Author's Note - Okay, so this chapter is mainly a filler and to give people some more background information on totally irrelevant things! XP
I know how annoying it is when chapter's aren't updated regularly (don't we all!), so hopefully this is enough...
Tell me if you notice any inconsistencies or mistakes or if it's annoying, which hopefully it won't be!
I have changed what I originally put on, slightly, because I realised I'd put in things that just wouldn't work with what I wanted to do... So...here it is, slightly updated!
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Chapter thirty-eight.
Thirty years ago...
Once again, the Australians had set up a huge barbeque and were currently grilling something as the sun set. The barbeque was in the long shade of the wooden, tin-roofed house and beside a tall gum tree, filled with beady-eyed Kookaburras who were just waiting for a chance to swoop down and snag a sausage or a piece of meat.
A small group of teenage girls lounged in a circle, talking and laughing under the gum tree while the children around them shrieked and giggled as they chased each other. A small Chinese toddler sleepily wandered away from the game and sat on the lap of one of the older teenagers there, who just wrapped her arms around the little girl and continued on chatting with her friends.
In another part of the garden, a group of teenage boys were lounging up against the wall of the house, but one turned when he saw the small girl head over to the girls. The teenage boy laughed at a couple of English mates, Sirius and Remus, whom were being interrogated by a small group of his relatives on how to map and track people in the Academy before he said goodbye and approached the small circle of girls.
He smiled softly as he watched the golden blonde teenager lean down to whisper in the ear of the sleepy girl, who nodded. The tall handsome Chinese boy shook his messy black hair out of his eyes before crouching down and leaning over the shoulder of the golden blonde to greet and stroke the head of the small girl, who smiled sleepily up at him. The girl looked up in surprise, before grinning welcomingly. One girl, a beautiful Fillipino smiled triumphantly at the others when he went to sit down near her, but glared at the girl on his other side; the shy golden blonde who was currently cradling his little sister and whom he had resolutely sat beside.
The sun's final rays danced around them as he sat beside her under the shadows, the conversation continued lowly around them as they talked softly between themselves, occasionally glancing down to check on the sleeping girl.
The golden haired girl's friends continued to chat and every once in a while would glance at the Chinese boy with longing. The blonde girl would smile at him beautifully and naively as they chatted, her soft blush just passing as a 'it's a bit hot, isn't it? blush' and hiding the real reason of it being a 'secret crush blush'. Sometimes he would stall mid sentence as if he'd forgotten something and just stare into her eyes, a smile playing on his lips, causing her to smile in confusion and raise her brows questioningly making him snap out of it embarrassedly and compose his thoughts. After this had happened thrice, the girl watched him curiously, her head cocked as she wondered why he, the most sought after boy in the Academy, would talk to her but then trail off mid sentence, surely she wasn't that uninteresting...right? Maybe he fancied one of her mates and kept thinking of her? Yeah, it was probably Christine; she was so beautiful with her exotic Philippine skin… He'd paused again and was looking into her eyes with his dark ones. She smiled and gestured for him to continue, he'd probably thought she hadn't been listening.
The sun lowered even further, bringing coolness to the evening that everyone had been craving all day. The girl shivered in the light breeze and the handsome boy moved behind her so that he and his warmth now surrounded the girl he was gently hugging. His head rested on one of her shoulders as she lent back onto his chest, his hands resting on the back of his little sister, who was now asleep on the girl's bosom. Oh, so that was why he was so close now…he wanted to make sure his little sister was safe and sound and happy in her arms… But he feels so nice…
The handsome Chinese boy blushed as he wrapped his arms around one of the smartest, kindest, sweetest girls he had ever met and couldn't help but smell her soft hair, scented with an intoxicating fruity shampoo. This girl – woman - was cuddling and comforting a sleepy little girl as if she had known her her whole life, but whom she had actually only met a while ago and he knew he couldn't let her go. He'd had a huge crush on her since Third Year and they had just graduated a month ago, but she had never shown any interest in him or anyone. He'd been ecstatic when he'd learned they would both be going to the prestigious New Zealand University of the Magical Arts to learn about curse revealing and removal, a highly sought after and very hard degree to get.
The New Zealand University was the only Magical University in this part of the world admittedly, but they only took the best of the best and were linked directly to the Australian Academy of Magic. Most of the Academy graduates would be going to the Australian College to learn basic trade or would be working in Wizarding Sydney, but the best from the Australian, South African and Indonesian Schools went there.
And only two students were chosen for the specific training of an international curse breaker, as it was so difficult and required knowledge of all the different magic's used around the world. Something only the Academy supplied within its regular curriculum, making it the school with the highest rate of students trained to be curse breakers.
Although many other countries had curse breakers, they were only trained for a specific location as the style and type of magic used varied across the world.
In the Americas, they were all trained in Latin Spell and Wand work and Native American rituals as their population was to large to include the original magic of each person, over Europe and the British Isles they were also trained in Latin Spells and Wands, this being their origins anyway.
Over Asia they were trained in traditional Oriental methods, with Latin Wand work being employed infrequently and often not at all. Throughout Africa they were trained as their forefathers were all trained in each tribe, and if one with magic came up after several generations of nothing, they were sent to a tribe that had a Shaman.
Australia and the Pacific Isles were unique in the fact that as the population was small, they had to get their students from a wider spread of locations, meaning each student not only had to learn the Academy's curriculum of Latin magic, but were duty bound to also learn their original magic from the Islands or New Zealand, something the Academy were able to assist with. Also included, each student had to respect the magic of the Aboriginals and learn it, in retribution of the Stolen Generation.
The handsome boy tightened his grip on the sweet girl as he saw the Filippino girl glare in her direction, hoping to also keep her there longer.
