32This is a crossover between Alex Rider and Harry Potter, as I'm sure you've gathered. Harry Potter is canon through book four, but starting in five there is no telling what I may randomly decide to change. Alex Rider will probably be very AU. Alex is a wizard, and Ian died when he was 11, not 14, so I pushed the events up three years. He has done all the missions looked at in the books (Not, Never Say Die, though. I still haven't read it. I've been waiting for it to come out on paperback, and now it is on my Christmas list, so my Mom won't let me buy it until Christmas is over in case my grandparents bought it for me, but anyways I'm really excited to read it when I get it. Sorry for the rambling.) as well as some additional missions for both MI6 and its magical counterpart MI7.
Disclaimer: I don't own either of these series or I wouldn't have this problem. →
→ Sorry if the characters are OOC. Alex is probably going to be, and some of that will be intentional, but Snape and Dumbledore being OOC is unintentional and is because I have little practice with writing them. If you have tips let me know.
Hope you enjoy!
Fourteen-year-old Alex Rider was torn between being annoyed and being pleased. As a child, his Uncle had homeschooled him in magic. Legally, he was too young to use a wand, but Ian taught him on Ian's own wand, and he even taught him to do wandless magic. However, even though Alex's magical education was far beyond NEWT level, he wasn't allowed to sit his NEWTS without first passing his OWLS, and for some reason, the Wizarding World required him to be fourteen before he could take them. Alex thought that only allowing students to skip one level was unrealistic, but, unfortunately, he didn't make the laws. The law also required that he attend his fifth through seventh years of school, which was the reason for his split feelings.
On one hand, he would have to sit through three years of learning stuff he already knew, and would no doubt be forced to use a wand, regardless of the fact that he hadn't used a wand since he was seven, and he was highly proficient in wandless magic. On the other hand, though, attending Hogwarts would get him away from MI6. Sure MI7, (Military Intelligence Branch 7, or as it was more commonly called, "Magical Intelligence") would probably still try to pull him from school on occasion, but they would have to significantly lessen the number of times they did so; Alex knew using underage wizards as spies would be highly frowned upon by Albus Dumbledore, and Albus Dumbledore had a lot of sway with the wizarding world's legal system.
In the almost four years he had been a spy, Alex had occasionally nurtured the idea of telling Dumbledore about his spying, but he had dismissed the idea almost instantly. Not only was he unsure if the man would help him, but he also despised the idea of anyone knowing what it was he did. They always looked at him in pity or fear. Both of which he loathed.
Fortunately for Alex, his mixed feelings on the matter, were unimportant seeing as he wasn't really being given much choice here.
At the moment, Alex was waiting for a teacher to come to pick him up and "introduce" him to the Wizarding World. Alex thought this very unnecessary considering he had been to the Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade, and even Hogwarts once during missions he had been on, but obviously, the officials either didn't know or didn't care.
Alex just hoped that whoever came to get him wouldn't treat him like a child; he wasn't sure if he could stay cordial if that happened, and Alex knew that MI7 would love to pick him up full time if he was expelled from school.
Severus Snape was irritated. Mainly due to the fact that Albus Dumbledore, the meddling coot, had called him to his office once again. Now, usually, this couldn't mean anything good. By Severus's best guess, he assumed that the old coot wanted him to do something that he would be less than pleased with.
When being asked to do something for the headmaster, things generally fell into two distinct categories: things that Severus tolerated doing, and things he despised. Severus knew that he only called him into his office when it was something that the headmaster knew was not going to make Severus happy.
He came to a stop outside of the headmaster's office and said the absurd password to the Gargoyle, "Lemon Drops."
Why the headmaster used muggle candy as a password, Severus would never understand. He knew for a fact that students would sometimes stand outside and attempt to guess the password by naming countless sweets. He made his way up the staircase and knocked on the door to the office.
"Severus, come in, my boy," the headmaster said, happily.
The cheer in his voice only increased Severus's poor mood. Students would be back in two weeks, no one should be happy. Not to mention he had to give OWL's this year. Well, every year really, but this year, he had to deal with Potter and all of his bloody friends. Nothing could possibly make this year any worse, Severus had thought that morning. If only he had known that the headmaster's words would put quite the damper on that opinion of his.
Severus entered the room, and Albus held out a bowl of his lemon drops and said, "Lemon Drop, Severus?"
Severus's scowl deepened; he just wanted to get back to his potions, and plotting the deaths of his students, "No thank you, Albus. Why did you call me here?"
Albus drew back his hand and said, "Very well, my boy. I'll just get straight to the point."
Severus raised his eyebrows. This had to be the first time Albus had ever conceded to allowing them to drop the small talk before talking. He got a distinct feeling that whatever Albus asked him to do, was not going to be anything good.
"I'm afraid I have a favor I must ask of you, my boy."
Severus sighed. He knew it, "What is it, Albus?"
"I don't suppose you remember the Riders?"
