Chapter 35, The Elf Woods
"Ooh snacks!" Greybo reached hungrily for the picnic basket that hung over Kreacher's arm. "Hi, Hydra's dad. Thanks for the snacks!" Then seeming to realize what he'd just said, he jerked his head toward Hydra. "Um why did you bring your dads?" As he spoke, the goblin was already riffling through the basket of snacks that he'd relieved Kreacher of. Coming up with a sandwich, he eagerly unwrapped it. After studying the basket for a moment, Glimmer followed Greybo's lead, tearing into a package of chocolate biscuits.
"Because," Hydra began, then glanced about the store. Only the bemused owner stood with them and there were currently no other customers. They did not know the owner, though. He still had his magic, so perhaps someone thought he was trust worthy, but this elf woods was special and new. As such Hydra had no idea who should be knowing about it and who should not. Was it elf business or everyone's? "I'll tell you later." She knew that it would be fine for Mag to know, and surely the same went for the rest of her band mates.
Being an elf, Glimmer should know about the elf woods and it shouldn't hurt for a goblin to know either. So she should be able to fill them all in later. "We have a family thing happening, so we need to go to Hogwarts to get my brother," she explained. "The rest of you should totally keep bonding. I brought snacks as you can see, so enjoy them. I totally wish I could stay, but I can't miss this family thing." She was truly almost as eager to hang out with her new band as she was to see the elf woods. Connecting with people through music was unlike anything else, and the four of them had connected. While she hated for the night with them to end, she wanted to see the petrified forest that Daddy Kreacher had found.
"It probably is not so wise to eat here around so many pricey instruments, so we could just all go along to Hogwarts, I suppose," Mag said. She was eying the basket nearly as hungrily as were Greybo and Glimmer.
"Oh eat here by all means," the shop owner encouraged. "If you drop food on it, you buy it, but I am completely open to making more gold off you lot tonight."
"Glimmer bets you are, but it's off to Hogwarts with us. Thank you for the kind assistance," Glimmer said hastily before Apparating everyone as well as his drums and Hydra's little piano into the Hogwarts Great Hall.
"How did you know where Hogwarts was," Greybo asked.
Glimmer gave him an incredulous look. "Everyone knows where Hogwarts is! Besides, Glimmer's sister's husband used to work here."
"And what, he just up and quit," Greybo asked.
Glimmer shrugged. "Yes. They got married and she could not leave the family for whom mine was working at the time, so he became a house husband, looking after their children."
"A house elf house husband," Greybo snickered. "That's fucking funny, at least in my current state."
"While you were gone, we started discussing where we could practice," Mag told Hydra. She seated herself at the nearest table, which happened to be Ravenclaw. "In the end we were between yours because it's so large, and Hogwarts for the same reason." Following Mag's lead, Greybo settled down at the Ravenclaw table across from her. He set the picnic basket down in the center of said table with a thump.
"There. Now everyone can reach it," he said as Glimmer seated himself beside Mag. "I will probably come to practice stoned, though, which the headmaster may not like," the goblin warned. "So it may be better at Hydra's."
"Then again, Hydra and I can't always leave school at the drop of a hat," Mag interjected. "So there may be times that you shall have to remain unstoned for practice. Albus likely would not appreciate it otherwise."
"Why not switch back and forth between the two as needed," Glimmer suggested.
"Where are we keeping the instruments," Hydra asked, beginning to feel mildly dazed by the current chaos.
"I am going to get Loughness," Regulus said. Bending he kissed Kreacher's cheek, then hurried out of the Great Hall.
"I will speak to Albus about allowing us to use one of the spare rooms here at school at least for the next month until school is out," Mag said. "Then we could move everything to #12 Grimmauld Place for the summer, and take it from there. Perhaps if we practice hard, we could even play some gigs this summer." Glancing to Kreacher she asked, "Is it alright if we play at yours during the summer? I figured you'd not mind, considering Regulus and I used to jam there all the time before things got so busy for everyone."
Kreacher nodded distractedly. "Fine, fine. That is fine," he murmured. His thoughts were clearly on something other than their band practice situation. Hydra did not have to be the mind reader her vampiric fathers were to know it was the elf woods.
"Fantastic," Mag said, giving him a warm smile as she reached into the picnic basket, extracting an apple. Hydra appreciated her for not asking what was going on. Mag was ever tactful and perceptive.
"Glimmer wonders if he should take his new drums with him in order to learn his way around them before our next practice," Glimmer mused. "His flat is small, but he can fit them in somewhere. He can place a silencing charm up when he practices so as not to bother his neighbors."
"Good idea," Hydra said.
