Disclaimer: See Chapter 1
A/N: Thank you to all my awesome readers for coming back to the next instalment, and hopefully those new to this story.
-oOo-
Today's story: Norway and the search for Durmstrang.
-oOo-
Chapter 17
-oOo-
August 19, 1993
Isla Nublar, Costa Rica
When he got out of his shower, he wrapped a towel around his waist before using another to dry his hair. he walked into the bedroom to find the fresh change of clothes, his belt with the pouches, his cloak and the few other things that had been in his pockets lain out. Gryffindor's sword lay next to his clothes, with his holster next to that. Knowing where they were going and what almost happened at Hogwarts, Harry was having second thoughts of taking everything with him.
Harry was reaching for his shorts when a knock came at the door between his and Sirius apartment. "Just a second," he called out, getting his shorts on.
The knock came again, and the door opened a crack. "Harry? Are you dressed?"
"Getting there," he told Lex. The door opened more as he pulled his shorts up. It already felt too warm for trousers today, but he would put them on. They were heading towards Norway, and it was only supposed to be in the lower teens Celsius. He was still struggling to think of temperature on the Fahrenheit scale. That would be the low to mid-fifties.
She slipped in as he was thinking, closing the door behind her.
Harry gave her a cheeky grin. "If you want to find me in my all, you should just barge in."
Lex gave him a once over. "Are you saying you want me to find you naked? Not sure I would say no."
Harry winked at her. It surprised him at times how easy he felt around her, and how sexy she was. Also how far they had already gotten in just over a month. Not that he was complaining.
She had come close enough for him to take her hands and pull her in. Lex was in a pair of white jean shorts with a blue crop top. Harry definitely liked the way she dressed, especially how her clothes showed off her fit body. Lex didn't resist, reaching her mouth up to greet his. Without a shirt on, Harry liked how her body pressed against his. He let a hand wander to her waist. Lex moved a hand up his arm to his hair, pulling his head in closer as she started to use her tongue. Harry's other hand found it onto her hip while the one on her waist rubbed his thumb over her stomach and dipped just inside her waist band.
Lex moaned into his mouth. Harry lightly bit her lip when she ran a hand over his chest, her fingers rubbing his nipples like he liked to do to her. "We have to get going," Harry whispered breathlessly when Harry nudged her head to the side to kiss her neck. His thumb snuck a little more into her waist band, rubbing her smooth flesh just at the top of her knickers. His other hand moved up to ghost over her chest. Lex made a groan that had him pressing hard into her waist as she started to grind herself against his leg.
They shot apart when a knock came at the door. "Harry, are you and Lex in there? I let her into my apartment a little bit ago," Sirius asked loudly through the door.
Lex gave an annoyed groan. "Why do we always get interrupted when I am just starting to really like it?"
Harry chuckled, grabbing his shirt as she pulled away. "Next time we'll find someplace better hidden."
"It's your apartment. This should be hidden or are you suggesting your invisibility cloak?" she asked, a playful light to her eyes that had him stifling a groan as the door opened. Visions of her rubbing him like the other night while under his cloak...
"I'm sorry to break up what was probably a rousing time," the man said with a wag to his eyes, "but Harry and I need to be at the helipad in an hour."
"Just give us a few," Harry told his godfather.
"That's what I think your father said to your mother and here you are," Sirius smirked, yelling in surprise as Harry grabbed for his wand. Sirius laughed as he slammed the door behind him.
"I did not need to hear that," Harry scoffed.
Lex giggled. "I hope you last longer than that," she teased.
Harry growled at her. "Care to find out?"
He couldn't believe he was being so bold. Lex didn't seem to mind though, stepping back over to him and pulling his hips against her. He groaned as he was pressed hard into her. Lex gave a coy smirk. "Maybe when you get back."
"Minx," he accused.
She pecked him. "I don't hear you complaining," she told him before they got into another heavy session of snogging that had Harry start to push her shirt up. Sirius knocked on his door again and he growled at his godfather again.
