Blood Debt, part one: Hogwarts
Blood Debt: Part One - Hogwarts
A Harry Potter Fan Fiction
By Jewel, (knowsall5@hotmail.com)
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and its characters were created by JK Rowling and are copyrighted to their rightful owners. There is no copyright infringement intended by this fanfic.
Summary: The chronicle of Warrington's life and his rise to Voldemort's ranks. Follow him through Hogwarts, experiencing his interaction with the Gryffindors, the weight of his family's expectations, and his struggle to deal with his destiny as a Death Eater.
This part is rated PG. Minor spoilers for CoS and PoA.
Word Count: 2390 words
Blood Debt
Part One - Hogwarts
[early September, 1989 - Hogwarts Express]
Warrington's life had changed. He had, of course, known it would before he had even stepped foot onto the Hogwarts Express. This morning, with a mix of anxiety and excitement, he had woken up hours before dawn. His parents had spent almost an hour lecturing him on his duties towards the family honor, and their expectations of him. But while he had sat in the brightly lit morning room, nodding at the appropriate intervals of his parents' speech, all Warrington could think of was how different his life would be after today.
For starters he would be living at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry for the next ten months. More dauntingly, he would be living away from his parents for almost a year. While part of him felt excited at this prospect, (he was, after all, eleven years old and anxious to be away from his parents' scrutiny), another part of him was nervous that he would do something to bring dishonor on his family.
The Warringtons were an old family, the name dating back to before England was a country. His ancestors had possessed countless titles in the past, and several had held the ears of kings. Now, however, they were just a Wizarding family living in Warwickshire, their ancestral castle no longer the largest, their wealth no longer enormous. As his parents explained to him on an almost daily basis, he had a duty to the family. Being a child didn't excuse him from his obligations to redeem the family's glory. That morning his parents had droned on for an hour, telling him that he had better not do anything to tarnish his family's reputation or bring ridicule on them. They cautioned him to comport himself appropriately and to acquaint himself with people who could later help him reclaim the family's prestige.
But now! Now his parents were in London and he was on the Hogwarts Express, racing towards Scotland. All Warrington could think of was that his life had changed. It was almost a physical feeling. Indeed, he had to fight the urge to find a mirror and examine his appearance to see if it would be the same as when he had left his house.
As it was, he held his head high as he prowled through the cars of the train, looking for any of the other young wizards he knew. But as he looked into compartment after compartment, the only people he recognized were two red headed boys, the Weasley twins, who had been trying to trick another first year into parting with his owl. Remembering the time he had met the two boys a year ago at a Ministry sponsored award ceremony, where they had tripped him, Warrington decided not to call their attention to himself. Besides, he knew from his parents that they were not the right kind of wizards a boy should socialize with if he ever intended to succeed at life.
Instead Warrington found a compartment that looked empty. When he opened the door, however, he discovered a small girl sitting there. She was rather on the scrawny side, and huddled close to the seat. That explained why he hadn't seen her from the outside, he thought. Upon his entrance, the girl turned to face him. The first thing he noticed were her large green eyes. They were a bright, vivid green, almost jewel-like in their sparkle. Taking stock of her other features, Warrington grudgingly admitted that she was pretty, though being so young he hadn't as yet developed an interest in girls.
After staring at him for a few seconds, as though she had been judging him in turn, she nodded her approval and said, "Hello."
At a loss for a response, Warrington blurted, "I thought the compartment was empty."
"Well it's not, but you're welcome to sit here if you'd like." She stuck a skinny arm out at him. "I'm Alicia."
A second ticked by while he hesitated, but finally he stuck his own hand towards her. They were probably the same age, but Warrington noticed that her hand was decidedly much smaller than his.
"I'm Constantine Warrington," he told her, sliding onto the seat opposite her.
Alicia wrinkled her nose at him. "How'd you get such a weird name?"
Slightly offended, Warrington titled his chin a bit higher. "It was my grandfather's name."
She giggled. "Do you get a crick in your neck from holding your head so high?"
Caught between embarrassment and another surge of annoyance, Warrington found himself blushing. Alicia giggled even more as the tips of his ears turned pink. "Are you a first year, too?"
