Severus slowly stepped out of the library, a charmed glass jar in one hand and his wand in the other. He glanced around the hall before slowly inching his way down toward the dark kitchen, jar ready to drop on anything that moved. Shandy and Finn followed Severus, ears flat and tails low as they scanned the area for any sign of the little fairy.
The kitchen was dark as it was nearly midnight, and no lights had been left on since Severus and Peadar had retreated into the library for their own wellbeing, having the house elves deliver lunch and dinner while they researched dark magic and fairy magic.
Severus hesitated when he heard a noise, and he glanced back to see Peadar heading down the opposite end of the hall, checking the bathroom, his own jar raised and ready. Severus waited a moment before bravely walking into the kitchen, raising his wand just in case.
There was no sign of the fairy.
Severus lowered his wand slightly.
After reading several books on dealing with ghost fairies and horcrux magic, it was discovered that glass containers were very good at capturing ghost-related creatures, so that was what the jar was for. The other mystery remained whether or not the horcrux could be safely removed from the fairy, and Peadar and Severus came to the agreement that they would not find those answers in his small library. They would have to investigate elsewhere, but first, they needed to catch the fairy.
Severus was about to leave the kitchen when the little fairy in her dragon form flew directly at him, snarling at his nose, her eyes still red and her form a ghastly blackish color. Shandy and Finn barked while Severus swung the jar at the fairy, missing as she dove away and flew off.
Severus chased the dragon as she flew out of the kitchen and into the living room, the dogs running ahead and jumping up to try and catch her in their jaws, though Severus was sure they would never be able to actually touch her.
Severus hissed as his shin struck the edge of the coffee table, and he rubbed it briefly as he backed away from the furniture, only to step on a tennis ball that rolled under his foot at that second, and he fell harshly on his back. He felt the wind knock out of him and he had to take a moment to catch his breath. Shandy and Finn checked on Severus, licking his face and nosing him. He could hear the dragon snickering as it hovered above him.
Growling under his breath, Severus pushed to his feet and swung the jar at the fairy. She ducked and flew off, leading Severus and the dogs toward the mantle.
The fairy paused above the mantle, then began flicking her tail at objects, and they floated off the mantle before hurtling themselves at Severus. Severus dodged a picture frame, decorative vase, three candles, then lunged and caught the fairy statue, unsure if damaging the stone sculpture would have adverse effects on the fairy that usually resided within it.
The fairy snarled at Severus once more.
"I don't know how much of you is still there and aware of what is happening," Severus said as he stood up and set the fairy sculpture on the couch, "but we are just trying to help you."
The dragon hissed, then startled when a jar fell from above it, capturing the fairy as it landed on the mantle. The dragon hissed and spat as it charged the glass, but its form was unable to move through it.
"Nice distraction, Severus," Peadar said, pocketing his wand then slid the glass jar off the mantle and quickly capping it off with a glass lid, studying the hissing dragon inside.
"At least the little demon is contained," Severus said, setting aside his jar. He studied the dragon inside as well. "Now what?"
"Now, we visit the Library of Magical Earth and see if there is anything there that may help us free the fairy from this horcrux's curse."
"How was Harry never affected by this in his head?"
"My guess is that the horcrux was mostly contained in his scar, so its impact managed to remain minimal, such as Harry's gift in parseltonge. We should see if he can still understand snakes or not. But this fairy absorbed the horcrux into her home, the very thing that keeps her spirit alive. Such dark magic will gladly consume anything it shares its home with, as we see with the fairy."
The dragon whipped its tail at the jar it was trapped in, then tried to gnaw on the glass.
"Do you think we can free her from the curse?"
As the last word left Severus's mouth, the dragon yelped as she shuddered against the darkening blackness around her, and Severus felt a sharp pain zap through his chest and he hissed and clutched a hand to it, the pain quickly fading. The dragon was once again lashing out at the glass containment.
"Looks like we'll need to break her from the curse," Peadar said. "What affects her appears to affect you. Now that she is safe and unable to harm us, let us get some sleep so we can investigate in the morning."
Severus nodded in agreement, then frowned.
"Wait, if I can feel her pain due to the link she gave Harry and I, do you think Harry can feel it, too?"
"Wouldn't surprise me," Peadar said, "however, your mother hasn't floo called or sent Kieran with urgent news, so I'm guessing everything is fine at camp."
Severus rubbed at his chest absently as he thought about his son, though the pain was long gone, and he hoped it was the worst Harry was experiencing. Knowing Harry, his son would endure the pain until it dropped him to the floor, just so he didn't inconvenience anyone with his burdensome troubles. One day, he would make Harry see that he was worth more than ten of his relatives times two.
