Authors Note:

Drem Yol Lok, dii braan joor. Hello, everyone. Ashtheking here once again, with the next update.

Well, this was unexpected. I meant to update right after my spring break, but then I was hit with the double-knockout of national exams and then final exams, one after another. Granted, there was a week or two that I could have updated, to be perfectly honest. The problem was that I was caught up with social activities, as outlandish as it sounds, and I have only really found the time now that it is summer.

Please be advised that I will be gone from July 14th till August 12th, on vacation, and I'll be working the week before that, so my opportunities for updating will be rather limited this summer. You will definitely see at least 4 chapters before I leave, however, so look forward to it.

This chapter was irritating to write, to be honest, because I kept re-writing in my head. That's the other reason that I never updated, as I wanted to figure out how to handle Diagon Alley, until my brother sat me down and told me to write, since he also wanted to read the update. So if you're excited I updated, you can thank my brother for that, hah-hah.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all related characters and concepts are the creation and property of J.K. Rowling, along with her publishers and Warner Bros., as regards the movie material. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and all things related to the Elder Scrolls universe belong to Bethesda Game Studios, and Bethesda Softworks. I do not, and will never own them. The character of Bjorn Stormhold, along with any others introduced later, however, is my intellectual property, and should not be used without my permission. Certain of the scenes in this story are from Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone. I trust the intelligence of my readers to recognize them when found.

As always, please read, review, and recommend!

Faal Sen Voth Dovah Sos

It began like any other day.

Harry woke up at 6 AM sharp every morning, courtesy of an alarm that he had rescued from the trash heap that was the former presents of his cousin, one Dudley Dursley, who had a tendency to break or destroy all of his presents within the course of a good month or two. Harry's teacher, Bjorn Stormhold, repaired it for the boy, and told him to use it well.

After waking up in the wee hours of the morning and heading downstairs, Harry would often cook and lay out breakfast for the Dursley family, the rest of whom would not awaken for another hour or two. Today was no different, and Harry made sure to turn on as few lights as possible, and make as little noise as possible, as to not unduly awaken his unruly kin. This was not out of any sense of kindness, but rather a sense of self preservation, as Uncle Vernon was rather grumpy when woken up early.

After this, he would grab the mail, and place it on the table, for Uncle Vernon to easily obtain it. At about this time (6:45 or so), he would scarf down his breakfast, and head off to Master Bjorn's house, which was just down the street, one right turn, and two houses down.

However, today was a bit of an oddity.

When Harry went to go obtain the letters, as normal, he found one addressed to him. This was not that odd in and of itself, actually. Some of the other Greybeard Masters, who wished to contact him, but could not find the time to visit in person, or wanted to formally announce a visit, would write to him. Harry usually grabbed these and read them on the way to Master Bjorn's house, so that he could inform his teacher as soon as possible. Due to the magic of Apparition, there could little to no warning before a guest arrived, and knowing even a few minutes before hand allowed the master and student duo to prepare, if only a little.

However, all letters from the Greybeards had the same symbol upon it, that of the Dragon over the Throat of the World, which was used for anything representing the Order of the Greybeards. It was designed by one of the Greybeards a few centuries ago, after he spent a month doing naught but watching Master Paarthurnax fly around the mountain.

This letter, however, was different.

"This insignia, which is a lion, eagle, snake, and badger, surrounding an ornate 'H'?" Harry muttered to himself. "I know I've seen this seal before… Geh, I'll look it up on the go. That being said," here he stared at the addressee line, "it is really creepy, that someone knows what bedroom I live in."

As Harry did his morning jog down to Master Bjorn's house, the rising sun provided him enough light to read his notebook, which he was flipping through. The book had several dozen pages filled with notes about everything from anthropology (which included non-human races as well, technically) to basic calculus and physics (which were required for studying how magic works).

What Harry was looking at right now, however, was the rough sketches he had done of the various famous and important insignias that he had been taught, both historical and modern. It was there that he found it.

"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, eh?" he muttered as he ran, nearing his master's house. "The premier school of magic in the British Isles, wasn't it? Headmaster is… Ah, that's right, Albus Dumbledore, the wizard famed for defeating Gellert Grindelwald. Huh, I wonder why they'd be sending me a letter."

He stopped as he reached his master's house, crossing the street and walking up the driveway. As he did, he felt the wards of the house wash over him, identifying him positively as "not a threat". When he reached the door, he grabbed the doorknob, which was detailed with an ornate bronze dragonhead. The eyes of the dragon glowed slightly, and the door unlocked. If anyone not keyed in tried it, nothing would happen, and the door would appear locked. Usually, the spell would provide an electric shock or some-such, but as this was a residential neighborhood with mundane postmen and delivery persons, a modified version of the spell was used.

