Chapter 1

"How did you know when my birthday is?" She asked, realizing too late that she is speaking English and not Alrestian.

The little kids gathered all around her with Luke in the middle. Vandham and some other mercenaries observed the small army from a distance.

"Happy Birthday!"

The kids presented her with a large plate of cookies.

"Happy Birthday!" Said Luke in very butchered English. It was horrible - it brought a smile to her face.

Cookies. Who does not love cookies?

It was more of a kids' party than anything. As a treat, she transfigured some birds for them to chase around, cue the wide eyes again. Even if this time it was less impressive since she needed her wand.

Worked like a charm and the kids spread among the rest of the people, already trying to beat one another who gets more.

"Amazing." Luke leaned over her shoulder as she worked on new birds. "How?"

"Magic." She said, not knowing their word for such things. Maybe she should start saying ether because that is how close as she can get. "Ether." She corrected herself while releasing more tiny birds.

A memory of her sticking a few birds like this on Ron came to mind. Mione found it incredibly funny and was determined to learn it as well, one of the few times when Helen got the studious girl to do something out of her character.

"Where from? Where are you from?"

Helen inhaled and exhaled, sooner or later the question would be asked by someone and truth to be told, she was actually quite surprised that nobody asked it earlier.

"Far away."

"Far? How far?"

She is certain that she has no way of answering that one. Though if she had to think about it… no, not a chance. "Very far."

"And how get to Uraya?"

"Turn to a big bird and flew." She answered half-jokingly, wondering whether he is going to believe her or not. The young mercenary looked thoughtful before some realization crossed his mind.

"Stop jokes!"

"I give only answers." She answered with a light tone, still focusing on the rocks.

"Can Helen become a bird?"

"Big, a big bird with lightning!"

Now he looked really upset, thinking that she is pulling his leg. The result was that he moved away and overall seemed very unamused. That went away pretty quickly when Helen continued. "Me from Britain. Ever heard of Britain?"

The mercenary looked thoughtful but shook his head.

That was good news.

"How far Britain?" He asked again - essentially the same question as before.

"Very, very far." She released the final bird. "There war, so me ran."

From various conversations that she listened to while trying to decipher various words, this place was not free of conflict either. People fighting over land that the titans provided.

Her thoughts were interrupted by someone placing what looked like a glass of water next to her. Looking around, some other mercenaries stood there looking ever so slightly smug. Luke took one glance at the thing and looked the most insulted she had ever seen him. Even more than when she had told him about her animagus form.

"Cut that out!"

The speech became a bit faster at this point and Helen was left with only bits and pieces of the conversation, but if she had to put them together… the conversation was about her experiencing her first proper drink. Luke claimed that she is too young while the other man, Ness teased him about how she is obviously old enough.

Ness was another mercenary, a bit older. He gave off an impression of a gentle lion. If such a thing was possible. Urayan with white-ish hair and glasses.

Helen just stared at the pair, then looked down at the drink and back at them again.

The now 16-year-old witch grabbed the rather small glass and put the thing inside her with just a few gulps.

When she looked around, everyone looked slightly panicked.

It is so awesome that she could just troll these people. "You okay?!" Well, she could already feel gentle warmth spreading around her body, but the thing was, that is all that is going to happen. Perks of being Helen Potter kicking in.

Helen still remembers one occasion when Mr Weasely came home while complaining about a bunch of young teens that sold firewhiskey to equally young and stupid muggles, which had to be admitted to some hospital for alcohol poisoning.

Teasingly, she snorted. "Weak."

"You kidding..."

In spite of Luke's protests, someone poured her another one, but that one ended up just like the first one to the complete disbelief of others. Without another word, Luke's friend sat down in front of her. As if everyone received some quiet signal, they gathered around, a second glass appeared there along with a bottle.

"This now matter of pride."

Helen did her best to keep a straight face while trying to hammer the tiniest feeling of guilt out of her brain. This is not going to be a fair fight. But in the end, she shrugged her shoulders.

Her birthday, her fun.

Few drinks later, Ness was completely red in the face while others cheered. Helen felt the ether/magic inside her build up as the alcohol burned away, puffing a bit while letting it out.

"Ness, Ness, Ness!"

Bit smug, she placed down yet another glass, some people in the back swore as they were slowly losing their bets. Hands shaking, Ness picked another glass, put it up to her mouth, some drops already spilling.

His eyes went to the back of his head, glass fell out of his hand as he fainted, lucky enough to be caught by the others, however.

People cheered.

