Frost here, bringing you the first chapter of another story I was working on a while back. I don't own the Inheritance Cycle or Harry Potter.

Chapter 1: Hiring Professors

Albus Dumbledore was probably the most well known and influential wizard since Merlin. He was not however the most powerful, no that title belonged to Harry Potter, not that many knew that. He was also not the all knowing, infallible wizard that the majority of the world seemed to believe. Unfortunately this was true, and on this particular problem, he was stumped. The last Defense Against the Dark Arts professor was, quite frankly, the worst in a string of bad professors. Just over twenty consecutive years of DADA teachers lasted less than a year. It was so bad, he didn't have any applicants, not that he could blame them. The last two years had been especially bad, one turned to ash, while the other lost all his memories. To compound this, his history teacher had finally requested to move on. The ghost of Professor Binns was gone, so he also needed a history teacher. Problem was, there were very few magical historians. And the few he knew were either otherwise occupied, or uninterested. So that was how Albus Dumbledore found himself in his brothers pub, the Hog's Head, drinking firewhiskey. Aberforth Dumbledore pored his brother another glass of firewhiskey before asking, "So, what brought this drinking spree on?"

Albus was silent for a moment, "I have a problem. A very big problem. I once more need a DADA professor, and I have no applicants. To top it off, I also need a new history professor. Once more, I have nobody to fill that spot. I just don't know what to do."

Aberforth frowned, "Have you tried old Bagshot?"

Albus nodded, "She's nearly gone round the bend, but I asked. Wasn't interested."

"The kid, what's his name? Lupin?" Aberforth suggested.

"Can't find him. Besides, you know as well as I do that he'd be at least reluctant to come." Albus told him.

"Excuse me," a soft, slightly musical voice cut in, "I'm sorry, but I couldn't help but overhear. If you wouldn't mind, I could teach your DADA class."

The two Dumbledore brothers turned towards the newcomer. He had ear length, dark brown hair and brown eyes. He was tall, well built, obviously strong. He was also fairly slender. His face was angled, almost elvish. His eyes were slightly slanted and his ears were pointed. He wore thick brown boots, rugged leather pants, a belt seemingly made of woven cloth, and a light green tunic. Over his tunic was a thick cloak, made of the hide of some animal they didn't recognize, which was adorned with wolf furs. He wore a thin metal chain, hanging from which was a pendent, a hammer. At his right hip he had a sheathed dagger. Albus asked, "You offered?"

"Aye, I did." The man, who appeared to be no older then his twenties said.

Albus nodded, "You wouldn't happen to have your credentials on you, would you?"

The man laughed lightly, "In fact, I actually do. Mine and some others."

"May I see it?" Albus asked.

"You may." The man had a half smile as he said this, but made no moves to give him anything.

After a couple of moments of waiting Dumbledore chuckled, "Of course, how silly of me. I asked if I was allowed to see it. Very well, would you give me your credentials?"

The man laughed again, Dumbledore noted that it was a soft musical sound, almost like a birdsong. "Of course. I must apologize. I came here mainly to remember times long past, and I recall my old mentor asking a question only to get a very similar answer. Here you go." The man handed Albus a stack of papers.

Aberforth whistled, "How many people are in that thing?"

The man smiled slightly, "Just myself, my wife, my son, and my daughter."

Albus asked, "Your name is Eragon Shadeslayer?" At the man's nod he said, "You realize most of these classes haven't been offered in over two hundred years."

Eragon nodded, "However, my family do not need pay. We have other means to make money. I assure you, we can acquire anything needed for our class."

"And you said you wanted to be the DADA professor? What classes do you think the others should teach?" Albus asked, he was excited. Four new professors, that would mean he could bring back some old classes!

"Let's see, my wife Arya would do best in history, but be warned, she will teach both magical and non-magical in the same class. My son, Kevan, would likely prefer to teach a class on enchanting. While my daughter Flora would prefer to teach politics and about mental magics. I would also not mind teaching a class about fighting with weapons." Eragon listed.

Albus was stunned, someone who wanted to teach mental magics was unheard of. And very few used weapons anymore, though some, especially the traditionalists, would want to learn. "I have no problem about that. Would you care to introduce me to your family? I'd like to have all the paperwork done as soon as possible." He was positively gleeful.

