Vulkatross

This portkey was different. The long international jumps they had made traveling from the island to Britain and back at the end of the year had been very unpleasant, to say the least, though they had been tolerable and easy to recover from.

This one was not.

It felt like an endless ride through Gringotts while spinning around by their toes. If it were possible to scream, they all would have been. Years later, Lyra would look back on this and say that only seven things in her life were more unpleasant than a portkey to Antarctica. Harry would claim only five. The children barely registered as they slammed into a wooden floor, face first, as the spinning stopped. Brandt had said this jump was going to be delightful. Harry was already plotting to kill their tutor as soon as he recovered from the pain and vomiting.

As his head slowly stopped spinning, he saw the other party members getting to their feet and staggering around. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a woman with fiery red hair laughing at them with a dark-skinned man. There was a window near them, but it was very dark outside, despite it being morning where they were. Whispers staggered across the room and tripped over nothing, face-planting himself onto Harry's chest.

Tonks also tripped over nothing, but she went face forward into a wall, blurting out, "Delightful portkey, my ass!"

The two strangers helped everyone onto a bench running along the wall. Moody looked incredibly dazed, but despite that, his wand and magic eye kept a steady bead on the two new wizards in the room. Lyra leaned over and vomited again next to his shoes which he cleaned up with his wand before he vomited again in the same spot, then fell off the bench into the fresh puke. Tristan pulled him back up and cleaned him up.

When they were finally situated, the red-haired witch laughed again, saying, "How did you get here? You must have taken a very crooked portkey to get this messed up." Everyone looked at the woman in a funny way, to which she continued, "Who made your portkey?" Everyone glared at Brandt, and she laughed again, "Brandt, you idiot. You never took translocation magic in school. Why are you making portkeys?"

"What?" he exclaimed. "It's not difficult to learn."

The dark-skinned wizard also laughed, "For short distances, it's cake. Long-distance and international travel requires a lot more information. For starters, you should only travel straight along the lines of latitude and longitude. The greater the diagonal, the more messed up you'll get, especially towards the earth's poles."

"So you can make the portkeys easier?" Lyra asked, cradling Whispers in her arms.

The redhead replied, "You might need to break down a journey into multiple jumps, but yea."

"Why has no one ever told me this?" Alastor grumbled.

"New forays into magical theory," she replied. "It's funny how often wizards make a spell and figure out how it works later, even after decades or centuries. It seems like you do a lot of traveling, so give it a shot. You'll need to get a lot of clearances in different ministries, but if you've got an ICW pass, it makes things a lot easier. So, Brandt, introduce us to your friends."

With shaky legs, Brandt stood up and gestured to their hosts, "This is Busar Hodari and an old classmate of mine, Kaja Olsen. Kaja, Busar, these are Senior Auror Alastor Moody, Auror 3rd Class Tristan Nevitt, Cadet Nymphadora Tonks, my cousin - Lyra Black, and Harry Potter."

Tonks stepped up and punched him in the shoulder, "It's just Tonks; also, the demiguise is Sir Whispers," she told the two new wizards.

Busar greeted them, "We spoke to you through those blood bowl things," he told Harry. "We read the article about the basilisk and that Usurper thing. That is one of the more interesting creatures I've encountered before."

Kaja looked at Brandt and tilted her head towards Tonks, "So is she the one you're betrothed to?"

Tristan choked violently as Brandt's eyes widened, and Tonks started laughing, saying, "There's a better chance of me French kissing a balbal than that ever happening."

Harry and Lyra laughed as Brandt replied, "That's not nice. Technically, Miss Tonks is my distant cousin too, but her mother is disowned from the family. Lord Black would welcome her back if she wanted to."

"Not happening," Tonks said flatly.

There was a bit of silence before Harry asked, "Why is it so dark?"

Busar replied, "We are near the southern pole of the planet. The sun doesn't rise this time of the year until around 11 am, and it will set around 5 pm. Outside, it is also below freezing almost all the time."

"How are we going to go see the vulkatross?" Lyra asked, fearful of the cold.

