prologue aleyne house
for orphans

❝the eyes of others
our prisons;
their thoughts our cages❞

━━Virginia Woolf

THE STORY WENT A BIT LIKE THIS. In the summer of 1991, an owl dropped Harry Potter's Hogwarts letter on the doorstep of Number Four, Privet Drive.

        A few neighbourhoods over, in another world, a more magical yet seemingly just as selfish one, another owl dropped another letter on the doorstep of Aleyne House for Orphans.

        Aleyne was a tall and narrow building, hidden from the eyes of passing by muggles. It stood at the end of a deep alley, covered by the absence of light and an ominous cloud. No confunding spells were necessary as the eerie chill one got when one walked too close to the building was enough to keep people away, wizards and muggles alike.

        Aleyne housed many children. Ones who lost their parents to the war, ones who were abandoned for having magic and ones who were left for not. It housed children as young as a few hours old but not those older than fifteen. Matron Hallewell had a belief, you see. At fifteen, a child was old enough to go on about on their own, therefore they no longer need to squander off the orphanage's money. More specifically, her money.

        Matron Hallewell was a special woman. Not Madam, not Ms, but Matron. She believed it kept a certain distance between her and the children. Matron wasn't ordinary, neither was she strange. She was special and she was strict. She believed in discipline and order and scorned at anyone who stepped out of line. She hated children, both magical and muggle, and would look at them with disdain and disgust.

        And that was exactly how she looked at Adhara Black one gloomy morning as the 11-year-old stood in her office. She held both her hands in front of her, dirty and battered from a night at the furnace room, as the kids liked to call it, waiting for Matron to hand her her Hogwarts letter.

        She did. Along with a few other letters and a diary.

        "Your mother left them when she dropped you here," she spat through thin lips, "I suppose she didn't want them as much as she did you."

        This story started a bit like this. On November 1st, 1981, Albus Dumbledore left Harry Potter at the doorstep of Number Four, Privet Drive with only a letter.

        Petunia Dursley opened the letter, read the child's last name and glared at it in disgust.

        A year before, during springtime, a muggle woman, with no magic whatsoever, left Adhara Black at the doorstep of Aleyne with a few letters and a diary.

        Matron Hallewell checked for money and found none. She discovered the child's last name and looked at it in disdain.

        Adhara stood politely in front of her. She didn't like Matron, not at all. She wanted to scream at her for putting her in the furnace room. She wanted to call her out for being unfair to the children. But she didn't. Adhara was dirty and tired and the burns on her hands were still hurting from trying to keep the furnace running all night—the orphanage seemed to always be cold, even in the summertime, as if the magic that sewed through the walls itself was tapering off.

        Adhara was hungry, but she didn't say it. She was angry, but she didn't show it. Instead she stood politely in front of Matron, head low and hands high, waiting for her to give her what she wanted. The letter to Hogwarts was her ticket out of the place, and she was going to get it even if it meant keeping her mouth shut. Everything will pay off at the end.

        She was going to make sure of it.

━━━━━━━━ ✥ ━━━━━━━━

adhara black is...

...misty forests and emerald green. Her nails are chipped, but she hides them under silky gloves. She twirls her quill between two fingers, writes in her leather bound journal. A bumpy nose, unkept hair, and eyes so dark you could see a starless night's sky. Subtle as they may be, her smiles are there if you look for them. Nonetheless, beware of her frosty anger, she is not afraid of curses...

&

harry potter is...

...windy fields and curly hair. He wears brown boots and knitted sweaters, ones belonging to him and only him. But, do not let his appearances fool you, for he is a knight with a seething temper. With his wobbly knees and crooked glasses, he will stand before you with his golden sword, swearing to defend what he believes in...

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A D H A R A  &  H A R R Y

Kodaline Brother • YUNGBLUD parents • The Neighbourhood Cry Baby • Fall Out Boy Centuries • John Williams Double Trouble • Younger Hunger Dead Inside • Conan Gray Comfort Crowd • The Neighbourhood Daddy Issues • Klergy, Valerie Broussard Start a War • Twenty One Pilots Heathens • The Neighbourhood RIP To My Youth • grandson Blood // Water • Bohnes Middle Finger • Billie Eilish Therefore I Am • AVIVA BLAME IT ON THE KIDS • Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds O CHILDREN

hi !

a few words before we begin

1. This story includes POC characters, and characters with different sexual orientation. Please refrain from making any disrespectful comments. If the fact that I'm making this more diverse bothers you, there's an arrow on the top left!  It'll help you leave!

2. Rowling sucks. Pass it on.

3. I've always pictured Millicent as blonde. So in this fic, she's blonde in the beginning but she does dye it other colours later on.

4. This is not a ship. This is a sibling relationship at best. In fact, Adhara is aroace.

Thank you!

(On AO3 under awsomblossom as well. I'm way more active on there.)

Disclaimer & Warning

The Harry Potter series, it's characters and it's plot line belong to JK Rowling. Only the OCs, such as Adhara Black belong to me. Some dialogues are from the movies.

Mentions of death, blood and violence. Implied/mentioned child abuse (whether physical or emotional). Racism and islamophobia. Bad coping mechanisms. Mental health related issues, such at ptsd, anxiety and depression. Talks of panic attacks. Implied/mentioned disordered eating.

Underage drinking; swearing