Arrival

"Harry!" Hermione's anxious voice cut through the silence.

"I'm right here, Hermione," Harry called back to her.

Hermione hurried up to him. "I thought I'd lost you," she muttered. "This place makes me jumpy."

Just then, Ron Weasley appeared at Hermione's side. "No sign of it," he told them glumly.

It was nearly midnight. The three friends had come out to the old forest to look for the cup of Helga Hufflepuff, which should, if Dumbledore had been right, contain a portion of Voldemort's soul. Lately there had been reports of death eater activity near this forest, and they had come to have a look. All the other Horcruxes had been found and destroyed; all they needed now was the cup.

Suddenly, Hermione held up a hand. "Quiet!" she hissed. Slowly, she began to creep off the trail to the right. Ron and Harry looked at each other briefly, then silently followed her.

Now that they listened, they could hear a strange noise not far off. A sort of whirring, humming sound, very muffled. They crept along for about five minutes, keeping as close together as the thick trees allowed.

Abruptly, without warning, they came upon the source of the noise. It was a hole, hovering in midair, and the air around it was spinning violently, creating a suction that was impossible to resist. The three companions were torn from their feet, and drawn, helpless and confused, into the hole.

For a minute all the world seemed to vanish, and everything around them was black. They were spun until they could no longer remember which way was up. Eventually, they were flung out onto the ground in a strange place.

Harry was the first to recover from the ordeal. Slightly dazed, he sat up and stared around. The trees had vanished, and they were surrounded by tents. Men in armour were running about. They passed by without so much as sparing the three teenagers a glance.

Harry shuffled over where Ron and Hermione were sitting. They too had recovered by then, and were staring about with frightened eyes. Both looked up at Harry as he came over.

Hermione spoke first. "Where are we? What's going on?"

Before Ron or Harry could open their mouths, one of the soldiers finally noticed their presence, and yelled.

"Oi! Who are you three?" The man stared at them for a minute, taking in their bizarre appearance. They were no soldiers, that much he could tell. Without waiting for an answer, he turned and shouted for his comrades to come. Before they could register what was happening, Ron, Harry and Hermione were seized roughly and dragged away. They were too confused to put up a fight, they simply allowed themselves to be carried off.

After several minutes of uncomfortable jolting and tugging, they were tossed to the ground in, what they realised, was a large tent. A woman with dark skin and a fierce expression stood before them.

"Who are these people?" She demanded of the soldiers. "They are certainly not with us."

"We do not know, my lady," replied one of the guards uneasily. "We found them sitting just outside one of the storage tents. We didn't know what to do with them."

The lady turned to the three intruders. "Who are you? Speak!"

Again, Hermione was the first to find her voice. "I am Hermione," she responded nervously, "And these are my friends Harry and Ron. We were walking in the forest, when we found a sort of hole in the air, and it…"

She was cut off as another person entered the tent. At first glance, he looked like a regular man. But he was not, Hermione noticed. His features were strangely slanted, and he looked different to any other man she had seen before.

He noticed the three newcomers, and looked at the lady enquiringly. "Lady Nasuada, who are these people?" he asked.

"I do not know," she replied somewhat tensely. "But I am glad you're here, Eragon. Could you please look into their minds and tell me what their purpose here is?"

"Very well," the man called Eragon replied. He fixed his gaze first on the redhead. Ron, to his horror, suddenly felt an alien presence in his mind. He tried to block it out, but he could not. He was completely helpless. All he could do was wait, as Eragon probed his mind, searching for information about them.

Eventually, the strange consciousness withdrew from his mind. He sighed in relief and backed away from the strange man. Eragon, however, was no longer looking at him. His gaze had turned to Hermione. She, too, felt his consciousness enter her mind, and could do nothing to stop it. After a minute, when Eragon was satisfied, he moved on to Harry.

Harry immediately noticed the strange sensation of another being entering his thoughts. For a minute he panicked, then he remembered the Occlumency training he had received, over two years ago now. He focused, and with all his strength, blocked the strange man from his mind.

