Chapter 3

Survey Corps' Castle

The next morning saw the scouts meeting in planning hall after a good breakfast. When Hange had said a compacted version of the Crops' Castle, they meant it. It was half the size of the actual castle, but it had all the necessary facilities.

Much to the soldiers' relief, and Captain Levi's inner joy, other than cleaning the horses, the ODM gears and their uniforms, Founder Ymir had made sure the castle was completely clean, and to Levi's standards too.

The soldiers placed on cooking squad were in awe when they found the kitchen, next to the mess hall of course, was completely stocked. There was more food than there was the other night when they had that celebration, especially in terms of meat.

The only thing missing was the dungeons. Not that they needed them anymore, especially since Eren no longer slept in them. Instead, the dungeons door was replaced with a door that led to a magical pocket dimension. Ymir had explained in a letter, that it was like Hogwarts' Room of Requirement, meaning whatever they wanted the room to be, it will do it.

The commander and captains saw the potential in this, especially when they tested to see if it would change to a full scale of Shiganshina District. They were happy to see it did, meaning they could train for the Wall Maria Retake Operation, and train their Titan Shifters in secret, at least until they reveal Eren's titan abilities in the first task.

The commander, captains, Historia, Armin and Eren had read the book on the tournament rules and other information cover to cover. They now stood in front of the others, ready to go over the information they had gathered

"Alright, soldiers, listen up," Erwin got everyone's attention. "We've managed to figure out that creatures, mostly of a magical nature, are the main obstacles used in these tournaments. Creatures that may be used, are up there with Pure Titans, in terms danger."

"From what we've read," Levi continued, holding up the tournament rule book. "There are no rules about killing the creatures. These shit-heads obviously want a show, then we are going to give them a show." Majority of the soldiers started to smirk at each other. "The plan at the moment is to use Eren's titan after showing off his skills with his ODM gear. This plan may change depending on the creature used"

"Now, we know these people will be curious about us," Attention returned to Erwin. "Our aim is to not reveal the information about Titan shifters just yet. If you mention the colossal and armoured, then play them off as abnormals. It's possible that we will be asked to attend dinner tonight. Remember, there's a high chance that they will have food that we are unfamiliar with and lots of it. So, we ask that you try to contain yourselves." He sent a pointed look at Connie and Sasha, causing them to blush.

"Do not worry about some of these wizards reading our minds." Hange took over. "Our Founder Ymir has helped set up mental barriers, for those of us who either don't have natural barriers or inner titans protecting our minds." They waved to Eren and Armin, who were holding up a pile of paper each, to start walking around the hall. "Eren and Armin are going to pass around lists on what we can and can't reveal about titans, our military and Paradis Island in general."

Just as the boys had finished passing the papers around and were walking back to the front, Squad Leader Mike, who was standing next to the window, waved for Erwin's attention. "Sir," He pointed out the window. "There's a blonde girl heading towards us. I think it might the seer Founder Ymir informed us about"

"I see," Erwin nodded.

"Eren you're with me. Levi, Hange, Armin, you continued going over the lists while talk with our visitor." They nodded and did as they were told. As Erwin and Eren walk down to the main entrance, Erwin thought back to last night in the Paths before they came here.

(Flashback)

"I have found other descendants in the other world," Founder Ymir explained, surprising the soldiers at the announcement.

"Unlike here where the gene for my descendants is the dominant one, in the other world it is recessive. Thought it seems a bit of magic can simulate the gene." She smiled fondly when she noticed Hange writing everything down. "One of these New Eldians is a little blonde Hogwarts student called Luna Lovegood. From what have I found; she is what the magicals call a seer. With her seer abilities and her Eldian genes activating, she can see into the Paths"

"Really?" Eren asked, having never seen anyone but Founder Ymir and the other Shifters in the Paths when he visited

"Yes," Founder Ymir answered. "I've used this connection to explain the situation to her and she has agreed to help you by being your eyes and ears in Hogwarts"

"And we'll be happy for the help," Erwin said, nodding in gratitude. "And in exchange, we'll place her and anyone of her choice under our protection"

"Thank you," Founder Ymir nodded back

(End Flashback)

Erwin and Eren finally made it to the door, just as there was a knock on the door. They opened the door to see a 14-year-old blonde girl with blue eyes and radishes for earrings?