Scattered over the large lawn, couples stayed together, arms around each other's waists as they talked and laughed, colourful lanterns starting to appear and glow in the fading light. An old gramophone was playing old tunes as the Christmas Eve party started, beers were being handed out, as well as wine. A large table with a white tablecloth over it was filled with various nibblies, Muggle and Wizard food alike.
Harry watched as everyone mingled, the love they had all found because of the Marriage Law was tangible and he wished with all his heart that he felt the same about Alice. When he had first met her, he was sure it was love, and as they worked and lived together over the last few months, he was sure that love had grown. But then they'd gone here for Christmas and…that love had just disappeared. Harry now felt himself lovesick for a girl who was at the same time there, but so far out of reach. He missed seeing her eyes light up when they got into a heated debate, her enthusiasm for everything she did and the naivety with which she did it and her amazing intelligence that could rival Hermione's if she so wished it. Now it felt like Alice was an annoying fan-girl who'd just landed her idol and was now showing him off to the world. Speak of the devil…
Alice ran up to Harry and enthusiastically grabbed his hand before dragging him into the fray…so as to show him off to everyone.
Hermione wandered down the small corridor again, this time veering down another corridor, than another. Some how, in this small house, they had managed to create maze. 'Ron would be very interested in the blue print designs and enchantments,' Hermione mused, 'he would probably love to try and recreate them back in Britain, they would, quite honestly, be a roaring success…'
She finally found a portrait of a large gathering of people on the beach, some playing in the waves, others surrounding the barbeque, laughing. Hermione put her hands on her hips, "What is it with Australians and barbeques?" she asked exasperated.
The people in the portrait heard her and laughed, "Mate,' said the one who was carefully cooking the food, 'in Australia there is a belief that no matter the event, be it the arrival of the Queen or a birthday party, it's not complete without a good ol' sausage sizzle!"
Hermione grinned and raised an eyebrow, "Okay, if you say so."
"Yeah, you know you can go in now, right?"
"…What, there's no password?"
"…It's a kitchen, who needs a password? Wait… did you have a password ready?" he asked eagerly.
Hermione blushed, "Ah…no."
A girl floating on some large waves heading into shore laughed, "Fair 'nough, go on in!"
The door creaked open and Hermione stepped through into the colourful kitchen. Shelves were piled high up to a ceiling that should've been closer to the ground and large windows opened out onto the property, letting in a warm breeze. Outside tomato plants climbed up the wall and their sweet smell blew into the kitchen. A couple of the kids, not young enough to be playing tiggy but not old enough to be chatting with the teenagers were inside, helping Amy and Molly cook some caramel tarts, lamingtons and pavlovas, which were flying this way and that, placing themselves on higher shelves to make room for all the other food coming and going.
Amy looked up, saw Hermione and smiled hugely, "Hermione! Have you come to help us?"
Hermione laughed, "I would, except you look like you've got enough helpers!" she gestured to the nine to thirteen year olds all roaming the kitchen.
Amy laughed, "True, so what do you need?"
Hermione grabbed a newly frosted lamington and sat on one of the benches.
"Well – I was just wondering if there was a library anywhere?"
"Yep, just go up the stairs and directly left there is a wall, just give it a coupl'a kicks and it'll let you in."
Hermione raised her eyebrows and took a bite of the lamington, "All right then, I'll take your word for it."
She left the kitchen, waving good-bye to a distracted Amy and Molly, who was trying to coax an eight year old to not eat the soap shaped like a chocolate bar.
Hermione followed Amy's instructions and, feeling a bit silly, kicked the wall until it groaned open. Inside, rather like the kitchen, it defied the law of physics and the walls soared high, higher than what the house looked like on the outside. There was floor to ceiling shelves as well as a huge tinted window that covered an entire wall and looked out over the party. Books floated overhead as they were resorted and put away. Hermione frowned as she realised that someone else was there and looked around. She started when she noticed a small glowing figure with long awkward limbs sitting on a table, flipping through the pages of books that flew down to it and sending the books back to their original places after it was done. Every now and then it would grab something within the pages of the book and roughly eat it. Hermione watched, fascinated for a bit until a small voice coughed beside her. Hermione wheeled around, her wand in her hand and pointed it right into the face of an amused house elf.
"Can I do anything for you, miss?" he asked politely and surprisingly clearly and Hermione blushed before putting her wand away.
"Sorry,' she apologised, 'I just came to get something to read and…I was wondering…What…is that? And what is he-or she- doing?" She asked awkwardly.
The house elf smiled, "That's a Min Min faerie and he's eating bookworms."
Hermione blanched, years of being called a bookworm floating through her head, "Bookworms?"
"Yeah, we just got an infestation so Roy went out and caught a Min Min to fix it."
Hermione looked at him curiously, "Don't you mean Master Roy? Doesn't he own you?"
The house elf laughed, "Nah, I'm Kiel, I'm different from your British House Elves, I'm a Hobgoblin."
Hermione looked amazed, "Hobgoblin?" Now that she looked, she could see the differences, he was taller and stronger and actually wore clothes.
Kiel nodded and waved his hand and several books came flying towards him, before stacking themselves carefully and hovering in front of Hermione. He indicated them, "Those books are 'The Seelie and UnSeelie Court through the Ages', 'Symbols and Meanings of the Faes' and 'Australia, a Magical History'" Kiel looked at Hermione and winked, "I thought you might be interested in them." He said as he saw the look of wonder and excitement on Hermione's face.
"It's like Christmas!" She exclaimed joyfully and Kiel frowned in mocking confusion, a smile playing on his craggily face.
"That's because it is."