Trust
Upon arrival on the island, Harry and Lyra immediately went to the village, leaving the adults at the beach. There was no large greeting waiting for them, and they were almost disappointed that all of their family were just going about their daily lives without care or concern for them. Though once they got over that, they realized that this is the way things were all the time that they weren't there. Their family was perfectly fine without them, but things were always better when they were together.
Until dinner, they worked more on filling up another one of the fertilizer bins with soil. They were trying to minimize the wand movements for the levitation charm, but it was hard work. As the soil wasn't a solid object, it was difficult to move large amounts of it without it all falling to the ground. When it was about time to eat, one of the Hidden came to them to inform them that The Giver and Usurper were on their way to the camp.
As the giant serpent entered the camp, along with The Giver, most of the Hidden didn't bat an eye. Some of the younger ones were frightened by the enormous predator and vanished or scampered off, but the older ones didn't fear for themselves at all from one of the island's protectors. They weren't meeting at The Giver's camp, so Lyra knew that she would just need to wait for Harry to translate everything, and hung back to play with some of the Hidden children and teach them how to sign.
§You spoke with the people who built the protection stones on the beaches?§
The Giver asked.
Harry nodded,
§Yes, they wish to build a place to put a ship on the garbage beach.§
§In exchange, they will continue gathering and getting rid of material on the beach.§
§They will also find out who the men with cages were and if there are any others like them.§
The Usurper let out a long hiss,
§If they find them, they should bring them here.§
§I enjoyed devouring their bodies.§
§They were rich in magic and fear.§
Harry smiled,
§If it is possible, I will make sure it happens.§
Then to The Giver, he said,
§They also want to send someone to collect the feathers of the hoohoo.§
§In exchange, the one who will collect them will meet with you to help craft you a wand.§
§Some of the people like me do not like those who are not like them.§
§If he refuses to help you, he will not be allowed on the island.§
The Giver smiled,
§This is good.§
Harry looked to the Usurper,
§There is also something I need to ask you,§
§Flare, of the field snakes, has a favor to ask.§
§He wishes to find a mate and have his hatchlings guard the fields.§
§He wishes his offspring to take the places of the others there.§
The Usurper seemed to think before responding,
§Bring him to me.§
Harry ran off to the cobra nest, he could feel Flare's presence there and now recognized it as the familiar bond he shared with the lesser snake. Flare must have felt it as well, and the cobra exited the old log as he approached.
Harry said to the first guardian of their fields,
§The Usurper wishes to speak to you, regarding your request.§
Just hearing the name seemed to make the snake deflate and turn limp, but followed Harry slowly back to the Hidden village. Flare stayed flat on the ground, inching into the clearing where the Usurper was coiled, with its head raised at least ten feet off the ground, staring down at the twenty-foot serpent that looked like nothing to it.
§My emissary tells me you wish to find a mate and have your offspring guard the Hidden's fields.§
Flare was shaking in fear of the great snake, but managed to speak quietly,
§Yes.§
The giant serpent's red crest started to rise and the great fangs grew out of its mouth as it dipped its head closer to the terrified twenty-foot-long cobra.
§As each of the guardians of the field needs to be replaced,§
§Your hatchlings will kill and eat them.§
§They will need to fight to prove their worth.§
Flare twitched a little before whispering back,
§Understood.§
The Usurper motioned with its huge head,
§Go now, find your mate.§
Flare fled the Hidden Village with great haste.
The following day, Brandt asked Harry to go on another tour of the island to gather potion ingredients, and they took off early on their brooms.
Newt spent most of the day with Nestor going over all the various plant and animal life samples from around the island as well as running quite a few tests of the soil samples they had taken from the land around the volcano to the northwest.
Tina had gathered quite a few of the Hidden at the beach and was experimenting to see what types of music they liked. They seemed to react very quickly to the things they didn't like and took a while to determine the things that they might enjoy.
Lyra took her broom and flew to Mango's village. He had gathered together eight females and five other males to an area with three trees around a small clearing. There were also two platforms that Nestor and his people had built for above-ground storage and shelter. It was very close to the mango grove, so he hadn't planted any new fruit trees, though he had a small area for the fallen logs of a bug farm and berry bushes. Two cobras were keeping the vermin clear of these areas, and were well under the command of The Giver, due to the proximity to his home.
Lyra helped dig him a few deeper trenches for them to relieve themselves away from camp as well as show him some of the magic she had learned at Hogwarts. She missed the quiet understanding of being with people who truly knew her. At Hogwarts, everyone had to talk all the time, but with the Hidden, they just needed a few gestures and just a look in the eyes to communicate.
After lunch with the tribe, she headed to The Giver's camp. When she arrived, she knocked on the tree and waited. After a few minutes, he emerged and tilted his head at seeing her come alone.