"Forty-six minutes," he yelled through the door.
"One of these days we can do this without being interrupted," she said, sounding as annoyed as him.
"We'll only be gone a few days," Harry told her, pulling her into a hug.
Lex hugged him back. "Be safe. Is it going to be that dangerous?"
"I don't know, but Sirius and I will be safe. He's looking forward to seeing your mum again," he told her.
Lex sighed. "I hope he's good with her. I know mom won't say, but I know it is that bitch that dad is dating now why they got divorced. I don't want to see her hurt again."
Harry kissed the side of her head. "Sirius isn't like that. I know he teases us, but he wouldn't do that to anyone."
Harry had a strong feeling Sirius wouldn't. He knew his godfather had a reputation as a playboy when he was younger, but that just didn't seem like Sirius now.
"I hope so," she said, kissing his bare chest. A shiver went through him.
Sirius banged on the door. "Alright, it's less than forty minutes now. Let's go. I want to eat before leaving."
"We can apparate there, you know," Harry yelled back.
"I like riding with Yvonne," Sirius called back.
"He better not hurt her," Lex told Harry.
"He won't," Harry assured her, even if Harry had to beat the man to ensure he didn't. Deciding, Harry grabbed the belt with the pouches. "Lex, can you look after this while we are gone?"
She looked at it. "What's in it?"
"All the books, goblin made weapons and half the extra wands we have. I don't want to lose them," he told her.
Her eyes widened a bit. "You want me to keep them while you are gone?"
Harry nodded. "I don't trust anyone else."
She took the belt, then started to snog him again. Sirius banged on the door again. "Thirty-six minutes. Let's go."
-oOo-
August 21, 1993
Lakselv, Norway
As they got out of the small jet, a guard at the small airport eyed them before as they passed the luggage that was being taken out. They both had puffy down coats with backpacks. Everything they needed were in the extended pockets of the bags or in their cargo trousers and coats. Harry felt a little naked without his sword on his back, but it wasn't exactly legal, or accepted, to walk around like that in most places.
Looking around, they walked into the small terminal and then out.
"Over this way," Sirius said, nodding to a car with a man holding a sign that said 'BLACK'. Harry could see the mountains off in the distance. They got into the car before Harry asked, "Which mountains?"
"To the south. We'll go to our hotel and then start exploring tomorrow," Sirius told him. "It's just about eight. The sun will be down within the hour and up about four AM. Let's get something to eat, get some sleep and be out just after sunrise. I don't really want to be in the mountains after dark until we know things are safe."
"Why?" Harry asked, knowing they had all they needed to be in the wilderness for a week or more.
"This far north, I know there used to be trolls, ogres, dragons and goblin mines. I would rather not wander into any camps or be ambushed. During the day we should be able to see what is coming," Sirius told him. "Especially this time of the year. Trolls and ogres don't exactly like the sunlight, so they are just waking from their summer slumber or hideouts."
Harry looked at Sirius curiously. "You know real trolls don't turn into stone in the sunlight, right?"
Sirius grinned at him. "Where we came from, yes. But there were rumours even back in England of different species up here that only the Swedes and Norwegians knew about. I'd rather not push the local myths until we know."
"Sure," Harry shrugged. Yes, something was different here. Who would have suspected that dinosaurs would be brought back to life or that Muggles would have destroyed the magical world... well, the Wizarding world at least.
Harry spent a little while going over the notes Sirius had given him before going to bed. He had read them before, just hadn't really thought that things might be that different.
It was close to three-thirty in the morning when a barely awake Sirius shook him out of a bad dream. Since meeting Hermione, he had been dreaming of the Department of Mysteries again. Only this time, Lex was one of the ones that died...
"Time to get up, pup. I have lots of coffee and some pastries. I want to drive out towards the edge of town and then start hiking. I don't want to apparate until we know where we are going," Sirius said through a huge yawn.