"Never had you for someone, that can drink." Vandham laughed at the sight of the poor guy.

The guilt re-emerged for just a moment, enough time to show on her.

"Anything you say?"

So she dropped the bomb: "Immune to alcohol." The mercenary leader paused as if trying to process what he just heard while leaning forward on one of his arms. "When smaller, attacked by poison snake."

Vandham stared at her for a moment before bending over and laughing out loud. Another stream of words came out of his mouth, which she cannot understand much to Helen's frustration.

"Me want to hear snake story." He said once he calmed down, though his eyes were still smiling.

The kids were still busy trying to catch the fake birds while Ness was being carried away by others. Luke looked as if he lost a small pile of money, sulking in a corner. There were some people listening in.

She was not too sure about that, telling that story.

"Everyone wants to hear!" Everyone around nodded.

But that was exactly the issue!

"Pretty please?" What finally broke her determination was when one of the kids came back and gave her these big puppy eyes. Damn puppy eyes. So she started talking.

Looking back at the second year, she felt quite amazed with herself that she went to fight the thing with just Ron at her sleeve and one fraud of a professor. Just how couldn't she see that he was a total fake? No, as much as the cartoon character pretending to be a professor tried to persuade her, she did not like him a bit.

The mercenaries looked at her as if she lost her mind when she told them about the petrified cat and then a few kids - only to tell them that it was in fact done by a giant rare snake, one that can kill a person if you look directly into their eyes.

"So, the phoenix flew in and clawed its eyes out while I found a sword lying around. I would like to say that I was super awesome with the sword but I was just tossed around for a while before getting a lucky hit in." She tried to translate as best as she could while showing her scar at her arm. "One fang pierced my arm, that is how I was poisoned. Luckily, the phoenix had healing abilities, it cured the poison."

She did not go into too much detail, but not like the men needed to hear all of it.

"Basilisks are some of the rarest and deadliest snakes known to Britain, they are known as Kings of Snakes, that is why nobody ever thought that there could be one roaming around. I remember how horrified the professors were when I told them. Looking back, It was a miracle that nobody died."

Helen suspected that Ginny, as strong-willed as she always was, had at least some control over what was happening around her.

"Been immune to all poisons since." At the mention of that, Vandham laughed at the sour looks of some of the mercenaries.

Helen sighed and closed the book in her hands. This is not going to work, she was not smart enough to decipher these things, this was always Mione's territory. Earlier today, she found her hands free from the numerous kids when someone else took over. So she made a decision to sit down and read onto stuff. That was cut short quickly as she found out that not only was the language different, the writing system as well.

If only Mione was around.

Leaving the book behind, Helen got out and started looking around the village to see what she could do.

The place was lively as always - even without the kids, there was always something going on. In one corner, there were people handling paperwork, in other were the mercenaries training for future fights. In the other, someone was checking over supplies, then there was a chill corner to enjoy some good food and drinks.

She could always go up the rocky cliffs and look around from there - she wanted to look around some more. Being stuck in one place for over a month does that.

"Be careful!"

She nodded towards the guards and ran off to find herself a good spot to start climbing. Uraya was a beautiful place, in some ways it reminded her of the Forbidden forest - in the best ways possible. There were still dangers but those handly mattered as long as one wouldn't wander far away from Garfont.

A large majority of the area was shrouded in the shade of the titan's skin, however the flora of the place more than made up for the light - trees glowing in various beautiful shades of orange. If Neville were there, he would be all over the plants if only to find out whether he could add them to his growing collection.

One, two. Helen attached her hands to a suitable spot in the rocky formation and started going up. The new shoes and clothes she was given protected her way more than what she came in, it wasn't even anything fancy. Just a pair of dark pants, shoes with thick soles and some shirt. Helen's growing hair was braided with the help of the kids who were really enthusiastic about the job.

Soon enough, she found just the right spot - right at the edge. Not only she could see Garfont, but far into the distance. Towards where the mouth of the titan was and also far into the back where supposedly, there was a big town.

Helen wanted to go, she really did, the witch couldn't see the place from there. If she flew, she could get there in no while, but her animagus form is not the stealthiest thing in the world.

Why a stupid large thunderbird? She asked herself for the millionth time. Why not something smaller that could slip around people?

"Helen!" Brought out of her thoughts, she turned around to see the one person she kind of wanted to avoid at that moment. Luke was there again and looking more than a little worried that she would stand there so close to the edge. "I heard you free."

He got closer and took her hand to lead her away. "Be more careful, people fall off."