Harry entered, and called out to his Master, whom, he knew from experience, would be either upstairs in the alchemy lab or in the library. The house was enchanted, and was bigger on the inside than out, although one would have to enter certain rooms, or downstairs (which was not on the original floor plans) to realize this. "Drem Yol Lok, In! Zu'u lost meyz!"

Bjorn Stormhold emerged from the door to the library, in his usual home attire of a tee-shirt and jeans. Today, he was wearing an unadorned black shirt, and dark blue jeans, making him look nothing like the Oxford Professor that he actually was. Nor did he look like the reality-warping pacifist monk that he was, for that matter. His black hair was tied up in a ponytail like normal, clipped together with his usual hairclip, a silver circle with an engraved Imperial Dragon.

"Drem Yol Lok, Harry. Valokein. How are you today, child?" Bjorn questioned, smiling gently.

Harry grinned back, breathing a little heavily from his jog. "I'm fine, master. I do have a question, however." He held up the letter, showing the Hogwarts seal to Bjorn.

Bjorn saw the letter, and chuckled. "I knew I forgot something. Well then, you're turning eleven soon, I see. Where has time flown, I wonder?"

Harry frowned slightly. "You know why this school would be writing to me, master?"

In response, Bjorn raised an eyebrow. "Come now. You surely can figure out why a school would be writing to you, before the next term starts?"

Harry blinked. Then his hand met his face, and he sighed. "Sorry, Master Stormhold. It seems I haven't woken up yet."

He then opened the letter, and started reading. When he reached the end, he looked up, questioning. "We need a pointy wizard hat? Are you serious?"

Bjorn laughed loudly, the sound echoing in the corridor. "That's what you were most concerned with? You've certainly got your priorities straight, I'd say. I'd forgotten about those hats, I don't venture into the Wizarding world that much nowadays, since joining the Greybeards. Yeah, they're required, but not many people actually wear them, you know."

A few days passed by, and it became the weekend. Harry approached his Uncle Vernon on Saturday morning, with an important question. Petunia and Dudley were out, the former visiting her friend Marilyn and the latter at his buddy Piers' house.

"Erm, Uncle Vernon, can I ask you something." It was always best to be timid when dealing with his uncle, Harry had found.

"What is it, boy? Speak up." Uncle Vernon asked gruffly. The boy wasn't that bad, now that he had started going to that professors' place. Those freak accidents stopped, and Dudley's grades were getting better, since he was told to actually study, or risk looking dumb in front of the professor, which Vernon would not have.

"Um, you see, I got this letter a few days ago." Harry pulled out the Hogwarts letter, with the seal visibly opened. "And –"

Vernon grabbed the letter, his face turning red, then purple, and then fading into a ghostly white. "Boy…"

"Erm, before you get mad, Uncle, I'd just like to say that Professor Stormhold knows about Hogwarts." Harry interrupted, somewhat fearfully. He had gone over what to say with his teacher, but he was still nervous.

Vernon froze, and stared at Harry. "What."

"Erm, well, you see, he apparently went there himself, though he distanced himself from those, um, how did he put it, 'foolhardy lazy ostriches with no sense of work'. He's promised me that if I can graduate from there with good grades, and keep up with the material he'll keep sending me, he'll secure me a scholarship at his university, and a tentative job offer as a full time assistant." Harry went on.

Vernon stopped, and thought.

So, that professor's one of them, I see. Well, I promised that I'd stamp out such madness when I took him in, I did. But, on the other hand…. Dudley will easily get where he wants to go, but this boy won't accomplish much of anything, I knew it from the start. Well, if this brat gets into Oxford, and gets a respectable job, it looks a lot better than having him as a good-for-nothing. Bah, why not.

Vernon stared hard at Harry, causing him to gulp nervously. "Boy. You better be top of your ruddy class, you hear me? Pull every single bloody rabbit out of the hat, or whatever it is you people do. I want to see you in Oxford, you hear me? You won't accomplish half of what my Dudley does, so you best not lose this chance, you got it?"

Harry breathed a sigh of relief, and nodded vigorously. "Yes Uncle. I'll make sure not to disappoint you or Professor Stormhold."

Vernon leant back in his chair, suddenly tired. Harry pressed on, though, interrupting him from his thoughts. "Erm, Uncle. I need to get to the Leaky Cauldron, in London. There's a secret entrance in the back, you see, for our kind, to get into our shopping alley. Professor Stormhold said he'd meet me there, but he has stuff to do this morning."

Vernon raised a pudgy eyebrow, and nodded. "Hmm? That's fine. I'll take you this afternoon, once Petunia gets back."

The Leaky Cauldron turned out to be a dinky little pub, which Harry would have passed over if he didn't know to look for it. Uncle Vernon dropped him off at the address, and promptly sped off, not bothering to say anything.

As he walked closer to the door, he felt an easily unnoticed bubble of magic around the pub, which Harry thought was probably one of the wards. Probably whatever magic is causing no one to look at the place, he mused.

