NOVEL NEXT Chapter 6: Don't Panic Ch6: Towards the Wall
Chapter Synopsis: ... aaaand we're off! Our happy trio finally set off on their adventure around Westeros. A much needed and long-awaited vacation for Harry and Sirius that will also give them the chance to find a suitable place to settle down. How will they pass Dobby off to the curious southerners? And where is the merlin damned door for this giant wall?
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Last Time: ... As the day of departure drew near, the village buzzed with anticipation and excitement. The Thenns had grown to respect their powerful wizard allies, and many had connected well with Sirius over the years. They were sad to see them go, but understood both Harry's craving for travel and freedom, along with the opportunity they posed with the chance to find a new, safer home for the Thenn.
With their preparations complete, Harry and Sirius shared a heartfelt farewell with the elves, promising to keep in touch through the communication mirrors Harry had provided. Turning their feet south as they left the village, Harry, Sirius, and Dobby finally set off to explore this new world with a great deal of excitement for what they might find on their journey.
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Chapter 6: Towards the Wall
Harry, Sirius, and Dobby had been traveling through the True North for a week since leaving the Thenn village. It was a long journey south towards the Wall from the Valley of Thenn, but they weren't in a hurry, and they were enjoying the breathtakingly beautiful wilderness on the way. Towering ice-covered mountains, vast stretches of snow-blanketed forests, and the ever-present biting cold painted a landscape both harsh and serene.
The extreme cold made it impossible for them to fly for more than a few hours a day, significantly lengthening their journey. Harry, Sirius, and Dobby had to rely on a combination of walking and flying which made for slow progress by wizarding their standards, but certainly faster than it would have been for an average muggle.
Harry thankfully had a compass to rely on for this journey, which he was incredibly grateful for, as the dense forests and lack of landmarks often made it difficult to maintain a sense of direction. The compass had become an invaluable tool as they trudged through the endless white landscape, and Harry couldn't help but thank Merlin for whichever elf had the forethought to pack one in the trunk before they left.
Come to think of it, he wasn't even sure if a medieval world like this would have invented the compass. Harry made a mental note to investigate that once they reached civilisation.
During their journey, Harry had taken the opportunity to learn how to hunt and live off the land, something he thought could have come in helpful back in his jaunt around England looking for horcruxes. The Thenns had presented him with a bow and arrows before they departed, and Harry quite enjoyed taking the time to learn the knack of it. It was a way to pass the time after all, and he was on vacation.
To Harry's complete surprise, he found the experience of catching his meals to be enjoyable and somewhat satisfying. It definitely made him feel comfortably self-sufficient. Harry found his finely honed reflexes and keen eye from quidditch translated well to hunting with a bow and arrow. He was a natural.
Much to the perpetual amusement of Harry and Dobby, however, they quickly discovered that Sirius was quite possibly the worst hunter they would ever encounter.
Harry gained great enjoyment teasing Sirius after his latest hunting mishap.
"Sirius, I never thought I'd see the day when a deer would outsmart you," Harry chuckled, having greatly enjoyed Sirus' latest failed attempt to catch dinner.
Harry had stifled his laughter as he watched a curious young deer sneak up on Sirius from behind and nibble on his belt for a bit before trotting off without a care in the world. All while Sirius watched and waited patiently for any potential prey, completely unaware of his unexpected nibbling companion.
Sirius rolled his eyes, a playful grin crossing his face. "I may have my talents, Harry, but hunting clearly isn't one of them. I'll leave that to you and Dobby."
Dobby, who had proven to be quite adept at hunting, looked up from the rabbit stew he was preparing. "Dobby is happy to help, Harry Potter and hopeless Master Sirius, sir" he said with a proud smile.
Sirius grumbled, and waved his new wand in hand for emphasis, "I'm far more inclined to simply summon the nearest rabbit, or Dobby can just knock us up something more substantial in the tent kitchen using our vast supplies in stasis." The hunting wasn't entirely necessary, but Harry enjoyed it anyway.
