Through the Shadows of Elyard

1965

So in order for everything to make sense, I kinda gotta start WAY back with Orion’s parents. Emrys Elyard (Orion’s father) entered his first year at Hogwarts in 1965 with a pretty large group of friends. Being from a pure blood slytherin family he was already well acquainted with the Malfoys, Blacks, and other well known families. So when he stepped onto the Hogwarts Express he was guaranteed a seat with Lucius Malfoy, Bellatrix Black, and Rodolphus Lestrange. However, there was another boy sitting in their compartment. An eleven year old Damian Ryder who was far too quiet. Emrys quickly took Damian under his wing and they became fast friends. All of them were sorted into Slytherin house to no one's surprise.

1965 - 1972

During their seven years at Hogwarts, a lot happened. Emrys stuck to his Slytherin friends, hanging out mostly with Lucius and especially Damian. Emrys and Damian became very close their first year and became almost inseparable after that. Almost.

Damian came from a much less influential family than most Slytherins and quickly learned that proximity to power carried its own advantages. While Lucius Malfoy was already establishing himself as a rising figure among pure blood students, Damian found himself drawn to Emrys instead. Emrys was charismatic, well liked, and carried the influence of the Elyard name with an ease Damian both envied and admired.

At first, their friendship was genuine. Emrys was one of the first people to show Damian kindness without expecting anything in return, and Damian genuinely cared for him. However, even as a child, Damian struggled with a deep fear of being overlooked or forgotten. He craved control over his circumstances and often sought security through influential people. While Emrys saw a loyal friend, Damian slowly began viewing his place in Emrys's life as something that needed to be protected and maintained.

As the years passed, Damian became increasingly possessive of the friendship. Not openly enough for most people to notice, but in subtle ways. He disliked when Emrys spent time with other people, inserted himself into decisions that weren't his to make, and often positioned himself as the person Emrys should trust most. Emrys, being naturally kind and trusting, rarely questioned it.

Around their fourth year, another Slytherin began appearing more frequently around Emrys: Cressida Gaunt (Orion’s mother). Unlike most students, Cressida was difficult to impress and even harder to manipulate. She was highly intelligent, observant, and possessed little patience for games. While Damian initially attempted to befriend her, hoping to secure his place near the Gaunt family name, Cressida quickly saw right through him. She had seen how often he sought control over situations and people, and unlike Emrys, she wasn't willing to excuse it.

As Emrys and Cressida grew closer, Damian found himself increasingly frustrated. For the first time, Emrys was listening to someone else's advice as much as his own. Cressida challenged ideas Damian supported, questioned his motives, and encouraged Emrys to think for himself. What began as irritation gradually became resentment.

By seventh year, tensions within their friend group had hit a peak. Lord Voldemort's influence was spreading throughout the wizarding world, and many young pure bloods viewed the growing Death Eater movement with admiration. Lucius, Bellatrix, Narcissa, Damian, and a young Severus Snape intended to join Voldemort after Hogwarts. Emrys and Cressida were not on board with this. They openly rejected Voldemort's ideology and refused to support the Death Eaters. Damian attempted repeatedly to convince Emrys otherwise, insisting that Voldemort represented power, stability, and a better future for wizarding Britain. Emrys refused every time.

By the end of seventh year, Emrys and Cressida cut ties with nearly all of their former friends who had joined the Death Eaters. Damian Ryder was among them. While Emrys viewed the separation as unfortunate but necessary, Damian never truly accepted it. For him it was never simply a disagreement about politics, it meant Emrys was choosing someone else over him. And unlike Emrys, Damian did not know how to let go.

1980

Cressida and Emrys are now married and Orion is born on November 21st of 1980.

1984

Orion is now four years old and living a happy, relatively normal childhood. Unfortunately, that peace is short-lived when Damian Ryder arrives unexpectedly at the Elyard home. Neither Emrys nor Cressida are pleased to see him.

Ryder claims he has only come to talk. Four years after Voldemort's fall, he has managed to climb the ranks and become a leading figure among the remaining Death Eaters operating in secret. Seeing an opportunity, he decides to personally extend one final invitation to an old friend. Emrys and Cressida refuse. As expected, the conversation quickly turns bitter. Old wounds are reopened, old arguments repeated. Eventually Ryder is told to leave and makes no attempt to argue further.