Harry rubbed his chest as he followed his campmates to the main cabin for breakfast. That strange sharp pain happened again during the middle of the night, but it was so quick, and it faded away to nothing that Harry wasn't sure if he should bring it up to Eileen or not. What if Nana thought it was serious enough to be pulled from camp? Harry didn't want that to happen, so he decided to keep quiet about it for now.
"Are you okay, Harry?" Ollie asked as he sat down at the table marked for Daystars.
"Yeah, I'm okay," Harry said, sitting down next to Ollie and lifting Miss Trifle into his lap. "Just hungry, I think."
"What do you think we'll be doing today?" Draco asked as he jumped in the seat next to Harry, already unrolling his napkin and arranging his fork, spoon, and knife to his liking out of habit.
"I remember Aisling saying we were going to kayak after breakfast while it's not too hot yet. We have the kayaks first today."
"Do we get lessons before we go in?" Harry asked, feeling a bit nervous about trying to maneuver a big boat in the rapids of a river for the first time. He was sure the image in his head was a little extreme.
"The kayaks are spelled to follow the camp leader," Draco said. "We get a quick lesson on how to use the paddles, I'm sure, but we're not actually doing anything. The kayaks do not flip, sink, or stray far from the leader. It would take a strong magical force to break the charm, too."
"How do you know that?" Ollie asked, feeling a bit disappointed that he would not have full control of his kayak to paddle in endless circles and make mini whirlpools.
"Father tried talking me out of coming to camp and looked into every detail to make it seem less exciting," Draco said. "There are a lot of safety and security charms all over the camp. Only the older years seem to have more freedom and some of the charms lifted, like the kayaks."
"Disappointing," Ollie muttered.
"There ain't a charm to keep out camp monsters though," Carwyn said as he jumped up in a seat across from the three boys. "Like the one from last night."
"Will you drop it?" Draco snapped at him. "There's no monster. It was probably some wild animal."
"It's wild, alright," Carwyn agreed. "Mum and Dad run a magic wildlife animal sanctuary for all of Europe. We see lots of crazy, injured magical beasts from all over show up. Maybe it's something lost or injured and was just trying to get an easy meal."
"Like the girls?" Felix said with a smirk while Nia and Birgit glared at him and Carwyn.
"I don't know," Carwyn shrugged and looked down at the table. "Maybe it was after something else."
"Well, it didn't come back," Nia said, and Birgit nodded in agreement and relief. "Thank Merlin for that."
Felix and the girls sat on the side with Carwyn just as breakfast arrived, an assortment of eggs, sausage, bacon, baked beans, mushrooms, grilled tomatoes, and toast delivered to all the tables, and everyone dug in heartily. Halfway through breakfast, Draco felt a tap on his shoulder, and he glanced back.
"Mind if I sit here?" Kat asked, Professor resting comfortably on her shoulder.
"Not at all," Draco said, standing up and gesturing to the table with a slight bow. "After you."
"Thank you," Kat said, sitting down, then Draco slid back into his seat.
"How courteous," Ollie teased.
"Habit, okay?" Draco shot back. "Besides, it's good to have appropriate manners when you might encounter polite society."
"Are we not polite society?" Ollie asked.
"Not even close." Draco resumed eating his meal without another word, and Ollie rolled his eyes while Harry smirked at both of them.
Professor fluttered off Kat's shoulder and walked around the table toward a platter of fruit, making all sorts of chirps and whistles. He pecked at an orange while saying, "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day."
"Yes, it is," Ollie agreed, eating a mouthful of eggs. "Thank you, Professor."
"Good bird," Professor said in response as he continued to peck tiny bits off the orange. Kat helped herself to a plate of food before peeling the orange for Professor, who could eat bits and pieces of what he wanted off the orange. Professor continued making lots of bird noises before clearly saying, "Thank you."
"Does he know what he's saying?" Carwyn asked.
"Sometimes," Kat said. "I think he knows which phrases are appropriate for some situations. But mostly, he's just repeating what he's heard before."
"I'm not a budgie," Professor said in between nibbles of orange, "I'm the Professor."
The kids laughed while Kat explained, "You can thank my dad for teaching him that one."
Aisling finally appeared at the table, and she greeted everyone with a smile and a "good morning" before she pulled out a schedule and glanced at it.
"This morning, we are going kayaking, so eat up and then will have a thirty-minute recess for you to change into your swimsuits."
"Yay!" the kids cheered and finished eating quickly.
Harry decided to leave Miss Trifle in the Daystars cabin in her cage for the kayaking trip. She didn't have much interest in getting wet anyway. The kids were fitted with lifejackets before heading to the river, following a stone path that took them to a shed where the kayaks were resting. Aisling paused and the kids gasped at the mess before them. The kayaks were dragged around in all directions, and a couple of them had a small bite taken out of it. The oars were all gnawed on, and some were bitten in half.
"It's the monster!" Nia cried.
