Croaker: "A Veil of Death? How is this possible?" Hermione was looking around and saw the book.
Hermione: "Harry? There is a book here, I think it needs your ring." I opened the book, hey… it is a user's manual, I hope it is not based on those from IKEA.
"Instructions are easy guys, I only need to take my dragon form and mentally order to open it. On the other side is another gate. Those are only one-way portals, the return portal is with the elves in Ellesmera. It does not say where we are heading though. And where the return portal is."
Croaker: "I can tell you where, it is in the ministry of magic, in my department, we call it the Veil of Death. We were studying it for centuries, and using it for executions."
Blooddagger: "I am afraid you need to remove the trunk from Gringotts Lord Peverell, any devices that can be used to enter or leave Gringotts without our knowledge need to be removed from our vaults.
I suggest you take it with you to Potter Mansion."
Luna was already cuddling the egg.
"Let's go home."
We took the trunk and egg and decided to leave the Grimoire behind for now.
Back at the manor, we went over the story as I remember it, then considered our options. We have to deliver the egg to Eragon, which leaves the question, what happened to Aria? Is she taken by the shade? Carrying another egg?
First, we explored the trunk. The manor was huge, everything was on stasis charms, the books were on the elf language, history, and geography it contained maps of the regions with explanations of cultures and religions. The magic that was provided for the trunk came from a magic forest, with some strange creatures, some I did not even read about in the books. A very big lake provided for the ecosystem, the water level was a bit low though.
After making sure there are no dangerous animals in the woods we left the trunk open and transferred water from a nearby waterfall into the trunk.
/\
That afternoon Fleur's mother arrived with a group of elders, representatives from different enclaves.
We discussed the ritual we used to get our dragon animagus shape, and the faults we suspected their ritual had made. As a favor to Fleur's mother, we showed her our copy of the original book. The brains of the family, meaning all of them, started to write a ritual out, deciding the maximum number was twenty-nine, the intersections of the axis lines would be too many if they include more people, and the ingredients would cost too much. Twenty-nine for the prime number, and one matriarch as the focus.
Fleur's mother confirmed she was pregnant with a boy. Her being pregnant was the reason the matriarchs decided to trust us. We worked two days on the ritual, designing one for the spring equinox and one for the fall equinox as the ideal moments to do the ritual. The main goal was to increase the boy-to-girl birth ratio and reduce the natural emitting of the allure.
"Madam Appoline, make certain the ritual polygon is accurate, and the centerpiece is connected to a ley line. We are going to be out of reach for a couple of months doing research. There are always some of my wives in this mansion, they all are experts on this ritual and can aid you. It is possible we will return before your ritual, but it is not set in stone."
Appoline: "That is acceptable for us Harry, We are already grateful for the method to get pregnant with a boy. If the ritual succeeds, then in a few years we will be normal animagi, with a magical animagus bird. Now can you show us your dragon?" One green dragon coming up. Fleur's silver dragon came up next to me rubbing her head at my neck.
The Veela were impressed, one by one the girls changed, except the pregnant ones. Twenty dragons, very big dragons, made a magnificent sight.
A matriarch sighed: "You are right with your decision to make this possible for your children. Ours was becoming a curse, with our young girls being hunted, to be enslaved in whore houses, and treated as beasts. I hope we can change this with the rituals." We changed back to human, Fleur was hugging her mum. They left with high hopes and low expectations.
/\
Daphne: "Love, there are big stretches of land uninhabited, especially the region Eragon moved to at the end. This is maybe a chance to move our people to a land where they can freely use magic."
Hermione: "Another point of interest is that those dragons can live for millennia, is this changed for us too? Our children?" That is a sobering thought. I already felt out of place in two thousand twenty, let alone how I should feel out of place in the year three thousand twenty. Imagining living for two or three thousand years is frightening.
Hannah: "We will find out in a couple of decades. Once that king is removed, that planet would be nice to live on."
Parvati: "Then they better have indoor plumbing." Everyone laughed at that until I shake no with my head.
Fauna: "Don't worry Parvati, you can go outside and do it the dragon way. I like the idea to move there, we can only fly freely in Harry's mindscape, not in the real world."
"We can talk about that when the job is done, better to kill the basilisk first before you sell his skin."
We did our last preparations, The four pregnant girls would stay, Megan, Hermione, Astoria, and Lavender are staying too, to protect the pregnant girls, Susan and Hanna decided to stay too.
Susan was a certified lawyer now, employed at Tonks firm to handle the Potter fortune and estates.
We send our message Patronus to the parents notifying them that tomorrow we will depart.
The last night together was an emotional one, We talked and made love to the ten girls that would be staying here, deciding on the names of the kids, should things go wrong.
The next morning at breakfast the parents dropped in, we all said our goodbyes, as the last precaution we put the manor trunk in a heavily protected room and cast a fidelius charm on the trunk, and put a decoy in the other corner. We gave all parents the secret and made Susan the secret keeper.
/\
We entered the trunk, went to the portal, changed into my dragon shape, and demanded the portal to open. The portal started to draw on my magic, draining me almost completely before the portal opened.
Tired I changed back to a human, and went through, supported by my wives, holding their wands ready.