Then he notices something. A small boy peeking around a doorway. The Elyards have a son.

For a brief moment, Ryder sees more than just a child. He sees an Elyard. A Gaunt. An Heir of Slytherin. A boy with the blood of two powerful pure-blood families running through his veins. An idea begins to form. If Emrys and Cressida refuse to see reason, perhaps their son will one day understand what they could not.

Ryder leaves peacefully, but the encounter stays with him long after he is gone. By the time he disappears from sight, he is already considering what role the boy might one day play in Voldemort's cause.

The visit leaves Emrys and Cressida deeply unsettled. Concerned that Ryder may return, they seek out what remains of the Order of the Phoenix. After much discussion, it is decided that the Elyard family should go into hiding. Their location will be shared with no one outside a trusted few.

Before leaving, however, Cressida approaches Remus Lupin with an unusual request.

Lupin had become a close friend of Emrys during their time in the Order, and Orion had quickly taken a liking to him. Hoping to spare their son a life in hiding, Cressida asks if Lupin would be willing to care for Orion until the danger has passed.

Lupin refuses. Not because he doesn't care for Orion, but because he fears his condition as a werewolf could place the child at risk. Unable to guarantee Orion's safety, he declines the offer despite how much it pains him.

With no other options, Emrys and Cressida take Orion with them when they disappear into hiding.

August 17th 1988

Forewarning: this is where things take a darker turn.

It is a warm August night when the fire starts. Orion is only seven years old when he wakes to pain. His shoulder and arm are burning, smoke fills his room, and the world around him is falling apart in fire and ash.

Cressida reaches him first. She puts out the flames before they can spread further and pulls him away from the burning house. Emrys follows close behind, escaping the collapsing remains of their home. But the moment they step outside, they realize they were never alone.

Death Eaters surround them and Damian Ryder steps out from the shadow of the tree line. The fire casts an eerie glow across his face and the trees, creating moving shadows across the ground.

Emrys immediately steps between Ryder and his family, furious.

Ryder gives him one final chance. He tells Emrys to join the Death Eaters. To stop fighting against the future that is coming. To finally accept what Ryder has spent years trying to make him understand.

Emrys refuses. And that refusal confirms everything Ryder has been afraid of. Emrys cannot be controlled. He cannot be convinced. He is a liability and in Ryder’s mind, liabilities cannot be allowed to remain.

So Ryder kills him.

Emrys falls into the grass, leaving Cressida frozen in horror and Orion sobbing as he clings to her.

Orion does not understand why this is happening. And for a moment, everything else disappears. Because his father was supposed to always be there. To make everything safe again.

But Emrys doesn't move. He doesn't get back up. And Orion understands the devastating truth. His father is gone. And the person responsible is still standing over him.

Ryder looks down at Emrys for a moment. A conflicted expression sits on his face.He does not regret what he has done. But the memory of an eleven year old Emrys on the Hogwarts Express makes him pause.

Then Cressida attacks, pulling him back to the present. She does not hesitate. Grief and anger take over, and she fights with everything she has. For the first time, Ryder is forced to stop being calm and controlled. She is not someone he can easily manipulate or intimidate, and she refuses to let him win without a fight.

The duel is brutal. Cressida is powerful, and Ryder knows it. She is a Gaunt. She is intelligent, skilled, and one of the few people who ever truly saw through him. But she is outnumbered. The Death Eaters eventually overwhelm her, restraining her and forcing her to the ground. Her wand is taken from her hands, leaving her unable to continue.

And that is when Ryder loses the last bit of restraint he has. He approaches her, no longer pretending to be the careful, calculating person who came to their home years earlier. He blames her for everything. He tells her that Emrys was supposed to understand. That he was supposed to see what Ryder saw. That she poisoned him against him and turned him away from the only future that mattered. He truly believes that she ruined everything he had spent years trying to build. That Emrys is dead because of her.

Cressida refuses to accept his version of events and fires back with the truth. Emrys made his own choice.

And Ryder cannot stand that. Because if Emrys chose to leave, then Ryder has to accept that he was never something he could control. So instead, he chooses to destroy the person who represents that loss and kills Cressida too.

Orion watches from the arms of a masked Death Eater. But that doesn’t matter to him now. The world he knew is gone. The house is gone. His parents are gone. And Ryder is the only thing left standing in the ashes.