Kaja smiled, "Don't worry. The other research team will come by when the sun comes up, and we will go together to see them. We've got special suits to go out into the cold."

For the next two hours, everyone got to know each other. Busar had attended school in Africa and told them about the large variety of magical creatures that could be found around the school. There were all sorts of monsters, though while most were dangerous, very few were dark in nature. Both Lyra and Harry were very interested in those and tried to explain to Whispers about all the different types of animals they were being told about as he tried to ask questions about the food. His speaking drew the usual shock from the two wizards, but they quickly overcame it.

The school, Uagadu, had three Magical Creatures Classes, one of which was taught by a parselmouth who also instructed an advanced potions course related to healing. The school was much larger than Hogwarts as it drew students from the entire continent rather than just one tiny country.

Finally, there was the sound of a door opening and voices to be heard outside their room. Whispers vanished before the door to their room opened, and two men and two women entered, wearing thick coats with face masks and goggles. They stopped inside the room and stared at the new arrivals.

The one in the front raised an eyebrow at them and said, "I didn't see a boat come in. I take it you all are… wizards?"

Kaja nodded, "Yes, Melvin, more scary wizards are here. They'll be here for another day before heading to Romania and will be coming with us on the rounds today and tomorrow."

Lyra looked confused but then asked, "You are muggles?"

One of the women replied, "We are normal if that's what you're asking."

Harry bristled a bit but stayed silent. Busar joined the muggles and started going through some equipment they had brought while Harry had a question for the others.

"How are they allowed to know about magic?"

Alastor replied, "Some muggles are allowed to know. They need to either be in the government, law enforcement agencies, special scientific teams, or have some kind of expert knowledge to impart that wizards don't know."

Harry looked at Tristan, "What about that spear teacher?"

"What spear teacher?" Brandt asked.

"I took the kids to a martial arts tournament right before you showed up with the bloodhounds," Tristan explained. "A man running a demonstration on spears expressed an interest in Harry for instruction on using a spear. I told him it wouldn't work out because Harry lives in England and doesn't speak his language. I couldn't tell the man about magic, though."

Brandt seemed to think for a moment before saying to the Aurors, "Do you three know about that thing that's happening at Hogwarts the year after next?"

The younger two looked confused, but Moody nodded, "I do."

To all of them, Brandt said, "There's going to be a special competition at Hogwarts next year. One of the events is going to be muggle weapon fights. I was hoping to have the kids join in with their knife training, but if Harry wants to try something else, that would be better than if they ended up competing against each other." Looking at Harry, "Do you have the name of the man you spoke to?"

Harry dug around in his pouch and pulled out the card he had been given, passing it to Brandt, "But he doesn't speak English…."

Brandt dismissed that with a wave of a hand while taking the card with the other. "It will work out."

While eating breakfast, the kids pestered everyone about the animals on the island. There wasn't much to say about the birds they were here to see as they were too defensive of their territory for close investigation. The island's only section devoid of snow and ice was a large cliff face area this time of year. This had something to do with the birds' nests spreading warmth to the immediate area.

Besides the Vulkatross, many magical and mundane penguins lived in a colony on the island's west side. The mundane ones were Emperor Penguins were a bit above one meter tall. This was small compared to the magical penguins, named Tyrant Penguins, who were around five meters tall.

Harry was a little concerned with the name Tyrant but was assured that it was simply because they needed a name of something more extravagant than 'Emperor' to use as a name. These large birds fiercely protected even the non-magical birds in their colony and regularly fought off sharks, orcas, and seals that threatened them. Their magical attributes were simple, size, strength, and slightly increased intelligence. They were also more resistant to the cold, able to dive nearly three kilometers down and stay underwater for almost two hours.

The other magical creature in the area was a bicorn seal. Smaller than most of the seals in the area, but with two distinctive long white horns arranged vertically on their head. They primarily lived on the island's north side and spent most of their time in the water. They used that time to eat, but Busar told them that one of their more exciting behaviors was that they seemed to always be on patrol and never went below 1000 meters. Nothing in their anatomy would keep them from swimming at twice that depth, but they didn't cross that line for whatever reason.

