Taking a risk

The girls informed us they were still a few days away from Farthen Dur. Traveling through tunnels slows things down, Brom seems happier without my presence though. We discussed and refined our plans, Padma asked me what the point is of going to Teirm, it will only alert the presence of powerful magicians to the mad king after all Jeod did not help Brom steal the egg, that part of the original story changed. After consulting Brom about Jeod, we found out he helped Brom in the killing of two of the traitor dragon riders.

Well… it deserves something. We will travel to Teirm, introduce ourselves and set up a portkey point, give them emergency portkeys, and take the next cargo to the Varden in traveling trunks via portkey. We will wait in Teirm until the others reach Farthen Dur, in the meantime, we go over our plans again.

Xxxxx

We took off in the morning after breakfast, a few hours later Teirm came in sight after a boring flight. I landed in a secluded spot and the rest of the journey was done on horseback. We dressed as lower nobility, Daphne and Tracey as young ladies, Luna, Ginny, Milli, and Pansy as handmaidens with a packhorse for our luggage, enough to keep the guards from asking questions but not enough to attract attention. We ate our lunch as a picnic beside the road like some spoiled brats.

The guards at the gates were passed without any questions, they looked a bit weird at me, I suppose my driving style is a bit unusual although it improved a lot from the first day. Still, I had to ride at the back to keep the girls from laughing.

Jeod's mansion was found with a few questions to the locals. Ginny was having fun with her role as a handmaiden and knocked at the door. A servant opened the door, Ginny asked with a snotty attitude for the lord of the manor, causing Daphne to reprimand her behavior to the common people.

Ginny: "Sorry my Lady, I will adjust my behavior." with a big grin. Jeod came out to greet us and ask about the purpose of our visit.

I said: "Good day to you sir, I am the nephew of a friend of yours. He told me to mention that he was present when you received that scar on your face, these are my companions. The rest will be best discussed behind closed doors, the business you know." Jeod took a long look at us, nodded, commanded a servant to stable the horses, and led us inside a meeting room.

Jeod: "It has been years since I heard from Brom, last I knew he was retiring to a village somewhere in the Spine."

Daphne responded: "This is worse than we thought. Excuse us, first, this is Lord Harry James Potter, we are his wives, Tracey, Millicent, Ginny, Pansy and I am Daphne. Let us say we have many secrets, some we can share but not all. I hope You understand. The main reason for our visit is to inform you that your identity is compromised, your shipments are intercepted as we speak. There are traitors at high places, the reason you are not yet arrested is to bleed your resources. We came to offer a solution to your problems. That you know Brom is retired to the Spine mountains is troubling, it means others will know it too and already search for him. That spells disaster for his friends and their family. Harry, we need someone to guard the village, we cannot always depend that events will happen as we expect them to be."

I sighed: "And he made it easy for them, he used his real name. The village is going to be in trouble for sure. Any volunteers for the job or ask one of the other group to volunteer?"

Milli said: "Best ask Fleur to do it, I bet a few days in those tunnels will drive Fleur mad, she is more like a bird than a mole after all. Oh right, not anymore after the change, it still makes sense though."

Tracey laughed: "We will ask them tonight. Mr. Jeod, we offer our services free of charge." I grinned at that comment: "Yeah, we let Brom pick up the bill. Now, Mr. Longshanks, do you have questions for us?"

Jeod was speechless for a moment: "Traitors? That explains the two shipments I lost last month. I have two bound to leave tomorrow for Reavestone, I can not cancel them without drawing attention. Overland is even riskier. I have to come up with something or I'm ruined."

Pansy asked: "Would it look suspicious to delay the departure by one day? The seven of us can spell the ships to go faster and ward them against damage. We all are magicians by the way. Harry, I will not go with those ships onto the sea, the only time I was on a boat I was sick for the whole trip, these wooden tubs move more than the one I was on." I grinned evilly: "Only if you stop making fun of my driving skills on a horseback dear." Pansy shrugged: "That is fine, there are enough girls that can do that."

Jeod: "Magicians? All six of you? Yet you all are so young, fifteen? Sixteen? How come do your masters let you travel unsupervised?" With a hand gesture I lifted the desk Jeod sat behind a few feet in the air, Tracey colored it pink, Ginny hated that color, changed it to Weasley red, Milli let it spin, and Pansy changed the desk into a small elephant.

Daphne canceled all spells: "This answered your doubts? We are fully qualified magicians, but the question was: can you delay the departure for a day? If so, we can spell the ships tomorrow, tell the sailors to take the day off, let the captains and first mates stay on the ship to guide us around. They need to be informed of the changes or they will freak out. We can tell the sailors Harry is studying shipbuilding or something like that."