[Why You Here]? The Giver signed to her.
[I Bring Magic][Feathers and Teeth][From Outside], Lyra pulled, from her pouch, the bag of feathers of the sarimanok, and emptied it on the ground.
The Giver approached them and sat on the ground. He reached his hands out over the feathers and stretched his fingers out like he was feeling the warmth from a fire.
[Much Magic][Unknown Purpose][I Take]?
There were all the colors of the rainbow in the feathers, with two shades of red and three of violet. Kadin had included every feather from the bird including the tiniest of them that probably couldn't be used for anything that Lyra could think of. There were at least a hundred larger feathers and she placed around fifty of them to the side in all the ranges of colors, as well as a few handfuls of the smaller feathers. This left The Giver with much more than half of the total.
He turned back to the entrance of his home and vanished inside, reappearing a few moments later, dragging his new trunk behind him. He fiddled with one of the latches for a moment before opening it to a small section that he placed all the new feathers inside, then closed up the trunk and returned to sit in front of Lyra. She reached back into her pouch and pulled out the tightly wrapped fangs of the sigbin.
As soon as the napkin was out of the bag, she saw The Giver's eyes grow wide, and his fur started to shift in an unseen wind, and shine in a way she had never before seen. As she opened the package, he began to hyperventilate a little and started to reach for the black teeth in her hands. Though, when he did it she quickly pulled them away.
He shook his head and looked at them closely, though his fur still shifted and shone unexplainably.
[I Feel][Magic in me][Magic in teeth][What are they?]
Lyra responded,
[Teeth of animal][Drinks Blood][Drinks Shadows]
She couldn't think of a sign for her shadow, so she just pointed to hers on the ground.
[How?]
Lyra chuckled in her head before responding with the hated response,
[Magic]
The Giver placed his hand in front of her, palm up,
[Give One]
Then pointed to his staff, next to the entrance to his home,
[Add to staff]
Lyra signed back,
[My Staff][First]
She engaged in a staring contest with her tutor for nearly a minute before he relented. She pulled out her staff and held it on the ground in front of her as The Giver stood next to her as well. Placing his hands around the top of her staff, they began to glow. Lyra held the staff with her left hand and one of the fangs in her right, waiting for the signal. They had done this before when they had combined all of the elements into her staff.
After nearly a minute of concentration, the glow of his hands brightened considerably, and he gave a loud grunt, to which she slammed the fang, root first, into the top of her staff. As soon as it had penetrated the wood, the glow stopped and he backed away. The black fur of The Giver that was wrapped around her staff seemed to shine in the same way as it had been doing in the presence of the fang and wound itself tighter around the staff until it was all bunched up at the top. So now, instead of a spiral around the entire length, it looked like just a cuff of black fur, covering six inches of the top.
They both stared at the reaction before simultaneously raising their hands in the internationally accepted sign of 'Whatever,' and then they both laughed. When they were done with their chuckle, Lyra placed her staff on the ground and picked up the second fang. With reverence to her tutor, she handed it to him, root first.
She could see his fingers twitching, and his fur moving as he reached for it. As soon as he touched it, there was a small pulse of magic, which caused Lyra to jump back a bit. The giver grasped the fang before it fell, and a torrent of black smoke rushed out of the fang creating a small vortex of shadows above them which subsided after about ten seconds.
They both stared at the fang in his hands for what seemed like forever before The Giver reached out for his staff.
Lyra had a better idea, and jumped forward shouting out, "Wait!"
Despite not speaking English, he still stopped and turned to sign,
[What?]
Lyra drew her wand and waved it before putting it back in her holster,
[Tomorrow][Man Comes][Tooth][Wand]
The Giver's eyes widened greatly and nodded. Then with great care, he opened his trunk and placed the fang in a small drawer, then scratched an X on the front of it, and closed it again. He bowed deeply to Lyra, then took his staff and returned to his home, dragging the chest after him.
Arriving back on the beach, Lyra came across an unusual sight. Spread across the beach, surrounding the record player were nearly thirty Hidden. All of them appeared to be awake, but just completely relaxed and lounging in the sun. Playing on the gramophone was a relaxing and cheerful song on a piano.
She walked between the members of her family as they just lay about on the beach, relaxing to the music. When the song ended, a few of them sat up in anticipation, then when a new piece began, laid back down. She looked a little further away from the group to see Newt and Tina sitting under a few umbrellas and walked over to them.
Seeing her approach, Tina sat up, and said quietly, "It's incredible, isn't it?" Lyra nodded. "I've been trying out different music for them all day. They seem genuinely interested in everything, even if they don't like it. Though jazz piano seems to get the best reaction; this is Bill Evans right now. Unfortunately, he passed away before you were born, but his music lives on."
