First steps into Antillia

Chapter 30 –

"Antillia, 1500 kilometers due west of Ponta Delgada, Portugal. Abandoned, and uninhabited after the 15th Century, and a complete ghost island. Pirates had converted the place into their own haven, away from any other civilization. It lies smack dab in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, far enough from America and Europe, for it to not be bothered by countries from either of those continents. It's perfect for us, if we can repurpose those Pirate cities, and develop on top of civilization there, we would have a good base to start and develop," Nathan explained to his friends who were watching curiously as they sat around the table in the living room of the Abode. It was the Christmas break, and the children had returned from Hogwarts. They had all decided to meet up at Nathan's home after he showed them all the location of the Abode using his portal.

"It's a nice setup, why has no one else moved in yet?" Carlisle asked after she scrutinized the location that Nathan had pointed out.

"There have been expeditions there. According to a few sources in the library, all expeditions that traveled to the island, either got lost there or got too scared to venture anywhere closer than a few kilometers off its coast after they lost radio contact with their colleagues. No one knows what's causing all explorers to get lost on the island, that's why we are all going to have to keep our sling rings on us at all times. At the first sign of trouble, we bail and call for help." Nathan instructed them.

"That is also why, I will be going with you. I can call for aid from Kamar Taj should anything go amiss." Jolene chimed in as she walked into the living room with a plate full of cookies. "I still think you kids should reconsider, it's not like you're going to stay in the magical world, now that you know the systematic bigotry they have toward us muggle-borns. Though I am proud of you for taking the matter up into your own hands and trying to make a difference, I still feel you should focus your attention elsewhere."

"Mum, we've talked about this, we have an opportunity to do a lot of good for the world if we succeed in our plan," Nathan said exasperatedly, as he snatched an oatmeal cookie from the plate.

"Don't worry Aunty, I've got Nathan's back through this," Jeremy added as he munched on a cookie and gulped down some milk.

Jolene sighed as she looked at the resolute faces of all the children "Alright, but I will accompany you kids every step of the way. Convincing your parents to let you spend Christmas with us was difficult enough. I have responsibility over you all, so I expect you to listen to me. Is that clear?" she said sternly.

When all the kids nodded she smiled, and got up from her seat and said "Very well then, I will book our flight to Ponta Delgada for tomorrow morning, and arrange for a Yacht to take us to Antilla. You kids finish up whatever scheming you're doing here, and head to bed. I don't want any noise coming from your rooms, am I clear?"

"Yes, mum!" / "Yes, Mrs. Shephard" they replied as she exited the room and headed for her bedroom.

"Damn, A yacht and a flight huh, too bad we can't just portal there." Mary-Anne pouted, before smiling "Heh, the trip will be fun!"

"I would have thought that at least someone from Kamar Taj would have been to Portugal, or is the Ancient One trying to teach us something?" Carlisle muttered as she packed the map in her bag and helped Nathan pack the Cartography chart into his.

"Meh, if it's a lesson she's trying to teach us, it's probably something along the lines of not relying on magic for everything or some such." He replied as they all made their way to their beds.

oOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOo

The trip from London to Ponta Delgada was rather exciting for the children, as they enjoyed the sights and scenes from the chartered plane, and then enjoyed the local cuisine before they made their way to the pier where their yacht was waiting for them.

The boat operator that they had hired was a Portuguese native, who could speak fluent English and also pilot a yacht for them.

"Ma'am, I will not dock my yacht on the island, I have arranged for a dinghy for you and your children to take from where I park, to the coast of the island. Are you sure you want to go there? To Antillia? People who go there, are said to never return." He said gravely with a thick Portuguese accent while scratching his beard.

Jolene sighed, knowing that she couldn't convince the only yacht owner, or boat owner in all of Portugal to change his mind. He was the only one who was ready to head anywhere near the island in the first place. All other people that she had contacted had immediately declined after finding the name of the island, seemingly too afraid of whatever myth it was that caused people to get stranded on the island.

She said "Yes, we're sure. But, please wait for us off the coast at least."

"No can't do, you have the sat phone, when you want to leave, you give me a call, and use the dinghy back to my yacht. I am not going to wait around for a dead woman and dead kids. No matter what you say, that's where you're headed to your death." He warned yet again, as he tried to persuade the woman into changing her mind.

Jolene hesitated slightly, then remembered that they had their sling rings, should anything go wrong they were prepared to bail, and head straight to Kamar Taj for support. She steeled her nerves and said "Look, Mr. Reis, we have made adequate preparations, and you do not have to try and persuade us into changing our minds. You have been paid, so please do your job. I understand your concern, but they are unfounded."

The man sighed, as he resigned himself. He nodded to her and turned to his boat. "We leave in five, get your children on board, and may God have mercy on your soul."

The four friends had heard what Mr. Reis had warned them about, and they gulped as fear set into their systems. But, along with the fear, a sense of adventure and excitement was also instilled in them and they looked forward to facing whatever challenge that Antillia had in store for them.