Jeod nodded: "Alright, I let my wife Helen prepare rooms for you. You said you are married to them all, I am afraid we don't have a bed that fits seven, your luggage will be delivered upstairs. I'll tell Helen you are the children from a big potential client and here to inspect our warehouses and ships."

Xxxxx

Introductions were made, we changed into other clothes and left the mansion for a walk. A big reason for coming here is to meet Angela the witch. We found her shop next door, in the store, it was filled with herbs and potions. The girls were comparing them with the herbs from our world, not paying attention to the werecat at all until Daphne asked: "Solembum, Is Angela here? No? Do you have seeds from these herbs? They have interesting uses." Solembum looked up but ignored us.

I said: "He is a bit grumpy, maybe because he is a boy, Maud was friendlier. Although you girls still haven't told me what happened on that last feast, when we woke up in the woods and Dinner was shagging her stallion next to me." The girls looked at each other, a whole conversation happened with their eyes, one by one shook their heads.

Tracey: "In a few years honey, it is too soon now." That's it! No more alcohol for me from now on.

Solembum: "You met Maud? Last I heard she was with Islanzadi. Did she move to the human side?"

Luna laughed: "Nah, we visited Ellesmera. We had a lot of fun with her, she has a lot of stamina and an adorable purr." Angela came into the shop from the back, viewed the situation of six teenagers talking to Solembum, and said: "This is unusual, you talking to Solembum is normal, him answering is not. I am Angela, can I ask your names?"

Pansy: "Lord Harry James Potter, with Daphne, Tracey, Millicent, Ginny, Luna and me Pansy his wives. On business, next door with Mr. Longshanks, please to meet you, Miss Angela." Amazed Angela said: "My, that is a mouth full, and a lot of wives Lord Potter. According to Solembum you already knew our names, can you enlighten us?"

"Maud mentioned that we could meet you here. We are looking for seeds of medicinal plants and magical plants if you have any. Books on Medical and/or magical potions we could buy or copy are welcome too."

Angela: "That is a tall order, do you have the money to back it up? I tell you in advance, it is not cheap. Although I do not have the time to let you copy my books, nor do I intend to sell them."

Luna: "Copying a book only takes a minute, we have a lot of gold or we can trade with artifacts. Our books are in a different language, I am afraid you can't read them." Unbelieving, Angela said: "You have to demonstrate first that you are capable of copying a book before I agree to anything. The elves have spells for it but it takes a lot of magic for meager results." Ginny: "No problem, but can we go to the backroom, we can't risk showing our secrets in a shop."

Angela closed her shop and moved us all to the backroom, we enlarged our mansion trunk to door size and went inside. "This is something you can't see every day." Said Angela when she followed us inside. We introduced Dobby and Winky, after a cup of tea we went to our the workshop, we put everything ready, to temporary copy a book we just used magic, a few hours later it disappears, for a permanent copy, we have to provide an empty book and ink, if the book has colored pictures, colored ink has to be provided or the pictures are in black and white. Angela showed her book, with a wave of her hand Luna copied the book. With an innocent look, she asked: "Do you have more books?"

Angela inspected the copy, compared it with the original. To her surprise, it was an exact copy. "Why are you showing me all these secrets? It can get you in a lot of trouble if word of your abilities is known to the wrong kind of people."

"Because you are the right kind of people and can be trusted. Also to introduce ourselves to you, we plan to settle on the empty lands in the east. Books about the local flora and fauna are in high demand for us, medicine and magical books too. So… gold or artifacts?"

Angela: "If possible a trunk like this one. What can you offer?"

Daphne: "A manor trunk is not possible right now, to sustain this size and environment it needs to have a constant flow of magic, provided by magic animals and plants. That is why we have that magic forest at the back, we can offer a five-compartment trunk. One compartment is an apartment with a living room, kitchen, bathroom, a little workshop, and two bedrooms. Tree other compartments are for storage, the last compartment has stasis charms to keep food fresh. The size can be reduced to fit in your pocket. Your books have to be worth it though."

Angela: "It depends, most of my books are in the old language, you have been in Ellesmera, so you can speak it, but can you read it too? I have about seven hundred books, only less than a hundred in human language."

Tracey: "We read and understand the old tongue just fine, if the books are of a worthy topic we can offer two five compartment trunks for them." Angela countered: "Four trunks, I have a lot of stuff."

