Authors notes:
Oh, Sirius, we're really in it now.
Going to be switching perspectives a lot more in upcoming chapters, Kronnis is the main POV for this story. Chapter two is a continuation of chapter one, but I had no intention of torturing myself by editing over 10k words at once, so here's the other half!
(Coming back to re-edit this is hilarious, because I've now written several others that are juuuuust shy of 10k words)
Not a whole lot of lies yet, contrary to the story title... unless... do strategic omissions count?
The words were spoken in his mind, reverberating inside his skull unlike anything he'd heard before. It had rumbling tones similar to Kronnis, but seemed to carry almost tangible hints of calmness, curiosity, and confidence.
Sirius' own confidence in this plan was quickly diminishing again. Kronnis was one thing, he at least appeared mostly normal, aside from some minor cosmetic differences. The Emperor on the other hand? Sirius had never seen anything like him.
Dumbledore was the first to recover. "I assume you must be Kronnis' partner?" His eyes moved between the creature standing before him and the drow who was now rifling through the most recent box to have been brought through the portal.
"Correct. We work together in Baldur's Gate, mostly dealing with various players involved in the economy and politics of the city." The Emperor seemed unconcerned with the attention focused on him. Sirius could see Moody's wand arm twitching and hoped there weren't about to be spells flying in his basement.
Kronnis suddenly looked up. "Oh, Dumbledore already invited us to go see the Ministry by the way, you're definitely going to want to wear your disguise for that one. Can't go walking through a government building dressed like that. Not sure how they're going to feel about you walking around the house." Purple and lilac eyes stared at each other for a moment, and Sirius felt like he was missing out on some sort of conversation.
A thoughtful humming echoed through his head as the Emperor turned back to Dumbledore, his tentacles swaying with the motion. "The Ministry would be a good starting point to begin gathering intelligence. You may have to give us some information on wizards with suspected loyalties to Voldemort, otherwise we will simply have to read the surface thoughts of everyone we see in the hopes of finding a connection."
Dumbledore nodded. "I can prepare that for you. However, we'll have to test your abilities to see if your plan will work. Perhaps tomorrow? I see I won't have to explain the situation to you again, as Kronnis has already shown you everything, am I right?"
Oh. So they were speaking to each other. Being able to read minds suddenly seemed very convenient.
"Perceptive." Glowing purple eyes crinkled, into what Sirius thought might be a smile. "Yes, he shared his memories with me. I am aware of what was discussed earlier. Anytime tomorrow should be fine for a meeting. We have too much to discuss to cover it all tonight."
"Excellent. And I take it the portal can be closed at this time?"
The Emperor nodded his permission, and the headmaster took a moment to chant the words that cancelled the spell. The portal winked out of existence.
"Now, I believe you have a room prepared for you. Given the late hour, perhaps it's best if we break for dinner." An apologetic look formed on the headmaster's face. "Unfortunately, I'll have to return to my other duties, but as your hosts, Sirius and Remus will be available for any questions you have."
As Dumbledore excused himself, Snape and Moody following him out of the basement. Sirius was left awkwardly standing before the two strangers.
Remus cleared his throat, taking the initiative. "I think… maybe it would be best if you changed into this disguise you mentioned, or something else a little bit smaller?" He gestured to the Emperor. "Not to be rude, but I'm not sure the house will survive your armor walking through it for more than one careful trip."
Personally, Sirius didn't mind the idea of the Emperor's armor ripping some priceless family paintings off the walls. On the other hand, trying to navigate the tight hallways with him would be a challenge seeing as he was almost nine feet tall. The floating probably counted as cheating though.
The Emperor nodded in agreement. "Perhaps you can show us our lodgings?" He waved his gloved hand, and the boxes and bags they'd brought with them took on a faint purple glow, floating upwards to hover in the air much like how to Emperor himself was currently levitating.
"Do you need any sort of magical focus for that?" Remus questioned, looking at the floating boxes. "Or are your gauntlets magical items? We have a charm to levitate objects, but I'd need to use a wand to cast it."
