((Disclaimer on the prologue at the bottom. Still open for pairing suggestions if you have any at this point. They are welcome. This story is not a prequel of any kind, and yes Raven is Danny. He changed his name after… Well. That is a story for later.))
Professor Severus T. Snape, Potions Master and Professor of Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry and Head of Slytherin House, walked through the open air market silently and unnoticed by the locals. He passed by the rows of stalls, barely even glancing at the many magical and muggle common goods and treasures that were being sold, bought, and traded on either side of the dower man. He didn't have the time to explore and search, he was a man on a mission that could not be ignored.
Severus fixed his abyss black eyes on the stiff back of Professor Minerva McGonagall, the Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts, the Head of Gryffindor House, and the Transfiguration Professor of Hogwarts. His abyss-black eyes slide to the man that was leader them, the Mayor of Shadow Beech, Leo Lame (la-mey) Bellator (bell-a-tour), who was now leading the Hogwarts professors through The Shadows' Travel Market for the first two miles or so from Shadow Beech until they could get to the Mayor's personal stables to get horses so they could ride to their true destination.
Mayor Bellator was not a tall man nor was he a short man by any means. The little light that came from the various stalls made the man's medium length hair look like a curtain of pure gold tied back in a horse tail on the man's head, allowing the foot of hair to swing in a mesmerizing way as the Major walked. Severus looked in distaste at the man's casual muggle clothes, not really understanding how a pureblood wizard can be comfortable in faded brown jeans with a light vest on top of a long sleeve, white button down. The only thing that made the outfit better were the knee high, dragon skin boots.
'Though...' Severus thought, as he observed the surrounding shoppers and sellers that were dressed none too differently from the Major of Shadow Beech, with tunics being quite popular as well and only with the occasional over robe or cloak were seen. 'This mixture of wizarding and muggle culture and lifestyle seems to be normal here in Shadow's Wood.'
The Shadow's Travel Market was about a hundred and fifty miles long with the trail being ten yards wide, connecting Shadow Beech, a magical village, to Shadow's Creek, a magically-aware muggle town. The merchandise sold there in the Market was numerous and unorganized, ranging from foreign muggle books to illegally-made wands and flying brooms. The whole market was contained within a tunnel of trees where little to no sunlight could get through the dense redwood forest and the majority of the light came from the various lamps that contained enchanted fire of various types and were hung from the various stalls that they passed, thus the reason for the name of the forest that the Market resided in was named Shadow's Wood.
The forest, Shadow's Wood, had a story of it's own, as it wasn't only known for the open-air market that ran through it. Shadow's Wood was the largest and darkest magical forest in all of Europe, known for not letting anyone out alive. No one has ever documented the species of tree that the majority of the forest was comprised of, for anyone that went beyond the border never came out. It was recorded, however, that they natives called the trees Shadow Beeches, as they had the basic form and structure, but were taller, thicker, and darker in coloration. The market was the only safe zone within the forest, but no one can understand why the forest would allow a market to go though it but not allow anyone within the forest itself. Many brave and stupid people have tried to find out the reason for this, and those that were reckless enough to enter the forest itself have never been seen since they entered. The forest itself was unplottable, and the only known way to get there was either through one of the two towns/villages that were connected to it or by being lead to the forest's edge by a centaur or vampire, as they are the only documented magical beings or creatures to lead a human to the forest. Many have tried to find other ways, but none were successful. The Shadow's Wood has become one of the greatest mysteries of the Magical and Muggle worlds.
The towns of Shadow Beech and Shadow's Creek were just as mysterious. The wizarding town of Shadow Beech was unlike any other wizarding village or town Severus had ever seen. The culture was so unlike that of any other village that he had come across and seemed to be completely cut off from any Ministry or the ICW. They were extremely open minded and their laws were few and far, but they were strict and without loopholes; the native languages of the otherworldly town was French, Latin, and Greek. It was just plain embarrassing for the adults when they couldn't communicate with a small child, barely out of toddler age, because said child only spoke in Latin and not English. And when they did find a teenager that could speak English, they were completely thrown out of their depth when the teen started to explain that there was no true currency in the both the towns or the market, instead merchandise wasn't normally sold or bought but was traded, (thankfully they weren't too averse to taking Galleons, Sickles and Knuts,) and that it was traditional for the children of Shadow's Wood to pick up at least two different crafts. That teen was very proud of the fact that he was already known as the best blacksmith and leather worker of his generation as well as a weapons master, he had also proceeded to gush (shamelessly gush) over that fact that his "adorable littlest sister" was a genius wood carver and that her mentors were very proud to have her as a student and that said sister was only nine years old. Not to mention the other four younger siblings that the teen says he has, since he is the oldest, and the other dozens of cousins that he has and then proceeded to brag about. (Apparently, the teen has mentored and trained several of his cousins and one of his siblings, making him feel like he was more of an uncle than a distant cousin.) It came as a shock when they found out that the teen was the eldest son of Mayor Bellator and that the small child that could only speak Latin was said teen's smallest cousin. It had been a bit embarrassing for both parties involved when Mayor Bellator asked his son for the names of Hogwarts' Diplomatic Team, only to realise that neither party had given out any of their names.
Looking back at Mayor Bellator and Minerva in front of him, he wondered about the circumstances that had brought them here. About two days ago, (one month into the new school year,) Hogwarts had started to write acceptance letters on it's own accord, causing a stir with the staff as all of the addresses had been written to either Shadow Beech, Shadow's Creek, or Shadow's Wood itself. It was shocking, as there had been no record of any child going to Hogwarts that came from any of these locations, much less a letter being sent to them. And since Shadow's Wood and the two towns didn't fall under any Ministry, they were considered their own small country or nation, making communications with the villages much harder than it should be.
