A Conversation with Dumbledore

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Hermione stared furiously at the two boys in front of her.

"I cannot believe you actually did that! How could you do something so reckless? You're lucky Professor McGonagall didn't expel you!"

"Hermione, please don't start again," Ron pleaded, rubbing at his head. "You sound just like Mum. The way onto the platform was sealed for some reason. We didn't have another choice. We had to take the car to Hogwarts."

"No other choice?" Hermione almost shouted. When she realized that nearby students had turned to look at her again, she immediately lowered her voice.

"Why didn't you send an owl to the professors? I'm sure they could have found a way to get you to Hogwarts. Taking the car was the stupidest possible option!"

She was so anxious that her front teeth showed as she bent over the table to scold them.

Harry and Ron only looked more miserable. They had finally realized just how foolish they had been. Both boys put their heads in their hands, too heartsick even to care about the roast chicken legs sizzling on the table.

Hermione looked ready to continue, but the sight of their slumped shoulders and red-rimmed eyes stopped her. Her tone softened.

"Well... at least it's over now. Professor McGonagall isn't expelling you, is she? Eat something."

The Sorting Ceremony and start-of-term feast finally ended as they were supposed to. Afraid of more questions and mockery, the three young Gryffindors kept their heads low and hurried to Gryffindor Tower the moment Dumbledore dismissed the school.

Dumbledore watched the students leave the Great Hall. When the last of them had gone, he turned to Snape.

"Severus, would you accompany me to the hospital wing to see that gentleman?"

"Of course," Snape said, casting a look of distaste toward Gryffindor Tower. "Evidently, the trouble left behind by our famous savior must still be cleaned up by the rest of us."

Together, they headed for the hospital wing.

Madam Pomfrey was already waiting when Dumbledore and Snape arrived. The moment she saw them, she hurried over and lowered her voice.

"His injuries are not serious now, but you really ought to see his condition for yourself."

Dumbledore approached Elias's bed. What he saw there truly startled him.

Elias's body was covered in scars: claw marks and bite marks left by battles with monsters, long cuts from blades, old burns, and even two deep puncture scars at the side of his neck that looked disturbingly like vampire bites.

Dumbledore's expression grew grave. He could hardly imagine how a man could survive so many injuries. On an ordinary wizard, any one of those wounds might have been fatal. More than that, in the wizarding world, where Essence of Dittany could heal wounds with remarkable speed, scars like these were unusual. The treatment on Elias's body looked far more Muggle in nature. Around several of the larger scars, there were clear marks where the skin had once been stitched.

Madam Pomfrey interrupted his thoughts.

"His body is far stronger than an ordinary wizard's. In fact, by the time he was brought here, the bleeding had already stopped on its own. There is clearly something unusual about him."

"There is far more to him than meets the eye," Snape murmured, almost to himself.

He had already begun examining the two longswords Elias had been carrying. His long fingers traced the runes engraved along the witcher's silver sword. Then he brought the blade closer to Dumbledore so he could see.

"Runes I have never seen before. Even the magical structure within them is unlike anything I have encountered. The craftsmanship of the sword itself is beyond any weapon I have ever examined."

Madam Pomfrey frowned at Snape for searching a patient's possessions in front of her. She looked ready to object, but after a glance at Dumbledore's thoughtful face, she held her tongue.

Dumbledore ran his fingers over the runes on the blade. Even he, one of the most powerful wizards in the world, could not identify the elegant markings.

He slid the sword back into its sheath and returned it to its place.

"Notify me as soon as Elias wakes," he told Madam Pomfrey in a low voice.

Then he and Snape left the hospital wing.

That first night of term at Hogwarts was sleepless for many people. In Gryffindor Tower, Ron and Harry tossed and turned. Hermione lay awake worrying over her two hopeless friends. Somewhere else in the castle, a red-haired girl hid under her blankets and whispered to a black-covered diary. In the Headmaster's office, Dumbledore sat alone in thought.

But even the longest night eventually passes, and dawn comes.

When Elias opened his eyes again, the first thing he saw was the ceiling of the Hogwarts hospital wing. Beside his bed sat a silver-haired Dumbledore. Elias took in the unfamiliar room with a blank, searching look.

As Elias studied his surroundings, Dumbledore studied him in turn. When Dumbledore's gaze met those amber, catlike eyes, even his well-traveled mind paused in surprise.

For a moment, they simply stared at one another. Neither spoke first. The silence grew awkward.

"Forgive the blunt question," Elias said at last, "but could you tell me where I am?"

"You are at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," Dumbledore said after a thoughtful pause. "I am Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster."

Elias's English carried a faint, old-fashioned accent that Dumbledore found curious.

'Hogwarts?'

Memories from Elias's first life, memories he had thought almost forgotten, came rushing back.

'Harry Potter?'

Elias gave a wry scratch of his head. 'Another joke from fate, then?'

"Sir?" Dumbledore said gently. "Are you quite all right?"

Elias snapped back to himself and quickly offered what he hoped was a warm smile.

"Yes. I'm fine now. My name is Elias Vale, of Toussaint."

Newly arrived or not, Elias had no intention of making a poor first impression on one of the most powerful wizards in the world.

"I am sorry, Mr. Vale," Dumbledore said, "but I do not believe I have heard of Toussaint."

Part of his interest came from Elias's old-fashioned manner of address. The other part came from the unknown place-name.

"You haven't?" Elias asked. "What about Velen, Novigrad, Nilfgaard, or Skellige?"

Although he had already pieced together the situation, Elias still intended to give Dumbledore a foggy answer rather than the whole truth.

Dumbledore looked puzzled. He could tell Elias was not simply inventing names, but he had never heard of any of them.

"I am sorry," Dumbledore said. "I have never heard of those places. Hogwarts is in Britain. Are you familiar with London, Edinburgh, or Belfast?"

Elias shook his head with a show of helplessness. Inside, however, he became even more certain that he had crossed into the world of Harry Potter.

"I think I understand what happened," he said, adjusting his position in the bed. "Would you mind hearing a story?"

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