"It came back?" Carwyn questioned with a smile, stepping closer to inspect the damage. "Brilliant."
"Not brilliant!" Birgit snapped. "What if its in the water right now?"
"Relax children," Aisling said. She stepped forward and waved her wand, fixing the damage on all the kayaks and oars as she walked past them. Once that was done, she surveyed the land and river, using her wand to locate any potential threats. According to her eyes and her magic, there was nothing nearby now. She turned back to the kids. "Whatever did this is long gone. We are safe to proceed with kayaking if you kids still want to do that."
"I do!" Carwyn said, raising his hand.
"As long as its safe to, I'm down, too," Ollie said, Draco and Harry nodding. Kat shrugged and nodded as well. Felix, Birgit, and Nia shared a look before reluctantly agreeing that they still wanted to kayak.
"Okay, we'll go ahead with kayaking. You all will have so much fun, you'll forget about this little critter causing havoc on campus."
Aisling informed the kids of water safety and taught them how to get in the kayak and how to use the paddles. They practiced on dry land first before the kids helped each other push the kayaks into the calm, steady flowing river. Draco was right, the kayaks did not stray far from Aisling's, however, the kids did have some freedom in making the kayaks spin circles or speed up and slow down. Ollie spent five minutes practicing with his kayak by making himself spin in a circle as fast as he could.
"Pay attention," Draco scolded, splashing Ollie with the paddle. "And stop doing that—you look like an idiot."
"And you look like a pompous jerk," Ollie retorted, splashing Draco back.
The splashing continued between the two before Harry splashed them both.
"Watch this," Harry said, and he paddled himself forward really fast before sliding to a quick halt by dragging the paddle in the water, creating a small wake. Harry, Draco, and Ollie were soon racing each other back and forth, the other kids playing around and splashing each other as well.
"Okay, children," Aisling said, paddling down the river some. Let's go down the river to the next loading station. Stay close with me, everyone."
"As if we have a choice," Draco muttered, but he followed Aisling with everyone else down the river.
Nature was still busy with morning happenings, birds chirping, rodents scurrying, mokes growing and shrinking at will, and it made for an enjoyable kayaking experience as the kids followed Aisling down the steady river. Harry's arms were starting to get tired from the paddling, however, and he paused for a moment to give his arms a break.
"Just don't paddle," Draco said as his Kayak drifted up to where Harry was. "We won't get left behind. Look."
Harry didn't move his paddles, and sure enough, his kayak moved after Aisling's, as did Draco's, although they moved at a very slow pace, so a few feet ended up growing between Aisling's kayak and the boys', but no more than that. Harry was kind of appreciative of the break, so he hung back with Draco and enjoyed the pull.
Ollie and Kat had been slowing down as well, and when they saw what Draco and Harry were doing, they stopped paddling as well and enjoyed the ride, listening to Professor's chirps and water droplet noises. They observed the space between Aisling and their own kayaks, and while they were behind the other kids now, they still moved in the same direction as everyone else, keeping more to the right of the river and while slowly moving, they were never far behind the others. If they started paddling again, they would catch up in a few strokes.
As they came to a bend in the river where it split in two, the kayaks stayed behind Aisling, not even straying toward the course with a faster current.
"This is kind of nice," Ollie said.
"Yeah," Draco agreed, leaning back in his kayak. "We can just sit back and let the camp leader do all the work for us. I kind of like this camp even more now."
"Very funny, guys," Harry said. "As nice as this was, we should probably start paddling again and catch up with the others."
"You're probably right," Kat agreed, grabbing her paddle she had resting across her.
"Naughty bird," Professor suddenly said, clicking his beak at something behind the kids. "Naughty bird."
"Naughty bird?" Kat questioned, glancing over her shoulder, the boys following her gaze.
A shadow in the water was turbo speeding directly at the group of children, swimming underneath their kayaks. The kayaks jerked, startling the kids, and there was a forceful pull against the charm keeping the kayaks behind Aisling, and the kayaks began to turn and pull toward the narrower, faster river.
"What was that?" Ollie asked.
"I don't know, but I think it broke the charm," Draco said, trying to paddle away from the currents. "We're getting dragged toward the other river."
All four kids attempted to paddle after the others, now even further behind the group as their kayaks twisted and turned and pulled closer and closer to the rapids. Right before the kids were dragged into the rapids, they all screamed, "Aisling!"
How the river could have a calm side and a dangerous side was baffling to Harry, but he didn't have long to contemplate that science as he frantically tried paddling out of the fast-moving water, but to no avail. He heard Kat screamed every now and then as her kayak dropped with the rapids, and Professor let out loud calls of alarm.
Ollie shouted in surprise as he narrowly dodged a rock, then tried to lodge his paddle in between a crevice in the rock, stalling his kayak for a second before the water won and pushed him along the rapids.