As they finished up, Brandt handed out swirling purple and green potions in labeled vials to all of his group. Harry and Lyra recognized it immediately and drank. Moody pulled out two yellow sticks and stuck one in his, then reached over to the one in front of Brandt and took his potion, placing the other in that one. When there was no reaction, he drank the one originally belonging to Brandt and pushed the one he had to the Steward. Tonks rolled her eyes as Tristan asked what it was.

"Miss Tonks developed this potion to help people adjust to time changes while traveling. I forced her to patent it a few months ago," Brandt explained. "How is the money from that anyway?"

Tonks shrugged as she and Tristan drank, "Not sure. I've been getting sales statements, but I haven't opened them yet. Too busy with work."

Harry could see a vein throbbing in Brandt's head at her response. Tristan laughed. Busar picked up one of the vials and examined the remaining liquid.

"I've heard about this. It's been selling really well in the ICW apothecaries."

"What?" Tonks asked, surprised. "How did it go international?"

"Good ideas tend to do that," Brandt remarked casually.

"That's not all," Moody added. "The form he had you fill out, and told me to make sure that you completed, was an international patent with a promotion authorization addendum. You just didn't read it when you filled it out."

"But those cost a fortune!" Tristan replied with wide eyes.

Tonks looked angry as Kaja leaned over to her, and said, "I think this nice man paid for it himself."

"If you want, I can send you an invoice for the fees and my services as your business manager."

Tonks still looked angry as she said, "Not a chance. You did it without my knowledge or consent. You get nothing."

"Will I be able to do that with my hair growth potion?" Harry asked.

Tristan perked up at that as Brandt gave him a nod and replied to Harry, "We need to see how well it works on burns from dragon fire first. Phoenix and other firebird burns are very rare. Still, if it can be used universally for other magical burns, we will have the first available appointment with the cosmetics company that owns your uncle's potion, Sleekeazy's."

"What about my tea potion?" Lyra asked hopefully.

Brandt explained quickly to those who didn't know about the tea infusion she had invented that made the drinker's eyes glow. Then, he told Lyra, "I got a small contract for it at Zonko's Joke Shop. As of last month, your share of the profits totaled six galleons. Not much, but it's something for a product that sells at three sickles for a box."

Lyra looked a little unhappy, so Brandt pointed out the window, "Look, the sun is finally coming up. We can start getting ready to go see the Vulkatross."

The plot worked, and they split into groups of men and women to change into their cold-weather clothes. There were a tremendous number of layers and a complete covering for their heads, so not an inch of their skin was visible. Their jackets even had gloves built into them so cold or water couldn't get between them.

Most of the adults looked the same in matching outfits. Alastor's magic eye could be seen through his goggles, and Brandt was wearing a pure white coat instead of the outer layer the others had. Harry and Lyra had trouble holding their wands with the gloves and couldn't have their pouches outside their gear, so they were left with just their staves to walk while heading into the cold. Another suit was shrunken down for Whispers, who decided to reappear after stealing food from the muggles during the meal and making them question their sanity. They didn't notice him until he was in the suit and started asking about the third child that was accompanying them and where he came from. Busar just told them he had been there the whole time, and they should get their eyes checked.

There were two sets of doors they headed through before exiting into the snowy landscape with the sun still peaking over the horizon. Despite all layers on, the wind hit them like a hammer, and they could feel the cold trying to break their way into their suits.

Harry could hear Melvin the muggle scientist yelling something and pointing in a direction, but he couldn't understand it at all. Tristan walked over to him and tapped him on the ear with his wand, and then proceeded to do it to everyone else.

"Can you hear me now?" Tristan asked.

"This is incredible!" Melvin sounded astonished. "Can you all do this?"

Harry saw Kaja give a sharp elbow to Tonks before she replied, "Umm no. It's something that only those of us in law enforcement learn."

"That's too bad," Melvin told them. "I guess magic does have some limits."

One of the other muggles spoke up, "Let's get moving! It's a hike to the nests of those freakish, monster birds."

