I would like everyone to know that I've actually drawn a map of the Eternal Snowlands, in my notebook, noting where everything was. Plus there's little arrows and notes taken all around the map, so it looks like the Eternal Snowlands is located in a sea of words…I'm glad everyone's loving Luna in this story, I'm trying my best with her and I've come to like her since the sixth book. Read on homies.
Megan: If I told you what ships I was doing, it wouldn't be a surprise, now would it? (Interesting fact, I drew one of the pairings in this series out of a hat. It's true.) But don't worry, you'll know eventually…
Pobbin: Indeed, I do immensely enjoy writing Nott. Anytime someone is being annoying or taking themselves too seriously, I know he's there to insult them. I wish I could write a story all from his point of view, but I think it would mainly consist of him muttering threats under his breath. Anyways, no, this story will have more than four chapters. As for those flowers Hermione found…well…you'll see.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter…
Warnings: Mild swearing, snow, and bunny ears…
The Eternal Snowlands
Chapter Two
Harry's eyes opened lazily on the morning of his birthday. He saw that his room was still rather dark and so he rolled over and went back to sleep. It seemed like only a few minutes had gone by when suddenly, Fred started shaking him awake.
"Harry, get up, you have to see!" Fred's voice sounded excited and Harry opened his eyes. "Besides, you'll be late for lessons if you sleep any longer."
"But it's still dark outside." Harry saw that indeed, the room was still fairly dark.
"I know, but that's because…well…look for yourself." Fred handed Harry his glasses. He put them on and glanced over at Ron, who was staring out the window with George. Harry turned and looked out his own window. His mouth dropped open.
The entire valley was covered in snow. Even during the winter months, it never had nearly this much snow. And it didn't seem possible that it snowed this much over night. Harry hadn't gone to sleep until midnight, waking up Ron to announce that he was now fifteen and then going to bed. Ron had been annoyed with him but seemed to understand his excitement. There definitely hadn't been any snow then.
The sky was dark grey with heavy clouds, which threatened even more snow. It was so hot yesterday, how could it suddenly be cold enough for snow? He heard his door opened and turned to see Hermione, Ginny, and Tonks come in.
"Have you seen the snow?" Hermione asked, even though they clearly had. "I ran to look out the front door and the lake's frozen over too! Do you realize how cold it has to get for a lake that size to completely freeze over?"
"No, but I'm sure you're going to tell us." Ron muttered. "Do you think lessons will be canceled because of the snow?" He sounded hopeful.
"Nah, Snape would probably give out candy before he'd let us take a day off for snow." Fred shot down that idea. "Although, it'll be great stuff to play in, won't it? We should have a snowball fight—but no magic, only prowess and strategy."
"I get Ron." Harry immediately claimed.
"Oh, playing it smart, are we?" George grinned. "Well, we get Tonks."
"I call no using magical powers either." Ron declared. "It's not fair if Tonks just turns white so she can blend in."
"Oh, bugger." Tonks swore and the others laughed.
"Still, this snow is rather odd and it's freezing outside!" Hermione exclaimed, shivering a little. Harry noticed that it was rather cold in the room and wasn't looking forward to getting out from beneath his warm blankets. "It's cold in here, just a sec." She dashed out of the room again.
"We get Ginny too." Harry decided after a moment.
"What! Ginny's on our side." Fred almost looked offended. "It's an unspoken law."
"You can have Hermione." Harry offered.
"Hermione can't throw." George snorted. Then he stopped. "Okay, but as a handicap, you have to have Chang."
"No way!" Ron protested. "She'll quit after she gets hit once!"
"Then you can't have Ginny." Fred went to put an arm around Ginny's shoulders.
"Fine, we'll take Cho but then you guys have to have Luna." Harry negotiated. "Take it or leave it."
"Agreed." George went over to shake Harry's hand. "Unless Zabini…?"
"Zabini doesn't want to play, his hair will get messed up." Ron rolled his eyes. Hermione came back into the room with a glass jar. They all knew what this was for. Hermione's specialty was these blue, portable little fires that she'd put in jars on particularly cold days. After muttering the incantation, the room began to warm up immediately. She set the jar down on Harry's desk.
"We've already got one in our room." Tonks piped up. "It's nice and warm in there."
"You'll need that fire." Luna had wandered into the room. "For the Snow Bunnies."
"Snow Bunnies?" Hermione's face screwed up in confusion.
