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Word Count: 2,834
Former Word Count: 2,121
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What Might Be Called a Camping Trip
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[September 1, 1994: Trailhead at the mouth of Convallis]
"What!" Draco Malfoy shouted indignantly as the silencing spell wore off, "Who does he think he is? I am not going to walk 200 kilometers for this school! I am more than above this!"
Luna laughed openly, pulling her blond hair up into a ponytail and practically gliding over to where the Altair student had dropped the compasses. Scooping up four of them, she moved back towards Azalea, smiling brilliantly. Azalea looked like she was managing fairly well with the information she'd just been told, though Hannah and Susan both looked distressed, clutching at each other's hands like a lifeline.
"We should get going," Azalea said once Susan and Hannah's breaths weren't coming alarmingly quickly. She didn't seem all that bothered at the ominous presumed threat that the Altair student had said, nor at the deadline for arrival. "We don't have that much time, after all. Maybe we'll make it there early?"
Hannah let out a choked sound halfway between a laugh and a sob, but the four girls stood anyways and worked to transfigure their (in Hannah and Susan's case) clothes into something more appropriate for hiking down a valley. They shifted cloth into backpacks and shrunk trunks, still unwieldy for most of them, but far more manageable than it had been. While they weren't the only ones to immediately get productive, their solemn actions were a far cry from Malfoy's loud complaints or Terry and Justin's panicked babbling. Most of the Hogwarts students were far out of their depth, as few had ever been required to go on a hike as intense as this. The exception was Luna, who had been all over the world with her father on expeditions.
"Luna, do you know if your dad packed an expedition tent for you?" Azalea asked as the girls moved off, taking the lead as her group of four moved down the rightmost trail, "Paddy and Moony made sure I packed a lot of things, but I don't think they pictured a hike like this to get to Altair."
"He did!" Luna said cheerfully, "I also have climbing gear, omnioculars, and other expedition gear. Daddy says it's always good to be prepared for an expedition!"
"Climbing gear?" Susan whispered off-hand to Hannah, the two girls shaking their heads in bemusement.
"That's good! I've got a lot of food, and the only other thing I can think of being useful is tools to make chartí fanári, though that's less helpful…" Azalea said, "We'll be fine, girls. I doubt anyone else has a tent- Lu is always prepared for this type of thing, and with all of the things I've had to do, we'll probably be okay."
"Probably?" Hannah asked sharply, "Probably is not good enough. I don't care how many–things–you've had to face, Azzie, this is three days completely on our own!"
"I have to agree with Hannah. There could be all sorts of things in the valley." Susan said.
"What if there are werewolves?" Hannah worried, hands gripping the straps on her newly transfigured backpack tightly. They were still moving right from the trailhead (south, according to the two-needle compass, which pointed both north in red and towards Altair in purple), which was in the opposite direction from Altair and also moving slowly upwards on an incline.
"Werewolves are only dangerous like your thinking on the full moon." Azalea said, frowning at Hannah, "Wolf dangerous, that is. Moony's dangerous year-round, but he's also a fully trained wizard. Right now, the only thing that makes a were more dangerous is that they're stronger and faster than us. I didn't think you had those prejudices." She sounded almost disappointed.
"Sorry, Azzie," Hannah said quietly, "Mum's been going on about all the dark creatures and—"
"Just because they aren't human doesn't mean they aren't people." Azalea interrupted, "They certainly aren't creatures, that implies that they lack sentience or something. I get that there'll be a lot of dangerous things and people at Altair but—" she paused to catch her breath, the trail they were on had hit a steep incline, and there were some steps carved into the rock that she followed, "—but those dangerous things and people shouldn't be feared just 'cause they aren't human."
"That was explained poorly, Azalea," Susan said.
"Hush, Sue," Azalea rolled her eyes, "I just mean that yeah, sure, vampires are natural predators of humans and so they'll be more dangerous because they vant to suck your blood," she said with a terrible Romanian accent, a reference that flew over the heads of her magic-raised friends, "and maybe werewolves will be more aggressive if they think that you're challenging them, and sure incubi need to survive off of the life force of others—"
"I thought that was s-sexual energy." Hannah stammered, her face flushing a bright red as she remembered what had been in their third-year book, one of the lessons that they had with Professor Snape.
"Not exactly, as far as I know." Azalea said, "though I'm no expert. It's supposed to be life force and youth. I was kind of ignoring Remus, though? What I mean to say is that other beings might have more reason to attack a human, and humans just do it for no reason. Hell, that was poorly explained, just—" she sighed, "don't be prejudiced? Humans aren't the only sentient species deserving of respect."
"I just-" Hannah trailed off, she didn't know what she could say. She didn't disagree that werewolves or vampires should be respected, they were just so… unnatural. Hannah's mum had told her horror stories about what beings like them could have — had — done and Hannah just didn't feel safe around them. Mr. Lupin was a different story, he was so nice that it didn't make sense to be afraid of him.