Harry laughed, feeling the warmth of friendship and camaraderie in his small found family, here by the fireside. A good bit of friendly ribbing never hurt anyone, and this whole experience, even here in the wilderness, felt freeing in a way the wizarding world never did. Despite the cold and snow, the experience of traveling through the True North with Sirius and Dobby was one he wouldn't trade for the world.
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After another day of tedious hiking and flying, Harry, Sirius, and Dobby stumbled upon a small settlement of roughly built huts. From their concealed vantage point, they observed the occupants and realised based on their rough look, and monotone dress sense of all black, that they were either a ranging party, or more likely rogue brothers of Night's Watch. Oath-breakers who had abandoned their posts. It was equally clear that these men were made up of the sorts of lowlife criminals the Thenns had warned them were now commonly sent to the Wall.
The trio had very little interest in interacting with the group, but they did see this as an opportunity to gather intel on how to reach the wall, and how to cross it by normal means.
Based on the descriptions from the Thenns, Harry was not confident his firebolt could carry all three of them over the wall. It wasn't the height of the wall that worried him, but the magic woven into it. After all, a 700 foot wall of ice doesn't stay up by itself for thousands of years through all seasons without some heavy magic. Whatever wards might be in place were sure to prevent something as simple as flying over the wall. At least he hoped they'd thought of that.
Since neither Harry, Dobby nor Sirius spoke the common tongue, this was also a great opportunity to learn the language of the people south of the wall. They would simply use the language sharing spell from the Black library that Sirius had already used to teach Harry the Old Tongue. It wasn't any harder to use the spell on an unwilling participant, it just knocked them out and gave them a shocker of a headache when they work up.
The trio carefully stalked one of the night's watch deserters as he stepped away from the main settlement. Seeing their chance Harry swiftly stunned the man and levitated him further out of sight for a hasty interrogation.
A nearby rogue brother of the Watch scratched his head. He'd just come out from pissing behind a tree and he might be a tad drunk, but he could have sworn he'd seen John trip over on flat ground then float away into the forest. That didn't seem normal. He looked down at the mushrooms he'd been out gathering, but none of them looked like those spotty blue ones the others warned him about.
Looking down at the relatively flat snow-covered ground and back at where John had tripped over on the seemingly nothing, before floating away, he demurred for a moment. Thinking it was best to be safe he called out to the others "watch 'yer step around here brothers, can be treacherous footing". That should do it. He'd never liked John much anyway; too good at cards.
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John came-to groggily, wondering what he had to drink last night, because it sure knocked him out like a light. Trying to stretch his arms and legs, he found he couldn't budge. Suddenly he was far less groggy and filled with adrenaline, realising he was very tightly tied down to a chair. He must have been caught by the Watch!
His eyes flying open, he was immediately confused again. He was tied to a strangely sturdy chair in a forest clearing. Who has a chair in a forest north of the wall? Craning around he couldn't see anyone around. This must be a joke. Some kind of hazing by the rest of the gang for cheating at cards the other night.
"Real funny fellas" he shouted in a huff, "come on out, you can untie me now".
"Ah, we weren't planning to untie you yet" came a smooth voice from behind him. Not a voice he knew. Well Seven take him, this was not turning out to be his day, he'd been kidnapped by wildlings.
"Who are you? What do you want?"
Two well-dressed men came into his view, inexplicably wearing tailored clothes better fit for a lordly feast in the South than for travel through the wilderness north of the wall. How weren't they frozen already?
Coming from the south himself and only having recently joined the Watch, which he promptly deserted, John readily admitted to himself that he wasn't all that familiar with the wildling clans north of the wall. Though he could've sworn they were supposed to look... more savage maybe? Where did they even find tailors out here anyway?
"Oh, don't worry yourself so much. We're just two travellers out for a a bit of a walk and we're looking for directions. In a manner of speaking."
