Chapter 1- Letters from a Madman
Minerva McGonagall looked at the address on the envelope that sat on the desk between her and Dumbledore with some trepidation. It was addressed to a Mr. A Stillglade in Lakeview manor Falkreath hold, Skyrim, Nirn. Though where that was had stumped her and the headmaster as well as all the post owls they had sent. "I must say I don't know what to do next" Dumbledore admitted gloomily sucking absently on a lemon drop.
A portal opened and a man dressed in an eye watering collection of mismatched and colourful clothes strode out "You won't find him Bumblesnore." He crowed in a heavy Scottish accent "Lucky for you, I'm willing to help. You see the letter your looking to post is addressed to someone in the world I help look after" here the man let loose a mad cackle "As much as they let me" he added grinning widely. "Now where was I" he paused before exclaiming loudly "Ah yes your letter. Well turns out the lad your looking for is the son of the Dragonborn. Nice lady, a little mad herself at time, reminds me of myself when I was a young adventurer. I'll take your letter to him never fear."
He turned to leave, scooping the letter up and tucking it away in his clothes, but a cry from McGonagall stopped him "What is your name" she asked desperately. The man grinned widely and they saw his eyes clearly for the first time, his pupils were uneven and his irises were a starling yellow "Sheogorath Deadric Prince of madness" he grinned, giving a dramatic, seeping bow before vanishing, leaving the echo of his mad laughter behind.
Ten year old Aralas was running through the forest near his home, the sun was setting and he didn't want to be caught outside after dark again. The last time that had happened his mother had to rescue him from the pack of wolves that had chased him up a tree, he shuddered at the memory of his mother's anger at him afterward, never again he vowed. The years had been good to the young boy, a highly active lifestyle and his Aunt's and mother's training in the arts of combat and magic had conditioned his mind and body well.
He was lean and muscled like a whip with deeply tanned bronze skin from a life of spending much of his time out of doors. His forest green eyes had finally achieved a proper elven slant, though his ears were still too big for his head, mother said he would grow into it and he hoped she was right. His ebony hair was long and held back in a half horsetail with several wind braids and feathers, he was dressed in brown linen trousers and leather boots with a leather vest covering his skinny torso. A bone amulet swung from a leather cord around his neck and a simple iron dagger was strapped to his belt.
He leapt over a fallen tree with a flip and slid to a stop at the front door of the manor. His mother was lounging on the porch, her small frame dressed in tight black pants, high leather boots and a sky blue sleeveless shirt. Her faithful ebony daggers were strapped to her legs and her amulet of Y'ffre swung from her neck, a twin to the one he wore.
"Mother" he called happily and sprinted toward her. Silandra quickly stood and caught the boy as he hurled himself into her arms hugging his mother fiercely "Happy nameday Aralas" his mother told him ruffling his long dark hair and smiling at the silly grin on her son's face "If you come inside there is something you will want to see" she grinned as the excited Bosmer child leapt out of her embrace and aimed for the door. Flinging it open and darting inside "Dragon attack" she called into the house jokingly.
A woman near the fire stood up and Aralas blasted their ears with a joyful shriek of "Aunty Rana" before lunging at the vampire who stumbled from the impact despite her strength "hello little one" she smiled at him and returned his crushing embrace as he tried to squeeze the lifelessness out of her "you came" he cried happily, if a little muffled by her clothes "of course I came. Did you think I would miss my little dragon's nameday?" she informed him ruffling her nephew's hair and lifting him up so he sat on her hip, his arms wrapped around her neck and his face buried in her shoulder.
"He's getting heavier Sil" she told the elf who joined them near the fire "Well growing boys tend to do that and I think he's getting too old for that anyway" Silandra joked back, laughing at her sons vehement head shake of denial. "Now put the savage down and let's give him his presents shall we?" Aralas squealed in delight and Serana set the child back on the floor.