Harry was wearing a hooded light jacket, which was white with grey stripes. He had the hood up, and his bangs were covering his scar, as Master Stormhold had told him that he didn't want to draw attention to himself here, or he'd never get through.

He entered the building, looking around. There were a couple people sitting around, most likely regulars of the pub. At the closest table to the door, he spotted his teacher, and raised his hand in a little half wave. Bjorn nodded and got up, tucking the scroll of parchment he was writing on into his coat.

Bjorn was wearing a grey trench coat; it was similar to the one Master Paarthurnax had worn when he had visited in human form. Underneath that was a buttoned shirt and dress pants, which meant he could go unnoticed in both the mundane and Wizarding worlds. He walked over to Harry and spoke somewhat softly. "Drem Yol Lok, Harry. Come, there is much to do."

He nodded to the bartender as he passed, and tossed him a silver coin. "Thanks, Tom." The bartender nodded back, and continued wiping the glass he was holding clean. Master Stormhold led Harry out back, into a small walled courtyard, where there was nothing more than a trashcan and a few weeds.

"Let's give you a little test, shall we?" Bjorn grinned, and gestured around the courtyard.

Harry sighed, and shook his head in mock despair. His master loved to give him impromptu tests like this, as a way of making sure he kept up with his studies and magical training.

He raised his arms, and closed his eyes. There's nothing from the Song, so it's not anything draconic. I suppose that'd be too easy. Hmm, there's a ton of residual magic here. Darn, I can't find anything with all this clutter.

Harry opened his eyes, and sighed. "I can't find anything the normal way, Master, there's too much clutter."

Bjorn raised an eyebrow, surprised. "You're giving up? That's odd, usually you'd keep trying."

Harry grinned, and shook his head. "Nope, I'm not giving up. I just want to show you this."

He took a deep breath, and focused.

All shouts feel different. Some feel repugnant when called, such as Drain Vitality or Marked for Death. Others make you feel powerful or strong, such as Fire Breath or Unrelenting Force. However, every shout feels unique. And this shout gives you an indescribable rush of joy, and happiness. It makes you feel glorious, and energetic.

It makes you experience the wonder that is…

"LAAS."

Life.

Harry blinked, and felt alive. He saw everything, from the small bugs crawling in the ground to the birds flying about. And it was using this that he found it. Dispelling the shout reluctantly, he pointed at the wall. "There's a lot of people behind there. Found it."

Bjorn was frozen, a look of pleasant surprise on his face. He quickly recovered, and laughed loudly. "Hahaha! That was brilliant, Harry. You must have been working hard, learning a Word by yourself. Tell me, when did you start?"

Harry grinned, and rubbed his head sheepishly. "I asked Master Paarthurnax for the Dovahzul writing of the word when he came over, so I could surprise you. I only got the word last night, to be honest. Life isn't a hard word to learn, and my dragon blood does give me a bit of an advantage, but it still took me a few weeks. I mainly thought about all the different people I've met, and all the creatures I've seen around me, and at the zoo and whatnot. And focusing on that, I understood that… well, Laas los Laas."

Bjorn nodded, saying "And so, with this your first Word, you understand. Dovahzul is reality, and the word describes itself perfectly. It is somehow fitting that you learn it here, on the doorway between the mundane and irregular. Well done. You have taken your first step into a larger world. And with that…"

Bjorn turned, and tapped a pattern on the wall that Harry had identified. The bricks moved, shuffling out of the way to reveal the hidden world behind them.

"Welcome, to Diagon Alley!"

Authors Note:

Well, that's this chapter done. I meant to add the rest of Harry's interactions with Diagon Alley in here, but this chapter wrote itself, and grew to be unexpectedly long. Harry finally mastering his first Word of Dovahzul was unexpected, but somehow fitting. I'll post the next chapter within a few days, I promise.

I hope that the chapter lives up to everyone's expectations, and that people like how my characters act. I try to keep them in-character, but I also will go off-the-rails if I need to. I like to place myself in a characters' role when I write them, but I can't always understand them. Vernon was disgusting to write and I'm pretty sure I can understand how Voldemort thinks better.

Learning a Word is so easy for a Dragonborn that most of us forget that the Greybeards are called as such for a reason. It takes a lot of time, to fully grasp the concept of a Word, of the meaning behind it. Some words, I expect, can be learnt easily. In that respect, Laas, or Life, is one of the easiest, and as such, I chose for him to learn that before he even heads off to Hogwarts. Life is integral to our daily lives, and is therefore easier to comprehend, but even an easy word takes time.

I expect for most of the Words Harry learns to take a lot of time in-story, so don't expect Harry to know more than one or two full Shouts by the end of his first year. And even that's pushing it. Each Word of a Shout can take between one to four months to learn, and it's the end of July right now in-story.

Zu'u lost meyz! – I have come!

Valokein – Welcome

Laas los Laas – Life is Life

As always, please read, review, and recommend!