"Good morning," Harry smiled good-naturedly at the first person he saw upon entering the "headquarter" of the league of magicians, "I've recently arrived at Tronjheim, and I've been told to come here." The place was relatively small and cramped, considering its purpose. He spied some people huddled in one of the smaller rooms toward the back, whose door had been left slightly ajar without much care. This was where they were keeping Arya, most likely.

Eragon would love to know this little piece of information. In fact, Harry had been a tad bit surprised that the boy had not tried to come down here in person yet. He suppressed a sigh. Arya was complicated, though she and Brom had worked together before. She'd lied to Eragon about the distance to Ellesmera, for one. Harry would think about her another time. His brain was already running at full capacity. If he thought about any more things he might space out.

The person Harry had just greeted, a stout man in a rough white tunic, sized him up with mild interest. "Have the twins assigned you anything yet?"

"No," said Harry.

The other magician visibly relaxed. "Thought you didn't look like the important type," he muttered.

"True, true," Harry smiled, "though I'm surprised as to why you mentioned the twins but not the lady Trianna. I've been told that she is the leader of Du Vrangr Gata."

The other chuckled at that. "Everyone knows the twins hold the true power. Trianna can't do anything about it -" Harry made sure to hide his amusement as he was interrupted by a small but annoyed cough. A tall woman, who he presumed was Trianna, had walked in just in time to hear the last part of their conversation. Her eyes looked poisonous.

"L...lady Trianna,"

Trianna marched up to him, whirling him around by his collar so that his nose was an inch from hers. "You were saying?" She growled. The golden snake bracelet on her upper arm unwound, lifting its head to hiss at the poor man as well. Harry wondered if it could think for itself? Unlikely. Obviously Trianna was controlling its movements. Its hisses were meaningless.

The snakes in his other life were much more intelligent than the ones here. They had enough self awareness to think and speak then, but not here. Their minds were too unfocused to express nothing more than fuzzy emotions. Of course, the reverse was true for dragons.

Don't space out, Harry reminded himself. The magician in the white tunic was still wearing a terrified expression. It seemed that, though Trianna's influence was limited, she was still capable of delivering painful retribution. She sighed with annoyance before rounding on Harry, allowing the man to carefully edge away. "Harry, right? Ajihad said you arrived with the Rider."

Clearly Ajihad didn't tell her too much about him, probably to see how he would act if given his way. She'd lowered her voice in a subconscious attempt to hide their conversation from eavesdroppers, Harry noticed, in case he really did have some powerful connections that might threaten her leadership.

Harry looked down modestly. "I couldn't help much, but at least I could cook decent meals." From Trianna's relieved smile, he could tell that she'd accepted him as just a manservant. It hadn't been difficult to convince her, since it was what she wanted to believe in the first place.

But he expected that Trianna would probably play nice just in case. If she was smart, that is.

She did. "Can you heal?"

Harry nodded in affirmation.

"Very good. We can use some help in patching the elf up. I expect you don't know enough anatomy to fix broken bones and deep injuries, but you can help us heal the surface wounds -"

Harry was about to accept the assignment when two sets of brash footsteps heralded the entrance of the Twins. Hands behind their back, they pranced into the room and strolled up to him without sparing Trianna a second glance. This annoyed the sorceress tremendously. "Excuse me," she told them, "we were having a conversation before you rudely interrupted!" From her exasperated look, Harry imagined that had the Twins any less power, they would've been long dead.

But as this was not the case, they only gave her a condescending sneer and rounded on Harry. "We received notice that the Rider's ... friend would be serving in our ranks starting today," they said with relish, emphasizing the word "serving". "Well, let's start with cleaning out the stables, shall we? And after that... how about the outhouses?"

They think they can intimidate me by leaning over me like that? Harry schooled his face into an appropriately afraid expression and bitterly fought the urge to mince them up and pour the pulp that was their carcasses down the outhouses where they belonged, as they ordered him to finish his chores before supper time "or else". Soon enough, soon enough.

A careful glance to the side saw Trianna watch on with an expression that mildly resembled pity, or more likely empathy. No doubt she felt they were treating her the same way. Harry carefully dropped his gaze, but filed the information away for future use. Having practiced this time and again at the Dursleys', he was far too natural for anyone to notice.

