Disclaimer: I don't own Throne of Glass or its characters.
A/N: Okay, so the setting is Hogwarts, but not in modern time but set long ago, in a time where witches were burnt at the stakes and things like that. To protect themselves, a lot of them are organised in secret clans and the clans are the equivalent of kingdoms in ToG (eg. Adarlan clan, Terrasen clan) with the kings/queens as chief of clans. There are less witches who dared to travel so far from the safety of their homes for education, and so Hogwarts is much smaller, with much more senior-junior interactions but most of it is still much the same. There is also much less house-based prejudice in the story, although Gryffindor and Slytherin are still at each other's throat, it doesn't play such a prominent role, especially with clan-based loyalty.
"Aelin! Aelin, slow down!" Aedion called, running down the train after his infuriating little cousin as she rushed down Hogwarts train after the boy she had described as a "handsome fella" just a couple of seconds ago. "Please tell me you didn't just say Westfall was handsome."
Tapping her foot impatiently as Aedion caught up, she whirled around again, tugging Aedion along as she once again followed Westfall down the train corridor. "If that brown-haired fella is Westfall, then that is indeed what I am saying," she replied cheerfully with no sign of stopping.
Aedion groaned. "Don't associate with him."
"Why not?"
"He's an Adarlan's bastard! One of Havilliard's clan's important members are the Westfall. They're the enemy, Aelin!" To his dismay, this did not seem to deter his whirlwind of a cousin, whose footsteps showed no signs of stopping as she dragged him along the train.
"Don't be so rigid, Aedion," she replied laughing. "Maybe we'll convince Westfall to switch clans and join Terrasen instead."
Before Aedion could even think of an appropriate response for that ridiculous sentiment, he had been dragged into one of the train compartments. Standing nearby (too close for his comfort) was Chaol Westfall, who looked up in surprise when they walked in after him. Behind the seat of the table was a young boy with the prettiest blue eyes he had ever seen and a demeanor fit for a lady.
"Ashryver," Chaol remarked coolly as his eyes fell on Aedion.
"Westfall," Aedion growled in response.
"And I'm Aelin," Aelin pops in, smiling at Chaol charmingly.
Chaol barely nodded, before turning back to the quiet boy. "Let me know if you need anything," he states, before sweeping his robes up and marching out of the compartment door, much to Aelin's disappointment and Aedion's relief. He wasn't sure how much more of Westfall he could have stood before probably getting into another argument with him.
"Aww…" Aelin said, peeking outside as he walked away, looking as though she had half a mind to dart out again. "Do you suppose I should follow again?"
"Stop that!" Aedion exclaimed, pulling Aelin back by her arm. Unnoticed by both of them, the boy in the corner flinched at his actions but Aelin only laughs, pulling herself free from his grip. "You are not to associate with Westfall. Or Havilliard. Or whatever else comes out of Adarlan. Got that?" Wrinkling her nose as though she was about to tell him something the lines of "I do what I want", she stuck out her tongue at him instead, tossing her bag into the compartment above and rushing to the seat opposite the boy before he can pinch her in response.
"Oooh, is there already drama before school starts?" A pretty voice from outside calls, and a girl with the appearance to match her voice slips in through the door. "Who is Havilliard and Westfall?"
Aedion frowns. "Are you a first year too?"
"Yep!"
"Gah, this is becoming a first years cabin. I'm going to find my friends," he grumbled, stomping out of the cabin and banging the door shut in the process.
"Finally," Aelin said, rolling her eyes.
"Who's he?" the girl asks, tilting her head at Aelin.
"My cousin, and a pain in the ass," she replied, turning to give her a wide grin.
"Are you going to avoid Havilliard and Westfall then?"
Aelin laughs. "I wasn't going to go out of my way to find them, but with how insistent he is, I'm almost tempted to."
The girl laughs at this. "I like you. What's your…"
Before she could finish her sentence, the door slid open slightly again and they looked up, finding a small girl with tumbling black hair and wide eyes staring at them. Her eyes darted to the corridor for a moment, as though she intended to run off. For a moment, nothing happened as the four of them stared in silence.
