Ch. 5

(Samuel Lestrange Pov)

...

Samuel awoke bright and early as usual the next day after having gone to bed as soon as the feast in the great hall ended. He practiced Occlumency building up the impenetrable fortress in his mind for a few hours before he finally fell asleep.

Shit, now that I'm here, I'm definitely going to need my OcclAumency on point. This is the worst possible thing that could have happened….. I'll need to see Snape after potions as well.

Samuel sighed and quickly got dressed into his school robes, deciding to forgo his morning training and get a lay of the land inside the castle instead. He had around 2 hours until breakfast began at 8:00 Am, and he planned on making every second of that time count. He was currently in a house that was likely hostile to him.

It would be nice if the Gryffindors could be friendly with me, but I shouldn't count on it. My mother likely hurt a lot of these blood traitors' families.

"THOSE FILTHY MUGGLE LOVERS!" He screamed in his mind while clamping down on his occlumency shields to stuff down his rage.

I can't fucking believe this shit! This makes things so much harder, but at the same time, it could be an opportunity for me to be this close to Longbottom and the Potters. Everything will become clear when I speak to Severus. I know it!

For the next few hours, Samuel traversed the massive castle that was Hogwarts. First, he went around, portrait watching, and moved to find out where his classes would be held. He made his way through the nearly empty hallways, simply enjoying the scenery. He went from Transfiguration, to Charms, to the sprawling dungeons, to the courtyard, to the library, to the herbology greenhouse, and finally to the DADA classroom. He made a mental note of where these important destinations were so he could get to them quickly and get to class on time. He kept his eyes peeled, looking for potential escape routes should he be pursued by some of the upperclassmen.

If they come, I'm going to make them wish they hadn't. Though it's not like I can just kill them out in the open here at Hogwarts. If they don't cause me problems, I won't give them any despite each and every one of them being filthy blood traitors and muggle lovers.

Nobody was around, Samuel pulled out his father's pocket watch, one of his only mementos of who the miserable wretch once was. It was silver with the letters R.C.L., Rodolphus Cyrille Lestrange, engraved onto the surface of the silver watch.

7:50, I need to get to breakfast.

Samuel sighed as he ran his thumb over the pocket watch, his thoughts returned to the pathetic wretch of a man in that cell. His eyes became a bit wet, but a resolute expression crossed his face.

I need to get stronger; I need to get stronger than both of my parents. Right now, I am not even close to their level... I can't let what happened to them happen to me, I just- I can't. I will become so powerful the Aurors can't touch me. Eventually, even Dumbledore will have to take me into consideration before making a move. I am around the strength of a 5th year right now, I need more, it's simply not enough. I won't make the same mistakes my parents did when serving the dark lord, they were simply too weak to make the cut in the end.

Samuel felt a wave of intense fear wash over him. Greyback's vicious wolf-like eyes popped into his mind, they were ice cold, the eyes of a true predator. He gulped and thought,

Shit, what if I'm not good enough. I already wasn't good enough to make it into Slytherin. If I become useless garbage, what if they hand me over to Greyback for good?

Samuel shook his head trying to squash the feelings of fear and doubt that were currently wreaking havoc inside of his young mind. He took a deep breath,

"Focus on getting stronger, focus on getting stronger, focus on getting stronger, focus on getting stronger." He thought, repeatedly saying the mantra in his mind over and over as he made his way to the Great Hall for a magical breakfast. While he walked, his stomach growled, and he was pulled away from his surroundings. He only focused on the mantra in his mind. Suddenly, he was snapped out of his reverie. He realized he had forgotten lesson number one.

Always pay attention to your surroundings. If Lucius were here, he would have Hexed him.

Luckily, nothing happened this time. However, before he knew it, he had made it to the large open wooden doors that led into the great hall. Students from every house slowly streamed inside. The noise from their various conversations snapped him out of his reverie and introspection.

Suddenly, he felt another wave of fear wash over him.

Bloody Hell, I am not even moving right! What is going on with me!

Samuel sighed and silently slipped into a crowd of Gryffindors who were chatting and making their way inside.

Samuel made his way to a large oak table that ran long ways down the entirety of the great hall. The Gryffindor Table was absolutely massive. He looked up and saw most of the professors already munching on sausage and eggs. As well as having other tasty treats that belonged to a traditional English breakfast.