Newt placed his notebook on the table between them, Lyra could see it was filled up with types of music and instruments, probably names of groups and the reactions the Hidden gave to their sounds.
"Whenever Tina and I go on our explorations, she always finds the best music shows for us to go to. So we've picked up quite a bit in the last half-century. There was a man, about 350 years ago, named William Congreve, who said - 'Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast. To soften rocks, or bend the knotted oak.' I tend to agree with him on many occasions, and when I do not, it might just be that I haven't found the right kind of music to play."
"Would it work on dragons?" Lyra asked.
Tina laughed as Newt told her, "That is one of the ones that we haven't found the right kind yet."
They continued talking about music for half an hour more and just after the record that was playing ended, Brandt and Harry landed on the beach, each with one of their trunks attached to the bottom of their brooms.
"Lyra, come over here, please," Brandt called to her. When she arrived, he had removed the trunk attached to Harry's broom and opened it to show numerous containers filled with all sorts of plants and potential potion ingredients from the island. They also had a box of two-headed snakes that was sealed up.
"I need to teach you the preservation charm," Brandt told Lyra. "I've already shown Harry how to do it, and he was practicing on everything in my trunk." He picked up the sealed box of snakes and placed it to the side. "We sealed this box and we are waiting for these to die before preserving them."
"I'm hoping we can make the communication bowls back at school," Harry told her. "We're also going to try to make them here and put the charm on them to see if we can make them last longer if we aren't using them right away."
Lyra thought that was a good idea, and went to work with Brandt on learning the charm. Newt and Tina came over to watch and give a few pointers on her work. It was a bit more difficult for her to perform than Harry, as her magic was more volatile and this charm was about slowing things down and preservation. After most of the afternoon practicing, she was able to do it.
At dinner, Whispers and Dougal joined them after spending most of the day in the Hidden village with the rest of the tribe. Both of them seemed to be realizing that it was getting close to the time they would need to leave and were spending as much time around their kind as possible.
While they were eating, Newt brought up something that he had been waiting on Harry to bring up himself. "Harry, we were wondering when you would be visiting the Lampong?"
Harry gave a small nod, "I was thinking of doing it today, but we will probably go tomorrow night instead. I wanted to ask Old Man Pelayo about the antlers that we were told he has in his shop, and if he's willing to make a wand for The Giver, we can take him along as well."
"If he has any reservations about making a wand for a half-breed, that should give him enough enticement to help out," Brandt told him.
"I'm more interested in what Lyra told us," Newt mentioned. "She said you play with it as she played with the hoohoos."
"Yeah… about that…'' Harry started, "This is one of those situations like Tristan or Brandt with the hoohoos. If I tell you to go, be ready to apparate back to the beach. Also, don't use flashes on your cameras."
In the morning, they all realized that they did not know how Old Man Pelayo would be arriving. Nestor hadn't received any notification of an authorized portkey, nor would be able to apparate onto the island. Figuring he would be arriving by sea or air, everyone ate breakfast on the beach waiting for his arrival.
At 9:00 a.m. exactly, there was a pulse of magic and a box appeared on the post-mail platform near the dock.
Nestor opened it up and retrieved two letters, which he passed on to Newt and Brandt. Both of them looked through the letters. Newt's eyes widened at one point in his reading and took some photographs and passed them to Tina who had a similar reaction as he continued to read. Brandt finished his letter quickly and approached the children.
"I have good news," he began. "Your cousin, Nymphadora Tonks, and Alastor Moody have been given the assignment to be your personal guards when you are out of Hogwarts, until such a time that your father is no longer a threat to you."
Overhearing the conversation, Newt said, "I bet Alastor wasn't too happy with being assigned to do anything."
Just as Brandt was going to respond, Tina did instead, "That crazy old man doesn't do anything he doesn't want to. I bet he was annoyed at the assignment, but he's probably secretly hopeful that Lucius steps out of line so he can be thrown back in Azkaban… or worse."
Harry and Lyra were a bit apprehensive about the whole situation with Lyra's father but took it in stride. They were already searching for all the secret rooms in Hogwarts, taking care of Whispers, learning magic, and dealing with the problems on the island. Having bodyguards outside of school could only help them right now.
"When will we get to see Tonks again?" Lyra asked.
"That reminds me," Brand said, turning to their head of House. "Mr. Scamander, I need permission to remove the children and Whispers from Hogwarts next Saturday. I will be their guardian for the weekend, and they will have an Auror escort."
Newt adopted a more formal posture before responding, "When will they be returning?"
"By dinner, hopefully. They both have their appointment to see the unicorns in the forest that night, so they will be on time for that." Harry and Lyra's faces lit up at the reminder of the unicorns.
