~oo00oo~
Chapter 13
Transition, Greece
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―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
3 February 1985
She always knew, it was a little scary. But maybe that was magic.
After we drove to Paris in the Carriage, I got to fly for the very first time. It was amazing. By the time we got to Greece it was late evening and we went to the campsite to set up. There were people doing magic all over the place. And some people had tents that looked just like houses! We had dinner at this pub, it was called The Lady of the Gleaming Eyes. I'd never had food like that before and Grandma Bella wanted us to each try a little of everything.
Food on a stick is the best kind of food.
The campsite was very big and I couldn't imagine how it all kept hidden, but she said it was just like how the alleys were hidden. We wandered around for a while cause she wanted to make sure I could find my way back to our spot no matter what if I got lost in there. I think I could do it just fine.
So far we've seen lots of temples and amphitheaters and the Acropolis. Today we saw the changing of the guard in front of the Greek Parliament building. She told me all about how they wear a kind of kilt and have fluffy things on their shoes. I wasn't going to laugh, but she thought I would. They do a big ceremony with people in real uniforms and the ones in the traditional ones. They did a funny marching walk too, like a dance. I want to see the guards at the palace when we go back home though, cause they have big tall fluffy hats.
My nightmares aren't so good lately and every night I've had one. She always comes in to check on me when I do. It's strange. And the first time it happened I wasn't sure why she was there and I was scared and I didn't know what to do. But after that it's a sort of weird feeling of being scary and okay at the same time.
She holds me. And she runs her fingers through my hair. And she says it's okay cause she's there. Sometimes that makes me cry and I don't know why. Cause it felt nice. Like something Aunt Petunia would do for Dudley.
I was worried she wouldn't want me anymore, too much of a bother. But she keeps showing up every night. Course having nightmares every night isn't so nice, but it's nice that she's there.
Tonight she brought me hot chocolate with whipped cream on it. She thought it might make me feel better after a scary dream. I don't really remember the dreams, just that it's frightening and I don't like it.
The drink was nice too.
I can't wait for tomorrow.
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―==(oIo)==―
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3 February 1985
The mug was warm in my hands, but I did not drink.
This was supposed to be a way to ease us into our new relationship. I purposely scheduled an easy beginning where we would only do the tourist things in and around Athens, then head out to the magical district inside Mt Olympus. Compared to the plans I had prepared for Egypt, our time in Athens would be slow and leisurely.
I sighed into my mug again. I had made hot chocolate tonight in the hopes that it would help. Maybe it did, or maybe I was just hoping that it did.
Since we made it out to Greece, Harry had not slept through a single night. He never cried out. He barely even made a sound. If it weren't for Avira I would never have known how awful it was.
I had asked Avira to put wards throughout the trunk that would alert me if Harry were ever frightened. I had been planning for future events and possibilities, worrying over Harry being alone and afraid without a way to contact me. Perhaps taken by someone against his will and unable to call out. It was straight up paranoia. Except there really were people that would be out to get us.
She had made a small token that would warm and vibrate for as long as he was frightened. She had reasoned that everyone can have a fright some time, it doesn't mean that something is necessarily wrong. If it buzzed for a longer, more noticeable amount of time then something might be wrong.
I think he must have been having the nightmares when he was at the house on Wisteria too.
I didn't know how to help him.
I didn't know what it was that was giving him these nightmares either. Was it the leech in his scar? The torment and abuse of the Dursleys? Was it my fault?
Harry never talked about what his dreams were and I thought pushing wasn't the right course of action.
I had never been a parent.
I had barely even been an aunt.
What could I possibly know about raising children?
Was I really the best choice? Or was I just as arrogant as Albus, thinking that I knew best and my way was the only way.
I was falling apart over a mug of hot chocolate in the kitchen of a suitcase in a magical campsite in Greece.
How had my life even come to this?
The tears were flowing freely by the time the mug cooled in my hands.
I know the circumstances of how I became a parent are rather unique, but does every parent feel this way? Does every parent think that they can do nothing right? That they ruined something that was supposed to be wonderful for their child? It was only going to get more difficult, I think.
I washed my face and made my way to my bedroom thinking I might be able to get a few hours of sleep still.
I was just so bone wearyingly tired.