Samuel made sure he sat at the end of the table closest to the professors in case someone wanted to try something sneaky first thing in the morning. He sighed and made himself a plate of some English muffins, a couple pieces of sausage, and a few eggs that were cooked over medium. He was starving, but remembered all the lessons he was taught on proper table manners.

He ate stealthily while keeping an eye on his surroundings. He caught a few of what looked to be 5th and 6th year boys stealing glances in his direction. This set off a few alarms in his head, but if they were planning something, it would be later, definitely not right now.

Hmmmm, I need to keep an eye on them.

Sam looked down at the sheet of paper with his classes on it.

First class is transfiguration with McGonagall.

Time quickly passed, and Sam ate in silence, not speaking to any of the blood traitors surrounding him.

Wait! If I'm a Gryff. Does that make me a blood traitor? Gosh, Lucius is not going to be happy, I already consorted with a Mudblood yesterday on the train.

Samuel slipped through the crowd as stealthily as possible and began to make his way to McGonagall's classroom.

Suddenly, he was overcome with the feeling of a full bladder after drinking so much Orange Juice this morning.

Samuel checked his pocket watch, he still had around 15 minutes to kill. He could make a quick exit, pee, and get to his first class of the day no problem. He remembered where the nearest restroom was on this particular floor from earlier this morning.

Damn, they really should pass out maps for this school.

Samuel quickly made his way passed the classroom and a few other doors. He took a right around a sharp stone corner and briskly walked through a sea of students to the restroom at the end of the hall. As he walked, he saw the various portraits watching him, it felt a bit strange. He didn't know if he liked so many eyes on him.

The Malfoys had many portraits as well, but they mostly just minded their own business and didn't seem nearly as nosy as these. Plus, some of them were a bit creepy.

Samuel quickly entered the boy's lavatory; it was a walk-in lavatory so there wasn't really a door keeping the outside world from it. However, there was clearly a good bit of privacy, Sam took a left inside and followed the stone walls, quickly making his way to the urinals. Samuel walked up to one of them, whipped it out, and quickly began to relieve himself.

"Ahhhhhhhhh," Samuel let out a loud exhale as if he had been holding it in for a while.

Samuel was snapped back to attention by the sound of laughter from what seemed like a group of older boys. He was alert but did not look back. He merely reached inside his cloak and slid his wand up his sleeve in order to hide it. He felt his magical energy thrum with excitement as his wand made contact with his skin.

They seemed to be having a conversation and joking around about something. A few of them went inside the stalls and were shouting through the wall while they peed and used the bathroom.

Samuel quickly shook off the dribble, and when he saw the group of boys, he felt a sense of dread wash over him. It was a whole gang of upper-year Gryffindor students. Some of them were the students who were stealing glances at him during breakfast.

Shit, they must have followed me, I was careless. I'm not used to being surrounded by so many students to keep an eye on. I'm strong, If they were just third years, I'd probably be able to take them all without killing them as I go. There seems to be five, 5th year students, I'm not sure I can handle that many at once!

Samuel watched one of the dark-haired 5th-years out of the corner of his eye, making it seem like he wasn't paying attention to them as he washed his hands. He quickly flicked the water off his fingers and wrapped his right hand around the handle of his wand. Keeping it hidden from the three older boys behind him. One had dark hair, and two were blonde.

I can't feel any relief until I am out of the bathroom.

Samuel turned to leave when two students burst out of the stalls firing stinging hexes at him.

"SPICULUM!" Three of the students screamed, waving their wands as purple jets of light flew out like bullets.

"PROTEGO!" Samuel screamed in his mind, waving his arm to deflect two of the blasts into the wall behind him, and sidestepping the third.

"Petrificus Totalus!" another screamed as a white curse flew his way. Samuel quickly deflected it into the wall by one of the students.

Shit so close!

Samuel kept his back to the wall to prevent the five students from totally encircling him.

"What is the meaning of this? I haven't done anything to you lot!" He screamed at them in an angry tone.

If he were older, it would likely have been scary, but he was just an 11-year-old whelp. Who was half the size of the five older students.

"You think we want a filthy Death Eater in our house!" One of them screamed, and the rest nodded in acknowledgment.