I wanted to say it was like Star Trek or SG1, it was just like entering a dark corridor and walking to the light... Nope, no comment.
We came out into a dimly lit hall, there were jewels on shelves at one side and rows of eggs on the other side. Crap and an automated armor that will attack any stranger that comes visiting.
"Eldunari, control your tin man, do not let him attack us, we come in peace." Tin-man got up and drew his sword, but he did not attack. I felt a strange presence trying to link to my mind.
"Sorry Eldunari, trust first. Project your thought to us. I swear on my life and magic we will do no harm to the Eldunari and your eggs. So mote it be." The magic oath stuck, and the pressure lowered.
"Can someone else take control? That portal took a lot out of me." Flora conjured a couch and laid me down on it with a kiss.
Daphne: "Well met Eldunari, we are travelers from another plane, tasked to aid you in your fight with the crazy king. We roughly know your story and the events that are bound to happen. We know the leader here is the Eldunari Umaroth. Dragon of Vrael. Our mate is Harry Potter, we all here, are his wives, my name is Daphne Greengrass." the Eldunari were conversing with each other, while Luna walked to the automate with the blue egg.
Luna: "Hello, my name is Luna Lovegood, can you identify this child?" Luna presented the egg.
Another set of flashes went through the hall.
Umaroth: "Luna Lovegood, in your hands is a lost egg, it got lost when the mad king stole three eggs from us. Two males and one female, this one is the female. It got lost on the trip to the capital. The mad king is still searching the land for it"
Fleur: "Well met Umaroth, my name is Fleur Delacour. The egg was transported to our plane, we don't know how long it has stayed with us, we hope you can tell us how long."
Belladonna: "My name is Belladonna, we are tasked to deliver the egg to her destined rider and aid in his training and fight."
Umaroth: "Then the Grays heard our prayers."
Daphne: "Good, now we have to know what year we are in. Umaroth, you have a connection with Brom?"
Umaroth: "Yes we are monitoring Brom, why do you ask?"
Padma: "My name is Padma Patil, Umaroth, is Brom in Carvahall? We want to know so we can decide our actions.
Umaroth: "Brom is living in Carvahall for ten years."
Milli: "That makes Eragon twelve to fifteen years? My name is Millicent Bulstrode ancient one."
Umaroth: "Eragon? You even know about the boy? He is fourteen years now."
Ginny: "That is good news, we are a year early, we can begin to mess the story up. Ginny Weasley Wise one."
Katie: "We have to wait for Harry to recuperate, we can't go outside because of the radiation, we better set our mansion up, rest for this day, and plan for tomorrow."
Daphne: "This place is under a fidelius charm, so are the eggs and Eldunari. Does this mean we are going to forget about them? We knew of them before."
Flora: "Let us take our husband to bed first, and find a way to share our magic when we open the portal again." That woke the scientist in the girls up. A new project, a beneficial one, had several girls already planning some experiments. Under the watchful eye of the robot armor, we set the manor trunk up.
Umaroth: "That is some powerful magic, I could not sense inside that trunk until you opened it."
Parvati: "Well, Wise one, our magic is different from yours, ours is not bound to the grays language."
We all went into the manor trunk, the automation followed, exploring the grounds, looking sort of amazed at the unicorns. I went to bed, leaving the girls to figure everything out.
/\
Tracey: "Now that we have to stay here for the day, can we develop a way to shield our minds from the magic users and dragons of this world? The mad king is specialized at that, if we can block that, then the battle is half won. Maybe adjust our mindscape?"
Fauna: "Let's ask the Eldunari to aid us in our practice of keeping them out." Belladonna went out to ask them, she came back with the automate who carried thirteen Eldunari, big ones, some of them older than two millennia.
Umaroth: "How can we assist you in your practice?"
Fleur: "We need to find a way to shield our minds from the mad king, to practice this, can you try to invade our mind? Start slowly, so we can recognize the attack and find a way to block it. One Eldunari for each person, switch after five minutes to another girl, so we have different magics to adjust to." The session started, the girls were contentiously under attack, switching every five minutes to another dragon, slowly recognizing the common magic and the personal one. Four hours later, Harry woke up.
/\../\
Daphne: "Harry, can you pull us into your mindscape to share?" Dammed, I just woke up and I already have to work… Who am I kidding… I love to have them in my mindscape. After everyone was in, we shared, combined, and received our practices. The different kinds of views and approaches helped us to develop a way to block any attack on our mind, by receiving the attack, locking onto it, and guide to a vortex that will drag the magic into a void, keeping it there. As long as we held onto the magic, we could drain our attacker. We could store it there to use at a later date or as a counterattack.
Once back out, we tried our defense with the Eldunari. Ginny volunteered for the job. One of the old ones, Fundor, started the attack and immediately got sucked into the void, he felt his magic being grabbed and sucked in, faster and faster, out of control he could only yell to stop it before he lost all his magic.
His Eldunari lost his glow, Ginny felt sorry for him and reversed the flow to Fundor, restoring him to full strength.
Fundor: "That was an impressive defense, I would have lost my life if you did not stop. I lost total control over my power. The question is now: how much can you take in? The mad king has many Eldunari, and you have to drain them all before the mad king is defeated."
