NIFLHEIM ACADEMY
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Summary: "The Ministry must be seen to do something", and with that, Harry Potter's wand is snapped. Expelled in his second year, he is invited to a new school famous for being the home of one of the Eight Great Repositories of Knowledge. But with Voldemort alive and the Chamber of Secrets still open, he will need every resource his new school possesses to stay alive in the coming years.
Warnings: Slash, fem-slash, het, character death, Canon-mangling, torture, politics, a BUTTLOAD of Original Characters, Original magic, minor crossovers with: Abhorsen triology, Mahou Sensei Negima, Avatar the Last Airbender, One Piece, Fairy Tail, Shadow Hearts, and Monster Hunter.
I do not own Harry Potter, Abhorsen, Mahou Sensei Negima, Avatar, One Piece, Fairy Tail, Shadow Hearts, or Monster Hunter. I'm just playing with them.
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CHAPTER TWELVE
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As it turned out, Harry did not have a single musical bone in his body. After half a day of practising with the carved flute Hagrid gave him last year, he gave up to the tune of Ira patting him on the shoulder and suggesting they try a different instrument tomorrow in delicate tones that left little to the imagination of how little he thought it would help. This meant he hadn't a hope in hell of performing even the most basic runic sequences of Charter Magic as the art was heavily intertwined with music for reasons Harry didn't yet know. He couldn't even whistle them because he had never learnt, nor been taught how.
"We can leave the practical applications until after you've sat a few music lessons," Ira suggested as he sipped his bottle of water, the two of them sprawled out on the floor of Harry's hostel room. Harry sighed and packed the flute away, a little shamefully. He had managed to put Fluffy to sleep with it last year and thought that meant he wasn't too bad of a player, he should have realised that a dog, even a magical one with three heads, was not the best barometer for figuring that out. "Here. You can memorise a few of these until then, it'll definitely help you cast if you can picture the runes clearly in your head," the Lirren continued as he dug into his bag and handed over a thick leather bound tome.
A runic dictionary.
Harry eyed it a moment, and then Ira, who thankfully didn't notice his scepticism as he was too busy swearing at the time. "I should head back. Orion's going to put my tail in a vice if I'm out past curfew again," he complained irritably as he gathered his things and climbed to his feet.
Alarm stung Harry a little, "But, he's your boyfriend, right? He wouldn't really put your tail in a vice just for being late, would he?" he asked worriedly.
Ira blinked wide silvery white eyes at him before he smiled, "It's just a saying, Harry. I promise. Orion would never hurt me on purpose outside of a spar. He's the dormitory monitor so he'll assign me a detention, boyfriend or not, if I'm out late past curfew." The Lirren reached over and ruffled his hair, "And if he ever tries to raise his hand to me, then I can promise you, I would rip it off and beat him with the soggy end. After Esme was finished with him. If there was anything left of him after Esme finished with him, that is," he added with a mirthful huff.
"...Alright," Harry allowed slowly, nodding. "Travel safe, and I hope you get there in time."
"Me too. Detention before the first day of term, that'll be embarrassing. Night night Harry," the sixteen year old bade before seeing himself out. Leaving Harry alone in his cold dormitory room, with his flute that he was useless at playing, Hedwig's empty perch, and a dictionary of runes he didn't particularly feel like reading.
It took a while, but eventually Harry caved and opened up the dictionary. It... wasn't exactly the most thrilling of stuff, if it hadn't been for both his notes of the Icarus mural and his obsession with the beautiful wings depicted upon it, and his new adventure book which featured Charter Runes extensively as both riddles and code, he probably wouldn't have touched the book until the start of his actual lessons.
Ingrid laughed loudly and mockingly in the middle of the dining hall when she heard about his failure in the musical arts, earning herself another cuff upside the head from Viivi's wing. Then the two girls dragged him down to the basement duelling room to give him singing lessons.
