A/N:Well a note, I am working on the sentence structure I am not used to Character POV so it gets a little awkward at times and some of you said the plot was getting boring so, well I was working on this one and had to fit it in somewhere.
8. India
Daphne POV:
We stepped out of the floo network in the Indian Airport. It was still difficult to grasp the fact that Dan and Jenna were magical. That made six in the University and it really appalled me how Harry's secret had stayed a secret for almost half a year. Dan was an Indian by birth but his younger brother and sister were British by birth, his parents had been appointed in Melchester University, after completing PhD and Librarian Course.
Dan's relatives stayed in a small city in Maharashtra state and there was nothing interesting to see in that city, usually they would sit and talk and have family functions, get-togethers and similar but this time Anna, Dan's cousin had planned a trip to Murud...a sea-shore which is not generally crowded and to visit Al-Zalzeerah or Murud Janjeera as it was commonly known, a fort in middle of the sea. Anna was an archaeologist. I would have thought that we'd be intruding but Mrs. Marsfields had made it clear that they would not be intruding and their family was quite welcoming and Anna was actually a British in the dress of Indian, by her ways.
Harry had said that they strangely reminded him of the Weasleys when he had first met them. They were his surrogate family, no doubt and he was hurt by the betrayal but I think things could be fixed between them and would try to, I love him and if he'd like to make up with the Weasleys I would help him.
Technically, it would be make-up with Ron, Mrs. Weasley and Ginny as he was already friendly with Fred and George, Bill and Charlie and honestly, to him Percy's opinion did not matter.
I was broken from my musings as Harry tugged my arm towards the family beckoning us. Anna Chatterjee was about my age and had dark brown hair and cinnamon brown eyes. She would have had a no-nonsense personality with a blue t-shirt under a yellow professional jacket but the mischievous glint in her eyes gave her away. She was a Muggle-born witch, it seemed like the first-borns of the family had magic. Dan, Natalie Marsfields nee Chatterjee's first born and Anna, Peter Chatterjee's first born.
"Okay, we teens are being separated from the elders and kids." Dan said taking charge after the introductions, "We'll go in Anna's car."
Anna looked amused at that and ruffled Dan's hair, "Aww... Sweety... taking charge?" she said as if talking to a toddler.
Dan scowled at her and everyone laughed.
Soon, we travelled by the car, a few hour ride to Murud sea-shore. Anna had already made arrangements to stay in a resort. As everyone was tired of the travel we decided to retire for the day.
The next day I was up early then others. It was winter in India but it seemed it was April and being at the sea-shore the air was humid which even further reduced the effect of cold atmosphere.
I heard a noise in the background to see Anna leaving the cottage we were living in. "Where are you going?" I whispered-asked her, as she reached the sea-facing portico I was standing in.
Anna looked surprised at my presence but recovered quickly and said, "The fort..."
I looked towards the sea, a fort was visible in distance but you'd need a boat at the least for reaching there.
"Not that one." She said following my gaze, "That's the one made by King Sambhaji for winning over Janjeera fort, which remains unattained by any of the Maratha Kings to the date." She informed me.
I nodded and asked, "Sambhaji was Shivaji's son, right?"
She nodded looking amused by my knowledge. "I read the history of the place, when Dan told us we'd be visiting here." I cleared her doubts.
"Oh..." She muttered than said, "I need to go and return before anyone wakes up."
"Why? You are not doing something dangerous, are you? And how will you reach there and return so quickly? You will have to take a ship or a boat..."
"Or apparate." She cut through. "I have to go for work related reasons. And yes, I have been there before, ever wondered why I selected a secluded location for the trip?"
"I thought that would be for spending more family time with fewer disturbances." I said, remembering parts of Dan's excited musings about visiting family.
Anna nodded and looked at me as though sizing me up and then asked, "Will you accompany me?"
I was wary of the idea at first. To be honest, surviving a war, being directly or indirectly involved in it makes you a paranoid. But curiosity got better of me and I decided I just needed to know what the Indian girl was doing.
After a few moments of consideration, I nodded and without warning Anna grabbed my arm and apparated me to the entrance of a formidable and deteriorating fort. As the salty smell hit me, I realized we were in the middle of the sea.
Anna entered the fort without hesitation as though it had been her lair for a while.
I looked at the surroundings the architecture was a mixture of Indian and Arabic one, which was a hallmark of many old monuments of India. I followed Anna further into the fort as we reached a pond lined with algae.
"What are you upto?" I asked not able to hold myself anymore.
Anna looked at me and said, "This fort was once a self-satisfied village, where the Siddis lived. Proud rulers, they were... Some things are still not explained by the scientists, like how there is a fresh water pond in middle of the sea?" She said pointing at the pond. "Or how an underwater tunnel was created in the 16th Century which lasted about till recently? Or how this fort remained unconquered for ages?
"Well that's to the Muggles, there is a myth that this was one of the rare places, Muggles and Wizards co-existed, aware of each other's presence. The designs you saw on the entrance were a Wizarding spell in Arabic. I have been researching on this place a lot, basically because, there was a University, a Wizarding University in India, where wizards of many countries were working together on a project...a project to cure Lycanthropy."
I gasped, but dared not interrupt her; she seemed to be in her own world as she explained her theory.
"The University was burnt down in one of the Witch Burnings of the old age and the place was in ashes, but the legends of the old say that the lycanthropy project was priceless and was transferred to one of the Villages where the Wizards and Muggles co-exist, there are total 30 villages on the earth and at that time there were only fifteen as there were many blind-beliefs.
"This village was most accessible to me and I researched it and the facts fit as one of the wizards working on the Lycanthropy project, who escaped the fire was a native of the village, the village deteriorated as the Siddis, precisely as the magical people left the place, the essence of spell reduced and then the fort began to deteriorate but still some essence remains."
It took me a while to get the grasp of the story. "So you mean to say you can find the cure for Lycanthropy?" I asked after a while.
"Well Lycanthropy genetically is the mutation in the DNA and it can be stopped if the mutation is controlled the researchers were working on the potion to stop it. Some of the surviving researchers found a part of things, which led to Wolfsbane but the key ingredients were missing" she replied.
"Which you believe are here?" I stated/asked.
"I created a charm to trace the essence of magic and well I have to test it." She muttered and removed her wand and muttered the non-verbal spell a light appeared at the tip of the wand and the wand turned towards east direction. After following the directions of the wand and the varying intensity of light, Anna found a point where the light was most intense; it was a hollow in the tree.
"Revelare secreta" she muttered and the concealment charms were removed to reveal three tomes resting on a plush purple cushion, which seemed to be unfazed by the time that
Hello, Again. The most intense chapter I wrote. Tell me how you like it!
