The Day's Secret Lore

The Day's Secret Lore

Chapter 1: Meeting Draco Malfoy

With her Firebolt in one hand and her trunk in the other, Dagrun walked through the barrier separating Platforms Nine and Ten. She waved goodbye to her parents, and then boarded the scarlet Hogwarts Express. Dagrun quickly found an empty compartment and put her things there, she debated on whether to stay in her compartment or to explore the rest of the train.

Her natural curiosity won the argument, and she left her things behind in the compartment to explore the train. She didn't think to put a spell on the door, after all, why would anyone want to steal her things? She was liked by everyone she knew, and no one would ever think to take anything that wasn't theirs.

She passed a compartment in which a black-haired boy with startlingly green eyes (his hair was a mess, it stuck up every which way), a very tall boy with red hair and blue eyes, a much smaller girl with the same red hair and brown eyes (both of them were wearing second-hand robes), a round-faced young man with dirty-blonde hair and light blue eyes, and a young woman with bushy brown hair and brownish blue eyes. Quickly she walked on, and when she had made her way through the train to the Prefect carriages, she turned around. Most of the students she'd seen were just ordinary people, not impossibly powerful wizards and witches, as she'd expected because of Hogwarts' reputation of Europe's best school of magic.

Batavia, she heard say, was just as good, but also far smaller because of the fewer magical inhabitants of the Batavia Republic, and so was far less prestigious.

When Dagrun got back to her compartment, a blond boy was sitting on her trunk, twirling her wand around his wrist. 'Can I please have my wand back?' she asked politely.

The boy raised his eyebrow. 'I like your liquids,' he smirked. 'No, you can't have your wand back. You really shouldn't leave it lying around like that, you know,' he said, stressing the letters to imitate her accent.

'May I please have my wand back?' asked Dagrun, frowning, but keeping her face flawless nonetheless.

'No, not until you ask nicely, at least,' said the boy, setting it down next to him.

Dagrun was certain her right eye must have been at the very best black to show her annoyance, and at worst a bright red to show her rage. She could just take her wand back by using her wandless magic (Dagrun had inherited the strong, focused and precise Elvin magic through both her mothers, but her father had insisted she took her wand with her to Hogwarts so she wouldn't draw attention to her Elvin heritage), but she didn't believe in unnecessary violence. 'I would appreciate it very much if you would let me have my wand back,' she said softly, but intensely at the same time.

The boy shrugged and tossed her wand to her. When he withdrew his arm, he winced slightly, almost imperceptibly. The wince was so imperceptibly, that a normal human being wouldn't have noticed it, and it was only Dagrun's enhanced, hawk-like eyesight (because of her Elvin blood), that allowed for her to see it. Immediately concerned for his health, she tucked her wand away and asked, 'What's the matter?'

The boy looked at her irritably, and replied, 'Nothing's wrong,' but even if wasn't an empath (and she was), she would have noticed the insincerity in those two words.

'What's wrong?' she pressed on, wanting to know what was wrong so she could help him with it (whatever it was).

'Nothing is wrong,' said the boy, sounding even less convincing than he had before. 'It's nothing, I swear it.'

Dagrun could see him crossing his fingers behind his back. 'You're a terrible liar,' she said. 'So, what's wrong with you?'

The blond boy ground his teeth in annoyance and said, 'For the last time, there is nothing wrong with me!' he looked Dagrun directly in the eyes (her right eye must have softened to a pinkish grey, showing her concern to the world), and sighed. 'You're not going to drop this, are you?' he asked.

Dagrun shook her head resolutely. 'I'm not going to drop it,' she confirmed.

'Bloody hell,' he swore softly (Dagrun had to strain her enhanced hearing to hear it, as normal human being wouldn't have caught it); 'I walked into the door of your compartment, is all. I wasn't watching my step,' he said, shrugging. 'You're determined, I like that. I'm Draco Malfoy, what's your name?'

'My name is Charity Dagrun Gryon. I'm from the Netherlands - not Holland, because I live on the Veluwe - but my parents decided that it was too dangerous for me to continue my studies there (I was home schooled for the past five years), and they owled Dumbledore to ask if I could continue my magical education at Hogwarts, and, well, here I am!' said Dagrun enthusiastically, sitting next to Draco and leaning into him.

Draco leapt away as if burnt by her touch, and he fell to the floor in an ungraceful little heap. 'Sorry,' he said, grinning sheepishly, and rejoined her on the trunk. 'So, your folks are Dutch, yet they still called you Charity?'

'Don't get me started on that,' grumbled Dagrun, shifting (the tattoos on her body seemed to shift, as well).

'I don't know exactly what Dagrun means - it's something to do with old Norse myth, isn't it - but at least it's a proper name,' said Draco.

'Yes, and that's why I go by Dagrun,' said Dagrun, redoing her ponytail with one hand.

'And I know Gryon is a town in Switzerland. We have a summerhouse there,' Draco said, concluding his analysis of Dagrun's names.

'I know you do, that property used to belong to the Gryon family. We sold it to your family in the sixteen hundreds, when we left the country for the newly established Dutch Republic. Oh, and while we're discussing names, Draco, let's discuss yours...' she said, teasingly.

Draco looked distinctly annoyed, and said, 'Let's not, if it's all the same to you.' Then, his eye fell on her broomcase. 'Are you a professional Quidditch player?' he asked, amazed.

'I've been the Seeker for Adrastos for a year now,' Dagrun stated proudly.

'You're the Seeker ... wow,' said Draco, with a hint of admiration in his voice. 'That's wonderful, Dagrun! Will you be Seeking for your house Quidditch team, as well?'

Dagrun shrugged, seemingly somewhat disinterestedly, and replied, 'I will, if the position's open. I'll need to train with Adrastos often, we need to play in the national and international competitions, you know. Do you play?'

Draco smiled slightly. 'I'm the Seeker for my house team, Slytherin,' he said. 'I'm nowhere near as good as you are, though...'

Dagrun threw her head back and laughed heartily. 'That's utter nonsense,' she said, 'of course you're good!'

Draco blushed adorably, looked away. Something was flying alongside the train. Something small, Snitch-sized and with gleaming red eyes: a Snidget. Quickly, Dagrun opened the window to let the little bird in. Draco's eyes almost popped out of his skull, so surprised washe to see that the new, Dutch girl had a Snidget as a pet. Dagrun smiled at the expression he was wearing. 'There'sa whole lot of them where I live - they have a colony in our gardens, and our lands are some of the only places where they still live in the wild.'

Draco reached out a tentative finger, and stroked the tiny golden bird. He smiled, and asked, 'What's its name?'

Dagrun pulled the Snidget off her shoulder and put it in her hands. 'His name is Tuche. It's actually a girl's name, Tuche was the Greek goddess of fate, did you know?'

Draco shook his head, and looked up at her in adoration, 'No, I didn't... I'm not all that familiar with Greek history and mythology - I barely know who Drako was...'

Dagrun looked at her watch and sighed. 'We have about an hour left - I'll tell you his history'.