Accepting his nod as a good enough answer, Alicia asked, "What house do you think you'll be sorted into? I'd rather like to be a Ravenclaw, but I don't think I'm that smart. I'm hoping for Gryffindor. As long as it's not Hufflepuff, I'll be okay. Though, God, could you imagine if you were sorted into Slytherin? I think in that case I might prefer Hufflepuff."
Working up all the indignation an eleven year old could muster, Warrington replied icily, "My mother was a Slytherin."
"Oh, really? How terrible for her! Did she hate it?"
Even more annoyed now, Warrington scowled at her. "No, she liked it."
Her eyes widen in surprise as Alicia saw her error. Coloring slightly, she apologized. "Sorry, I didn't mean to sound like there was something wrong with the Slytherin house. There isn't, of course. But," she lowered her voice, her eyes sweeping around the compartment as though there was someone else besides the two of them there. "Hasn't everyone to graduate Slytherin been evil?"
"My mother is not evil! I would rather be a Slytherin than a stupid Gryffindor anytime! And besides, what about Sirius Black?"
Alicia frowned. "Who?"
Suddenly Warrington had the thought that maybe she was a mudblood. In that case he had just wasted half an hour in which he could have been finding appropriate friends. But she had seemed to know about Hogwarts. How could she know about the houses and not Wizarding history? "Sirius Black was a supporter of the Dark Lord," Warrington explained. "He killed almost twenty people before they sent him to Azkaban."
Ignoring the information completely, Alicia pressed on. “So you want to be a Slytherin?”
Warrington nodded. “Well, I guess it’s your choice. Though I rather think I would prefer you to be a Gryffindor.”
Warrington gave her a look of puzzlement. “Why?”
She rolled her eyes. “I can’t be a Gryffindor and be friends with a Slytherin!”
“With an attitude like that I wouldn’t want a Gryffindor as a friend!” Warrington exclaimed angrily.
Alicia opened her mouth to respond, then snapped it shut. Jutting her own chin upward, she crossed her arms over her chest and looked out the window. Throwing a dark look at her, Warrington got up and wrenched open the compartment door. Without saying another word to her, he stormed out, slamming the door behind him.
-?-
[Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry]
Warrington shifted his weight onto his other foot, idly tapping the other as he waited on line during the Sorting Ceremony. Behind him the Weasley twins were whispering to each other and pointing to various people on line.
He turned his attention back to the front of the room, where student after student sat on a stool and had an old, torn gray hat placed upon their head. The line continued to dwindle as Professor McGonagall read names from a long scroll of parchment. Finally he heard her call Alicia’s name.
With a nervous look, Alicia walked slowly over to the professor and allowed herself to be seated. The sorting hat had been placed on her head for only a heartbeat, but suddenly it shouted, “GRYFFINDOR!”
Smiling, Alicia handed the hat back to Professor McGonagall and walked to the Gryffindor table, where her fellow housemates were cheering wildly. As she took a seat amongst them, Warrington felt something settle heavily in his heart.
He barely had time to mull it over, however, before McGonagall called his own name. Sitting on the stool, he held his breath as she settled the hat on his head. It sat there for several moments, and suddenly Warrington worried that he might not be sorted into any house. What if it didn’t put him anywhere? Would he be kicked out?
Then he heard something whispering in his ear. It was almost inaudible, but Warrington heard a faint wheeze of, “You have the drive, the ambition. Don’t worry, you could never be anything but a SLYTHERIN!”
Relieved, Warrington practically bolted from the stool to the Slytherin table when McGonagall took the hat off. As his new housemates applauded, Warrington smiled and looked over the Gryffindor table, where he saw Alicia staring at him. Seeing him return her stare, she shook her head, almost sadly, and turned to a black girl sitting beside her.
At the front of the room, he heard the sorting hat send the two Weasleys to Gryffindor.
-?-
[early April, 1994 - Hogwarts's Quidditch Pitch]
As Warrington and his teammates approached the Gryffindors, he could hear the Gryffindor Quidditch captain, Oliver Wood, shouting at the Weasley twins. However, what he was yelling about was lost to Warrington when Draco Malfoy sneered at Harry Potter. While the two third years got into an insult trading match, Warrington focused his attention on Alicia, leaving Marcus to square off against Wood.