The wind was in their faces for the first twenty minutes of walking. Harry and Lyra had to be told three times that brooms and carpets wouldn't work in this weather. As they got closer to the coast, they could see through the snow blowing in the wind and an area where the ground was bare and the wind began to let up. As they got to the edge of a cliff, Busar took off his head covering and ran his fingers through his short hair.

"You can all take them off now," he informed them.

Kaja and the muggles had already started to remove their goggles and hoods while Harry's group took them off more reluctantly. Expecting cold and getting warmth was strange. It felt almost as warm as back home when Harry's headcover came off. Lyra seemed to be having similar confusion. Whispers took his completely off and turned invisible causing a round of explanations to the shocked muggles finding out it wasn't a child in the suit, but some kind of strange monkey.

Lyra looked back the way they came and saw the howling wind and snow. There was still wind where they were standing, but it was warm and fluffy instead of cold and biting. Her wonder was broken as there was a short whistle from one of the muggles who was near the edge of the cliff with her team.

The group assembled near the edge and pointed out to a slanted cliff that ran along the water up to a small peak. It was shaped like the wind had been blowing against it for thousands of years, giving it a curved appearance starting flat where the waves of the ocean lapped at the shore, growing increasingly steep until it peaked hundreds of meters higher in a small point. Scattered along the face were large nests, some of them had birds in them.

It was confusing as to how large they were. Lyra's brain was working to figure it out as was also apparent on all the faces of the visitors. The muggle woman who had whistled earlier started to explain.

"We had the same issue when we arrived. Your brain can't properly process how large they are. You think 'bird' and the largest thing you think of is an eagle or pelican, so that is how big you imagine. However, you are also realizing those nests are too far away for those sizes to be accurate. So two thought streams are battling each other for who is correct."

With that in mind, the visiting wizards knew what needed to be done. Almost as one, they all closed their eyes and focused on their internal thoughts to get rid of the conflict. It took Harry and Lyra longer than the others, and they heard a few gasps from their traveling companions who finished first.

Lyra opened her eyes last after suppressing the idea that the birds had to be the size of an eagle. Now that she could accurately measure the distance between them and the nests, she gasped at the birds being the size of the thestral, snuggled up in each of the occupied nests.

"Can I go talk to them?" She asked Kaja.

"Yeah, no," Melvin butted in. "It gets hotter when you get closer and if they screech at you, they radiate so much heat that a child could easily die."

"While all of that is true, shut up Melvin. She's not a tourist, she's here for a reason," Busar admonished him. "She's a handler for similar birds near Japan."

Melvin grumbled and sneered but stayed quiet.

Kaja leaned down to Lyra, and told her, "I'm not sure what you're going to do but do not use any flame freezing charms or cooling charms, as they will attack you."

Lyra started to get out of her heavy clothes which were just making her sweat now. When she was just in a coat and jeans, Alastor gave her the same watch he had given Harry for the sigbin attack so she could portkey back to them in an emergency. Harry gave her some flobberworm jerky to take with, and Whispers managed to find more popcorn from somewhere for her to take as well. He wasn't even wearing his yeti gloves inside the winter suit.

Fully prepared, Lyra climbed over the ledge and walked carefully across the slanted cliff toward the nests. As she got close, one of the birds close to her perked up and looked right at her but she kept walking. Seeing her continue to approach, it let out a squawk which wasn't just loud but distorted the air in a cone with the heat coming off of it. As it washed over Lyra, her hair gave off sparks and she stopped. The heat continued to pass over the distance and the rest of them felt it slightly where they were.

Alastor had his wand pointed to an exact copy of the watch he had given to Lyra on his wrist but Brandt held up a hand to try to get him to stand down. While his posture became slightly more relaxed, his wand didn't move an inch. Lyra turned around and gave them a thumbs-up. Harry returned the gesture. The other wizards were watching expectantly. The muggles were breathing erratically as they watched the small girl standing calmly in what must be an incredible hot spot.

When she started moving again, the bird let out a louder squak, and when the heat washed over her again, head to toe, she burst into flames. The muggles along with Kaja and Busar went into panic mode. Not taking any chances, Alastor activated the portkey remotely and Lyra appeared next to them in a snap. She was still on fire.