"Come on, let's go!" Jeremy voiced all their thoughts and Jolene sighed as she followed the children onto the boat.

oOOOOOOOOOOOOOOo

Antillia, or the hidden mirage of the sea, as it was called by Pirates in the late 15th Century, slowly appeared on the chilly misty horizon. As the yacht sped toward the Island, Jeremy could discern the beach's water deflecting the sun's great glare into the mist caused by the chill around the area, though he could still see the ever-growing jungle of vines, trees, and darkness. The trees making a canopy of the jungle hide what lies underneath. There was no sound of an insect, bird, or reptile, no call of a human voice, only the steady rhythmical lap of the sea, and the hum of their boat's engine. The sound of the sea made him shiver with fear of what could be lying in the jungle.

As the boat started to slow down, Jeremy's excitement was bubbling, as was his fear of the unknown danger that lurked on the island, yet still, he looked forward to participating in his own adventure. His parents had been reluctant to let him go, though they did not really know the extent of the trip they were taking, not that it would have stopped him from coming, as was the case with all his friends. The idea of adventure excited him, and he felt like a magical pirate at that very moment.

Looking to Nathan and Mary-Anne who were helping Jolene lower the Dinghy that Mr. Reis had brought along with him, he thought about the moment he had decided to fully commit to his friend's plan. In truth, he had accepted to support Nathan and Mary-Anne's admittedly crazy idea of forming their own country for Muggle-borns around the world as a way to pay back for his father's sin. His biological father that is.

His biological father, Clifford Michaels was a non-magical politician from New York City, who had abused his mum while they were married. He also worked as the right-hand man of a finance lawyer based in the big apple, Walter Hardy.

Walter Hardy had used his father as a way to keep the government off his back, while he committed robberies under the guise of 'Staking out the opposition'. His father's criminally abusive nature was only caught, when Walter Hardy made his father take the fall for one of the few times he had gotten caught by the police. But, by then the damage had been done. Jeremy believed that he was responsible for his father being violent against his mother, and sometimes her reaction to his presence affirmed that to him, no matter how many times his step-dad and mum would say otherwise.

Jeremy shook his head breaking out of his reminiscence, and as he realized that Nathan was calling on him to get into the dinghy. The yacht had come to a complete stop, at least half a mile away from the shore of Antillia.

"It's beautiful huh?" Nathan asked as he helped Jeremy climb into the dinghy. "Remember, don't use your wands till I have the wards up, we don't need the MACUSA showing up here of all places."

"Yeah, we remember," Carlisle replied as she handed out life jackets to each of the occupants of the inflatable boat.

"It's something that's for sure," Jolene commented.

Mary-Anne started the engine, as Jolene commandeered the small boat toward the Island.

As they reached ashore, Nathan pointed toward a large old mansion that was visible atop a cliff just beyond the foliage of the tall trees. "There, that looks like where we can set up camp, Jeremy do you have the brooms?"

Jeremy nodded and said, "Yeah, in my pocket." As he fished out his shrunken down trunk from his pocket and extracted old five cleansweeps that they had nicked from Hogwarts' trainee collection. No one used these anyway, and they wouldn't have been missed from the selection back in the castle.

"Alright then, I will layer the charms on all of us, and we will set the ward stone down on that mansion. Then we can fly up and get good luck at the place, okay?" Nathan suggested.

They all nodded and quickly followed his lead, as they flew over the foliage of the trees. None except Nathan were particularly great quidditch players, and their coordination on brooms was abysmal, and even Nathan was adept at best in his flying skills, which was only a byproduct of having just a smidge interest in the sport due to his past life and his time with Harry Potter, back at The Abode. So, they decided to stick close to the tree tops, to avoid any reckless injury.

The group slowly reached the top of the cliff and they noticed that the mansion was in extremely poor shape. The white painted wooden wall was torn and eaten through by termites, plant life had taken over both inside and outside the mansion. There was a giant coconut tree poking out through the roof of the home. A home, that once upon a time would have looked magnificent, now looked dull, weary, and near collapse.

From their floating perch, above the cliff, they looked down into the valley and saw similarly conditioned settlements. Upon flying down to further inspect the abandoned settlement, they noticed that it actually led to an inlet from the ocean, and the pier had been half overrun by moss, and tall grass and the other half was floating aimlessly in the water just ahead, amongst the graveyard of broken and half-sunk ships.

The pier led to a building that might have at one time been a tavern, which now could house nothing more than tall trees, and sand and could serve neither wine nor rum, but Coconut water aplenty. Beside the tavern, there were small homes with windows, and looking inside Carlise saw the slowly decaying skeleton just laying there carelessly with a closed bottle of aged rum in hand, and an old musket in the other. More skeletal figures could be seen in almost all the windows of homes that had not been overrun by vegetation and plant life.

The group slowly flew back to the mansion as they pondered over what might have happened, to have converted a once lively pirate town, to become an effective war zone and graveyard for the dead.

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[Image of Antillia, as I imagined its current state to be]