However, before Warrington could open his mouth, Angelina Johnson turned to Alicia and said, "They really have decided to go for size over skill."
Alicia laughed. "Not that Pucey had much skill to begin with." Pointing at Warrington's Nimbus 2001, Alicia said to Angelina, "Remember, Slytherins aren't above rearranging their team to accommodate their own interests." Looking at Warrington this time, she deadpanned, "Clearly there isn't any honor amongst Slytherins."
Glowering at the brunette, (who had unfortunately grown into her eyes), Warrington hissed, "And what's that suppose to mean?"
Alicia traded a look with her friend, a look that plainly showed their opinion of Slytherin intelligence. Speaking slowly, Alicia elaborated, "I mean that last year Flint wasn't above kicking Higgs off the team once Malfoy waved his daddy's money under Flint's hairy nose and bought the lot of you new brooms. And this year Flint booted Pucey off the team because he can't damage two of us with his mass alone."
"Scared I'll knock you off your broom?" Warrington asked.
Both she and her friend broke into fits of laughter. "You can try, but even with your new broom I'm a better player. I may be smaller, but obviously I have more talent. After all, I've been on the team for two years now, and you only just got on."
Still laughing, she and Johnson turned and walked away. Warrington glared at their retreating backs as they sauntered over to the twins. He was still scowling a minute later when Flint came over and pulled him away.
"C'mon," the older Slytherin muttered. "Wood's too hysterical today to be any fun."
-?-
[Slytherin Common Room]
An hour later, sitting in the Slytherin common room and attempting to complete his Charms homework, Warrington still felt annoyed at Alicia's taunts. She was wrong, of course. He had played in both games against Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, and in both games the Slytherins had won. Warrington wasn't Gryffindor enough to believe that Flint had picked him purely because of talent, but he did know it wasn't completely because of his size. After all, there were several sixth years, and even another fifth year, who was physically larger than Warrington.
Too annoyed now to concentrate on his homework, Warrington closed his Charms textbook and neatly rolled up his parchment. Digging his prefect's badge out of his school bag, he affixed the shiny badge to his robes and left the Slytherin common room in search of some first year breaking a rule. It was just his luck, however, to literally trip across the object of his annoyance and her boyfriend snogging in a dark corridor.
Warrington had just emerged from the long, dark corridor that connected the Slytherin dormitory under the lake to the castle when his foot became entangled in a robe thrown carelessly across the corridor. The Slytherin chaser went down with a hard thud.
Jarred by the sound of a heavy body hitting the stone floor, Alicia pulled away from Kenneth Towler in time to see Warrington pushing himself off the floor and pulling her red Quidditch robe from his shoe. Caught between wanting to laugh and wanting to die of embarrassment, she felt her face flame as red as her discarded robe even as a giggle slipped out. Next to her Kenneth scowled at Warrington as the other boy turned to face the couple.
"Do you mind?" Kenneth asked rudely, reaching out to grab Alicia's robes from Warrington.
The other boy, however, had a different idea. Pushing the robe behind his back, he asked, "What are you doing lurking around the Slytherin dormitory, Towler?"
Stepping away from Kenneth and into the light of the single torch on the opposite wall, Alicia said, "That's none of your business."
Frowning, Warrington glanced at her and then looked at the robe in his hand. Shoving the robe at her, her growled, "Go snog your git of a boyfriend in your own dormitory, Spinnet."
Kenneth moved as though to attack Warrington, but Alicia reached out and put a restraining hand on his arm. It was close to dinner time and she really didn't fancy a teacher wandering across the boys fighting. "Let's just go, Kenneth."
"You'd be better off practicing your Quidditch, Spinnet," Warrington advised. "I intend to knock you off your broom on Saturday."
"Size isn't everything, Warrington," she said, grabbing her robe from him as she brushed by to exit the corridor.
He smirked, holding on to the robe for a second more, making her tug it out of his grip. "You just keep telling your boyfriend that."
Towler did lunge at him then, but Professor Snape twirled out of a nearby dungeon class room, swooping by the group. Warrington laughed as the two Gryffindors turned and walked away, his mood in no way lightened, but feeling better nonetheless.
To Be Continued…
Author's Note:
- I've decided to release "Blood Debt" in five parts. The time between each installment will depend on how much of each part is completed.