"aha" he responded sceptically, "travellers, north of the wall, and you lugged a chair along with you?" he paused, testing for any give in the chair or the ropes, "a very heavy, solid oak chair by the feel of it." he finished
"yep" the man replied, popping the p and looking as casual as anything.
Looking around again he could see they clearly didn't have any pack animals, so he could only assume these two ridiculous men had carried the chair here. What kind of crazy well-dressed wildlings carried a solid oak chair out into the forest to kidnap John?
"...well then let's get this over with, what are you looking for?"
John quickly thought back to everything he'd learnt on the geography of the North, hoping he'd have the answers they wanted. He wasn't the smartest tool in the shed, and he was worried what they would do if he couldn't answer their questions. He'd heard horror stories about cannibal wildlings.
"The Wall"
That brought John up short "... ah, the big ice wall directly south of here?" he asked looking over his left shoulder where, yep, he could clearly see the wall above the treeline on the distant horizon.
Looking back at his captors, now more worried that he'd been kidnapped by probably the dumbest wildlings in Westeros, he continued "... that one?"
"Well, yes, but more specifically we're looking for the door."
"Right," that made a bit more sense, at least John knew this one "you'll be wanting Castle Black then. Three days walk directly south-east from here. All the other tunnels have been sealed up."
Perfect, never had John been happier to have deserted the Night's Watch. He'd just direct these crazy wildlings there and the Nights Watch brothers could deal with them. Maybe a bit of encouragement would speed things along.
"I'm sure the brothers of the Nights Watch would be happy to help some fine upstanding gentlemen like yourselves. Just walk up to the first ranging party you see, and they'll take you right to where you need to go" John declared confidently, thinking they'd take these two dumbasses right to the dungeons.
The well-dressed wildlings looked happy at that response.
"Right then, serious, take his common tongue" the shorter wildling said, altogether too happily, motioning his companion toward John
What?! Take his tongue?! John panicked and struggled, trying to get free of his bindings. He just knew these wildlings would turn out to be cannibals. It was just his luck.
The taller man stepped forward quickly and ... tapped him on the head with a tiny, thin stick of wood, of all things. It certainly wasn't big enough to knock a man out if that was what he was going for. Maybe better for a bit of light poking, or eye gouging at worst.
Suddenly a long rope of shining gold light flowed from his from between his eyes and into his captor's head.
That's it, he was blaming this on those blue hallucinogenic mushrooms the other rogue brothers kept cooking into the broth. That had to be it. There really was no other explanation, John thought as he passed into unconsciousness again.
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"Well, that was easy," Harry said happily, as they packed up, leaving their sleeping captive on the ground, where he would wake up later with a headache but otherwise no worse for wear.
As a small gesture of goodwill, Harry cast a warming charm on the man to ensure he wouldn't succumb to the cold before waking up, and dropped a package of fresh fruits under a preservation spell next to him. They felt it was a fair trade for his less-than-willing guidance.
"The fellow didn't seem like the sharpest tool in the shed, but at least he knew where we needed to go. I didn't feel like walking halfway across the continent trying to find the way through this Merlin damned ice wall."
"Certainly, the simplest way to learn the language," Sirius replied happily, after downing a pain relief potion to deal with the headache. He then took a moment to share the new language he'd learned with Dobby, before moving over to do the same with Harry.
"I wasn't looking forward to trying to talk our way through the wall without knowing the language in advance. The translation spell isn't infallible. Who knows what kind of trouble we could've landed ourselves in with a simple miscommunication. Good to think ahead"
With new information in hand and a direction to head in, Harry, Sirius, and Dobby continued their journey through the north. Following their feet, and the handy compass, to Castle Black.
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That evening, as they warmed up in front of the large fireplace in the tent's living room, Harry thought it was time to address an issue he'd been pondering more and more as they got closer to the wall.
"We need to talk about Dobby," Harry said into the comfortable silence, gaining mildly confused looks from his two companions.