"Hello Commander Erwin Smith," she greeted in a dreamy voice. "Hello Mr. Attack Titan"

"Um, just Eren will do," Eren sheepishly smiled at her. "Would you like to come in?" He asked after looking at his commander for permission

"Yes please," Luna nodded, walking through the doors. As she walked the two males noticed something missing

"Miss Lovegood," Erwin got her attention. "Where are your shoes? And please be honest, Founder Ymir told us about your habit of using different creatures to cover up the true meaning of your words, but you are amongst friends here."

"Well," Luna fidgeted with her school tie. "Some of the girls in my house don't like me, and they sometimes take my things and hide them"

"Easy Eren," Erwin placed a hand on Eren shoulder when he heard the boy let out an animalistic growl and his eyes were starting to glow. Once Eren had calmed down, Erwin turned back to Luna. "Well, I will have to speak with the teacher in charge of you and see if we can get you your things back." He held up a hand to stop any protest and motioned her to follow. "For now, we'll see about getting you some boots. We should have some in your size. Follow us"

"Thank you," Luna said gratefully.

"It's the least we can do, since you'll be our mediator to the wizards," Erwin smiled down at her.

"Sorry for growling," Eren apologized, head slightly down in shame. "I don't know what came over me"

"It's alright Eren," Luna smiled at him in forgiveness. "From what Founder Ymir has told me, you and your titan have a good sense of justice." Eren simply smiled back at her

While Erwin took Luna to get some boots, Eren went back to the planning room to let everyone know why Luna will be wearing a pair of their boots when she walked in. They all came to a decision that Luna would be under their protection if she wants. They all turned when Erwin walked in with Luna, who was very happy with her new boots

"Everyone, this is Luna Lovegood," Erwin introduced her as she waved at everybody

"Hello, Luna," Historia greeted, shaking the younger girl's hand

"Hello, Queen Historia of Paradis Island," Luna smiled dreamily.

"Historia is just fine," Historia said. "If you need to be formal, go with Princess Historia. We don't want to let this world know about me already being queen."

"That's a good idea," Luna nodded in agreement. "I can only imagine that problems you'll have just for being a young queen, let alone a princess." After a few more introductions, Luna turned to the room in full. "As you can probably guess, everyone will want you to be present at tonight's feast, and most likely at dinner once a week, so they can try to 'persuade' Eren to leave the Scouts and live here full time"

"They can try," Jean snickered. "But they are going to have a hard time of doing it. Eren is one of the most stubborn bastards, I know"

"Love you too, Horseface," Eren smirked teasingly at him

"I will let you know," Luna continued. "That one way they'll try, is by having your biological parents sit at the head table at the feast tonight"

"I see," Erwin rubbed his chin in thought. "I suggest Levi and I sit at the head table, to answer questions they might have, keeping to the information we have decided to let known." Levi simply nodded in agreement. "As for the rest of you, once you have found a place to sit, remember to keep to the information on those lists"

"Don't worry about finding a place to sit," Luna spoke up, gaining everyone's attention. "I have on good authority that Hogwarts Champion Cedric will be asking you to sit at the Hufflepuff table"

"Thank you for the information," Armin said, passing her a list. "And here's a copy of the list, just so you know what to say and not say"

"Thank you," Luna accepted the piece of paper. Thankfully it was a Sunday, so Luna spent the rest of the day getting to know the scouts' and feeling very happy about being accepted

The Great Hall

Soon it was time for dinner, and the scouts headed towards the Great Hall. As they walked in all eyes fell on them. the soldiers ignored the staring as they looked for a place to sit. Just as Luna predicted the Erwin spotted the older Hogwarts Champion, 'Cedric', his mind supplied, waved them over.

Erwin nodded to Eren and Hange to lead the group over to the table, while he and Levi walked over to the head table where they spotted two empty sits between the nice lady who gave them the rule book and a tall, pale man completely in black. As they sat down, Erwin noticed some people from the night before was missing and there was two new people sitting near them

"Good evening," Erwin greeted, watching as his soldiers got comfortable at the table Cedric had offered them.

"Good evening, Commander Smith," the lady from last night nodded in turn.