Every night after long days enjoying ourselves in the narrow winding streets and broken monuments of an ancient civilization we would come back to the suitcase. Sometimes we would putter around. Harry especially liked the flower and vegetable gardens that Avira had included for him. I would usually read or go through the correspondence sent through the post box. Then we would get ready for bed, I was reading him bedtime stories every night.
After an hour or two the token would heat and buzz as Harry became frightened in his sleep. I would go back in and wake him gently. After I managed to wake him I would usually hold him and card my fingers through his hair, rocking him as he cried. Tonight I brought him a cup of hot chocolate. I had made one for each of us before realizing it would be too difficult for me to drink and hold him at the same time.
He looked so small when he thanked me after I tucked him back in to bed, shining in the light of the orb I had given him. He called it his little moon.
I had wanted to be Auntie Bella, but with how awful Petunia was I had leaned him more and more towards Grandma. I only minded a little bit. I suppose I was technically old enough to have such a young grandson. It was only when we were in disguise that he would sometimes call me something else.
I think in the morning I will write to Clinkscale about those psychotherapy services that were in the book. We might both need to make use of them.
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―==(oIo)==―
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4 February 1985
I had to make sure that I was up before Harry as I had noticed he had trouble not making breakfast. It was like a knee jerk reaction to think that he would get in trouble if he didn't make it. I had started doing this while we were still in Wisteria and since he was still having nightmares every night I thought it best to continue.
As I walked into the kitchen I was reminded that Avira Pillai was truly the best find ever.
The inside of the suitcase had been transformed into including a stunning thatch roofed cottage and large garden. There were several bedrooms, an office, play room, living room, and a kitchen. Everything was wonderfully laid out and used charged runes to work. This meant that I could touch a button or turn a knob and get things like lighting or the stove to work. Impressive as that was, the garden was what had me crowing over my latest contact.
There were roses growing around the door and up the walls of the cottage. A picture perfect garden filled with the colors of asters, bumble bee primrose, Russian sage, coneflowers, wild indigo, lady's mantle, and more in the front of the cottage. A little stone table in the center with stone benches ringed around it, the prairie smoke surrounding them giving it all a dreamy feel. The ladder that pulled up and out of the suitcase so that one could enter had little halos of flowers wrapped around it so that one entered this little haven in the midst of an enchanting garden.
There was a small path that wound its way to the back garden where a good portion was devoted to vegetables. Harry could grow anything he liked, but Avira had already planted several funny varieties. She was probably hoping to give Harry a laugh, but he was taking it all very seriously.
The whole vegetable garden was made up of normal vegetables that had been bred into interesting colors. Things like black pumpkins called Dark Knight and Purple Sweet Bell Peppers. There were purple potatoes growing under ground next to Turkish Black carrots. The Purple Queen bush beans were hanging on a trellis next to the Ananas Noire tomatoes, which were actually colored in vivid greens and reds. It was basically a garden of all the fun and strange colored mundane foods she could find. I loved it.
The vegetable plots didn't take up all of the area behind the house, however, and Avira had added a little delight for both of us. A pond! It had several different kinds of fish in it and a small boat that could float out into the middle and back on its own power. It was the perfect place to start getting Harry more comfortable with water before we went home to Little Whinging where we would be using the new pool to exercise.
As I pulled out the potions Harry and I needed to take every morning and set them next to our places at the table, I couldn't help but think about all the changes happening back in Little Whinging and elsewhere. Avira had not initially been on the team to redo the houses, we hadn't even known that she existed at that time. I had only mentioned the work she was doing on the suitcase in passing while in one of the meetings with Master Clinkscale. We were trying to come up with businesses that Harry could invest in that were on the magical side of the divide. I had thought we could invest in her business, get her better marketing and her business would easily outstrip her competition.
It turned out that Gringotts already had a file on Avira Pillai. She impressed them so much with her abilities that they had a file for potential recruitment, it was extremely detailed. She would have been at the top of her field if she wasn't a muggleborn, given her astounding and creative abilities. Though she was actually more accurately a half blood, that didn't really matter to most of Magical Britain.