At that moment, she couldn't but feel annoyed with him, treating her as if she was going to jump or something.

"I am fine. Safe." He still leads her away.

"All say that then misfortune happens."

He has been doing stuff like this since her Birthday party. "Luke, please let go."

"No."

Helen sighed.

Vandham looked at her surprised. "You want to travel?"

Helen nodded. "I always want to travel. In past. Never chance. My kind isolated." Which was a half-truth, but in her case, she was not allowed to leave her relative's homes during summer, much less Britain. "Want to see places."

Vandham seemed to ponder about her request for a moment. Helen was already more than old enough to travel, there was just this language barrier, even though she was learning fairly quickly. There were already a few drivers that were her age, even if those were rather inexperienced.

Eventually, he did something that she was slowly starting to get familiar with. The 'I am not too sure about this' lean to the side.

"Indol? Supply transfer. You help carry boxes around."

Sounded good.

The mercenary group left early in the morning and traveled on foot through the titan. Even though Helen has been seeing this scenery for a while, she still felt like the time when she entered the Diagon Alley for the first time.

The group would travel to the capital of Uraya, Fonsa Myma where a merchant would wait for them with the goods. The Garfont mercenaries would officially act as protection, unofficially, they were the worker force. It was a very low-risk mission for beginning drivers.

The feeling of Diagonal Alley intensified when the group first entered Fonsa a few hours later. Helen wished she could stop and gawk at the unusual buildings. They were straight out of some fantasy books. Ness, the guy that she got into a drinking contest with, had to nudge her.

Helen felt her face heat up just slightly while the mercenary patted her back, laughing. "New sights?"

"Yeah." The architecture wasn't the rigid, cookie-cutter buildings of Privet drive, nor the ancient castle style of Hogwarts. There were a number of towers with nice and smooth features that reminded her of rocks that slowly lost their edges in river streams.

"You get used to this."

In between the towers were people walking about, the same kind that Vandham was - Urayans. There were some exceptions of course. Helen pointed at the small furball which looked like it could have an issue walking around with its small feet.

"Noppon" Ness quickly informed her. "You don't… noppon in Britain?" When she shook her head, he finished. "Wow. Britain really far."

"They cute." Hearing this, Ness laughed a bit as if she touched onto some inside joke.

"You will see."

The group moved through the stone-paved streets, with people barely paying them any attention as if they were a common occurrence. Actually, they probably were exactly that.

Loading the goods did not take that long, Helen picked a number of boxes and carried them to their designated place per Nesse's orders, the ship they were taking seemed fairly large, though it was much later when she realized that this was not a classis ship she had seen on pictures, or the kind that the Durmstrang students brought with them during their visit.

At its core, there was a creature, waiting for the time when the ship would sail.

Once the crates were done being loaded, when nobody was looking, she leaned over the rail and touched it briefly. There was a small reaction. "Hello there." Few waves picked up, the creature liked the attention.

The interaction was cut short when one of those furballs appeared from behind the corner. "Everyone get ready!"

The ship was sailing.

Sunlight. Pure, undiluted sunlight. She had been dreaming of it…

Well, not really but it sounded cool in her head. Also, Helen had to cover her eyes for a moment to adjust and overall, make it so that she did not feel like there was something stabbing her eyes.

Anyway, sun. Sea and clouds. Many, many clouds.

She finally understood why was it called the cloud sea - it was exactly as the name described it. During her fall, she couldn't get a good look at it in that hurry, but now she could fully appreciate the sight.

It was almost like being above the skies, the clouds, soft white fluffiness that would soak her wet if she dared to go though, flying about, she knows well how that feels. This was not the blue moving mirror she had seen on one occasion when sneaking away to get a good look at what the Atlantic looked like.

It literally was a sea of clouds. "Enjoying yourself?"

In her amazement, she had completely forgotten that she is not alone. Helen jumped a bit and then tried her best to feint innocence. Naturally, she failed, but she tried. Ness joined her side.

"You really like new places." It was more of a statement than a question. "Vandham good person, everyone there good people. We all lucky that he found us."

"Me lucky too." She admitted. That was an understatement, it was hard to imagine that she would be doing so well without someone giving her the space to rest and recover. Helen was not dumb, she has heard the stories, there is a war going on. Mor Ardain against others and not necessarily because they were like Riddle. The kids also had to have come from somewhere. At this moment, there was no fighting going on, but in a few years, it is expected that the fights would resume. What would have happened to her if, by some chance, she landed in one of those places? Or what if there was not a convenient titan to swallow her so gently that she could get up right away? "I always wanted travel. Never chance."