"Yes, they're always about in the snow." Luna nodded. As always, her little sack of seeds hung off her waist. No one understood why she carried them around, but after hearing the story of her throwing the handful at Instructor Snape and then meeting Snape, Harry had an enormous amount of respect for Luna's courage—which was more a very loose grip of what was going on around her then anything.
Severus Snape, who taught Potions, hated Harry. But he also seemed to hate Sirius and Lupin too. Sirius would call him names and Lupin would sigh and shake his head, but Harry didn't understand why on Earth Snape hated him so much. He often brought up Harry's father, so his only guess—which was backed by evidence—was that Snape hated Harry's father and so just transferred his hate to him.
"We better all get dressed." Hermione told them in her normal, bossy tone. "We'll be late for breakfast and lessons."
They all dispersed after this, except Ron and Harry, who got dressed as quickly as possible before going to meet the others down at breakfast. Hermione was already there, even though she not only had to get dressed but she made a few more jarred fires for every bedroom but Draco and Theodore's. As Harry and Ron past the clock in the main hall to get to the dining hall, it began to sing a song that seemed to be called, "Master Martin's Wand Trouble" and didn't seem to have a whole lot to do with magic.
"Instructor." Hermione hailed McGonagall over. Minerva McGonagall, who was very stern and proper looking at all times, tended to be rather intimidating but she seemed rather fond of Hermione. "We were just wondering about the snow."
"Yes," McGonagall glanced out the window. "We aren't exactly sure ourselves, Miss Granger. We can only make guesses at this point."
"Who's that?" Tonks suddenly asked. McGonagall turned to look at her and saw that she was pointing out the window. They all craned their necks to see but all Harry saw was a slight glimmer of something disappear behind a tree.
"I don't see anyone." McGonagall looked both ways out the window. "What did they look like?"
"It was a woman, in a white dress." Tonks answered. "She was kind of hard to see, except that she was wearing that crown…"
"A crown?" McGonagall glanced at Tonks. "Are you feeling alright, Miss Tonks?"
"I'm feeling fine." Tonks looked irritable. "I saw someone just then."
"Maybe we shouldn't go to lessons, what with strangers wandering the grounds." Fred piped up, looking awfully concerned about the welfare of the students.
"Mr. Weasley," McGonagall's voice was as sharp as a knife. "You will be attending lessons all day or I will have you scrubbing this whole castle from top to bottom. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, Instructor…" Fred and George chorused together in a defeated tone.
Harry glanced out the window behind him and caught a glimpse of something…someone…who was dressed all in white, with something atop their head. Who was that? The figure stopped and looked up, as though she was looking straight up at him, and Harry had the strangest idea that she could see him. But the figure disappeared again.
Who is it?
Are they the reason for all the snow?
The last lesson of the day was Potions. Harry was trying desperately to get his Pepperup Potion to thicken like it was supposed to but nothing he was doing was helping. He looked pleadingly over at Hermione but she was too busy trying to help Neville, who's Potion had bit him. Ron wasn't faring too much better, his potion had thickened, but way too much.
Harry glanced around the room to see that Fred and George's potion was looking alright; Draco's was perfect; Nott's looked like it was supposed to; Tonks was having trouble making her potion turn grey (it was an off white for some reason); Luna's was smoking heavily but she kept adding things to it, not seeming to notice what she was doing or even where she was; Cho's robes had caught on fire; Ginny had just gotten hers to the correct consistency and color; and Zabini was standing on his stool. Harry blinked.
Why is Zabini standing on his stool?
"Zabini!" Snape barked at him. "Get off that stool this instant!"
"I think there's a leak in my cauldron!" Zabini protested.
"That's no reason to act like an idiot, this potion can't possible hurt you." Snape stalked over to Zabini's cauldron. Cho was still trying to put out her robes and knocked over Ginny's cauldron by accident. Snape growled in annoyance at this and Ginny looked like she wanted to murder Cho. Harry glanced over and saw Draco was just coming back to his cauldron. What was that about? The pale boy was darting glances over at Luna's cauldron. Harry's eyes narrowed suspiciously.
Luna was holding dandelion milk in one hand and humming to herself, looking up at the ceiling. Harry had a really terrible feeling as she looked like she was about to pour the contents into her cauldron. He saw the look on Draco's face and knew that he had done something.