"Their outing is approved," Newt sighed at the formality of the situation. "Please submit an official request to the headmaster when you return. I won't be back for a few weeks, so please inform him that I have given my authorization."
Tina waved the letter that they had received and said, "We also have good news. Your blessing of the room was a success." Harry and Lyra's eyes widened again in interest and even Brandt looked like he was anxiously awaiting the results.
"The headmaster wrote to us that he didn't enter the room until shortly before sending us this letter. The castle may have amplified the blessing, as there was active magic taking place in the room for ten days following our departure, which didn't stop until midnight of last night."
"How long did the blessing last when you performed it before?" Brandt asked the children.
"When we woke up later, it was almost evening of the following day," Lyra told him. "The hoohoo feathers were still glowing until nightfall, but everything else was done."
"Well, so, remember how you planted dittany around the room?" Newt asked, and the children nodded. "Well, it seems to have grown to the point that it covered the entire room like a field of wheat. Astray is going to start to harvest it before we get back. The trees we planted are fully grown and bear fruits. However, the biggest development is the balete trees in the room. Would you like to see the pictures that the Headmaster sent?" They all nodded vigorously.
The first picture was taken from the tunnel with the inner door open. The dittany had grown to a height of nearly four feet tall with white flowers covering the stalks. The next picture was probably taken from on a broom near the ceiling of the room, the entrance side of the room was completely covered in the tall stalks of dittany. In one corner were the groves of bananas and mangos, while the other had - lemons, limes, pears, oranges, and pomegranates.
The picture of their new greenhouse that Neville had helped build the planters for was so overgrown that they couldn't see which plants were where. Knowing Neville, he would be delighted and would spend most of his free time clearing it all up. Harry didn't remember anyone planting them, but a picture showed that one of the back corners of the room was now filled with many different colors of rose bushes.
The most interesting growth was indeed the balete trees, as Newt had mentioned. Harry and Lyra both gasped at the sight of them. Of the five trees they had planted at the beginning of the year, three of them had grown together to form one large, twisting mass of trunks and vines. Two others had grown much larger as well, but they had spaces between each other and the three that had become one. Before, the druid's blessing had grown their trees so they looked nearly as old as the ones in the Hidden Village, but now they all looked as old as the one that The Giver lived in. There were even spaces between the roots, trunks, and vines of the trees that could create little spaces like the one The Giver lived in.
Harry and Lyra chattered on and on about the pictures while Brandt took notes in his journal and made some non-moving duplicates of each photo for himself. Magical duplication didn't work on moving photos, because of the inability to duplicate the ingredients that went into the potion. As a result, any magical duplication of photos came out still and unmoving.
"May I take a look at those?" Harry passed the photos to the man who asked. Then everyone jumped and wands were drawn to point at the figure in a wide-brimmed conical hat suddenly standing right next to them, looking through the photos.
Unconcerned with the many wands pointed at him, he just looked through them, and said, "You said this was the result of a blessing? It is very impressive, these trees appear to be somewhere around 200-250 years old."
Nestor crouched low and looked under the brim of the man's hat, then exclaimed, "Mr. Pelayo? How did you get here? We didn't see you coming."
Their wands started to lower, slowly, and the old man took off his hat to reveal a taught wrinkled face with short white hair on his head. He was just a little taller than Harry and looked a bit frail in his arms and legs. He handed the photos back to Harry and walked over to Nestor, looking at the wand in his hands.
Without invitation, he grabbed Nestor's arm and raised it to inspect his wand, "Ahh, one of mine. Nine inches, springy, from lapnisan wood." He took a sniff of the wand, and added, "Still fragrant. Core of the powdered tailbone of a barangitaw; I figured you would grow up to be very helpful to others."
He looked around at everyone else before saying, "You all have quite interesting wands, the boy most of all."
Always being the voice of honesty, Lyra asked, "Are all wandmakers creepy? Or just the two we've met?"
Brandt, Newt, and Nestor looked shocked at her candor, while Harry grinned openly, and Tina covered her mouth with her hand to hide her smirk. Surprisingly, the short, old man also was smiling.
"I would prefer eccentric, or even just strange, rather than creepy. Though you are correct in your generalization about wandmakers. Wandmaking is one of the pinnacles of the studies of magic, and those in my profession spend an exceedingly large amount of time delving into the depths and secrets of magic itself. After devoting our entire lives to the study of our craft, much of it away from other people, we do end up a little bit peculiar."
Harry thought that sounded like a pretty acceptable reason. The amount he had to learn to craft his staff was a lot already, but it was limited in its performance. Learning how to create wands must take a lifetime of study.
"And Mr. Balindong was correct, I am Kidlat Makisig Pelayo, more commonly known as Old Man Pelayo."
Nestor took charge of introductions for their party, and then asked, "How did you arrive here?"