"Any sufficiently powerful illithid can levitate and freely use telekinetic powers. They are innate to our species."
"Huh, that's handy." Sirius waved them towards the stairs. "I'll bring you up to the room. We can introduce you to the rest of the house on the way."
They trailed behind him as he stepped out of the basement. On the way to the second floor, he stopped by the kitchen to let Molly and Arthur know that they would be in for dinner soon. A short introduction followed, made slightly difficult by the small frame of the kitchen door. Surprising Molly with the Emperor's appearance helped Sirius feel more like himself again, and suddenly he felt eager to move on, already planning how he could play that joke on other residents of his house.
Just upstairs they ran into some trouble, having to walk in a single-file line through the tightest hallway of the house. Some careful maneuvering was needed to get both the stack of boxes and the Emperor through stretches where a chair or display case was taking up space in the hall.
The commotion brought some attention to them, and soon one of the doors ahead of them opened. Sirius was greeted with Hermione's face as she craned her neck to look behind him. "What's going on, are there other Order members staying with us?"
"No, well… I suppose yes actually. They're new."
Kronnis, who had been following behind Sirius and guiding the procession of boxes, squeezed in next to him. "Hey, sorry about the noise, we're used to bigger buildings where we come from. I'm Kronnis." He held out his hand expectantly.
Hermione narrowed her eyes at him, taking in his abnormal features. "Hermione." She shook his hand, seemingly tongue tied all of a sudden, but Sirius could tell she was struggling to decide which question to ask him first.
Before she was able to figure it out, more figures crowded at the door behind her.
"Bloody hell, who're you?" Ron spoke, staring directly at Kronnis. Harry was close behind, flicking his eyes curiously between Kronnis and the floating boxes behind him.
"I'm Kronnis." He appeared amused at having to introduce himself again, shaking Ron and Harry's hands. "We're visitors from the next plane over."
"Plane?" Harry parroted.
"Plane of existence. Think, hmmmm… a different dimension?" Kronnis explained. "We're here as a favor to Dumbledore."
They only stared back at him, clearly bewildered.
"So, this… plane… you say you come from," Hermione raised hesitantly, "is everyone there like you?" Her tone made it clear that she couldn't quite believe what she was asking.
"Oh, no, there are tons of races where I come from. You guys really seem to be lacking in that department, I've been told most people in your society are humans." Kronnis then began another long-winded explanation of the population demographics of Baldur's Gate.
"Excuse me, I believe we were going somewhere?" The Emperor's voice jolted Sirius back to attention.
"Who was that?" Harry demanded, his hand shooting up to his head. "Did you hear that too?"
"That's my partner, the Emperor," Kronnis said. "He doesn't exactly talk like we do, doesn't have the right mouth for it. You'll meet him, but we need to be getting down this hallway to drop off our stuff first."
Ron's baffled face was looking back in the direction of where the Emperor was hidden behind the floating boxes, his lips silently repeating the phrase, 'the right mouth'.
"Right, we'll see you later at dinner. Molly said it was almost done earlier. Let the twins know as well if you see them." Sirius mourned the loss of this chance to introduce them to the Emperor, but with the way their conga line was set up, the boxes would be blocking his own vision by the time the mind flayer was in view of the doorway.
Harry grimaced. "We might be a bit late, Hermione's helping us finish this transfiguration paper."
"If you'd done it last week when I first asked about it, we wouldn't be worrying about it now!" she shot back.
Sirius closed the door to muffle their argument and moved on, finally arriving at the correct room. "This should be it." The door opened easily and he led Kronnis inside, the boxes and the Emperor following close behind. Stepping back to allow them space, he joined Remus outside as they moved their belongings into the room. "We'll be down in the kitchen, come join us once you're settled in or you'll miss dinner."
The Emperor fished some black cloth out of one of the bags, assuring him that they would be down shortly once they'd changed into something a bit more comfortable.
Sirius left them to it and followed Remus back to the kitchen, desperately hoping that some of the firewhisky was still hidden in the cupboards.
"I don't believe it, what on earth was that?" Molly demanded immediately upon their entrance.
