Chapter- 48 : Conflagration Part 4
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"And so the cotton of our current clothes might survive the ritual." Harry nodded. "Dobby!"
Soon they had all of the clothes out of their trunks. The girls also wanted their clothing from home, but Harry successfully pointed out that they didn't know, they only suspected, that the materials of their ordinary clothes would survive the process. And it was best not to risk it all when they could repeat the process as needed should it happen to work.
So they loaded in to the fire crab cauldron their large spools of acromantula silk, rolls of dragon hide, demiguise hair and Harry's father's invisibility cloak.
Harry had been one busy camper arranging all of this. But the crowning glory of all of the work had been a separate and very special potion simmering in the Goblet of Fire all yesterday under the sun of the summer solstice.
The three teens, fully clothed, all climbed into the cauldron of fire crab shell, fitted on the lid that used to be its underside armor, all their heads poking out of former leg holes. Then Harry poured in the potion brewed in the Goblet of Fire, causing the entire mixture to change colors to pure blue white, then bubble and froth.
"So, what happens now?" Hermione asked, excitedly.
"I dunno." Harry mused. "No one's ever done the ritual this way before."
"WHAAAT?" The bushy haired one panicked.
"Isn't this exciting?" Luna asked cheerfully.
At that moment, the sun hit noon and a brilliant shaft of its light came down and illuminated the cauldron. The magic overcame and they slid down beneath the surface of the fluid. All of this was planned and prepared for. What was not was a small fairy flying into the clearing while this mixture simmered under the golden light, then going out to return with a small cloud of the curious critters, who began to take dips and dives into the cauldron.
More and more fairies appeared as the sun moved through its progress from noon, where the soaking and simmering part of the ritual began, to high noon (one o'clock) when it ended.
Before the ritual was even halfway done the entire clearing was swarming, so think with fairies that no one could see, even if they were awake to do so.
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Harry opened his eyes on a chamber filled with multicolored fairies of every kind. Hovering just before his nose was a small group consisting of three with butterfly wings and one like a dragonfly. They looked like slender women not quite two inches tall. He gave an involuntary start at seeing them so close and all four zipped away.
Sitting up, the boy looked around himself, seeing fairies literally everywhere, in all conceivable varieties, flitting about, exploring blossoms, gliding on a breeze, and acrobatically avoiding Hermione when she rolled over. Harry could see the fairy women appeared to represent all nationalities. Some looked Asian, some Indian, some African, but mostly European. Several were less comparable to mortal women, with things like blue skin or emerald hair. A few had antennae. Their wings came in all varieties, mostly patterned after butterflies, but much more elegantly shaped and radiantly colored. All the fairies gleamed brilliantly, outshining the flowers like the sun outshines the moon, and they wore miniature clothing that matched.
"Ah. You're awake."
Harry turned to see Luna regarding him calmly. Her words also seemed to rouse Hermione, as that girl gave off a start, sending off a cloud of hovering fairies zipping off from around her, before she sat up, blinking in wonder.
"Where are we?" Harry rubbed at his eyes and straightened his glasses.
Luna smiled. "The Forbidden Forest, as you said, was created as a preserve a millennia ago, a refuge for Light side magical creatures. Naturally there are caves and grottos about. Being magical, many are as filled with plants and sunlight as the aboveground. Some creatures shelter here."
She brushed a hand against some leafy, hanging vines to demonstrate.
"So if they're harmless, why did they move us here?" Hermione shook her head, wondering if she had any fairies caught in her hair - She didn't.
Luna affixed her with a strange gaze. "Hermione, none of these creatures are 'harmless'. Nor are any particularly friendly to the mortal races. None of the creatures of this forest are 'safe'. Specific details for handling each race are complex, with many limitations and exceptions, but many creatures, great and small, inhabit this forest, and none of them are to be taken lightly; which is why the forest is off-limits. There are creatures out there that in their own ways are as dangerous as dragons or manticores, many of them made more so by the fact that they look innocent."
Hermione looked flustered. Harry could hardly blame her. She was so often the one offering explanations and answers it had to be a little odd to be the one caught asking questions like this.
Well, she'd only just started Care of Magical Creatures class this year, and even with a full NEWT in that she'd not have the sort of information on these things as the Lovegoods grew up with.
To grant her credit. Hermione did not pitch a fit, as Ron would have, over someone else being the one holding the knowledge on something. Instead she almost visibly seemed to switch into viewing Luna as a professor of her subject, and began treating her as such, sitting up attentively and almost raising a hand to ask. "Could you offer an example?"
Luna nodded regally. "Near the center of this forest is a pond, a beautiful clear lake surrounded by wooden walks and gazebos. It has a boathouse, and a broad grassy lawn, all sheltered behind a high and nearly impassible hedge. But for all its beauty, it is one of the most dangerous sites to humans in the entirety of magical Britain."
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