HP Crossover - The Train

[scribal_goddess]

I have no clever title for this one, but mzyra requested Viridia, Midina, Haldir, Eluisa, Chalimyra and Talon (etc) starting at Hogwarts, meeting, getting sorted, etc. This is part 1 of my response to that. I'll be getting around to the rest, but I took the opportunity to really write for my Gen 0 cast again. This is in no way canon-compliant for either HP verse or EHL, (though characters and what makes them tick obviously hasn't changed, except for the stuff that doesn't come in until they're rather older than eleven,) and I've handwaved not only character's ages (Canon says that Eluisa and Viridia are the same age, about a year to two years older than Midina, and that Chali is two years older than them, so people wouldn't be in the same year if I didn't) but hogwarts setting, basically meaning I'll write characters that I need and ones that I don't.

Okay, that's an annoyingly long introduction. This part is G, and I'll try not to burden you with any fan theories, but if I have confused you feel free to ask. Wordcount is 3,021

“Is that your trunk?”

Haldir looked up quickly from the window, in which his parents were waving goodbye as the train started to pick up speed and leave platform nine and three quarters behind, to see a boy with messy brown hair pointing at his luggage.

“Yeah.” He snuck a peek back out the window, but the waving figures on the platform had disappeared around a bend.

“Okay. Can you move it then? They’re full in back and I can’t get through.”

Haldir made an attempt to shift the trunk, which failed as it probably weighed more than he did. The additional efforts of the other boy did nothing but scoot it to one side of the aisle. The other boy, undeterred, clambered over it.

“Talon Elkthorn,” the boy said, sticking one hand in his pocket and the other out for Haldir to shake.

“Haldir Elvensong,” he replied, shaking it and feeling very grown up as he did, “first year?”

“Yeah, you too?”

Haldir nodded in agreement. “Can’t believe we’re actually here.”

“Tell me about it,” Talon said, beginning to walk down the aisle. Haldir kept pace with him, but every compartment that they passed was full, or at least full enough, especially with older students, that entry wasn’t a good idea.“My brother hasn’t let me hear about anything else practically since I could walk – even if half the things he says are true, it’s going to be amazing. Mom and Dad did mention that there’s no record of the giant squid eating anyone, though, so that’s a relief. You have any brothers?”

“No,” said Haldir, “No sisters either, unfortunately.”

“Sisters are bossy,” Talon replied, “Especially the ones that are eight years older than you and have to get everything right.”

“Better than not having any brothers or sisters,” Haldir said, a little wistfully. Every compartment was still full. It seemed from the glimpses through the windows that people had already found friends. He watched a trio of boys pull out a deck of cards and begin a game of exploding snap as they passed.

“Eh, I suppose.” Talon shrugged noncommittally, before changing the subject. “So, who’s your Quidditch team?”

Within moments, they were deep into a discussion of the relative merits of the Falmouth Falcons and the Ballycastle Bats, with occasional digs at the Chudley Cannons and a general agreement that their second favorite teams were anyone playing the Tornadoes. They were so absorbed in the conversation that they almost ran into the two girls in the hallway.  

“That,” said the taller one, her blonde hair arranged in pigtails, dramatically, “is not a cat, it’s a demon.” She was pointing at a scruffy black creature enveloped in the girl across the hall from her’s arms with one hand and clinging tightly to an enormous purple toad with the other.

“She is not!” the other girl exclaimed from where she was leaning on the wall, struggling to keep a hold of some thirty pounds of jet-black, yellow-eyed cat. “She just gets out!” Her face was red with shouting and her brown hair was a mess, probably from having chased down the cat. There were two girls sticking their heads out of the compartment door next to her, and Haldir could see a third one in the shadows.

“Well, keep it away from Aesychlus then,” the other replied, and she retreated back into her compartment with a flounce, slamming the door.

“If you were trying to be clever you could have named the slimy thing Aristophanes,” the girl grumbled, trying to tuck her cat under one arm. Then she looked up and spotted the slightly flabbergasted boys for the first time. “Hello,” she said.

The two girls in the doorway, with their red and raven heads together, regarded the two newcomers curiously.

“Hello,” replied Haldir and Talon at the same time.

“I’d offer to shake your hand, but it’s full of cat,” Talon added, and the girl with the long black braid giggled. He gave her a sloppy smile that revealed a dimple set high in his cheek.