She spun around, confused at what just happened, still burning and sparks falling around her, "What? Why?" she asked. "Why did you bring me back? You didn't do that to Harry when he was fighting monsters!"

"You're on fire!" one of the muggles yelled, as they started to try and throw a blanket over her.

Harry jumped between them and snatched the blanket from them, "Get away from her."

"Now I need to start all over," Lyra pouted and the fire extinguished.

She stood there naked for a moment, as the fire burned away all her clothes. Harry tossed her the blanket and she covered up as they were close to the edge of the hot zone of the nests. Her pouch had been unaffected, but the belt holding it had been burned off, so it had fallen where she had stood before, near the next.

Tonks took the watch back so Moody could add the spell again while Brandt yelled at the muggles.

"This is not some high school science class or an ornithology lecture. This is magic, these are magical creatures. Feel lucky that we aren't playing with dragons as they would kill you in a second."

"Dragons are real?" Melvin asked.

"Aww shit," Busar moaned. "Brandt, they're only allowed to know about the animals on this island. Now I have to wipe their memories."

"Wipe our memories? You can do that?" one of them asked.

"No, of course not. I was just joking," he told them as he pulled a large white scepter from where it was strapped to his thigh.

"Futakili!" he incanted, as a pulse of magic emanated from the tip of the magical focus and washed over the muggles.

They stood there dazed for a few seconds before Kaja grabbed Melvin and gave him a light slap in the face.

"What? What happened?" he asked as he looked around like he was just woken up.

"You and your people need to get your shit together!" the redhead yelled at him, gesturing to the others. "Just because the girl can approach them doesn't mean you can. We had to knock you out and bring you back.

"That doesn't sound like something we would do," Melvin said slowly…

Alastor groaned and drew his wand, waving it as he said, "Consarci retentia!"

A silver thread shot out of his wand, which floated through the air like spun sugar before it pierced the temples of the four muggles, like beads on a necklace. Bits of light left his wand and traveled through the thread, going through each of their heads before the thread retracted back into his wand. The muggle man that wasn't Melvin made a small bow to Kaja.

"I'm sorry, miss. That was entirely my fault, it won't happen again." The other muggles mirrored his apology before going back to the edge of the cliff to watch the birds from a distance.

"That was an impressive memory alteration," Brandt nodded with a touch of awe.

Moody turned to the children, "Memory alteration is only legal when performed by someone trained in it and in this case, to preserve the Statute of Secrecy. Even for those like these scientists who know of magic, they are not allowed to know all about it." He looked over towards Kaja and Busar, "The two of you need to be retrained or have the ICW send a professional obliviator to be stationed with you. I will be filing a detailed incident report to them, so decide which you want to do."

Both Kaja and Busar looked a bit embarrassed, but were interrupted by Lyra, who had just put on new clothes, conjured by Tonks, "Can I try again?" she asked hopefully.

Not seeing anyone else object, Brandt told her, "Yes, however, I'm going to keep your pouch here. I'm not sure how much damage those birds could do to it. If you need it, I'll send it over to you." When he was done speaking, he summoned it to him from where it fell.

Lyra shrugged off the blanket that was covering her and picked up her staff, she hopped over the edge the muggles were watching from and started making her way back to the nests. This time, she got much closer before one of the blasts of heat made her catch on fire. She channeled the fire into just her hair, so it didn't burn her clothes off again and approached closer. The enormous bird sat up straight and towered over her when she got within ten feet. It was even bigger than a thestral, and they hadn't even seen its wingspan yet. It looked at the girl with flaming hair strangely and made various squawks at her, the heated distortion coming from its beak each time.

When it sat back down but continued to look at her, she turned back towards the group and waved. Brandt carefully levitated her pouch at ground level, across the long expanse until it reached her. Trying the safest route of food first, she removed some of the dried fish from their island and presented it to the bird. It took a moment before it leaned forward to take it, and she tossed it into its mouth.