"Huh? what about Dobby" Sirius questioned, giving the elf an inquisitive look as he tried to puzzle out what his godson was on about.
"Sirius, we can't just go walking up to Castle Black in the company of what the locals will likely think is one of the 'children of the forest' from their legends. The Thenn very clearly told us the 'children' haven't been seen in thousands of years. Dobby's appearance will attract all sorts of unwanted attention from the Watch and any other people we encounter south of the Wall"
"Ah, right, that could be a problem" Sirius agreed, now on the same page as Harry.
"Dobby doesn't mind attention" the house elf chimed in, happy to be part of the conversation, "as long as it doesn't interfere with Dobby's work."
"Not this kind of attention Dobby." Sirius said with a frown, as he reached out and patted the house elf on his tiny shoulder. "This is the pitchfork wielding villager, 'burn it at the stake' sort of attention. It'll be a right nuisance, I assure you."
"Any ideas how to deal with this" Sirius asked as he turned back towards Harry. Hoping his godson already had something worked out.
"I might have something we could use" Harry nodded "we'd have to test it though. I'm not sure if it will work for house elves."
"Back when I was dodging reporters from the Daily Prophet, I did some research into illusions and disguises that could be woven into enchantments. I don't think I'll ever willingly taste Polyjuice potion again, and simple glamours were too easy to see through. It took a bit of effort, but I finally found a solution in the Black Family Library" Harry explained.
"Here" he pulled a small golden amulet out of his pocket and floated it across to Sirius. The amulet glinted in the light of the fire, showing intricate silver runes carved across the surface in neat lines. "I found a rune sequence in the library that could be carved into an amulet to essentially give the user abilities similar to those of a metamorph."
Dobby and Sirius eyed the amulet closely, trying to read the small runes, while Harry sauntered over and picked an old tome off one of the shelves that lined the living space. "The sequences are outlined in this old Black journal. It was apparently designed by a Black ancestor who wanted to emulate the Metamorph abilities of his children so he could help train them. The amulet doesn't have quite the same level of control, but you can pre-form several identities through transfiguration and lock them into the amulet for future use. With just a twist of the amulet, similar to a time turner, you can switch between your natural look and up to three others" Harry finished, holding out the book open to the relevant pages for Sirius to read, while Dobby continued to turn over the amulet.
Sirius was kicking himself as he flicked through the pages, considering all the pranking opportunities he clearly missed by not researching illusions in his family library.
"That's a brilliant idea," Sirius said happily, as he finished reading the relevant section "It says here the effect is physical, as opposed to just an illusion. That's perfect! As long as it doesn't hinder Dobby's elf magic, it'll be exactly what we need." he concluded, putting the parchment down and looking to Dobby for his thoughts.
Dobby, who had been listening, finally spoke up. "Dobby trusts Master Harry. If it helps us on our journey, Dobby is willing to wear the amulet. Dobby also wouldn't mind being taller for once." He said, standing as tall as he could and puffing out his chest.
"This one is attuned to my magic signature" Harry said, as he took back his original amulet, "so we'll have to make a new one for you to use Dobby, It will also give you a chance to choose your own looks."
"Dobby can choose?" Dobby asked, seeming to almost shake with excitement at the prospect of choosing his own look.
"Of course you can." Harry said with a smile "Come on then. We'll head to the workshop and try out the sequence on some wooden amulets first to see how it works for house elves"
The trio spent the next few hours poring over the journal, alongside a number of large runic reference manuals Harry had used in his original research. The runic scheme required a few tweaks to work for an elf, but it turned out not to be too complex. A bit of trial and error got them to a working solution in the end. Though Harry found it interesting that it was the addition of a small, nature attuning rune that got the best result.