Azalea looked back at Hannah, frowning slightly, but the four were mostly silent as they scaled the steep trail. It was heading up to what looked like a sheer cliff at the base of the mountain. Most of the mountain was steep, but still climbable (if you were in really good shape), but the cliff face was almost perfectly vertical. It wasn't the highest part of the cliff, but the narrow trail that they wound up on was cut slightly into the cliff, just barely tall enough to overlook the trees and lower valley.
Convallis Minor, the south side of Altair's valley, had vegetation that was mostly trees with thick, old trunks and leafy tops. The two mountain rivers, ζωή (Zóe) and μοιραίο (Moiraío), often called Zo and Mo by those at Altair, converged around mid-way to Altair proper, making a single, winding river that in places was visible by the gap in the trees it made. Zoíra, as people were fond of calling it, was fed by many smaller streams that trickled either from the mountains or just from the ground, settling far past the mouth of the valley into a large lake. Further north in the valley there were smaller lakes that were formed from Zo and Mo.
Zoíra left Convallis Minor with rich vegetation (and so a thriving animal population), and there were pockets of lush meadows that were sprinkled with colors of all types, despite the climate bordering on autumn. The only real indication of the seasons was the light dusting of orange and gold in some of the trees, though others were tall pines and evergreens that would stay vibrant green throughout winter. It was strange, the mixture of trees and flowers that weren't exactly meant for a single ecosystem. Most likely, it had been a product of some magic (and it had been, the fourth Headmaster, an older human who had spent most of her youth traveling the world had brought back as many species as she could and modified the climate around them to suit their needs).
The air was warm, though not oppressively so, and as the four young girls stood awestruck as they looked out from the cliff edge over across the valley. The mountains at the other side of the valley were distant, gleaming faintly purple in the morning light. They were steep, with rocky outcroppings and stubby shrubs disrupting the sheer surface. The high peaks were brushed white with year-round snow. It was jarring for the girls. The sudden realization that they were far from home, from England and Hogwarts and anywhere they had ever called their home. While it hadn't been stated where exactly Altair was, it was glaringly obvious that it was very, very, unfamiliar.
High in the pale blue sky, a Romanian Longhorn plucked a roc from the air, massive scaled wings pulling the smaller bird downward as the dragon found its prey. Its massive green body twisted violently as the dragon simply snapped the roc's neck, plummeting before correcting its path and soaring lazily to one of the high caves. That the dragon had grown large enough to dwarf a roc the size of a fighter jet was truly a feat indicative of its age. Distantly, a roar of pride and success echoed through the valley, a call picked up by the other dragons in the distance.
The distant dragons shimmered faintly in the light, spread out as much as they could in Convallis. It was a surprise to the Hogwarts students to see so many dragons in one place. Their brief encounter with the four dragons in the Triwizard Tournament had been a rarity — dragons were incredibly territorial, and dragons of other species were especially defensive of the areas they saw as theirs.
Dragons and rocs were not alone in the air, as many smaller birds and winged beasts flew back and forth in a chorus of birdsong. Feathers gleamed red, gold, blue, and green, colors brilliantly bold as they flew to nests high in trees or stuck in mud against the mountainside.
While the girls couldn't see much of the ground from their vantage point, the baying of dogs and light chitter of animals in the underbrush. Azalea heard the whisper of a snake somewhere nearby, hungry and lying in wait for its next meal. In one of the meadows, a herd of deer or antelope darted through the grass as they ran from a big cat. At Hannah's cry to look, she pointed out a small herd of unicorns lingering in the shadows of the trees, their white coats and pearlescent horns glowing faintly in the darkness.
"Seen a crumple-horned snorkack yet, moonbeam?" Azalea asked Luna.
Luna beamed back at her, dreamy expression full of delight. "Silly Azalea," Luna laughed, "Crumple-horned snorkacks don't hang out on mountainsides! They much prefer meadows or fields."
"Of course, silly me." Azalea laughed as she took a breathless look at the endless valley that was all vibrant greens and blues, turning back and tugging at Luna's hand to encourage her to follow, "Come on, girls! We've still got quite a ways to go."
The four long hours that they walked on the edge of the cliff were grueling, hot sun beating uncomfortably down on them. They made good time, though, pushing past little outcroppings, narrow cracks that were dug deep into the cliff, and some very clear thin waterfalls, and when they had finally run out of cliff trail to follow, the girls paused to eat an early lunch, sitting in the shade at the very bottom of the cliff. It was a good break, and soon enough they were making their ways down the trail, pausing to consider their next move when they came to the edge of Zoíra.
"Why don't we just transfigure a boat and row over?" Hannah suggested nervously.
"I mean," Azzie started, hesitating, "it sounds alright, but there's something about this river that's making me really nervous. Something's wrong with the water."