"Wait! Luna, don't—!" Harry was cut as Luna poured and there was a huge explosion. When the smoke cleared and everyone got up from where they had thrown themselves on the floor, Luna was standing there, blinking at her potion.
With a pair of large, white bunny ears attached to the top of her head.
"I don't think that was part of the recipe." Luna put a hand to the side of her face. One of her ears drooped down halfway, while the other stood straight up. "Hmm…Instructor, there seems to be a problem with my potion."
"Luna! You have—you have bunny ears!" Ginny declared.
"I didn't think they were that big myself." Luna observed.
"No, here…" Ginny looked around and then spotted Zabini. "Zabini, give me your mirror."
"I don't—" Zabini began but then cut himself off. He pulled it out almost sheepishly. Ginny ran it over to Luna who looked in the mirror, blinked in only mild surprise—as though she'd been expecting this any day now.
"My, they are nice, aren't they?" Luna looked extremely pleased with herself.
"What did you put into your potion!" Snape finally seemed to recover. "Were you following the directions at all?"
Luna just gave him a level stare for a few moments that Snape couldn't argue with. He glared around the room, hoping to find someone else to blame this on but Harry knew that he wouldn't pick Draco, even though Draco was laughing silently behind his cauldron. Harry knew it would do him no good to even point a finger of blame at him to Snape.
"You will go directly to Madam Pomfrey, Miss Lovegood." Snape told her, he was still rather livid. "And you will then start composing an essay on exactly what you did wrong."
"Excuse me, but doing that essay would imply I did something wrong." One of Luna's ears twitched, which didn't really help anyone take her seriously. "And if my desired result was to have bunny ears so that I could capture an elusive Snow Bunny, than I did it right."
"That's—not—what—a—Pepperup—Potion—does!" Snape seethed through his teeth.
"Severus!" Instructor Flitwick came into the room. He taught Charms and was a small man, who was rumored to have dwarf blood in him. "You must come quickly, Dumbledore's request! We're having a meeting in the dining hall—none of the students are allowed." Snape looked deeply disappointed that he didn't get to inflict further punishment and he waved his wand, which caused the entire dungeon to be cleared of the remains of everyone's potions.
"We'll redo this lesson tomorrow—and every last one of you will make the potion correctly." His glare screamed, 'Or else!' at them. Then he swept out of the dungeon. Harry immediately stalked across the room, grabbed Draco by the collar, and shoved him up against a wall.
"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed.
"What did you do to Luna's potion?" Harry asked him.
"Nothing." Draco turned his head away. "Not a thing, now release me."
"What did you do?" Harry asked again, slamming him once more against the wall.
"He put Itching Powder in my bag." Luna spoke up. Harry turned slowly to look at her. "I saw him do it…"
"And you didn't say anything to him?" Tonks questioned in a tone that said she thought Luna was out of her mind.
"No, I thought it was funny." Luna tapped her book bag with her wand. "I think it was definitely the dandelion milk…I suppose I can go hunt for Snow Bunnies…" She picked up her bag and wandered out of the dungeon.
"Are you going to let me go or were you just looking for an excuse to pin me against a wall?" Draco raised an eyebrow at Harry who let him go and turned away. Was Luna really telling the truth? But then, Luna never actually lied…
"Come on." Fred gestured as Draco and Nott left the room, closely followed by Zabini, who took a last glance at Ginny over his shoulder. Cho was quick to follow. "George and I are going to find out what's going on in the dining room."
"How? Flitwick said that we weren't allowed…" Hermione trailed off.
"Yes, yes, he did." George agreed in a tone that suggested this had almost nothing to do with what was actually going. "Follow us."
"Oh, I know where we're going." Ginny stated and helped the twins lead the way for them. Neville came after them, looking happy that today, he wasn't going to get told off by Snape about how bad his potion was. (It had sounded as though it was gaining the power of speech before Snape had cleared it away.)
They followed Fred and George until they got to a tapestry of fauns dancing in the moonlight with nymphs and when they moved it aside, they saw that there was a secret passageway there. At the end of this passageway, there were two ways one could go. They went to the left and soon Harry saw that they were in part of the wall in the dining room, able to look out on the room. It was a bit cramped and everyone was trying to get a better view of the happenings but they all quickly shut up to hear.