Katie: "We can take all Eldunari in tenfold. The void we created is as big as the galaxy we are in today. Endless."
"They will be dragged into space, where there is no air or earth to hold on to. Floating in a space where the next solid object is thousands of years traveling away, we will have total control." Luna smiled, it was her idea, borrowed from the other universe.
/\
Now that Ginny discovered the method of giving magic back, she tried it on me, slow at first then a big wave came in, one I had to stop because she was pumping everything into me.
"Ginny stop it! You are giving away too much."
Ginny: "Sorry love, but it is hard to control how much magic has to go through. Stopping the flow is difficult too."
Tracey: "We work on that tonight in bed. We have to find a way to shield us from the radiation here at Vroengard, and learn to speak the Grays language, knowing the words from books is not enough."
Pansy: "How about we learn from the Eldunari? We can pull some into Harry's mindscape and share the knowledge?"
"Getting someone in my mind is a very personal and invasive feeling Pansy, there is always an echo that remains in me, having something from my wives in me is the best there is, I am not certain I want some strange dragons into my head."
Milli: "How about only female dragons? The younger ones, not one older than five hundred years?"
We explained to Umaroth how my mindscape worked, he talked it over with the other Eldunari.
Umaroth: "This may be a blessing, some young ones perished without getting the chance to lay their first clutch of eggs, they are losing the will to live, maybe you can help them regain it."
He introduced us to three Eldunari, Miramar, Ophelia, and Lenora. A brown, light blue, and pale green. We explained how our mindscape works to the Eldunari and invited them in to look for themselves.
/\
I entered my mindscape and created a big field, stretching out for miles. I pulled my wives in, leaving Luna out to guide the three Eldunari inside.
Starting with the brown one, I enveloped the Eldunari with my magic, inviting the dragon in. Hesitating she responded to my call and allowed herself to be pulled in. She appeared on the field as a magnificent brown dragon, almost three times bigger than my wives. Curious she looked around until she realized she was in dragon form. With an almighty roar, she took to the sky.
Meanwhile, I pulled Lenora in, she heard Miramar roaring in the sky, looked at herself, and joined her companion in the sky too. Last was Ophelia, she heard her sisters in the sky, looked at me, and asked me: §How?§ I merely smiled, while I pulled Luna in.
§Magic, Miss Ophelia. You are now in my mindscape. This is a world I created to mislead anyone that would invade my mind. I learned to pull my wives in here, and we discovered several uses for it. Time flows faster in here than outside, so first enjoy a flight with your sisters.§ She took off and joined the others.
"We let them enjoy themselves for a while. I have been thinking, I feel we should stick to using our kind of magic. Using the Grays language will give the mad king power and control over us. If we use magic he does not recognize, will give us the edge we need. Remember that he has, or will have the true name of the language, so he has control over the magic from it as well.
Now that we are discussing this, are we speaking English here? Or does transporting us here, enabled us to speak and understand the local language? The odds of ending up in an English-speaking universe are even more insanely high than the odds of an alternative universe."
Fleur: "My guess is that those grays adjusted our brains to recognize this language as English, I have the same translation issues as with English at home. So focus on the current problems."
Luna: "Wards, runes, enchants and potions are our best options then."
Fauna: "From the memories of the books he will deceive the elves next year by hiding his plans from them. Maybe he already has."
Flora: "Then the shade already has the Urgals under his control."
Padma: "The twins at the dwarves are turned into traitors too, remember Brom's friend in Theirm started losing his ships to piracy because of their betrayal."
Parvati: "Don't forget the Ra'zac, those nasty creatures are immune to magic, and those crazy worshipers at that Helgrind need to be dealt with too. We need physical protection from them, like armor."
"We will have to plan, set our actions in a sequence. It depends on what season Carvahall is in. we can't arrive in the middle of winter when all passes are snowed in. Are we going to call those three down or go up? Are we going to keep our animagus a secret for now, or tell them all?"
Daphne: "We can tell them we can take the dragon shape in here by having them inside your mindscape. Harry, can we get as big as they are in here?"
"Try it, I'll help, one by one, please. Daphne first, she is blue like Ophelia." Daphne changed, her color blue was deeper than the ocean., I doubled her size, more would be too difficult, She took off, and joined the Eldunari in their flight. The Eldunari noticed the girls changing into dragons and came closer to observe.
Ophelia: §How are you doing this? It should not be possible.§
Daphne: §You are in the mindscape of our husband. Here he can make everything real.§ One by one the girls changed and joined the flock. The last one was me, I managed to almost reach the Eldunari's size. Lenora had her eyes fixed on me, her instinct was taking over. She roared and tried to move to me. The wives blocked her and tried to reason with her. Miramar and Ophelia joined in to calm Lenora.
Miramar: §Lenora, this is not real. He is not a real dragon, even when you mate with him, it doesn't end with you laying eggs.§
Lenora: §I will at least have got a mating flight. I never had one, all the other dragons were over a thousand years old and didn't want me.§
Tracey: §Lenora, you never had a mate? Never a mating flight?§
Lenora: §My rider was a grandson of our master. Our master had secluded himself in solitude, we were tasked to serve him for two hundred years. The only dragons visiting us were old ones. I gave my rider my Eldunari, so I could visit the world, to look for the wild dragons.
