Chapter 4- platform 9 ¾
A large purple and blue portal appeared among the crowds of parents and student that filled the platform. All around, people turned and stopped to stare at it, waiting to see what would happen.
They didn't have to wait long. Six heavily armoured solders, four men and two women that looked startlingly similar to roman legionnaires with tower shields and pilum marched out.
They halted with military precision and turned to form a safe space in front of the portal. A tiny woman with bronze skin, amber eyes and elegant pointed ears, dressed in long navy blue robes and a green gemmed circlet strode out, followed by a young boy who was obviously her son, already dressed in Hogwarts robes with a snowy owl perched comfortably on his shoulder and a large white cat with grey spots trotting at his side.
A tall breathtakingly beautiful woman with snow white skin and glowing orange eyes followed him from the portal, her left hand glowing with a green light that swirled around the trunk that was floating alongside her in an amazing feat of wandless magic.
Behind her came a tall woman with sparkling golden skin, similar pointed ears, long white blond hair and electric blue eyes dressed in a set of short purple-blue robes and leggings. Dressed similarly to her was what could only be described as a walking cat, standing almost six feet in height he had deep amber brindled fur , a short mane and a collection of rings in both ears. The portal closed behind them and the entire party stood there for a moment with the crowd frozen watching them.
Silandra looked at the crimson metal contraption with a great deal of trepidation. It looked like a Dwemer construct she had encountered in Blackreach and those had a habit of trying to kill you. Steam belched from a smokestack at the front of the monstrosity like the joints from a Dwemer centurion and the platform was filled with a collection of parents and students, many with pets and dressed in robes. Silandra raised a brow in fascination at the scene, before shrugging and leading her party towards the back of the train.
Their movement seemed to wake the crowds and everyone hurriedly went back to their previous activities. Legionnaire Corvus handed his shield and pilum to one of his comrades and climbed into the last coach and found an empty compartment, he swiftly checked it over to make sure that his legate's son would have a safe journey and marked it with a quick magelight spell. He swiftly exited the coach and with the aid of legionnaire Hammer-hand he carried the youngling's trunk to the compartment and stored it in the overhead luggage rack provided. Exiting again he told Aralas the location of his things and regained his weapons and position in the formation with the extreme precision that was so iconic of the imperial army.
Aralas looked up at his mother with a sad face "I'm going to miss you mother. I wish I could just use the portals every night" he whispered to her. Silandra drew her hatchling into her arms "I know little one, but apparently there is a tradition that these wizards observe doing as they do will foster more trust, also if are too noticeably different, they will only resent you." She kissed his neatly brushed hair, smoothing the small braids that held his feathers and tucking stray strands behind his ears.
She pulled back a little but kept her hands resting on his shoulders, looking somberly into his deep green eyes "remember Aralas, you are a Stillglade, a Dovahkiin and most importantly, my son. We never do things the easy way and we earn everything. Accept no gifts and incur no debts. Follow your instincts and don't steal anything. Above all you must be true to yourself and do not let their attitude change you."
Aralas smiled at her "an arrow for every occasion" he quoted with a determined look on his face Silandra nodded "yes, and I have no doubt that you will stand firm in the face of all adversity."
She felt pride at the fire in his deep green eyes as he smiled and hugged her once more before, accepting a kiss on the forehead before letting go and turning to his aunt. "Bye Aunty Rana" he said, wrapping his arms around her waist. Serana smiled a little sadly and hugged him back. "Take care of yourself little dragon" she whispered in his ear "make lots of friends," she paused then added "especially with the smart ones, their more interesting and the best to have on an adventure."
They both grinned at this and he stood back, boing low from the waist at the two of them" farewell mother, aunt. May your journeys lead you to warm sands."
The two women grinned at hearing the traditional Khajiti phrase he had obviously learned from J'zargo and bowed back too him "May the Moons guide your steps" Silandra replied.
A whistle sounded, a clear warning that the train would soon depart and Aralas hopped onto the step smiling and waving at them all "farewell young Stillglade" one of the legionnaires called as they saluted him with the mages following suit.
Aralas returned the gesture, "Knock them dead' his mother called firmly as the train began to move. Aralas laughed and closed the train door, hurrying to his compartment he hung out the window and waved to his family. Slowly the train picked up speed as it pulled away, then it rounded a bend and he lost sight of them all.
Aralas sighed and closed the window, seating himself and pulling a book from his satchel. Hedwig had taken roost on the rail of the luggage rack and was now napping with her head tucked under her wing, Snowpaw had followed her example and was now curled up on his lap snoozing.
