting with a girl whom seemed to be at least a year younger than them. Whilst he was distracted, the brutish clod, known as Vincent, decided that this was an opportune time to harass Theo, yet again.
"How's it going, Theo?" Vincent questioned in a mocking tone, coming up from behind Theo, with a tray of food in his hands. "I'm surprised you even showed up today. I mean, why bother, right? It's not like anyone here actually cares. But you're used to that, right?" he spoke, with a smug expression, burned into his piggish face.
Theo frowned, but stood his ground "Why don't you just give it a rest, Vincent? It's the last day of school. Don't you have anything better to do?" he questioned, having heard all of this before.
"Hmm... lemme think about that.... No!" Vincent then slapped Theo's tray from his hands, causing it to clatter to the floor, at their feet. "Oh no, you dropped your lunch!" he feigned ignorance of his actions. "You're always making a mess of everything. Maybe you really should've stayed home, or whatever it is you do, eh, Theo?" he said, his smirk turning into a grin, as he looked Theo right in the face.
Theo had had enough of this. He couldn't go one day without something like this happening, not one. He had hoped things would at least be different on the last day. His frown turned into a deep scowl and his fists clenched, but before he could even flinch, the tray on the floor clattered and was sent flying straight into Vincent's nose like a rocket.
This caused the boy to recoil and grip his nose in pain as it started to bleed.
"You... you freak! You broke my nose!" he exclaimed dramatically, tears welling up in his eyes as he backed away.
Theo's eyes went wide. He quickly shook his head, entirely shocked.
"I didn't... it wasn't me... I..."
He had said these words before when similar occurrences had happened, but never had it been as bold as this.
Alex's head snapped to the sound of all the commotion. It was no surprise that this would happen based on what happened earlier. Anything involving Vincent was just another bomb waiting to pop. But even from across the cafeteria, Alex could see Vincent's nose bleeding.
Had Theo actually done something about it this time? He motioned for Gwen to stay put and made his way over, just as many of the other students had. Most of which were egging on the potential fight.
Theo's eyes darted around to the gathering crowd, as the situation spiraled out of control. It was all so overwhelming. There was no way out of this though, and all he could do was insist upon his innocence.
"Really, I didn't do it..." he continued to say, even as teachers began to funnel in to diffuse whatever was going on.
It seemed Vincent was about to retaliate when Alex felt the need to intervene. He came up and threw an arm out in front of Theo.
"You heard him. He didn't do anything, so just leave it, yeah?" he said, falsely calm.
But before anything else could be said a punch was thrown into the side of Alex's face by the boy from before — the one who had harassed Gwen. Alex stumbled to the side, and held his face with a hand.
"Told you you'd pay," the boy said.
Alex was just about to lunge at the child when a hand grabbed the back of his collar.
It was Mr. Crawford.
"Classroom. Now," he uttered nastily. He grabbed Theo by the collar as well. "You too," he sneered, escorting them out of the cafeteria and back to class.
As Crawford dragged Theo and Alex out of the cafeteria, Theo glared daggers at Vincent and his dense pal. Things had escalated quickly, and Theo already knew that the school would most likely inform his mother of this, which he didn't want. Not because he was afraid of getting in trouble, but because he knew his mother had better things to be worrying about.
Despite it all, he had been shocked to see Alex step in the middle of the fight even though it had nothing to do with him. Yet, even though Theo was grateful for it, now they were both in hot water.
After practically being thrown into the classroom, Crawford ordered the boys to sit. He then sat down at his desk, facing the two boys.
"Now, do you know why you two are in here?" He asked.
"No, actually, I don't." Alex started, feeling angry. "What the bloody hell was that?! You might as well have given Vincent a thumbs up and a smile!"
Crawford stood up at once, grabbing his ruler and striding over to Alex.
Alex gripped the desk as Mr. Crawford pointed the ruler directly at his face.
"You know, Mr. Carter, if you keep acting like an insolent little shit, you're going to end up like your good-for-nothing brother in St. Brutus'," he spat nastily. "Not that I don't think you'd end up there anyway," he added coldly with a curling sneer. He then turned to walk away.
"Wanker..." Alex muttered behind his back.
But Crawford wouldn't have it.
Right away, he spun around and struck Alex across the face with the ruler with a sound that seemed to echo after it left. It seemed as though Crawford wanted to say something else, but the moment he struck Alex, there was a loud crack followed by a webbing fracture in the window.
Alex gritted his teeth and clenched the desk so hard his fingers began to hurt.
"Damn kids..." muttered Crawford as he went to go see what had caused the window to crack. Concluding that it must have been a stray football, he shot Alex a nasty look and sat back down.
Theo remained silent, watching this play out. He wanted to say something in Alex's defense, but the moment he was going to speak up, the sound of the window cracking distracted him. Turning to see what had caused the sound, he spotted the fracture in the window and he furrowed his brow, wondering what might've caused it. He wasn't dumb enough to believe it was just a stray football. There were clearly no other children outside.
As Mr. Crawford went to sit back down, Theo stood up from his seat, not being able to just let Alex take the fall for this whole thing. "It wasn't Alex's fault, Mr. Crawford. It was me Vincent had a problem with. Alex was just trying to help," he insisted.
Crawford snorted. "No matter. You children are all the same. You'll both get what's coming to you when I give you both extra summer work, or perhaps — better yet — summer detention? Hmm?"
He awaited a response.
Theo simply scowled at the teacher. There was no winning with people like this. Without making a rebuttal, he sat back down in his seat and turned his gaze toward the cracked window, wishing he was outside and away from all this. He supposed he should have known better than to believe in 'different' days. They always ended the same anyhow.
Oh no, now I've done it.... Alex thought to himself. He felt that he may have just ruined the poor boy's summer, whether it was even his fault or not. He put his head down and waited for class to continue and the day to end.
And so it did. For the last couple of hours, the class continued with its revision, topped with a pop quiz for the final hour. When the final bell of the year rang, most everyone cheered and celebrated; all but the two boys who had an awful last day.
On his way out with Gwen, Alex caught Theo's eye and gave him a small, sad wave of goodbye. He then got in his mum's car and headed home to begin his summer.
Theo watched the car drive off before turning and proceeding down the sidewalk, wondering just what he had gotten himself into and what awaited him when he got home. He figured his mother wouldn't be around when he got to the house, as was the case any other day.