Harry Potter and the Quest for Merlin's Wand
Chapter Seven - Let the Quest Begin!
George shouted, "Disapparate, next field, in the trees."
In a few seconds Stonehenge was deserted again. The Muggles stared at each in disbelief and scratched their heads. They knew that nobody would believe them so they followed the old British tradition of refusing to acknowledge that anything had happened.
George used Mr Weasley's map to direct them to the entrance of the festival. The men argued constantly about which direction to take, which left it to the women to find the correct field. It was empty apart from a pathetic makeshift tent erected in the middle, which looked as though it wouldn't survive a gentle breeze. They walked across to the tent and cautiously peered inside. There was a sign with the words:
Hold your ticket in your left hand, click your fingers on your right hand.
Think about your favourite band then at the festival you will land.
George offered to go first to make sure it was safe. He followed the instructions and disappeared in an instant. When he didn't return in the allotted time, everyone presumed it was okay and decided to apparate as a group.
When Harry opened his eyes he knew he was in a magical place. His senses were assaulted by the noise, smells and magic everywhere you looked. There were so many people that it was difficult to stand still because you were swept away by the crowd. They found a place where they could talk and mutually agreed to find their campsite and get everything unpacked so they could explore.
Hermione was the first one to find their field where they'd booked spaces for two tents. She walked over to their pitches and emptied out her purple beaded handbag, which contained: two wizarding tents, six holdalls, logs for the wood burning stoves, six garden chairs and a table, groceries for a week and several books for her leisure time. The undetectable charm on the bag was incredibly useful.
George stretched out the male tent flat along the ground. He said 'Erecto' firmly and pointed his wand at it. When the tent settled down, Harry, Ron and George went straight in and flopped down on the comfy took it for granted the it was larger on the inside than the outside and it contained: three small bedrooms, a kitchen, bathroom and a central living room, complete with a three piece suite. They didn't see the point of unpacking as they could just get the clothes they needed straight from the bag. They had a game to choose who was going to unpack the food, Ron lost because he chose scissors.
Angelina, Ginny and Hermione had also erected their tent, however unlike the boys, they unpacked and put the food away first so they didn't get food poisoning. Ron and George came to visit,
"Harry has something to tell us and he wants everyone to listen to it together, so he doesn't have to repeat himself."
When Harry arrived everyone was sitting down waiting for him. He told them everything Dumbledore had told him about Merlin's wand and that they were in a race with the Malfoy family to find it.
"Are you sure you were speaking to Dumbledore and it wasn't just an ordinary dream?" asked Hermione sceptically.
"If you let me finish, you can tell me what you think at the end. Apparently Merlin's wand was buried with King Arthur so he could summon him when he needed to defend England again in its time of need."
"I thought they didn't know where King Arthur was buried?" asked Ginny.
Harry smiled at his girlfriend, "In the twelfth century, the monks from Glastonbury claimed to have found the grave of an extremely large man and a woman with golden hair. They found a stone tablet near the burial with the inscription: 'Here lies King Arthur buried in Avalon.' What they couldn't translate were the ancient magic runes inscribed on it. Hermione became interested when she heard that there might be some runes that needed translating, as she had received an outstanding for her Ancient Runes O.W.L.
"The Malfoys have a copy of the tablet but they haven't found anyone who can translate the runes accurately. They are staying at The George Hotel and Pilgrim's Inn in the middle of the town."
Hermione had a question. "Did Dumbledore tell you how close they are to finding the wand?"
"He knows they haven't found it yet, so we are still in with a chance." explained Harry
"Blimey!" said Ron, When we find it, what are we going to do with it afterwards?"
"When we've recovered the wand, Dumbledore wants us to take it to his tomb and put it with the Elder wand."
"He doesn't want a lot, does he?" said George, "Are we going to get the chance to listen to any of the music while we're here."
Harry tried to cheer him up, "Don't worry, the sooner we get started, the sooner we can finish and enjoy ourselves.
Hermione was becoming impatient so she tried to get the ball rolling, "Where do we start?"
"Dumbledore gave us our first lead, a shady wizard has been boasting, to anybody who would listen, that he bought the Arthur tablet off a man in the pub. He is a regular at a cafe called The Croaking Frog, run by a coven on the outskirts of town."
"Ron tried to be positive, "If we hurry, we should get back to watch the Bent-Winged Snitches on the Main Stage."
The group went their separate ways; George and Angelina went to check on the stalls rented by Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes and the others went to visit the Croaking Frog.
