SORCERY & SACRIFICE ➵ H.P.

000 | prologue

PROLOGUE

Belle Salem Gray made toys fly off shelves when her mom didn't let her play with her dolls. She made library books flip their own pages and her food float its way into her mouth. Her parents, needless to say, were horrified, along with her older brother who, by the time these occurrences had happened, was old enough to understand exactly how different his little sister was.

Noah Gray liked his little sister, and her flying books, and her floating food. He liked how she, even so young, was different. He wanted to both shelter his small sister, and show her off. Unfortunately, as his mother, Laura, pointed out, he was not allowed to take her in for show and tell, no matter how much cooler it would make him look.

The last bit was a little disappointing, but Noah decided he would settle for the former, and protect his sister as well as he could. Even if he was not the stereotypical big brother who could beat up her bullies.

They were only four years apart, and by the time she had finally gotten to primary school, he was a big and bad fifth year. There were the little punks who decided his sister wasn't normal, and therefore different- in a bad way. Noah knew Belle would hate it if he used his age as an advantage, but nothing about him was scary. So, he cornered every kid who he heard Belle talk to her stuffed animal about, and he warned them, putting on his best scary attitude. It worked most of the time, but then there were the kids who weren't the least bit scared of him, and Noah was not a fighter. So, as the two siblings got older Noah soon found out that some of the little brats in Belle's class had a mean right hook.

By the time Belle had gotten to fifth year, she had learned of her brother's attempts to protect her. Of course she didn't confront him, but dropping hints every now and then did seem to help him understand that she didn't want him to interfere. That didn't stop him, however, when he had learned of the boys who had scrawled the word "freak" onto her desk before school. He didn't understand how these kids could hold onto her younger outbursts, which were nothing too unusual compared to her temper tantrums as a toddler, and label his sister as such. Noah knew how good Belle was at concealing her "magic" now. She was amazing, Noah was sure if it were him her would've accidentally turned himself into a watch by now.

So, Noah cornered the kids, got into a scuffle, and came home just in time to walk in on his parents and sister meeting with an older lady, her hat pointier than possible, and her outfit complete with the weirdest style of jacket Noah had ever seen. One look at her son, and his mother heaved a sigh, excusing herself to grab a wet washcloth from the kitchen to wipe the sticky blood from Noah's nose.

Noah stood in the front room, awkwardly shuffling his feet as he tried his best not to stare at the woman eyeing him. He meant to just to say a say a simple greeting, be polite maybe, but instead what blurted from his mouth was, "Are you a witch, too?"

The woman smiled gently, shakily setting down her cup of tea she had been given upon entering the Gray household. She touched the brim of her hat, "Yes, young man, I am."

If Noah wasn't sure his sister was a witch before, this definitely convinced him to believe so. His little sister was a witch.

Isaac Weston Monroe wasn't expected to be a wizard. In fact, based off of his late mother's bloodline, he wasn't supposed to have powers. But, as his father awkwardly shuffled around in Ollivander's Wand Shop, Isaac doubted that there wasn't a magical bone in his body. Especially since he had just accidentally burst a vase, flower guts going all over the young wandmakers carpeting.

Julius Ollivander-Keaton was barely related to the infamous late wandmaker. But apparently, being barely related was just enough to inherit his great-great uncle's (twice removed) wand shop.