"A mind flayer apparently, whatever that is. He and Kronnis are both going to be staying here until the school year starts," Remus replied.
Sirius walked to the cupboards in the corner of the kitchen to retrieve his drink of choice. "Kronnis explained a bit more about his world after you left. They have a lot more races walking around than we do. Their cities are filled with elves, gnomes, dwarves, and something called a tiefling."
Molly shot him a dirty look as he poured himself a glass. "It's a good thing I cooked extra, I wasn't expecting two of them, or for one of them to be so large."
"Can you imagine how surprised we were when he came floating through the portal?" he huffed.
Arthur chuckled, rooting around in another cupboard to collect plates. "I'm glad we at least have some help. Kronnis seemed capable enough, and I suppose we'll see about the Emperor."
The arrival of the subjects of their conversation at the door startled them. Sirius had figured it would take them longer to change out of their armor, but they'd both donned new clothes.
Kronnis was wearing a loose white shirt tucked into form-fitting brown pants. The Emperor had changed into black pants and some sort of long black tunic that draped down past his hips. A belt was fastened around his waist, and a hood was pulled down to just above his eyes. His frame seemed a lot smaller without the armor, and Sirius realized that he was actually standing on the floor for once instead of floating, costing him a couple of inches.
"Perfect timing," Molly said, ever the gracious host. "Please, have a seat."
They settled in together at one end of the table, the rest of the adults joining them.
Molly levitated the food and plates to the table with a wave of her wand and gestured at them to help themselves. Sirius was several bites into his potatoes when she spoke up again, offering to fill the Emperor's plate.
When Sirius looked up, he saw that she was holding her hand out expectantly. The Emperor was sitting back in his chair, just as relaxed as when he first sat down. None of the tableware set out for him had been touched, and he made no move to pick up his plate.
"I appreciate the offer, but I will not be eating with you."
"Is something wrong with the food? I can cook something else," she quickly offered, concern clouding her voice.
"I am sure there is nothing wrong with your food," he reassured her. "My diet is rather specific." A pause. "I suppose we would enjoy some wine if you have it."
Arthur exchanged a look with his wife before getting up to fetch the requested drink. He returned with a cup for both Kronnis and the Emperor.
The table resumed their meal, an uneasy silence hanging over them. While Kronnis seemed to have no problem with the food and was already halfway through his wine, the Emperor appeared lost in thought. He swirled his cup absentmindedly, making no move to drink from it. Long legs were crossed, and his left hand rested on his knee. Sharp claws tapped thoughtfully.
Eventually, a voice pierced the tense atmosphere. "Is there nothing we can offer you to eat at all? If you tell me what you need for your diet I can go shopping and organize it for you," Molly offered, her words taking on a frantic edge. It seemed she was not willing to let the subject go, or let anyone get away with not eating at her table.
A deep rumbling sigh echoed through their minds. "Mind flayers do not eat regular food." The Emperor gestured with his cup to the meal laid out on the table. "We are not quite… humanoid like you are. We may have a similar body plan, but that is mostly a consequence of how we are… created." The creature seemed to be struggling to choose appropriate descriptions. "Our bodies' process of assimilating nutrients works differently from yours, and requires specific materials to sustain them. The three components of my diet are hormones, enzymes and psychic energy, without which I would waste away."
The mind flayer's roundabout and evasive way of addressing the subject stirred suspicion in Sirius. He had no idea what enzymes were, but the other two requirements mentioned caused a sense of unease to fall over him. The flash of sharp teeth hidden away at the base of the Emperor's tentacles had been a mild curiosity before, but those images were now pushed to the forefront of his mind.
The clinking of silverware slowed as interest was piqued. Even Kronnis had set down his utensils, sitting back to fiddle with his hands instead.
Remus spoke up. "How would those be physically ingested? Is psychic energy something that can be passively absorbed?"