Severus's eyes snapped to the headmaster. That was a name he hadn't heard in a long time. Ian Rider had been a year below him in school, and John, two years above. He had never gotten along overly well with the younger of the two, but he had been almost fond of John. Ian had been a Ravenclaw, and he had been fifth in his class. Severus had always thought he was a bit of a know-it-all, and he always seemed to be trying too hard.
Then again, Severus couldn't imagine it being easy to live up to his older brother. John was in Gryffindor, though Severus could never quite hold him in the same light as the others. Some of his mannerisms were definitely Gryffindorish, like the way, he would stand up to anyone who was being bullied, completely outright, with no regard for who heard him or what they would think of him. Not to mention his complete lack of interest in anything blood-related. But, he also had a very distinct Slytherin side. There were several instances, generally involving someone who had been accused of bullying a younger student, but not punished, when Severus had been sure John was behind it, but there never was any proof. The only reason Severus had come to that conclusion was that whenever John talked to a student about someone who had been bullying them, the very next day they would come to breakfast, looking so outrageous. Sometimes it was colored hair or skin. Once, Sirius Black even came to the Great Hall completely bald, complaining that all of his clothes but his underwear had disappeared.
Eventually, someone found him some clothes, but his hair didn't come back for almost a month. That had been after a particularly nasty prank he had pulled on Severus, and it still brought him a lot of joy. Sometimes during Order meetings, he would imagine how Black would react if it happened again. But that was impossible. Last he heard, John, his wife, and his son had been killed in a plane crash. Severus had heard rumors from Voldemort's followers hinting that it might not have been an accident, but it definitely hadn't been the Death Eaters who did it.
Severus hadn't heard much about Ian in a long time, other than a scathing remark from Lucius a long time ago that he had been working in a Muggle Bank. What could the Rider's possibly have to do with… well, with anything?
"Yes," Severus said, "What of them?"
"I'm going to tell you something and I ask you don't interrupt me until I'm done. I'll try to answer all your questions then," Severus nodded his agreement. "I'm sure you heard that John married a Muggle woman, and they had a son. Now, I'm also confident you heard of all three of them dying in a plane crash."
He looked to Severus here, so he gave the headmaster an affirmative answer.
"Well, it turns out the son wasn't quite as dead as we believed. He has been living with Ian since his parents' deaths, but Ian also died about three and a half years ago, and I am unsure who he has been living with since. I heard the boy is very proficient in magic, as I have been informed by the Ministry that Ian Rider asked permission for his nephew to take his NEWT's when he was only seven years old, but our laws require students to sit years 5-7 to take NEWT's, and we require students to be fourteen before they can start year 5, as I'm sure you are aware."
Severus was fairly confident that he knew where Albus was going with this. Simple mathematics told him that the boy would be fourteen at this time, and it would make sense for him to begin his attendance at Hogwarts. And, based off of prior experience with the headmaster, Severus suspected that he would be asked to accompany the boy to the school. Though why the headmaster chose him, would remain a mystery to Severus. It was no secret that he was incredibly ill-tempered with his students, but Albus always had unusually high confidence in him.
"I have suspicions that the boy - Alex is his name by the way - may have somehow gotten involved with Magical Intelligence. I don't know how, but I have heard several rumors of a young spy being involved in several recent high-profile, classified missions, which of course means that I don't have any details or proof; however, though the rumors seem outlandish to consider, the reason I am doing so is the rumors that used to get around about the Rider brothers themselves. Both have been speculated to have been involved with espionage, and though nothing conclusive has been proven, word among elites in the Ministry is just as convincing."
And there was the reason he was sending Severus. A spy to go talk to another spy; how poetic.
"I must ask Severus if you would be willing to gather the boy for me? I would go myself, but I'm afraid I shall be rather busy with the Order, and besides, if my suspicions are true, I feel you would be the best person to help him prepare for Hogwarts. Then return him here for the two weeks leading up to term. I'm told he is very capable of looking after himself, so I don't feel you will have to much trouble with him."
Severus really wished he could figure out a way to say "no" to the headmaster, but he never could seem to manage it. It probably dealt with the fact that the man had practically rescued him from Azkaban, and the fact that he was almost like the father that Severus had never had, not that he would ever admit it.
"I shall do it, headmaster," Severus said reluctantly, "Where and when shall I collect him?"
"He is living at an address in Chelsea, London, and I always say that there's no time like the present."
Severus sighed, resigning himself to going to fetch the boy, "Very well, I shall prepare the guest room in my quarters for him to stay until the start of term, then I shall go gather the boy."
Without waiting for a dismissal Severus stalked from the room, his robes billowing behind him in their usual fashion, completely missing the excited twinkle in the headmaster's eyes.
Thanks for reading. Let me know if you have suggestions on how better to write Snape and Dumbledore. I have read the books nearly seven times, but I still can't quite manage to capture their personalities accurately. Tell me if there are any errors, or even just drop me a review to tell me if you like it or not. :)