Having agreed on the preferred approach, Harry set about making a permanent version for Dobby. He started by melting some of their gold galleons, and forcing the molten gold into the appropriate shape with a small application of magic. With the experience from making his own, Harry was able to form the amulet quickly. The gold took on a shape much like a time turner, but with a blank gold disk in the middle to spin, as opposed to an hourglass. He then began the slow work of carefully etching runes onto the centre gold disc, inlaying each with sliver so it would retain its magic over multiple uses.
Finally, he charged the runes directly, pumping it with enough energy to last for years, though it barely put a dent in his large magical reserves. In-fact, the amulet would likely have enough energy to start attracting more from the ambient raw magics in the environment, and would probably never require another charge. In that sense, he'd crafted the roughest type of self-sustaining magical artifact.
"That should do it" Harry huffed, as he held the completed amulet up to the light, admiring the delicate work.
Trotting out to the living room, Harry tossed the amulet to Dobby who was sprawled in the armchair conducting the dishes to wash themselves from a distance. Harry felt Dobby might be picking up some of Sirius' lazier habits.
"Here you go Dobby, your very own metamorph amulet" Harry said with a smile
Grabbing it out of the air with little difficulty, Dobby looked over the amulet, sensing some of the magic imbued, but not really having enough familiarity to disentangle what each strand did. He trusted Harry to get it right anyway, he doubted there'd be much danger of the device breaking or hurting him.
Lost for words, Dobby reverently placed the amulet around his neck, admiring its beauty.
"Alright Dobby, now Sirius and I just have to transfigure you into a new look so the magic can set. Have you considered what you want to look like?
Snaping his attention back to Harry, Dobby didn't waste a second in replying with excitement "Dobby is a Potter elf. Dobby would like to look like his family"
Smiling, Harry nodded at the exited elf "I'd be happy for us to look like family Dobby. Let's get started them"
Harry and Sirius set about carefully transfiguring Dobby into the form of a young man, similar in looks to Harry but a bit younger. This process was noticeably uncomfortable for the elf, but would only need to be done once to lock in the identity, subsequent transitions would be near instant and painless.
They also set up a second identity at Dobby's request. Transforming the diminutive elf into the hulking form of a muscled soldier, with a menacing sneer, a scar across his face, and a bald head. Harry and Sirius had a bit of fun making this character. It never hurt to walk around with tough looking protection. They went all-out making Dobby look as unapproachable as possible with that in mind.
Finally they released the transfigurations and stopped for tea. After resting from their exertions, Dobby tested the amulet, twisting it on and off several times with great success. His appearance changed near instantly, with a morphing process like water flowing over his skin, and he now looked like a fit young man with black unkempt hair, green eyes, and a slightly too innocent and adorable face. Harry suspected Dobby would be using that innocent face to get out of all sorts of trouble, but just chuckled at the chaos they'd create together.
Despite the dramatic transformation, there were still enough recognisable characteristics that both Harry and Sirius could pick him out of a crowd with no trouble. And Dobby's eyes still held the same spark of loyalty, determination and utter cheek that Harry and Sirius knew so well.
"Well, I'll be," Sirius said with a grin, looking at the transformed Dobby. "That worked even better than I thought it would. You're quite the dashing fellow now, Dobby."
Dobby blushed at the compliment and glanced at Harry. "Thank you, Master Harry, Master Sirius. Dobby is enjoying being taller and stronger." Dobby spun the disc to take on his menacing form. "Dobby is going to have so much fun" he declared with an excited attitude not at all matching his suddenly deep and growling voice.
With Dobby's new disguise in place, the trio felt more confident in their ability to navigate the lands south of the Wall without drawing too much attention. Though Harry committed to encouraging Dobby to adjust his speech patterns a bit.
Dobby had already made much progress on this front, but he still slipped up now and then. Many of Harry's selves had taken it upon themselves to start shedding the old speech patterns the wizarding world had forced on them. Harry was just happy that the elves were doing this for themselves, and he always tried to help whenever he could.
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After another day of flying and hiking, the trio finally spotted a patrolling group of Night's Watch rangers from the air. They landed quietly, some small distance further along the group's apparent hiking trail to ensure an encounter.