"I walked," he informed them, leaving no explanation of how he walked to an island.
Newt skipped over the logic hole, and asked, "Your government informed us that you have experience collecting feathers from other hoohoo reservations, may I ask which ones?"
"I primarily work with the birds that nest at Mahoutokoro, but I occasionally visit the Vohas and Riau reserves." Newt nodded along.
Brandt leaned down to Harry and Lyra, "Mahoutokoro is another wizarding school, and is somewhat nearby. It is a little over 1,000 miles that way." He vaguely pointed in the northeastern direction.
"Which of you works with the hoohoos here? I assume they nest at the top of the mountain, but I would still appreciate the escort."
Lyra spoke up with a bit of hesitation, "I don't work with them, we mostly just spend time together and play."
"They told me that children were living here, is there anyone else who attends to the birds?"
Harry responded, "It was just us for a long time, did they also tell you what our condition was for allowing you to visit the nest?"
"That I would need to make a wand for someone and give them basic instructions on its use. Though I can tell all of you have one, so where is my student?"
Nestor groaned a bit, "They left out the biggest detail it seems. A Duwende is living on the island and tutors the children in magic. He is the one that needs a wand."
"Is that all?" Pelayo said gruffly. "That shouldn't be a problem, does he speak English?" Harry shook his head. "What about Tagalog?"
Newt told the man, "He speaks with the children in a rudimentary sign language, he also speaks Parseltongue and a language similar to Dwarven."
"And that was enough to teach the children about magic? Hmmm, interesting." Turning to Lyra, "Well, can you make the introductions?"
"You have no issue with working with a half-breed?" Brandt asked the man.
"Even if I did, the chance to work with wild hoohoos, as well as anything else this island might offer far outweighs any prejudices I would have," he said, though his expression looked strained. "I'm sure there are many things a man like you would overlook for the right price." Turning back to Lyra, "Show me the way, Miss."
Lyra led the group into the forest and towards the Hidden Village. None of their family showed themselves in the fields or the surrounding trees. Harry and Lyra could see them spying on the group while invisible, but none of them came out. When they arrived at the circle of trees for the village, waiting for them was Charlie, Whispers, and The Giver.
Pelayo's eyes grew dramatically when he saw Charlie and he crossed the clearing quickly to approach the enormous demiguise. Charlie didn't appreciate the fast advance of the man and let out a low growl, stopping him in his tracks.
He looked back towards the humans and asked, "That is a demiguise, right?" Everyone nodded, "But he is aggressive and enormous."
Nestor told him, "We think the size is the result of another blessing the children did on the island, the entire area is saturated with magic, and all the demiguises here are way above average in size. The little one there is only about five years old."
"Incredible," Pelayo said in a soft voice. "He is nearly the size of most adults I've seen before." He turned to look at The Giver who was still eyeing him cautiously from the other side of the clearing. "That is not a Duwende," he said with certainty. "Did he also grow from your blessing?" Harry shook his head. "What is the black fur he has?"
Harry didn't want to reveal any of his tutor's secrets, so he just said, "He is how he was when we met him." Harry beckoned The Giver over and stood between him and Pelayo. The Giver stood up straight and picked up his staff that was leaning against the tree and walked over.
Harry signed,
[This Man][Wands][He Goes to Hoohoos]
The Giver gave a few grunts and then extended one hand to shake. Pelayo stared at the gesture and hesitantly shook his hand.
"I want to have him try some wands, can you tell him?"
Harry signed,
[He Will Give][Wands][Wave them][Make Magic]
Then to Pelayo, "Go ahead."
The old man reached into his jacket and pulled out a small kit of rolled leather. When it was open, there were nearly twenty wands inside. He stared at The Giver's staff for a moment before taking a wand from the middle of the assortment and passing it to him, handle first.
The Giver took it hesitantly and after a gesture from Harry, he waved it around, but nothing happened.
Lyra stepped up, "I think we already have the material for it. I gave him a fang from a sigbin yesterday and he had a strong reaction to it."
Pelayo turned around so quickly, it looked like he apparated, and grabbed Lyra by the shoulders, "A sigbin? There are sigbins on the island?"
Harry lunged forward and pushed the man off his sister, "Do not touch her like that." Harry could see wands in the hands of Brandt and Tina, almost raised to point at the man. Newt had the same small silver object from the other time in his hand as well.
Pelayo straightened his jacket and asked them again, "Where did you get the fang of a sigbin?"
"I killed it," Harry said, "two days ago at the market in Manilla. The owner of the store that had it let us take the fangs and the skin as payment for the service."
The old man stared at Harry with a piercing glare for nearly a minute before looking back to The Giver, or more precisely to his staff.