They sat down on the near the river stone fireplace that burned with enchanted flames so as to not harm and wood in accordance with the green pact. "So eleven years now hmm?" Serana looked at the little Bosmer whose ears were still too big for his head, and his eyes still held the fragile innocence of childhood, innocence she would do anything to protect. Aralas nodded excitedly "That's right Aunty Rana, mama says I can start wearing face paint now" Serana shot an amused look at Silandra who smiled apologetically and shrugged, her own silver face paint just barely visible as a pair of wide curves from her eyes down to her throat.
"Now Aralas this is your eleventh Naming day," Silandra told him sternly but her eyes twinkled "And so as Arch-mage of the Collage of Winterhold I would like to extend a formal invitation to you to study in our hallowed halls this coming year, I hear master J'zargo is particularly interested in your current progress" Aralas grinned from ear to ear and launched himself at his mother, tackling her in a hug "yes, yes, yes, yes" he chanted squeezing her with all his strength, which for an eleven year old able to kill a man was considerable.
"Sweetheart Mama can't breathe" she gasped and he let go looking a little sheepish before he stood back and bowed solemnly "Arch-mage I wou.." whatever he had been about to say was lost in the maniacal shout of "CHEESE!" that came with a flash of light and the appearance of the Daedric prince of Madness himself, before much more could happen however Aralas had been thrust behind two women whose hands were now filled with magic that, while unable to kill him would really hurt the immortal being "Now, now girly what's with the fire" he cried, his face arranged in an expression of mock hurt "You'd think we aren't friends or something" he continued grinning again.
"Why are you here Sheogorath" Silandra said in a low and quiet voice that usually meant someone was going to die, she hadn't made it to be the listener of the dark brotherhood and the guild master of the thieves by yelling threats. "I'm just here to drop off a few things, like a present for the lad, and a book for you. The mentioned items appeared on the table beside them "oh and Nocturnal says hi. Now must dash, got things to do, dreams to mess with, madmen to sponsor and cheese to eat."
With that he flashed out leaving a very confused Stillglade family and Vampire behind. Gingerly Silandra picked up the book first "Inter-dimensional portals for dummies?" she read off of its canary yellow and black striped cover, opening it to the first page she also saw "Make sure you send your reply as soon as possible, you'll know what I mean" she shrugged and set the book down again before turning to the letter. It was made of fine heavy parchment, the kind used be jarls and kings for formal invitations.
Her eyes widened as she read the letter, it was written in a strange form of imperial and she really had to concentrate to understand it. "It's for you Aralas" she said handing the sealed envelope to her son. After he cast a curious glance at the coat of arms pressed into the purple sealing wax, he cracked it open and began to struggle out the letters contents.
"Dear Mr. Stillglade, we are hereby pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to attend Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry." Here he looked up at his mother questioningly who shook her head indicating she didn't know, Serana made a similar gesture, Aralas continued to sound out the unfamiliar script and after he had finished it he looked at his mother and aunt "What does it mean mama?" he asked, his green eyes large and confused "I don't know little one but I think it may have something to do with were you come from" Silandra told him gravely.
She had told Aralas of how he had come to be her son on his eighth nameday in case something like this would happen. "But know this that you don't need to decide tonight. Let's finish opening your other presents and we'll eat the sweet rolls Serana brought and decide in the morning." She leaned in and kissed his forehead "how does that sound little Dov?" Aralas' brows furrowed as he thought, but eventually the promise of presents and sweets won out and they spent the rest of the evening as they had planned.
Serana gave him an elven dagger and a book from the Volkihar library on dangerous animals of Akavir she had copied, Silandra's colleagues at the collage had sent him books and a little staff of magelight just for him, the companions had sent him his own set of wolf armour that Silandra had enchanted to grow with him, promises of lessons had followed the included training sword and shield that her friends in the legion had sent him, a new collection of eagle feathers for his hair had come from the dark brotherhood (not that he knew what they were) and uncle Brynyolf and Aunt Karliah had sent him a jewelled pendant that they promised they hadn't stolen. After the gifts they sang songs by the fire, ate the sticky sweet rolls and drank Altmer tea that Silandra kept for special occasions.