Those males didn't want a tamed, domesticated mate, shared with an elf or human. Wild male dragons don't share their mates.
Then the traitor happened, he started to kill all solitary riders, my rider was visiting his family in Ellesmera, while I kept our master's company. He killed us, and my chance to ever have a mate.§
Miramar: §I had two mating flights, but we do not get eggs fast, it sometimes takes years to get them. It is a natural solution to prevent overpopulation. The longer a species live, the harder it is to get children. If we could have a clutch of eggs each year, we would die out from lack of food.§
Ophelia: §Same here, I had some mating flights but ended up with nothing. This is also the main reason the wild males don't want us. They expect us to stay with them for years until we lay their offspring. Although I would not mind another mating flight, your male is a good-looking dragon.§
Lenora: §Now we are nothing more than glowing rocks with bad memories. I thank you to let me feel alive again, feel the wind under my wings, even if it is for a few moments. I want to leave now.§
Ginny: §Stay please, we will work something out. Harry, we could get an animagus dragon shape, can they get an animagus human shape? Can you change them into humans here? And then maybe outside too?§
Ophelia: §What is an animagus?§
Pansy: §This is our animal shape, some wizards and witches can take the shape of an animal. Most animals reflect the character of their human. A magical animagus is extremely rare. Our husband has the dragon as an animal shape, we as his wives had the opportunity to have it too. We did a ritual, so our children will have a dragon shape too.§
Belladonna: §Maybe we can adjust the ritual so that the Eldunari can take a human shape too.§
Luna: §But first, our husband has to help our sister out. My love, shadow clones please, and give our sisters something to live for.§
Tracey: §I agree, and master, you are looking yummy.§ Several girls were calling yummy in agreement. Curious the three saw me land, transform back into a human, then split into sixteen shadow clones, who turned back to big dragons. The girls spread out with their personal hubby and began a mating orgy.
Ophelia: §Is this real? Are you real? Or is this just a dream?§
§I often wonder myself, now, we don't have to do this, we can just as well talk or do a tour around the mindscape.§ Lenora and another clone passed us by in a mating frenzy, soaring high up into the sky.
Ophelia: §No, I won't let this opportunity pass me by, Harry from another world, I want to feel the mating again, losing myself in emotions and lust.§
Soon all sixteen couples were roaring, fucking the dragon way, high up in the sky. Lenora couldn't get enough of it. Luna nudged her Harry to help out, so now Lenora was tag teamed by two dragons, slowly sating her. She was making up for several centuries of loneliness.
/\
Several hours later everyone was back on the ground. After changing back to humans we took a seat on couches, the three dragons curled up on the ground in front of us, humming happy, satisfied.
Fleur: "Now the only thing left to do is the elf language, do we exchange it in dragon form or do we change them into humans?"
Ophelia: §How is that going to work?§
"That is a good question… Let's try something, imagine your rider, if he is a male, imagine his mother, sister, or daughter. Picture her completely in your mind, focus only on her, and pump some magic into it. I will try and guide the change. Ophelia first."
Ophelia was the more talkative of the three, and the most intelligent one. I covered her with my magic, feeling for some change. After a half-hour, I sensed her magic coming out. Slowly I guided her to change into an elf female, with silver blond hair and pale blue eyes. Stark-naked, but I am not complaining at all.
Daphne: "Feel your body with your magic, get to know it, imprint it on your magic so it will be easier to call it back." Next was Miramar, encouraged by Ophelia's success, who did it in less than a half-hour, a human female with brown hair and eyes. The girls conjured summer dresses to cover them up. Totally unnecessary in my opinion, they were looking fine without them.
Lenora was a stunning elf with black hair and green eyes. She looked at her body, then at me, and jumped me, covering me with kisses.
Lenora: "Thank you all for this experience, I was losing my mind, and this helped a lot." she left me and embraced Luna, kissing her too.
Lenora: "Especially you dear miss Luna, willing to share your husband with me is beyond words, thank you."
"We are benefiting from this experience to miss Lenora. We learned that our dragon shape is exactly the same as yours and that the change into a humanoid shape is possible for Eldunari. Miramar, can you try for an elf female? Humans only live for about sixty to a hundred years, while elves have a dragon-like lifespan. Now focus on your dragon shape and change back. Once you are a dragon, you can try to go back into an elf. Practice the change, over and over."
Miramar was a dark-haired elf with brown eyes after a few tries. The three were getting better and better, the only difference with us was their clothes didn't change with them and got ripped apart. The girls stopped putting dresses on them after a while, granting me some eye candy. The dragons, after hours of practice, could change in less than a minute, from girl to dragon in ten seconds. I called for a break.
While the three dragons were practicing, we were developing a ritual, but still, we were missing some parts. As in how many days there are in a year, or the lunar cycle if there was a moon.
We explained how we collect the knowledge into a compartment of my mindscape, I combined it into one, each filling some gaps from the others, so we have the best possible knowledge of the topic.
Belladonna: "It works best if you have your own mindscape, Harry can help you create one when we get out of here."
Fleur: "I think the Elf language and the common language can be learned without them having a mindscape. Try it Mon amour."
