Tattoos and Spells

The Great Hall was quiet, brightly lit by the hundreds of candles dangling in the air above the students. The cieling was clear and starry, a beautiful sight to greet the returning students as they shifted in their seats. The Sorting Hat's voice was the only thing that rang out in the silence, followed by bursts of applause and cheering from the appropriate table. Most students were intent upon the Sorting, but there were those that wished the Hat would hurry up and food would be served to fill their empty bellies. Especially Ron Weasly.

"Ugh... My stomach is killing me. This needs to go faster." he grumbled to his two friends, Harry and Hermoine. The first nodded in eager agreement, whilst the last only rolled her eyes and continued to focus upon the Sorting. "I mean honestly, can't they do this after we've eaten?"

"Be quiet Ron. Don't be so rude..." Hermione hissed softly, lightly swatting his arm. He ignored her and sulked, waiting moodily for the Sorting to be done. Eventually, it did indeed end, but that only meant Professor Dumbledore stood to make his usual announcements.

"New students, welcome! And to our returning students, welcome back! New students should be aware you are not allowed to enter the Forbidden Forest---and some of our elder students should be aware of this as well, by now. To the students beginning their eighth year here at Hogwarts, due to the unfortunate events of last year, you will have a completely seperate schedules from the other students. As such, there may some reorganization at times to better accomodate our teachers schedules." Dumbldore began, smiling as his gleaming blue eyes glittered warmly.
"As you can see, we have a new teacher at our staff table this year. Professor Burbage, sadly, had to take a leave of absence for an unknown amount of time, and so allow me to introduce, Professor Weallod, our new Muggle Studies teacher."

A tall, balding man with a friendly smile and watery gray eyes stood, giving a mild wave as the students politely clapped. Once he returned to his seat, Dumbledore nodded and continued.
"My last announcement is to inform you that there will be an emissary from another school on the grounds, watching and observing both students and teachers---"

Students began murming and looking around curiously, hoping to catch a glimpse of this odd new addition to the school. After a few moments, the Headmaster managed to calm them enough to continue. "To see how we organize our school, and to judge how well it affects our students. So, I ask that you are on your best behaviour for as long as he is here, and show him that Hogwarts is indeed the creme of the crop. Now, with that, I bid you---Eat!"

With a flourish, he bowed and returned to his seat. When students looked back around, the tables were piled high with delicious foods of all kinds: meats, vegetables, succulent fruits---all brilliantly prepared by the house elves of Hogwarts. The students eagerly dug in, all chattering amongst themselves, trying to guess at what sort of person this emissary could possibly be.

"Ah be'th he'sh jus'sht shome faht ol' bloke." Ron snorted, his mouth full of food. He got a nasty look from Hermione, while Harry just spooned another mouthful of mashed potatoes into his mouth.

"Ron! Swallow before you talk. Tha'ts disgusting. Besides, how in the world do you know who or what he could be? Hmph. For all you know, he could be a really lovely man."

"Oh, I hope he's lovely...." Parvati laughed. "And young, and handsome~"

Ron snorted and rolled his eyes, stuffing his mouth.
"What does it matter?" Harry wondered, arching a brow. "Its not like he'd be interested in any students---that'd probably get him in a lot of trouble and no body would want that kind of trouble."

"Of course they would!" Lavender said, leaning across the table---pointedly ignoring Ron. "Lots of older, handsome men prefer young women. It happens all the time."

"True." Parvati chuckled, flashing a wicked little smile at Hermione. "What about you, Hermione? What do you think he'll look like?"

"It doesn't matter." she responded wryly, as she fixed herself another glass of tea. "All he's here to do is his job, and I don't intend to get involved in any manner at all."

"You're no fun, Hermione." Harry joked, earny himself a playful slap to the arm.
-------------------

It was several days later when the first sighting of the emissary began to circulate through school, but no one could really believe it if they hadn't seen it. Harry and Hermione were the first to see this unusual 'emissary'. Upon entering their Potions class, they were faced with Slughorn's nervous and sweating face standing at his desk. Following his watery gaze, they saw a young man sitting on a chair in the corner, leaning back on the back two legs, looking bored. He was tall and slender, with messy hair that fell nearly to his shoulders. It covered his ears, but that didn't hide the glint of gold rings all that well. Through his black hair, there was a lime green streak down the middle, matching the skin tight t-shirt he wore---it did nothing to hide the rippling muscles that his body possessed. Shifting the strange dropped the chair down to all four legs and allowed his heavy combat boots to thump to the ground.

Harry and Hermione stared in surprise, studying the unusual tribal tattoos that wound up both arms from his wrist, some showing even from the deep v-neck of his shirt. More surprising, he had a black, spiked dog collar around his neck!
"Don't just stand there and stare, you two. Take your seats, take your seats!" Slughorn said quickly, startling Harry and Hermione into moving.

Other students that followed felt similarly upon seeing the stranger in the back. Even Draco Malfoy stopped and stared, before sneering. "Who is that weirdo?" he wondered--loudly---to Blaise Zabini, who walked at his side. The deep, ocean blue eyes of the odd man turned to him and narrowed slightly.

"Draco! Do mind your manners!" Slughorn said quickly, dabbing his brow with his handkerchief. "Class, this is Nim-Dae Nethdraug, the emissary from the Elven School of Magic, which will be opening next year."