Eventually Silandra had carried the sleepy child off to bed, helped him with his prayers to Y'ffre and Auri-el and sang him his favourite song, the tale of tongues.
When she came out of her sleeping child's room, her worries became evident on her face again "What should I do Serana?" she pleaded taking the glass of mead the vampire held out to her "you told Aralas that it was his choice, so follow through with that." Serana told her firmly "this Hogwarts is from his birth world, and as such a part of his birthright. Let him learn something of his heritage on the other side. From what you said his birth mother loved him deeply. See this as a fulfillment of her wishes."
Silandra nodded and took a sip of her mead "up for a game of Cards?" she asked, with a crooked smile Serana nodded. They played into the night, but after Serana went to bed Silandra wandered, her beast blood keeping her from sleep. Eventually she picked up the book and began to read. Hours passed as she committed the contents to memory in the way that magical tomes forced the reader.
When Magnus peaked his head above the horizon, Aralas stumbled downstairs rubbing his eyes with his fists. Silently she led him out to the shores of the lake and together they bathed then sat and meditated watching the sun climb up out of the lake until it shone warmly down on them, promising a hot day. As they walked back inside she broached the subject of the night before with her unusually quiet son "I can make us a portal to go to this Hogwarts and meet with their arch-mage" she told him "I also will understand if you wish to attend there instead of the collage. In a way it may even be beneficial, see what kind of mages your birth parents were" She smiled at her son who looked at her hopefully "really?" he asked in a small voice "really" she told him firmly and hugged him, pressing her lips against his freshly washed hair as his arms wrapped around her waist.
"Let's go get dressed and I'll whistle us up a portal to this Hogwarts" she told him. Aralas broke the hug and nodded, his usual exuberance surfacing again as he grinned at her "Race you to the house" she told him and began sprinting back toward the manor.
Dumbledore looked around his office at the many glittering devices that lined the shelves, incident that had occurred last night had kept him up to all hours of the night, which coupled with his belief that this Aralas Stillglade was really Harry Potter hade successfully held all attempts at slumber at bay. Now he and Minerva were waiting to see what would come of it. The clock struck eight and a glowing purple and blue portal appeared in his office. Both he and Minerva pointed their wands at it and braced themselves for whatever would come out of it.
A tiny woman in what looked to be a combination of black armour and formal deep blue robes and a gold and blue gemmed circlet with a curving black sword and two daggers swinging from her belt strode out of the portal. She glanced around the room and fastened her eyes on the professors, the staring contest lasted for almost a minute before she turned to the portal and called in a heavily accented English "you can come, It is safe" a small boy who looked to be around eleven years old in a deep green tunic and black leggings with brown boots and a simple iron dagger hopped out of the portal to join the woman who was obviously his mother. They shared the same seep bronze shin and angular face shape, though she had deep glittering amber eyes whilst his were forest green.
The startling thing about them however, was their ears, long and pointed, far more elegant then a house elf's. On the woman they looked regal and proper, but on the child they were a little oversized and truth be told looked absolutely adorable. Even Minerva McGonagall, immune to the wiles of children, found herself smiling at the child's ears.
"Greetings I assume you are Albus Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall." The woman said in a rich mezzo, her cat like amber eyes flicking between the two of them. "Yes I am Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of this school, and this is Professor McGonagall, my deputy" Minerva nodded with a polite "how do you do." The woman bowed slightly from the waist "I am Arch-mage Silandra Stillglade of Valenwood, thane of Skyrim, Harbinger of the Companions and Dragonborn." She gestured at her son "and this is my son Aralas" the young boy bowed formally and said "greetings" politely.
Dumbledore put on his best grandfatherly smile "Ah yes, are you here to confirm his place in our school?" he asked curiously "that all depends on whether or not he and I find your school acceptable" the woman said sternly, Dumbledore nodded and conjured up two chairs for them "please sit" he invited, twinkling his eyes at them. But the woman held a hand out to the boy, stopping him from sitting, she lifted her right hand which was now filled with blue light and cast it over the two chairs, cocking her head at them and frowning in puzzlement and ignoring the stares of the two British magicals who were absolutely shocked at her casual wandless and wordless magic.