I started with Ophelia, telling her to concentrate on the elf language, so I could collect. The inflow was big, Ophelia was the oldest of the three, almost four hundred years, while Lenora was the youngest at two-fifty. Miramar was three hundred fifteen. Ophelia and Lenora were best at the elf language, Miramar with common, I had to filter a lot of dragon habits, but saved the elves' customs. I combined and gave my wives the package.
Fauna: "We better leave, so Harry can help with their mindscape. We can always come back." one by one we left our mindscape, the dragons too, reluctantly. Ophelia hugged me, gave me a kiss, and left.
Daphne: "Best that you start with the mindscape love."
"Alright, Ophelia, I will do the opposite than before, I cover you with my magic, try to feel me, and guide me inside your mind. Don't be afraid, we shared our minds already, you know me to the core, as I know you." It took a while for Ophelia to drop her barriers, but I got in.
§Good, Ophelia, imagine you are in your favorite place, in summer, daytime. No? We start slow then. Imagine it is light, so we can see each other. I will help… Now, this is better. Next is someplace to stand on, try a field of grass or sand. Every day you have to meditate on this field, each time adding some details. Now it is a desert, ad some bushes, a small oasis, some trees for shade, and so on. We both are in dragon shape, so we are going to fly a bit, keeping the field in our focus.§ We flew for a few minutes and landed back on the field. I changed into my human shape.
"Ophelia, now we try your elf shape, concentrate, it should be almost the same feeling as in my mindscape. Good, I almost did nothing to help the change. Like before, change back and forth, until it feels natural. Stay in your mindscape for a couple of hours, try moving in elf shape, ad details to your mindscape, and fly a bit. I leave to help the others." After another hug and kiss, I left. The same procedure was done for Miramar. Lenora? She was acting like a cat in heat, only stopping after I gave her some magic happy endings in her elf shape. She got it in the end. We left them to their practice.
/\
Dobby and Winky, who both insisted to come along, had lunch ready. We went over what we gained and learned from it.
Pansy: "The elf language is complicated, to learn it more, we would have to get the old ones in your mindscape Harry, but I think that would be bad."
"I agree, the minds of the dragons are completely different from ours. We should be glad our animagus is a dragon, our minds would not be able to process it all."
Tracey: "Our mating flight was not much different than theirs. Lenora was a horny one, we should show them how we make love wizard style."
Milli: "Miramar had a human rider, do you think she would share memories from the lands she visited? That would be better than maps. Ophelia and Lenora could do the maps of Du Weldenvarden."
Fleur: "That is a good idea, the villages could be changed, but the lands stay the same. Although the books said the younger ones were more sheltered, the older ones took the far-away missions. Knowledge of how to get to the dwarves is needed too."
"Umaroth? Can you tell us what season it is in Carvahall? And please do not contact Ophelia, Miramar, and Lenora, they are meditating on our magic techniques. How many days in a year? Is there a moon orbiting this planet? How big is this planet?"
Umaroth: "It is springtime in Carvahall. A year counts three hundred eighty-four days. The elves can tell you the circumference of the world. Dragons were never much interested in those matters, also our measuring standards are probably different from yours. There is only one moon orbiting this planet. It moved in cycles of thirty-two days, twelve cycles in a year."
Katie: "Great, now we only have to time how long a day is, visit the elves for the circumference, and we can calculate the ritual. Umaroth, is there a spring equinox? Or is it already passed?"
Umaroth: "It is in a fortnight, I must say the travel time to Du Weldenvarden is longer than a fortnight."
"How fast can dragons fly? The speed of sound? We have mechanic devices with us that approach that speed."
Umaroth: "Without a rider, we can reach a quarter of that speed, maybe a bit more, with a rider it will be one-fifth of the speed of sound. You have a device that can go that fast?"
Katie: "With the modifications we made to it, it will be close to that."
"We have to learn to fly the bloody thing, Katie."
Padma: "That is easy love, study it, and create a copy in your mindscape. You are a natural aviator, so you only need to learn the controls."
Parvati: "That is a good idea, I want to try that spitfire thingy too. It got at least a decent seat and you sit inside instead of messing your hairdo up in the wind. Those bloody brooms and carpets are sucking big time."
Flora: "We spend a lot of time enchanting it, and warding the whole thing. It will be a fast, silent killing machine, with unlimited ammo and fuel. According to Hermione, nineteen are the newest models, only one was used in the war for five years."
Fauna: "We searched long for the right runes, but all noisy things on the spitfire are silenced and cooled, the engine, propeller, and guns. We also added notice me not spells to the plane. The cockpit is heated, when you go over ten thousand feet extra air is provided with a modified bubblehead charm. According to Hermione, the thing needs air to work too, along with fuel, so she made sure the engine gets a steady inflow of both.
She even made it so that when it is going to crash, the seat ejects from it. At first, I was horrified by the thought of shooting out into the air, but then, we can change and survive."
"Alright, I am going to study the airplanes, you girls can create some scenario's that we can go over, to do this as fast as we can. We need to have this done before the babies arrive."