Ryder turns toward him and for the first time that night, Orion sees him clearly in the light of the fire. Ryder approaches him calmly and kneels to his level. He does not look angry and when he speaks, it's not with unkindness. He tells Orion that his parents were blind. That they wasted the gifts they had been given. That they failed to understand what Orion could become.

But Ryder understands. Orion is an Elyard. A Gaunt. An heir of Slytherin. Someone who can still serve the purpose his parents were too foolish to see.

Ryder then brings Orion to Malfoy Manor, where the Death Eaters have established a hidden base. His burns are treated, but they leave behind a permanent scar stretching from his jaw down across his shoulder.

He is given a room in the North Wing. It is large and comfortable, but empty. And worst of all, it is not home. For the first time in his life, Orion is completely alone. He lost everything he had in the span of one night and the person who destroyed it all is now the only person he has left.

August 1988 - May 1991

The next three years of Orion's life are spent inside Malfoy Manor.

The manor becomes both his home and his prison. Though he is given a large bedroom, clean clothes, regular meals, and everything he might need physically, he is never truly free. Every corridor is watched. Every exit is guarded. Every movement is accounted for.

Damian Ryder takes full responsibility for Orion's upbringing, becoming what is essentially his handler. Having known Emrys since childhood, Ryder believes no one understands Orion better than he does. He oversees nearly every aspect of Orion's life, deciding what Orion learns, who he speaks to, where he goes, and ultimately who he becomes.

About a month after arriving at the manor, Orion's training begins. Ryder teaches him strategy, dueling, magical theory, and combat. Every lesson is deliberate, every exercise carefully planned. Orion knows there is a reason for the training. There always is with Ryder. However, he is never told what that reason is. He simply learns not to question it. Ryder is an exceptionally skilled teacher, but an unforgiving one. Mistakes are corrected immediately, expectations are impossibly high, and failure is rarely met with patience.

It is also around this time that another resident of Malfoy Manor begins taking an interest in Orion. Eight-year-old Draco Malfoy notices the strange boy with the burn scar who always seems to follow Ryder through the manor. Lucius makes it clear that Draco is not to speak to Orion or even approach him. Naturally, Draco ignores him.

One night, Draco sneaks into Orion's room. At first, Orion is wary. He keeps his distance, says very little, and watches Draco carefully, unsure whether the visit is some sort of test. But Draco simply talks. He complains about something his father said at dinner, comments on how dreadful the drawing room curtains are, and rambles about whatever comes to mind. Slowly, Orion begins to listen. Before long, the two are meeting in secret nearly every night, talking for hours and finding brief moments of normalcy in a place where neither of them has much freedom.

Eventually, both Lucius and Ryder discover the friendship. Lucius allows it after Narcissa convinces him to reconsider. She sees that Draco is happier with Orion around and believes the friendship is good for him. Ryder, on the other hand, allows it because he has little choice. He may lead the Death Eaters, but Malfoy Manor is Lucius's home, and Draco Malfoy is firmly off limits.

Three years pass this way.

By May of 1991, Draco is eagerly preparing to begin Hogwarts that autumn. Orion, however, is told he will not be joining him. Ryder has no intention of sending him to school. Instead, Orion is expected to remain at Malfoy Manor, continuing his education and training under Ryder's supervision. The news is devastating.

After everything he has already lost, Orion cannot bear the thought of losing Draco too. Terrified of being left alone with Ryder once again, he finally tells Draco the truth. He has to get out. Though hesitant and fully aware of the risk, Draco agrees to help.

Before sunrise one morning in May, Draco quietly slips from his room and leaves the servants' entrance near the kitchens unlocked.

Orion takes the opportunity without hesitation. Using the very skills Ryder spent three years teaching him, he slips past the manor's security and disappears into the woods beyond the estate.

For the first time in three years, Orion is free.

May 1991 - September 1991

With Malfoy Manor behind him, Orion spends the next several months moving across the English countryside. He keeps to himself, sneaking rides on Muggle transportation whenever he can and avoiding staying in one place for too long. His only goal is to put as much distance between himself and Malfoy Manor as possible.

By late August, Orion has made his way to the streets of London.