From there, she let the great bird sample everything else she had brought. It didn't like any of the sweeter flobberworm jerkies but seemed to enjoy most of the citrus ones. It did not care for any of the popcorn that Whispers had given her. Eventually, the bird had eaten its fill and went to stand up. At its full height, it was just under fifteen feet tall. Though as soon as it reached its full height, it extended its wings. The group of wizards and muggles all gasped and many were taking pictures. Since this second foray to the nest, Brandt also had a recording orb hovering between the two groups. The wingspan of the bird had to be close to forty feet and it just held them out as they just seemed to soak up the wind coming up the rocky cliff face.

Unlike the phoenix and the hoohoo, the vulkatross was not red or orange but was primarily white and gray. However, on the underside of its wings, there were a few large red feathers close to the wingtips. Being large for this bird meant they were just about six feet long.

When it seemed like it had been holding its wings extended for two minutes, it gave a mighty flap that pushed Lyra to the ground and it launched itself into the sky. Everyone watched as the bird flew straight toward the rising sun, vanishing from sight. No matter how hard they watched, they couldn't see it after it passed by the sun in front of their eyes. A bit confused at the disappearance, they didn't need to wait long for it to come back, as it appeared out of nowhere over the water and dove straight in, with minimal splash. Brandt gestured with his wand so that the blue orb floated out over the water, near where the bird went down.

A minute later, it resurfaced with something hanging out of its beak. With a mighty flap, it took to the sky again and flew back to its nest and where Lyra was still waiting. Before landing, it let go of what it was holding and a leopard seal, five feet long, fell with a crash to the ground next to the nest. As the bird landed, it used its beak to rip open the dead seal and push it closer to Lyra. Unsure of what to do, she looked back to the group.

No one had any idea, except Harry who opened his cold weather suit to reach the pouch stashed inside and retrieved his wand. With a tap to his lips and a twist, he cast, "Ventrilliquo!"

The spell splashed on the ground near Lyra and Harry's voice told her, "Cut off a piece and cook it. Save some for me."

Lyra retrieved her wand from her pouch and slowly cut a large chunk of meat out of the seal. The giant bird looked on with interest as she conjured fire to cook the meat. It took some time to finish and most of the wizards had begun to play cards with the muggles while they waited for something else to happen. When it was done cooking, Lyra ate a bit and gave a bit to the vulkatross before taking the rest and venturing back to the group.

"I like him," she declared as she arrived.

"We can never get close," Kaja told her. "If we try flame freezing spells or cooling charms, they just get angry and drive us away."

"One is plenty scary," Busar added, "but when they team up, we have to activate the emergency portkeys."

"I still don't understand why you're so afraid of them," Melvin told them. "You're all wizards! I've seen you turn rocks into rhinos, stop the snow from falling, and teleport from one place to another; surely you could deal with these vulkatross if you wanted." Kaja was just about to yell at the muggle but Brandt stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. He exchanged a whispered conversation with her and she gave him a nod.

"Look, muggle," he growled. "There are many types of creatures in this world. You know of the magic on this island. There is another, inaccessible island that we just came from that was under siege by monsters twisted by evil magic. Imagine, giant saltwater crocodiles, invading like an army. Hundreds of them, being led by magical creatures that look like them but will change into something else, able to fly and melt flesh and internal organs with acidic tongues. We all fought them, but I will show you just how horrible it was."

As he had been speaking, he had twisted open the orb he had recorded Lyra's interaction with the vulkatross. Inside there was a gray stone with blue swirls on it that glowed lightly. Taking it out and placing it in his pocket, he placed his wand to his temple and pulled out a ghostly fiber, placing it where the stone had been before. After he closed it up and finished speaking, he tapped it with his wand and it hovered right in front of them for a moment before the world around them changed until they were back on the island.