Both of them were incredible singers. Viivi's throaty alto was powerful, and she had the lung capacity to hold her notes for minutes at a time. In contrast, it was hard to say where Ingrid fell on the tonal scale as she had an absolutely huge range, and was able to slide up and down it as far and as fast as she pleased, mid-word. Apparently most Tengu were quite skilled at singing. Harry was almost too embarrassed to open his mouth around them – at least until Jesse opened his mouth and began to loudly and badly sing 'Holding Out for a Hero' in an offkey mess, making both girls laugh and throw their socks at him as he air guitared across the room.
He felt significantly less embarrassed after that, which, mission accomplished he guessed as he caught sight of Ingrid and Jesse discreetly high-fiving behind his back. But, as it turned out, he wasn't actually a bad singer. Nothing great, but pretty good none the less.
Barely half a week later, Ira showed up looking very pleased with himself, holding a copy of the Daily Prophet declaring Gilderoy Lockhart's arrest, and a few hours later Hedwig returned from her delivery to Hogwarts with Ron's reply. It had clearly been written and sent before Lockhart's arrest as he mentioned how he was finding it hard to fight the rising urge to curse him down a flight of stairs for poncing around saying that he knew Harry had been rotten all along, hence why he tried to keep such a close eye on him, and guide him away from bad influences. What a load of bollocks. Hermione was still Petrified, Hagrid was still in Azkaban, Ginny was absolutely heartbroken by his expulsion but seemed to perk up when he told her about being accepted into a different school. There had been no attacks since he left, which was both a good thing and a bad one because everyone was now fairly certain that Harry really had been the one responsible – meaning Ron's days were pretty busy what with all the detentions he got as a result of punching them all.
Malfoy was a little beside himself, unsure of what stance to take. Gleeful one moment that Harry had been expelled, confused that he was apparently the Heir of Slytherin, him, the Gryffindor Golden Boy Goodie Two Shoes, and outraged that the Ministry would dare to expel the heir of such a venerable Pureblood family from their own property – as surely Hogwarts belonged to the Slytherin line as the only remaining pureblood family with ties to the founders (keyword being Pureblood). He was absolutely dizzy from the internal conflict.
'It's just not the same without you. It's pretty lonely actually. Neville's trying to help but he just doesn't get me the way you did. And Hermione's still in the hospital wing, and I might have decked Seamus.' Harry could feel his heart breaking a little, and mentally bowed to send a nice thank you letter and a whole box of Chocolate Frogs to Neville.
He missed Hogwarts. It was like a vice on his lungs sometimes, stealing his breath away when he woke up and stared at his white ceiling, feeling the bitter chill of the Norwegian Spring on his face, instead of the dull red of his bed-hangings and the warmth of Gryffindor Tower, the distant sound of Ron snoring to one side of him instead of the distant screaming of seagulls, and people shouting in a language he didn't yet understand.
"Have you talked to Orion about the talismen?" he found himself asking his mentor finishing his return letter to Ron, and another one to Neville, as the lirren gleefully reread the paper detailing that Gilderoy Lockhart was being sent to an M.E.N. Sponsored correctional facility in an undisclosed location for the next twenty to thirty years (his sentence was for forty years, but with good behaviour it could be halved, very good behaviour).
The lirren paused, "I've spoken to him, yes," he admitted with a strange look on his face. Harry waited for any further information, but Ira just worked his jaw, mouth partially open as he tried to think of something to say, or how to politely word what he was going to say. "It'll probably take a while," he warned.
Translation: Orion probably didn't want to make them.
Harry turned back to his letter to Ron, "Oh. Okay," he said softly, and then tore the last paragraph off his sheet of parchment that mentioned about the disposable talismen that could awaken Hermione and the others ahead of the mandrakes.
The next day when Ira showed up, he was a good hour later than they'd originally agreed, and showed up looking distinctly irritated and harassed, his ears laid flat and his tail flicking aggressively from side to side.
"Are you alright?" Harry found himself asking, wrapped up warm in his new thermals, sweatshirt, and jeans, Hedwig perched on his shoulder fussing with his hair.