Looking at his watch, he asked, "Can't we sleep another few hours?"
Sirius gave a tired chuckle. "Come on. The sooner we get this done the sooner you can sleep with that hot blonde of yours."
"She's only sixteen, you mutt. Stay away from her," Harry replied, throwing his pillow at him.
Sirius smirked, blocking the pillow. "Her mum's hotter."
Harry made a face that had Sirius laughing.
It was close to four thirty when Sirius had the driver drop them off at a trail head. The driver looked at them sceptically when they said they were going to camp out. "You should be careful. It's not safe up there," the driver told them in a heavy accent.
"We can take care of ourselves," Sirius told the man.
They made sure their bags were strapped on tightly before starting to hike between the pines and birches that dominated the valleys before you got into the mostly bare rock of the mountains. They were twenty minutes into the woods before they stopped.
"I don't detect anyone," Sirius said after casting a homium revelio.
"I don't either," Harry told him, slinging his bag to the ground. He undid the cuff on his jacket so that he could get at his wand easily before taking his sword out of a side pocket of his cargo trousers. Harry was missing the pouches, but he didn't want to risk what was in them.
Sirius did the same, attaching his sword to his belt as Harry strapped his over his shoulder. He hated it banging at his side. "I wish I had a dragonhide vest," Sirius said.
"Do you really think it will be that dangerous?" Harry questioned.
"You read my notes. There are a lot of strange stories from up here that only magic or magical creatures could explain," Sirius told him.
"Right. Do you want to try a string of apparition to get to the mountains? We're still a way away," Harry suggested, wanting to get to where they should be quickly.
Sirius frowned. "Not yet. Let's get up to the top of that one," he pointed to a peak to his left. "The guide said it's about a two-hour hike. From there, we'll figure it out. It's about seven now, so we still have over twelve hours of sun light."
Harry nodded.
It was mostly silent as they made it through the forest before walking up a rocky slope. They didn't pass or see anything of interest besides some elk in the valley where Lakselv was.
At the top of the mountain, they took off their packs and took out some power bars and jerky. Harry found he liked them, but not as much as a good meal. Sirius took out a pair of binoculars that he had enchanted with a few spells.
"See anything interesting?" Harry asked as Sirius looked down into a valley with a broad river and onto the far mountains.
"Looks like a few fishermen by a small cabin," he told Harry. "The valley shows no signs of magic. I am thinking we can try an apparition to that far peak. I don't want to run into those Muggles right now."
Harry swallowed his jerky and took a drink of water. "Sounds good," he said. Ten minutes later they were on top of the peak. Other mountains rolled out before them to the south and west. to the north it flattened some and there were lots of lakes in the valleys between the rolling rocky hills. Forest clung around many of the lakes or the valleys between.
Something felt different from here. Sirius sensed it too. "This is different," he said, his wand coming out.
Harry reached out with his magic instead. He could feel it. It was like the wilder magic around Hogwarts, only this felt more powerful. As he felt the magic, he had a feeling the area it covered was much larger as well.
"What do you think?" Harry asked Sirius.
Sirius was still moving his wand. "That we need another dozen wands," Sirius told him. "There is a lot of magic here, but most of it is not from wizards."
"It feels like the wild magic around Hogwarts," Harry told him.
Sirius nodded. "That's what worries me. It seems to start at that ridge over there," he said, pointing to a ridge a good half mile or more down slope.
Harry nodded. "There's some type of obscuring field."
"You noticed that too, huh?" Sirius said. "It feels like goblin magic."
Harry looked to Sirius. "You can tell the difference?"
"Part of our Hit Wizard training was to detect who put up wards, since it meant it would need to be handled differently. You see those stone cairns," Sirius pointed out. Harry saw a series of stone towers spread out in a wide arc as far as he could see. They were perhaps a hundred feet apart. Most were three or four feet tall, but every eight or nine, there was a pile six or more feet tall.