It wasn't perfect, like a pensive, as the images flickered now and then and you could still see the orb that contained Brandt's memory hovering in the center. However, they didn't have to stick their faces in a bowl, so there was that bonus. Harry's thoughts on the orb were interrupted as one of the muggles screamed as a fifteen-foot alligator charged through his body toward an image of Brandt. He twisted his wand and a violet ribbon wrapped around the reptile and cut it into a dozen pieces. Many more charged through the muggles who were frantically running around trying to avoid the spectral animals pushing through the area. Each one that came through was dispatched in some horrible manner, electrocution, organs exploding, being cut to pieces, and more. Then the balbal came.

Two of them flew into the area and circled where Brandt was standing on top of the water. A beam of silver light, like a rope, exited his wand and wrapped around one of the flying creatures. Pulling on it like a lasso, he swung one creature into the other, then the light of the magic rope turned black and the two creatures exploded, showering the area with guts. Just as that happened, another burst out of the water under him and latched onto his back. It was smaller than the others, but its tongue snaked out and wrapped around Brandt's arm, burning off his sleeve and starting to melt his skin. He spun his wand around in his other hand and stabbed it straight into the eyes of the creature, the back of its head exploding and falling off into the water. This continued for another few minutes before Tonks and Harry showed up on brooms and he ended the last one with the killing curse. Then the memory ended.

The muggles had stopped running around after they realized nothing was going to hurt them there. They just stood in shock at what they were witnessing, and one of them vomited. The orb returned to Brandt's hand and he opened it back up, dumping out the memory and letting it disperse on the ground, then put the glowing blue stone back in and put it away.

"I could easily massacre all of the animals on this island," he told the terrified muggles. "I'm not even that strong. The three of them over there could probably take me down. I don't know about Busar, but Kaja is at least half as strong as I am, just much smarter. The children have the potential to be even greater than any of us. So while we could slaughter every one of these birds, should they threaten us, we prefer to learn from them and only resort to violence if it is unavoidable."

The muggle that vomited looked dizzy and said, "I think I need to go lay down."

"I think we should head back," Melvin told them.

"Go ahead," Busar told them. "We're going to take them to see the penguins before returning to the camp."

Everyone gathered their warm clothing again and the groups set off in different directions. Busar and Kaja asked them all sorts of questions about the balbal on the way and finally got the joke Tonks had said earlier about preferring a French kiss with them rather than be with Brandt. Tristan was very interested in some of the spells that Brandt had used in the fight, though Moody was just moody the whole time, giving him small glances as Tristan was being given tips on how to more effectively use electrocution spells. Brandt was also arguing with Tonks about the money he had spent promoting her potion patent. Harry and Lyra were playing a running game of tag with Whispers across the frozen tundra while Kaja and Busar just led the way toward the penguin colony.

Heading downhill towards a large bay, they spotted the penguins. The penguins were impossible to miss, somewhere around three thousand birds waddled around the area near the water. Just like the penguins, as a whole, were impossible to miss; the Tyrant Penguins also stood out. While the majority of the birds stood between three to four feet tall, the Tyrants numbered nearly a hundred and were close to ten to fifteen feet tall, mostly close to the water, but a few mingled further inland.

Busar informed them, "The Tyrants see themselves as guardians of the group. They mostly stay close to the water to keep orcas and leopard seals, like the one the vulkatross killed, from attacking the colony. One can easily handle a seal, three can take out an orca. They're also one of the few magical creatures that breed freely with mundane versions of themselves but only do so as juveniles. Once they reach over five feet tall, they just aren't compatible with the non-magical penguins."

"Like trying to fit a square block in a round hole?" Tonks asked.

"Sure, let's say that's what it is," Kaja replied with a chuckle.

These weren't as interesting as the vulkatross, as they just wandered around, doing penguin things. Occasionally one would go into the water or come back out, but that's about it. With the thousands of other penguins wandering around, they couldn't get closer to the magical birds, so Busar just handed out lunch, which consisted of bottles of a thick beverage with a straw that could get into their masks without taking them off. Whispers did not like it at all and had to be talked into drinking it for his own good.

The hike back to the base camp was longer than just going to the vulkatross, but some of the wind had died down so they were able to see more of the terrain as they moved. There wasn't much to see anyway but back at the camp, there were quite a few buildings they didn't see before. Kaja pointed out the quarters where they were staying, along with where the muggles were, then to the potions lab where they analyzed various things they gathered around the island, a library and area to study, the kitchen, and the sauna.