Shit, I might be able to escape if I really wanted to, but they would keep coming for me. I need to make them regret messing with me. My chances of victory are…. Unlikely as things stand. It's times like this I really wish my magical core was capable of unleashing the unforgivable curses. I have the killing intent, just not enough magical power within me to use them yet…. How unfortunate I'd love to watch these blood traitors suffer under the Cruciatus.

He quickly came up with a battle plan on the fly and kept his wand trained on them. Then it began.

"Stupefy!" He screamed as he felt his magical energy pour out through his arm, producing a thick red beam of magic that shot out at a high speed from the tip of his wand.

It flew at the blonde-haired 5th year straight across the room from him. The spell quickly blew apart with a loud bang against the 5th year's shield. Before Samuel could do anything else, two bright red hexes were flying at him.

Samuel quickly rolled under one of the unfriendly beams of light and spoke a powerful Dark Eye Bleeding curse into existence, shooting it off at a Dark-haired upper year. The fifth year wasn't able to react in time, and he fell to the floor screaming in pain.

A familiar feeling of ecstasy coursed through Sam's veins from his use of dark magic.

"AGHHHHHHHHHHH!" the dark-haired fifth year cried as he clutched his eyes, and blood poured down his hands onto the dark brown stone below.

Four hexes flew at Sam from all directions, he managed to block two and quickly sidestep another while firing out a dark eye-bleeding curse and bone breaker curse at two of the students.

Samuel felt an intense amount of pain as the fourth student's bone breaker curse slammed into his left arm. He felt it instantly shatter once the curse struck.

"SHIT!" Sam thought as he grunted in pain, refusing to give them the satisfaction of knowing they hurt him.

This is nothing compared to the Cruciatus.

Samuel began wildly slicing the air with his wand, screaming the words "Lacerabis!" Over and over again.

He shot out several vibrant amethyst crescents at the four students. It was a powerful dark cutting curse, one that left horrible scars. Each slice pulled more and more magical energy from his core and once again filled him with a familiar orgasmic sensation. Samuel's eyes dilated. Each shot brought him more and more pleasure as he dumped a barrage of dark cutting curses out onto the four students. One was caught off guard by the flurry of spells, and was hit over and over again by the bright purple crescents.

Samuel bit his lip to stifle a pleasurable moan.

Blood sprayed from the dark haired fifth year's chest leaving deep wounds on his body, leaving deep scars that he would likely never be rid of. He turned pale white and quickly fell to the ground clutching his hand over the blood that was gushing from his torso.

Samuel grinned wildly as he watched the student go down. While the rest of the fifth years managed to conjure powerful shields to block the curses.

Three left

After casting the dark magic, Samuel felt powerful, unstoppable, he needed more, he craved more. His magic and wand thrummed with excitement at lashing out at these pathetic wretches with some darker spells.

He let out a hysterical laugh that came from deep within him. He couldn't stop it, it simply took over as he wildly smiled in defiance. Unbeknownst to him, that laugh sounded eerily similar to his mother.

"YOU WANNA FUCK WITH ME, EACH ONE OF YOU WILL HAVE TO PAY A STEEP PRICE TO TAKE ME OUT!" He screamed in between his manic laughter

What seemed like 20 spells flew in his direction in bright multicolored lights, Sam redirected several of them but there were simply too many. He took a stinging hex to the right side of his face, and it began to swell. Another bone breaker to his left shin, he heard the bone crack, but refused to fall down in pain. He continued to focus on blocking the seemingly never ending stream of curses being thrown at him.

Then Sam saw an opening, he took a dark eye bleeding curse straight to the face. He grunted in pain as he felt blood begin to pour from his eyes. Then he took a regular cutting curse on his chest. His chest quickly opened up and began spraying blood onto the cold stone floor below.

Sam Screamed, "BOMBARDA MAXIMA" and pointed his wand at the floor between two of the older Gryffindors. Samuel felt a huge pull on the magical energy inside of him, and a White bolt of energy slammed into the floor kicking up a massive amount of stone rubble, and dust. The spell threw one of the Gryffindors into a sink which shattered under his weight, and one into the stone wall behind him.

"Incendio!" The final Gryffindor standing screamed.

The spell slammed into his right thigh, and the smell of burning flesh filled the air. The pants covering his right leg had a large hole burned through them, exposing the once creamy white skin on his leg now charred black.

