24 Harry Potter : Chapter 24: Moonlit Dinner I

Having to pack for my return home for the winter holidays was a novel experience, while taking the Hogwarts Express to start and end the academic year was... confusing.

Or at least, it left me feeling slightly sacrilegious as I exploited something that I had always associated with the beginning and the end of the 'actively magic' part of my life to fuck off to do my own thing.

Not that it stopped me from performing magic during the summer. 

I amended in my head, recalling not only my ritual, but the countless uses of cleaning charms that allowed me to upkeep both my dying father and the house itself.

Once I left the train at London, I moved brusquely among the reuniting families, ignoring the now-familiar pooling of bile at the mouth of my stomach when I thought about the reasons why the kind and diminutive wizard that believed himself my father was not here to welcome me back.

With my trunk shrunk and in one of the large pockets of my cloak, I wasted no time before entering the muggle section of London, soon ducking into the first small alley I saw.

Roaming London in the middle of WWII with my size will only make people wonder why I'm not a soldier. I snorted at the idea of sending my 12 years old self to fight with rifles, or even adult me once I was of age: by then my fingers would be too large to pull a trigger.

I banished those thoughts from my head in order to focus on my target: my house was concealed to the world, but not to me. Blood of the son... I shook my head as I pictured the stretch of land that I spent countless hours familiarizing myself with during the past couple of years, and, as I spun on myself, I held my breath and pushed.

The world shattered around me with a thunderous crack, and I felt myself being stretched across an impossible distance even as I pushed back with controlled strength against the immense pressure that threatened to snap me out of my apparition, but not strong enough to break the magic myself.

Another whipping crack heralded my arrival on what appeared to be an empty stretch of damp grass.

Empty, if not for the tall ash tree that I had spent my last month of summer to enchant so that its appearance wouldn't raise suspicion.

I spotted the metallic tint of some of the dark green leaves, which revealed my transfigured adaptation of a lightning rod so that it would keep the tree that I paid so dearly for from being struck down by Nature.

The ash tree was maybe 15 meters tall, and besides its isolated position in an otherwise empty stretch of grassland, there was nothing that gave it away as being something more. Luckily for me, the concept of shadow lent itself extremely well to concealment.

In the summer, not only I had used the creation of a shadow to bind the concealing ward, but all of the elements of the ritual were highly resonating with the secrecy I wanted.

The wand had been snapped, revealing the core for an instant before covering it once more in a permanent manner, keeping it underground. The sacrifice of my father had been obtained through deceit.

And blood was naturally hidden from the world by skin, not only that, but my nature as Half-Giant was a secret by itself. Okay, I admit I don't know how my demi-giant status would influence the ritual, but it seems that it simply made the ash tree bigger.

"Heh, 140 km in less than a second." I grinned wildly: moving towards Albania for the first time would be a pain, forcing me to perform small jumps in order to go in the direction I wanted to.

To be truthful, during my precedent life, I had, in fact, visited both Madrid and Rome, but I'd rather not risk splattering myself across the Spanish countryside only to check if images of another world were enough a match to guide me in this one.

I simply couldn't be sure that said memories were true enough to work for standard Apparition.

I ignored the sharp coldness of the English countryside in winter as I brought myself forward, my eyes peeled on the faint shadow that I cast thanks to the small Lumos I was keeping up behind my head.

After a few steps, my shadow crossed with the one cast by the apparently normal ash tree and it seemed to cause a ripple over the damp grass in front of me.

Powering up a little the light that I was using, I fully stepped within the 'shadow' that would be forever cast over my property. At least until the ash tree lives.

After a single instant during which everything darkened as if cast in shadow, the world seemed to be perfectly normal, only that now I was able to see the true shape of the ash tree, its trunk looking like two limbs twisting forever one beside the other, or at least until they branched out into the large canopy of black, shadowy leaves that rustled silently in the wind.

I briefly landed my large hand on the bark of the tree, feeling its unnatural warmth and life even as my eyes turned towards the hut that I had still to modify to properly suit my tastes. 

I still need to test the Floo. I reminded myself. It should work, Grimmauld 12's Floo worked even while it was unplottable, so besides it not being traceable on whatever registry the ministry has, the concealment shouldn't interfere...

I entered my cold and empty house without stopping to consider why it was so, and dropped my trunk in the middle of my room, quickly rummaging through it in order to set out what I would need for the next couple of weeks. Lot of road to cover.

"Let's say I dedicate ten days to go forward, and I spend two days returning, hopping by areas that I'll memorize on the first stretch of my travel." I spoke with clear eagerness in my voice.

Moving outside of that house, meant stretching my legs for the first time since my appearance in the world of Harry Potter, and I could scarcely contain my enthusiasm.

I donned the heavy leather boots that I had purchased during the previous summer along with thick, woolen trousers that brimmed with pockets, off went the school white shirt and over my undershirt, I let settle a heavy woolen jumper.

I then spread the collection of vials that I had prepared in what free time I had in the last months, organizing them in the soft confines of the multiple pockets I had available. A large selection of charms had been used to stitch together the coats once owned by my father, that now seemed a depressing parody of a harlequin's trenchcoat.

A leather satchel went to complete the ensemble, in which I placed a few changes of clothes and the nutritional potions that I had brewed to prepare myself for days on the road.

A vial containing the focused sunlight of a summer's afternoon was left hanging by a low leather cord by my neck, and I shivered pleasurably at the warmth. Almost ready.

In front of the only mirror of the house, I jabbed at my face with my wand, the prank spell leaving the length of holly without issue and striking me cleanly on the jaw: immediately, a thick, black, bushy beard sprouted from my once smooth jawline, covering the few young-looking features that my height and build didn't manage to hide. 

One can never know if Dumbledore is going to do his memory trip lane not only with Riddle, but with me too.

The pewter cauldron that rested near my cold fireplace was quickly turned into the size of a thimble and secured in one of my pockets. And I was soon briskly walking outside, eager to taste my newfound freedom in a world that spanned indefinitely in every direction. I could make do with a staff to walk... 

I snorted as I imagined myself as a random Gandalf across Europe, and when I left the concealed safety of my own house, I pulled a shrunk telescope from one of my pockets, looked for a suitable place, and I Apparated.

Repurposing the telescope that we used for Astronomy had been pure, unadulterated genius. Clearsight lenses, which sported a small auto-focusing charm, allowed me to see even in the dim light offered by an overcast sky, and I was thusly able to apparate as far as my eye could see.

I kept Apparating south until I found a stretch of sea, sadly, having to rely on sight in order to obtain a target for my apparition meant that while on the plains, Earth's curvature stopped me from seeing further than 5 kilometers ahead. 

I hope I soon spot some mountains, so I can jump over the plains.

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