"That is the most difficult part, everything else we need could be substituted through other means. Internal organs, for example, are good alternative sources of hormones and enzymes. All of these components are, however, found in abundance in brain matter." The casual tone used by the illithid seemed to become a bit more hesitant, and his tentacles twitched before stilling in an unnatural way. "In our world, mind flayers are well known and feared for eating the brains of intelligent life forms. It is the only way to obtain the psychic energy we need."
Horrified looks were starting to bleed onto faces around the table. Suddenly shaky, Sirius' hands slowly dropped to his wand. As he grabbed it, he felt the weight of glowing purple eyes on him. They were calm, almost as though the mind flayer was completely sure of its safety after revealing its monstrous nature. And why wouldn't it be? If what it said was true, its species was designed to feed on them. Perhaps even engineered, if the comment about being 'created' was to be believed. It was a predator amongst prey. A wolf walking among sheep that had no idea of the danger they'd been in.
Mind flayer. How obvious in hindsight. And Kronnis' strange behavior when he'd asked if anyone knew what a mind flayer was suddenly made sense. Although his willingness to ally himself with his own self-admitted predator was another mystery.
"Is this a trick then? You're not here to help us? Are we just a new source of food for you?" His whole body was shaking now, staring down the monster he had let into his home.
"No. Everything I said was the truth. I do intend to help you, so long as you permit me to. I plan to take care of my diet privately; we have an arrangement with Wyrm's Rock Prison in Baldur's Gate to take the prisoners destined for execution off their hands. I have no intention of killing a single person in your world to sustain myself."
"How do we know you're not lying to us? That you're not going to eat us one by one?"
"If that were the case, why would I not just lie about my diet?" Clawed hands spread apart, the monster shifting into a more open position. "By telling you the truth, I am showing that I can be transparent about myself and my motives. I had planned to inform Dumbledore at our meeting tomorrow, but I did not wish to lie to you if asked directly." Purple eyes shifted their focus to Kronnis for a second before meeting Sirius' gaze again. "Past experiences have shown that, sometimes, being upfront with details is worth the risk."
The sheer absurdity of the situation faintly registered in Sirius' mind. "So, what? You just have potential murder victims on standby? Lined up and ready eat? How do you even know they're guilty of whatever crime they've been thrown into prison for!?" He was shouting now.
Tentacles curled in on each other. "As part of my previously mentioned arrangement, I assist in judicial matters. Mind-reading is a very handy skill when determining guilt and remorse in criminals, although I am not often called upon to look into petty matters. It is in my best interest that judgement is laid down appropriately." His eerie voice grew stronger, becoming more passionate. "I care for the city and have been working for the past five years to help rebuild it after recent disasters nearly saw it destroyed. Those that would bring harm to Baldur's Gate waste our resources, damage the economy, and bring suffering to its citizens. I have spent centuries of hard work guiding politics and commercial affairs in the city, and will not have my work be undone."
A light touch on his arm startled Sirius. Remus looked at him with a cautious expression and he realized that he'd been clinging to the table with a white-knuckled grip, wand awkwardly pinned between his hand and the wooden surface. This argument had begun to strike a bit too close to home.
"Let's take a minute to breathe. Molly, would you mind standing outside and making sure the children don't come in for a bit? We're going to lock the door and silence the room so they don't overhear anything." Remus' voice was calming enough that Sirius was able to release some of the tension in his shoulders and sit back in his chair.
Molly's faintly green face nodded and she quickly moved to leave the room, closing the door behind her. Arthur applied a locking charm and silenced the room, cutting them off from the rest of the house.
As Sirius collected his thoughts, he noticed that another silent conversation was occurring between the Emperor and Kronnis. A five-fingered hand rested on a black-clad arm. Meaningful glances were exchanged.
"In our alliance, the only downside to you would be the knowledge that, in a different world, the Emperor will continue to sustain himself during our trips to manage our own affairs," Kronnis began soberly. "You'll still have our assistance. As he mentioned earlier, we weren't planning on killing anyone in your plane for this purpose. If you don't agree with this we can leave, and you'll be free to continue with whatever your previous plan was." A pause as he looked at each of them, his even voice compelling them to listen to him. "I suspect that none of you are in a position to make a final decision on behalf of your group as a whole. Let's speak with the headmaster tomorrow, as planned, and we'll come to a consensus then."
