Unlikely Savior – Chapter 2 (Train Ride)
Desmond found it a bit weird that Britain wizards and witches took a train in order to get from London to Scotland. Since apparently Hogwarts was in Scotland. It honestly didn't make a lot of sense to him.
And Dorea and Sirius had woken him up early September morning. The train was expected to leave Kings Cross at exactly eleven o' clock. And they wanted to get some last-minute training before he officially left. He already knew about the Room of Requirement, a room he would take full advantage of.
Though Sirius had pouted since he had never known about the room. Dorea had simply rolled her eyes at him.
Desmond did find out that he would be flooing from one of the many Floo connections at the sanctuary. Much easier than the hassle of using a muggle car. So, he wouldn't have to worry about going through any of the magical barriers that were safeguarding the platform.
He did find the barrier did make sense since it would be protecting where wizards and witches got to Hogwarts. Though he would have assumed it would have been an entire building that muggles wouldn't even know about. But instead, it was hidden within a muggle station. What could possibly go wrong?
It would have made a lot more sense if they had set up a Floo Connection. Instead of having a train ride that last for over nine hours. They could have easily had several witches and wizards set over that and keep the hidden barrier. It was after they were past the barrier that they would assist each student and go through the Floo Networks. And not waste practically an entire day just to get to a blasted school.
But there he was, lugging his trunk behind him as he was attempting to find an empty compartment. Even though he wouldn't be appearing as a student, he still needed that damn thing.
But the trunk wasn't really all that heavy. He had already placed a lightweight charm on it, and it had been magically enhanced beyond normal capacity. He loved extension charms, though this had surpassed the standard ones. Something he deemed as necessary since there were quite a few books that Dorea allowed him to borrow. But that didn't make the hallway any less difficult to navigate with how narrow it was. Didn't they hear of expanding the hallways?
A lot of the books were just based on subjects so that he could self-study for his NEWTS. But there were a lot of other books as well. Some were based on weaponry, since Desmond grabbed some detailing on the design of his blade. Others were on different variants of poisons and arrows. While the rest were just history on different assassins, Desmond had wanted to learn more about them. If he was to understand British wizards and witches a bit better, he figured he needed to know the history of them. And it wasn't like there was a lack of knowledge in the libraries.
Though the books on the more selective topics, he had hidden into a secret compartment of the trunk. Nobody needed to know he had books on how to kill and their different methods. Especially the books about the Assassins, but at least some of the books didn't even hint of the word. But there had also been a few tomes on healing and Desmond couldn't resist.
But it was near the end of the train that Desmond had found a compartment for himself. He debated on using the new skill that Dorea had taught him. Which was very tempting to use just so he didn't have to deal with any of the students. He could still recall on how irritating the younger students had been when he was still in school. Being that he was an unfamiliar face, they would be curious.
It had been difficult to try to maneuver the trunk into the compartment and he was tempted to slam the door. He wondered if it would make the glass on it break. But he rather not attract the attention of any prefects or the Headboy or Headgirl to where he was at. Not yet anyways. The less that knew about him now, the better. Once he got to Hogwarts, it wouldn't matter since he would have his own room in the castle.
He wound up debating with himself on warding the compartment. It wasn't like he didn't know how; it was a simple repelling charm. Though most would probably argue that it was quite different than the traditional one. It had a mix of runes and Arithmancy to it. But Desmond was able to cast a powerful enough ward so that nobody would pay attention to that compartment. To them, it would look invisible to the eye or just walk on past it. It was very similar to the muggle repelling charms.
He had already felt the train starting to move, so it was after eleven o'clock. But he figured he would wander the train to pass some of the time. He wasn't sure on why he wanted to, since he didn't really feel like it earlier. Since the purpose was to avoid all the younger students at all cost.
But here he was, walking down the train corridor. Course, that didn't mean that anyone could actually see him. He kind of wanted to practice how long he could hold the invisibility. Was there a way to hold it for hours at a time? Desmond actually didn't know, and he didn't think to ask Dorea when she was instructing him at the time.
