Luna Lovegood was feeling particularly giddy today, her daddy had taken her to Sweden to hunt for the elusive crumple-horned snorkack for the summer. Her dad was meeting an old colleague somewhere in town but had allowed Luna to explore on her own in the meantime.
'If you are big enough to break into the Ministry of magic and fight death eaters you're big enough to explore on your own.' her daddy had told her before going off to meet his friend.
It could be a bit daunting to be alone in a foreign country but the people were very kind and spoke English so she could always ask for help when she had to.
This little adventure had led her to her current predicament, in front of her was a sign that she couldn't read - well not completely at least "Trollstigen" the sign said and while she didn't know what the last part meant she certainly knew what a troll was.
How did having a sign about trolls not break the statute of secrecy? How did they keep the trolls from killing the poor muggles who lived in town? As she stood pondering she heard someone speak up behind her, turning around she came face to face with a woman who had a couple of families behind her.
'Oh I'm sorry, I don't understand Swedish I'm afraid.' Luna said politely.
'Ah, I'm sorry - I was asking if jou were alright? Jou seemed to be staring at the sign… Are jou lost?' The woman asked with a Scandinavian accent whilst studying Luna.
'Oh, no I was just trying to figure out the sign, I can tell it has to do with trolls but surely having trolls close enough to warrant a sign would be a bad idea.' Luna explained as her gaze began drifting off to observe something through her spectrespecs.
The woman chuckled lightly. 'That is very true, but troll or trolla can also mean witchcraft, so calling it the magic trail would be more accurate than calling it the troll path.' The woman explained in a scandinavian accent, speaking louder so the people behind her could hear her.
'Oh, how clever!' Luna exclaimed.
' I am providing a guided tour of the trail - would you like to join us? While we might spot a troll if we are lucky I assure you there is nothing in there more dangerous than a bear.' The guide said with a smile.
'Oh that would be ever so lovely.' Luna agreed quickly.
The guide began to walk and talk about various points of interest on the way to where the trail began in earnest.
Walking over a bridge that looked like it was made out of stone that had been melted and poured down on the ground Luna couldn't help but marvel at the ingenuity of the muggles. As she kept musing on the oddity and tried to figure out how they had managed it she was broken out of her thoughts by music. From a small clearing with a stream she could hear someone playing violin, the sound was barely audible but as they kept walking the music got louder and louder, the music was unlike anything she had ever heard in the wizarding world.
The guide suddenly stopped and spoke hushed the crowd.
'If jou listen carefully now jou can hear music? It is a spirit called näcken, a spirit that looks like a beautiful man who plays violin to lure woman and children into water where they will be swept away and drown' the guide said as the crowd listened carefully to the music as the guide spoke.
Luna of course was only half listening to the guide and was walking towards the music with all the others, coming to the clearing she saw several of the others point towards a box in the trees and chuckling, Luna Meanwhile decided to see if she could spot the spirit, maybe she could interview it for daddy's magazine? She thought.
Deep in her thoughts she didn't notice herself coming to the edge of the small cliff overseeing the stream, as she was about to take another step and fall down she was grabbed and pulled back by one of the men in the group.
'Oop, that was close. Are you okay?' The man said letting go of her arm.
'Oh yes, thank you. I hadn't noticed how steep the drop was.' Luna said airily.
The man chuckled quietly and went back to his family.
After a few minutes the guide once more began to move the group, this time towards a narrow wooden stairs only a few feet tall the stair itself looked fairly new and spoke of a well looked after trail, walking up the stair saw Luna in a forest of tall pine trees. As they moved further in the trees began to offer shade from the harsh sun. As they walked further inside the trail began to shift, climbing upwards parallel to the stream, the ground was unsteady and uneven, rocks and stones both smooth and with sharp corners stuck up from the earthy trail. Some places the trail became more mud than firm earth and throughout it all was a lattice of gnarly roots waiting to trap and ensnare any who walked without watching their feet.
As she kept walking the rough terrain and every climbing trail began to take its toll, as a witch she wasn't used to physical activities but even so Luna persevered and kept up with the guide even out of breath and lightheaded as she was. Soon she began noticing things - eyes in the trees looking at them, eyes on the rocks, on the stumps everywhere really, she didn't feel anything evil or anything that would want to cause any harm the eyes were just looking at them, observing so intently they didn't even blink, or perhaps they blinked when she blinked? She tested the theory by trying to not blink or blinking quickly at random but with no result.
