Derkholm is the residence of Derk and his family. It is in Dark Lord of Derkholm, and Year of the Griffin.

Derk is a wizard who plays with genetics, and among his children are five griffins, Lydda, Don, Calette, Kit, and Elda. He has two winged children Angelo and Florence, and has two regular children, Blade and Shona. Blade, Kit and Elda are wizards, Calette is a

painter, Shona is a musician, and Lydda is married.

In sight, just a few feet away was a large house. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Lupin watched as Chrestomanci walked up to the house and knocked on the door.

Realizing that no one was behind him, he waved at them to follow him. Cautiously, they followed him.

As soon as the others had reached Chrestomanci, the large door swung open and standing in the doorway was a huge, yellow griffin. Fighting the urge to run, Harry looked over at Chrestomanci, who seemed

perfectly calm.

"Hello, Elda. Could I talk to your father, please?" asked Chresomanci, perfectly polite.

"Okay," said the griffin, Elda, in a piercing voice.

"DAD!" she yelled over her shoulder. "There's someone here to see you!"

Harry, Ron and Hermione exchanged startled glances.

Ron muttered under his breath about talking yellow lions with wings. Lupin jumped when he heard the griffin's voice and shrank into a large wolf. Moments later he returned to human form, and Harry Ron and Hermione came out from behind Chrestomanci.

"What was that?" Lupin asked, stunned. "That wasn't like any transformation I've ever had."

"This world has werewolves different from your world's werewolves. Here, werewolves can change their forms as freely as Animagi, but often do so in times of surprise and stress. Now that you are in this world, you take on the characteristics of the werewolves here,' Chrestomanci explained. As if on an afterthought, he turned to the three young wizards behind him.

"That goes for you three too. Here the magic shapes your magic but does not completely change it. Magic in this world is more manipulative because it is a highway for all kinds of worlds, and the boundaries between other worlds here are thin. It is more changing with magic that is more of a natural thing than a spell. This is why you changed, Lupin,"

Chrestomanci expanded, turning once more to the werewolf.

The griffin, Elda, clacked her beak impatiently, and they followed her, and Harry caught a whisper that sounded like "…crazy off-world wizards…"

They entered a room where three other griffins, two winged kids, and three humans were sitting. The oldest of the humans got up, looking questioningly at Elda.

"What is it, Elda?" The man started to ask, and then caught sight of Chrestomanci. He seemed to slump, as though Chrestomanci was the grim reaper himself. I know how that feels, Harry thought in sympathy.

"Hello, Derk," Chrestomanci said pleasantly. "Can I borrow yourself, Blade and Kit for awhile?" Derk looked for a second as though he wanted to refuse, but

Chrestomanci waved a piece of paper, and Derk's resistance fell apart.

"All right. Blade, Kit, let's go." A gigantic black griffin and the youngest looking human got up, bemused, but followed Derk and Chrestomanci. The youngest human fell in beside Harry and asked;

"Where are we going? And who is that?" He asked, pointing at Chrestomanci.

"Well, that's Chrestomanci, but I have no idea where we are going," Harry said. The man grinned.

"I'm Blade by the way," he said, offering his hand.

Harry shook it, saying,

"I'm Harry Potter." Blade nodded, but did not seem particularly amazed, and his eyes certainly did not look at Harry's scar. Harry found it refreshing to not be recognized. Maybe he could get used to different worlds. "I'm sorry, I don't know where we're going.

Its your house." Blade looked sheepish.

"Yeah, sorry. I should know where we're going, if it is my house."

They came to the same hillside that they had arrived at, all the while Chrestomanci and Derk arguing all the way. It seemed like Chrestomanci had finally convinced Derk when they reached the top of the hill.

"All right, then, Chrestomanci, what do you need?"

"Well, you see, Harry here has a bit of a problem. He and his friends are conducting, planning, et cetera, a war, and since you three have some experience with those and recruiting, I'm afraid we'll need you.

They've got to take on a large portion of the

wizarding population of their world, and keep about half of their world ignorant. Think you're up for it."

This last bit definitely wasn't a question. Derk,

Blade, and Kit looked ready to argue, but Chrestomanci waved the paper again, and they gave in, each one nodding reluctantly.

"All right, you win. Nothing against you, boy, but we don't exactly want to leave." Derk said. Harry nodded, understanding. He wouldn't want to leave, in Derk's place; he would feel the same way.

"Well, are we ready to go? I think we should do this in groups of two. Since we need somebody who can travel between worlds in each group, so we'll have

Hermione and Blade, Kit and Ron, Derk and Lupin, and

I'll take Harry. Is that agreeable to everyone? Kit, Blade, keep in contact with each other--maybe you four should stick together until you get the hang of this."

Dumbstruck, they all nodded. Chrestomanci handed each of the groups a list, explaining how to find each person, and what to say to convince them when they do.

At last Chrestomanci nodded at them all and added,

"When we're done collecting each person, lets meet at

Grimmauld Place, to get everyone comfortable." Again the rest of them nodded, and they started to get the gates to the other worlds open.