"I don't like it. I don't like having you in my house. What makes you better than those you kill?" Sirius demanded. "What makes your life worth more than theirs?" He saw Arthur nodding a couple of seats down.
"Do you truly believe no one in your Order has killed before, in the previous war? You are about to be in another one." Sunken eyes held his own. "Ethically, I agree. There is no right choice to be made here. The fact is that for me to continue my existence I must consume the brains of intelligent creatures. Do I not also have the right to survive, as a sapient being myself?" He paused, letting his words sink in. "I admit, I am selfish, and I do value my life more than others. That is not to say that you are wrong in your own opinion that my life may not be worth more than anyone else's, but who is the right person to judge the worth of lives? No mere mortal could measure up to such a task."
"Eating people's brains is different." The argument was starting to sound weak even to himself.
"Not everything is black and white. The world is filled with shades of grey. I understand that my inherent state of being is conflicting with your morals. You may be familiar with death and murder in conflict, but consuming other intelligent beings is a common taboo in societies."
A long pause. Sirius was unsure how to respond to someone so willing to admit that they might be in the wrong. As the Emperor spoke, thoughts of Snape came to mind. He hated the man and was well aware of his past as a Death Eater, but he was still willing to work with the potions master and trusted Dumbledore's judgement in keeping the man involved in the Order.
"I will keep this information to myself for now, and only speak about it with Dumbledore and those involved in the meeting tomorrow. I believe it is best if we refrain from informing the younger members of your group about this detail. I understand you are keeping a great deal from them yourselves," the mind flayer offered.
Remus drew their attention to him as he spoke up. "I think that sounds reasonable. To be honest, I don't think any of us will ever be entirely comfortable with this, but to some extent I can understand your predicament." He hesitated, his voice seeming smaller as he continued. "I don't like to talk about it much, but I'm a werewolf. We're rightfully feared by wizards. Most days I'm a normal human, but on the full moon I transform into a horrible creature with no control over myself. Werewolves have been known to kill friends and loved ones; most wizards would never associate with one."
Sirius gave Remus a sympathetic pat. His thoughts wandered as he absentmindedly listened to their guests engage his last remaining friend in a discussion on different kinds of shapeshifters.
Something still boiled within him, screaming about the aberrance of the creature sitting in the kitchen with him.
Their arguments made sense, as much as he hated to admit it. Nothing they'd done so far had accomplished much of substance. The Ministry still had its head stuck in the sand, blind to the looming threat. They were left waiting for Voldemort to make the first move. The only thing they'd been able to do was persuade old Order members to listen and prepare. Adding new, unexpected pieces to the board was exactly what they needed, and their new allies' proposal to follow the trail of secrets hiding in the minds of Voldemort's supporters had its merits.
He would wait and see. Their behavior had been more or less acceptable so far. He supposed he should consider the Order lucky that their societies didn't differ too much. The risk of summoning someone who would be gravely offended by aspects of their culture had been a problem that was brought up multiple times. They had plenty of examples of such societal conflicts in their own world, ranging from complicated religious disputes to something as simple as dietary preference.
Although, he thought with a dark sense of amusement, it turned out that their main source of cultural conflict might boil down to differences in diet after all.
A knock on the kitchen door broke him out of his thoughts. Arthur, sitting closest, got up to cancel the locking and silencing charms before opening the door for Molly to poke her head in. She took a brief look around and let relief show on her face once it was clear that most of the tension had dissolved. "The kids are here for dinner now, is everything all right?" she questioned in a hushed voice. Sirius could hear the low din of conversation outside the kitchen.
"Yes, I think we've finished our discussion." Arthur inclined his head to the corner of the kitchen, where a walk-in pantry was situated. "I'll fill you in."
Molly ushered in the kids in. A slight pile-up of startled teenagers formed in the doorway as their eyes found the Emperor.
Sirius was suddenly less enthusiastic about introducing them to the monster now residing in his house. "Sorry about the wait, we had some things we needed to discuss." His vague explanation brought their attention to him. "The food should still be warm." He gestured for them to sit at the table.