"You destroyed its shadow, didn't you?" Harry nodded. "There's only one thing I know of that could kill it in such a way, you have a Lampong on this island, am I right?" Harry nodded again. "This half-breed has a horn on his staff, am I to assume that you do as well?"
There was something about this man that Harry didn't like, but The Giver needed a wand, so he pulled out his staff and drew his wand for the man to see. "I was told that you have a full set of antlers in your shop."
Pelayo ran his hands over the staff and the wand, then said, "The wand is professionally done, how was the staff constructed?"
"I made it myself, with the help of The Giver," he gestured to the Duwende.
He stared again at Harry, then Lyra, then The Giver, then the two demiguises who were eating berries from banana leaf cones as they watched what was going on. He seemed to be deliberating in his head as he made many different faces each time he looked at everyone.
Finally, he came to a conclusion, "I will make a wand for your tutor, and I would like to see the Lampong when night falls. Does he have the fang with him now?"
Lyra signed to The Giver,
[Give Fang]
The Giver shook his head,
[Fang][Home][Tree]
Lyra translated, "He doesn't have it with him."
"Can he take me to where it is?" Pelayo asked.
Lyra signed,
[Bring him][Home]
The Giver signed to her,
[You Trust?]
Lyra wasn't sure what to respond with, so she looked at Harry, who signed,
[No Trust][When Danger][Usurper Eat].
Lyra nodded, and so did Harry.
Lyra told Pelayo, "We will lead you to his home, the others will stay."
Brandt didn't like this, and said, "I insist on accompanying you for protection. You don't know this man well enough yet."
Harry shook his head and said, "We will be protected," and glared at Brandt. As he did, he felt a brief gust of wind in his face, and Brandt nodded.
From there, Harry, Lyra, The Giver, and Pelayo wandered off into the forest. Once they were gone, Newt asked, "You just used legilimency, didn't you?"
Brandt nodded, "I'm pretty sure Harry is aware that something happened, but he's not sure what. I have already sent a letter to Lord Black, requesting he find them an occlumency tutor soon." He motioned to the canopies of the trees above them, "He was trying to let me know that the Usurper is going to be watching over them."
The group with Pelayo walked across the island, in relative silence. The old man stopped them halfway at one of the larger trees they came across. He rubbed the trunk with his hands and leaned against it, then turned to them.
"There are quite a lot of trees here that are suitable for making wands from their wood," he told them. "This one, in particular, is one of the more magical ones we've come across outside of the area where we were before." He gave the tree one last caress before continuing on their trek.
When they got to the edge of The Giver's territory, Pelayo started to turn back involuntarily before Harry grabbed his shoulder, causing him to stop in his tracks.
Lyra told him, "You won't be able to enter this area without one of us to guide you."
The wandmaker pulled out his wand, which was so short, it barely stuck out of his hand. The wood was completely black and had a very pointed end. He wove it through the air with a smokey trail following it. When he stopped waving it, he looked confused. He repeated some of the same gestures before stopping again.
"This is very strange, I can nearly see the aversion ward in the air, but my magic cannot detect anything. Is this the creature's magic?"
Harry was getting a bit annoyed at the man's attitude now, and responded harshly, "He has a name, you may call him The Giver. If you do not wish to show him courtesy, we can find another wandmaker."
He gave Harry a scrutinizing glare, then nodded, "My apologies," he didn't sound sincere. "Is this The Giver's magic?"
"It is," Lyra told him, and she started to walk forward again, with Harry leading him by the arm.
When they arrived at The Giver's tree he entered into the abyss under the tree, and Pelayo started looking around.
"Where did he go? He just vanished."
"He will be back in a moment, this is his home."
The Giver returned a minute later, pulling his trunk, and to Pelayo, it seemed like The Giver had just appeared out of thin air since he couldn't even perceive the entrance to the home in the roots of the tree.
"More strange magic," the old man muttered.
He opened the trunk and removed the sigbin fang and held it in his palm.
"Tell him to do something with it," Pelayo told Lyra.
[Wave Fang][Shadow][Last Night] Lyra signed to him.
The Giver held the fang gently and waved it around, causing a stream of black smoke to pulse out of it. This time, it also contained silver sparkles.
The Wandmaker walked past him right up to his tree and placed his hand on the trunk, "This tree also has an incredible amount of magic in it." He walked back to The Giver and held out his hand for the fang. Hesitantly, it was placed in his palm, and Pelayo walked back to the tree and placed the other hand on the tree. "I will use this tree for the wand wood, and the fang for the core. What part of the tree can I take?"
Harry signed to his tutor,
[He Needs Tree][Give Branch][Give Root]
The Giver walked up the roots near the entrance to his home, ripped off a large root about the size of his staff, and passed it to the wandmaker. The old man examined it for a minute and then somehow placed the entire piece inside his jacket. Then he put the fang in the chest pocket.