Eragon withdrew, startled. Apparently, he had expected no resistance. He frowned slightly. "His mind is guarded," he announced to no-one in particular.

Nasuada sighed. After the stress of the battle, her patience was wearing thin. "Well, break his barriers then!" she commanded tersely.

Eragon looked gravely over at Harry. "Lower your barriers," he instructed calmly.

"No."

"Then, you give me no choice." Eragon probed Harry's mind again, gently at first. When Harry continued to block him, he strengthened his attack. Yet the boy still resisted. Suddenly, Eragon jabbed hard with his mind, and Harry felt his barriers break down. He struggled, but the effort of keeping Eragon out had drained his strength. He was forced to yield to the probing. After what seemed like hours, though it could only have been a couple of minutes at most, Eragon withdrew and turned to Nasuada.

"They were brought here by some sort of magical backfire," he told her. "They bear no ill will towards us, but they are not as helpless as they seem. They can wield magic, all of them." He did not see the need to go into any more detail than that.

Nasuada turned her piercing gaze on the three of them. "Where did you learn magic?" she demanded.

"At Hogwarts," Hermione responded impatiently. She was not sure she liked these people; what right did they have to drag her here like a criminal, and break into her mind by force? "It's a magic school." She elaborated upon seeing their confused expressions. Before they could speak again, she voiced the question the had been pondering. "Where are we? And who are you?"

Nasuada looked angrily at Hermione, but Eragon turned to her again and spoke. "This is Alagaesia," he explained gently. "I am Eragon Shadeslayer, and this is the lady Nasuada. You have come at a rather unfortunate time, we have just fought in a great battle, and our hospitality is not quite what it might otherwise be."

Nasuada cut him off. "Eragon, we have other matters to attend to." She turned to the guards. "Take them to a spare tent, and see that they remain there. I will deal with them presently."

So, the three friends found themselves sitting in an empty tent, while soldiers stood guard outside. They were tired and very confused, and weren't sure what to do.

Ron was sitting with his arm wrapped around Hermione, while Harry paced up and down, trying to figure out what they could do. Eventually, he had had enough. He pulled out his wand.

"I'm sick of this," he announced to his friends. "I'm getting out of here. He pointed his wand at the tent door, and muttered, "Diffindo".

Nothing happened.

Panicking slightly, Harry threw a string of spells and hexes at the door of the tent. None of them left a mark.

As he became more and more frenzied, the tent door was abruptly thrown open and the strange man from before strode in. He caught sight of Harry, standing in the centre of the room holding a stick aloft and looking absolutely terrified. Eragon stared at him as though he was mad.

"What on earth are you doing?" he asked, not sure how he should react to this. The boy turned abruptly and pointed the stick in Eragon's face. Swiftly regaining his composure, Eragon raised an eyebrow. This was something new indeed. Being threatened by a captive boy, wearing some sort of strange robe and wielding a twig. Quite comical, actually. Eragon grabbed the boy's arm and lowered it.

"Calm down," he said soothingly. "I will not hurt you."

"Don't talk to me like I'm a kid!" Harry yelled suddenly. This was too much. His wand wasn't working, and he was standing in a tent being patronized by some strange man with pointed ears, dressed in full armour.

Eragon gave him another strange look. "How old are you again?" he asked.

"I'm seventeen!" Harry spat back.

"Bit small for your age, aren't you?" Eragon mused, provoking an angry scowl from Harry.

"Well, how old are you?" He demanded furiously.

"Eighteen years old exactly." Responded Eragon. "Are your friends all the same age as you?" Harry simply nodded. He did not trust himself to keep his temper if he opened his mouth again.

Eragon sighed. "I see that you are preoccupied," he said evenly. "I will leave you now, for a while. Please do not do anything rash. Food and drink will be provided, and as I said, you will not be harmed." He walked over to the door. "I shall return in the morning." He told them. Then he exited, and the three of them were left all alone in the tent.