A few minutes later a round faced boy opened the door and looked hopefully in. "Excuse me, can I sit here? Everywhere else is full." His voice was tentative and shy with a slight tremor.
Aralas looked up "Of course, please, sit down" he gestured at the empty seat across from him. Gratefully the round faced boy heaved his trunk into the compartment and began to struggle to lift it up to a safe place.
Aralas saw his difficulty and hurriedly placed Snowpaw on the seat and stood to help. Together and with a great deal of effort the managed to stash the boy's trunk next too Aralas's, puffing and whipping their slightly sweaty faces.
"Can I sit with you too?" asked a girl's voice. The two boys turned and say a girl with bushy brown hair and large buck teeth standing in the corridor as well. Aralas and the round faced boy looked at each other and Aralas shrugged before nodding and they helped her heave her extremely heavy trunk up into the rack to join theirs.
Once everything was settled, the two newcomers got a look at Aralas's ears "Oh my goodness!" the girl exclaimed "you're an elf!" It was more of a statement then a question but Aralas nodded and bowed formally from the waist.
"Aralas Stillglade at you service" he introduced himself.
"Neville Longbottom" the round-faced boy said sticking out his hand awkwardly.
Recognizing the gesture as one used by the Nords, Aralas reached out and clasped the boy's forearm. The boy looked a little surprised at the gesture, but grasped Aralas's forearm back and smiled shyly.
"Hermione Granger" the girl supplied, offering her had like the boy had and accepting the strange forearm clasp instead.
As they all sat down Hermione began rapid firing questions at Aralas "are you really an elf? Where are you from? Are you immortal" Why are going to Hogwarts? Was your mother or father human? I didn't know that elves existed, the books never mentioned them."
Aralas held his hands up defensively and that halted the flood long enough for him to get a word in edgewise. "I am from the world of Nirn. I am a Bosmer which is commonly known as a wood elf. Elves or Mer are not immortal, though the Altmer wish they were. But we live longer then the races of men. I got my letter to Hogwarts because I had family that lived here and they put my name down when I was born. I am pure Bosmeri not a manmer, and I am the son of the ambassador for Nirn Silandra Stillglade."
Hermione's moth opened in a slight o "were you the one who had all the guards and came through that weird portal?" she asked him quickly.
"Yes" Aralas answered "my mother has been appointed the Imperial ambassador to earth and General Rikke insisted that I be given proper protection for my fist entry into the Wizarding education system."
Neville's eyes grew wide "My gran mentioned that, she said you guys are from a different plane of existence completely and it's only because you got your letter that our worlds are interacting at all" he told them in an awed voice.
Aralas nodded, "we were all really surprised because we had never heard of Hogwarts before and then suddenly there was a letter inviting me here. It's been a bit of a culture shock, on Nirn we don't have to keep magic secret, everyone can learn magic if they want. True some races have an easier time of it like the Altmer or the Bretons, but everyone from the mightiest emperor to the poorest beggar can learn the arcane arts."
Hermione and Neville gapped at him for a moment, before Hermione shook her head. "So you're from a different universe where magic is common place and elves exist" she said firmly, trying to cement it into her head.
"Yeah pretty much" Aralas told her with a lopsided grin.
"Do you have any books about it I can read?" she asked tentatively. Aralas recognised someone who liked to be well informed on a subject but tended to over compensate by memorizing everything.
He paused for a moment, she reminded him of his Aunty Rana, and maybe she would be his friend. He pulled his satchel around and starting to rummage through it.
The magica of the bag meant that he could store much more in the bag then was physically possible, and after a few moments he pulled out a green leather-bound book the size of a regular notebook. Emblazoned of the cover in black letters was the title:
A history of Nirn: 4thera second century, Dragonborn edition
This he handed to Hermione "But don't read it yet, let's talk first" he said smiling at them. Snowpaw chose that moment to leap onto the seat beside Aralas and begin grooming himself. "Oh I forgot to introduce you" he said to his new human friends, and swiftly remedied that, introducing them to his pets.
"But the rules say you can only have one pet!" Hermione said, scandalized.
Aralas grinned "I couldn't make him stay away even if I wanted too, he and Hedwig follow me everywhere." Snowpaw climbed back into his lap as if to emphasize the point and yawned widely, showing off his growing saber teeth that had yet to grow out of his mouth.
"Oh my" squeaked Hermione as she observed the cat's dental equipment. "That's a saber tooth tiger kitten" she told him fearfully.
"He's a snow saber cat, they said we could bring a cat, I'm bringing Snowpaw. Hedwig doesn't belong to me, she is with me to carry messages to my mother" Aralas said firmly.