Apparently, there was little use for her inside the nation itself and those who came to Gringotts to order services from the book wanted someone with a pureblood name and history to work on something so delicate if a goblin wasn't doing the work. Her file had simply languished there. Luckily we knew who to market her services to and how to go about it and she was delighted to help. We added And Relative Dimension In Space to the new portfolio and got Avira on a Gringotts contract fairly quickly.
The amount of time she had spent, as well as the contacts that she had made, in other parts of the world was probably the most important part for trying to get me to trust her. She did not feel beholden to Albus in the slightest and he had never attempted to recruit her during her time at Hogwarts or after, as she graduated just before Albus really started recruiting in earnest. With Albus lurking around and worries about who to trust, the file on her helped soothe me.
Now under contract she became more active in our work, even learning our real names. She was already making the finishing touches on our designs for the Little Whinging houses when we found out what Lily had done.
It was all uncovered because we were required to have the permission of the actual legal owner of the Wisteria Walk house before we could begin making any magical changes to the property. It took us all by surprise when we found who legally owned the house. The owner, as it turned out, was Harry Potter.
It was mostly chance and luck that helped to reveal what had happened. We did a full audit on the Estates for Harry to make sure we weren't missing anything while simultaneously looking into the ownership of the house. It was probably more obvious because we were doing them side by side.
The audit was not anything against Clinkscale or the goblins in general, rather it was based on the knowledge that others had access to Harry's key. It is common knowledge that one should always be extremely careful with their Gringotts vault key as it is direct access for the vault in almost all cases. Losing your key meant that the thief could legitimately enter your vault. There are special exceptions where other methods such as blood or magic can be used for the vault protections or in the case of an orphaned minor where vaults can be locked even if someone has a key.
Anyone with the key of a trust vault can withdraw from it as they are the presumed guardian of the child unless proven otherwise. Any other vaults are locked beyond the trust key at the moment of physical death. Those major vaults don't always have clauses to lock out minor children, but when they do the standard is for there to be a trust vault. Until they reach their majority these are the usual protocols followed. There is a three day waiting period to make sure the alleged deceased won't return to life through any means or can prove themselves to be a part of one or more undead groups. Should this period expire any heir by magic, blood, or will can take claim of the vaults and have new keys created.
Trust vaults can have many different rules around them. For instance, in the case of Harry Potter, his trust vault will always equal £100,000 or 20,000 Galleons. It will automatically have a deposit from the main family vault on the first of the month with that exact amount, no matter how much or how little is in the vault. Well, not vault. It's actually called a safe because it will only hold the trustee's monetary funds. But almost no one would refer to any space below the bank as anything but a vault.
The moment that both parents had died the major Potter vaults immediately locked themselves. The trust vault for their only heir, who was at the time a minor of one years old, was the only vault that could be entered by anyone. Albus had the key to the trust vault. He used it to clear out the vault in the first week of November. The next month he removed a startlingly exact number of galleons, sickles, and knuts. No other withdrawals had ever been made. Combined these withdrawals totaled the exact amount paid for the house on Wisteria Walk not a knut more.
The conversation with Clinkscale about the precise amount Albus had taken left my head spinning.
All the vaults had been locked down, including the trust vault, when it became obvious that the will would remain sealed and the chosen godparents would not be able to take care of the last Potter. It was an unusual case and unusual decisions had to be made because of that by Gringotts. The vaults would still run in accordance with the other rules imposed on them, the major vaults receiving monies from investments and the trust vault always being at the right amount. But they would only open the trust vault if Harry Potter came in himself.
Did Albus know he wouldn't be able to get any more money out for himself? Or was he just not going to try for it in the first place? Was it acceptable to buy a house so a spy could keep watch and sound alarms near to the child? Wasn't that what a trust vault was for? To pay for things the child needed when his parents couldn't? What would Lily and James say? If clothes were bought from money in the trust would that be alright? What's the difference in purchasing a house?
My own money was dwindling swiftly with everything that we needed for our safety and comfort. Depending on how the next stages of our plans moved, I might start to be in dire straits trying to be a parent without touching Harry's funds. I didn't want to even be near the line that Albus might have crossed. I had decided that anything that was solely for Harry and would never be used by anyone else would be paid for by the trust and that I would take care of the rest. Things like his education would be covered by the trust, but something like that Princely Carriage was definitely coming from my vault. And it set me back a great enough deal that we would need to be even more frugal as things went on.
