Journey

After leaving the shop, I spent the rest of the day following the advice of Sanjay on what to do in Delhi. At the end of the day I was exhausted since I rushed to complete everything that Sanjay had suggested I had to try in Delhi. This may be the last day of my short fun filled vacation since tomorrow I was leaving to search for the academy that oversaw magical India. I am going to refer the place as an academy till I know what the place is called.

Early next morning, after checking out of my hotel, I did not leave the hotel building. Instead I disillusioned myself and made my way towards the Hotel's terrace. I was planning to go to the Himalayas in my falcon form since it was close to Delhi and also the most scenic route. So when I reached the terrace, I transformed and began my journey to the Himalayas.

I did not use the direct route but instead decided to go via the Uttarakhand state of India and from there cross the Indian border to Nepal. This would allow me to cover more parts of the mountain range. The diversion was worth it since the natural beauty that I could see from the sky was mind blowing. Beautiful green valleys covered with flowers on one side and the snow covered Himalayan mountains reaching towards the sky on the other side. There were no words that could describe the beauty that was below me. Far away from the crowded cities, the calm beautiful valleys were a sight to behold.

I flew around the green mountains for some time in my falcon form just for fun before flying towards the snow covered mountains of the Himalayas. Since it was summer now, the mountains were not completely covered in snow so not everything in front of me was white but the natural beauty was still there. Magically this was a good place to train. The ambient magic concentration in the Himalayas was very high and was almost on the same level as that of Hogwarts. If I had to guess, then I think there are 2 ley lines below me making the magic concentration high. Now it was time to begin my search so I activated my mage sight and started flying along the mountain range.

I flew around searching for signs of wards. My mage sight was not strong enough to see the ley lines or it would have been very easy for me to find my goal just by following a ley line. I did not know if I was still in India or I had crossed into Nepal or Tibet but it did not matter to me since in the Indian magical world there were no such borders. I was flying fast and covering large distances very quickly since all I had to do was search for a warded academy and nothing else.

Due to the high speeds at which I was flying, I found the warded academy very quickly. Only six hours ago had I started my search. The fact that ambient magic concentration continued to increase as I came closer to the academy acted like a GPS and made it easy to find. The academy had very high magical concentration. I estimated that there were at least 4 ley lines intersected under this place.

The academy had some pretty strong wards such that even with my mastery level knowledge I could not identify some of the wards. Preliminary analysis told me that the wards were as strong as or stronger than the original Hogwarts wards mainly due to the higher number of ley lines powering it.

From the sky I could see that the academy covered a very large area. It was not a flat landscape and instead consisted of many mountain peaks with small areas of flat land where buildings could be seen. The academy wards were annoying since it had some kind of ward that stopped my mage sight powers from looking inside the wards. It limited my sight. There was no problem with normal sight but on activating mage sight, I could not see what was under the wards and all I could see was a dome of magic covering the land.

My falcon sight allowed me to see what was under the wards so I could still map the layout of the place in my mind. Instead of a single big castle housing everyone like in Hogwarts, the academy consisted of many small buildings spread across the mountain range. Almost all buildings were single storied and with simple design. There was only one multi-storeyed building in the academy which I think was the administrative building or something similar. There were huge walls enclosing the academy with a huge gate being the only entry point by foot.

There were no villages close to the academy like Hogsmeade where I could stay and gather information before trying to enter. I entered Nepal illegally without VISA and hence could not go around asking information in the muggle world without using a lot of confundus charms which may make me be seen as hostile by local the wizards. I decided to try my luck without any preparation since it was my only option.

There was some path leading to the gate of the academy which I followed and after a few minutes of flying I found that it led to a mundane village that surprisingly did not house anyone magical. The academy could not be seen from the village and the path had runes that made it hidden from the eyes of muggles and also some other runes that made them avoid the path. This should be the place from which people travelled to the academy for the first time before getting the permission to apparate inside.

I quickly transformed back from a falcon in a secluded place near the village and started trekking on the path towards the academy. I had to keep my animagus a secret because I had not registered it yet. Even though it was not a problem here if my secret somehow reaches a foreigner's ear I would be in a lot of trouble.

After a half an hour walk, I reached the gate of the academy. The gate was majestic. The gate and the walls it was connected to were 40ft high and easily hid the whole academy behind them. They were made of a red stone similar to the stone used in many monuments in Delhi with patches of stones like marble and granite used for decoration.

The gate had two large doors which opened inwards. In the centre of the large gate at the top something was written in a language that I could not understand. The letters were similar to that of Hindi but I could not read or understand it. The sides of the gate were decorated with sculptures of magical creatures some of which I have never seen or read about in my life. They were unknown to me. But the sculptures of dragon, phoenix looked so life like that I almost suspected that they were the real creatures turned to stone by a spell.

After admiring the gate for a few more minutes, I moved towards the gate and stood directly in front of it. There was a runes sequence inscribed in front of the gate which would alert the people incharge that someone needed permission to enter the academy. Now all I had to do was wait.

After waiting patiently for nearly 15 minutes, one of the huge doors started moving and opened a little. Through the now partially opened door, a middle aged man walked towards me. He was few inches shorter that 6 ft tall and was wearing what I assumed was the traditional clothing of India. I had never seen clothes like that. He was wearing a long black shirt and something that looked like a pant.

He smiled at me and said in Hindi " Hello my name is Aryan. I am on gate duty today. May I know the purpose of your visit."

A/N - Till the end of India trip assume all conversations are in Hindi language. The MC being a genius learned the language last year when he decided to visit India.

I replied "My name is Charles and I am from England. I came here to get an opportunity to learn magic that is not found in Europe."

Aryan said "You would need the permission from the elder incharge for that. I will take you to him. Follow me." and started walking towards the academy.

I replied " Thank you." and followed him inside through the partially opened gate.