Ira wrinkled his nose, "I'm fine. Orion's just being an ass," he dismissed with a flick of a hand before he plastered a slightly forced smile on, "And who is this lovely lady?" he deflected as he peered over at the snowy owl.
Harry happily let himself be distracted, "This is Hedwig," he explained, reaching up to stroke her breast as she turned her head to eye him sceptically. "Hedwig, this is Ira, he's going to take care of me at school," he told her.
"Nice to meet you, Beautiful," the Lirren greeted sweetly, his voice gentling considerably.
Hedwig remained perfectly still before she shrilled quietly and returned to preening Harry's wild hair into what she must have thought was a semblance of order – but for a human, it didn't make much of a difference, but either way, Harry let her have her way.
Ira chuckled, "All we need to do now is dip dye your hair white, and we'd be a matching set," he teased, gesturing to himself and Hedwig, both of whom where white with black spots.
Harry snorted, "Pretty sure that's against the uniform code," he pointed out with a grin.
"In Hogwarts maybe. As long as it doesn't interfere with yours, or anyone else's studies, pretty much anything goes within the confines of the law," he explained as he withdrew an ivory and mother of pearl wand from a holster at his hip. Harry had never seen a wand made of animal parts before, it was a beautiful thing, fifteen inches long, a little thicker than his own wand, with delicately etched in patterns of what he first thought were vines, but actually looked more like water swirls. The lirren paused for a moment, thinking of something, before he very deliberately flicked it into a pattern over Hedwig, eyed his handy work, and nodded happily.
"Shall we go? I've laid one of your Notice Me Not charms on her, so the Ignored shouldn't pay her any attention. Useful things charms, I'm honestly surprised no one in Niflheim's heard of them before," the snow leopard mused as he tucked his wand away again under his coat.
Harry nodded slowly, feeling a weird twist in his stomach.
He had been studying charms for two years. The Notice Me Not was OWL level according to Hermione. Harry hadn't a hope in hell of performing the charm, even with two years study.
Ira hadn't even heard of Charms until a week ago when he met Harry, and he not only tracked down information on the discipline himself, but also learned, practised, and executed an OWL level spell. In a week. Like it was no big thing. Yes, he might have been four years older than Harry, and yes, Harry might have only been twelve, but – it was still a little... disheartening? Belittling? ...Shaming?
He followed Ira down to the magic quarter, Hedwig watching the goings on around her with interest as they stepped into the strangely dim underground catacombs and waterways, heading to the cheerful brightly lid clinic at a small circular plaza with cobblestones and hanging baskets of flowers from the streetlights. It took until they were at the front desk, and a confused look from the technician before Ira remembered to cancel the charm on the snowy owl who ruffled herself in mild annoyance, glad to be rid of the unpleasant feeling on her feathers.
The checks themselves were fine. Hedwig was registered as a magically bred post-owl, and Harry's primary familiar surprisingly. She had formed a magical bond with him and was absorbing some of his magic to bolster herself, and sooth him as well.
"It's beginning to overflow a little, but you're attending Niflheim now, right?" the cheerful witch manning the clinic asked as she tweaked the snowy's beak and smiled, feeling her nibble and nose at her knuckles. Harry nodded, "Then it should be fine. Your magic is beginning to overflow because you've got a bit more than your body can handle, familiars tend to be the ones that absorb that little bit extra, they'll get improved physical health, extended life-spans, and increased intelligence in exchange. The little lady's getting a bit overburdened by the excessive magic, but Niflheim has a fairly high-powered curriculum so I highly doubt she'll have that problem for long. But just in case, let's keep an eye on things anyway?" she suggested brightly as she went to her shelving unit and pulled down a large blue folder that she flipped through. "Come back again next year during the holidays for a follow up, and we'll see how things are shaping up. If there's still an overburden then you may need a second familiar. It's not unusual, but it might also be a sign that you may need to see a healer yourself if that's the case, okay honey?"