“Yeah, hang on a moment,” the brunette  said, and her friends emerged out of the door while she shut the cat in. It glared at her balefully through the glass, but then, all cats were like that.

There was an awkward moment where the five of them were standing around, before the girl with the long dark hair introduced herself. She unleashed a brilliantly white smile that transformed her chocolate-colored face and introduced herself to both the boys with a handshake.

“I’m Chalimyra,” she said.

“Haldir Elvensong,” Haldir replied, and then everyone was introducing themselves. He just knew that he was going to get the last names of the other two girls mixed up – one was Fairfield and one was Fairmaiden, and hopefully the second one didn’t have any brothers because that would be a really stupid name on them. He did manage to sort out the first names, though: the redhead was Viridia, though apparently the other girl got to call her Viri already, and she’d already said that they could call her Elu, because her grandma called her Eluisa.

It was then that they got around to talking about more important things.

“You wouldn’t know of an empty compartment, would you?” Haldir asked Eluisa, by far the most approachable, because Talon didn’t look about to ask. He’d said something to Chalimyra that made the dark-haired girl snort with laughter and Viridia sniff in disapproval.

“All the ones in this car are full,” she said, “they fill up rather quickly.”

“They’re built for six, there’s lots of compartments with only two or three people in them though,” Eluisa pointed out mildly. Then she turned to the boys “As a matter of fact, if you don’t mind the cat you could share ours.”

It was settled, and the five of them made it through the door. Haldir was surprised to find a tiny blonde girl still in the compartment, clutching the enormous cat, especially since she didn’t look like she could be any older than eight. Her hair was tangled and she had elbows you could open a can with. She said nothing as they hashed out the seating arrangements – Viridia and Eluisa took either side of the blonde girl, leaving Chalimyra to sit on one side of Talon and Haldir near the door – and it wasn’t until they’d kicked around the boxes and bags in the compartment into a comfortable arrangement that introductions were made.

“Midina, these are Haldir Elvensong and Talon Elkthorn,” Viridia explained, “Haldir, Talon, this is Midina.”

The girl said nothing, just stared at them both over the cat. She had startlingly turquoise eyes, huge enough to eat up her whole face, but she was hiding behind the hair. The cat eventually tired of it and squirmed out of her grasp.

“Sooo…” Eluisa broke the silence about as subtly as a rock, “Any idea of what houses you’ll be in? We were talking about that before the cat got out.”

“Hufflepuff or Gryffindor, probably,” Talon replied immediately, “That’s what my brother and sister got, anyway.”

“That doesn’t really mean anything, though,” Eluisa replied.

“It runs in families sometimes, though,” Viridia replied, “My mother was a Ravenclaw, and so were both her sisters and her mother.”

“You, however, could be in Gryffindor, for example, or Hufflepuff,” Chalimyra replied, “Or Slytherin.”

“No thank you!” Viridia replied, half laughing, “Everyone knows the house is full of the nobility, a simple merchant’s daughter like me would be staring up everyone’s nostrils the whole time.”

Haldir couldn’t be certain, but he thought Chalimyra hesitated a little before answering. “Political ambition is not the worst thing to have,” she said.

“Eh, I suppose Slytherin wouldn’t be terrible if I wanted to be a politician,” Eluisa said, folding her hands behind her head and propping her feet up on a stray suitcase. “I don’t, though – I’d like more than anything else to be in a house with friends, so it doesn’t matter all that much to me, to be honest. I mean, each house is supposed to represent a virtue, right? You can’t go wrong between Courage, Loyalty, Wisdom and Resourcefullness.”

“You never did tell us what houses your family’s been in, Elu,” Viridia pointed out.

“Mom was a Gryffindor,” Eluisa said, and then she faced Haldir quickly, “What about you? You haven’t said anything yet.”

Haldir shrugged. “I don’t think there’s anything really wrong with any house,” he said, stalling a bit until he dredged up his thoughts on the matter, “I can already tell you I won’t be a Ravenclaw – my grades aren’t that good – and I think Slytherin’s out for me, too. I honestly have no idea of what I want to do with my future, so that rules the whole ambition thing out.”

“It’s not the grades that make a Ravenclaw,” Viridia replied earnestly, “it’s the willingness to learn.”