There was a squeak from Hermione, her eyes wide. Nim-Dae sat forward a little, clasping his hands together with a small smile, half lidded eyes amused. To Harry, that smile seemed almost predatory, in a way. "You know my school, hiril?"

She flushed and cleared her throat, before speaking. "Y-yes. The Elvin Council appeared suddenly a few years ago and consulted with the Ministry of Magic, in order to discuss that possibility. Of course, with elves having been so...elusive for so long, it took a few years of peaceful attempts for an agreement to be made." she said softly, flushing with delight when Nim-Dae nodded. Reaching up, he tucked his hair behind his ears, displaying pointed tips----each having three gold rings, evenly pierced along his ear from lobe to point.

"You are very clever, hiril. I did not know young humans paid much attention to such things..." he mused, leaning back in his chair once more. "Yes, we are attempting to regain our ancestral ways, instead of hiding among the humans as we do now.... But, I shouldn't ramble. I'm here to observe, nothing more. Continue with your lesson, Professor Slughorn."

The older man nodded and began his lesson, with a good deal of stuttering and brow wiping. Within a few minutes of him beginning, the room was filled with smoke and fumes from broiling cauldronsThough he worked hard to keep the attention of the students, most were more interested in gossiping about the oh so handsome elf in the back. Harry and Hermione glanced back on occasion---which was unusual, seeing as Hermione tended to pay attention! Still, it wasn't hard to see why anyone would want to gaze at him, at least for a bit. Nim-Dae was a pretty guy, with sculpted jaw and cheeks, full kissable lips. But then, most elves were quite beautiful. He really did exemplify his race.

"This is astounding. Elves are so rare! There are only three recorded sightings of them in the last hundred years!" Hermione whispered excitedly to Harry (after he had cast Muffliato, of course), eyes gleaming with curiousity. He knew that look. She wanted to ask him questions, take notes, do the research thing. The raven haired boy only shook his head and chuckled, continuing to chop up his newt tails.

"So, how do they plan to do a school then?" he wondered, wrinkling his nose in focus. "I mean, if they're rare, how many students could they possibly have?"

"Oh, Harry, just because we haven't seen any, doesn't mean there aren't many of them. They're master of magic and they do it without a wand." she murmured, "I've read a little about it, but mostly its just theories. The tattoos he has on his arms--"

"And his chest. They poke out a little, see?"

"Yes...Well, supposedly they cover the majority of their body." she responded, then continued. "Somehow, they channel the magic from their core, through the runes sort of like a wand would. But, as I said, its all just theory."

Harry cocked his head. "That's pretty interesting." he agreed. Glancing over his shoulder, he was surprised to find Nim-Dae's eyes upon him, half lidded but intense. A shiver crawled up his spine, and he quickly turned back to his work, unnoticed by the softly whispering Hermione, still going on about elves. What was he staring at? Harry wondered, staring down at his cauldron as he added the newt tails. Glancing back again, the elf's eyes had already moved on and he even seemed to be pointedly ignoring him.

----

Back in the common room that afternoon, Harry, Ron and Hermione were bent over their scrolls, scribbling across parchment for a report that was due in Potions. All around them other students were talking amongst themselves, mostly about the startling emissary, Nim-Dae.
"He's so handsome!" Parvati squealed, wriggling in her chair, flushing a little. "His eyes are just amazing!"

"And all those tattoos! They're so cool." Lavender sighed dreamily, nibbling at a nail absently. "And all that muscle..."
There was a group laugh, and a few squeals from the girls in agreement. Harry and Ron rolled their eyes, attempting to focus on their work. Hermione was managing to block everything out, brow furrowed as she scribbled rapidly across her parchment.

"Do you think they'll ever shut up about that guy?" Ron grumbled moodily, scowling down at his paper.

"I dunno. " Harry responded absently, tapping the tip of his quill against his chin as he tried to recall the exact amount of spider silk was necessary for the potion they were to be working on next week.

"I mean really---all I've heard all day is how bloody handsome he is, and how mysterious, and how pretty." Ron said scathingly, splattering ink across his parchment as he gestured derisively. He cursed as he hurried to clean the ink from his essay. As he did that, Hermione stood and gathered her things.

"I'm going upstairs. Its far too noisy down here." she sighed, making her way across the common room. Harry glanced after her, then looked down at his half-written essay, only to find he'd actually written the word elf in place of ....whatever he had been about to write. With a heavy sigh, he began the tedious process of scribbling it out and trying to remember what he'd been doing before he had gotten distracted by the talk of Nim-Dae.

"--arry? Harry, did you hear me?"

"Huh? Oh, no...sorry. " Harry apologized, blinking at Ron in confusion. The ginger haired guy sighed heavily, as if it were a great pain to recite whatever he'd said a moment before.

"I said I was tired of this, and asked if you want to give up for tonight?" Ron repeated, already rolling up his parchment.

With a sigh, Harry nodded. "Yeah. I can't focus with all this giggling, either." he lied, deciding it was best to blame the nearby girl's for his lack of focus, rather than his own mind. "Lets go." After gathering their things, the two boys made their way upstairs to the dormitory. Ron went and dropped into bed, falling asleep with his clothes still on. Harry took the time to undress and get into his pajamas, sliding under the covers with a heavy sigh. Even as he closed his eyess, he got the oddest feeling that a pair of dark, oceanic blue eyes were boring into his back. But when he glanced over his shoulder once more, before dozing off, there was nothing there.