Feedback would be greatly appreciated!
A Harry Potter Fan Fiction
By Jewel, (knowsall5@hotmail.com)
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and its characters were created by JK Rowling and are copyrighted to their rightful owners. There is no copyright infringement intended by this fanfic.
Summary: The chronicle of Warrington's life and his rise to Voldemort's ranks. Follow him through Hogwarts, experiencing his interaction with the Gryffindors, the weight of his family's expectations, and his struggle to deal with his destiny as a Death Eater.
This part is rated PG. Minor spoilers for CoS and PoA.
Word Count: 2390 words
Blood Debt
Part One - Hogwarts
[early September, 1989 - Hogwarts Express]
Warrington's life had changed. He had, of course, known it would before he had even stepped foot onto the Hogwarts Express. This morning, with a mix of anxiety and excitement, he had woken up hours before dawn. His parents had spent almost an hour lecturing him on his duties towards the family honor, and their expectations of him. But while he had sat in the brightly lit morning room, nodding at the appropriate intervals of his parents' speech, all Warrington could think of was how different his life would be after today.
For starters he would be living at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry for the next ten months. More dauntingly, he would be living away from his parents for almost a year. While part of him felt excited at this prospect, (he was, after all, eleven years old and anxious to be away from his parents' scrutiny), another part of him was nervous that he would do something to bring dishonor on his family.
The Warringtons were an old family, the name dating back to before England was a country. His ancestors had possessed countless titles in the past, and several had held the ears of kings. Now, however, they were just a Wizarding family living in Warwickshire, their ancestral castle no longer the largest, their wealth no longer enormous. As his parents explained to him on an almost daily basis, he had a duty to the family. Being a child didn't excuse him from his obligations to redeem the family's glory. That morning his parents had droned on for an hour, telling him that he had better not do anything to tarnish his family's reputation or bring ridicule on them. They cautioned him to comport himself appropriately and to acquaint himself with people who could later help him reclaim the family's prestige.
But now! Now his parents were in London and he was on the Hogwarts Express, racing towards Scotland. All Warrington could think of was that his life had changed. It was almost a physical feeling. Indeed, he had to fight the urge to find a mirror and examine his appearance to see if it would be the same as when he had left his house.
As it was, he held his head high as he prowled through the cars of the train, looking for any of the other young wizards he knew. But as he looked into compartment after compartment, the only people he recognized were two red headed boys, the Weasley twins, who had been trying to trick another first year into parting with his owl. Remembering the time he had met the two boys a year ago at a Ministry sponsored award ceremony, where they had tripped him, Warrington decided not to call their attention to himself. Besides, he knew from his parents that they were not the right kind of wizards a boy should socialize with if he ever intended to succeed at life.
Instead Warrington found a compartment that looked empty. When he opened the door, however, he discovered a small girl sitting there. She was rather on the scrawny side, and huddled close to the seat. That explained why he hadn't seen her from the outside, he thought. Upon his entrance, the girl turned to face him. The first thing he noticed were her large green eyes. They were a bright, vivid green, almost jewel-like in their sparkle. Taking stock of her other features, Warrington grudgingly admitted that she was pretty, though being so young he hadn't as yet developed an interest in girls.
After staring at him for a few seconds, as though she had been judging him in turn, she nodded her approval and said, "Hello."
At a loss for a response, Warrington blurted, "I thought the compartment was empty."
"Well it's not, but you're welcome to sit here if you'd like." She stuck a skinny arm out at him. "I'm Alicia."
A second ticked by while he hesitated, but finally he stuck his own hand towards her. They were probably the same age, but Warrington noticed that her hand was decidedly much smaller than his.
"I'm Constantine Warrington," he told her, sliding onto the seat opposite her.
Alicia wrinkled her nose at him. "How'd you get such a weird name?"
Slightly offended, Warrington titled his chin a bit higher. "It was my grandfather's name."
She giggled. "Do you get a crick in your neck from holding your head so high?"
Caught between embarrassment and another surge of annoyance, Warrington found himself blushing. Alicia giggled even more as the tips of his ears turned pink. "Are you a first year, too?"
