Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Four: Gone Without a Trace

Daphne woke up feeling very excited. It had been two days since her and Ginny's arrival at Valentina's camp, and Valentina had told them that today, they would be able to perform the ritual to break the Trace on Ginny, or mask it, or whatever it was Valentina intended to do.

Over the past days, Valentina had mostly been muttering in Italian, consulting thick tomes written in various scripts, and writing down long series of calculations and notes in equally varied scripts. Occasionally, she'd left the campsite on her broom a couple of times, likely to be able to perform magic without accidentally triggering the Trace, and now the time had finally come.

Daphne and Ginny exited their tent to find Valentina already waiting for them.

"We'll need to travel a short distance away," she said. "I have set up a ritual circle there. It's hidden by a Muggle-repelling charm, so no one should bother us while we work. The ritual will take some time to perform, but it shouldn't be more than two hours or so. You can leave the tent here; it won't be discovered."

"Won't anyone spot us flying there?" Ginny asked.

Valentina shook her head. "No. There aren't that many people around here, and the circle isn't far from here."

Daphne and Ginny retrieved their brooms, and moments later they were in the air, following Valentina in what appeared to be a northern direction.

Only minutes later they already began their descent, and Daphne could see the ritual circle ahead of her. It had been carved into the ground itself and consisted of seven concentric rings, between each of which were seven runes. In the very center of the circles was another rune. They landed at the edge of the ritual circle.

"Ginny, you should stand in the center of the circle," Valentina said. "I will apply a countercharm to the Trace layer by layer. When the ritual is done, the Trace will not be able to interact with you anymore. The charm will be within you, so it cannot be undone by regular spells, meaning you won't have to worry about it being accidentally broken or removed. It can be broken, but it would be exceedingly difficult and someone would have to know to try it, in addition to fully understanding the charm itself."

Ginny nodded slowly. "Alright. So, for all intents and purposes, the Trace will be broken?" she asked.

"Yes. You'll be able to use whatever magic you want," Valentina said.

Ginny shot a last look at Daphne, and then she took her place in the center of the ritual circle. It was only now that Daphne remembered that she'd seen this exact scene in her Divination O.W.L. Everything that happened after had pushed it from her mind. That memory made her realize she'd seen some other things that hadn't looked like Harry's future during that same session, which would take place before the final vision of Harry in the clearing.

"Daphne, you should stay well outside the outermost circle," Valentina instructed, shaking Daphne from her thoughts. "If you're interested, you can try to use your Divination to observe the way the magic flows during the ritual. You should see that the patterns you noticed two days ago will return here during the ritual."

"I don't think I can keep that sort of concentration for two hours straight," Daphne said. "But I'll try anyway."

She walked a short distance away from the circle and observed how Valentina stood on the northernmost rune in the outer circle. She began to chant in a language Daphne had never heard before, and though nothing seemed to be happening, something told Daphne that shouldn't be trying to see anything, but rather to feel.

She closed her eyes and tried to focus in the same way she'd done two days earlier. Knowing what to look for, and not standing in the noisy detection magic around Valentina's tent, it was relatively easy to pick up on the golden wave of the Trace.

She could also see, however, something that looked like a very faint, dark blue line. It wasn't quite a wave, more like a haze, but it seemed to occupy the exact same non-space the Trace wave did. Daphne could still hear Valentina chanting, and though she couldn't understand what was being said, she did hear that the chant seemed to contain separate verses, and at the end of each verse, the blue haze pulsed faintly.

After seven verses, Valentina fell silent for a moment, and then she began to chant again. The pulse at the end of each verse was a bit different now, as if it was centered on a different part of the haze, and Daphne presumed that Valentina had moved to the second rune.

Indeed, when she opened her eyes, she saw that Valentina had indeed begun to move clockwise around the circle. With open eyes, it still looked like nothing at all was happening. Ginny, in the center of the circle, looked a bit awkward, which Daphne could completely understand. Standing there, not doing anything, and likely not feeling much, either, couldn't be the most riveting of activities.

The ritual went on, and Valentina moved further around the outer circle. Daphne had realized by now that she was using the same seven verses on each rune, and her occasional checks of the waves showed that the haze was beginning to condense the tiniest bit.