Samuel screamed in pain, "AGHHGHHGH!"

However, he didn't fall, feeling so indignant because of these blood traitors. He felt murderous, he wanted them to hurt.

Samuel flicked out his wand at the two Gryffindors struggling on the ground sending bright white bone breaking curses at their legs and torsos. Loud cracking sounds rang out as they screamed bloody murder from the pain.

Four more stinging hexes came for Samuel from the final Gryffindor standing, Sam quickly blocked them, but his movements were becoming sluggish. He could no longer really dodge, and his magical energy was running very low. He didn't know if he was making it out of this one.

I can't let these bastards knock me unconscious who knows what they will do to me.

Samuel whispered into existence several bright red stupefies that burst out from the tip of his wand. Each jet of bright red light was quickly blocked by the dark haired fifth year who sent out several bright red stunners of his own. Sam quickly threw up his shield once again, each stunner exploded against it in a shower of bright red sparks. Samuel was so exhausted at this point, he fell down to one knee no longer able to stand. The buzz of the dark magic and adrenaline were the only things keeping him going.

He whispered the spells under his breath, and quickly shot out an Incendio and a bright red stupefy, but what the dark haired upperclassmen didn't know was that there was a dark purple Reductor curse hidden under the bright red stupefy and sparkling Incendio he was currently blocking. The Reductor curse slammed into his hip. Loud cracking sounds rang out as his hip shattered and he flew through one of the stalls. Wood splintered and flew everywhere. He finally came to a stop when he made contact with the cold stone wall.

Samuel fell to the floor for a moment, feeling completely magically exhausted. He stared up at the ceiling of the now completely destroyed bathroom, lost in thought.

Can I even consider this a victory? They did damn near as much damage to me as I did to them. My left arm and leg are broken. I'm leaking blood from my eyes, my face likely looks like I've been stung by a hornet's nest, I can't see out of my right eye, and my right leg is burned to shit. Merlin, this is my first day, too. I really need to get stronger much faster, or I fear I won't survive the year.

Samuel sighed and checked his fathers silver pocket watch, it was 8:15 am currently.

Ugh shit, and I'm late to class too. What a bloody awful morning. I suppose I should get going; perhaps McGonagall will be able to use a few counter curses on me, and I can begin training my favorite subject, Transfiguration. I wonder when I'll be able to use it in battle. Damn this, accursed learning thing! I wish I could just skip to the end and enjoy my power!

Samuel clenched his fists and slowly rose to his feet. Water was beginning to pool around them flowing from the broken sinks and toilets smashed in the fight. He looked over at the blood traitors on the ground and spit in their general direction.

"Piss off! I was just minding my own business. You're lucky I don't kill you lot." Sam said, feigning his bravado. There genuinely was nothing more he could do to them. He was too weak.

Whelp, that escalated quickly let's get a move on then. Try to enjoy the rest of our first day of school and hopefully not get attacked by idiots anytime soon.

Samuel dusted himself off and fixed his hair a bit, trying to make himself look slightly more presentable. Once he was satisfied he began to hobble off, leaving behind five bruised, broken, and bleeding fifth year Gryffindors in the now destroyed men's loo.

Walking on a broken leg is painful damn, not that I haven't done it about a thousand times. Greyback loves to make me do that garbage.

Samuel shivered thinking about Greyback and his penchant for making his life as miserable as possible.

Stay positive, Samuel, you are just being a baby.

Samuel took pained steps all the way back to the transfiguration classroom and came up to the two big wooden doors dripping blood on the stone floor below.

Whelp here goes nothing, still better than what I'd be getting at home.

Samuel let out a light laugh at his predicament as he pressed his non-broken arm onto the large wooden door in front of him.

(Alyssum Potter Pov)

…

Harry said his scar hurt when he saw Quirrel last night at the speech. Something like that has never happened before. I hope he is alright.

Alyssum ran her fingers through her fiery red hair, a worried expression written onto her face. She looked up above at the clock by the strange cat sitting on the teachers desk, unmoving. Five after.

Where is Harry and Ron? They should be here by now, what are those two idiots up to?