Accepting his nod as a good enough answer, Alicia asked, "What house do you think you'll be sorted into? I'd rather like to be a Ravenclaw, but I don't think I'm that smart. I'm hoping for Gryffindor. As long as it's not Hufflepuff, I'll be okay. Though, God, could you imagine if you were sorted into Slytherin? I think in that case I might prefer Hufflepuff."
Working up all the indignation an eleven year old could muster, Warrington replied icily, "My mother was a Slytherin."
"Oh, really? How terrible for her! Did she hate it?"
Even more annoyed now, Warrington scowled at her. "No, she liked it."
Her eyes widen in surprise as Alicia saw her error. Coloring slightly, she apologized. "Sorry, I didn't mean to sound like there was something wrong with the Slytherin house. There isn't, of course. But," she lowered her voice, her eyes sweeping around the compartment as though there was someone else besides the two of them there. "Hasn't everyone to graduate Slytherin been evil?"
"My mother is not evil! I would rather be a Slytherin than a stupid Gryffindor anytime! And besides, what about Sirius Black?"
Alicia frowned. "Who?"
Suddenly Warrington had the thought that maybe she was a mudblood. In that case he had just wasted half an hour in which he could have been finding appropriate friends. But she had seemed to know about Hogwarts. How could she know about the houses and not Wizarding history? "Sirius Black was a supporter of the Dark Lord," Warrington explained. "He killed almost twenty people before they sent him to Azkaban."
Ignoring the information completely, Alicia pressed on. “So you want to be a Slytherin?”
Warrington nodded. “Well, I guess it’s your choice. Though I rather think I would prefer you to be a Gryffindor.”
Warrington gave her a look of puzzlement. “Why?”
She rolled her eyes. “I can’t be a Gryffindor and be friends with a Slytherin!”
“With an attitude like that I wouldn’t want a Gryffindor as a friend!” Warrington exclaimed angrily.
Alicia opened her mouth to respond, then snapped it shut. Jutting her own chin upward, she crossed her arms over her chest and looked out the window. Throwing a dark look at her, Warrington got up and wrenched open the compartment door. Without saying another word to her, he stormed out, slamming the door behind him.
-?-
[Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry]
Warrington shifted his weight onto his other foot, idly tapping the other as he waited on line during the Sorting Ceremony. Behind him the Weasley twins were whispering to each other and pointing to various people on line.
He turned his attention back to the front of the room, where student after student sat on a stool and had an old, torn gray hat placed upon their head. The line continued to dwindle as Professor McGonagall read names from a long scroll of parchment. Finally he heard her call Alicia’s name.
With a nervous look, Alicia walked slowly over to the professor and allowed herself to be seated. The sorting hat had been placed on her head for only a heartbeat, but suddenly it shouted, “GRYFFINDOR!”
Smiling, Alicia handed the hat back to Professor McGonagall and walked to the Gryffindor table, where her fellow housemates were cheering wildly. As she took a seat amongst them, Warrington felt something settle heavily in his heart.
He barely had time to mull it over, however, before McGonagall called his own name. Sitting on the stool, he held his breath as she settled the hat on his head. It sat there for several moments, and suddenly Warrington worried that he might not be sorted into any house. What if it didn’t put him anywhere? Would he be kicked out?
Then he heard something whispering in his ear. It was almost inaudible, but Warrington heard a faint wheeze of, “You have the drive, the ambition. Don’t worry, you could never be anything but a SLYTHERIN!”
Relieved, Warrington practically bolted from the stool to the Slytherin table when McGonagall took the hat off. As his new housemates applauded, Warrington smiled and looked over the Gryffindor table, where he saw Alicia staring at him. Seeing him return her stare, she shook her head, almost sadly, and turned to a black girl sitting beside her.
At the front of the room, he heard the sorting hat send the two Weasleys to Gryffindor.
-?-
[early April, 1994 - Hogwarts's Quidditch Pitch]
As Warrington and his teammates approached the Gryffindors, he could hear the Gryffindor Quidditch captain, Oliver Wood, shouting at the Weasley twins. However, what he was yelling about was lost to Warrington when Draco Malfoy sneered at Harry Potter. While the two third years got into an insult trading match, Warrington focused his attention on Alicia, leaving Marcus to square off against Wood.
However, before Warrington could open his mouth, Angelina Johnson turned to Alicia and said, "They really have decided to go for size over skill."