So they had to go in person. Easier said than done.
Everyone wanted to go. The Headmaster wanted to go. The professors wanted to go. The School Board wanted to go. The Minister wanted to go. Severus pinched the bridge of his (newly fixed) nose as he felt the same headache he had felt at the time coming back, as he remembered having to take control of the situation so that a party would actually go. He ended up making arrangements so the a pair of perfects and one representative from each house would go along with their head of house. The prefects going would be decided by the heads, while the representative would be voted for by the house itself. The fact that the Malfoy Lord (Lucius fucking Malfoy) decided to come as well, much to the ever increasing headache that Severus now sported.
Severus look back to the rest of the group behind him, and took in the complete chaos that would their "little" diplomatic party. With Minerva in front of him with the Mayor, there was also the Pomona Sprout, Herbology Professor and Head of Hufflepuff House, and Professor Filius Flitwick, Charms Professor and Head of Ravenclaw House; both of which were walking behind him and observing the market and the locals, both looking absolutely fascinated at the culture and curious at the interactions between species. He then observed the children that they had brought as well. There was Miss Femke Travers, the Slytherin Representative, that was being flanked by Mervyn Wynch and Gemma Farley, the Slytherin Prefects that he had picked, who was also observing the Market while still making conversation with one of the female teen locals and Mayor Bellator's son that had decided to accompany them. From what he could hear, they were comparing customs and lifestyles of the pureblooded English wizards/witches and the locals here. Severus was soon distracted by the laughter of Cedric Diggory, Hufflepuff Representative, and Terra Gellings, one of the Gryffindor Prefects, as they listened to the ramblings of some of the local kids that were following them. Perseus Weasley, the other Gryffindor Prefect, Oliver Wood, Gryffindor Representative and Quidditch Team Captain, and the two Ravenclaw Prefects, Jake Flinton and Penelope Clearwater, were asking about the types of jobs and sports that were available here in the Market and the towns connected to them to a pair of young adults that, again, had decided to join in on their journey. The Hufflepuff Prefects, Gabriel Truman and Alexia Freawalker, and the Ravenclaw Representative, Alexandria Twellings, were doing the same as his House's Representative and Prefects, but were focused mostly about religion and laws and how they were inforced to a middle aged man that was quite obviously armed. Severus knew that all of the students were going to be trading facts later, it was one of the reasons that he and the other Heads were willing to take these specific group of students with them, it was because they were willing to get along for a common goal. And then there was the Malfoy Lord, who was talking about the politics and economics of the Market with a middle age woman that had an impressive claw scar on the right side of her face that disappeared into her sleeveless turtleneck.
"Ah."
Severus's eyes snapped to Mayor Bellator as he heard the sound. The Mayor had a satisfied smile on his face as he gazed into the distance. The Mayor hummed a bit before looking back at the students and their tag alongs. Though judging from his pleased eyes, they were very much appreciated.
"We are almost there, just a few more feet till you can see the stables more clearly."
Their tag alongs suddenly ran past him and then the Mayor and Minerva, startling everyone but said Mayor, who simply smiled and chuckled a bit. We watched them sprint and jog about two meters before turning sharply to the left and seemingly disappearing into the trees. Some of the students gasped as well as the two female Heads, as they remembered the warnings about entering the forest and watched as their new found friends seemingly disappeared into said forest.
The Mayor simply chuckled a bit at them before picking up the pace and Severus and his fellow Hogwarts diplomats raced to keep up with the blond man. Lucius coming up beside him with a determined and grim look in his silver eyes, it seemed that he had noticed the same thing that Severus had as well. And they were not amused by what seemed to be a joke. They were not amused.
Mayor Bellator was the much faster than they had assumed, as he had made it around the corner (that everyone could see now) before anyone could get within three feet of him. The quidditch players were the next to turn around the corner, as they were they the most physically fit of the group, only a few seconds after the Mayor. Severus and Lucius were next, but they had to pull up short to keep from knocking into the stunned bodies of the quidditch teens that they were met with. Unfortunately, that did not save them from the people that couldn't stop fast enough from hitting them, and therefore sending everyone to the (surprisingly soft) grassy floor.
Chuckling was heard over the cursing and squeaking from the pile of Hogwarts students/teachers/alumni. Severus looked up from the pile that he had just extracted himself from to see that the Mayor was just barely keeping himself from laughing out right. Severus growled a bit on the inside. He really didn't appreciate the lack of help.
Mayor Bellator chuckled a bit before taking a deep breath, watching as the last of the Hogwarts students and alumni stood up. He hadn't thought that it would be so much fun when the Prostátis had told his son (who then told him, his father) that the centaurs had told him that people would come with news that would change the future and their way of life. Leo had feared for the worst in the beginning, for the Prostátis had not indicated whether or not the news would cause good or bad changes. But now, after interacting with this… "Diplomatic Party of Hogwarts" he didn't feel threatened in the least, and was looking forward to seeing their reactions to the Prostátis and the glade.
Leo smirked in a way that revealed why he was named after the kig cat of Africa, sending a shiver down the spines of the more instinctual members of the Hogwarts party.
Severus eyed the smirking Mayor with some form of unease. He really should have stayed at the castle.
((Okay, so what do you think? I'm a bit iffy on whether I should give them wagons, carriages, or force the ignorant Hogwarts students and co to ride the horses, since I don't think that wagons or carriages could fit in the Market… Any way, the current time period in Harry's second year, so yeah… Suggestions, likes, dislikes, errors that you want me to fix, pairing suggestions, etc. are to be left in the comments. Thank you for reading.))