*Iarus*
(Pronunciation/Language notes: Beorthram is BOR-thram; liebchen is leeb-chin and means sweetheart; Vati and Mutti are father and mother, respectively)
"Iar-us! Time to get up!"
Marabell pounced on the couch that had served as Iarus' bed for the past few days, surprised to find him not in it. It was the end of August and the Beorthram family had spent the weekend in London, both as an early celebration of Iarus' birthday and as a last family trip before he boarded the train for Hogwarts. Marabell had managed to be the first one awake each day. She would squirm free from the space between her still-sleeping parents, crawl out the foot of the bed, and then wake Iarus. But this day, this Tuesday morning, he wasn't there.
She found him sitting on the bathroom floor. He was already wearing his school clothes, minus the black robes, and had a leather bound book open on his lap. The point of his wand followed the words along the page as he mouthed the words in English. That had been one of the rules of the trip, and a hard one to follow at that. Everyone had to speak English -and only English- unless there was absolutely no way they could find the right words. It was to help Iarus get used to being surrounded by his non-native language.
"Gu-Good mornink. I couldn't sleep." Iarus looked up from his book. "At all. Did you need the...WC?" That was the proper English term for the toilet, wasn't it?
Marabell shook her head and leaned over to read what Iarus was studying. Her loose dark curls rested on his shoulders. While she could read English as well as she could speak it, doing so upside down proved to be a bigger challenge than the 10-year-old could manage. "What book is this?" She asked after a moment.
"Magical Theory, by," Iarus flipped back to the first few pages, "Adalbert Vaffling. It is how magic works, like how Onkle studies muggle science."
"Sounds boring." Marabell straightened and turned to the small pedestal sink. She brushed her hair gently, coaxing the night's knots from her dark brown curls so that her mother wouldn't do it later.
"Only because you don't care about how and vhy things happen." Iarus grumbled. He pulled his feet under him and stood. At twelve, almost thirteen, Iarus was sure that he would be one of the tallest and oldest students in his year. As if he didn't stick out enough with dual-colored eyes and a German accent. He scowled at his reflection. He had been looking forward to this day for three years, but now he wanted to go back to his bed in Germany and wait for another year to pass. Then he would have Marabell to be friends with at school, instead of being completely on his own.
But he'd never tell her that.
He brushed his teeth and passed a comb through his still freshly cut gray hair. Aunt Kaitlin had insisted that she cut it before they left home, and now it barely covered his ears and itched at the back of his neck where his shirt collar rubbed. At least no one can take pictures at Hogwarts. He thought.
As though she had been summoned by his thoughts, Aunt Kaitlin appeared in the bathroom doorway. "Good morning you two. You are up quite early." Her English was perfect, and Uncle Gerand's just a step behind, her accent causing the words to lilt pleasantly. She hugged her children gently and kissed Iarus on the crown of his head. "I expected you to sleep in as long as possible today. The train does not leave until eleven o'clock."
"I was too excited to sleep." Iarus leaned his head against her shoulder. A knot formed in his stomach unexpectedly and he croaked out a whisper as he looked at his aunt in the mirror. "I'm going to miss you..."
"Oh, liebchen, I'll miss you too." She kissed his hair again, hugging him tighter for a moment. "You have so much to learn, and you will make friends, and go to Quidditch games, you will hardly even think of us after a few weeks. I promise. You will be just fine. Now, shall we wake your Uncle and have some breakfast?"
Kaitlin swept out of the bathroom, her lavender housecoat flaring in her wake. Iarus and Marabell caught each other's eye in the mirror, stuck out their tongues at the reflection, then rushed after her. They pounced on the bed. Gerand's snore cut short as they landed.
"You've fallen into my trap!" His broad arms constricted, one around each giggling child, and pulled them against his chest. "Now that I have you, do you know what I will do next?"
They knew the answer and struggled fruitlessly against his grip.
"Go back to sleep. Goodnight!" And Gerand began snoring once again. The rolling grumble rumbled between Mara and Iarus, right in their ears. Iarus gave up struggling. He knew the longer he fought, the longer the game would continue. Mara continued, her efforts punctuated with the occasional, "Vati! No!" and "It's time for breakfast, not sleeping."
Kaitlin sat on the edge of the bed and heaved a great sigh. "Well, if you can't get up, I suppose I'll just have to leave you all here and go get crepes by myself..."
The snores stopped abruptly once again. "Then again," Gerand sat up, bringing both children up with him, "raspberries are in season. Wake up, you two. It's time for breakfast." He shook the two gently, then let them flop to the bed. He made his escape to his suitcase and the bathroom to change.
"Cheat." Marabell grumbled. She sat up and combed her hair out with her fingers.