Harry regarded them. "Ward stone piles?"
"Probably set up to hide ward stones. Muggles would see them, maybe thinking they are burial or marker cairns for a trail," Sirius told him.
Harry nodded, having seen a few like that along the trail when they got above the forest. "So, you think goblins?"
"Or at least goblin made wards that are still active," Sirius told him.
"So, no apparition down to them?"
Sirius snorted. "I have no bloody clue if that is wise or not. I'm only reading that there is magic there and that something is masking it. With me being turned back, I wonder if this would block the sensors that Lockwood and the others use."
Harry looked at the cairns, not having a desire to determine how the wards did that.
"Should we walk down?" Harry asked.
"Wand out. Keep on your toes. I would hate to bring a pile of goo back to Lex," Sirius said with a grin.
"Only one way to find out," Harry told him, pulling his wand. He looked at the cairns again. They went for miles in each direction. Whatever this was, it was a huge area.
Picking their way carefully, it took them more than a half hour to get close to the cairns. Sirius was performing tests every few hundred feet, teaching Harry what he was doing and what he was looking for. After Harry got it, he found his sense of the magic gave him a better feel of where the wards started and a general feeling of protection, but no danger for them. Sirius spells just showed there were wards and they were masking something, but not what.
They stopped about two hundred feet from a cairn. "The wards start about a hundred feet out from the stones," Sirius told him.
"I can feel it," Harry told him. "I don't ever remember the wards around Hogwarts feeling this strong."
Sirius looked at him. "Your mum used to say she could feel magic like that."
Harry smiled. "At least I got something good from them."
Sirius chuckled. "You got your dad's 'just charge in' mentality."
"Well, it explains why you two were such good friends. Crazy attracts crazy," Harry snarked back.
"Who's crazier, the crazy man or the one that follows him. Now, follow me," Sirius said with a grin.
Harry shook his head. "I must be mental," Harry commented as they took off towards the south to see if they could find a gap in the wards. There was a defined path about fifty feet out from the wards, making him a little apprehensive. "This seems a little convenient."
"I am thinking that either the muggles walk this way, or I am suspecting that the wards are being maintained," Sirius told him, looking back to Harry.
Harry, instead, caught movement over Sirius shoulder. Just over the ridge, he caught someone riding on a what he thought was a reindeer. Sirius turned, his left hand loosening the strap on keeping his sword in and wand raised slightly.
The person was joined by another. They wore vests and brightly coloured shirts. He noticed guns over their backs and what looked like batons in their hands.
"Friendly?" Harry asked, reaching over his shoulder and putting his hand on his sword. There was something about the two figures that didn't say Muggle to him.
"Unsure," Sirius remarked.
They stared each other down for a few before the two riders turned their large reindeer down the ridge to come towards them. Sirius half pulled his rapier out. Harry raised his wand. As the reindeer picked their way down, the two figures raised their batons. Getting closer, Harry could see they were men, and he had a feeling the batons were more like wands, but he had never seen anything like them before.
It took a few minutes before the men came within a hundred feet of them and stopped. After a moment, the older of the two said something that Harry was sure was Norwegian, but he had no clue what they said.
Sirius, still ready to strike, called over. "Do you speak English? Parle-vous Francais?"
Harry regarded the men. One looked only a few years older than Harry with a beard that just looked to be filling out and light blue eyes. There was no mistaking that the younger man was well muscled and used to being outdoors. His nose was slightly large.
The older man next to him had a full beard that was a few inches long. The same light blue eyes regarded them, and the large nose looked to be sniffing the air, as though he could smell their magic.
The older man said, "We speak English. Who are you? You don't seem like Hunters from the church."
Sirius rose his eyebrows. "Hunters? Are you talking about the Inquisition?"
The man regarded them. "You are magical. We haven't seen any other magicals in many years. You don't wreak of the Church. Who are you?"
Harry shared a look with Sirius. "No, we aren't from the church. I'm Sirius Black and this is Harry Potter. Who are you?"