“Something your mother taught you?” Talon asked, suppressing a snicker.

Viridia’s chin went up. “Why yes, it is,” she replied, “And I suppose you think that you’ll get into Gryffindor on account of blabbing anything that comes to mind without thinking.”

“I’ll get into Gryffindor because I’m good on a broom, so there.”

“That doesn’t even make any-”

“Hey, no fighting in the compartment, there’s not enough room,” Eluisa said.

“Perhaps they’ll both be in Gryffindor,” Chalimyra observed, “I believe stubbornness is listed as an unofficial Gryffindor trait.”

“And we may have known you for an hour or so,” Eluisa continued, “but Viri, we know you’ve got plenty of that.”

The tension in the compartment deflated like a popped balloon. Everybody laughed a little, including Midina, though she didn’t do it very loudly.

“My turn to start a question,” Viridia said, “who’s got brothers and sisters?” she looked expectantly at Midina, who shook her head.

“Well, me,” Talon said, “One of each. My sister’s the oldest, she graduated a year ago, and she’s a traveling broom saleswoman for now. My brother’s been trying to find a job in accounting all this summer – he’s the Hufflepuff -” Talon sent Viridia a pointed look, but it wasn’t without humor, “and anyway, I’m the youngest and the troublemaker, apparently.”

Eluisa laughed. “I’ll believe it.”

Chalimyra’s voice edged in when it became clear that Eluisa’s comment was not an offer to go next. “I have two brothers and two sisters,” she said, “all younger than me. The next oldest will come to Hogwarts in two years, and the youngest is only three.”

“My sister’s coming next year,” Viridia said, “Bet you anything that she’s sorted into Hufflepuff, though.”

“You don’t want to be in the same house as her?” Haldir asked.

“Not particularly,” Viridia replied, “She follows me everywhere at home as it is. My mom had to actually restrain her from trying to stow away on the train. I’m surprised none of you saw it, she was bawling her eyes out like a little kid.” She stopped a minute, then smiled. “Your turn, Haldir.”

“Ah, well, I don’t have any brothers or sisters,” he replied. “Always wanted one, though. It’s just me and my parents at home, and the dog, but I obviously can’t bring him.”

“Of course not, he’d chase Elu’s cat,” Viridia replied, fishing the offending animal out of a paper sack, “Ew, she’s slobbered all over my sandwich.”

“It’s wrapped, isn’t it?” Talon asked.

“Yeah, but it’s still gross,” she complained. Talon rolled his eyes, and everybody who had sandwiches fished in their pockets or pulled out paper bags.

“Ew,” Talon said, pulling one of his slightly squashed sandwiches apart, “Anyone here like egg salad with mustard?” He dangled the offending piece of bread so that everyone could see that there was a yellow squiggle on it. Viridia made a face, probably more at him picking apart the sandwich and getting it smeared on his jeans than anything else, while Eluisa observed critically.

“I’ve got ham and cheese. I’ll swap you half.”

“Peanut butter,” Viridia replied.

“Hey, what do you know, we have the same thing,” Haldir replied, pulling out his sandwich, “only your mom cuts them the long way and not the fat way.”

Chalimyra, meanwhile, unwrapped a sandwich that looked like an omelet on a roll, and that was when Haldir noticed that Midina hadn’t really moved, though she’d been following the conversation with her enormous eyes.

“Don’t you have any?” Viridia prompted, and she shook her head no and drew her knees up. Her shoes, Haldir noticed, didn’t fit and were coming apart at the seams. Nothing she wore fit, but Haldir had thought it was because she was so extremely tiny. Now he wasn’t sure. It was hard to tell when she wouldn’t say anything, but he was almost certain that she wasn’t simply shy.

There was a collective guilty look around the compartment, and people suddenly realized how rather large their sandwiches were.

“You know,” Haldir said, “I’m not certain I can finish this whole sandwich. My mom makes them huge if she knows I’m going to be on a trip.”

“So does mine,” Viridia said, “and look, I’m getting chubby,” she added, pointing to her plump elbows. Everyone was breaking pieces off of their sandwich now. Her eyes went wide, but she put her hands out, and in seconds they were full of jumbled sections of sandwich that she had to put on her lap after her feet hit the ground again.