"Just Erwin will do," Erwin smiled at her next to him. "And do forgive me, ma'am, but I forgot to ask you for your name last night"

"It was a crazy night," the lady smiled back, putting her hand out in from of her. "You are forgiven. I'm Madam Amelia Bones, Head of the Department of Law Enforcement. Since we are going first name bases, you may call me Amelia"

"Pleased to meet you," Erwin shook her hand. "And thank you again for the rule book, it was very informative"

"You're welcome," Amelia nodded at him before motioning to the people next to Levi. "I should introduce you. Next to you, Captain Levi, is Severus Snape, Lily and James Potter, Remus Lupin and Sirius Black. And next to me is Poppy Pomfrey, Minerva McGonagall and you meet Albus Dumbledore last night." Each named person giving their own greeting. "And next to Dumbledore, is the other headmasters Olympe Maxime and Igor Karkaroff"

"Potter you say?" Levi raised an eyebrow at the couple. "So, you're the shitheads that abandoned Eren Jaeger, previous called Harry Potter"

"He's a squib," James said, turning his nose up at the two soldiers. "He would have been an embarrassment to the Potter name. He's already caused us to be laughingstock amongst the purebloods"

"Besides he's not as important as Charlie," Lily continued arrogantly. "He would have become jealously because he could never amount to anything, unlike Charlie, who is the Boy-Who-lived"

"And yet," Erwin glared at them, placing his hand on Levi to keep the shorter man from strangling the two. "He was adopted by the Jaegers, is part the Survey Corps where he is one of our best soldiers and is known as the Hope of Paradis Island"

"I guess these Jaeger people spoiled him," Severus sneered, not looking forward to another spoiled Potter brat.

"No," Erwin did not like this man's tone. "From what I've heard, Dr Grisha Jaeger and his wife, Carla, install good morals and values into their adopted son"

"Doctor?" Poppy looked intrigued, since she was the school nurse

"Yes," Erwin raised an eyebrow as mountains of food appeared out of thin air. "A doctor who helped cure a lot of people during an epidemic that broke out in Wall Maria. He even taught Eren some of his medical practices." Erwin smiled slightly as he filled his plate. "From what Eren has told us, at bedtime, while his mother would read the usual stories, his father would read passages from his medical books." Erwin then became solemn again. "Overall, he had a reasonably normal childhood, until he was about 10 years old"

"What happened when he was ten?" Remus asked curiously

"Titans happened," Erwin answered, not looking at them

"Titans?" Minerva looked at the two

"Yes, titans," Levi said after taking a sip of his tea, raising some eyebrows at the way he held his cup. "Giant beasts that have a massive craving for humans"

"We'll give you a more in-depth explanation about titans at a later date," Erwin assured them. "But that is basically what they are. Mindless giants that eat humans. To protect ourselves, our entire population are surrounded by three fifty high walls, that we call Sina, Rose and Maria." He took a sip of water while Levi passed around a small map of Paradis Island, the three walls and all the garrisons.

Erwin proceeded to explain how the Colossal and Armoured titans managed to break down the inner and outer gates of the Shiganshina District, letting the mindless titans in, one of which ate Eren's mother, right in front of him.

"That's horrible," Poppy said, her eyes slightly wet. "That must have been hard on the boy"

"It was," Levi nodded, filling his cup up with more tea. "It didn't help that we found out that his father had suffered a similar fate on his way back from a client"

"Oh my, losing both his parents," McGonagall gasped at the thought.

"I assume he was placed in an orphanage," Dumbledore said, not liking the idea of Charlie's brother growing up in an orphanage like Tom Riddle.

"Sad to say," Erwin raised an eyebrow at the old man, not like his tone. "Due to losing Wall Maria to the titans, we lost a lot of farming land. Add to the fact that we had just come out of a famine, we were and still are suffering a massive food shortage. Because of the shortage and influx of refugee kids, many of the orphanages could not afford to stay open."

"This led to almost all of the orphans to living on the streets, including Eren and his friends," Levi continued as Erwin ate some of his dinner. "From what they've told us, it was tough. Even though they could get some money working the fields in Wall Rose, they still didn't get much and had to fend for themselves. Many forming groups or packs if you will, and claiming territory in the back alleys of Wall Rose's districts"

"Was Eren and his friends' part of one of these packs," Remus asked, perking at the word pack

"Eren and his friends' were the leaders of the pack they were in," Levi answered, after taking a bite of his dinner. "And of course, as you can probably imagine, where there is packs and territory, comes fights over said territories"

"It did not help that Eren, Armin and Mikasa began to be known to be fair and caring leaders," Erwin continued. "Always making sure everyone got equal share in food, clothes, blankets and medical care"

"I'm guessing with Eren being the son of a doctor helped with easing the medical side of things," Poppy commented, seeing the advantages of Eren's medical upbringing

"It did," Erwin nodded in agreement. "But because they were known for being generous, many began to merge their packs with theirs, which started to stretch everything. Soon, the alleyways in their area began to become too full. Food began to become hard to come by, even with the pay they got from the fields."