Alicia laughed. "Not that Pucey had much skill to begin with." Pointing at Warrington's Nimbus 2001, Alicia said to Angelina, "Remember, Slytherins aren't above rearranging their team to accommodate their own interests." Looking at Warrington this time, she deadpanned, "Clearly there isn't any honor amongst Slytherins."
Glowering at the brunette, (who had unfortunately grown into her eyes), Warrington hissed, "And what's that suppose to mean?"
Alicia traded a look with her friend, a look that plainly showed their opinion of Slytherin intelligence. Speaking slowly, Alicia elaborated, "I mean that last year Flint wasn't above kicking Higgs off the team once Malfoy waved his daddy's money under Flint's hairy nose and bought the lot of you new brooms. And this year Flint booted Pucey off the team because he can't damage two of us with his mass alone."
"Scared I'll knock you off your broom?" Warrington asked.
Both she and her friend broke into fits of laughter. "You can try, but even with your new broom I'm a better player. I may be smaller, but obviously I have more talent. After all, I've been on the team for two years now, and you only just got on."
Still laughing, she and Johnson turned and walked away. Warrington glared at their retreating backs as they sauntered over to the twins. He was still scowling a minute later when Flint came over and pulled him away.
"C'mon," the older Slytherin muttered. "Wood's too hysterical today to be any fun."
-?-
[Slytherin Common Room]
An hour later, sitting in the Slytherin common room and attempting to complete his Charms homework, Warrington still felt annoyed at Alicia's taunts. She was wrong, of course. He had played in both games against Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, and in both games the Slytherins had won. Warrington wasn't Gryffindor enough to believe that Flint had picked him purely because of talent, but he did know it wasn't completely because of his size. After all, there were several sixth years, and even another fifth year, who was physically larger than Warrington.
Too annoyed now to concentrate on his homework, Warrington closed his Charms textbook and neatly rolled up his parchment. Digging his prefect's badge out of his school bag, he affixed the shiny badge to his robes and left the Slytherin common room in search of some first year breaking a rule. It was just his luck, however, to literally trip across the object of his annoyance and her boyfriend snogging in a dark corridor.
Warrington had just emerged from the long, dark corridor that connected the Slytherin dormitory under the lake to the castle when his foot became entangled in a robe thrown carelessly across the corridor. The Slytherin chaser went down with a hard thud.
Jarred by the sound of a heavy body hitting the stone floor, Alicia pulled away from Kenneth Towler in time to see Warrington pushing himself off the floor and pulling her red Quidditch robe from his shoe. Caught between wanting to laugh and wanting to die of embarrassment, she felt her face flame as red as her discarded robe even as a giggle slipped out. Next to her Kenneth scowled at Warrington as the other boy turned to face the couple.
"Do you mind?" Kenneth asked rudely, reaching out to grab Alicia's robes from Warrington.
The other boy, however, had a different idea. Pushing the robe behind his back, he asked, "What are you doing lurking around the Slytherin dormitory, Towler?"
Stepping away from Kenneth and into the light of the single torch on the opposite wall, Alicia said, "That's none of your business."
Frowning, Warrington glanced at her and then looked at the robe in his hand. Shoving the robe at her, her growled, "Go snog your git of a boyfriend in your own dormitory, Spinnet."
Kenneth moved as though to attack Warrington, but Alicia reached out and put a restraining hand on his arm. It was close to dinner time and she really didn't fancy a teacher wandering across the boys fighting. "Let's just go, Kenneth."
"You'd be better off practicing your Quidditch, Spinnet," Warrington advised. "I intend to knock you off your broom on Saturday."
"Size isn't everything, Warrington," she said, grabbing her robe from him as she brushed by to exit the corridor.
He smirked, holding on to the robe for a second more, making her tug it out of his grip. "You just keep telling your boyfriend that."
Towler did lunge at him then, but Professor Snape twirled out of a nearby dungeon class room, swooping by the group. Warrington laughed as the two Gryffindors turned and walked away, his mood in no way lightened, but feeling better nonetheless.
To Be Continued…
Author's Note:
- I've decided to release "Blood Debt" in five parts. The time between each installment will depend on how much of each part is completed.
Feedback would be greatly appreciated!