Appointment booked, Hedwig was given the all clear to come with him to Niflheim and all of her paperwork was signed and stamped to prove it.
"Just in time," Ira declared as he let the door swing shut behind them, "The ship is in three days. You have impeccable timing, little lady," he told the snowy, reaching over to stroke her head, ignorant to the flip of excitement that Harry's stomach gave at the news.
Three days he would be going to Niflheim Academy.
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Time passed almost too quickly for Harry.
It felt almost like between one breath and the next he had been a proud student of Hogwarts, now suddenly expelled, now living in a foreign country to attend a new school, and now... stood in the foyer of the Hostel, his trunk packed and sat beside him, surrounded by his year-mates, all of them bundled up tightly against the cold as they waited for their mentors to collect them. Today was the first day they would be travelling to Niflheim, they would arrive tomorrow evening in time for the Welcoming Feast.
Jesse was practically vibrating next to him, bundled up in a similarly cut forest green parka coat to Harry, Muffin Queen peering out of her carry case on top of his trunk looking decidedly unhappy with her strange captivity. Ingrid was next to him on his otherside, fussing with the decorative beading she had been sewing into her sleeves as a nervous gesture, tilting them this way and that to flash and catch the light, focusing all of her attention on that instead of the increasing tension of their yearmates. Behind them, Viivi was stood with Nikos, the two of them in comfortable silence as they observed their classmates.
"It isn't technically a two day trip," Jesse was babbling to Harry who was only half paying attention, "It's actually only a couple o' 'ours, but 'cause o' the lightin' an' what not, we spend th'night on the ship 'fore settin' out in the morning by sled. We'll arrive about mid-afternoon," he babbled as he bounced from foot to foot. "Crikey, I wish they'd hurry it up. I'm sweatin' my ballsack off 'ere," he complained, pulling at the front of his parka and puffing for some air.
"Bear with it, Jesse. Our mentors will be here shortly," Viivi informed him slowly. The American's face spasmed a little when he glanced at her, as it had every time he looked in her direction because of her hat. Perched upon the vulture tengu's head was a knitted beanie hat. With knitted viking horns sticking out of the sides. She seemed to just be waiting for someone to comment, because when Harry said it was cool in the corridor before they got downstairs, she beamed at him, and said it was her favourite hat in all honesty, and she had a few.
"Right, right. I'm just nervous, I guess," he admitted.
"Everyone line up!" Mister Arif called from the front of the foyer, raising his hands above the crowding heads in order to be seen. "First years to the right! Returners to the left! Scholars, if you could remain in the parlour at this time!" he called as everyone hastily moved to obey.
Harry grabbed his trunk and Hedwig's empty cage and quickly hustled with his friends to the right-hand side of the foyer, realising with a start that, yes, there had been a lot more people in the hall than he had first realised as nine other people separated out of the group to stand opposite them. A small handful of humans, a few Lirren, one tengu boy, a pair of goblins that he thought were female, it was hard to tell with their winter gear on, and a four armed figure in violent shades of purple with horns and alarmingly cross-shaped pupils in blood red eyes.
"Alright, first years, your mentors will be arriving in just a few seconds. They will collect you and you will portkey one by one to the dock where they'll get your settled onboard. You'll be rooming with your mentor for the duration of your stay on the ship, if you've forgotten something here, then ask them to send a charter bird and we'll have it delivered to the school before you get there. Returners will be portkeying after you have gotten yourselves into your assigned cabins, so please do not dawdle as the ship leaves at noon on the dot," the hostel manager explained to them all once they had separated to his liking. He beamed at them as the front door opened and a very pretty asian young lady in red winter clothing stepped in. Jesse stood up a little straighter beside him at the sight of her.
After her came several other people, Ira made his way over to Harry, Viivi was partnered with a stern faced dwarf wearing blue and white, Ingrid had a clever faced goblin in red and black, and Nikos was partnered with another Dryad, a young looking lady with pale green skin and hair that looked like it had thorns in it.