'Are those the trolls?' Luna asked the guide after a moment.
'The eyes? Yes some of them others are just wights, spirits of the forest's the guide said with a mirthful smirk.
As the group kept walking the trail Luna wondered about the beings the guide spoke of, were they the ones causing her to feel dizzy? Was it perhaps a way for them to defend themself? By making the thoughts of people go all fuzzy? How were odd Luna thought to herself-
As they kept walking she got accustomed to the eyes and began to take notice of the other things, around the path were colonies of mushrooms, odd mushrooms she had never seen before but obviously magical in some way, some of them were red with yellow spots, some were blue as the sky with dark spots and yet others were a sickly yellowish-green but all of them were as tall as her knees and the different colors never mixed together in a colony.
As she began to get used to the trail she took notice of how oddly quiet the woods around them, it wasn't an oppressive silence per say but it was surely odd, almost as of the animals had learnt to not come here in some way, the only sound she could hear was the murmur of the steam, buzzing insects the occasional splish-splash as someone walked in a small puddle, well other than the other members of the group at least.
'How are jou doing?' The guide asked Luna.
'I'm not used to walking so much, and not in the mountains.' Luna explained. 'But it's getting easier I think.' She added with a smile after a moment.
As she spoke Luna's eyes drifted behind the guide, on the side of the trail, where roots, moss and ferns hung over the rough stone she saw dozens and dozens of small doors, tiny windows and ladders that, while no wider than a wand box, were as tall as her.
'Is that where the wrat-sprit live?' Luna asked the guide voice filled with excitement. It was no crumple-horned snorkack but still an exciting discovery! Daddy would be ever so sorry he missed this trip!
'Thats exactly what they are.' The agreed and chuckled lightly.
'Here jou can see some of the home of the spirits vättar, they can be kind and helpful or mean and spiteful - treat them with respect and jou might earn a boon but insult or steal from them and they would be just as likely to curse you.' The guide spoke to the group, explaining some of the magical beings commonly found in Sweden.
Soon it was time to start moving again and Luna, the guide and the rest of the group kept walking, talking and pointing to the wonderful things they found along the trail. Amongst the fern and moss where the trail began to plane out Luna spotted something. It looked like tiny, brightly coloured houses.
'Are those nargle homes?' Luna exclaimed as she peered down on the small buildings, careful not to disturb anything.
'I'm sorry I don't know what Nargles are?' the guide admitted with an unasked question.
'Oh, I understand,' Luna said, trying not to sound to disappointed. 'are those wrat-sprut homes then?' Luna asked, wishing she had thought to bring her camera with her.
'That's correct.' The guide said with a smile.
Luna flashed a bright, airy smile towards the guide before going back to observing the wrat-sprut homes.
After everyone had gotten a good look at the small, colorful houses the group began to move again, they were almost at the trail's end and Luna could see where the small trail gave way to a small gravel road. Once they made it up on proper road it became much easier to walk. The road led to a small inn with an attached restaurant where Luna decided to stop for lunch before making her way down to the village again. She was excited to tell daddy about her day and all that she had found.
'How was your day moon-pie?' Her daddy asked her when he finally came back to the hotel for the evening.
'Oh it was wonderful daddy! I found a magical trail with wrak-sprut houses!' Luna said excitedly and began to recount the details of her day.
'Oh that sounds delightful sweetie. Did you see any Crumple-Horned Snorkacks?' he asked.
'No daddy.' Luna said, shaking her head.
'Oh well, the Wrackspurt discovery will do nicely.' Xenophilius said.
'Yes daddy.' Luna said happily.
'How Was your summer Luna?' Harry asked as they settled down for the train ride towards Hogwarts.
'Oh It was wonderful! Daddy took me on an expedition to Sweden to hunt for Crumple-Horned Snorkack.' Luna said excitedly
Next to her Hermione snorted loudly. 'And I suppose you found any then?' Hermione asked harshly.
'Oh no, unfortunately we didn't.' Luna said, shaking her head lightly.
'Oh, that's a shame.' Harry said
'It's not too bad at least we found a colony of Wrackspurts! It's the first time Wracksprut homes have ever been observed in the wild! We had no idea they built small houses in the forest before now!' Luna said with obvious excitement.
Hermione snorted again.
'Barmy' Ron muttered quietly.
'Come Ronald, we have to go to the Prefect meeting.' Hermione said storming out of the train compartment muttering about non-existent creatures and overactive imaginations.