During the war I would be given a budget to buy materials or ready made objects to help us. When Lily and I were looking into creating something that could recognize people even if they were polyjuiced, I was given money for materials and books. Now I was paying for the Fabulousa charms and the safer transport of the Carriage from my own account.
When Clinkscale and his team followed the money trail from the vault to the house things got even more interesting.
Towards the later end of the war, before she went so deeply into hiding, Lily and I had been working to set up safe houses in muggle ways that the Death Eaters would be so unfamiliar with that they would never be able to follow it. In other words, Lily and I spent some time laundering money and buying properties under shell companies. I was able to recognize a business or two that were fronts with just PO Boxes and a good deal of faked background. After that the goblins unraveled the rest.
The safe houses, as well as all of the other things, were now considered a part of the ArchAngel investments and the goblins were cleaning everything up. Going through the audits with an even finer toothed comb than they had been, it became more obvious that Lily had been using the vast Potter fortune to set up these safe havens. She must have told Albus about it as he used the exact same methods and businesses, as though he were following line by line instructions on a how-to that only she could have made.
In effect, Harry's mother was protecting him again with this vast safety net. There were homes all over Europe, Oceania, and the Americas for him to hide away in or use as he saw fit. All bought with Potter money through Lily's methods.
Avira and a few of Master Rayner's assistants were going through every single space and making them safe as well as habitable. Since Harry's vault was refilled every month with £100,000 or 20,000 Galleons, when I came in his trust was at £3.6 million or 720,000 Galleons after growing for three years. The remodeling of spaces like this didn't require spending a great deal, for which I was grateful, it would hardly put a dent in the money that would help me to take care of Harry.
Only Harry.
Though doing that was much more difficult than it first appeared.
Lily had safeguarded these homes herself, making them perfect places to escape from harm. During the war the light side found itself under constant threat, even the most protected homes could fall if enough powerful Death Eaters tried. There had been a runesmith that created the contraption of the Cabinet when too many people died in these raids because the floo was closed off and anti-disapparition wards were up.
To a magical society, so used to being able to go anywhere within the range of the floo or their apparition ability, the Vanishing Cabinet would not have been of much interest. Except that it could get an entire family, children and elderly included, out of the stationary place that the Death Eaters had trapped them. Usually, without the Death Eaters being the wiser that their prey had vanished until they finally made it into the home.
The original intent was for the two houses on Little Whinging to have Vanishing Cabinets.
Taking into account the curvature of the earth the Vanishing Cabinets have a range as far as 322 km, but it is not recommended to go further than 245 km so as to not strain the magic. Straining the magic for a Vanishing Cabinet means that you get stuck in the in between nothingness and may never come out ever again. These Cabinets allow people to go to a single point from a single point without regard for any wards that may have been put around either property. The distance between Privet Drive and Wisteria Walk is hardly much of a stretch, the wards and the potential spies would never know that we were hopping between the properties.
With Lily's help each house would have it's own escape route through a separate Cabinet. The one in Privet Drive would go to London and the one in Wisteria Walk would go to Le Touquet, France. With the addition of all of these new properties I had to order more specialty Vanishing Cabinets to be built so that we could hop between them. This would help us to spread out where we were seen, even in disguise, and give us a way out that would be confusing for anyone trying to follow us. Even though the Princely Carriage could be easily moved around, we did still have to go outside to use it. The Cabinets didn't have that issue and so would make a good way to confuse the enemy. In addition each of the Cabinets had special runes added to allow me to self destruct them should we ever have the need.
But there was the problem. The houses and everything being "upgraded" would improve the resale value for Harry, but it wouldn't be for him alone. He would not live alone. He would not use the Cabinets alone. It was more difficult to find the line with this problem than I had originally thought. I worried it would only get more difficult as the year progressed and our plans really started working.
In order to use all of these properties Master Clinkscale came up with the crafty scheme of having Harry rent his own properties from himself. He paid an extremely low rate each month to rent the properties from various management companies and then the money was eventually redeposited in his own vaults. As long as we could show that he was not taking up ownership of them or living in them full time, it would technically be within the limitations and restrictions set by law for these properties which were magical in nature even though they were in muggle areas. The hoops we had to jump through even to get them considered part of the magical portfolio were honestly ridiculous.