"You okay?" Ira asked quietly as Mister Arif began to hand out the portkeys, "Excited?"
"Very," Harry admitted with a grin.
"Me too. I might have told all my friends about you, so they're all really eager to meet you. Just ignore anything stupid Orion says," he suggested with a roll of his eyes.
Harry peered up at him, "Are you two... fighting?" he asked warily.
The lirren sighed, "A little bit, I suppose. He doesn't like the fact that I'm a mentor and spending so much of my time with someone else, and not him. He's got some... attachment issues. In that he's incredibly clingy," he explained with a fond grin before he collected their portkey from Mister Arif. "Don't worry, Esme and I will keep him in line. And if not us, then Setsuna here will. She roomed with him when their mentors left the year before," he explained nodding to the asian woman in front of them with Jesse.
She glanced backwards and smiled kindly at him, before giving Ira a look of exasperation, "You did tell Orion that your 'super cute and adorable' student was twelve, yes?" she asked sarcastically.
Ira tilted his head at her for a moment, confused, before his eyes widened and he slapped a hand to his forehead.
"Fuck. No. I didn't. Suddenly it makes sense. Charter, I'm a moron," he complained, looking towards the ceiling.
"Well, you said it, not I," Setsuna told him archly before she grasped Jesse by the shoulder and the two of them vanished with a swirl of magic.
"What?" Harry asked, thoroughly bewildered.
Ira shook his head and gently grabbed his upperarm, a moment later the portkey activated and Harry felt his legs jar so hard he almost fell over if not for Ira's grip on him. "I might have gushed about you to Orion a lot, and he's probably taken it the wrong way, and gotten jealous because I never told him you were twelve. Ugh," the lirren complained with a huff as he reached over to grab Harry's trunk.
The port was nothing special, separated from the commercial jetties, it was warded against observation or notice, the ferry itself was fairly large, with an observation deck, and a number of life-boats. The two made their way over and up onboard via the wooden gangplank – thankfully enclosed and with railings, and stepped onboard. Not too far ahead of them were Setsuna and Jesse, the former in tolerant silence while the latter babbled all about his Uncle Shane's barge up in Florida and how it had nothing on this particular build of ferry which was known to -
Harry didn't hear any more of his trivia as Setsuna guided him into their shared room and closed the door behind her.
The room next door was theirs, and it was fairly normal, nothing special in the slightest. A bunk-bed, a small porthole, and a pair of lockers that were big enough for their snow gear, and enough space under the bottom bunk for their trunks – which Ira immediately took advantage of to shove both his and Harry's away while the former Gryffindor stood on tiptoes to slide Hedwig's cage atop the lockers.
"Any preference for top or bottom?" he asked, and then hoisted himself onto the top when Harry shook his head, "I'll take top then, I prefer high places."
"Sure," Harry agreed, quickly stripping out of his snowgear before he overheated. The cabins themselves seemed to be warded against the bitter chill, and their porthole didn't look like the kind that could open.
Peering out, he could see more figures in brightly coloured snow gear appearing at opposite ends of the pier, all manner of different species from centaur to human to troll, tengu, and even that draconic people that he had yet to meet while staying in Amsterdam. Then he saw adults, scholars, appearing some of whom were dressed in finery, others in comfortable travelling clothes, some in sensible snow gear; either way, they were ushered up onto the ship by the familiar form of the Physical Defence Teacher, Mister Hyuga, who looked to be as lightly dressed as Ira. And just as unbothered.
The ship's horn sounded, and a bell kicked off somewhere.
Harry's stomach turned as he felt something shift beneath his feet, and the world outside his porthole move.
They were off.
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And at long last, here's a chapter! XDD;;;
this one just didn't want to work. I ended up having to delete it and begin again with a COMPLETELY different scene at least three times, and eventually just resorted to throwing scenes down in my notebook while at work to see which ones prompted continuing. This was our winner, and now we're on our way to the school.