"Elide," Aelin stated finally, breaking the silence. "You can come in."
"Yes, yes, of course," the girl mumbled, pushing her baggage in hastily. Aelin hadn't meant her statement as a command, merely an invitation should Elide wish to join them but Elide had clearly taken it wrongly, almost scampering in fearfully. A (huge) part of her wanted to snap in frustration, but she has done that before and it does nothing but frighten people of her power even more. Instead, she holds in a sigh and attempts to look as non-threatening as possible.
It makes no difference, for after glancing around for half a second, Elide slides into the seat next to the boy, so silent that Aelin almost wants to ask if he's mute. Beside her, the girl's eyebrows pinched together in confusion. "You know each other?" she asked.
"Yes, we're of the same clan," Aelin replies easily, reaching out a hand to the girl. "I'm Aelin Ashryver Galathynius, nice to meet you!"
Lysandra smiles, reaching out a hand to grasp hers. Part of her wanted to ask what she meant by the clan, but she wasn't sure if that was rude so she decides that it can wait. "Lysandra Ennar, the pleasure is mine." Turning to the other girl in front of her, she reaches her hand out again. "And you must be Elide."
"Elide Lochan," the girl replied, gracing her with the smallest of smiles. "Nice to meet you." Their names mean nothing to Lysandra, that much was obvious as she took in their names with curiosity but no recognition, but the boy's eyes darted over quickly to Aelin, and then Elide in recognition.
"And you are?" Aelin asked.
Startled, the boy fumbles and almost drops the book that she hadn't realised he was holding. "I'm Dorian," he replies quietly.
Aelin frowns. "Dorian what?"
Nervously, Dorian bites his bottom lip as he glances quickly again to his side, and then to his front. "Dorian Havilliard," he says, his voice soft enough that it was almost a whisper.
This time, Lysandra gets something. "The Havilliard you shouldn't associate with?" she wanted to ask if it wasn't so rude to voice aloud. Regardless, before she had time to formulate a response, both Elide and Aelin had immediate reactions to his name, Aelin leaning back as far as the seat would allow and Elide sliding further away from the boy. The boy drops his gaze to his lap. "I don't get it," she finally says, after a beat of silence.
"Which clan are you from?" Aelin asks, as though that held any meaning to her.
"I don't… I… I thought we only found that out when we reached Hogwarts?"
"No, not houses," Aelin explained. "Clans."
"I don't think she's in any," Elide finally says quietly, her clever eyes watching Lysandra carefully in a way that almost unnerves her.
"I don't know what they are."
"How?" Aelin asked surprised. "Where are you from?"
Lysandra hadn't wanted to talk about her situation but resigned, she sighed and told them of how she had been in an orphanage prior to this. They weren't going to send her to school initially because they had been sending the children to work on households to earn keep for the orphanage but someone had given the head of the orphanage a letter, explaining that she had been enrolled in a school by parents she never knew and they were expecting her. It was already paid for, and that was the only reason that she was even allowed to go.
"So you're muggleborn then?" Aelin had wondered aloud, only to have Lysandra look at her in confusion. "With human parents."
"I don't know," she grimaced. "I suppose so."
"She might not be. Her parents might be witches and wizards," Elide pointed out.
"But her clan would have found her and took care of her then!"
"Maybe they lost her, or that reclaiming her would take too much explanation and they can't risk the clan being discovered." At this, both Elide and Aelin turned to look at Dorian instinctively, in a manner that was almost accusatory, and he almost seemed to shrink under their stare.
"Do all clans hate each other?" Lysandra broke in, mostly as a genuine question but in some part because of the pity she felt for the surrounded boy. "Is that why you're acting so stupid? You and Elide are in the same clan and Dorian's a different clan so you must fight?"
Aelin wrinkled her nose at her. "That is so not true," she declared. "Most clans either get along or kind of ignore each other's existence and deal with their own. It's only Adarlan that's our enemy. And besides, we're not acting stupid!"