Brandt laughed when he heard that, saying, "You can take the girl out of Norway… after dinner?"

Kaja smiled, "Of course, everyone is welcome."

The rest of the evening, Harry and Lyra were shown the different types of potion ingredients that were gathered from this region of the world. There were fragments of ice, infused with magic, that would stay cold even in boiling water for days at a time. The feathers of the tyrant penguins were being tested to try to make underwater broomsticks as the birds were flightless but could swim at incredible speeds underwater. Eggshells from the vulkatross were being examined to see what properties they had and a few horns of the bicorn seals were being packaged to send to a wandmaker in Africa to be powdered into wand cores.

Lyra was playing around with the eggshells. So far, the magi-zoologists had been able to determine that they were able to absorb a great deal of heat and could be used in fire protection potions. She decided to test that by pouring a constant stream of fire onto the shells. When she couldn't get any reaction from them, she plucked one of her hairs from her head and ignited it, and let it burn. While it didn't damage the shell, it did leave marks on the white shell where the hair had lain for just a moment before vanishing.

Busar and Harry were trying to work on the underwater broomstick idea. The problem was that the wood wouldn't bond properly with the feathers. They were able to pair some to the skeleton of one of the tyrant penguins, but no one would want to ride the spine of a giant bird. When Lyra got done playing with the eggshells, she joined Harry and managed to evoke some magic in the feathers to make them shoot through a tub of water, like underwater darts, but that was the best they could figure out.

Following dinner, Kaja and Busar led them through a tunnel, so they didn't have to leave the building to where the sauna was. Using magic to start the steam, the group split off into men and women to the different rooms. Harry, Tristan, Brandt, Moody, and Busar all relaxed in one room as the steam filled the room. It was like the hot springs back at home, just a little different. As they relaxed, Moody was still giving a strange look towards Brandt which he finally acknowledged.

"Enough already!" Brandt groaned and stood up to face the old Auror. "What is it? You've been glaring at me ever since I scared the muggles."

"That orb, where did you get it?" Alastor asked.

"Lord Black has a collection of various sizes," Brandt replied. "Are you interested in them? They are quite useful and unique."

"I wasn't sure until you opened it, however, they remind me of something," Moody said slowly. "Do you know where he got them?"

"I do," Brandt replied. "A black, six generations before the current Lord Black acquired them while studying in Russia."

"I thought so," Moody replied. "Did he acquire any other artifacts from that teacher? Or learn any dark secrets from him?"

Harry, Busar, and Tristan looked back and forth between the two men having their covert conversation.

"He did, I assume you're talking about the needle?" Moody gripped his wand tightly as Brandt spoke. "None of the Blacks have used that particular ritual," Brandt said while shaking his head. "At the start of my lessons with Lord Black, he explained that such methods only lead to madness. Though he did start teaching me one other secret of that teacher, that I will use to complete my mastery."

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked, breaking the tension.

Brandt smiled at Harry, "An old Black family secret. The magic that was used to create the orbs that I carry to record things comes from a very old Russian wizard who did great things. Lord Black is teaching me a spell now that will help protect your island from anyone who wishes to harm it. More than any ward stones that the Filipino ministry could create or anyone else for that matter."

Harry's mind latched onto the idea of protecting his home and stood up in his towel and faced Brandt, "How can I help?"

Brandt ruffled Harry's hair and sat back down, "I'll let you know, but it won't be for at least a year. Focus on school for now."

There was still quite a bit of tension between Moody and Brandt as they tried to relax in the steam room. When they rejoined the women, Tonks picked up on the atmosphere immediately and Tristan took her aside to talk to her and try to explain what happened. Lyra and Whispers looked immensely relaxed, their hair was limp like all the energy had been drained out of it. Harry smiled at both of them as not even the time in the hot steam could talk the wild energy out of his hair.

"We're getting our hot springs this year at Hogwarts," he told them.

"Steeeeem," Whispers said contently.

"That too," he told his little brother.