When the last rune in the outer circle had been cleared, Valentina moved on to the second circle. The verses here were different, seemingly in a different language altogether, and the pulses in the blue haze were correspondingly shaped differently as well.

As Valentina progressed through the runes and circles, it seemed like a faint breeze was beginning to pick up in the ritual circle itself, which flared up briefly at the end of each of verse. When Valentina cleared the last rune in the innermost circle, it looked like there was a whirlwind within the ritual circle, though Daphne felt nothing of it. Reaching out with feelings showed that the blue haze had coalesced into a wave of its own, now 'wrestling' with the Trace wave.

Valentina grabbed Ginny's hands and began to chant once more. The whirlwind spiraled madly, whipping Valentina's and Ginny's robes around without disturbing even a grain of sand outside the circles.

When Valentina began her seventh verse, Daphne closed her eyes, focusing on the magic. The verse ended, and the blue wave pulsed so brightly it overshadowed all the other magic in the air — and then it was gone completely.

Daphne opened her eyes and saw that the whirlwind had vanished as well. She blinked uncertainly. Had the ritual worked or not?

Valentina beckoned her over and Daphne quickly ran over to her and Ginny.

"Daphne, take Ginny's hands," Valentina instructed. "Ginny, just like two days ago, I want you to think about the name while Daphne looks at the magic of the Trace."

Daphne looked up the Trace again and immediately noticed that it didn't seem to slow down anymore around Ginny, at least nowhere nearly as noticeable as before. Then, small parts of the golden Trace wave pulsed dark blue.

"I see blue pulses in the golden wave, but it doesn't burst out anymore," Daphne said. "It doesn't seem to be slow, either."

"Bene!" Valentina said happily. "That means the ritual was successful, and I managed to place the countercharm successfully. Now, Ginny, take out your wand and cast Lumos. Daphne, hold her other hand and watch what happens," she went on.

Daphne felt Ginny reach into her pocket and withdraw her wand.

"Lumos!" Ginny said.

Immediately, a wide part of the golden wave turned blue momentarily, but nothing broke or disturbed it, there wasn't even a ripple.

Daphne reported what she had observed, and Valentina cheered out loud. "It's done, then! My calculations were correct!" she said.

She looked at Daphne, beaming. "And it was your observation that gave me the right direction! Thank you, Daphne Greengrass, thank you for enabling me to do this. You may not realize it, but I have learned a great deal about some very fundamental magic here. This will enable me to do my job even better in the future…I can already see the possibilities now…I was truly fortunate to meet you, it seems."

Daphne felt a bit embarrassed by all the praise, all the more because she still didn't really understand what she'd done at all. Even so…

"We can finally go and find Harry and the others!" she said excitedly.

Ginny nodded, grinning wider than Daphne had ever seen her do, even after the final perfect game of her last Quidditch season. She pointed her wand at her broom, which lay next to Daphne's outside of the ritual circle.

"Accio!" she said, and the broom zoomed into her hand. "Oh, it feels so good to be able to use magic again…Valentina, thank you so much for this! I don't know how I can ever repay you…"

Valentina, however, waved her away. "You already have," she said. "I wouldn't dream of charging anything for this; I got far more out of this than you have, I assure you, and like I told Daphne the first time we met, I do not lack money. Understanding magic is what I strive to do, and you have helped me get a deeper understanding of how everything fits together.

"I would, however, be happy for your assistance in clearing up the ritual circle. While it would be useless to anyone else — this ritual was tailored to you specifically, after all — I still wouldn't want to leave such a mess behind. As I simply used Defodio to gouge out the runes and circles, a simple Reparo should be all that's necessary to put things back the way they were."

Ginny nodded immediately. "Gladly," she said.

She pointed her wand at the rune she was standing on.

"Reparo!" she said, and the ground pulled itself back together, leaving it looking like it had never been disturbed at all.

She looked at Daphne, and without regard for the fact that Valentina was still there, threw her arms around Daphne's neck and kissed her. Daphne was startled, but happily kissed her back.

"Thanks for not giving up even when I did…" Ginny said softly. When Daphne wanted to reply, however, she held up her hand and said, "But regardless of the outcome now, please think about my wishes next time you plan something, okay? Things worked out and I'm happier than I can tell you, but remember what I told you in the hotel."