After a few seconds she nodded and released the spell gesturing to her son to sit before doing so herself. "Now then too business" she said steepling her fingers "My son has already been invited to the Collage of Winterhold in Skyrim. So tell me why he should attend your school?" Dumbledore blinked "We are the finest magical school in all of Britain a" he told her proudly.
Silandra raised a slanted black brow at him and said "this is meant to impress me? Perhaps it would if I knew where Britain was or anything about it." The two professors gasped "as it is" she continued "I wish to know why you have my son enrolled in you school." Dumbledore cleared his throat "where are you from if you don't know where Britain is?" he asked cautiously.
The boy Aralas responded in a tone that seemed to be as if speaking to an idiot "From Nirn of course, Mother created a portal after Sheogorath delivered the letter last night" this statement threw the headmaster and he probed further "Nirn you say? I have never heard of it" the woman snorted "Just because you have never heard of it does not mean that it does not exist" she told him a little frostily. The headmaster nervously cleared his throat again "Well children are usually enrolled in our school either through their parents or because we are the closest magical school. As you say that you already have a school I will assume it is through your son's father that his name is on our list. Would you tell us who his father is?" Dumbledore asked hopefully, perhaps he was the woman's son by blood adoption, that meant there was still a chance he was Harry Potter.
"My son's father was from this world yes." She snapped "but no I will not tell you his name. That is private and will remain so." The room was silent for a moment before she spoke again "What schools of magic are taught here?" she asked McGonagall took this question "the main classes are Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, History of Magic, Astronomy, Herbology and Defence against the dark arts with extra curriculum of Runes, Arithmancy, Care of Magical creatures and Divination" she listed and Silandra cocked her head to the side "can you describe what you accomplish in each class?" she asked, her mind clearly moving at a high speed as she devoured facts. After twenty minutes whereby the two professors gave a rundown of the kind of magic performed in each class Silandra held up her hand to halt them "My final two questions are what are the school terms and fees like?" she questioned "the children study here for ten months of the year starting in September and running through too May and the yearly tuition is around two thousand galleons" Dumbledore answered smiling.
Almost immediately Silandra looked confused "May I see your calendar and a galleon?" she asked pulling a small book from a satchel the hung from her shoulder Dumbledore conjured up a calendar while McGonagall fished a galleon out of her pocket and handed both items to Silandra who looked at them very carefully, weighing the coin in her hand experimentally before pulling out a coin from her pocket and observing the difference in weight and quality before she turned to the calendar and compared it to a page in her book, flicking between several pages and muttering to herself in a language they couldn't understand.
Finally she looked up "so from hearthfire to Second seed he would study here? She asked showing the page of her book to her son who copied his mother's habit of cocking his head to the side and considering what was written there. "I believe so yes" Dumbledore hedged. The awkward silence prevailed for several minutes before she stood "We wish to take a tour of your school" she commanded, Dumbledore nodded "oh course, Minerva?" he asked turning to look at his deputy, who nodded with a small smile "it would be my pleasure" she informed Silandra and Aralas.
As the left Dumbledore stealthily sent a weak cutting charm at the boy's hand. The tiniest of cuts appeared and a drop of blood oozed out and fell to the floor. A swift healing charm followed, then the door shut. Quickly Albus leapt up and using magic, levitated the drop of blood into a conjured vial before pulling out a piece of parchment that had been steeped in a lineage revealing potion.
He shook the drop of blood out of the vial and into a small jar of ink, which he then poured onto the parchment. Thin lines began to draw themselves on the page, forming names. At the bottom was the boy's name, connected by a double line that meant blood adoption, to the name Silandra Kavira Elthiria Stillglade, her name in turn was attached to a family tree stretching back several generations.