It was near the other end of the train that Desmond started to hear loud voices. It peaked his attention and got closer to hear what was being said. It wasn't exactly yelling, but it wasn't quiet either.
"Fuck off Malfoy!"
Malfoy? Why did that name sound familiar? Desmond thought.
"Is that all the golden boy can say?" Draco asked mockingly.
"Come on scarhead, anyone worth anything is aware of the important things happening at Hogwarts. I guess even as the Boy-Who-Lived you aren't important to the Ministry."
Desmond rolled his eyes, Dorea and Sirius had mentioned the heir of Malfoy before, and they hadn't been kidding. It was like it slowly clicked; the blonde hair had certainly helped jog his memory.
"There is a difference between being an important person and bribing important people" Harry sneered. "But I guess bribing is the only thing Lucius could be good at. Considering he should be in Azkaban with the rest of the lowlife Death Eaters."
"How dare you!" Draco snarled as the friends around Harry erupted into laughter.
"At least I have a Father! And I don't have a dead mudblood mother!"
"Is that all you have? You've been using it since our first year. My parents died for me. To save my life. Can you say the same?"
Desmond raised an eyebrow at the slur, Mudblood. It hadn't been an insult he heard very often, not until he got to Britain.
"And I'll have you know; my parents may be dead. But that doesn't mean I don't have family," Harry cut Malfoy off.
"Something that you should know of Malfoy," Desmond decided to cut. "I am quite impressed that you still are trying to goad Potter, I can't imagine what your father might say."
The blonde hair was unmistakable, Dorea and Sirius had told him that much. And he had never met Lucius Malfoy or his family. He had never wanted the pleasure of it either. But he watched as the blonde spun to see who was talking. But he knew that he would at least have one encounter with the blonde heir.
"And who are you!?" he demanded.
Desmond smirked, "someone that you will want to watch out for. I would be watching out for an owl very closely, maybe even a Howler."
Malfoy didn't have say a response from him, though he could see the fifth year was furious. The twisted back snarl was obvious. May have cursed him, not that he would hit him, if not for who stepped in.
"Is there a problem?"
Desmond didn't know who this was, but the shield with the P on their green robes was obvious. Prefect, his mind supplied.
"No problem at all," Malfoy replied.
"I wasn't asking you, Malfoy," the prefect bit out with a smirk.
"Just his usual gloating, Terence. Didn't really need to step in," Harry cut in.
"Perhaps not, but Malfoy should know better than testing another Gryffindors," Terence stared down at Malfoy.
The blonde didn't say another word before marching down the hallway.
The response made Desmond wonder if he actually took any of the words to heart. Probably not, but it would serve as a warning at least. Not just his, but this prefect's as well.
"If that is all, I will get back to my duties. Try not to curse any of the Slytherins too much, will you Harry?"
"Not my fault if they try to curse me first," Harry grumbled.
Terence rolled his eyes but walked down the other hallway. It was like he didn't even notice Desmond there.
It that was the moment that Desmond came face to face to Harry Potter. He knew it was him, the emerald eyes and messy hair was unmistakable. Besides, Dorea loved showing him photographs of her grandchild. She claimed it was so he knew who he would be protecting and watching over. But he knew differently. It was weird seeing someone proud over a child, because he wasn't used to it. He never knew the feeling of his parents being proud of him. But he started getting to the feeling as he soaked up Dorea's praises.
But, he immediately knew this was the child. Though he couldn't really call him a child. His eyes were striking, it was a shade of green he had never seen before. It wanted to draw him in. He was very built for a fifteen-year-old. The red and black robes were very fitting on him.
Quidditch, his mind reminded him. That had been a sport he didn't really play. But he knew that he was attracted to Harry Potter, the person he was supposed to be protecting.
Now why would this be problematic? Desmond thought sarcastically.