The men regarded them for a moment. "Anders Greengrass. This is my son, Karl. If you aren't from the church, where are you from? You aren't American."
Harry was very curious now. Sirius replied. "No. Not American. We are English."
Anders looked a little nervous. "I thought the English reserve fell years ago."
"Reserves?" Harry asked.
Karl said something in Norwegian to his father. His father nodded. "What are you doing here?"
Sirius was being a little cautious. "Harry and I came here looking for Durmstrang. We were told that it fell before Hogwarts during the Inquisition and were hoping to find out what happened."
Anders looked surprised. "Hogwarts still stands? By grandfather told me it fell during the time of his great-great-grandfathers."
"Ah, no. Hogwarts fell. The Grey Lady said it fell in seventeen-oh-three. It was only ruins now," Sirius told them.
"Then where do you come from and how do you have wands?" the younger man asked, moving to take the hunting rifle off his back. Harry pulled his sword, his wand up.
"Karl, they are not of the church," his father snapped.
"We know of only two other preserves, and they aren't from either of them," the younger man said. He held the gun pointing down.
"What are these preserves?" Harry asked.
Anders moved over and made sure his son's gun was pointing down. "You really don't know about the preserves? How were you trained and where did you get wands? I thought only the preserve in Canada still knew that talent," the man said.
"We don't know anything about preserves. We didn't come from here, if you can believe that," Sirius told them.
Something suddenly roared from close by. Both men were immediately on guard. Anders took the gun from his back, both of them pointing towards a cairn a little distance behind them.
Sirius and him had turned. Sirius sword came out. "What is that?"
"It sounded like a dragon," Harry said.
"Ridgeback," Anders confirmed. "It must smell your magic."
Harry felt something large coming towards them. "We should go."
Anders barked something out at his son. After a brief exchange, Karl slung his gun over his shoulder before turning his reindeer around. He whipped it the reins on the side of its neck and took off. "The boy is right. We should go."
"We'll be right behind you," Sirius told the man. Harry got right away that they would follow by apparition.
"You go ahead, I'll take up the rear," Anders told them, tensing as a roar came that was much closer.
"Go, pup," Sirius ordered. Harry looked at the far ridge. Karl was only topping the ridge closest to them now. With a twist, he popped out, feeling the now familiar effect of being pulled through a straw, before coming out almost a mile away from where they were.
He could see Karl crest the ridge below him, concentrating as the reindeer ran at full speed. He looked down, seeing a disturbance in the obscuring wards near where Sirius was. Ander was already charging away, and he was joined by Sirius just a second later.
"Anders says there is a small village a few kilometres that way," he said, pointing in the direction of the cairns.
"Do we wait for them?" Harry asked.
"I think we should. I don't like the sound of these Hunters and I'm curious about these other preserves," Sirius told him.
"I am too. I think they know how to mask their magic, like you said. I think the Inquisition wasn't disbanded," Harry said to Sirius.
"I don't think it was either."
A few moments later, Karl looked shocked to see them on the ridge, slowing to look at them, then he pressed his mount harder. Harry and Sirius watched him and followed a few minutes later.
-oOo-
Later that day...
The village was only a few houses. They were old style long houses that were once prevalent in the area. Thick layers of sod covered the roofs and sides of the half dozen buildings. One was a stable with a dozen deer. A larger herd was off in the distance, feeding on the mosses and grasses that grew by a river this time of the year. He could see a few dogs and people around the herd.
The house that Harry was standing outside of was the Greengrasses. Eight people lived inside of it. The one across from him belong to the Jahmburgs and a third to the Kristiansens. In total, fourteen people called this small village home. He had learned that the Olsen's hadn't returned almost a decade back after a migration with the reindeer to their winter pastures.
Out of the fourteen people here, six of them were magicals.