Eragon nodded, then lifted his mug and quaffed the last of his firewhiskey. "Ah, not a bad drink. Many thanks for that." He flipped a galleon to Aberforth, then motioned to Albus. "Come come, my place isn't all that near."

It was after about half an hour of walking on a trail in the forest that Eragon stopped. "Albus, I must tell you some things before we enter my home. First, as you can probably tell, I'm not fully human. I am half High Elf. Thousands of years ago there was a continent, known as Alegiesia. Five major sentient races populated it. Humans, dwarves, urgals, high elves, and true dragons. My home is a magically expanded pocket dimension, the last remains of Alegiesia. The last urgals, a dwarf clan, the remaining high elves, and the last true dragons inhabit it. There are some humans here as well. In this place, we have a group, one I am the leader of in fact. They are known as the dragon riders. We are peacekeepers, scholars, warriors, inventors, and researchers. We all have two things in common. We all can use magic, and we have all bonded to a dragon."

Albus asked, "What do you mean bonded to a dragon?"

Eragon explained, "While we are young, we are allowed to take a test. You can take this test every year, starting when you are eight, ending when you are twenty. This test involves touching a group of unhatched dragon eggs. To pass an egg will start to hatch, once it hatches, the person touches the hatchling, and they are bonded. They have a mental link, if they couldn't use magic before they become able to, and they slowly acquire the pointed ears and speed, strength, and stamina of an elf. After that, they are trained, first with those of their group. One by one each is taken by a full rider as an apprentice. Their masters will train the pair, dragon and rider, until they deem them ready for the final test. They must pass the judgement of the council, upon doing so they become full riders. The council is a group of thirty one full riders that are switched about every three years. I am the last of the council, and only vote when a tie must be broken. Besides that, I have the final say in all things, but we do have a second council that only the most experienced riders are on. They act as my advisors, and they share news that they feel the others should know."

Albus nodded, "Fascinating. But why do you tell me this?"

"Three reasons, first we don't use wands, so we will need to acquire some. Second, everyone still living in my family is a rider, so we will be bringing our dragons with us. And third, I would like permission to test your students to see if they can become riders."

Albus stroked his beard, "Don't use wands? But you can, correct?"

Eragon nodded, "Yes, however I lost mine a few hundred years ago. The only one in my family that might still have hers is my daughter."

Albus nodded, "Good good, now how big are true dragons?"

Eragon snorted, "They're about the size of a house cat when they hatch, and they never stop growing." He watched as the headmaster paled, "b\But don't worry, I discovered a way to slow it down to practically nothing. Most dragons prefer to take that path. My own dragon is about fifty some feet long, that's about the normal size of the dragons nowadays."

Albus sighed in relief, "Alright then, I have no problems with any of that."

Eragon clapped, "Excellent! Come along, almost to the portal."

After the visit Albus Dumbledore was extremely happy. He'd managed to solve both his problems at once, and now had a few new classes he could reinstate. He had decided to send information about all of the elective classes to every student who would be at least a third year. He laughed, the coming year would be brilliant.

Hermione Granger pouted as she read the letter, new electives had been added, so it would be impossible for her to take all the classes, even with the time turner that professor McGonagall was going to let her borrow. After a lot of thinking she finally decided to take Runes, Arithmancy, Mental Magics, Enchanting, and Care of Magical Creatures.

Ron Weasley noted that the stuff about the electives had gotten there. Quickly looking over the choices he decided to take the easy ones. Divination and Care of Magical Creatures. That decided, he headed outside to go flying.

Harry Potter had only been at his relatives house for three weeks and he was already absolutely miserable. Ron sent a single letter in that time, although Hermione had been sending him letters at least twice a week. Corresponding with Hermione made Harry realize two things. One, she was a much better friend then Ron. And two, he needed to stop lazing around and actually apply himself. As he thought this, Harry was surprised by an owl landing on his desk. He removed the letter only to see that it was from Hogwarts. 'Must be the elective stuff.' He thought. Harry read through it, and finally decided to take Runes, Weapons, and Mental Magics. That done he turned to his final piece of homework, Potions.