/\
I went to the hangar where the planes are and selected one. Curious if I could analyze it with my magic, I enveloped the plane with magic, the engine was complicated, so was the steering system. In the cockpit, I tried to absorb as many details as I could. Three hours later I decided to a tryout in my mindscape. The outer shape was easy, the mechanical parts of the wings and tail were ok after a few tries.
The engine was a bitch to copy. I got it right at dinner time. At the table, I told the girls I was ready for a test flight.
"Is there something as a flight manual in here? Or was grandfather planning to teach me himself?"
Padma: "No, I searched for one, there are only some books describing the parts of the engine and weapons."
"Anyway, once I am in the air in my mindscape, I remove the ground, so there is no chance for crashing."
Pansy: "We have some scenarios we could discuss, but we better wait after you are done flying around in that metal box of yours."
Daphne: "First, my love, how certain are you that Eragon is destined for this egg? He carried that egg around for weeks before it hatched, I doubt other children got that chance when they were tested."
"Can you answer that Umaroth? How long do the children have time with the egg before they are rejected?"
Umaroth: "Each child has two minutes with the egg, the person guarding the egg will notice the magic connection between the two. When the connection is made, it will take a few weeks before it hatches. The child has to be present and alone when the dragon comes out of the egg. If the egg is taken by someone else during those weeks, it will refuse to hatch and die."
Tracey: "If the egg is with us, where is Aria? In the story we got, she was the guardian of the egg."
Umaroth: "She is the ambassador for the elves at the dwarves' kingdom."
Ginny: "There are big differences between the story and reality, how far can we trust the information?"
"The fact that the egg was in my vault changed a lot, we know there is a shade controlling the Urgals, the Ra'zac are in the Helgrind and have some eggs stashed away in the church of Dras Leonas.
Morzan's son, Murtagh, can come to our side. The twins at the dwarves are traitors, I think the Urgals will start to move in early spring next year. If we can create portkeys to different places, it will reduce travel time. Talk it over, we start planning when we go to sleep."
/\
I made myself comfortable on a couch and entered my mindscape for my flying lesson. The ability to adapt the mindscape at will is a major cheat. In front of me was a big stretch of runway, with a single spitfire on it, ready to go. I checked it for the last time before boarding it, unbreakable runes on the hull, lightweight and silencing runes all over the plane, meh, fuck it, we just get in and see how hard it is to fly that thing.
Strapped in my seat, I started the engine, with the lightweight I did not even have to go full throttle to take off. I released the brakes and went up, once in the air I removed the earth below, I left just an artificial horizon to focus on. The first hour was madness, I tolled around like I was in a washing machine. I was spinning, hanging upside down, I was even for a moment flying sideways.
Slowly I got the hang of it, maneuvering, flying straight, then stunt flying, without something to crash on, I could go all out, doing the craziest moves. After four hours in my mindscape, I tried landing.
I projected the landing strip back, put the plane down… and crashed. I bloody forgot to release my landing gear and did a belly flop. The next hour was spent taking off, and landing down, after a half-hour, the wheels stayed whole. When we get back to earth, Hermione will get a big thank you for the inertial dampers in the cockpit.
/\
At night, in my mindscape, we started discussing several options. After hours we agreed on a plan.
Parvati: "Now we have that settled, show us how to fly that thingy husband." After a half-hour of explanations, a demonstration, and Parvati took off, while we were in dragon form at a safe distance. Once in the air, I vanished to the ground, so she had the room to go crazy. Parvati had a good time, there were only minor crashes when she practiced landing. Ginny and Katie wanted to try it too, to compare it with a broom. Soon both were doing stunts in the air, having a blast.
Daphne: "We better call it a day, we leave tomorrow and we need our sleep."
Luna: "Don't forget our needs hubby. It is our last night in a safe spot." Well… the needs were good and well sated. Dragon mating can be fun, but the human way is ten times better.
/\
In the morning we explained our plan.
Fleur: "We fly to Carvahall, create a base in the mountains close by, to have a safe haven to portkey to.
We create a room that has a parseltongue password to enter and exit. Someone porting in without us is locked in, the room will send a warning to us."
Milli: "We get Eragon and Brom, and fly to Ellesmera. From there we split up, half will go to the dwarves, Harry and the other half will fly to Theirm and help Jeod guard his ships while he packs up and retreats to Surda. Angela and the werecat need a visit too."
"It all depends on the response of the elves and Brom. We take Ophelia, Miramar, and Lenora with us in our manor trunk if they are willing. If we get on time in Ellesmera for the ritual, we can try it out."
Daphne: "Everyone has an emergency trunk, with food for a year, two brooms, tents, and camping gear for a dozen people, and some weapons from the manor. I must say those weapons are extremely deadly, now that they are enchanted and covered with runes."
Padma: "First we have some tests to do. Dobby, can you and Winky come into the dragon cave with us please?"
Dobby: "Yes, mistress Paddy." Snickering all the way into the cave, we got to the eggs.
Fauna: "Umaroth, we are going to try and steal the big black egg on the top shelf without you noticing, can you focus on the egg, and try to detect us taking the egg?" Padma and Parvati already explained to Winky and Dobby what they have to try. Dobby and Winky turned invisible and entered the cave, unnoticed by the Eldunari. A few pops later they came back into the manor with the black egg.