"Hello," said a sleepy little boy, dragging me away from my cloudy thoughts.
"Good morning Harry, have your first two potions and I'll get you some juice to drink." Some of those potions tasted awful, but through a little trial and error we found that mango juice of all things helps with the taste the most.
After breakfast, and many potions drunk by both of us, we did a light bit of exercise before heading out for our day. The National Library awaited us today, I was sure it would be interesting to see the magical side of the National Library.
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―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
6 February 1985
Mount Olympus had been so incredible that it practically forced Harry and I to relax in each other's company. It had been an absolute marvel. There were shops and stalls, museums and historical sites. I met a faun!
The fauns, I learned, had hidden themselves away almost entirely into the residential forest districts inside Mount Olympus when things had started to go downhill for the Roman Empire. There were apparently a large number of Beings and Creatures inside Mount Olympus after the fall. This was possibly due to the rise in extensive missionary activity which condemned anything magical. Over the many years of the Dark Ages the persecution and hunting of them grew ever worse until these Olympians had eventually sought shelter in one of the most well protected magical communities in the area.
A safe haven for them all could be found in the Olympus Range. It is a common misconception in Britain and elsewhere that it is just a single peak that the Olympian community lives in, rather it is the whole range and this interior magical space is called Mount Olympus.
The faun we met was a bookseller with a lovely shop in Το Τετράγωνο Φλάουτο and pointed us to all kinds of wonderful histories on magical Beings and Creatures for the history of the Roman Empire and afterward. This was the kind of well rounded history I was hoping Harry would be able to learn. Not everything was about the Goblin Wars after all.
I was even able to get some very interesting books about different sights for various family members. I would have to give the books to them randomly over the year in order to not give away this secret trip, but I knew they would love their gifts.
For every day of the trip, and only because it was a trip, Harry had two daily allowances that were pulled from his Gringotts vault in local currency by the special wallet Clinkscale had given us. One of the allowances was to spend on educational things that he was interested in, such as books or something like the maps and models we had seen of ancient Greece. The second allowance was for whatever fun or interesting things he wanted, toys or trinkets. There was a third allowance he didn't know about as I thought he should be able to get things that were clothing at the various places we were going, but didn't want to encourage him to buy clothes for himself that he might not wear later. Better to get little mementos that could sit on a shelf with the allowance he knew about, than a shirt that would just sit in a storage box when he out grew it.
Thankful that I had included Harry in learning all of those languages from Euro-Glyph, I purchased a veritable mountain of books that would start to fill the suitcase library from Mr Ennius. We didn't need to worry about learning new languages in order to read these books as we had already learned them. Harry picked out a few with his allowance and we profusely thanked the kind bookseller. I thought might reach out to him again if he keeps such a well stocked store, it would be good for both of us to be more well rounded.
The plan, after staying a whole day in Mount Olympus, was to catch a Pegasus Race before heading to Egypt.
There are many different varieties of winged horses found all over the world, though the famous Newt Scamander only listed a few of the most common in his book. The races are named after the famous winged horse Pegasus. Who was himself a crossbreed of three to five different European and Mediterranean types and, surprisingly, the prized stallion of a Ghana of Wagadu. On top of the raceway's entrance was a large animated bronze sculpture of the famous horse. When the bronze Pegasus at the entrance stomped his hooves there were little sparks of lightning with accompanying thunder sounds.
I decided it would be better to go to the little museum and gift shop attached to the raceway before trying to find our seats.
"Alright, Hadrian," I said when we arrived, "You can pick out at least two things from the shop, but if they don't cost overly much you can have more than that. I'm going to get us a little program while you look."
Harry nodded with a smile and wandered over towards some small, bright colored winged horses that were making little circles near the entrance. He had been doing so much better since our tours of Olympus yesterday. There was less nervous energy around him at all times and he was more confident when he pointed out things that he wanted to see or do. That one had caused some problems. It had become clear that he had the same issue pointing out that he wanted to do something or stay somewhere longer as he did in the simple task of picking out an ice cream when we were at Fortescue's. But with encouragement every day to pick out at least two items, one educational and one for fun, I thought it was getting better.