Neville interjected before Hermione could continue of her line of thought "I have a toad my uncle gave me" he told them both shyly reaching into a pocket. His hand quested around in there for a moment, then his face fell "Oh no, Trevor's gone" he cried, looking franticly through his pockets.
"We'll help you find him. Hermione told him, laying her hand on the now teary eyed boy's shoulder and standing up "r…really?" the tearful boy asked, looking up at her and sniffing.
Aralas nodded "I think Snowpaw could help" he told them before nudging the can "Snowpaw, this boy lost his animal-friend. Could you help us track it?" he asked the overlarge kitten.
Snowpaw blinked his gold eyes open and after a quick yawn, nodded "I need the water prey's scent" he said jumping off Aralas's lap.
"He needs some of Trevor's scent, let him smell you pocket" Aralas told Neville, who complied, turning out his pocket for the cat to smell. Snowpaw snuffled over the exposed pocket, sneezed, sniffed again, then opened his mouth and began casting about the air, trying to catch the amphibian's scent.
After a few seconds the cat headed for the door that Hermione opened, and led the group down the train until they halted by the girls lavatory. Hermione followed the cat the rest of the way and emerged triumphantly a few minutes later clutching a toad and smiling at the cat who padded next to her. They retraced their steps back to their cabin where they began to get to know each other.
For Hermione, the fact that Aralas was from a different world was acceptable, strictly because she was already believing in magic, so why not other dimensions too, muggle science had already posited that other worlds could exist so it made sense really.
Neville was having a harder time with it, elves had always been servants to him, but Aralas looked nothing like a house elf, yes his ears were pointed and a little too big for his head, yes he was smaller than Neville and thin, yes he had large eyes. But there was something graceful and wild about him, like he would be more at home out of doors then cooped up inside a house.
So Neville made a choice, Aralas and Hermione hadn't laughed at him about having a toad for a pet, or when he had lost Trevor. They had, in fact helped him find his toad. They didn't treat him like a squib or an embarrassment and they didn't know who his parents were and so wouldn't compare him to them, so he decided then and there that if he could, then he wanted to be Aralas and Hermione's friend not knowing that the other two were hoping the same thing.
An hour or so had passed by when their compartment door opened, interrupting a rather funny story Aralas was telling them about his teacher at the college nearly blowing up his mother with an experiment. A tall, gangly boy with a shock of violently ginger hair poked his head in "Hey can I sit in here?" he asked.
The other three looked at each other and nodded, standing to help the boy lift his trunk up to join theirs. After they had settled down again he introduced himself "I'm Ron, Ron Weasely" he told them grinning. "Neville Longbottom"
"Hermione Granger"
"Aralas Stillglade" the others replied, smiling hopefully at the new boy.
"Did you guys see that rich git on the platform?" he asked them, this gained him some confusion.
"Git?" Aralas asked confused, not knowing that his ears were hidden by his hair that had moved forward when they were helping the boy with his trunk. "I'm unfamiliar with that word" he said turning to Hermione.
"Someone who is contemptible" she explained before turning back to Ron "Do you mean the family with the Legionnaires that came through the portal?" she asked.
"Legio-whatsits?" he asked blinking at them.
"Legionnaires, soldiers of a legion which is a unit in some armies" Hermione told him in a bossy voice "the Roman Empire was famous for their…"
Ron cut her off "Yeah those soldiers, the lady behind them was dressed in those really fine robes, flaunting their wealth and being all arrogant."
Aralas took a deep breath in through his nose, trying not to overreact and fry the red head. "I did not realise you knew the ambassador" he said in a tight voice that flew right over the other boys head.
"Nah, but you can tell an arrogant ponce like that from a mile away, we're probably gonna have to deal with him being a spoiled brat like Malfoy all year. Did you see his ears? Mother is probably half house elf to get ears like that..."
Whatever he had been about to say next was interrupted as Aralas stood abruptly, Ron caught sight of his ears and let loose a small "eep" of fright.
"In my homeland such insults would allow me to challenge you to a fight to the death using the weapons of my choosing. I will ask you to leave once before I hear another slanderous word spoken of my mother and my clan" he snarled at the red head who had turned a pale white and was beginning to stutter "Leave now!" Aralas yelled at him his dragon soul was raging against his mental barriers, longing to kill the insolent Joore, his left fist was filled with crackling flames that filled the air with the stench of brimstone.
Ron yelped and dashed out of the compartment and was nearly hit by his trunk that Aralas had telekinetically thrown after him. After the door had closed, Aralas sank back into his seat and looked down angrily, before he placed his hands on his knees and began reciting the mantras of the greybeards, bringing his temper back under control and stuffing his dragon back into his subconscious.