Draco and Harry collided before their kayaks spun, pulling further away from each other.
"Harry! What do we do?" Draco called to Harry as his kayak shot past Harry's.
"I don't know!" Harry called back. "I can't stop!"
Kat tried to shove her paddle into the river rocks to try to stop her kayak, only for the paddle to drag several feet before she lost her grip and the paddle fell into the river.
"I lost my paddle," Kat cried, then screamed again as her kayak twisted and dropped at another rapid. Professor shook himself off, his feathers ruffled as he dug his talons into Kat's shoulder. Kat's kayak spun right for a rock.
Ollie held out his paddle toward Kat's and pushed outward, causing the stern to spin again and the kayak missed the rock as it turned in the rapids. Kat sent Ollie a grateful look.
All four kayaks collided with each other, and they seemed stuck in that position as the water pushed all four kids toward a large rock in the river. Ollie, Draco, and Harry tried using their paddles to push each other away while Kat used her hands, but to no avail, and they braced themselves for impact.
Except they came to a sudden halt just before any of the kayaks could even tap the rock.
The kayaks were frozen on the water, and everyone sighed in relief when they realized it.
"Children," Aisling called to them from the bank, her wand trained on them. "Are you okay?"
"We're good," Ollie answered for all of them after a few seconds of everyone catching their breaths.
"Hold on," Aisling said, and she carefully summoned a few sticks closer to her, then transfigured it into a steady plank that stretched out to the kids. She walked out to them and helped lift each kid out of their kayak and on to the plank.
"What about the kayaks?" Kat asked. "I lost the paddle, too."
"That's okay," Aisling said, "we can get all of those later. No one is hurt?"
Everyone shook their heads.
"Oh good. Come, let's get off this."
Aisling brought the kids to dry land before she canceled all the charms. The plank returned to sticks that fell into the river, and the kayaks smashed into the rock with a loud crash, splitting them up in all different directions and they resumed their dangerous trek down the river, the paddles disappearing in the currents.
The kids walked up the small hill and away from the river where they ran into the rest of the kids. Their kayaks were lying in the grass, lifejackets tossed in the kayaks. The kids were sitting in a circle, but they stood up when they saw the other half of their group rejoining.
"Where did you guys go?" Carwyn asked. "We had to end our kayaking early."
"We got pulled down the rapids," Ollie said.
"Really? That sounds fun!"
"It wasn't," Kat said. "And it was that monster's fault. We saw it. It swam right under us and somehow its magic broke the charm that keeps the kayaks together."
"A river monster?" Carwyn's eyes sparkled. "Aww, man, I missed it."
"The river hasn't hosted any kind of magical creature for decades," Aisling said. "I can't imagine what would have moved in recently. I will inform the other leaders and Conlaoch about this. We may have to close kayaking for now."
"Fine with me," Kat said. "Professor and I have had enough kayaking for one summer."
Carwyn didn't seem happy about the news but he reluctantly followed the group as Aisling led everyone away from the river and back toward camp, the kayaks abandoned. Unbeknownst to the group, a pair of eyes watched them leave from under a bush. The creature whimpered before shuffling for the river.
The Library of Magical Earth was located in London, under another historic muggle library. Severus and Peadar had to enter the loo and input a special code in the paper towel dispenser in order to open the stairway that revealed itself under a bathroom stall. The stairway led them underground to the library, and it only cost a few knuts to enter to browse the books and ancient artifacts kept inside. It cost a few galleons to see any of the darker artifacts.
Peadar was hopeful the answers they needed would not be found where the darker artifacts resided. So, they spent much of the day searching the stacks and stacks of books while also checking out some of the items on display. Severus helped himself to tea at the small café while reading a book, sitting down in one of the plush chairs scattered around. However, they did not find anything useful. Very little information existed about fairy magic, and there was even less on horcruxes.
"Do you think we should ask to see their darker collection?" Severus asked Peadar when they ran into each other again.
"No. I do not believe it will have the answers we are looking for. However, I did learn in a few books that the best way to deal with fairy magic was to leave it to the fairies. As far as horcruxes go, we are on our own in figuring out how to destroy it. I do not think there are many people who have created horcruxes and needed them destroyed in our history. Known history, anyway."
"So, what do we do now?"
"I think it's time to take a trip to old little Littondale," Peadar said with a grim smile. "I only hope there remains a few fairies who can help us with our friend."
"And what if they are able to free her of the horcrux but cannot destroy it?"
"We investigate on the way. We must find a way to destroy it before the fairies free their friend."
Severus glanced around the library, as if an answer to all their problems might manifest itself. Unfortunately, they had exhausted every relevant information in the library, and with nothing more to keep them around, they left the library and headed back to the estate to prepare for a long trip.