As he watched the four children with the reindeer, a girl with long braided blonde hair watched him. Harry knew a Daphne Greengrass from Hogwarts. She had been a rather cold and bitchy individual, hanging out with Pansy Parkinson and Draco Malfoy at times. Still feeling a little off about Susan and Hermione, he was having a hard time not to see this girl in the same way as she regarded him, a guarded expression on her face.
One of the younger kids whistled to call two dogs to them. Harry nodded to the reindeer, "Do they hang out all year?"
Daphne looked towards the herd. "They migrate, always coming back to this pasture. We don't follow them anymore," Daphne told him.
Harry nodded.
"Father said you have wand?" she asked.
Harry nodded again, reaching into his sleeve. "Holly and phoenix feather," he told her.
Daphne eyed it hungrily. "Father had been teaching us to make rods. He says wands work better. None of us know how to make them."
"I don't either," Harry told her.
"Then where did you get it?" she demanded.
Harry could understand her desire for a wand. Any magical could. "A place that doesn't exist anymore," he told her.
Her light blue eyes darkened in sadness. "So, it is true? The Canadian Preserve has fallen?"
Harry rubbed the back of his neck. "I have no clue. I only learned about them today. Where I come from, there were thousands of wizards."
Daphne pursed her lips. "Father has told us about the Great Sorrows. We didn't think there were that many left anywhere."
Harry frowned. "I don't think there are," Harry confessed. "You are the first ones we have met that know about magic."
"We thought we were the last ones," Daphne said in a low voice after a few moments of silence.
-oOo-
Inside the house...
Sirius had a hand over his mouth as he listened to Anders. His wife was serving them some heated mead while his son took out some tomes.
"You will excuse us for being a little weary, but there hasn't been an exchange between the other preserves or any other wizard since by father was young," Anders told him. "There are some traditions to ensure you are not influenced by the church."
Sirius let his hand fall. He had just been told that at one time, there had been almost a hundred that survived the massacre of Durmstrang in seventeen-oh-one. Now, only the fourteen people in this village were left.
"What do you need me to do?" Sirius asked.
Anders took out a stone that was six inches across. Sirius recognized some of the runes on it. "When we used to be in contact with the goblins, they made a truth stone for us."
"Do you know where the goblins are now?" Sirius asked.
"Please, let us use the truth stone first," Anders told him.
Sirius felt a little apprehensive but touched the stone. He felt the magic. It was a strong compulsion to tell the truth most likely. Karl touched the stone as well. When his wife didn't, Anders said, "Dorothy doesn't have any magic."
Sirius nodded. "Before I ask again, why didn't you want Harry in here?"
"He doesn't look of age. Why would you include him?" Anders questioned.
Sirius snorted. "He's more mature than I am," Sirius answered truthfully, realizing this stone would compel him to tell the truth. He might need to be careful.
"As to your other question, no one has seen goblins for many years. My grandfather used to still treat with them, but they retreated into their mines and caves during the second world war. No one here in Voldnord has seen them since. We maintain the old protection stones they placed, but that is it," Anders told him. "Where do you come from?"
"London, England," Sirius answered.
"And now?" the man asked in his Norwegian accented English.
"Costa Rica. I really can't tell you more," Sirius said honestly.
Karl and Anders shared a look. Dorothy said, "You never said there was a preserve down there."
"Not that we know of. There was one in Brazil and Argentina, but I can't even tell you when we last heard of them," Anders responded.
"What are the preserves?" Sirius questioned.
Anders paused for a moment, as though pondering how to answer. "The church, the Catholics and their supporters, had a crusade to save the heretics many years ago. The Book of Elders talk about a great time of strife from about fifteen-thirty to seventeen-oh-eight when the last known wizarding settlement fell. The last refugees wandered for many years until they gathered around some of the destroyed sacred places of our peoples. Eight great preserves were founded. Hogwarts, Durmstrang, Beauxbatons and the Karlberg where know to be in Europe. The Arapaho, Inuit, Brazilian and Argentinian preserves were in the Americas. They were places of great magic. Places that magic reclaimed. Those of us left were prophesied to keep them guarded until magic awoke again. There are very few left. The only preserve that we have any contact with is the Karlberg in Austria. They were all helped by the goblins. Even though our people had a long history of blood, it was the only way to save magic from the non-mages that wanted to stamp us out."