"You want to also travel in the future?"

She nodded. "Maybe deliver, maybe mercenary." Or maybe not a mercenary. Only the future will tell, but knowing her luck, stuff will happen. Or maybe not, trouble always followed her around, but most of that trouble came to be as a result of one man's wounded ego that he couldn't kill a kid that could barely utter a few words.

Avoiding war or any kind of conflict would be ideal.

"Would Helen be a Driver?" She was going to answer with a bit no at first but then she had to rethink it. Truth to be told, she would like a companion like Roc was to Vandham. She caught the two playing various board games on more than one occasion. Seeing that, she wondered whether she could finally open her expanded trunk and bring out some other neat things she brought along with her. Eventually, that did not happen, but the memory of the sight remained.

"Maybe. To defend myself. Probably."

"Being a Driver is nice." Ness pointed at his own blade. Helen never looked at it too closely, but it was different from others in that, rather than being a person, it was an animal. Twin rings weapon, someone once said.

On Nesse's side, there were two glowing rings that would be used as weapons should someone attack him. "Twin rings mostly for healing." He laughed. "But healing good. If you become Driver, it be interesting."

"Interesting?"

"Your ether manipulation. It big. Never seen that kind before, or anyone else I have asked."

"Really?"

"Really?"

"No witches or wizards?" It was too late when she realized that she used English words to describe her kind. Ness however seemed to get the message.

"Vandham said to keep quiet. Ether normally shared by blades. Blades give ether to drivers. Drivers use art to right and to become stronger."

Well, bugger.

The statute of secrecy can however take a hike for once.

However, now that she thought about it, Ness just now said that ether is used to enhance physical capabilities. Naturally, that is something that a wizard would never think of doing since they would just wave their wands around to get stuff done. Would she be able to use her magic to get that kind of effect? While she can't read the books of Alrest, Helen has more than a few books packed, most of which were chosen by her bookworm friend.

"Some new idea?"

Once again, she was brought out of her thoughts. Embarrassed, she nodded. "Blades sound interesting." If only she could read some of the books around. "Question. Ness know read?"

The mercenary blinked, obviously surprised, his head turned around to look at her. "You don't know to read?"

"I know reading! Just not Alrestian."

He still looked surprised. Helen was expecting that this is going to take a while. Admittedly, she did underestimate a little how long it is going to take, 2 days minimum, but for that purpose, she packed some books to entertain her. Pulling out one, she showed him a copy of some book she had lying around.

Ness took it, while observing the unusual item. It was not a wizard book - they always looked way too fancy for Helen. Rather it was some fiction book she bought a while back. The man looked over what she assumed, to him was an unusual thing, then opened it.

"This British?"

"Ya." Actually English, but don't worry about that. "Actually, English." She found herself saying and unintentionally opening the can of worms that foreigners tend to get wrong about Britain. Not that she experienced that personally.

"English?" Think before you speak, Helen. Thank you.

"Britain spread into several parts. England very important. Language named after England. English."

"So, what other parts are there?"

The first day of sailing moved on surprisingly quickly.

Looking in the distance, however, there was something else that caught her interest - a giant tree.

"Tell me about the large tree." She has been talking about herself for a while, but to be honest, she wants to know about the wider world of Alrest.

"World tree? You no see world tree from Britain?" She shook her head. "World tree always here, where Elysium and Architect are."

"Tell me more?"

"Architect, creator of Alrest. Indolians - the Praetorium. Look up to the Architect. Religion. Indol also look after core crystals. Drivers registered there." He paused. "Elysium, place where a lot of land. Old story - Architect upset with people so he sent people from Elysium away. That why, we live in titans. Children story."

"Sound like Yggdrassil."

Ness did not even try to pronounce that. "So you have heard of world tree?"

"It very old story."

So, she is in a world with Yggdrasil. Helen was not that familiar with the story, but she has heard of it on more than one occasion. Maybe she has some books on it too? She was quite a collection, lots of them belonged to Mione too.

"Argentun is a lively place, you will like it, not a continent though. Many merchants, goods traded everywhere. Good food. "

Food? Has anyone mentioned food?

Gormott was as lively as described by the mercenaries.

Naturally, there was one major stop she had to go to.

Food, she just wants the food.

"No drinking!" She rolled her eyes at that remark. No teasing, please. They would be in there for the night.

Somebody else leaned in: "We could win money."

