Animals reacting to him this way was to be expected, but that this dog -- completely biological with no enhancements or devices that he could detect -- also spoke in intelligible English was more than a little surprising.
The collar was noted. So there was presumably an owner that would miss the runt. It seemed best not to draw unwanted attention to himself for the time being, and a dead pet would be counterproductive to that end. (It didn't occur to him to suspect outside forces, namely the anti-death enchantment, were what really prevented him from wanting to snuff out this little problem.)
"It would seem neither of us are quite what we present ourselves to be," he replied in a low voice. There was no point denying it. "How did you learn to speak?"
Hogwarts. A school. That was a good start, combined with the geographical coordinates he'd finally locked onto.
His databases returned no relevant matches, only unneeded information about warthogs and religious mythology. There was not supposed to be an institution of any kind in this location in the year 2011, according to his information.
Were his coordinates wrong?
"I've never heard of it." And his lack of knowledge made him anxious. After a long moment, he reluctantly admitted, "I can't even remember how I came here."
Green humanoids, talking dogs, a school of "witchcraft and wizardry" that apparently summoned beings to it against their will. Possibly he was more severely damaged than he knew.
He'd been designed to be adaptable to any situation, to learn and apply his knowledge in the most efficient way possible -- it would serve him well now.
"An android," he corrected. The truth, but not the whole truth. "Are there many non-human residents here?" Given who he'd met so far, it wasn't an unfair assumption to make.
Ummm...some! There are some aliens and these weird things called Shoggies and some nice demons and some not-nice demons and a couple vampires, and a god or two!
That aliens and monsters and alleged gods also inhabited Hogwarts was only marginally more surprising than the existence of a talking dog. But it was good knowledge to have. It was becoming increasingly apparent that this may be an alternate timeline, a concept he'd become acquainted with prior to time travelling.
"And other talking animals such as yourself, I assume." It didn't really matter; he was just playing at being friendly now, since it seemed the easiest way to get information. "What do you mean by witchcraft and wizardry?"
There were so many more plausible explanations for how the papers were floating, but, he reminded himself, this was a talking dog. And he could faintly detect some -- energy, interacting with the paper. Nothing he'd ever encountered before.
There were people who had never fathomed sentient machinery becoming a reality. Perhaps "magic" was something like that.
He reached out and plucked a piece of the parchment from midair, examining it. "And anyone can learn to do this here?"
"The purpose of the questionnaire is to evaluate my personality, I was told. This has something to do with admission to this school," he surmised. By now, he had a fairly good idea of what was going on. "Slytherin, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff -- what do these terms signify?"
Each house represents one particular trait. Slytherin is for ambition, Ravenclaw wisdom, Hufflepuff loyalty, and Gryffindor courage. There are some other houses too, but people don't like talking about THOSE houses.
It seemed illogical to him, dividing beings based on a single personality trait. Presumably the four unmentioned houses were for "negative" traits.
But things were clicking into place one after the other.
"And others determine where I should be placed," he guessed. "Offer a bribe to the members of this community so that they will not 'squib' you," he quoted from the questionnaire, "meaning, turn me away from the school? A literal hat is involved?"
He wasn't sure that it wouldn't be better to leave, but he was legitimately curious about magic now. It could be very useful... and he could always leave of his own accord, later, if accepted. Or so he hoped. The present students certainly weren't acting like unhappy prisoners.
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The collar was noted. So there was presumably an owner that would miss the runt. It seemed best not to draw unwanted attention to himself for the time being, and a dead pet would be counterproductive to that end. (It didn't occur to him to suspect outside forces, namely the anti-death enchantment, were what really prevented him from wanting to snuff out this little problem.)
"It would seem neither of us are quite what we present ourselves to be," he replied in a low voice. There was no point denying it. "How did you learn to speak?"
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"Where is 'here'?"
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His databases returned no relevant matches, only unneeded information about warthogs and religious mythology. There was not supposed to be an institution of any kind in this location in the year 2011, according to his information.
Were his coordinates wrong?
"I've never heard of it." And his lack of knowledge made him anxious. After a long moment, he reluctantly admitted, "I can't even remember how I came here."
Reply
Reply
He'd been designed to be adaptable to any situation, to learn and apply his knowledge in the most efficient way possible -- it would serve him well now.
"An android," he corrected. The truth, but not the whole truth. "Are there many non-human residents here?" Given who he'd met so far, it wasn't an unfair assumption to make.
Reply
Reply
"And other talking animals such as yourself, I assume." It didn't really matter; he was just playing at being friendly now, since it seemed the easiest way to get information. "What do you mean by witchcraft and wizardry?"
Reply
Reply
There were people who had never fathomed sentient machinery becoming a reality. Perhaps "magic" was something like that.
He reached out and plucked a piece of the parchment from midair, examining it. "And anyone can learn to do this here?"
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
But things were clicking into place one after the other.
"And others determine where I should be placed," he guessed. "Offer a bribe to the members of this community so that they will not 'squib' you," he quoted from the questionnaire, "meaning, turn me away from the school? A literal hat is involved?"
He wasn't sure that it wouldn't be better to leave, but he was legitimately curious about magic now. It could be very useful... and he could always leave of his own accord, later, if accepted. Or so he hoped. The present students certainly weren't acting like unhappy prisoners.
Reply
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