*Gobbledygook*
$Parseltongue$
-July 14th, 1992-
{Alex's POV}
Over the past few weeks, Alex had gotten used to living at home with Remus again. They had missed him heaps while at Hogwarts, but it was also difficult to adjust to living with one person rather than their whole year level. Sirius was over every day, for one thing or another. But it was usually just to see Remus and get to know them again.
They were missing their friends like mad. Even though they were writing to each other every day, it wasn't the same as seeing each other face to face. They were already trying to organise a time for them all to meet up, but that was quite difficult, given the size of their friend group.
They headed downstairs, black journal in hand. Alex took a seat at the table as Remus plated the food up before sitting down opposite them. After they finished breakfast, Alex helped Remus clear up before sitting down at the table again and opening their journal to their newest idea.
Alex looked through all their ideas and research for their newest spell. It all looked like it should work, but they hadn't worked out how to combine it all together. Without that, the spell wouldnt work. It would be an extremely difficult spell and probably would take them a few months at least once they started working on it. It was going to require at least 4 layers of spell-work and was going to be the most complicated spell they had made to date. Their shield spell was the most complicated they had made yet and that only required 2 layers. Their messaging spell also had two layers, but wasn't as complicated as it was a passive spell, rather than an offensive or defensive spell. But they were confident they could make it work.
They summoned their red and yellow journals with a flick of their wrist and flicked through them, trying to find anything that they might have missed. They couldn't find anything in their yellow book, the spell craft section not having anything to say about the binding part that they needed and the languages not going to be able to benefit their research. They found a small note in the red book that was useful though.
Alex flicked their wrist again, setting the red book to float in front of them on the page they had found, the note enlarged slightly so that it was easier to read at a glance. They began using that new piece of information and noting down how it would interact with the spell and if there would be consequences from it. It might be the binding part that they needed. They were so absorbed in their work that they hadn't realised that they had company until Sirius spoke.
"Merlin pup, what are you working on?" Alex looked up to see Sirius standing behind them, eyebrows raised in surprise. Alex didn't bat an eye at the name, having gotten used to it now that Sirius was around more. They could understand his surprise, however, as he had never seen them while they were working. Normally when he came over, they were reading or up in their room working; no one disturbed them while they were in their room.
"I'm working on a new spell," they replied airily, turning back to their work. Sirius sat down next to them, not saying anything as Alex continued to work out what the new item would do to the spell. About 5 minutes later they were sure that they had covered all the options and put their pen down, turning to their left to see Sirius watching them, mouth open slightly in what they assumed was shock.
"If you're looking for your boyfriend, he's probably in the library or his room." Sirius ignored them, instead just staring at them.
"Sirius? Sirius? Padfoot?" Sirius finally snapped out of it, blinking rapidly.
"Sorry pup. Did you say you're working on a new spell?"
"Yeah, what of it?"
"You're 11."
"I'm aware of that, considering I lived those 11 years and clearly remember every second of them."
"You're creating a spell at 11."
"Yes," they replied slowly. Honestly, just because most 11-year-olds didn't create their own spells, didn't mean they were accomplishing the impossible.
"That shouldn't be possible."
"You'll come to realise that Alex frequently accomplishes the impossible," Remus said, walking into the room.
"I don't accomplish the impossible. I simply do what others could not." Remus raised an eyebrow in question, but didn't say anything, instead turning to Sirius.
"You do realise that Alex is creating a spell Moony?"
"Yes, I am aware Padfoot," Remus replied coolly.
"And you don't seem fazed by the fact that an 11-year-old is creating a spell, which is a feat that most adults couldn't accomplish."
"Again, I am aware of this Pads."
"You act like this is a daily occurrence." Sirius threw his hands in the air in an exasperated way.
"It is," they replied, without looking up from their book. Remus slid into the seat on their right while Sirius floundered, seemingly choking on the air.
"Can I see cub?" Alex nodded, sliding their book across to him. They watched him unfold the page, which kept expanding so that all their research for one thing would be on the same two pages. Remus eyebrows seemed to raise higher and higher as he read.
"That seems quite complicated cub. It seems more complicated than your other spells." They smiled at Remus. Even though he didn't understand spell-craft or potions creation, Remus was always trying to understand how they created them and how the creation worked.