Iarus continued to lie on the bed until Gerand reappeared in his sight. The bathroom door closed behind Kaitlin as he sat down and began tying his shoes. Iarus sat up and sought out his own shoes and socks.
After having breakfast, Kaitlin had mentioned one last errand that she needed to run while in town and disappeared on her own. Iarus, Marabell, and Gerand packed up their hotel room, double checked Iarus' school list of books and equipment, then made their way to the station. The family was taking the floo back home once Iarus was aboard the Hogwarts Express.
As it was only his belongings, Iarus was tasked with pushing the cart with his trunk and bags. Gerand had placed everything else in a wallet which had been charmed to hold far more than Iarus' trunk. He only helped push when Marabell hopped onto the trunk to ride through the wall at Platform 9 and 3/4. Iarus picked up his feet, standing on the back of the luggage cart, and let Gerand propel them through the bricks.
Kaitlin was waiting on the other side. She had a domed package in her arms, hugging it gently to her chest. The cover was dark blue cloth, with an orange and green striped bow tied around it.
"What's that, Mutti?" Marabell asked from her perch.
"A gift, for Iarus. But, he has to promise something before he can have it." She winked. "You can only open it once the station is completely out of sight. Agreed?"
"Agreed." Iarus nodded. "I promise."
The platform was a whirl of excited students, tearful parents, trunks, and conversation. Iarus found himself aboard the train with his trunk stowed and the domed package on the seat beside him before he paused to think about it. He was leaving his family, his closest friend, and everything he knew to go to school.
There was still plenty of time before the train pulled out of the station; he and Gerand had passed several empty compartments with his cargo. Once he had picked one, Iarus said goodbye to his uncle, dug out his robes and a book, and settled in. Something in the package shifted. He had to deliberately ignore it.
His compartment slowly gained more people, but none of them spoke to him except to ask if he would move his cage. Without really looking up, Iarus moved it to rest between his feet. He wasn't ready to try to make friends.
The train lurched to life and began to chug along. Iarus kept his eyes on the page of his book, not actually reading it but staring at the letters, as the students around him settled into their seats and conversations. He tried to keep up with the discussion near him, just to try. There were so many variations on the English accent and slang just within a few minutes, though, that he mind swam as he struggled to understand most of it.
"Have you heard that Harry Potter didn't come back this year? He's not on the train."
"I wonder what happened to him."
"Maybe he's going to be the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor." They laughed. "Teach us all how to defeat He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, if he comes back again this year."
"Hey." The door opened and the laughter stopped. Iarus glanced up to see an older boy with a blue striped scarf and a Prefect's badge in the doorway. "Don't joke about that. Students almost died last year because of Quirrel and Potter's idiocy. I hope to Merlin that nothing happens this year. With or without Potter."
"Right." The compartment was soberly quiet until the Prefect had closed the door and moved on. A rattling thump startled the passengers, particularly Iarus - the covered cage between his feet had moved of its own accord.
Without a thought of their distance from the station, though it was far behind them now, Iarus pulled the cloth off of the cage. Slightly calmed, an owl stared up at him. It had two ear-like tufts atop its round head and orange eyes set in shadowy feathers.
"Ach, hallo." Iarus gently lifted the cage onto his lap. The owl blinked at him. It shifted to reveal a lavender envelop beneath its feet. Iarus went to open the cage, just enough to slip his hand in, and the owl nipped at his fingertips. How did Aunt Kaitlin expect him to get the letter without bleeding on it first?
"You're no good with owls, are you?" The girl next to him crooned at the cage. "It's okay. We're your friends, little owl."
"I have never had one." Iarus admitted quietly. "I didn't know my aunt was buying me an owl..."
"Then you don't have any snacks for her. Here." She pulled a small bag from her own book bag and withdrew a morsel of dried meat. "It's not fresh, but she'll appreciate it. I'll open the cage and you give it to her, calmly."
He nodded and took the treat from the girl, not really looking up at her. She opened the latched door slowly. The owl hopped toward it, paused, then took another cautious step. Iarus felt its beak graze his skin as it took the morsel. It stepped away slightly to eat, and he chose to risk another bite to snatch the envelop out. Instead, the owl jumped back and puffed up as its footing was disrupted.
"That works." She closed the cage gently. "One step forward, two steps back. What's the note?"
"From my aunt." Iarus answered absentmindedly. He had opened the envelope and slipped out a card with flower petals that drifted across his aunt's tidy handwriting. She had written in German. It suddenly felt like their own secret code. No one else could read this letter but him. He smiled as he read.
The train arrived at dusk, students thrown gently forward as it ground to a surprisingly quiet halt. Iarus had been spending his time befriending his short-eared owl, named Erika by Aunt Kaitlin, with the help of the girl next to him. She had just begun allowing him to stroke the cream colored feathers on her chest with only the occasional nip at him.