Harry looked out and saw that Dumbledore was sitting at the head of the table and the figure he had seen from afar was standing in the dining room as well. She looked about seven feet tall and her presence suggested overall that she was not human. She could pass for human, maybe, but her hair was so white that it had a bluish hue to it, her skin so white that the white tablecloths looked gray, and her eyes were an alarming, piercing blue.
She was wearing a white dress, just as both he and Tonks had observed. Around her neck were ropes of pearls and on her head, just as Tonks had described, was a high crown that added another foot or so to her height and was white as well.
"Who is she?" Hermione murmured.
"Shhh!" Several of them hissed in reply.
"Are you sure you would not like a seat?" Dumbledore offered this woman.
"Yes, I am sure." Her voice was cold; it made a chill run down Harry's spine.
"Please, tell me who you are and how I can be of assistance to you?" Harry noticed the other Instructors and staff were seated at the table, looking rather uneasy in the presence of this woman.
"I am known as Chionia, I am the Queen of the Eternal Snowlands." She declared. "And I have come for help, to drive the intruders from my lands."
"The Eternal Snow Queen?" Hermione murmured. "I thought it was just a myth…"
"Hermione, no offense, but now is not the time…" Ron hissed at her.
"Intruders?" Dumbledore inquired politely, his fingers pressed together as he regarded her. Harry wondered how Dumbledore could look so calm. McGonagall was obviously suppressing the urge to put on more layers, Flitwick was outright shivering, and everyone else was at varying degrees of uneasiness and cold.
"Men who have come to my lands, demanding that I share my secrets with them. Men who have killed some of my nixies, who have threatened to kill more, if I did not give up the secret to my immortality to them." Chionia's voice rang through the hall and Harry could tell that she was in a state of fury right then. "Give me your assistance in driving them out and I will reward you."
"I would love to agree to help you this very moment and leave as soon as possible but…" Dumbledore hesitated for a moment. "I must carefully organize this, we are fighting our own battles here, so I must decide who can be spared for such a mission. This might take a little time. You are welcome to stay here for as long as it takes."
"My nixies are dying now." Chionia's voice became a deadly whisper. "They have had to go into hiding, I came here in the hopes of finding help…there are dangers…immediate dangers…" She didn't seem to be able to vocalize what she was wanting to say.
"I understand your situation and I promise to try and get this ready as quickly as possible." Dumbledore swore. "Then we will go to your land and drive out the intruders." Chionia was shaking a little and Harry could tell she was angry. Why didn't Dumbledore just help her? What could possibly be hindering him?
Then she turned and swept out of the dining hall. From the sounds of it, the great front doors opened and slammed shut behind her.
"Albus, do you think it wise to wait?" McGonagall turned towards Dumbledore.
"I think the two men best suited for the job are far from my castle and it will take time to bring them here." Dumbledore answered in a tone that left no room for argument. "It sounds as though the Death Eaters have gone to the Eternal Snowlands…" There were several gasps. "Voldemort is still desperate in his search…"
"Come on." Fred tugged on George's sleeve and they all filed out, back down the secret passage and didn't stop until they got to the common room. No one else was in there.
"Death Eaters!" Hermione was obviously unable to keep up her silence any longer than that. "And the Eternal Snow Queen! But if there's Death Eaters in the Eternal Snowlands, why doesn't Dumbledore send someone up there right away?"
"Everyone is busy here, they all have things they're supposed to be doing." Harry answered uneasily. "Except for us."
"But while she's here, let's enjoy the snow!" George interrupted the conversation. The others looked at the twins who just started laughing. "You guys are being way too serious. Dumbledore seems to know what he's about. He said he wanted to wait for the best people to do it…"
The others seemed to agree with that and everyone went off to get suited up for the snow. Harry couldn't help but think that if only there was some way he could do something so that Dumbledore didn't have to pull anyone off duty.
Everyone's snow gear alike and they had been given it for precautionary reasons and also that it got very cold in the winter. It was all black, so they showed up quite sharply against the snow. The heavy coats, the thick pants, the boots that went up to your knee that you stuffed your pants into, the gloves, and the goggles. Harry's goggle lenses had been tinted green. Everyone had taken to tinting their different colors to make them more individualized. Harry's goggles were enchanted to work like his spectacles, so he didn't have to worry about not being able to see. He pulled up his hood and followed Ron out the door. (Ron went through a variety of different colors but settled on the regular gray that the goggles came as.)
They quickly divided up into their teams and play began. Harry was rather good at getting himself so distance away from the group. He was planning on going around the castle and coming at Fred and George from behind but as he was rounding the corner, he heard weeping.
