The Train

"Don't be late! If you miss the train it will become troublesome." - said Selena from outside the room while Alan was changing to the school robes. He still wore his scarf and ring, discarding huge hat. It's really a ridiculous part of wizards fashion. Even robes were very uncomfortable.

'How am I supposed to fight with all this shit in the way? With such clothes you don't even need an enemy, you will be strangled in first couple of seconds.'

"Alan!" - Selena was moving some stuff outside.

"Coming!" - he said and walked out.

"That looks..." - she said. - "...funny, like in my old days." - and she laughed seeing his sour face.

"Is there a way to at least modify it a bit?"

"Nope." - she answered with glee clearly written all over her face as if telling him to suffer like all old timers did. This was clearly the old took their misgivings on the young! This was hazing!

"Whatever." - with a sigh he took everything inside his spacial ring and made Selena froze in place. He never told her about it. And it took several years of trust issues and getting to know each other before Alan let down his guard like this. At first, after his rescue, he actually had a struggle between running away on the spot and staying. Still, he knew to little about the world around and was completely reliant on the ones who literally slaughtered dozens to get to him. And it was a decision he had to make – leap of faith or escape on his own.

So he opted for the former and observed people that saved him carefully. Perhaps they couldn't have known the specific thing about heracrons he was able to use through Vibe trait. He easily detected emotions and lies through their mental communications. While these creatures were on aurors, he, scarily so, saw even their thoughts, as if using legilimency on someone completely unguarded.

Speaking of it that was a huge blunder from their side letting a kid from years of captivity to enter the net.

'Guess they have no idea such use of heracrons even possible. Back then I needed distraction, a chaos and not well planned DE operation where I will most likely die as a result. Who would have thought heracrons will let me do such a thing with the whole team. But if not for this, I think I would have escaped after first available opportunity. Glad I didn't.'

He wondered not once or twice, how can a trait of his organism harm his mind so much, creating a total wipe out of character and converting all his memories into knowledge. It was very strange to know, but not to live through it. As if he had read a very precise biography of his life written in third person like some historical document, with not even a single image or audio information remained.

In some sense he began to live again when Eternal Mind awakened due to trauma. Alan looked at the woman who has unconditional trust in him. Since very beginning what he sensed from her were feelings of protectiveness. She literally was ready to do anything to protect him.

Even die. Her conviction was just bordering obsession.

Vibe gave to many answers at once for sure. Still, ones intentions is one thing and ability to uphold them – another. That's where his trust issues came from. And it took some time to adjust.

"Handy! Do you have more?" - she asked shamelessly.

It was more convenient than her expanding bag and actually not unheard of, just extremely rare to find. After all enchantment of space expansion can be placed on any object, even a brick or a bus. But usually people don't use little trinkets for that as inscribing good runic sequence requires space to draw in. Simple reason of surface area.

"Look at my face, full of righteous fury and indignation over that question. Do I have more?" - parried Alan not knowing whether to laugh or cry over that street thug in skirt. And damn she looks gorgeous in it.

"Tch, worth the try." - she pouted dismissively exuding seductive notes. Selena when not on duty, part one hundred something. Well, it means when not smashing something with her wand and long sexy legs on high heels.

'Wait, something wrong, why do I have all this thoughts? I mean I knew Selena is one of the most beautiful women I have seen so far, but my body never reacted to it like that. It seems that age is coming near. Oh well, better suppress this stuff a bit more with Eternal Mind for now. Good, it went to a appropriate level. That was a blunder.'

That was one of the new abilities of his trait. Something akin to soul shield and control of emotions. With that he could already apply occlumency on serious level after learning basic principles of it from Selena. More or less trivial art of mind programming.

Normally one need practice to make it happen, he is natural at it. Eternal Mind was able to easily modify itself. Actually, Alan found that it gave him extreme adaptivity of mind and even ability to more or less program himself, but he chose not to delve deep into it. After all he can even suppress his sense of fear or rage completely, but not remove them entirely. What will it spell for him as a result is a question on it's own.

A very conflicting power. And dangerous.

So he just controlled his own emotions to be steady, but not loose the feeling of it, while being dragged through apparate teleportation.