" Hermione, have you seen Harry and Ron? They should be here by now?" Ally asked

"No, I haven't. I'm quite excited for this class though! Magic, isn't it just exciting?" Hermione said

Alyssum cocked an eyebrow at the studious girls antics, "Are you sure you're alright? It's just magic you know. I am more excited about making friends. Magic can be a bit boring, no?" She replied

"Of course you'd say that you've been around it your whole life. To me this was just a dream for quite some time." Hermione said folding her arms and shooting Ally a pointed look.

Alyssum shot her a thoughtful look, sighed, and rolled her eyes at the girl. "I suppose you are right. I've never thought about it like that before, I guess." she said

Jeez, where is Ginny when you need her?

Suddenly the door flung open. Harry and Ron made their way in quickly. Hermione looked back and shook her bushy head at their antics.

"Whew, we made it." Ron said in the quiet classroom as he and Harry walked up through the center isle of the classroom.

"Could you imagine the look on McGonagall's face if we were late?" Ron said to Harry

Suddenly, the tabby cat jumped off the teacher's desk and shifted into a tall, black-haired witch clad in emerald-green robes. She towered over Ron and Harry as she peered down at them through her spectacles. She had clearly startled both Harry and Ron.

So she is an animagus, like dad, I should have expected as much from the transfiguration professor.

"That was Bloody Brilliant!" Ron exclaimed

Alyssum choked back a laugh from her seat as McGonagall rolled her eyes at the Weasley.

"Well, thank you for that assessment, Mr. Weasley, perhaps it would be more useful if I were to transfigure Mr. Potter or yourself into a pocket watch? That way, one of you might be on time." She said

Both Harry and Ron looked down at their feet, while Alyssum took delight in their shared suffering from her seat next to Hermione.

"We got lost." Harry said

"Then perhaps a map!" McGonagall said sternly

Alyssum choked back another laugh at her twin brother's misfortune.

They both said, "Sorry professor." at the same time

"Alright, it's only the first day. Please take your seats. Do try to be on time from now on." She said

I think I quite like McGonagall; she can be a bit scary though. I wonder if when I'm older she can help me become an animagus.

Harry and Ron quickly slid into the two empty seats in front of her and Hermione.

Ally's eyes shifted from the back of her brother's shaggy head of hair that just refused to stay down no matter how much her or her brother messed with it, and over to the stern-faced witch in emerald-green robes.

"I wonder if we will ever find a proper gel for him." Alyssum wondered.

She sighed; little did she know the boy that had been on her mind since the night before was nowhere to be seen.

McGonagall tapped her wand on a piece of parchment that rose up into the air along with the quill on her desk. It hovered near her head as if waiting for something.

"I suppose that should be long enough. I will now take attendance and we shall begin our lecture." She said aloud, her nose held high as she surveyed the classroom.

"Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley, I already know you two are here." She said

As she spoke the quill began to write something on the piece of paper hovering in the air next to her.

"Alyssum, Potter." McGonagall said

"Here!" Alyssum said

"Seamus, Finnegan." McGonagall said

"Here!" Seamus replied

"Hermione, Granger." McGonagall said

"Here." Hermione replied

McGonagall went down the list, calling out names. As she went, the quill continuously scribbled on the floating piece of parchment.

"Samuel, Lestrange." She said looking around the classroom.

Ally also looked for the handsome young boy who seemed to take up most of her thoughts recently. However, there was no response in the quiet classroom.

Did he decide to not come to class, he has been a ghost since last night. Perhaps he just got lost, I didn't take him for the type to skip class like this. Though I suppose I don't exactly know him that well either.

Ally shook her head and returned her eyes to the class, pushing any thoughts of the strange boy from her mind.

"Alright, class many believe that transfiguration is the mere transformation of something into something else. I will have you know this is not a good explanation and is dumbed down to the extreme. It is the alteration of the form and state of the object you cast it upon. As you get further along in the subject, you will find it is quite difficult. There is much that goes into it, much we do know, and even more that we don't. It is not to be confused with alchemy, which is different and something I shall not go into at this time. They are different subjects and branches of magic. Can anyone tell me what the basic rules for transfiguration are?" She asked looking around the class

Hermione's hand shot up.