Her nerves were mirrored in Luna, both of them frowning. Luna had pulled her wand out from where it had been tucked away and held it rigidly in her hand. Azzie twisted her wrist, letting her wand fall into her hand as she cautiously stepped in front of her friends.
"Revelius," Azzie whispered, gesturing her wand down the length of the river. A ripple of glowing blue light pulsed outward from her wand, washing over the river and illuminating the figures of several things in the water.
"Are those beavers?" Hannah asked.
"Yeah," Azzie confirmed, "If beavers had spiked tails and sharp teeth. I didn't even… something like this exists?" She muttered something to herself, shaking her head as she walked down the riverside towards a rock that jutted out just far enough over the river that it was possible to jump.
"Luna-love? Mind trying to make a bridge? Sue, watch the devil-beaver," Azzie requested.
A wooden bridge did not work. The moment they levitated a log over the water, the beavers turned and focused on it, approaching fast. It had to be some form of magical beaver, obviously, but generally, the magic imbued didn't turn into some form of sixth sense for wood.
"Back up!" Hannah shouted, "Why is it doing that?"
The beavers were shredding the wood, teeth, and claws ripping at the wood as they ate it. They were twisting and pulling the log under the water. That was not normal beaver behavior. Beavers didn't eat wood! The girls staggered backward, flinching as the devil-beavers seemed to turn towards them.
"Azzie!" Susan shrieked, "the plants!"
Azalea twisted around, noticing the vines creeping towards them. One had twisted itself around Susan's ankle, curling tighter against Susan's frantic tugs.
"Diffindo!" Hannah yelled, her spell barely cutting through the thick vine as the girls rushed in the opposite direction. "Use stone!"
Luna and Susan moved to comply, levitating stones and shifting their shape so they would act as stepping stones. The beavers noticed, swimming back towards them.
"Reducto!" Azalea shouted, her curse bringing down a tree upstream, distracting the beavers. Behind them, Hannah was casting cutting spell after cutting spell, some of them used almost exclusively in Herbology. Susan and Luna had figured out that working from opposite ends would go quickest, and the bridge was almost complete but for the center. Azalea turned to help Hannah as they finished the bridge.
"Go!" Susan shouted, all four of them turning and running across the makeshift bridge, Azalea forcefully destroying the bridge behind them as the beavers noticed and swam towards them. They raced down the same worn path they'd been on, much less caring of the stray branches and twigs that snapped into them.
"Crossroads!" Azalea shouted from the front of the group, "Lu, check!"
"Right!"
"Sue, beavers?" Azalea checked.
Susan twisted her head to look behind them, noticing the beavers that had somehow kept up with them up until now lagging and ending the chase. They must have been far enough from the river for the devil-beavers to stop chasing them. That, or they had entered a different creature's territory.
"They're gone!"
/ Hey / one of the lurking Altair students asked across the bond, / did any of you, uh, know that those existed? I didn't know they existed. /
/ They don't. / a fae confirmed. The fae shifted from their avian form to their humanoid form at the edge of the river, peering over at where the beavers were gnawing at the wood. The devil-beavers didn't notice them. / They didn't, at least. I'll tell Riveras. /
/ Interesting. / Reid Strelem mused, the vampire almost impressed despite himself. / These four are doing significantly better than the others. They're what, almost 40 kilometers in? It's been barely six hours, the others are barely half that far. /
/ They chose the only path that would work that well, though. / Marcus replied. The human was at Altair proper, eating lunch, but still paying faint attention to the children he was supposed to be supervising. / As I saw it, that path was the one that keeps you fairly safe all cliffside, and then once you get to Zoíra, which is — usually — clear. Didn't know about the beavers. They've got the Sphinx left, right? /
/ They haven't gotten to the Sphinx yet, but the blonde one — Lovegood or whatever — seems to have some sort of sight. She didn't even look at her compass before going right. The other two paths would've gotten them lost. / a young Incubi spoke up / I have to admit though, the incompetence of the other groups was astounding. The pretty blonde- Mal foi?- got hurt rather spectacularly. /
/ I cannot believe that idiot managed to get hurt by a hawk. A non-magical hawk. / someone agreed.
/ We'll see, then. There's Sphinx next, then Lethifold, right? / Marcus mused, / Can 14 and 15-year-olds manage Patroni? Watch and make sure there's no intervention needed there, Rei. What's after that? /
/ I'll watch. / Reid confirmed reluctantly / and I believe it's a surprise a la combat class and Hippogriffs after. And that's if they stay on this path alone. /
/ At least they've managed better than poor, helpless, Malfoy. /
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a/n: the sheer amount of stuff I've written lately… but ⅔ of it isn't chronological nor helpful for like…ten chapters… well, it'll be used eventually. discord , gg / Q8bDgd8eP6