The Vampires' Region

Fortunately, the Vampires were sympathetic or they were simply didn't want to see Thestral blood anymore or both; whatever the reason was, they let Chris heal Zil's leg. After that, they took Chris' bag and wand, then they went more deeply into the forest. Zil walked close to Chris and time to time looked at the Vampires, who were escorting them. Chris knew Zil was also suspicious over those Vampires and was glad that both of them were on guard. Because Chris knew that this behaviour of Vampires was not normal. The books she had read about them; old and new; both clearly stated that even though Vampires have a feud with Wizards and they don't like each other, they don't attack each other just because they have stepped into their territory. That was an absolutely bizarre and absurd thing, which just happened. Vampires were allowed to roam into Wizarding World and Wizards into Vampire colonies. Another thing which Chris was surprised to see, was the magic the Vampires used during the fight. The ground-shaking, air leaving her chest were very advanced magic and were very difficult to perform without wands (which the Wizarding Ministry refused to give them at first but later, agreed. But then the Vampires rejected the offer as it was against their pride).

Slowly, the trees started to lessen and opened into a clearing, where Chris saw what she had expected, rows of perfectly built wooden and stone houses. As they walked straight ahead, the Vampires, who were returning home after sunrise, were looking at her from time to time. Chris guessed they weren't surprised to see a witch as much as they were surprised by her escorting vampires. Once or twice Chris even heard the words like "Queen", "Palace", and "Guardians".

Finally, they reached the big stone Castle at the foot of a big mountain. One of the vampires with Chris knocked on the heavy iron double doors at the entrance. A gap appeared on the door, they talked and the door opened for them. The Castle's design reminded Chris a lot like the Hogwarts castle but unlike the welcoming feeling of Hogwarts, Chris felt like a prisoner right now.

"Take care of the Thestral," one of the vampires ordered as they reached the courtyard.

"Zil will stay here and won't do anything," Chris said in a strong but controlled voice. There was no way Chris will let them take Zil anywhere without her knowing.

"You don't have a choice," said the vampire.

"Zil can stay here," Chris repeated. "If you want to guard her here, you can. But you are not taking her anywhere."

The vampire opened his mouth to argue but at that moment another vampire hurriedly came towards them.

"The Queen is waiting," he said and without waiting for anyone, he turned around and started to walk back.

At once all the vampires dropped the discussion, the vampire woman signed a guard to look after Zil then turned to Chris. Nodding, Chris followed them.

The thrown room was extremely guarded and incredibly beautiful. The walls were carved with paintings, the floor was so clean that it was gleaming, and the entire room was full of light from the floating fireballs all around the room. If it hadn't for Chris' control over her facial expressions, her mouth would have been hanging open as she walked in. Chris felt like ogling at the whole place. Also, she noticed that the carved paintings on the walls told some kind of story but before she could understand what it was, her eyes landed on the far end of the room where on a little high up platform sat an old woman. She had an old, lined but glowing and kind face, red-ringed eyes and long flowing silver hair; she was wearing a long red robe and above her head a small crown (indicating that she was the queen), other than that she barely wore any jewellery. Beside her was a tall and handsome guy, who looked older than Chris, almost four or five years; he had an elegant face with gorgeous golden locks and same red-ringed eyes; though he wasn't wearing anything fancy, just dark brown robes, the way he was holding himself he looked very important. For a second, Chris almost imagined Ginny whispering in her ear about how good-looking the guy was and Luna giggling at the comment, but then her companions stopped and Chris remembered there was no Ginny or Luna with her. She was alone in a room full of vampires.

"Your Majesty, this is the witch we caught at the edge of our forest," said the vampire standing beside Chris. 

"I didn't know entering the forest was forbidden," Chris said.

"Entering is not, but hiding your identity is. You have a magical shroud over your face. I can see that and I am sure my people have already asked you about it. So I will ask one more time, who are you?" the Queen said in a calm and collected voice.

"Look, I know it's not a good argument but I am hiding my identity from someone else, not from you people," Chris straightened up with full confidence. "I have already said and I will repeat, I am not here to harm anyone or anything here. I am just looking for some answers. Just, please tell me what's in the south-east side of this forest. I need to know. I need to go there and I have found nothing that tells me anything about that place. Also, it will be good if you don't know who I am. Knowing who I am will endanger this place and I don't want that."

The guy beside the Queen opened his mouth but the Queen cut him off.

"You don't have to explain, we know about the situation of the wizarding world?" said the Queen kindly.

"So you know about the situation?" Chris said seriously.

"Yes, we knew about the situation even before the wizarding world did," nodded the Queen.

"You know about Malgino and Riddle?" Chris asked.

Chris felt the vampires flinching behind her. For a second she thought they did that because of Voldemort's name but then she realized she had not taken Voldemort's name (out of habit), so then --

"You know about Malgino?" Chris asked surprised.

"We do," the Queen replied shortly then looked straight at Chris. "Who sent you?"

"No one," Chris replied meeting her piercing gaze.

"But someone told you something about our forest and the south-east part of it," the Queen said.

Chris nodded. She needed to give them some answers if she wanted to get some back.

"Perenelle Flamel," she said.

"Flamel?" the guy beside the Queen looked at her surprised.

"Yes, she told me about this place just before she died," Chris said and thought, it was technically true.

The room went awfully quiet. Everyone was looking at the Queen, who looked in deep thought. After a moment, she looked back at Chris, her expression unreadable.

"In the south-east part of our forest, there is a high hill, almost like the others you have seen by now but . . . no one goes to that hill. No one can climb that hill. . . Except for the chosen ones," the Queen said. "Now, I would like to know the name of the person who will claim to be that chosen one."

"Christina Norton," Chris met the Queen's red eyes. "I have already warned you about my identity, so now the rest is on you."

Chris understood that the Queen knew more than she led on and if she, Chris wanted to get to the bottom of it then she has to give some answers. It was risky but everything was at risk right now.

"I, Queen Vasilisa welcome you, Christina Norton," the Queen smiled. "You can drop the magic now. We were waiting for you for a long time."

______________________________

To be continued. . .