"Yeah, it's going to be a four-layer spell, something I haven't actually attempted yet. My shield spell was only two layers, as was my messaging spell, and the other spells I made were quite simple, only one layer. But I'm confident that I can eventually make it work, it just might take me a few months."
"Other spells," Sirius managed to choke out, having found his voice again.
"Yes, other spells. This is my most complicated so far, but the others were complicated at the time, as my abilities have grown," they replied evenly.
"How many spells have you created?"
"I've created 6 spells, 5 charm like spells and one counter. I'm better at creating potions as opposed to spells."
"You've created potions?" Sirius exclaimed.
"Yeah, potions are really interesting." Alex looked up from their book just in time to see Sirius exchange a helpless look with Remus over the top of their head.
"As I said Siri, Alex consistently does the impossible." Sirius mouthed wordlessly at them for a few seconds, obviously trying to gather his thoughts.
"Ok, I can accept that." He took in a deep breath before continuing. "So, what do your spells do?"
"I can tell you that I have one spell that allows you to understand any language for 2 hours, but there would only be a few people who can cast that because it has to be cast in parsel. But I can't tell you about the others. They're classified information that only a small amount of people will be privy to until certain things change." Sirius nodded, his face blank, showing his pureblood upbringing, while many emotions were present in his eyes.
"Is that how you were talking to Moony in Parseltongue when I passed out?"
"Yeah. However, I wasn't able to make the spell let them speak the same language, so Remus had to reply in English," they agreed, nodding.
"Ok, I have to ask, following that. How many languages can you speak?"
"Just a few." They shrugged.
"Just a few? Cub, you speak 10 languages," Remus exclaimed. They just shrugged.
"10? 10 languages? That's just a few?" Sirius asked.
"Yeah, that's just a few. There are over 200 languages spoken all over the world. There are 24 official languages in Europe alone, with another 60 regional languages. And that doesn't include languages of the magical creatures, such as the language of Giants, Trolls and Fairy, which I don't know."
"Fair point, but 10 is still impressive Alex. So, what languages can you speak?"
"Latin, Greek, Spanish, Romanian, French, Greek and Mandarin are my human languages. Then I can speak Mermish, Gobbledygook and Parseltongue. I get Parsel from our Peverell ancestors who were the last people in our line to have been gifted the ability to use the language that flows in our veins."
"How did you learn all those languages pup?"
"One of my teachers, who was in charge of teaching me languages and etiquette, among other things. She would speak in a different language each class. As we progressed, she would also randomly switch languages, often midway through a conversation." Helga's way of teaching was definitely affective; if they couldn't understand the language, they wouldn't learn anything that lesson.
"That ... is one way to learn," Sirius replied slowly.
"It worked." They shrugged.
"You mentioned creating potions?" Alex nodded. "Have you thought about applying for a mastery? From what I've heard, you only need to create two potions for a mastery, three for honours." Alex closed their book, content to come back to their research after this conversation, as it would probably take a little bit of explaining.
"Why do people keep asking me that?" they asked, wanting to see where Sirius would go.
"Excuse me cub? People have asked?" Remus interrupted. Right, they had forgotten that they hadn't told him.
"Yeah. I've been offered an apprenticeship by two of the Professors. I'm pretty sure I would have had more if my response to both of them wasn't the same." They pulled their occlumency shields tighter around their emotions, stopping themselves from running their hand through their hair. It was a gesture that Sal said showed weakness.
"Who offered?" Sirius asked.
"Um, Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall."
"Snape. Snape offered you an apprenticeship?"
"Yes Remus, he did. First potions lesson after Yule break."
"I don't even like Snivellus and I know that that is a huge honour. He's the youngest potions master, anyone would be honoured to be given that request."
"That's what my friends said when I told them that I had declined. Blaise even said, and I quote, 'that's not an opportunity that comes around every month. That's a once in a lifetime opportunity.'"
"Excuse me, but did you say you declined?"
"Yeah, I declined when Professor McGonagall asked as well."
"You declined Minnie's offer. But Minnie is amazing." They shrugged.
"Like I told them, what's the point in doing something a second time? Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to continue my research in my room." They stood up and left the room, grabbing their journals as they went, leaving Remus to deal with all of Sirius' questions, which they could already hear him firing.