"We will go see the hoohoos now?" he asked, a bit impatiently.
"When will his wand be ready?" Harry asked with just as much gruffness in his voice.
"A week, maybe two. When I come back, I will bring a dwarf to translate."
Harry looked over to The Giver and signed,
[Half Moon][Man Return][Bring Wand][Bring Small Man][Change Talk]
The Giver looked confused with the last sign, and pointed at Pelayo,
[Him][Small Man]
Lyra giggled, and Harry tried to clarify,
[Small Man Talk][Same as Broken Child Speak][Same Man You][Smaller].
The Giver nodded with partial understanding.
"What was that about?" Pelayo asked.
"He doesn't know what a dwarf is, I tried to explain and he got confused," Harry told him.
"So now we go to the nest?"
"Do you have a broom?" Lyra asked.
"I have a carpet," he responded.
Lyra pulled her broom out of her pouch, and there was suddenly a small carpet roll in the hands of the old man.
Harry told Lyra, "Start heading up," [Go Slow] he signed, "I'll join you in a minute."
Lyra nodded and mounted her broom while Pelayo sat on his rug and floated upwards. The two of them took off towards the mountain. Once they were gone, Harry turned back to The Giver and looked upwards to see the Usurper looking down from a hiding spot in the canopy of the trees.
Harry spoke,
§Thank you for watching out for us.§
The Usurper lowered itself down to the ground and looked at both of them,
§I do not like the way that man smells, he smells of many animals with no blood.§
Harry agreed,
§I do not like him either. He probably smells of many animals from all the wands he has.§
§I do not like him because he seems to only want to be here for the hoohoos.§
§But we need him to make a wand for The Giver and to teach him to use it.§
The Giver nodded,
§If he becomes a problem, he will need to leave.§
§After I have a wand, you can find another teacher.§
§What is the small man you were talking about?§
Harry told him,
§Severus says your people are similar to ones called dwarves.§
§Newt, from the people who are here now, spoke to you in their language.§
§This wandmaker will bring a dwarf with him to help you learn to use your wand.§
§I need to go follow Lyra now.§
The Giver and the Usurper just nodded and Harry mounted his broom and took off, heading quickly after his sister and the wandmaker. He caught up with them halfway up the mountain and continued along with them. They landed along the outer rim and put away their flying devices. The three of them approached the edge of the crater and looked over the edge, into the valley.
"Where are they?" Pelayo asked.
Lyra was about to point them out, but Harry realized something and stopped her.
"You can't see them?" Harry asked. The old man surveyed the whole area and shook his head.
"Do hoohoos have some kind of special magic to protect their nests?" Harry asked.
"I am unaware of any, why?"
Addressing him and Lyra, he told them, "When I brought our tutor, Brandt, up here he couldn't see the birds either. I had to point one out for him before he saw them."
"That almost sounds like a kaluluwa lihim..." he trailed off, before translating, "a secret of the soul. I would like to try an experiment before you point one out to me."
He raised his wand and incanted quietly, "ibon ibunyag!"
A pulse of magic came from his wand and seemed to spread out nearly 200 feet in front of him before it retreated into his wand.
"You are sure there are birds here? I am detecting nothing." Harry and Lyra shrugged. "I am going to try something else. Are there any adult hoohoos nearby?" They both shook their heads. "I am going to walk into the valley, tell me warmer or colder if I am getting close to one of the chicks."
He drew his wand and started to walk down the crater. Every time he was told warmer, he would cast the same spell as before, and then look confused. At one point, he was about twenty feet from one of the chicks and it decided that was too close, so it vanished in a puff of smoke. After about ten minutes of wandering around and casting the spell, he returned to Harry and Lyra at the ridge.
"Your tutor, Brandt, can you bring him up here? Anyone else who wants to come will be fine as well. I want to see how this magic works."
Harry looked at Lyra and said, "Go, I'll stay here."
Lyra looked a bit hesitant, but then hopped on her broom and shot off toward the beach.
When they were alone, Harry asked, "The antlers of the Lampong you have… How did you obtain them?"
"They belonged to my great grandfather, how he obtained them, I do not know. My family has used them as a talisman to keep Aswang away from our shop."
"What is that?" Harry asked, "Aswang? Nestor's grandmother used that term for the sigbin."
Pelayo's face became serious, "The islands in this region of the world have a long history of dark beings, the collective term for them is Aswang. Some are creatures, and others are closer in intelligence to wizards. They are all very powerful and very deadly with very few ways to counter them and even fewer ways to kill them. The Lampong is rumored to keep them at bay. The antlers, even from one that has been dead for hundreds of years, still contain enough magic to drive them off. I am most interested in seeing a living creature."