The trio had already spent much of their day preparing a loose backstory to justify their unusual presence here beyond the Wall. Though if all else failed, a little magic could go a long way, so Harry wasn't too worried that their story might have a few holes. All they had to do now was wait.
As the ranger patrol of Black Brothers approached, they made a little extra noise, stumbling through the woods and out onto the trail, appearing slightly dishevelled and exhausted.
Ser Jorik, the patrol leader, a gruff man with a bushy beard, eyed them warily. Taking in their high-quality clothes and glancing pointedly at the valuable jewelled sword on Harry's hip. Clearly wondering what these apparent lordlings or wealthy merchants were doing north of the wall.
"Halt!" Ser Jorik demanded. "You there, who are you and what are you doing here?"
Harry stepped forward, trying to appear as desperate and disoriented as possible. "We're just three tired travellers my friend. We had booked passage on a ship from Braavos to White Harbour, and were headed on to Winterfell, but had a slight disagreement with the captain. Now we're not entirely sure where he dropped us off." Harry had learnt the names of those two ports from the descriptions of the southern realms shared by the Thenn, and could only hope they still existed.
The other members of the patrol exchanged glances, clearly sceptical. Bael, a tall, thin man with a scar across his cheek, narrowed his eyes. "And how did ye manage to make it all the way here from the coast on foot without running into any trouble? "
Sirius chimed in, his voice full of desperation. "We managed to overpower a few ruffians who stumbled on us the first night, and we've been on the run ever since, trying to find our way back to civilization." He was quite happy with his performance. He'd learned to act in his years as a Marauder and prankster alongside Harry's dad, though he never imagined he'd use the skill in such a scenario.
Dobby, in his disguise of a small, thinner version of Harry, nodded vigorously in agreement, his green eyes wide with imagined fear. "It's true, sirs. We've been hiding and traveling for days, just trying to survive."
Ser Jorik studied the trio for a moment before sighing. "Very well, we'll take you back to Castle Black. You can rest there, and we'll figure out what to do with you." He gave them one last long look before turning away.
The men were all in their own way, wondering what kind of outrageous disagreement would lead a captain to dump these poor fools on the wild shoreline north of the wall. Many of them also wondered how these idiots had not noticed the added week to their voyage as they tracked all the way up the coast. Not the brightest bunch, they concluded.
A younger member of the patrol, a fresh-faced boy looked at the trio with honest concern and dug out some dried meat to share with the probably starved men. "I'm glad you managed to find us, it's dangerous out here. We'll make sure you're safe now."
As they walked back toward Castle Black with the Night's Watch patrol, the trio exchanged relieved glances. Their false backstory had worked, at least for now.
They just needed to tread carefully and keep their story straight until they made it through the wall. After that, it should be easy to give these muggles the slip. Harry had already confirmed that the wall was impassable by any form of magical transportation. All three of them could sense the waves of power emanating from the ancient wards anchored along the enormous structure.
Harry had no doubt that men of great power and skill built this wall, but based on what he'd learnt from the Thenns, none with such power remained today. In-fact, Harry wondered if these Night's Watchmen even knew this was a magical structure. Surely they should know you can't stack ice like that and have it remain unmelted through the summer without a bit of magic help.
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Chapter 7 Teaser:
Lord Commander Qorgyle huffed, his gaze shifting to the trio. He wasn't convinced by their story, and he was unsure as to whether they fell into the category of enemies, victims, or the increasingly more likely bucket of utter fools.
"You three will be held in the cells of Castle Black," he informed them coldly. "You will be provided with a basic meal and will keep quiet and stay out of trouble until we sort this out. My Commanders and I will decide what to do with you." Qorgyle was inwardly miffed that the trio seemed just as openly curious and un-ruffled being led to the cells, as anyone would be taking a tour of a flower garden.
Harry was quite pleased with how things were going.
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