The programs I bought us listed the names of the winged horses and their jockeys as well as any wins that they had to date. The Pegasus Races go year round as it is both a very tourist thing to do as well as a traditional Olympian game. Over the years they have added different types of courses, some with insane amounts of obstacles or ones where they fight off creatures or "enemies" as they try to cross the finish line. Today we were just seeing a basic course run, though it would be in the air and it was longer than the four thousand meters of the Royal Ascot. I imagine the stadium was similar to how things would be set up for the World Quidditch Cups. Maybe I should take Harry to one of those.
"Nana Flora?" said a tiny voice to my left.
My eyebrow was arching already at the tone. I knew that tone, though I had never heard it from Harry Potter before. It was the "I really want something but you aren't going to want to give it to me so I will be especially adorable" tone. I almost didn't turn to look at him as I was worried about my response to what was sure to be large, innocent eyes pleading with me for something.
When I did turn, it was to see a bashful four year old boy rocking back and forth on his heels as he held his hands behind his back.
"Yes, Hadrian?" He still didn't look up at me when I very carefully answered him. Was this the part where pushing boundaries started? From behind his back the little boy pulled out a smaller version of the Pegasus sculpture we had seen at the entrance. The winged horse reared up and stomped his hooves to make little sparks appear before he let out a little whicker.
"Does this count as educational or fun?" It was a good point. The winged horse sculpture was both a toy like object and an historical model, but given the price slip that I could see I rather thought he wanted to know if it was both so that he could afford it with today's allowance.
"Oh," I said with a dramatic sigh and a draw of my brow. I was hamming it up a little to make sure that he would feel encouraged to ask for things and to give me reasons for him to get what he wanted. "That's a good question Hadrian. What do you think it is?"
"Well.. it's an important figure in history. Just like that little statue we got at the National Library of Falco Aesalon that changes into his falcon animagus. But it's also more fun like the things we got at Monastiraki."
"That makes it sound like it is both educational and fun."
"Um– Maybe?"
"Okay. You can use both allowances to purchase this one thing." The way his face lit up at that was amazing, he even gave a little bounce as we walked over to pay. I could have dragged it out a little more so that he would talk about how he wanted it and what that meant, but I didn't want to discourage him. The next time, if everything was tracking properly, I would probably give him a little push to tell me more.
On our way to our seats we grabbed some drinks and more dolmades, which we had both loved during our time in Athens, as well as some delicious koupes. There were thousands and thousands of seats in the stadium which ringed around a mid air track.
The winged horses flew up from a stable door dozens of meters below the seating and then would immediately start the race around the midair course. There were different parts of the course that would challenge each of the winged horses and, just like non magical horses, some would do better in different areas over others. The track had the normal curves and straights of an oblong course, but it also had an up hill and a down hill in which the air pressure and winds were magically manipulated to provide a challenge or change the pace.
We picked out our favorite for the race, Aethon, and cheered for them with wild abandon. The announcer could be heard coming from our seats, I suspected some sort of magical speaker embedded in them, and we followed along as the winged horses flew.
"And for our morning races we have the classic run. They're all in and set for the stables. There's the signal. Corydon flies out and is on the outside, first out, jumps really well as they race through the first furlong. Adrastos towards the inside is holding his position with Costa. Eniryt crosses behind the field as they settle down in the early stages."
Great winged horses, most the size of elephants, raced along the first part of the massive course. The omnioculars we had brought with us for the trip helped us see as they swiftly flew by in a rushing of wings and strength.
"So Costa and also moving forward Oreste who has the early lead and it's Oreste who has the early lead. Stable companion Odessa and Cadmus in the blue with Farris out wider as Costa and Adrastos just track the leaders early on."
We were cheering on Aethon who was in the middle of the pack, yelling along with all of the others in the stadium. Two voices in a crowd of thousands, noise makers and music playing.
"Corydon is just behind the speeding company with Linus in the purple and Yolanda in the hoops with the noseband. The white and red on the inside is Galatea and up on the outside Lycoris is the horse making ground in white and blue."
The middle of the oblong course is empty except for the announcers and officials far below watching as the race continues. To keep the great creatures on track there are brightly colored rails, this is considered the inside of the track. Closer to the side of the crowds of fans are small sparkling spells that make sure the jockeys know not to cross, this is the outside of the track. As the great black and grey horse Lycoris made his way around we could see the white and blue of his streamers attached just above the hooves on the hind legs.