With the egg in our arms, we went back into the cave where the Eldunari were still staring at a copy of the egg.
Flora: "Umaroth, did you detect it?" Flashes between the Eldunari proved the surprise that we could take it away without detection.
Umaroth: "Impossible! All of us were monitoring the egg… You are going to steal the two other eggs?"
Pansy: "Eventually yes, it will make him mad though."
Umaroth: "Go with our blessings, young ones Lenora, Miramar, and Ophelia agreed to go with you. Once you leave this place, the knowledge of this place will be locked out in your minds."
The last thing they taught us was a spell to shield against radiation.
/\
We walked outside the cave, took a look at the scenery, searching for a strip to launch our spitfire. After clearing a path we took a plane out, while the girls placed monitoring spells on the cockpit, to allow them to view the flight inside the manor. With a two-way mirror to talk to each other, so the trip won't be so boring, and we were ready. Everyone entered the manor trunk, I shrunk it and hung it on my neck.
To avoid detection, I started the engine and took off at full throttle, as steep as possible. At twenty thousand feet I leveled the plane. The modified bubblehead charm, along with the heated cabin made the trip comfortable. I set course to Carvahall, four hours later at top speed I reached the shore. I studied the tops of the mountains, looking for familiar points. The memories of the three dragons came in handy, they used to do the trip on a regular basis.
Soon I found the right course to the mountain closest to Carvahall. While avoiding being seen by the village, I searched for a landing spot. The girls pointed me to a meadow close by, where I landed the plane.
We put the spitfire back in the hangar, amazed that it was after a six-hour flight still in top condition.
Fleur: "We have to fly halfway up on the mountain, on the border of the tree line, maybe there is already a cave we can expand."
Daphne: "Harry will fly, he has natural camouflage colors, we have to draw a straw to see who can ride him."
Luna: "Or… Daphne flies, There is a blue egg missing, not a green one. So if she is spotted, is better than an additional green dragon, that appears from thin air. Harry, do you want to ride Daphne?" I swallowed.
"I want to ride on everyone, strange, we didn't practice that, do we have a blanket or some leather? It seems the scales can chafe the skin of the body, and I like my skin down there." Daphne changed to her blue dragon, Winky brought a strap of leather, with some ropes and in a minute made a saddle. A sticking charm kept me in the saddle, ready to start, I put the manor back on my neck. A warming charm kept the worse cold away when Daphne flew just above the treetops to the mountain, searching for some caves.
We explored several caves before we found a good one. It was almost in sight of the town, with a small entrance, getting wider inside. I ate a late lunch when the girls started to ward the cave, started to clean and modify the place. A tunnel led to the side of the town, we dug the tunnel further to the outside and created a spy window with a good view of the town.
/\
Belladonna: "Who will go to town? We can't all go, it will be hard to explain, thirteen girls with one man visiting a town in the middle of nowhere."
Milli: "Three or four is a maximum, our age is too close to posing as sisters. Two sisters and a niece with a fiancee? What do we have for transport? We should have brought some horses, unicorns will stand out too much."
Flora: "We are on a journey to search for uncle Brom, to introduce our fiancee, does this world have consorts and concubines?"
Fauna: "Unofficial ones. Maybe a coven? We can up the numbers to seven, a magic number."
"That can be our cover for Brom and Eragon, for the town we have to be unnoticed. We can split, claiming to be the family of Eragon's father, three can go to his home, four of us will search for Brom. The rest can enchant some jewelry that hides our presence and magic. Do we have bracelets that we can turn into a permanent portkey to a room in here?" We left the manor trunk in the cave, Tracey, with Pansy, and Katie could pose as a family to search for Eragon. I went with Daphne, Flora, and Fauna to look for Brom. All prepared we took our brooms and flew down the mountain, already spotted the secluded farm, flying low, we came to the road to town. We dressed in mid-class clothes, we made according to Miramar's memories, with backpacks we could fool the natives. Still, it was an hour's walk to town.
/\
In town, we asked for directions to Brom's house, or where we could find Brom himself. A few knocks on the door triggered some alarms, so we waited patiently for him to arrive. A grumpy old man showed up, estimating our treat to him.
Brom: "Four youngsters, a bit overdressed for this town, looking for me. Who are you?"
Daphne: "Better invite us inside master Brom, this tale needs no extra ears, it is about a son and an egg." Brom paled at the comment, looked around, and opened the door.
Brom: "Come inside then, you better not try anything inside, it would not end well for you." Inside we sat around a table, Brom made some tea, while Flora took some snacks from her backpack. I motioned to Daphne to take the lead. Old men tend to listen better to pretty girls, than to boys.
Daphne: "First to start, the Varden needs you back. There are traitors in high places, your friend in Theirm is feeling the consequences already. His ships and the ships from everyone who supplies the Varden are targeted. The traitors are magic users. So the location of the dwarves is known to the mad king." Brom was surprised at that statement. Dropping that info without sugarcoating it was harsh.
Daphne: "The mad king stole three eggs from the dragon riders, a green, red, and a blue one. The blue egg, a female, got lost along the way as you know. That egg is in our possession now, we came to collect you and her rider, to bring you both to Ellesmera."
Brom: "She has already a rider? Is she hatched?"