"Mrs. Granger, please enlighten us." McGonagall said

"Well, the first rule is that you can't take a mouse and make it into a house. You are limited by the amount of material you have to work with, though there is a bit of wiggle room. However, you may always make something smaller and more compact than it once was, though there even is a limit to this. You couldn't, for instance, turn the house into a mouse. Unless you possessed a crazy amount of magical energy, compressing an object that large could potentially kill the caster." She said

"Very good, five points to Gryffindor." McGonagall said with a light smile on her face.

"Does anybody else know any of the other rules?" She asked, looking around the classroom at all the young faces.

The class was silent as Alyssum looked around, waiting for someone to answer while taking notes.

Suddenly the doors flung open, and a student hobbled in, looking absolutely dreadful. He was limping on a leg he could barely keep straight, his left arm hanging uselessly at hi+s side as he clutched it with the other, his wand pressed up against his arm. Blood poured from both of his eyes, and the right side of his face was completely swollen. He looked like he had been cut across his chest, blood poured out causing his shirt to become wet with blood, and there was a hole on his right leg exposing the charred flesh underneath.

Bloody hell what happened to him, who is he?

A few seconds later her question was answered when she noticed the white streak of hair on his head.

Dear Merlin, it's him!

"Merlin! What happened to you!" McGonagall cried as she stopped her lecture at once quickly running over to the boy supporting him.

"Sorry, I'm late professor. You wouldn't happen to know the counter-curse for a stinging jinx or eye bleeding curse would you?" he said calmly like nothing was wrong blood continued to roll down from his eyes looking like he was crying tears of blood.

"Are you Samuel Lestrange?" She asked her voice shaken as she led him to a chair, which he promptly plopped down in. When he finally sat in the chair, his left foot began to hang at a strange angle now that he was no longer applying pressure to it.

"Ahhh, much better, and I figured that bit was obvious. How many eleven-year-olds do you know with white hair." he said his voice seemed hardly strained

Does he just not feel pain? This is so bloody disgusting.

She waved her wand across his face, and the swelling began to go down a bit and his eyes seemed to stop bleeding.

"Samuel, I want you to tell me exactly what happened to you now! Then I shall be escorting you straight to the hospital wing." she said in a worried almost motherly tone

"But I wanted to stay for the class, I think transfiguration is the coolest subject I've seen Mr. Malfoy do it, and it never ceases to amaze me. Please let me stay for the lecture. I want to learn. Please." He said in a pleading tone. If his face wasn't so swollen and disgusting, it might have actually been cute.

"You know, I think this might be the first time I've actually seen him act like a child." Ally thought with a worried expression on her face.

McGonagall rolled her eyes, "You dodged my question admirably, there will be other lectures you may attend when you aren't debilitatingly injured. Now answer my question." she said sternly.

He gazed innocently at the professor.

"Well, professor, one minute I was in the lavatory with some upper years, the next second I don't really remember. When I woke up on the floor, the bathroom was destroyed, and all the upper years were injured as well. You have to go help them; they are all severely wounded. I'm not sure what happened professor honestly…" Samuel said shrugging his shoulders.

"Must have been Slytherin." He said

Ally choked back a giggle at his Slytherin comment and rolled her eyes.

He definitely knows what happened.

"Are you sure that's all you have to say about the incident?" she asked with a skeptical look written across her face.

"Yes mam, there is nothing more I can remember." he replied nodding his head

"How many more are injured like yourself?" She asked

"Around five mam, I am the only one still moving from what I can remember." he stated calmly

"Merlin! Five!" She exclaimed pinching the bridge of her nose.

There were five upperclassmen, and for some reason only he walked away from this with heavy injuries. Something is definitely not right here, I wish I knew what happened.

"Well I suppose we should get you and the others to the hospital wing, judging by the state of your foot I take it you will not be walking there."

She quietly waved her wand and the chair he was on transformed into a stretcher, that Samuel quickly lay down on, eliciting a muffled groan from him. McGonagall then proceeded to tap the stretcher with her wand. The stretcher rose up to about shoulder height.

She looked around the class and said, "Please read the first two chapters of your introduction to transfiguration books by Wednesday. Thank you, class is dismissed early today." She said

She stormed out of the class quickly with Samuel on the floating stretcher trailing behind her.

"Well, that was quite strange. I didn't expect anything crazy to happen so soon, honestly." Ally thought as she watched the strange boy leave the classroom.