While walking through the city, Albus Dumbledore notices a dirty, exhausted boy who bears a striking resemblance to someone he once knew. After taking a closer look, Dumbledore realizes the impossible. The boy standing before him is the son of Emrys Elyard. To earn Orion's trust, Dumbledore introduces himself and presents Emrys's wand, explaining that he recovered it from the ashes of the Elyard home after the fire.

Dumbledore brings Orion somewhere safe, providing him with food, clean clothes, and a place to rest. Only after Orion has begun to recover does Dumbledore gently ask what happened during the three years he was missing.

Orion tells him about Damian Ryder and the Death Eaters, confirming that the organization is still active despite Voldemort's downfall. However, he deliberately leaves out any mention of Malfoy Manor or the Malfoy family. Draco had helped him escape, and Orion refuses to do anything that might put him in danger. As a result, Dumbledore learns that the Death Eaters are still operating, but he has no way of locating them.

When news of Orion's story reaches the Ministry of Magic, Minister Cornelius Fudge dismisses it outright. Convinced that Voldemort is gone for good, Fudge insists that Orion is simply a traumatized child whose story has been distorted by his experiences. The missing details in Orion's account only reinforce the Ministry's skepticism.

The story quickly becomes a source of controversy in the Daily Prophet. Some believe Orion's account, pointing to his disappearance, injuries, and the consistency of his testimony. Others side with the Ministry, believing Orion is either confused or seeking attention after years of being missing. Orion pays little attention to the public debate.

Until the start of the Hogwarts term, he is placed in the care of Minerva McGonagall, who provides him with the stable home he has been without for the past three years.

September 1991

Orion officially starts his first year at Hogwarts. This is where my fic starts.

The end (finally)

This is optional but I like to go in and clean up my sketch sometimes. It helps me see the pose clearer with smoother lines that I can maybe push or exaggerated more.

Then for the final line art I go in and clean up all my lines. I personally like leaving them a little sketchy so I dont spend too much time on that. Instead I like to focus on line weight. It adds just a small extra bit of visual interest that I like in my work.

Flat colors is where things get very fun or over frustrating depending on your preferences. I struggle with color theory so choosing colors is my least favorite part lol! But this is essentially just coloring in the lines like a coloring book! I also like to add any clothing texture or patterns in this stage.

And finally shading and lighting! This is my favorite part because it really breaths life into the illustration. I personally dont shade much with black or white. Thats not to say you can't. I personally prefer deeper blues and reds to shade. I also like adding a bit of blue or orange into my whites to allow for further highlighting with white.

And in my process of writing that, Ive noticed a few things.

I think the reason Slytherin sticks with me so much is because people tend to treat it like it’s a hogwarts problem. Like if you just removed Slytherin as a house, everything would fix itself. But I don’t think that’s true

I think slytherin just makes something visible that already exists

All the things people associate with slytherin:

* blood purity

* legacy

* reputation

* family expectation

Those don’t start at hogwarts. They start way earlier than that. They’re taught. They’re inherited. They’re reinforced at home long before these kids ever get sorted.

So when they get to school, it’s not like slytherin creates those beliefs. It just gathers the people who already have them and puts them in the same space. And once they’re all together, it kind of… intensifies.

Which is why I keep coming back to the idea that Slytherin feels less like a house and more like a contained version of the wizarding world itself. Like a terrarium. Everything that exists outside is still there, just smaller and easier to observe.

The hierarchy, the pressure, the expectations, the way reputation matters more than truth sometimes. And i think that’s why it feels like the hardest house to be in, at least to me

Not because the people are worse, but because the pressure isn’t just coming from the people around you. It’s coming from everything behind them too. Their families, their names, what they’ve been taught to value.

It’s not something you can really step away from, even at school. And there’s this kind of quiet isolation in that

Because it’s not built on community the same way other houses are. It’s not about support or shared struggle. It’s more about awareness

Who’s watching

Who has influence

Where you stand

Even friendships can feel like they exist inside that system instead of outside of it. Not fake, just… fragile.

And i don’t even think most of the students are doing it on purpose. That’s the part that gets me

They’re not sitting there thinking “i’m going to uphold this system today”

They’re just existing in something they were raised in, repeating patterns they didn’t create. Which makes it harder to push against, because it doesn’t always look like something you can fight.

So yeah I don’t really see slytherin as the source of the problem (granted its not helping either).