Hermione and Neville looked at each other a little fearfully before Hermione plucked up the courage to say "are you alright?"
Aralas looked up with sad eyes "sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. It's just he was insulting my mother and I couldn't let that go. My mother is not arrogant, she earned all her titles and then that… that imbecile, dared to say she was an entitled Altmer…urghhh" He said explosively. The other two looked at each other for a moment but swiftly changed the subject, pulling their new friend out of his funk.
A little while later there was a knock on the door by a plump elderly imperial woman pushing a trolley laden down with all manner of unrecognizable sweets. "Anything off the trolley dears?" she asked pleasantly.
Aralas and Hermione looked over the trolley with Neville, who explained everything to the other two. Eventually they settled back into their compartment each nibbling on a sweet. Neville was quite pleased with his box of Bertty Bott's every flavour beans and small pile of chocolate frogs while Hermione was enjoying a liquorice wand.
Aralas looked at his chocolate frog and the small stick of honey that he had found. "What is chocolate?" he asked his companions turning the gold and blue box around in his hands. Hermione and Neville were stumped, how did one explain chocolate?
Finally Hermione's book worm tendencies surfaced and she began to lecture the other two on the history and making of Chocolate. After her lecture Aralas looked even more dubious.
"So it's made with plants?" he asked looking up at the other two.
Hermione nodded "from the Cocoa tree, yes" she replied looking pleased with herself after her lecture.
Aralas sighed and placed the unopened box back down "then I can't eat it" he told them pulling out the honey stick and sucking on it absently.
"What do you mean you can't eat it?" Hermione asked "are you allergic?" this questioned made both Aralas and Neville furrow their brows in confusion.
"Allergic? What's that?" Neville asked her.
"It means if you eat or come into contact with a certain substance, you get sick" she told them impatiently before looking back at the Bosmer "well?" she demanded.
Aralas sighed " I can't because of the Green Pact" he told them, then seeing their confused looks, elaborated "The Green Pact is an oath that my race, the Bosmer made to our forest god Y'ffre, in return for his patronage we cannot kill, injure, or eat any vegetation" he explained "the Pact has four tenets:
First: we can only consume meat or animal based products.
Second: we are prohibited from using wood or other vegetable derivatives as building materials.
Third: We are forbidden to harm trees and plant life for our own betterment.
Fourth: it is forbidden to smoke anything of a vegetable nature.
My mother lets me bend the pact sometimes on special occasions like on my name day, but I don't feel good about breaking it casually, even my wand is made out of bone." He told them, becoming a little defensive towards the end.
Hermione blinked as she assimilated this new piece of information. "So your almost completely carnivorous?" she asked incredulously, Aralas nodded and Hermione sat back hard against the seat.
"But what about potions and herbology?" Neville asked "you have to work with plants and plant ingredients." Aralas's shoulders sagged a little.
"Yeah, Mother said I could bend for Potions, but herbology is about helping plants grow, so that is perfectly fine." He smiled a little, "can we change the subject?"
Neville and Hermione smiled "sure, you said your wand is made out of bone?" Neville asked and Aralas who grinned and pulled out his wand from the sheath on his belt that Aela had made him. Hermione and Neville oohed and ahhed over the intricate carvings, and Hermione demanded he explain their meaning, soaking up as much information about his culture as possible.
All was going well until the door opened for the third time, revealing the pale imperial boy from the robe shop and two thuggish looking boys, standing like book ends on either side of him.
"Hello" the boy drawled politely "I believe we've met but I didn't introduce myself properly. I'm Malfoy, Draco Malfoy." His pale hair and skin, matched with his attitude made him very similar to an Altmer, Aralas decided, looking the boy calmly up and down before he stood and inclined his head.
"I am Aralas Parthunax Stillglade, Son of Silandra Kavira Elthiria Dovahkiin Stillglade" he replied formally "and I must apologise for shouting at you the last time we met."
"I'm here to offer you my help." The young Malfoy informed him, ignoring the elf's apology in favour of continuing his prepared speech. He sneered a little as he ran his eyes over Aralas' companions and ignoring the hissing Saber cat "I see you've fallen into some disreputable company. You'll find that some wizarding families are better than others. You don't want to go around making friends with the wrong sort. Or worse, Muggleborns." He said, turning back to the now enraged Aralas, once again ignoring the narrowed eyes and sharp breathing.
"I can help you there" Malfoy said smirking and extending his hand.
It took all of Aralas's considerable willpower to keep from hacking the offending limb off and torching this Altmer wanna-be to a crisp. Slowly and enunciating as crisply as he could through his clenched teeth "I think I can tell the wrong sort for myself, thanks" he ground out and slammed the door in the boy's now pink tinged face and throwing himself back down into his seat once more.