But to the left where a father's name would be were two names: James and Lily Potter attached to the illustrious Potter family tree. Dumbledore sat back, deep in thought. Harry Potter had survived, and now he was back, the blood adopted child of a being from another dimension, perhaps that was the power he knew not. All Albus knew now was that Voldemort was not truly dead, and now that harry, he shook his head, Aralas was back, then Voldemort would be returning too. He stood and walked over to Fawkes and gently stroked his crimson feathers "We need to visit Nick" he told the bird who nodded and the two of them vanished in a swirl of fire.
Aralas' head was spinning, this school was HUGE, almost as big as Castle Dour. Lady McGonagall led through its dizzying halls with moving portraits and swivelling staircases. It took all his discipline to not jabber questions at her like a mad man. Finally they had returned to the Arch-mage's study but found it empty. So mama and he bid a formal farewell and opened a portal back home.
Dinner was a quiet affair, the venison was delicious but it was just the two of them. Serana had gone back to castle Volkihar that morning before they had left, and their steward Aela and bard Sven, were still off getting supplies. After he had helped his mother cleanup he went outside, swinging up into the branches of one of the tallest trees that overlooked the lake. He found his favorite spot and curled up against the trunk watching the sun set, thinking.
He had known for years that Silandra wasn't his birth mother, but he hadn't cared, blood didn't mean anything, who you loved was your family mama said. But now confronted with such an obvious sign that he wasn't from Nirn bothered him. The branch next to him shivered slightly and he looked over to see his mother sitting next to him, her back against the trunk, one leg hanging casually down with her arms resting on the other knee that she had pulled up and rested her chin on her folded arm, her amber eyes staring pensively across the lake that now glittered like molten gold.
" I'm scared mama" he whispered following her gaze at the magical sight that he had known most of his life "What do you fear?" she asked gently "that is I go to this school that I will never be allowed to come home." He said brokenly, a tear slipping free from his left eye and tracing a path down his cheek. "Aralas I went to Sovahngard to fight the world eater. Do you think for a moment that I would do any less for my son?" she asked him "but I'm not really your son" he sobbed, his fear finally outing itself as he broke down sobbing into his arms.
A pair of warm and familiar arms wrapped themselves around his shaking shoulders and he instinctively snuggled into the comforting embrace "Says who?" she asked him "I think your my real son, just as Serana is my sister. I don't care about blood, if I wanted to be around people obsessed with bloodlines I would have stayed in the dominion. I choose my family, and I chose you to be my son. As long as you want to be my son, you will be. But I love you no matter where you came from or what your ears looked like before you were mine."
She kissed the top of his head and rocked him gently. The sun had long set by the time his crying eased "I want to go to this Hogwarts" he said looking up into her eyes "but can I still study in Winterhold as well?" he asked, Silandra smiled at him "of course, J'zargo won't let you go that easily, he's been begging me to let him teach you all his tricks since you conjured your first fire ball at age three. We'll just have to get you to train with him during the summer and holidays." She smiled at him "If it's what you truly want, we will send them your acceptance and begin getting you ready to attend their school."
He grinned and hugged her tightly then he looked up and smiled, pointing at a particular cluster of stars "the apprentice" he said smiling "your birth sign, the mark of the mage" Silandra agreed "the gods approve."
A/N Many thanks to Mystborn for the idea of Sheogorath shouting cheese when he appears.
If you think Aralas is acting a little young, think back to when you were ten and eleven. I don't know about you guys but I oscillated between using words like atrocious and eating dirt so really its not that big of a stretch to believe that around his mother and aunt he acts a little more childishly then when he is around strangers be they his own age or adults.
I have decided to make Dumbledore a well meaning meddler who is obsessed with the prophecy and is trying to figure out how he can control the outcome because Dumbledore knows what is best for the "Greater Good". Ron will be an insensitive jerk in the beginning because Aralas is an elf and Ron can't seem to understand the difference between Bosmer and house elf. I think I'll make him come around in the end... maybe after the troll incident.
Enjoy!
Safe travels, Trojan Seeress