There was some hesitation regarding seating arrangements. While they shuffled around to fill their plates, Molly and Arthur returned from the short, whispered conversation they'd shared in the adjacent pantry.
Once everyone was seated, Remus took over. "I'm sure you all have questions. This is Kronnis and the Emperor." The pair waved as they were introduced. "They'll be staying with us until the beginning of the school year, and then staying at Hogwarts as visitors after that." He went quiet as the children slowly introduced themselves in turn.
One of the twins spoke up once all introductions were made, addressing Kronnis. "Ron really wasn't joking about you looking like a muggle fantasy elf."
A bark of laughter came from Kronnis. "I'd love to see what these fantasy elves look like; I hear the only real ones you have are called house elves. Bit of a strange name. I'm a drow, specifically, which is one of the elven subraces where we come from."
Sirius grimaced. "I'm sure you'll meet Kreacher later, he's likely lurking somewhere. I inherited him along with the house, he's my family's old house elf. We don't really get along very well."
The Emperor gestured upwards with his untouched cup of wine. "I sensed a very hateful mind on the upper floors earlier. I believe I have met everyone else in this house now, would that be him?"
Sensed? "You can do that? Probably. He resents me because I didn't get along with my family. He was fanatically loyal to them."
Harry awkwardly spoke up, the first to gather the courage to address the Emperor, rather than just steal glances at him. "Um... Your Majesty, sir? Kronnis told us you were from another plane earlier, so what are you doing here exactly?"
Kronnis snorted, trying to hide his smile behind his empty cup.
Purple eyes crinkled in amusement. "You can just address me as Emperor. I am not actually the Emperor of anything, it is more of a nickname given to me a long time ago when I began leading the local group of the Knights of the Shield, the largest mercantile organization of Baldur's Gate. The Order contacted us through a spell which was able to tear a hole in reality, connecting our planes of existence. They asked for our assistance against Voldemort."
"What are you going to do? No one will tell us what's really going on, only that the Ministry doesn't believe that he's back."
"We're having another meeting with Dumbledore tomorrow," Kronnis answered. "The Emperor and I are both skilled in mind arts, so we offered to snoop through the heads of suspected Death Eaters for information on Voldemort's plans. And we can assist in other ways as well." His hands came together and a swirling globe of sickly greenish-yellow energy was summoned between his fingers with a wet splash. It seemed to ooze and drip, but any drops that fell from it dissipated before touching the table below. "I'm a powerful sorcerer myself."
Hermione perked up. "Is that wandless magic? I thought that was supposed to be very difficult to learn."
The globe of energy dissolved. "I think our magics work differently. There are many ways to wield magic in our plane. From what I can tell, your society is some sort of blend of sorcerers and wizards, and there is a distinction between the two in my world." He hurriedly added the last part before Hermione could utter the question that she had opened her mouth to ask.
"The short version is that sorcerers like myself are born with an innate talent for magic. We instinctively know how to manipulate it to cast spells. Wizards, on the other hand, need to study and learn how to manipulate magic. Some are more talented and learn faster, but it's a very different method. Anyone with enough intelligence and drive to learn can become a wizard. I've been told your secret society tends to inherit the ability to cast magic, being born with the power as sorcerers are, but must still study and learn spells like a wizard would. Is that an accurate description?"
Remus nodded. "That's mostly correct. Sometimes magical children are born to non-magical parents, and there are rare cases of a child from a magical family being born without magic."
"Interesting," Kronnis mused before turning back to Hermione. "Back to your original question, since our ways of manipulating magic differ, it stands to reason that our methods of casting spells would also be inconsistent. Your society may have used wands for millennia, found this to be the best way to use magic, and never innovated." He shrugged. "I'm sure there's been studies on this to look into."
"I'll have to do some research in the library tomorrow. I can't believe I never thought to read about this before."
Harry was the next to ask a question. "What do you mean by mind arts?"