"... be grateful, you whelp, understand?" The twins were still saying, and smirked at his stuttered "yes, sirs." Perhaps they'd expected him to protest, but he remembered Quirrell and simply shook like a leaf. Trianna folded her arms as the twins swept out of the room, content. "You should get used to that," she advised flatly.

Harry gave her a small, shaky smile. "You are a kind leader, Lady Trianna. Thank you."

He'd been sure to use the word "leader", and it seemed to have its intended effect. Trianna nodded regally, rather haughtily, but deemed to award him with a small smile in return.

Cleaning the stables and, yes, outhouses took no effort at all. He suspected that most magicians would bristle at the mere notion of using magic for cleaning, rather like being ordered to use their most treasured sword to shovel dung. Himself, however, had no such qualms. All it took was a simple Scourgify, and the place was clean. Not wanting his labours to seem too easy, however, he sat in the now perfectly fresh haystacks of the stables and practiced some spells before returning. The horses were understandably frightened at first, but their minds were easy enough to calm. It was a bit irritating that he still couldn't cast duel-worthy spells from Harry Potter's repertoire, to the point that he'd mostly given up on them. But he'd long stopped fretting over them. After all, he was hardly defenceless now.

By afternoon, he learned that Du Vrangr Gata was responsible for feeding itself, as expected, and that he would from now on be responsible for their meals, as expected. Again, using a liberal amount of magic, he conducted the pots and scoops to cook themselves while his thoughts wandered to here and there. His full attention was brought back to the small, cluttered kitchen, however, when the door opened and a frail-looking young woman entered. She had a petite stature, and the boniness of her limbs suggested weakness - that is, if she was not a magician. A magician's appearance doesn't always correlate to their power in the way that people think.

"Um, I was the cook here before you came," she bit her lips, a little awkwardly. "If you need to know where anything is, or need help getting started..."

"I'm finding everything fine, but thank you all the same," Harry smiled cheerily. He knew she was feeling guilty that he'd replaced her as the laughing stock of Du Vrangr Gata, but was at the same time elated that she could finally escape the servant duties. "I've been doing this for as long as I could remember, so it's no trouble at all. My name is Harry. And yours?"

Her violet eyes finally fluttered up to meet his. "Elva. Er...It's good to meet you."

Elva stayed for a while after that. She didn't touch the pots, but she was friendly enough to strike up a conversation with him. She'd been with Du Vrangr Gata for ten years now, he'd learned. Since then, her work consisted mainly of cooking, cleaning, and occasionally tending to less important injuries after a battle. They didn't treat her as much because she was small and weak.

"Have you learned any spells that can be used in a fight?" Harry asked, tidying a table with a wave before sitting down on it. Elva had taken the only stool in the room.

Elva shook her head, a bit ashamed. "I suppose there's a reason why I got stuck doing the chores," she mumbled, before realizing what she'd said. Her eyes widened guiltily.

Harry chuckled. "No offense taken," he waved, causing the spoon that was stirring the pot to ladle some soup into a small bowl near by. "Honestly, I'm in a much better place than I was" - which is true - "and I'm grateful for it." Though not in the way that one might think. He proffered the bowl to her, asking her for her opinion on the flavouring. "I was fortunate to travel with Rider Eragon and Brom, though. They taught me some battle spells, so that I wouldn't be a hindrance if we met trouble. I can teach you, if you like, since you'll be needing them now."

"That'll be brilliant!" Harry could feel the excitement spike in her. "Oh, and your soup tastes great. It's perfect."

"Glad you like it," he smiled, committing her face to memory. Elva. Interesting name.

Du Vrangr Gata had called her small and weak, but they were comparing a child then to adult standards. And if the girl has half as much potential as whoever named her believed... Well. He would find out when he start teaching her.

Supper was not unenjoyable. The Twins held themselves in far too high regards to come and eat with the common magicians. Harry did not believe they would even bother to check whether he did his work, but they actually did come back to growl at him just as he finished scourgifying the dishes. After they'd eventually stalked off, Harry climbed twenty flights of stairs up to his new quarter. It was highly unlikely that anyone would come to visit, but he kept his room in inspectable order just in case. He briefly debated whether to take another "stroll" for the night or to go up to the dragonhold, but eventually decided to stay put. He really did need some sleep, and thankfully, it had come quickly enough.