Sirius' mouth ran a little dry.
Anders went on. "We heard of the Hogwarts Preserve failing more than eighty years back. We last heard from Beauxbatons about sixty years ago. There has been no word from America in about that time. I was starting to think we were the last wizards left, besides the five at Karlberg. Are there many in Costa Rica?"
Sirius could hear the desolation in the man's voice. For nearly three centuries his family had been watching the slow death of the remaining wizards, and the magic they had been sworn and prophesied to protect. Sirius answered as truthfully as he could. "Harry and I are the only fully trained wizards we know of. Harry has a girlfriend that is able to use a wand, but I don't know if she will become a true witch. She likes muggle computers and other technology too much."
Karl looked a little excited. "I saw you teleport. How did you do that?"
Sirius grinned at the excited young man. "It's called apparition. I wouldn't try it unless you know a certain amount of magic."
"Can you teach us? It would be more convenient than the reindeer," Anders asked.
Sirius pondered that for a moment. "We can. Do you know much magic? Harry and I are searching out any knowledge we can. We have his girlfriend, and probably others, to train. We are really trying to find anything on wand lore."
"As I said earlier, the only ones we knew that still possessed knowledge of wand making were the Inuit of Canada. I know how to make rods from the hearts of the Ridgebacks and Shortsnouts, but they are not as powerful as I know we hear tales of wands," Anders said.
Sirius frowned. They had half of their wand stock, about forty wands, on them. Looking at the family, he wasn't sure he should keep that from them. As he pondered if he should tell them or not, a stocky man with short brown hair came in. He said something in Norwegian before sitting at the table. "Hello. I am Soren Jahmsburg," he said in an even thicker accent.
"Sirius Black. Nice to meet you."
"Soren's two sons have shown signs of magic, though they are only eight right now," Anders told him.
"Yes. My father could use a rod. I cannot," the man said.
Sirius nodded. Coming to a decision, Sirius said, "We have found others that may be able to use magic someday. We are establishing a school of sorts on an island off Costa Rica. Since Harry and I are the only ones that know about magic, I could really use someone else that knows. I can trade you wands and other knowledge if you would come down," Sirius offered.
This seemed to catch Anders and Soren off guard. Karl, on the other hand, looked excited. "You mean there is more than in this book?" he asked, holding the thick volume in his hands. Sirius looked at it. It took him a long moment to realize that the only magic they probably knew was from an old family grimoire. This rocked him some.
"There are tales of more knowledge in the old ruins of Durmstrang, but we cannot go there. It is the home of selmas and ridgebacks, but I have been able to see the old castle. It is mostly intact still," Anders said.
Sirius put a hand to his mouth again. "Bloody hell," he muttered. He thought the lindworm had been bad. Selma's were giant snakes with an appetite for human flesh and Norwegian Ridgebacks were known to be vicious, especially if protecting their nest.
"I want to know more, papa," Karl said.
"Daphne has already mastered everything in your grimoire," Dorothy said.
Anders closed his eyes. "I was always told it was too dangerous to approach the Durmstrang. It was rumoured to be protected by great magics that are no longer known. One of my uncles tried to go there and never came back."
"Papa, we need to go. You know that some of the protection stones have cracked, and the fog is lessening," Karl said.
Sirius rose an eyebrow at this. So the wards were starting to fail. That couldn't be good. Seeing how little magic the Greengrasses, and most likely the Jahmburgs had, he knew they wouldn't last long if the wards failed. Maybe a modern cannon could take out a Ridgeback, but the guns and rods they had most likely couldn't.