The Emperor leaned forward. "Abilities that influence the mind and thoughts. My species is especially skilled in these, although Kronnis has picked up quite a lot through… accident." A huff from the drow. "I am currently using telepathy to speak with you, projecting my thoughts into yours. Reading the thoughts of others is just as simple to me, should I wish it. There are other applications as well. I could send out a concentrated blast of psionic power to stun enemies, or use telekinesis to move objects around as I please."
Ron seemed horrified. "Wait, you can read our minds?" He grasped his head as if to protect himself.
"I could, but I usually stay out of the minds of others, unless I have a reason to look." The mind flayer sounded amused. "Wizards here seem to have their own versions of these abilities. Kronnis tested how compatible our methods are earlier with a man named Snape, I believe." He went on to explain the experiment that had been conducted earlier.
As the Emperor was speaking, Sirius noticed Kronnis picking up his empty cup of wine. He reached for the matching cup the Emperor was holding, the creature briefly flicking his gaze over to their hands before allowing Kronnis to switch the cups in a practiced movement, his voice carrying on in their minds uninterrupted.
Sirius leaned in while Kronnis took a long sip of his newly-acquired wine. "Does he not drink either?"
The drow shook his head, inching closer. His voice lowered as though he were gossiping. "He could, usually doesn't though. He just likes to hold a drink like a prop, makes him seem more approachable." A smug smile played on his lips. "He only asked for two so I could have two."
Sirius stifled a laugh. "It seems as though you've run this con before."
"Years of practice," Kronnis shot back.
Another question from Hermione caught their attention. "You mentioned before that this was a talent of your species, but I don't think I've ever heard about any magical creature like you. If you don't mind me asking, what are you?"
Alarm shot through Sirius. He jerked up in his seat to reply before the Emperor could identify himself as a mind flayer, potentially giving away his true nature. "An illithid." The room was quiet as several sets of eyes stared at his sudden interruption.
"Yes, I am an illithid," the Emperor broke the silence, casually drawing the attention to himself again. "My species almost exclusively lives in hive-mind colonies in the Underdark, a large subterranean cave system that encompasses most of the planet. We are not common amongst surface-dwellers."
"That's amazing, so the Underdark is big enough to house your entire civilization?" Hermione asked.
Kronnis chuckled. "It's big enough for more than one civilization. Drow come from the Underdark, as well as duergar, deep gnomes, dwarves, and kuo-toa. There are whole city-states."
"You both come from the Underdark? Is that how you met?" Ron looked between them.
"Ha! If we'd met in the Underdark one of us would probably be dead," Kronnis laughed. "Really funny story actually, we'll have to tell you the full version some other time though, it's a bit long. Short and condensed version is that, due to certain circumstances, myself and several others were looking to cure ourselves of an… affliction caused by a group of mi- uh, illithids that had captured us," he stumbled over his words but managed to correct himself.
"This group of illithids were recovering a specific artifact that had the power the disrupt an illithid hive-mind, which would have been a horrible weapon if used against them. The Emperor, who was with this group, was close enough to the artifact to be freed from the hive-minds control and realized it was his ticket to freedom. The artifact had a pocket dimension where the effect originated from, so he hopped in to investigate."
"We were aboard the nautiloid ship that was transporting this group of illithids when it was attacked and crashed. My group of companions ended up in possession of the artifact. One of the effects of the affliction that we suffered from made us vulnerable to the hive-minds control as well, and the Emperor used the powers of the artifact to keep us safe while we looked for a cure."
A grin formed on his face as he leaned in before resuming his story. "He spoke to us from the pocket dimension to guide us, appearing in our dreams. But not as his natural illithid form; he used an illusion to hide his race from us. Rightfully so too, we never would've trusted an illithid at that point. The form he used was a gith, a race that's been in conflict with illithids for millennia." Kronnis stopped his story and looked over to meet the Emperor's eyes expectantly.
For a few seconds nobody said anything, but the mind flayer finally sighed and waved his hand. A shimmer overtook his form, and when Sirius blinked, a different creature was sitting where the Emperor was a second ago.