The first thing he noticed upon waking, before he even opened his eyes, was a small creak that sounded suspiciously like the movement of a door.

That certainly wasn't supposed to happen.

Not moving a muscle and looking for all intents and purposes as if he was still asleep - and this he also had plenty of practice doing - Harry used the sound of the soft footsteps to determine that he had two visitors, and that they were both standing near the doorway. They did not linger long, for around ten seconds later the door carefully creaked closed.

Harry opened his eyes in a heartbeat then, bolting upright. The hourglass beside his bed showed that it should still be night, but any thoughts of sleep he had already vanished with the first creak of the door.

He'd reached out with a wisp of his mind and given the two visitors a very soft sweep, just before they departed. And he'd recognize those two oily minds anytime.

He'd been surprised that the Twins came back to check on him after supper, and did not think too much of it. But the Twins felt the need to get up in the middle of the night and climb up to the twentieth floor, just to check that a measly servant was in fact in bed as he should be? There could only be one explanation for this. Despite all the care he'd taken in constructing his false memories, despite all his careful effort to cover his traces, despite constant vigilance, Galbatorix suspected something. And he, Harry-Shruikan, was being watched very closely.

A chilling yet suffocating feeling bubbled within him, welling up to his throat, before it was pressed back to the turbulent, smoky wasteland within his mind. He knew it to be fear, something he hadn't had to experience since very long ago. But now that he once again had something to lose, it was back in full force. Should he lose, if he should be captured again...

Well. He never expected anything he did to be risk-free, and he had made a number of radical moves. Galbatorix was clever. He'd hoped that his own intelligence was at least on par with his old 'master's ', but at best it would be a tough game. And now, Galbatorix had started to become aware of his opponent.

Of course, there was still the matter of what Galbatorix suspects. He could've believed that Harry was an elf sent to protect the rider, which was most likely. Harry had been trying to pass a great part of his work off as the elves' involvement, after all. Or, Galbatorix could've reached the same conclusion as Ajihad, which was also plausible.

Or, hell forbid, he could've caught on to the truth. Here luck was on Harry's side, since the truth was rather unusual and definitely not the most logical explanation.

Harry lay back down into his pillow, willing his heartbeat to calm while weighing his options.

The degree of freedom with which he had to work would be significantly limited now, but all things considered, his outlook was still fair. Pretending he hadn't noticed the Twins tonight and continuing on with his original plan seemed to be the best strategy. It would be useless to try to get information out of the Twins since, knowing Galbatorix, they would've been told absolutely nothing... But all the more reason to keep them alive. At least he could pick up some clue on what Galbatorix was thinking by watching what he tells them to do.

Should he tell his friends and allies?

Not a good idea. It would only alarm them, and that would only succeed in making them either more likely to slip up or more dubious of his ability to stay out of Galbatorix's hold. Perhaps they may even come to the conclusion that he'd be safer to everyone dead, and act accordingly...

But the idea of them knowing absolutely nothing didn't sit well with him either. Should he... fail, they would be doomed. They could not afford to be surprised in this war. And it would be a cold day in hell before he would allow Galbatorix to win.

He sighed, before sending out a tendril of thought to the marble caves at the very top of Tronjheim. The distance was just a tad bit too large to converse comfortably, but it wasn't terribly so.

'Saphira', he prodded her, very gently. It wouldn't do for her to jump up in alarm and accidentally trample Eragon or worse.

A small stirring followed by a wave of surprise indicated that she was awake. 'Shruikan?'

'I sincerely apologize for waking you at this hour, Magnificent One. Can you keep a secret for me, please? Even from Eragon and Brom and Murtagh?'

He could tell through their connection that she was simultaneously confused and curious. There was a small pause on her side, then assent.

'Thank you, and please, it's imperative to me that this remains a secret. You see, I've got a bit of a problem...'

AN: Since Harry and Brom would be there to stop Eragon from giving crappy blessings, Elva is completely AU.