Flora: "Not yet, my sister-wives are collecting him as we speak. Although I doubt he will come along."
Brom: "Who is going to be the rider? You seem to know a lot about the Varden and Ellesmera."
Daphne: "I doubt you will believe us, we save that explanation when we arrive in Ellesmera. The rider is one you know well, it is your son." If it was me telling that, I would have a sword at my neck already, Daphne can get away with everything.
Brom: "Now, be careful with your next answer, who are you? And how do you know all this?" Daphne looked at me to take over.
"Brom, rider of the dragon Saphira. Father of Eragon, founder of the Varden. We are tasked to aid in your cause. We will depart for Ellesmera tomorrow morning with or without you, we will take Eragon with us, so he can be the next rider. We mean you no harm. After Ellesmera half of our group will depart to the Beor mountains, the other half to Theirm aiding Jeod. We will explain at Ellesmera."
Fauna: "Trust us, Rider Brom, we mean you no harm. You know by staying here you endanger this town. The traitors are bound to find out where you are. We have to be in Ellesmera before the spring equinox for a ritual." Suspiciously Brom looked us over, something didn't add up.
Brom: "Even if you have dragons, you can't make it on time. You have to come up with a better explanation."
Daphne: "We have our ways, please trust us. Once there, we let Oromis and Glaedr be our judge. And yes, we know about them. If you want, you can see the egg for yourself."
Brom: "You have the egg here? Show me!"
"We have the egg in a secure place, we can bring you there. If you don't trust us, you can arm yourself." Brom raised his eyebrows with that offer, he made his mind up, went to a corner of the room, strapped a sword and a couple of daggers on his belt. He put his coat back on and went to the door.
Brom: "Let's go then." I stopped him at the door, laid my hand on his arm, and activated my portkey. A portkey ride is always fun for the first time.
/\
We arrived in the port room, I guided him out, telling him that the others will arrive too. Luna was already waiting at the door with Fleur.
Fleur: "Merde, this is the last time I make a bet with you Luna. Harry, let us go to the mansion, I bet… no, I am sure master Brom has a lot of questions." Brom was getting his wits back online.
Brom: "What in dragons name was that? Where are we? That feeling was awful. How did we get here?"
Fleur: "Magic, master Brom. Follow us and we can explain some." At the manor trunk, Brom was slack-jawed. Looking inside to an enormous place, while on the outside it looked like a big box with doors.
Fleur: "As I said, Magic. Follow us please." We went inside the manor to the room with the egg and Eldunari.
"I don't know if you remember them, but can I introduce to you Ophelia, Miramar, and Lenora. Girls, do you remember Brom?" Brom, getting one shock after another sat down on a chair.
Brom: "Three Eldunari out of that madman's reach? Sane?"
Ophelia: "Brom, I remember Saphira well, we often talked among us young ones. Trust these girls and boy. They are our only hope for the future. As you can see, they have the egg, it is destined to hatch for your son."
Lenora: "Brom, Saphira, and I were the same age, I remember you well. Trust in us and them. Go home, pack your things, and say your goodbyes. Tell them you take Eragon on a trip to apprentice him to someone, as a favor you owed to his mother."
Miramar: "That is the story the girls are telling to his uncle and nephew, they leave some gifts for them to get by. Tomorrow you will go to his house to get him, then we will leave."
"Brom, take this bracelet, it will take you back to your house. The girls and I will stay in the tavern."
Back at Brom, Daphne, Flora, and Fauna were drinking tea and having a chat when we arrived.
Daphne: "Welcome back master Brom, can you take us to the tavern, and give us some local currency, our gold, and silver coins are too different. You can tell them we are your great-nieces to bring you back to Theirm, and you take Eragon with you. You can rent this place out as a cover." The tavern had four rooms for guests, to keep appearances up we rented three rooms for the seven of us. At dinner Tracey, Pansy and Katie walked in. They saw us sitting at a table and joined us. The innkeeper, warned by us they would be joining brought dinner.
Tracey: "Eragon is packing his stuff, we gave that specialized hammer to Roran, and the knife set with the axes for Garrow." I smiled at her and nodded.
Pansy: "So we sleep here tonight? Indoor plumbing?" Smiling I pointed out that the outhouse is at the back of the inn. She groaned, mumbling that she should have changed places with Parvati. Some curious children from the town came closer to meet the strangers. Even when the girls were dressed down, they still stood out. Six very beautiful girls and a moderately handsome boy attracted attention. A small girl of seven or eight years began to ask questions, soon the girls were telling fantasy stories. The tavern was slowly filling up, not every day strangers came and visited Carvahall. Listening to us telling stories to the kids, they were told by Morn the innkeeper, that we were relatives of Brom. Having grand uncle Brom as a storyteller was a good cover. Most of my stories were about smart girls coming to rescue their fiancee from their angry brothers, who saw me stealing a kiss.
Or the girls saved the town from Urgals with their bows and arrows
A girl was listening to that fitted the look of Katrina.
At night, the girls all came into my bed. Pansy grumbling about a stupid outhouse, told us she conjured a chamber pot and toilet paper and vanished all when she finished. Some silencing charms later, we had some happy times. Tomorrow we leave for Ellesmera.
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