A disembodied voice instructed students to leave their possessions on the train, and a giant of a man outside called for first years to separate themselves from the rest of the mass of students in black robes that were going toward carriages. Iarus was quietly glad that he wasn't going to be delivered by a team of skeletal horses. No one else seemed to even notice them. He chose not to draw attention to himself by saying anything.
A narrow path and small boats weren't much of an improvement, though. Iarus didn't have to look around to know that others felt as nervous as he did. He stepped into the first boat that he reached and wobbled onto a seat.
Then, and only then, did he look up across the water at Hogwarts proper. His eyes grew wide at the majesty of the stone castle, windows glowing and towers outlined by the starry sky. The severity of the reality struck him. He was going to be living in an ancient castle with a few hundred strangers for the better part of a year, learning from some of the best professors the wizarding world had to offer, surrounded by ghosts and magical forests and their own miniature Quidditch league. He was at Hogwarts.
Apprehension curled up in his stomach and began flexing its claws. Or maybe it was a touch of sea-sickness. He had never done well in boats, though this was definitely the smallest craft he'd been in. Someone asked if he was alright, said something about him being pale, but he only half heard them. Iarus twisted and threw up, leaving his snacks from the train in the dark water.
No one talked to Iarus, though there were certainly enough talking about him, the rest of the way to the Great Hall. He expected whispers for his abnormalities, so it came as a slight relief that he may first be known as the kid who puked in the lake. The mass of first years followed a stern looking woman into the Great Hall. She reminded Iarus of someone he had seen in old family portraits, glowering down in disapproval as he and Marabell had raced through the halls of the manor. He missed home already.
His homesickness was lost to wonder as he stepped through the heavy doors of the Great Hall. The room was cavernous, with a ceiling that looked like the night sky. Or was it the night sky? No, there were rafters up there. Iarus lowered his gaze and stopped his feet before bumping into the girl standing in front of him. He kept his focus forward. There would be plenty of time to gawk at the banners and floating candles and tapestries and…and what was he supposed to be doing?
A voice boomed out the name of a house, followed by applause and cheers, and then the stern woman called someone's name. Ach, sorting. Uncle Gerand had tried to explain the Sorting Hat to him, but he had described it as some manner of intelligent machine.
"Iarus Gerand Columbo."
The hat was dropped gently onto his head.
"Aren't you an interesting one?" The Hat murmured. "A bit jumbled up, more so than most your age, but you'll sort out just fine. In time."
Before Iarus could think of how to question a sentient hat -not a machine but one that was entirely intelligent on its own- it called "Hufflepuff" to the room and was whisked off of his head. His mussed hair practically shimmered as he rushed off to the table that was cheering the loudest. He tried to push it into place as he dropped into a seat and was clapped on the shoulder by a boy next to him.
Their eyes met and the boy, a fellow first year, laughed. "The Hat sure knows how to choose 'em. Name's Roy."
They could exchange few pleasantries while the others were being sorted, but fell easily into conversation after dinner appeared upon the tables. Roy didn't mind Iarus' halting English, and Iarus didn't mind Roy'ss complete lack of manners. Maybe making friends wouldn't be so difficult, after all.
The ceiling was soaked in the inky black of night by the time everyone had eaten their fill. Roy echoed Iarus' yawn, stretching his arms up and out. Iarus ducked and stifled a laugh as his new friend nearly socked a passing prefect. The older boy caught his hand and gave Roy a mock-startled look. "Forget 'Defense Against the Dark Arts,' we need 'Defense Against the First Years.'"
Roy's face flushed. Those around the boys joined in the laughter, including the Prefect. Thus, it startled Iarus when he barked, "First Year Hufflepuffs: form a line against the wall. Now."
Boys and girls from along the length of the table scrambled to stand against the wall across from the commanding prefect. Once they were gathered in a quiet, nervous line, he scowled. "Alphabetically."
Iarus pressed himself into the stones as those around him began hurriedly introducing themselves and changing places. His mind reeled with all of the names and unfamiliar voices.
"What's your name?" A short girl with blonde hair popped into his vision.
"I-Iarus Columbo-" He managed before:
"Yaruss. That's Y. You should go to the end of the line."
"But it's-" A thought struck Iarus. He looked at the prefect over the bossy girl's head. "By first or last name?"
The prefect laughed. "I was waiting for that. 2 points. Alphabetically by last name."
The new instructions were echoed through the group as they, again, introduced and rearranged themselves. Iarus ended up behind Roy once again. As it turned out, he and Roy were assigned to a dormitory room together, along with two other boys named Jason and Felix. There was an odd number of Hufflepuff first years, and an almost eerily empty bed in their room because of it.