"Ebonique Echo gets in front of Eniryt. Last year's winner, well back on the outside of Rasmus, is Aethon, who was the market mover during the course of the last few days, was just resting along for a few strides."
Our Aethon got a mention, sending Harry and I into further fits of cheers. We hadn't known that he was doing great in the races before when we picked him and hoped he would have a great day again while we cheered.
"So, getting now into their formation, as they make their way up the straight and there's still a long way to go.
"Farris in the yellow colors has the lead from Oreste with Cadmus in blue racing in third. Adrastos is fourth with Lycoris racing in fifth place, just ahead of Odessa. Didn't do Costa any great favors there, he was a little short of room."
As the winged horses grouped together they crowded each other a bit. Costa had been angled out of the lead of the pack by the other horses. Our poor Aethon was still a bit behind, but we were sure he would be fine. We took a moment to get another drink, our throats already sore from yelling.
"Yolanda races about a seventh place at this stage with Linus towards the outside in eighth. Ebonique Echo on the outside of Galatea, Corydon midfield in the check colors of yellow and black, just ahead of Pirro, Rasmus on the rails in red and white for Eniryt in the gray jacket on the outside of Adrastos. And Aethon – and Farris has found a new trick."
There was an almost physical startle that moved through the crowd before the laughing began. The track was very wide, the rails and sparks were there for guidelines, there was very little likelihood that a horse would move so far out as to near the sparks. This was because it was considered better to be on the inside and lean into the track for a good portion of the course.
But dear Farris had drifted out of the pack as the track began to bend round again.
"His trick is to run off on the bend, and having consented to race and gone forward he feels that after half a mile he's done enough. Farris is heading for entrance arch one at the moment and he might find one of the picnic spaces, but I don't think he'll find the winning post as out in front is Oreste.
"Oreste then handed the lead by Farris who has got back in touch with the field, but has gone from first to last in the space of a couple furlongs."
The jockey for Farris had gotten him under better control and moved him back towards the pack, riding at break neck speed that should surely be impossible for the jockey to stay attached.
"Now Oreste with Cadmus in the blue colors and up on the outside Lycoris, Adrastos racing in fourth place in the check colors as they begin to run the down hill. Linus comes in next with Costa, then Corydon who's racing about seventh or eighth for jockey Diego Raya on the inside of Galatea, trained by Diego's father.
"And then Ebonique Echo out with Eniryt, Rasmus, little bit of a shuffle up as they just crossed the rise there with Zephyra. And still towards the back is Farris as they make their way down hill."
The omnioculars helped us keep track of all the winged horses by labeling them as we looked through. They also showed the effects and changes of the air pressure and it's currents at the places marked as either up or down hill. It was supposedly easier for most horses to ride the down hill portion, the problem was more about control. If they went too fast at the down hill, they could lose the lead as the track straightened out.
"So we're now entering the final mile of the contest and out in the lead Oreste still shows the way.
"Well bunched field with Cadmus, Lycoris, and Adrastos for the second, third, and fourth. Linus caught on heels there, gave Costa a bump. Costa hasn't had a lot of luck actually in this race so far. Yolanda's up the running rails with Corydon, and Ebonique Echo as the pace just steady as we're at the foot of the hill. Galatea, Rasmus, Eniryt comes next. Then Pirro, Zephyra on the rails. Aethon has now got passed round about three of them. They include Farris who's back in touch with the field, but surely has compromised his chances."
Feeling a bit bad for Farris, we both looked at each other and decided that we could cheer for more than one of the competitors. So we cheered on both Aethon and Farris as they continued down the track.
"A nearly fifteen second furlong there as wily jockey Nic Grippa now just begins to extend on, has the lead from Oreste, Adrastos, and Lycoris. Yolanda still lobbing along with Odessa, they've never been too far away, likewise Linus."
The crowd was getting louder and louder as the winged horses got closer and closer to the straight which would lead them to the finish line. I excused all manner and propriety in order to bodily lift little Harry so that he could stand on his stadium seat and shout as loud as he could.
"Diego will just need to try to angle off the rails. Corydon in check colors for the first time leaves the fence on the outside of Yolanda. Costa furiously ridden, Eniryt is creeping closer. So is Ebonique Echo, though he's going to be needing luck for a few.