The assassin knew that Harry probably was glaring at Malfoy, but they were looking at him curiously. This definitely wasn't how he expected the first meeting to go. He had hoped to keep Harry unaware of his presence to begin with.
"Not gonna ask who I am?" Desmond crossed his arms.
Harry shook his head, "I'm not Malfoy!"
"Didn't say you were. But obviously there is a bit difference in personality," Desmond remarked.
"Thanks… I guess. Why did you say that Malfoy wanted to watch out for you?" Harry asked.
Desmond snorted, "I never said it was me, but perhaps someone that you know."
Harry was surprised at the answer but before he could question the assassin, he was gone. He walked out of the compartment and looked down both hallways and it was like that person had vanished. Did he just imagine it? And who was that?
"I didn't just imagine that… did I?" Harry asked out loud.
"Guy that looked to be a seventh year?" Dean asked.
Harry nodded.
"I say you're still sane," Dean joked.
Harry snorted, "where did he go?"
Seamus shrugged, "maybe back to his compartment. Did he say why he was here?"
Harry shook his head.
Dean shrugged, "with how Malfoy likes to shout and yell. It's a wonder that we don't have lurkers peeking around to see what's going on."
The rest of the train ride was uneventful. Though Desmond enjoyed spending it in silence. He was actually able to make a dent into the books about some of the courses that Hogwarts offered. Which he felt was… lacking…
Desmond couldn't think of a better word to describe it. They didn't even have any healing courses. It was honestly disappointing. The fact that Hogwarts only had five additional electives was a bit appalling to think about. He had loved taking some of the healing introductory courses when he was in school. He knew if he had attended Hogwarts, the only worth while ones to take were Runes and Arithmancy. At least Hogwarts knew those were important. But where were all the introductory courses for other career fields?!
He could recall being interested in some of the courses they had for Curse Breaking. He had actually taken one and it had been about warding and recognizing spells and curses. It had been helpful to him in his life as an Assassin. He would have been a fool to not take it. It was because of that class, plus Arithmancy, and Runes that he was able to craft his own wards.
Who was teaching at this bloody school?!
Though Desmond internally winced, when did he start saying or thinking the word, bloody? But at least his old school had several introduction courses so you could get a feel of the career. Rather than just take a bland of average ones to get you barely into the career and then discover if it is meant for you or not. At least, he had some hands-on experience and probably could get in on some the jobs they had out here.
But both healing and Curse Breaking sounded interesting to him. He liked having a challenge in what he was doing. Though there was something about being able to heal someone instead of killing all the time. But he was still in an internal debate with himself on what he wanted to do. Which apparently, he was only going to be using a lot of self-study. Which Desmond honestly thought it defeated the point entirely.
Even though he was mainly going to defend a fifteen-year-old. He had hoped there may be something he could learn while there that may help him. Probably why Dorea had loaded the trunk with so many books. So, she probably had known.
The assassin had found it easier to learn some subjects by having an actual professor. Though, that wasn't to say he didn't know how to self-study. He would be dead if he didn't know how to self-study.
He supposed he could also send a few letters out to some friends and acquaintances that he knew. They had been down this path and knew what it was like to take the courses at Hogwarts. So, if they knew some more books that Dorea hadn't recommended, that would be all the better for him. Though he imagined that it was a lucky thing that he liked to read so much. He would have been set up for failure.
But he would wait until he was in his rooms before writing out the letters. With that, Desmond stepped off the train. He could see the sign that said Hogsmeade and looked at the carriages that were before him. He had shrunk his trunk and placed it into his robes. He wasn't going to let the school collect it.
He slowly walked around the carriage and noticed the creature pulling it.
"Thestral," Desmond whispered to himself. He wasn't even surprised that he could see one. With all the death had had seen over the years, it wasn't a surprise one bit. It came with the title of Assassin. But he doubted that many students at Hogwarts could actually see them.