That was a bit frightening, but if Tina's suspicions were correct, the Lampong on their island was an even greater protector than they had thought.
"If you have the antlers, couldn't you use them to kill a sigbin too?" Harry asked.
"I have been unable to break down the antlers into smaller parts, and I don't wish to destroy them with more violent processes. I am sensing from you that you will not share the secrets of your staff's creation, and other wandmakers definitely do not share secrets of their craft between them, so I do not believe that Garrick Ollivander will tell me how your wand was made either."
Harry nodded along in agreement when it was mentioned that he wouldn't be sharing the secrets of his staff, but then asked, "How did you know it was Ollivander who made my wand?"
Pelayo smiled, "There are maybe fifty expert wandmakers in the world, and hundreds of lesser craftsmen. All of the experts know each other, and we all have our individual and private styles in the creation of magical foci. We can see the differences in the craftsmanship and feel the magic of each wand we encounter to identify which wandmaker created it, the same as you can tell the difference between a dog and a cat."
They sat in silence for another few minutes before they spotted Lyra returning along with everyone else, all of them riding on the Scamanders' giant flying carpet, including Dougal and Whispers. When they arrived, the carpet stayed hovering as they all stepped off of it onto the outside of the crater.
"Lyra said you're investigating some kind of secrecy spell on the hoohoo nest?" Nestor asked.
Pelayo responded, "I can't see any of the birds in the nesting area. Harry mentioned that you, Brandt, couldn't see any of them either until Harry pointed them out, is that correct?"
Brandt nodded slowly, "Harry pointed one out to me right away, but as soon as he did, I noticed a dozen more that should have been obvious to me immediately."
Nestor nodded, "Now that you mention it, my team had a similar experience. We didn't have someone point them out, but it took weeks before they started to appear for us. We visited regularly to collect dropped feathers and any ash we could find, and one day, we could just see all of them."
Newt joined the discussion, "That sounds like selective invisibility, like a thestral. Either they have to trust you or be identified by someone that they already do trust."
Brandt made a face, then turned to Newt, "Mr. Scamander, you and your wife haven't been up here before, can you take a look and see if you can see them?"
They nodded and crept up to the edge and looked over. They looked around and it was obvious from their expressions and their continued searching that they couldn't see any. They crept back down to the group and shrugged to confirm Brandt's suspicions.
"Wait," Lyra said, "I know that when we went to see them the first time, The Giver didn't point them out to us. We saw them right away."
That silenced everyone for a moment before Tina looked at her husband and said, "Unicorns?"
Newt nodded, "Maybe... " then explained. "Unicorns will normally be more friendly with children than adults. Maybe as children, you weren't any kind of threat. We would need to bring more children here to test that theory."
"I have another theory to test," Brandt said. "The hoohoo patriarch attacked me, so it's obvious he doesn't trust me. Let me try to break the secrecy spell for Newt and Tina to see if it can be revealed by someone untrustworthy to the hoohoos."
Everyone thought that was a good idea and Pelayo turned away from the ridge and closed his eyes as Brandt led Newt and Tina up to the edge and started pointing out the birds that he could see. They came back down after less than thirty seconds to report that Brandt could not reveal the birds to the two Scamanders.
"So you two will need to show me the birds," Pelayo said to the children.
Harry and Lyra both looked at each other, and then said simultaneously, "No, we won't."
"What?" Pelayo said angrily, then yelled, "I am making a wand for that creature and showing him how to use it, and you were showing me the hoohoo nest. That was the deal!"
Harry and Lyra both responded to his aggression by their staves jumping out of their pouches. Harry started to grind his staff into the ground which gave him strength but made Pelayo crumple to the ground.
"No, it was not the deal," Harry said with as much venom in his voice as he could manage. "The deal was that you would provide a wand and instruct The Giver, and we would let you visit the hoohoo nest to collect feathers." Brandt had his wand out in case they needed backup.
"Nestor said that after being here for weeks, the hoohoos revealed themselves on their own. If you want to collect their feathers, you can do the same thing." Lyra told him as her hair started to give off sparks. "You can earn their trust, just as he and his team did."
"Do you still want this deal?" Harry asked as he stopped grinding his staff and allowed the man to stand back up.
Pelayo looked like he wanted to draw his wand, but noticed the others all focused on his response, "We will keep the same deal."
Brandt stepped up, "Good, then we expect The Giver's wand to be completed on schedule, and not delayed by any lack of success you have with the hoohoos."
"And I think you should leave now, to start working on it," Harry said. "We can arrange for you to see the Lampong when The Giver has received some training and we are back after school is out."
Pelayo did not look happy, though there was nothing he could do about it, so he just got on his carpet and flew off. Everyone watched him leave and when he was above the water, outside the wards, he vanished.
Dream Casting:
Old Man Pelayo - James Hong