Daphne: "Two seven compartment trunks, three if you let us copy the books you planned to withhold."

Angela looked at Solembum: "Alright three trunks, for every book I have, Solembum trust you, we have an agreement. I must ask you to keep them away from the humans, some of them are a bit too advanced." It was a bit of hustle, Dobby and Winky transported books and ink to Angela's library, we copied everything while Dobby with Winky stored it in a new section in our library. An hour later we were done. Milli took three trunks, showed how to bind them to her by blood or password, and how to shrink and enlarge them. A good deal is when both parties are happy with the result. We declined to let her tell us our fortune, I had my fill of prophecies and oracles.

Xxxxx

At dinner we made small talk with our hosts, Helen was curious about our clothes and fashion, Jeod about our travels, we avoided most with the excuse of our magical education. Curious, Helen asked for a demonstration, Daphne agreed to one after dinner. We kept it simple, with some floating plates and dancing spoons, there is no need to scare the natives by changing a chair into a dog.

We took tea in Jeod's office to discuss our plans, a message was sent to the girls, now it needs time to respond. Milli put a privacy spell up in the room, and we got serious.

"We are on a tight schedule now Jeod, the blue egg has hatched a few days ago for her rider, he is currently in Ellesmera. I plan on taking the mad king out, but we need to act fast, I am certain this house is being watched. We have a few goals set to do, one is to steal the two other eggs, find the half-brother of the current rider, and kill the mad man. Then we subdue the country."

Jeod: "Those are some big goals you set there Harry, who is the rider? And who is his half-brother?"

Pansy: "The son of Brom is the rider, the son of Morzan is the half brother. Do you know where we can find him?" Surprised Jeod said: "Brom has a son? With Morzan's wife? I showed where Morzan's mansion was with the securities and helped him get a job as a gardener, I never would have thought him going for Morzan's wife."

"Well… it was not a happy marriage. Ah, the girls are responding." After a lot of letters, Fleur, Padma, and Katie decided to guard Carvahall, as Milly guessed, they were claustrophobic. I got to let Brom know hiding in a village with his real name is stupid, the girls refused to write what his answer was. We decided to fix the ships tomorrow, Ginny and Luna would sail with them. We are going to Uru'bean for the eggs and king. On the way, we create portkey points, see a few sites, enjoy the landscape, fix a few flowers, kill a king… I am not sure what to do with that big black dragon. Word is it's so crazy as a bat. Meh, kill the king first, the rest is a bonus.

Xxxxx

The bed was not big enough so we slept in the manor trunk, in that way the neighbors could get some sleep too. The next morning after breakfast we visited the ships, Jeod introduced us to the crew, Luna, and Ginny as passengers. When the crew left for their day, we talked our plans over with the captains and first mates. They believed us when Luna changed one into a bird. With that introduction done we got to work. Unbreakable runes on everything, insect and small mammals repellent, fireproof on the sails and deck, featherweight on the first deck. We took extra care of the rooms the girls would sleep in, and we warded it heavily against bad intentions. The masts got reinforced, we could not think of something for the hull without taking it out of the water. We ate lunch on the ship from the rations we brought along and finished the two ships at dinner time.

Jeod: "The ships leave at dawn, you can board tonight or at dawn, they will not wait if you are late."

Luna: "We will board at dawn before the sun is up." That night we checked everything, emergency portkeys, and trunks, a visible weapon to scare the local wildlife, a few books, and done. At Dawn we said goodbye to Luna and Ginny, watch the ships sail out. Was I worried? Just a little bit, I told them if it was too much, change into a dragon and burn the enemy. Just not stay in the water too long, some nasty fish were swimming in it.

Xxxxx

When we left Teirm, we gave Jeod and Helen emergency portkey bracers, activated with "Harry bloody Potter" We rode out of the city to a secluded spot and parked the horses in the trunk. The spitfire prepped and we took off with Pansy as co-pilot. On a hunch I flew to the ships with the girls, well they were being chased by four boats. Pansy wrote to Luna to ask if those four were pirates, or just sailing in the same direction. Luna wrote back there were magicians on board the other ships.

"Pansy, I am going to have some fun, buckle up." From a high altitude I took a dive and went into a dive, my guns blasting, strafing two ships, the machine guns did a lot of damage but the 20 mm guns went through the ships like a knife through butter. The good part was that the guns and airplane had silencing charms, so they did not know what hit them, the second run on the other ships when the same way, two passes more sunk them all. Ginny wrote in her journal she heard the crew talking about the bird that was spitting fire. We headed east to Uru'bean.