"Okay, off you go and remember to write me, or I will feel lonely." - she winked at him, while half of the male population of the platform went red from god knows what they thought in their heads.

In contrast to them there was one boy who had a pale face who retreated inside under pressure.

"Yeah, right. And the fact that you were hired by Hogwarts is just a dream." - Alan retorted and entered the train finding a suitable place to sit. The only closest one with a free space for one was where Cedric escaped.

"Hey, Cedric, not going to say that we didn't see each other for a long time." - Alan walked in and sat down looking over other two people. - "Hello, I'm Alan."

"Hi." - said the girl on the left slightly lost in his eyes. She shyly hang her head muttering something hardly audible.

"Hey." - another one was more straightforward, but still a bit shy. - "I'm Grace and this is here my friend Jessica. Not new friend, we know each other for years. She is a bit shy, but a good girl."

Grace was a bright outgoing girl with slightly curly brown hair and emerald eye with a little mole at the corner of the right one. It gives her unique charm. As for Jessica, she still didn't raise her head, but one can see big glasses on her, she somehow resembled Hermione on that part, however her hair were straight as a flowing water, pitch black and very long, reaching waist.

Actually no matter how you look she is a girl who knows how to take care of them properly. No bushy bird nest out there.

"So, how do you think what house are you going to enter?" - Alan asked, deciding to have a conversation to ease the mood.

"I don't have a choice." - Cedric said with sad expression.

"How so?" - both girls were intrigued as well.

"All, and I mean it, every person in Diggory family was from Hufflepuff. So I guess I will be too." - he said with sour face.

"And what's so wrong with Hufflepuff? Selena is from there." - asked Alan, but seeing his even more sour face he finally got to the point of all that talking and conversations he initiated. - "Hey, Cedric, why are you so afraid of my aunt? She is a good woman with big heart."

"I..." - he suddenly went from pale to red and it sparked interest in gossipy girls. They are like hunting hounds pertaining the stories of some love, forbidden included.

"Hoho..." - Grace laughed.

"What are you laughing about?" - Cedric yelled.

"Nothing." - Grace didn't mind him at all and hid her smile with a hand. - "So, Alan, what about you? Where do you think you will go?"

"I guess I will let the hat to decide. It doesn't matter actually, every house has their merits and demerits." - Alan, after all he has being through, didn't think too much about where to learn magic. He only knew that the most precious things in his life were his friends and family.

Although both categories are a bit lacking in numbers, he still has two people he cared about. His aunt Selena and Fleur. For the later Alan really can't help but care for her. Who asked that girl to stand in front of obscuria he became and literally be a ray of light he saw for years.

The first one he remembered without gruesome events in tow.

Like Amalgal once said – wielders of Eternal Mind are a sad bunch. They need trauma of tremendous magnitude to awaken it, but in the process most of their memories will be wiped out, leaving the first thing they saw in their lives the very picture of an event leading to awakening.

It happened to him too, but the thing it wiped from him is personal life memories, not information. And even so it left knowledge and traces of accompanying emotions. The worst part of it – his previous life was like reading a historical record, it didn't feel like his life at all.

That is why technically he felt like he was born at the day when his parents died. And after that for four years all he knew was pure torture.

Four years of that ended with an image of a beautiful girl sending him the brightest emotions and dragging him out of that Darkness. If even after all that he won't care for her, he can just outright kill himself in one go.

"And I surely will go to Griffindor, than I will conquer them all and go on adventure!" - Grace raised her tiny fist waving it in fiery burst of fighting spirit. Actually, she might as well with that notion and personality.

"What about you, Jessica?" - Cedric asked trying to take a look into her eyes, noticing how bright they are, as clear as shining sapphire. They really were very beautiful.

"I..." - she tried to say something.

"She likes books, so it will probably be Ravenclaw." - interjected Grace as if it was asked of her.

Alan frowned a bit and directed his gaze at the girl.

"Where do you want to go?" - he asked her with encouraging tone.

"I..." - she raised her head and sure enough, a girl will be great beauty. - "I want... friends."

"See?" - Cedric smiled. - "You have some already, no?"

"I guess..." - she smiled in response.