"You are! You keep glaring at Dorian but he hasn't even done anything!"
"He's Adarlan's heir!"
"So?"
"So? Adarlan's the enemy!"
"Why?"
"What do you mean why? Everyone knows why!" Aelin cried, agitated, as Lysandra narrows her eyes at her. Recalling Lysandra story, she frowns. "Oh…"
"Adarlan and Terrasen were part of the same clan long ago," Elide finally answers. "But the clan broke into two, Adarlan led by the chief's daughter and Terrasen by his son for reasons lost to time thousands of years ago. But hundreds of years ago, Adarlan's heiress and Terrasen's heir fell in love and wanted to merge the clans, but their parents were wildly against this idea. Adarlan's heiress decides to fake her death for a week so that they may elope. A messenger was supposed to tell Terrasen's heir, but the message was intercepted by Adarlan's chief and as he thought that she was truly dead, he killed himself. Terrasen's chief was furious at Adarlan's chief action and a war was nearly waged. It was only settled by the other clans placating the two powerful clans but ever since then, Terrasen and Adarlan has never gotten along."
That's why Adarlan sucks, Aelin had wanted to say. They're despicable and caused Terrasen to nearly descend into chaos, but before she had the chance, Dorian spoke up for the first time. "That's not what I heard."
All eyes turned to him. "What did you hear?" Elide asked, quietly, her tone surprisingly neutral in a way Aelin was sure she would not manage.
"Terrasen's heir knew she was faking her death, it was planned by him, but he had not planned to truly elope with her. He was going to marry Eyllwe's heiress and his sister was to marry Wendlyn's heir to bring together the three clans to destroy Adarlan. It was only because Adarlan's heiress' little brother found out his ploy that he managed to stop him. They fought to the death and in his last breath, Terrasen's heir stabbed his lover in the heart, killing both Adarlan's chief children and nearly destroying Adarlan in the process."
"That's not true!" Aelin exclaimed angrily. "That's a bold-faced lie!"
"It is what I was told."
"Well, you were told a lie!"
"Maybe you were told a lie," Dorian challenged, and for a second, she thought they were going to fly into a fight. But Dorian merely sighed. "It doesn't matter anyway. I don't want to fight about it." Aelin blinked in surprise. She had been ready to defend Terrasen and argue on the truth of his story, but she hadn't expected him to just drop it. "It was long ago and I'm not going to let that feud dictate my life."
"Well, you know what, Dorian Havilliard," she glanced up at him and found him meeting her eyes. "You're right. Let's be friends."
Silence filled the cabin for a long moment, as Elide gaped at Terrasen's heiress declaration. Lysandra finally burst out laughing and Adarlan's heir did not break Aelin's stare, but did break into a smile as his hands reached out to grasp her offer of friendship. "This is to rebel against your cousin, isn't it?" He japes. "But I'll take it."
Aelin laughs. "In part," she admits. "But also because it is right. I have tried to find written accounts but nothing concrete has ever really been found, lost to time as much of history often is."
"Pity, isn't it?" Dorian says quietly. "I do wish we knew what happened, even if it doesn't really matter anymore."
"Yeah, if Adarlan tricked Terrasen's heir into suicide, they lost their heiress as a result. If Terrasen plotted against Adarlan, they lost their heir as a result too. It is kind of evened out, and really the clans beyond Terrasen and Adarlan had much more to gain from the destruction of the two clans anyway," Aelin points out.
Elide frowned at that. "That is true, I've never thought about it that way. Wendlyn and Eyllwe gained much from Terrasen through the trust forged from those times."
"As did Fenharrow and Melisande from Adarlan."
"Well, who cares," Lysandra drawls, deciding that she let them drag out this clan talk for far too long. "What I really want to know is what houses you guys think you'll be in?!"
A/N: In case anyone is wondering, Adarlan is not known for leaving babies in the wild or anything. It's just kind of the thing where because they hate each other "clans that do _ evil thing" automatically equates to the enemy clan and hence why they looked at Dorian.