It was so sad and so lonely sounding that Harry couldn't help but follow the sound. He entered a small grove of pine trees and saw that there was a stone sticking out of the ground in the middle of these trees. And there was Chionia, the Eternal Snow Queen, weeping.
Even so, Harry admitted that she looked rather dignified as she did so, even if it was sad the way her face was buried in her white hands.
"Um…sorry." Harry tried to get her attention and she immediately looked up, her piercing gaze startling him. He lowered his hood, though he wasn't sure why. "I just…heard you crying…"
"I made a promise that I would be back at Mt. Niobe in a few days' time." The tears trails were now quickly fading from Chionia's face. "My nixies are in grave danger…But that man, he doesn't understand…"
"He just wants to send the best with you." Harry tried to cheer her up. "It's not like he refused to help, right?"
"He might as well have!" Chionia barked at him. "Those men will get into my palace and if they do, there's a chance they'll put my nixies in terrible danger…"
"Why did you leave then?" Harry questioned.
"Although I am Eternal as the lands I rule, I have no real way of defending myself or my nixies." Chionia confessed. "The fact that these intruders made it so far, suggests that they have great power. I need to be able to fight them off, but my power…" She looked up and Harry saw a snowflake flutter down to her raised hand. "Well, it is what it is."
"Maybe if you explained—" Harry began again.
"You are a silly little boy." Chionia glared at him. "You would have no idea what it is like to be driven from your home, in the hopes that you can one day return. You have no idea what it is to be defenseless and alone. My only hope is that the nixies stay at Mt. Niobe and do not try anything rash…"
"Maybe I don't know what some of that is like." Harry's mouth set in a firm line and he took a step towards her. "But I do know what it's like to be alone. If it really can't wait…then I'll go with you."
"What?" Chionia looked almost taken aback. For a brief moment, Harry wondered how Chionia's crown managed to stay perfectly perched on her head. "You?"
"Harry! Where have you been!" Ron's indignant voice came up behind him. Harry turned to see Ron, furiously pushing up his goggles. "Fred and George are killing us and—oh!" He spotted Chionia. He looked from her to Harry. Harry turned back towards her.
"I said, I'll go with you. You need help, right?" Harry insisted. "They don't need me, I don't do anything important for them." Chionia continued to stare right at him. Suddenly, something cold and wet hit the back of his head. He turned to see Hermione.
"Sorry, I'm awfully sorry, I didn't see who you were talking to and Fred and George were making fun of my aim again." Hermione apologized. Then she looked at Ron's gaping mouth and then over at Chionia. "What's going on?"
"He's going to help her!" Ron gestured wildly. "He's going to go to the Snowlands with her on a bloody suicide mission!"
"It's not a suicide mission, Ron." Harry replied crossly.
"What part of 'Death Eaters' didn't you understand!" Ron asked him. "You can't go to the Eternal Snowlands! At least, not by yourself!"
"Ron's right, Harry." Hermione agreed calmly, the exact opposite of Ron's reaction. "I know you want to help but…"
"No, I'm going to go." Harry stated firmly. Then once more he turned to Chionia. "Do you want my help?"
"Move those…things." Chionia gestured towards her own eyes and Harry pushed his goggles up so that his messy bangs were lifted out of his eyes as well. The world slid out of focus but he stared straight at Chionia, who seemed to be measuring him. After a moment, she made a movement that was only detectable because of her large crown. "I see you are suitable. But you are but one, and not very old…" Harry slid his goggles back down.
"You're really going to go?" Ron's jaw dropped.
"Yes, stop asking or I'll hex you." Harry threatened.
"Then we're going too." Hermione told Harry immediately.
"What!" Ron turned to gape at Hermione. Harry felt a little stunned himself at this pronouncement. "We're what?"
"We can't let Harry go alone!" Hermione insisted. Ron looked a little dazed and seemed to be thinking hard.
"But just the three of us?" Ron muttered uneasily.
"Five of us." Fred declared as he and George emerged from the trees, where they had been eavesdropping on the conversation. "Running off without permission is right up our alley."
"And you think you are all suitable?" Chionia spoke again.
"Yes. Fred and George are older than us." Harry explained. "And they're really good wizards, Ron is really good at strategy, and Hermione's the smartest of all of us." Hermione tried not to look overly pleased with herself.