Daphne nodded slowly. "I will," she promised.

"I must admit that seeing people so happy after I help them is a reward in its own right as well," Valentina said.

Daphne smiled at her, and then drew her wand to help clearing up the circle. With the three of them working together, it took only a few minutes to get everything sorted, after which Valentina lifted the Muggle-repelling charm on the area.

Daphne looked at Ginny. "I'm sure you'll fly back to the camp, but if you don't mind, I'm Apparating, now that I can again."

To Daphne's surprise, however, Ginny said, "I'll go with you by Side-Along Apparition." She grinned. "You flew over four hours to get here, all for me. And Apparating is safer anyway, since there will be less chance of someone spotting us."

"Be sure to Apparate outside of my enchantments," Valentina warned. "Otherwise you will have a bad day."

"Thanks for the warning," Daphne said.

She and Ginny walked over to Daphne's broom — Ginny was already holding hers, of course — and Daphne picked it up and grabbed Ginny's hand. She focused on the campsite and turned on the spot, and an uncomfortable moment later they appeared there.

"Oh, this is so much better," Daphne said, feeling more relieved than she'd done in days.

"Can you Apparate us all the way back to London from here, though?" Ginny asked.

Daphne sighed. "No, probably not," she admitted. "It becomes more difficult over large distances. I think the best I can do is maybe fifty miles or so…"

"That's not a problem," Valentina, who had just Apparated in herself, said. "I will make a Portkey for you. I know London quite well, both magical and Muggle, so name a place, and I will create a Portkey to that location. I'm sure that, since you've already broken the law by having this ritual performed in the first place, you won't mind doing it again?" she asked with a smirk.

Daphne grinned at her. "Not in the slightest," she assured Valentina. She looked at Ginny. "Where should we go?" she asked.

Ginny thought for a moment. "How about…Grimmauld Place?" she suggested.

Daphne frowned. "Is that…safe? I mean…"

Ginny nodded. "I know, but where else? Portkeying into King's Cross or Diagon Alley is just too dangerous right now, and Grimmauld Place should still be fine; they set up other defenses against Snape, after all."

Daphne nodded. "Yeah, that's true. And if we run into trouble we can just Apparate away from there," she said.

She turned to Valentina, who immediately said, "If you tell me where in London this 'Grimmauld Place' is, I can make the Portkey to it. I've never been there, but if you give me something of an itinerary I can position it correctly regardless."

Daphne and Ginny exchanged a look, and then gave Valentina description of the route from King's Cross to Grimmauld Place, which Valentina followed with her eyes closed.

"…and then right," she repeated. "Okay, that's easy enough."

She looked around and picked up a pebble from the ground, which she put on the small table outside her tent. She pointed her wand at it and said, "Portus!"

The pebble briefly glowed blue and then lay still again.

"Done. Once you've packed your tent, you can just take the Portkey out of here." She smiled warmly at Daphne and Ginny. "Whatever your intentions are from here on out, I hope we cross paths again some day."

"So do I," Daphne said, holding out her hand.

Valentina shook it, and then Ginny's, after which Daphne and Ginny took down their tent and stuffed both it and their brooms into Daphne's bag.

"Oh, Daphne, before you go," Valentina said, and Daphne looked up. "You should really consider becoming a curse breaker when you finish school. If it interests you at all, seek me out. I will happily teach you what I know."

"I've never taken Arithmancy or Ancient Runes, though…" Daphne said uneasily.

Valentina made a dismissive gesture. "That doesn't matter. I never formally studied those subjects, either. I simply experimented a lot and learned on the job. You don't have to decide anything right now, just know that I would be glad to have a gifted Seer as an apprentice," she said.

Daphne felt her face heating up a bit. "Well, er, thank you," she said awkwardly. "I'll certainly keep it in mind."

Valentina grinned at her, then gestured at the pebble. "Well, then I wish you a safe trip, and good luck on your further travels."

"Same to you. Thank you," Daphne said, and Ginny did the same.

Then, they looked at each other, and at the same time, put a finger on the pebble, and then they were pulled forward, back to London.

And so, finally, Ginny's Trace has been dealt with. Now, on to the rest of the story. Back to the Stations of the Canon? Well…not entirely, but you will see that tomorrow.