"It got so bad that they started hunting down feral rats, cats and dogs," Levi explained, refilling his cup. The people listening in reared back to the thought of eating the mentioned animals. "Eren finally decided to look for somewhere that was big enough for their growing pack, and to get away from the other leaders that were starting to eye up their territory"

"I assume he found somewhere?" Olympe commented

"Obviously," Levi deadpanned. "He found an old and abandoned warehouse near one of the small forests in Wall Rose. Along with plenty of room and shelter for the whole pack, the forest next to it was teaming with deer and giant boars, so plenty to hunt."

"According to his file," Erwin continued. "When they turned 12, Eren and his friends joined the cadets. When they joined, they left the kids a year younger than them in charge of the warehouse. Now because of the number of children there now, Eren and Historia are thinking of making the warehouse one of the new orphanages"

"That's very kind of them," Poppy smiled at the thought before she picked up on something. "Wait, how are they able to make and open orphanages in the first place?"

"Simple," Levi shrugged before gesturing over to the Hufflepuff table, where everyone could see Eren sitting next a young blonde girl. "It was recently revealed that Historia was the remaining heir to the Paradis Island throne"

"What!" Everyone around them exclaimed surprise.

"So, she's a princess?" James asked, eyeing the girl, already thinking of setting up a betrothal contract to Charlie. 'King Charlie has a nice ring to it.' Just the idea of becoming royalty was making James' greed take over.

"Yes," Erwin nodded. "And I wouldn't try setting up a betrothal contract with her, if I were you." He commented, making James and Lily's eyes go wide at the fact that this muggle had somehow read their thoughts, not knowing that their greed was written all over their faces. "She's going out with Eren. And rumour has it that she's already thinking of him as her prince consort, or king, she's still thinking about the title. But Eren has been helping her by working as her secretary."

"Secretary?" Sirius questioned. "And why would this girl need to do paperwork, she's just a princess"

"Yes, and good one at that," Levi praised, Erwin nodding in agreement. "Even though she is just the princess at the moment, Historia has been doing some of the paperwork, as practice for when she becomes Queen. And as for Eren, I know he's a good secretary, because when he was not training, on missions or helping Hange with her experiments, he was my secretary."

"I see," Dumbledore pushed his glasses up his nose, continuing his grandfather façade while wondering what this information could mean for his plans to keep Eren here to make Charlie look good and what these 'experiments' were about. He did not see the two soldiers seeing right through his mask

They had also notice that the greet in the Potters' eyes hadn't gone away. 'Thank god that Historia and Eren's titans shield them from any controlling factors including the Imperious curse and the Love Potion Luna told us about,' Erwin thought

During dessert, as the teenage soldiers made friends with some of the students, Madam Bones started talking to Erwin and Levi about the training their military used. Her eyes, along with everyone else's, went wide as they heard the intensity of the three-year training all the soldiers had to go through. The fact that they went through it as teenagers was even more shocking.

By the end of the explanation, Sirius turned to Remus and whispered, "Geez, that's even more intense and crazy than my Auror training days, and I trained with Moody." Remus simply nodded, he speechless

As dinner finished and everyone start heading to bed, Erwin managed to catch up Professor Flitwick, who Luna had explained as her head of house. Erwin explained the bullying situation and how he had placed her under the scouts' protection. Flitwick, 'call me Filius', thanked the man and, after waving her over, told Luna that if she wants, she could sleep with the scouts, at least until he had dealt with the bullies. The soldiers smiled when they left the great hall with an extra person

Survey Corps' Castle

Levi walked down the hallway, checking the bedrooms, making sure everyone was at least resting, knowing some soldiers couldn't sleep due to nightmares, restlessness or, especially in his case, insomnia. As he checked, he noticed that the New Levi Squad plus Petra and Hange were not in their bedrooms. Then he remembered the habit they had all gotten into, the habit of using their Titan Shifters as portable heaters.

He first checked Eren and Armin's room, and sure enough, the two beds had been pushed together, and all the males of the squad were piled on the two beds, with Eren in the middle, acting as a heated pillow. He checked on the girls, and just like the boys, they were piled around Historia and Ymir, with Luna in between the two older girls, a big smile on her face.

He rolled his eyes at the pile of bodies, 'As long as they clean up after themselves tomorrow, I'll leave them be.' Soon, he too was in his own bedroom, quietly reading a book, wincing at the thought of all the headaches these wizards and witches were going to cause him. 'This is going to be a troublesome and tiresome year'