"And you will lead them." Chionia said in such a way that it didn't really sound like a question.
"Of course Harry is leading us." George agreed happily. "He is a visionary."
"An untapped source of adventure and good times." Fred added on.
"But first, we ought to grab a few things." Hermione spoke up. "We'll need supplies and the like…"
"And this will take time?" Chionia spoke in a very dull tone.
"We'll leave at midnight." Harry decided for them. "Is that alright?" He asked Chionia.
"It is…suitable." Chionia answered. "We will fly across the Northern sea and land at the shores of the Bay of Snow Drops."
"Right." Harry had no idea what she was talking about. "We'll meet here at midnight." Then he turned on the others. "And no one else is to come, alright?"
"Don't worry, we won't tell a soul." George promised.
"Ginny's going to throw a fit when she finds out…." Fred bit his lip. Then he brightened. "But when we're all being punished for leaving the castle, she'll thank us."
"Why?" Ron asked.
"Because we'll be dead." George replied easily. Ron paled.
"I must warn you that my land is not a safe land, nor is it easy one to cross." Chionia's tone was dead serious. "But you will be greatly rewarded for all your help."
"We'll be back at midnight." Harry said once more and then he walked out of the small grove, the others following him. He heard them start to plan what to bring.
"I've got to take lots of parchment and ink." Hermione was saying to Ron. "The last Granger to go to the Eternal Snowlands was my ancestor, Farold Granger. Think of all the things I'll see! With detailed sketches and accounts of the wildlife and…"
"Yeah, that'll be fascinating, it's all snow." Ron deadpanned and the others laughed.
"Didn't you hear a word she said?" Hermione looked very prim all of a sudden. "Nixies? They certainly aren't snow."
"Alright, cleversticks." Ron frowned at her. "I don't think we'll survive anyways, so you'll probably have to take notes on my will…"
"You have something to will to someone?" Fred inquired interestedly.
"Well…there's Scabbers." Ron pointed out. "I could will him to someone."
"No one's going to die." Harry told the rest of them in an almost stern voice. "Now remember, not a word to anyone…"
It was midnight, according to the clock in the main hall. Harry was dressed in his snow gear, a broom in one hand, his wand in the other, a large pack on his back. He didn't want to be late and so he left through a side door and went towards the small grove of pine trees. He saw a figure in black ahead of him, who turned, and waited. It was Ron.
"I can't believe we're actually doing this." Ron told him. "I must be out of my mind."
"I'm still surprised that Hermione wanted to go." Harry admitted. "You know how she is about rules…"
"Yeah, but she's gotten better about it…" Ron defended her.
They reached the small grove and saw that Hermione and Chionia were both there waiting for them. Harry and Ron were both glad to see her. Even though he didn't want to admit it, part of Harry had wondered if Hermione turn them in, but he supposed that just wasn't her.
"Where are Fred and George?" Harry asked.
"We're here." Fred and George announced together. They had large packs on their back as well. "And we brought something to help us."
"What?" Hermione asked curiously.
"Tonks." Fred answered and Tonks came out from behind them, all suited up to go to the Snowlands.
"I thought we weren't supposed to tell anyone." Ron pointed out.
"We thought it was more of a suggestion." George grinned. "Besides, Tonks is cool."
"I'm coming anyways, even if no one likes it." Tonks startled them because she had changed into Chionia while no one was looking. It was kind of hilarious to see a much shorter Chionia in snow goggles but when she saw the look on the real Chionia's face, she quickly changed back.
"Are we ready to depart?" Chionia interrupted the conversation in a steely, no-nonsense tone which quickly made everyone shut up.
"All set." Harry mounted his broom. "How are you going to fly without a broom?"
"I do not require such things." Chionia answered simply.
"Alright then, kick off on the count of three." Harry turned to the others. "One, two, three!" And everyone was up in the air. Hermione wasn't the best flyer in the world, but she did a fair job when she had to. Harry made a mental note to check on her during the flight to make sure she was okay. He was in the lead, the whole night sky opened up before him. He loved flying more than any other feeling in the world. He was just…free.
And then Chionia was in front of him, leading. It was the strangest sight to behold, the way that Chionia flew. She was riding a cloud, a small cloud, that she sat in, like a throne, leading the way to her land. The one thing Harry didn't understand was what dangers could be awaiting in a land of eternal snow.
He was about to find out.
To Be Continued