"There's Rasmus, Aethon trying to circle the field now as they continue their progress with the worst of the climb behind them and begin to swing for home in the Pegasus Races. Out in the lead, Oreste. Lycoris in second place, then Linus around the outside. Adrastos, Odessa, Cadmus, dropping back very quickly causing traffic problems for a few."
They'd overcrowded themselves in the pack and the horses' wings were not getting enough room. Some were dropping back to make room, but it caused problems for those behind them. The crowd was becoming crazed and the announcer spoke faster.
"Yolanda then Corydon as they make the corner. Ebonique Echo, Odessa trapping strongly just behind the leaders as they straighten and now out in front heading for home it's still Oreste.
"Yolanda switches out. Ebonique Echo, Corydon, no luck for Rasmus who's had to change course markedly. Aethon right around the outside, trying to stay on it. It's Yoland who's hit the front."
Someone in the audience has let off little sparks in the colors of their competing horse and others follow. Somehow the sound in the stadium becomes ever louder. How they keep the rest of all Olympus from hearing it, even with magic, I've no idea.
"Corydon, Aethon, Zephyra down the outside.
"Inside the last, it's Yolanda bearing down the leader, Corydon, Aethon still stays off with Zephyra.
"A real battle on the inside with Yolanda, Corydon," the announcer gets even faster and gets louder, "Yolanda is finding more. AND YOLANDA IS THE WINNER followed by Corydon, Aethon, and Zephyra."
Wands went off with bangs. It rained silver sparkles throughout the whole of the stadium. Everyone cheered.
Harry, still standing on his stadium seat, leapt bodily at me like a little monkey and screamed, "THAT WAS SO AWESOME!"
I laughed as I held him close.
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―==(oIo)==―
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It was early afternoon by the time we made our way from the Pegasus Races to the docks inside Mount Olympus. We left for Cairo on the magical airship The White Swan which would travel south, stopping at many of the larger magical districts. The rigid airship design was interesting, but the magic layered into it was awe inspiring. Even someone like me could see the sparkling of magic along her lines. When we were up high enough the ship deployed clouds in addition to the invisibility and masking spells that were said to be soaked into every nut and bolt.
The Princely Carriage was very useful, but it couldn't go over water. With the use of these tour airships we could comfortably get between destinations and then use the Carriage while we were there. For instance we were going to be traveling all over Egypt before meeting back up with another rigid airship to get to the magical districts in the Adriatic, it was the perfect way to make use of our magical conveyances.
Both of us were tired from our day already, but I had nothing planned except for us to get to our first camp in a magical district of Cairo. Harry slept most of the traveling away, sprawled out across the seats, and then I put him to bed as soon as the suitcase was set up at our camp in Cairo. We only woke up late in the evening for a meal at a nearby restaurant and some quiet time to recover whatever hearing loss we might have incurred from our fun earlier in the day.
It wasn't until late that night, our first in Cairo, that things started to twist for us. Well, perhaps there had been turns before. Finding out just how far Lily had taken our operation with the money laundering for safe houses, that was quite a turn. But no this– this was a twist.
The family tree that I had asked to be made for Harry was finished right on time. Twelve days from the letting of blood and magic, just as promised. All I had wanted was a family tree with several generations and embellishments of a stag and doe that were animated and colored like a patronus.
Instead it was a twist.
Master Clinkscale hadn't sent me the tree itself as it was to big to pass through my post box. Such a marvel, this little box could get inanimate and nonliving objects to me practically anywhere in the world. But it did have a size limit and something that was four meters long was too much for it. Instead he sent me a detailed letter about the tree and all of the things he and the others back in Gringotts were running around doing in light of this information. He mentioned it being the most interesting thing to happen to the Nation's archives in over a hundred years. He called it havoc, but it seemed like he might be having fun.
I immediately sent off a message with some ideas for him that had been on the backburner with nowhere to go. Maybe Johnny was right, I should be called Hells Bells.
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―==(oIo)==―
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Author's Note
Please leave a comment on whether the bold italics for the announcer are distracting or useful. There are upcoming tours where I've used the same bold italics style and I can simply take the styling out if too many find it difficult to read. Thank you.