Chapter Eight - The Croaking Frog
Ron, Harry and Hermione with Ginny apparated to the location of the cafe. When they looked around them, their first thoughts were that Dumbledore had played a practical joke on them. In front of them was a derelict cottage with a huge frog painted on a sign outside. Ron walked up the path to knock on the door.
"Is anybody here? asked Ron loudly.
An old woman, who had been asleep in a rocking chair, woke up with a start, "There's no reason to shout dear, as you're magic folk, you can go straight in."
She waved her wand, which was tucked into her sleeve, and a doorway appeared in the wall. They could hear laughter and the sound of cups clinking - the smell of baking was heavenly. They found a table for four and sat down, an elderly waitress came over to take their order.
"Four cream teas, please." ordered Harry.
Before she could leave the table, he asked her about the wizard,
"I'm sorry to bother you but my family has been informed that my long lost uncle is a regular customer here. When we last saw him he was quite scruffy, with a long straggly beard and receding grey hair."
"You must be talking about Eduardo, he always comes every day at three thirty, on the dot for a cream tea."
Harry glanced at his watch, it was three o'clock so they only had half an hour to wait. The waitress waved her wand over the table, in front of each of them appeared a large buttered scone, a separate pot of jam and clotted cream plus a tray with a large pot of tea, four dainty china teacups, slices of lemon in a bowl and four types of sugar. None of them realised how hungry they were because they'd totally forgotten about lunch. The scones were polished off quickly, even the second helpings ordered by Ron and Harry. Afterwards they sat drinking tea and chatting, waiting for the wizard to arrive.
At exactly three thirty, there was a loud pop and a strange, bedraggled, old man, dressed in muddy overalls, appeared in the middle of the cafe.
"My usual Trudy, I tried that charm you gave me and it worked like a treat. My pumpkins are going to earn me a gold medal at the Magic County show this year, I'll have a lovely crop by All Hallows Eve."
Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny waited until he settled himself at a table, then they went over to talk to him.
"Do you mind if we join you sir?" asked Hermione politely.
"No, not at all, pull up some chairs, the more the merrier is what I always say to people."
"Thank you, we've just finished our scones, they're really good aren't they." said Ginny, trying to make conversation.
"They're so scrumptious, that I come here every day for high tea. Are you all here for the festival?"
Harry decided that he needed to be more direct, "We are all fans of King Arthur and are particularly interested in the stories connecting him with Glastonbury. We heard rumours that you have a tablet in your possession that we need to look at."
"Who told you that nonsense, I've never seen or heard of a stone tablet, whomever is spreading that vile rumour is a liar," said the wizard nervously.
Ron knew that he had him on the ropes, "We never said the tablet was stone, how did you know that?"
Rather than answer Ron's question, the wizard disapparated with a large pop.
Hermione glared at Ron, "That's brilliant Sherlock, how are we going to find him?"
The waitress rushed over to them and she was really annoyed, "He didn't pay for his cream tea."
Harry decided to use the situation to their advantage, "Do you know where he lives, it's really important that we speak to him again?"
"He lives in a hovel nearby, I'd be grateful if you could deliver a bill for his order today."
"Have you heard anybody talking to him about a stone tablet before?"
"He was in here two days ago talking about a tablet with a slight young man with ash blond hair. He was really sickly looking."
"Draco, they all said in unison."
They left the cafe and followed the directions to Eduardo's hovel. The group walked past it twice because they dismissed it as a mound of earth. When they got closer, Harry identified a door and knocked it loudly.
They heard a muffled voice, "Go away, you will get me in trouble with the Ministry of Magic. If I speak to you, he told me that they would send me to Azkaban."
Ron tried to assure him, "My dad works for the Ministry of Magic, you definitely won't get into trouble for talking to me!"
The door opened a fraction and Eduardo poked his head through the gap, "Is Trudy really cross with me?"
"She is a little but we'll take her the money you owe, if you tell us about your conversation with Draco Malfoy." said Ginny kindly.
"There isn't much to tell, he threatened me with imprisonment if I didn't give them the tablet. I believed that they were from the Ministry or I wouldn't have given it to them, they didn't even give me any money for it."
I don't suppose you took a copy of it?" asked Harry hopefully.
Eduardo was proud, "As it happens I took a rubbing of it, using a crayon."
Hermione smiled, Could we have it please, we'll make a copy of it and return it tomorrow."
"Since you asked so nicely, I'll go and get it now, wait there."
The ground they were standing on started to shake.
"Run!" shouted Ron and Harry together.
There was an enormous explosion, which generated a huge cloud of smoke! They threw themselves on the ground and covered their heads. When the debris settled, they turned around to find a huge crater where Eduardo's home had stood five seconds earlier,