"You want Luke or Vandham, skin you alive?"

Groan. No. Helen begged them to stop.

Sightseeing would have to wait for some other trip - it was late and all they could maybe do was to find a place to eat, then as the guards, it was the duty of the Garfont mercenaries to go back and guard the goods. Its value wasn't that great, which is why this was a beginner mission with Ness to look after them all, but it was still a mission.

However, even though it was late, she was not disappointed. Situated on what looked like a giant wooden structure supported by a giant floating titan. While the docks were dark, the inside sure was not. The place was decorated by countless ether lamps giving off warm light, hanging from various places, giving an impression that some sort of a festival was about to happen.

Though, judging by how calm everything was, there was no festival going on, just a common day. There were still a few people milling around.

Ness looked like he had already been here, telling her to stay by his side as he and his blade walked around and eventually arrived at once place. One of those fur balls looked like it was the chef.

Noppon cook? Now she is really interested.

"Ever heard, Argentum Monkfish?"

"No."

"Then you are in for a treat." The kind-looking man pointed her towards one of the seats while others joined in.

Helen got the feeling that something was up, she couldn't tell why but something was up. She only understood what was up when the food arrived. It looked horrible.

Somebody nudged her side while she half his her face with one of her hands. It looked horrible. She had to laugh.

On the positive side, the dish tasted really good. After figuring out how to start (eying her companions a bit) she poked the thing a few times with her fork and dug in.

It was a quiet and pleasant evening.

And there was not a single person that came around to gawk at her scar - she could really get used to living like this.

Helen looked over the animal blade next to Ness.

It was late night, really late night. Very likely early morning rather than the late evening. Helen wanted to look around Argentum some more, but she herself had no money - and she wouldn't ask for any from others after being kind enough to share what they had with her. Everything on her, barring her old red and gold Gryffindor scarf came from them.

However, she still couldn't sleep, even though she knew that she is going to pay for this the next day. Leftovers from her Hogwarts countless late night trips around the castle.

She also may have had that habit of sneaking into the forbidden section every now and then. Mione said that she is an insomniac or something while sounding a little worried.

As quietly as possible, she pulled out her invisibility cloak - just in case - and put it on.

The number of people still awake was minimal. There were two people with odd gears that reminded her of diving suits, moving around barrels. In one corner, there was a sleeping armored guy - it was clearly armor and not one of those diving suits. The cooking noppon from before had long since retired for the day and his stand was dark.

On the far side of argentum, there was a man looking out on the cloud sea.

The ether lights were still on - Helen would have liked to see the place during daylight.

As she ran, she was not being too careful. She brushed against a few people, the place was packed full. She got her wish. The place was certainly alive.

Her luck ran out when eventually, she ran into someone.

"Motherf-"

She stumbled around a bit but eventually managed to stay on her feet. "I am sorry!"

Normally, she wouldn't pay that much attention and keep ongoing. She glanced at the person if only out of interest. Tall, armored, black hair. The look on his face was that of absolute fury that she dared to crash into him. Helen took one glance at that expression and resumed her running. "I am sorry!"

"Hey! Hey! Girl! What is your name?" A voice called after her.

Looking around, surprised by the question, she saw that the man no longer seemed upset as he tried to make his way towards her through the crowd.

"Helen! Need to get going!" She looked around towards the general direction where she heard the mercenary voice, then back at the guy.

She uttered one more apology and ran again.

Judging by the sounds behind her, he started a chase. However, being in a crowd, the angry-looking man lost her soon enough. She took a detour around some boxes, slipped through some tight spot, and eventually boarded the ship.

Helen looked around, just in case she would see him - and she did. He was still looking for her in the crowd.

Weirdo.

Forgot to mention, I was not sure about the rating. I have no plans when it comes to blood, gore nudity etc. and would only (and only) consider such a thing if it had a purpose in the story. But this is Malos we are talking about - anyone who has played through the game knows what I am talking about.

Though, I will never ever make lemons. Just no.

So, tried to show off who Helen is a little bit while showing off the world of Alrest. Tbh, I just want her to learn the language already so I might be pushing that part just to make writing this more convenient.

Wow... only 60 views up to this point. I knew that this is not the most frequented kind of crossover that people are looking for but it is still a surprise how little people come around. I am still happy and glad for everyone that took their time to read this. Thank you!

Still on the fence about Helen's blade, cause tbh, I am not a fan of the design but I feel like he would really add to the story with his personality.

Review and favorite?

Please, thanks again for reading.