Anders shared a look with his family. "We were tasked with protecting this place until magic awakens. We can't leave our sworn duty."
"When you mean awakens, what do you mean?" Sirius asked, getting a sinking feeling.
-oOo-
Outside...
Harry felt like he had to move if he couldn't be in the meeting. Daphne, having nothing better to do, followed him. Harry had the feeling she was very lonely. Harry wasn't sure he blamed her. He would be too to live in such an isolated place. Though, it would have been preferable to growing up with the Dursleys.
"Did your parents not warn you of the Church?" Daphne asked.
"My parents died when I was a baby. I've heard of the Inquisition," Harry told her.
"Papa has told my brother and sister about the Great Sorrows. It was the time that some wizards betrayed us. They fought besides the non-magicals and the church. Papa says you can smell it. It's like their magic has gone bad, like rotten meat," Daphne told him.
Harry looked to her concerned. "Wizards fought for the church?"
Daphne nodded. They came to stop by a warn stone that was like a small five-foot-tall monolith. "Papa says they were taken in by silver tongues and christened to serve a God that didn't like magic. The old bible said they were cleansing sin, but my grandpapa said they were tricked."
Harry had a sinking feeling about this. "And they smelled of rotten meat?"
"Their magic. That is what papa says. He says when he was a boy a Hunter came near. He and grandpapa could smell him from a long way off." She sniffed towards him. "Your magic smells sweet and musky, not sour and rancid. I think that is why papa and Karl didn't kill you."
Harry looked at her concerned. He could sense magic. The girl radiated it, almost like Lex. She wasn't as strong as her papa, but she was stronger than her brother. Focusing on her last statement, he asked, "Has your papa killed many?"
She shook her head. "No. Not many. We are to protect the magic behind the fog. Sometimes non-magicals get too close or refuse to listen. Papa always tries to scare them off, but sometimes they don't leave. He said he had put a few out of their misery last summer when they were attacked by trolls. The barrier weakens at night and sometimes things slip out."
Harry looked behind them. All he saw was sky and mountains, but he felt the barrier about a mile behind them. He was getting very concerned.
"Have you seen things?"
Daphne shook her head and put a hand on the small monolith. "This village is protected. As long as a Greengrass remains, the protection stones will stand. During the long days of summer, the magic is at its strongest, and that is when we leave for a while. During the long night, that is when we must be at our most powerful," she told him.
Something about that sounded rather ominous.
"What do you mean?"
Daphne looked concerned. "When the sun doesn't rise for days, bad things roam the lands outside the protection stones. It's why the reindeer migrate. The valley here only gets light snows. The magic protects it. But the trolls, ogres, werewolves and other creatures roam the lands in the long dark. We do not go past these stones during the long night."
Harry swallowed hard. "Do they come out this time of the year?"
"Sometimes."
"Bloody hell," Harry muttered.
Daphne looked up. It was starting to get later in the day.
Daphne spun around as a distant roar came to them. Her eyes widened. "The Ridgebacks never come this way."
"Bloody hell." Harry turned to the people in the fields below them. "We have to get them in."
-oOo-
Inside...
Sirius wasn't sure if he was signing himself up for a suicide mission or not. Either way, he had just committed Harry and himself to a trip to Durmstrang and how to teach them to apparate.
Anders looked bothered. "It will take almost a full sunrise and sunset to reach Durmstrang. It will be dangerous, but I would suggest we leave just past sunrise. My papa told me that there is a sanctuary if we can make it there before the sunset."
"Nothing like a tight timetable," Sirius muttered. "Harry and I can return just before sunrise."
Dorothy got up. "Tonight you will have the hospitality of the Greengrasses. It has been years since we have entertained anyone," she told him. "Where is Daphne and Astoria? They can prepare the guest pallets."
The door burst open, Harry rushing in, followed by a shorter blonde girl. "Sirius, we have a problem," Harry stated.
-oOo-
Next time on the Magic of Amber: Durmstrang