"These drums have so many sounds and pitches for Glimmer to play with," the elf said excitedly. "Far more than any table or desk." Loughness Apparated in with Daddy Regulus then, so Hydra moved to Kreacher's side, readying herself to depart. Loughness's eyes were nearly feverish with excitement as he nodded a greeting to Hydra's band mates and murmured a quick 'hello.'
"This is my brother, Loughness. Loughness, our drummer Glimmer, and our guitarist Greybo."
Glimmer and Greybo greeted Hydra's twin with half full mouths, and Loughness grinned in amusement.
"I heard you drunk-Apparated," Loughness accused, cuffing Hydra playfully on the shoulder. "Do not be stupid."
Had she been sober, Hydra knew she would've blushed due to shame and embarrassment. She was too drunk to feel either. She frowned at her parents, before nodding at her twin. "I know. I am sorry." I was just caught up in the moment, but you are right."
"It was lovely meeting everyone," Kreacher said, nodding at Greybo and Glimmer. Then he Apparated his family to the elf woods. The air was still and odorless. Outside of time was the way Hydra's mind wanted to explain it, though she knew it wasn't true. She, Loughness, Kreacher and Regulus stood together surrounded by stone trees. Some towered above them while others were mere stumps no higher than Hydra's knee. Their colors ranged from green to brown to red and yellow. The ground was covered in dirt and rocks, some large and some tiny, but there was no grass.
"Wow," Loughness murmured. His eyes were wide with a stunned fascination that Hydra had never seen on his face before. Suddenly she felt entirely sober. She would not be Apparating on her own for the rest of the day, just in case, but her head was entirely clear. It felt as though everything was in slow motion. She knew this was just her perception, because when she moved her hand in front of her face, the gesture had the exact speed behind it that she intended it to have. "How big is this place," Loughness asked. His voice was full of quiet awe.
"We are in the center," Daddy Regulus said. "We can walk for about five minutes in any direction before we encounter normal trees."
"And normal weather," Daddy Kreacher added." At last, Hydra glanced up at the night sky, expecting it to look oddly gray for some reason. Gray just seemed like the best fit for the place's lack of weather and its cloak of odd stillness. The moon and stars appeared as they always did, though. Whatever spell lay on this place, did not reach so high that it could affect the sky. No weather magic had truly been cast then, likely as not. "It appears as if some sort of preservation shield was cast over this place," she mused, ever analytical.
"If so, how did the trees age enough to petrify, then," Loughness asked doubtfully.
"Perhaps they were petrified already," Hydra mused. Kreacher watched their exchange with silent interest, as if he was eager to see what conclusions they would draw. "The ground is barren, but it doesn't feel dead," Hydra observed. Loughness nodded in silent agreement as he moved to rest his hand on the trunk of the nearest tree.
"It feels alive too," he murmured. "Not like ordinary wood, but, but like stone. Like one of the stones Mag enhanced for a wand or for jewelry," he realized.
"Makes sense," Hydra said. She moved to stand in front of another tree, laying both of her palms flat on its wide stone cold trunk. Breathing in deeply, she closed her eyes, allowing her senses to sink into the tree as she breathed out. "It feels old and powerful and..." Was sad the right word? Not precisely. "Perhaps it is glad that we have come home." She wasn't quite certain what she even meant, but the words felt right. She turned to look at Daddy Kreacher, who gave her an approving smile. "What else do you sense about this place," she asked.
"Kreacher is not yet certain. He feels that it requires further study."
"I want to bring Ballan here," Hydra said, speaking through a rush of sudden excitement at the very idea. "Don't tell him about it, because I wish to."
She watched her parents exchange a glance.
"And when does Hydra plan to do this, Kreacher wonders? He was unaware that Hydra and Ballan socialized."
"We don't yet, as you very well know. I was hoping that you would help me with that. Invite him over or something when Loughness and I are finished with term. It will be soon, after all."
"Why are we inviting him over if not to tell him of this place," Daddy Regulus asked, raising one brow too calmly at his daughter.
"We could have a party. A mixer, you know with elves and goblins and humans! The social version of what our new government is doing," Hydra said. She was positively thrilled by her new brilliant idea. "I wanted the party before, but you said no, because Delphini, and now she is dead."
Regulus chuckled. "Right you are, and that she is. We can have the mixer. I am more than glad to facilitate such a thing."
Kreacher nodded. "As is Kreacher," he said, giving Hydra a warm smile. "Kreacher is proud of Hydra's initiative. He knows that it is not entirely self serving. Is she able to help with the inviting of other elves and goblins?"
Hydra nodded eagerly. "Of course." For his part, Loughness was moving about, touching various random petrified trees and even the earth, entirely unconcerned with the current conversation.