Chapter One: A Lovelless Beginning


Mirabelle Everly, second born child of the Everly line. A previous head girl who was now an up and coming potions master. Lawrence Lovell, rising quickly among the ranks of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, firstborn son of the Lovell family, the head boy to Mirabelle's head girl. The match was deemed to be a great fit by both families, on paper it should have all gone smoothly. An honorable marriage between two well-known Pureblood families.


Of course, a perfect match on paper is just that. Facts on paper can never account for the millions of variables in the real world. Variables that may occur whenever two people hold a conversation. Variables like both Mirabelle and Lawrence finding each other painfully dull.


This fact wasn't of particular consequence to the couple. With Lawrence's son Alistar from his previous marriage, the couple had no pressure to produce a suitable heir. The shared power of their families meant the couple could move through the upper levels of wizarding society freely. Lack of genuine affection was made up for in wealth and social clout. Provided a level of subtilty was kept the two were free to lead their own lives, romantic or otherwise.


It was during one of these times when Mirabelle happened upon a man, a muggle named Thomas Clark. Not that she'd admit it but Mirabelle had always had a fascination with muggles and their way of life, how they adapted to a world without magic. While Lawrence was away on one of his many international trips Mirabelle would often claim to be out traveling the globe, instead donning a disguise and heading out to explore many a muggle town and city.


Of course, she was cautious. Any interaction with muggles was kept to a strict minimum. Tom, however, he was different. An aspiring author, he slowly got her to open up, held her attention in a way her husband never had. The first three months flew by, her happiness only pausing as she came to a sudden realization, that was shortly proven to be fact. She was pregnant.


By all accounts, she shouldn't have gone through with it. Her husband would return from work in nine months, it would be too close to call. However, a part of her, one small part, knew that she couldn't go through with it. As much as she knew she'd eventually return to her old life, of wealth and influence, this child was also Tom's. The man who'd made her feel something for once in her life. She would leave, but she would leave him with their child. She'd been using a fake surname during her visit and being half-blood, there was a chance the child wouldn't be magical anyway. The child wouldn't affect the Lovell name, she'd be fine.


The couple spent a final nine months happily together, before Mirabelle Lovell left, leaving her infant son behind her.





For the next ten years, Bastian Clark grew up happily with his father. Small and slight, with dark brown hair that reached the back of his neck and his fringe hanging over his face. His eyes matched his hair in colour, had a tendency to always appear to be looking at something in the distance.


He grew into a quiet boy, interested in anything and everything. His father, his sole parent, decided to homeschool him, encouraging his sons growing imagination and literary skills. Bastian always believes in the impossible and can often be found writing down a stream of ideas into one of his many notebooks.


Growing up, strange events seemed a common occurrence around him. The first example of this would have been when he reached the age of four. One day he ran up to his father, excitedly explaining that his toys had come alive. With a smile his father followed him into his room, thinking his son's imagination was running away with him, only to be shocked at the sight of a circle of toys levitating around the room in a circle. It was due to this event that Bastian's father began homeschooling him. He didn't know if his son had caused the event but if that was the case then he didn't want him to become a target or accidentally harm himself or another child.


So Bastian grew up isolated but happy. He's naturally reserved and unused to talking to children his own age. However, if you can capture his attention he'll excitedly chatter on about a topic for hours.


Overall he and his father were doing quite well, living an uneventful life. Up until a few months before his eleventh birthday.





Back at the Lovell household things were getting desperate. After the reveal of Alistar's status as a squib last year (who was then promptly sent away to his birth mother) the household had no heir apparent. They couldn't risk taking any old child in, even if they were talented they wouldn't share their bloodline, there would be no way of checking the child's true origins. All hope for a suitable heir seemed lost.


Mirabelle however, knew there was one option. One she'd hidden from her husband for 10 years. A secret that could potentially save them from ruin.


Of course, there were arguments. Not about the affair in particular, although Lawrence did question why Mirabelle had to go and choose a muggle of all things, rather they were about the boy himself. A child raised in the muggle world, a suitable heir? Did he even have any magic to speak of? However, the child would at least have Everly blood, if he took on the Lovell name the public would be none the wiser. They'd just say that the boy was sickly, they kept the birth quiet for his sake and he'd been living with relatives who were able to care for him properly, with constant visits from his parents of course. Now the child was fully healed and preparing for his Hogwarts journey. Those who knew the couple well enough to figure out the dates didn't match up would keep quiet out of either loyalty or fear, perhaps both.


It was finally decided that the boy would be tested. If he was able to show signs of magic during the test he would be taken on as the heir. If not, he'd never be spoken of in the household again.


Later that week Thomas was headed to a book signing, taking his son along with him on the promise that he kept calm and behaved sensibly. There had been no unusual incidents for a while and Bastian had been wanting to attend one for a while now. Everything was going to be fine.


Police later reported that they believed an engine fault had caused the freak accident, causing the car to go up in flames instantaneously. The only passenger present being the driver, who died in the blaze. His young son, who was able to cast a protective barrier before passing out, was never mentioned on any official reports. It's amazing what the combination of a few confundus and memory charms can do.


Bastien came to in a strange house, with a strange elf-like creature standing over him. He supposed it was an elf anyway, it wasn't good to assume, he'd have to ask it later. The only thing he could focus on was that father was gone. He couldn't remember many details, the heat of the flames, the stench of petrol sticking to his nose but somehow he just knew. If father was alive, he would have been here by now.


The couple came in not long after he awoke. They introduced themselves as the Lovell family. according to them, he was a wizard and they were taking him in out of the goodness of their hearts. They asked his name. He wasn't Bastian Clark now, he was Bastian Lovell. In the presence of others, he was their son, a Pureblood, and was to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year. As they spoke the woman, Mirabelle, wouldn't look him in the eye.


Bastian processed all of this slowly. He didn't think he liked the couple, at least on first impressions but it was a fact that he had nowhere to go now. It had always been him and father, what was he supposed to do now he was gone? Another, smaller part of him was thinking about the other part of the conversation. Magic was real? He wasn't particularly surprised, it explained the strange events that had happened to him growing up but still, to have a whole school dedicated to it?