“I really don’t like egg salad, but you might,” was Talon’s excuse as he handed her the whole half of a sandwich.

“You’re going to need some ham to drown out that mustard.”

“You ought to try mine, it’s really good.”

Midina gave them all a watery smile. “Thank you,” she said, and it was the first real sound Haldir had ever heard her make.  Her voice wasn’t whispery like he expected either, it was strong, if a little hesitant from not being used.  It was a start.

They spent the next fifteen minutes munching on sandwiches and talking about nothing in particular, watching the scenery pass by. Chalimyra told an amusing story about a charm one of her older cousins had tried to perform on a teapot, which had quickly gone wrong. Talon talked a lot about brooms – he was hoping to get one for his twelfth birthday, but he was, in his own estimation, pretty good at flying on his sister’s.  Viridia thought he was bragging, which was enough to make Haldir reconsider telling the story of how he’d broken his wrist falling off his father’s broom and had to go to Saint Mungo’s, in case that was bragging too. It was a pity, because everyone’s stories were more interesting than any of his other ones. Talon’s exaggerations were making Midina giggle.

“Hey Elu,” Talon said, after finally having run out of broom-related incidents after what seemed like an account of several year’s worth of ‘borrowing’ his sister’s broom and flying through storms or being chased by the metal things muggles used to fly in. “You never did say anything about your family all this time – what are your parents like?”

“I live with my grandmother,” Eluisa replied, her face suddenly closed. It was clear that she was going to clam up as badly as Midina if anyone asked, so there was a stretch of awkward silence in which people realized that there were no more sandwiches and the conversation had effectively died.

It was fortunate that the sweets trolley rolled up just then. Everybody dug in their pockets or shoes for their spare change, though the three galleons that Chalimyra produced was far more than Haldir’s parents would ever have let him spend on sweets. It occurred to him that his parents weren’t there to remind him not to eat so much sugar, so he bought a couple extra liquorice wands. And some frogs, because you never knew when you’d get Ptolomy. He figured that if he bought a handful of chocolate frogs every time, he’d find Ptolomy eventually.

Sweets cheered everyone up and the normal conversation resumed. Everyone had twigged to the fact that Midina didn’t have any money, so she kept getting handed cauldron cakes or pumpkin pasties whenever her hands were empty, because Talon, Eluisa and Chalimyra were enjoying picking through their Chalimyra’s enormous box of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans far too much to eat the rest of their loot. Chalimyra got chilli pepper, cinnamon, paprika and liver, after picking only red ones: Talon and Eluisa were a bit more reckless, taking handfuls and then daring each other to eat particularily strange-looking ones. Everyone laughed at Talon’s face when he took two identical beans, only to find out that one was marshmallow and one was sardine. Eluisa ended up having to spit a dark green bean out the window.

“Ew. Artichoke,” she said, wiping her tongue with a napkin when she’d sat back down, which prompted Midina to giggle so hard that she got orange frosting from the pumpkin pasty down her shirt.

“You have one,” said Talon, passing her a bright yellow bean. She examined it, put it in her mouth, chewed and smiled.

“Lemon ice.”

That was how they got her talking, really: dumping candy in her lap, telling ridiculous stories, unwrapping too many of Haldir’s chocolate frogs and then getting their hands thoroughly sticky trying to catch them before they escaped out the window or before the cat got them. Eluisa squashed one with a textbook and they agreed to pretend that the resultant brown stain on the door had never happened. Once they’d managed to get them all, including prying one out of the cat’s mouth and tossing it regretfully out the window, they were all red-faced and sweaty, laughing until their stomachs hurt while the highly offended cat slunk under the seat. No one felt much like candy anymore, so they left it on the seats as Viridia pulled out a deck for Exploding Snap and they sat on the floor to get their fingertips and eyebrows lightly singed as the miles rolled by.

Author's note: One thing I feel like I should explain: I've always wondered why pureblood kids going into Hogwarts don't already know each other. The size of the magical community always bothered me, even if wizards in general have longer lives so there's a much higher proportion of adults around, it seems too big for Hogwarts to be having graduating classes of 40 or so. Explanations about houses and wizarding politics and population side are not intended to represent canon at all from here on out. I'll only be using my personal fan theories when I can't make an explanation any other way, and everything else can be chalked up to crossover-goodness. :)