Hogwarts: The Blood Mage

"Hurry up, Aidan, we're going to be late!" Ivy rushed her son on the morning of September 1st. It was already edging into the afternoon, and Aidan still hadn't finished packing his trunk. "Aidan!"

"Don't worry, Ivy." Jack tried to placate his wife. "We can Apparate, remember?" 

"Yeah, and I would've liked to avoid that entirely!" Ivy protested. She had Apparated along her husband a few times and she loathed the feeling of being stretched into a vacuum —having your bowels reorganised momentarily was not a particularly nice feeling.

Upstairs, Aidan was still debating whether to bring his formal suit in case he needed it. His wand sat on his bed, gleaming white in the morning light —a silent reminder that his year would be different than he was used to.

*

After Apparating to King's Cross —much to Ivy's annoyance—, the family hurried through the barrier to Platform 9 3/4. As always, the platform was packed —a sea of bustling families, owls in cages, and trunks piled high— as students prepared to board the Hogwarts Express. The family swam through the crowd until they reached the edge of the platform. 

"Well… see you at Christmas, Mum, Dad?" Aidan asked, his voice softer than usual. So much had changed over the summer, but not this —not them. His relationship with Ivy and Jack remained the one constant in a world that was shifting beneath his feet.

Ivy hugged him tightly. "You better write, or I'll drag you out of that castle myself."

"She's serious," Jack added with a smirk. "Don't make me come up with excuses to save you from her ire."

"Excuse me?!" Ivy exclaimed, feigning outrage.

The family shared a short laugh, one that was soon swallowed by the hum of the crowd —chatter, whistles, and the occasional owl call blending into a kind of chaotic harmony.

Aidan stepped closer to Ivy and wrapped her in a tight hug, whispering into her ear, "Don't cry."

But how could she not? Her son was growing at an alarming rate —taller, older, and somehow wiser. And all too suddenly, she'd had to accept that he was becoming more independent than she'd ever imagined.

He turned to Jack next, offering a handshake. Jack took it, but before he could say anything, Aidan tugged him into a firm hug that rivalled the one he'd given his mum. They didn't need words. It was enough.

With a final whispered goodbye, Aidan grabbed his trunk and boarded the Hogwarts Express —vanishing into the bustle of students and steam.

Aidan didn't have the luxury of finding an empty compartment to meet up with his friends and catch up. Instead, he was expected in the Prefects' carriage —a requirement he would've gladly ignored if he could get away with it.

Much to his annoyance, Aidan had been named Head Boy of Ravenclaw at the end of the previous year by Professor Flitwick himself. He hadn't asked for it, and certainly hadn't expected it, since he had not even been a Prefect before. When he asked Flitwick about it, the old half-goblin told him it would have been a pity if 'someone of his calibre' did not get to taste the position. 

Still, it wasn't the worst responsibility in the world. Once back at the castle, his duties would mostly involve being present, offering guidance to younger students, and pretending to care when rules were bent —or outright broken. And if he was being honest, Aidan was more inclined to ignore minor infractions than enforce anything with a straight face.

After leaving his trunk in the first empty compartment he found —one which already had another trunk in it—, Aidan headed straight for the Prefect's carriage. It was the last carriage towards the front of the train, right before the driver's compartment. 

Doing his best at not crashing into anyone on accident, Aidan reached his destination. There, he was met by a voice he had not heard in the entirety of the holidays. 

"Look who ha graced us with his appearance!" A voice said in mock reverence, as if making fun of Aidan. "If it isn't our very own Low-key Prince, Aidan Thorne himself!" 

"Cut it, Abbott." Aidan said with an expressionless face as he gazed at his friend, secretly happy to see someone he knew in the carriage. "And my surname is not Thorne anymore, it's Haimadros." 

Silas Abbott's eyes went wide in shock when he heard his friend's words. Changing his surname was not that rare of a thing, but the surname he gave was really shocking. Silas came from one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, the oldest pure-blood lineages in the English Wizarding World. While he and his family had no care for blood purity, he himself had been greatly interested in the history of his family. 

Since his mother was not one to hold information from her children, he had been allowed to read every family record they had available. It was in one of those records that he had come across the surname —Haimadros. They were an obscure family of foreign descent, famous for their secrecy. And above all else, allies of House Abbott until their disappearance in the early twentieth century. 

Silas had been fascinated by how little was known about House Haimadros, despite their historic alliance with the Abbotts.

"We'll talk about that later, my friend." Aidan stated, leaving no room for questions —not just from Silas, but from everyone else in the compartment. 

Aidan and Silas had known each other since their second year in Hogwarts. At the time Aidan had been a relatively introverted Ravenclaw who rarely spoke up, while Silas was an outgoing Slytherin who was always surrounded by friends. They had not shared a word until the end of their second year, when Aidan clutched the House Cup for Ravenclaw thanks to his scores in the last exams, in which he surpassed Silas by a small margin. The young Slytherin had extended a hand to Aidan in a sign of respect. Aidan, being well educated, accepted the handshake. 

It was not until their third year that they became friends, though. Somewhere along January, Silas had thought it would be fun to escape the school grounds to head into Hogsmeade through the passage under the Whomping Willow. Aidan had heard about his plan from a very talkative Slytherin and thought it would be wise to warn them against it, but he ended up tangled in their actions, which landed them both in a month-long detention when they were discovered by the locals in Hogsmeade. 

It was during that time in detention that the boys had gotten around talking to each other. Upon realising they shared many similarities —their ambitions, their favourite subjects, and even some girls they had found attractive— Aidan and Silas started interacting even outside of detention. At some point, they had become good friends without even realizing. 

The only reason why Silas was not hounding Aidan with questions was that very same friendship, which they had built upon trust and a deep understanding of one other. If Aidan said they would talk about it later, Silas trusted his friend would indeed talk to him. 

"So, what did you do in your holidays that had you so busy," Aidan started saying, feigning offence. "That stopped you from coming to my birthday?" 

"Oh, man! I forgot to send you a message about that!" Silas exclaimed, instantly recognising that his friend was trying to change the subject. "My family and I went to Brazil to see some ancient..." 

As the other Head Boys and Girls —and some Prefects— joined in, the conversation picked up rhythm and soon the topic of Aidan's surname had been forgotten. Unnoticed by the rest, a girl lingered in the corner of the carriage, glancing between Aidan and Silas. Something felt off —and she intended to find out what.

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Welcome to Volume 2 - Back at the Castle! This volume will deal mostly with Aidan navigating through Hogwarts, managing his relationships with his new identity, and maybe making a new acquaintance. I hope you enjoy this story arc, since it is the one I look the most forward to writing. For those of you who want pure action, I'm sorry, this story builds things up! 

Please don't forget to leave your comments with ideas, theories, or just a tftc! I also appreciate Power Stones and Reviews, so if you feel like it, please take a few minutes to leave those too!