Dull, yellow skin covered this new form. Intense green eyes with slit pupils sat in a face that would have been handsome, if not for the upturned nose and the scars dragging down from his lips to his neck. Black spots arced over his brow, checks, and chin. Pointed ears, not too unlike Kronnis' own, soared into the air, framing a dark mohawk of dreadlocks that cascaded down his back. The black tunic and pants were replaced by shining gold and red armor.
"I selected this form because I believed he would be more likely to trust someone he perceived as the natural enemy of the illithids he had escaped from." Sirius startled as the Emperor spoke, not in his mind like he was getting used to, but with a smooth voice that carried through the air. "Eventually, due to complicated circumstances, I was forced to abandon the illusion. By then, Kronnis and our friends were more willing to trust me, and we continued working together to resolve their affliction and save Baldur's Gate from the illithid threat." The illusion faded away, and the Emperor's previous form sat before them once more.
Arthur looked confused. "Wait, if you can cast illusions like that, why are you going to bother with a physical disguise here?"
The Emperor slowly shook his head. "There is a risk that I will have to drop the illusion in order to use my full focus for other matters. I mentioned that I was forced to abandon it; that was because I was being attacked in the artifact's pocket dimension. I had to call Kronnis into the artifact to assist in defending the mechanism that shielded us against the hive-mind, but keeping up the illusion during combat takes too much concentration. I opted against using it. Illusions can be helpful in certain situations, but are too risky to rely on for the duration of our stay here."
"In hindsight, it was really funny to come face-to-face with a bunch of tentacles instead of the form I was used to. I was kind of miffed about getting catfished at first, but we got over it pretty quickly," Kronnis added.
Hermione made a weird face at that, furrowing her brows and silently looking between their visitors.
Sirius interrupted with his own question. "If you were with those illithids, why did you want to get away from them?"
"I was not with them out of free will. When I was first turned into an illithid, I was liberated from my colony by a close friend and brought back to Baldur's Gate where I resided for a long time, free of the Elder Brain's control. Eventually I was discovered and dragged back to be a slave once more, until my mind was freed by the power of the artifact." The Emperor halted his explanation for a moment, seemingly lost in his thoughts. "My species' culture is very complicated – too complicated to accurately explain tonight." A meaningful look was sent towards the adults in the room. "Perhaps another time would be better."
There were some very concerning comments scattered throughout his explanation, but given what Sirius had already discovered about the Emperor, it would probably be best to agree with his subtle request to wait until they were in private once more before delving deeper into what seemed like the most horrifying culture he'd ever heard of.
"Right, it's getting pretty late anyway. We have a long day tomorrow, best to get some rest." Sirius waved his wand to begin levitating empty plates to the sink.
Their visitors agreed and excused themselves before heading upstairs, with the children following soon after. With that, Sirius was left alone with the other adults as they finished cleaning up the kitchen.
Arthur broke the silence. "It'll be interesting to see what they think of our culture. I can't imagine what their world must be like, non-magicals and wizards living together." Excitement bled into his words. "I'll have to ask what sorts of technology they've developed."
"I wouldn't be surprised if their technology isn't as advanced as what the muggles have come up with. I didn't get a look at anything they had in their boxes, but their clothes looked a bit old-fashioned, something you might expect from a couple hundred years ago," Remus pointed out.
Molly finished levitating the clean dishes into the cupboards. "You can ask them tomorrow at the meeting, I'm sure they'd hate to explain their world multiple times. Poor things have already had to repeat themselves a couple of times today."
"I just hope there isn't a fight at the meeting," Sirius said with a frown, thinking about all the heated topics they would have to bring up. "I'll admit, I hope they stay. Those mind-reading abilities really could help. I'd love to see the looks on the Death Eaters faces once they realize they've been caught with their pants down."
Remus laughed with him. "I doubt it'll be as easy as plucking Voldemort's location from the first Death Eater they see."
Sirius rolled his eyes as he headed to the door. "A man can dream."
And dream he did, his night filled with fantasies of Death Eaters being arrested and thrown into Azkaban. The shrill screams that still haunted him punctuating their torment.