"Well that went well" Neville said nervously, looking at the now fuming elf who was rather aggressively reading his book again. He and Hermione looked at each other, shrugged, then began to read the history of Nirn together, picking their way through the strange spelling that was very reminiscent of old English, with Aralas occasionally chipping in or explaining something they didn't understand until it grew dark.
They had changed into their robes ages ago and were now peering through the dark window, hoping to catch a glimpse of Hogwarts.
"It's so weird that you only have one moon" Aralas told his friends, peering up at the silvery orb.
Hermione raised an eyebrow at him "well its weird that you have two" she informed him reaching out to stroke Snowpaw, who was sitting between her and Neville and purring contentedly. T
hey had, had an enjoyable ride despite Ron and Draco's appearances. Now the train was slowing and a voice echoed through the train informing them that they were five minutes from Hogsmead station.
Neville looked at his new friends. He still terrified about the upcoming sorting, yet he felt just a tiny sliver braver now that he had friends who accepted him. They had all spoken about their families, from Aralas's strict yet free up bringing in the wilds of Skyrim, to Hermione's dentist muggle parents and Neville's over bearing gran.
They somehow knew, in the way that children know things, that they would be friends for life.
The train slowed to a stop and Aralas looked sternly at Snowpaw and Hedwig "Stay with my trunk, I don't think your allowed at the feast. Sorry guys."
Snowpaw hmmphed and Hedwig glared at him "You better make up for it later" Hedwig told him imperiously before settling on his trunk and glaring at him.
Hermione and Neville looked at him curiously "what is it?" Hermione asked.
"Hedwig is upset because she and Snowpaw can't come to the feast." He told them before standing "come on, I'm starved" he said leading the way off the train.
A/N- Oh God that Chapter was murder on the High Cs. I struggled so much with this one. So Now I feel I must explain myself to you all. SO PUT THOSE TORCHES AND PITCH FORKS DOWN NOW!
Now then, Neville is slightly less shy and Hermione is slightly less bossy. That is because I had a hard time writing that, but also because of the way Aralas is treating them.
Neville has met someone who doesn't give a flying Skeever's ass who Neville's parents are and expects nothing from him, allowing Neville's natural kindness and bravery to poke it's head out of his shell. Also Aralas didn't laugh at Trevor or mock Neville for having a toad. In fact he helped Neville find Trevor and never once called Neville clumsy or hopeless. This kind of kindness does wonders for a child's self-esteem, trust me I know.
Hermione is in a state that she has rarely ever been put in before in her young life. Book shock, she has been blindsided by something that she had no way of preparing for. The magic world was heralded by her accidental magic so it was more of a relief. Now she is being confronted by and Honest-to-god elf with a pet saber tooth tiger and who can conjure up fireballs in his bare hands… I'd be in shock too. Not to mention that Aralas is willing to be friends with a bushy haired, buck toothed book worm. This is new to Hermione and she is terrified of driving him away with an outpouring of facts. So she is trying really hard to not let it out.
Now Ron is going to be portrayed as an unobservant, immature, self-centred prig who is jealous of anyone with money and power. This is a phase and it shall pass with time… hopefully. His shooting his mouth off about Aralas's family was him trying to talk big in front of some people he was hoping to impress. I dare you to look me I the eye and tell me you haven't done the same… yeah didn't think so.
Malfoy was trying to be nice in his way, seeing as he was raised by Lucius we shouldn't be surprised. He is treating Aralas like a fellow Slytherin pureblood, which for him is an extreme concession to a non-human like Aralas. But all this succeeds in doing in making Aralas mad. Again we all know how that feels. We've all been there.
Also a little self-invention. The presence of a Dragonborn inspires confidence and courage in those around them. This is an uncontrollable side effect of being Dovahkiin, this way your enemies have big enough stone to challenge you and your allies will stand with you longer. That's why Neville and Hermione get a little confidence boost when they are around Aralas. As a Dragonborn grows more knowledgeable in the Thu'um they will be able to tone their aura down. Aralas still doesn't have control over it yet, meaning he is projecting confidence and courage around him.
So to sum it all up, he Golden Trio Shall be Aralas, Hermione and Neville. Neville's confidence will improve with Aralas dragging him off to weapons practice every morning, and teaching him and Hermione Nirnian magic.
Next Chapter: the first years hear a rumour that they have to fight a troll, Aralas freaks out and tells everyone what a troll can do… oh yeah and the sorting!
Safe travels, Trojan Seeress.