Chương 137: Chapter 134: A Horned Serpent
Dora was flying freely over a dense forest. She didn't know how long she kept flying, but when she eventually got down to the ground, she landed near a beautiful creek filled with blue water.
"Wow."
She was enjoying the view when suddenly, she heard musical notes echoing all around the area.
"!!!"
Then, something big came out of the water!
...Before she could see just what it was, she heard a sharp tapping of a cane from somewhere...
and she woke up.
Someone was sharply tapping her door with a staff. It was, of course, Mad-eye. The old man wouldn't let her sleep in peace even for one day.
Dora slowly and very unwillingly got out of her bed and started dressing up.
"Stop it already. You know I'm awake," she yelled to the door. "Constant annoyance," she muttered to herself in a low voice.
"I heard that! Five more kilometers run for you now, kid," came a gruff voice.
Dora groaned. "Oh, let me off, old man. I couldn't even sleep much."
But Moody was unrelenting, "It's your fault for talking to that brat for more than half the night. I already told you just ignore these kinds of things for a few years if you want your sleep," he said simply.
Dora sighed. That was impossible, wasn't it? It's already bad that she can't see Chris. The day she doesn't talk to him feels empty.
Dora had more than once just wanted to straight-up quit all this and go to Chris. But that would be a really stupid choice.
First of all, being an Auror had been her dream since her childhood. And when she was often seen as a cheap hoe or thot in Hogwarts, she always took solace in the fact that she'll one day become a very powerful and respectable Auror while they will all be a bunch of nobodies. (She also wanted to be a duelist, but the corrupt ministry only gives chances to Purebloods or rich and old families hiers.)
So, if she now gives up her dreams and becomes just a nobody herself, how will she ever face those people?
The other reason was, what would she even achieve living in Britain? Chris lives in Hogwarts anyway so she'll rarely get to meet him. And as for her family, well she was already used to staying away from them.
Thus, Dora grits her every day and works hard. Because she has seen how talented Chris truly is. And she doesn't want to be left behind by him.
While she was lost in thought, she had already gotten ready in her favorite traveling attire. It was something that had come with the bag Chris had given her. In clothing, he'd put in a pair of t-shirts, one saying 'HATERS GONNA HATE' and other saying 'MAY THE 4th BE WITH YOU', both enchanted with Merlin knows how many spells.
A pullover with kept her at the right temperature in any weather, a pair of trousers which fit just right, even when she sometimes habitually increased her height when she felt like it, a pair of boots which definitely had the best cushioning charms inside and the exterior is light, flexible and durable. And a color-changing cloak to top it all off.
Dora didn't know when he even had the time to get this all made and how much money he'd spent on it, but she gets moved to tears every time just thinking about the amount of care and thoughtfulness he'd put in to get each and every single piece into something she'll absolutely love.
Actually, even though it might seem too much to Dora, she didn't know that it wasn't all that much for Chris. This was just how Chris was to family and friends as well. He always tries to give his all in his relationships with all the ones he cares about. He just went a little extra in Dora's case since he likes her, but the ones receiving his gifts are absolutely moved by his thoughtfulness.
Dora once again lovingly caressed her outfit before she came out of the door with her wand in hand — which was the right choice since a spell headed straight towards one of her lower left leg where it was the most difficult to cast the shield!
But Dora didn't use her wand to defend that one. She simply blocked it by the door. She instead used her wand to defend herself from the spell that was cast to hit her when she was distracted by the first spell.
She didn't stop here. And fired a bright light right into Moody's face which caused his one eye to go useless.
She was about to go more on the offensive when Moody called it off.
"Alright, that's it for now. Do the usual exercise and eat something. You're going to the forest today."
Dora grumbled but still stopped. Her today's mission is to bring in the Bat-thorn flower which can only be found in a few kilometers into the forest.
(While Moody once again confirmed in his mind that this girl is going to be the absolute nightmare of criminals, though he'd die before he'd say that out loud.)
"Do the routine and get some food. I'm going to come in a few hours before I take you to the forest."
Her training routine was two hours long! And too boring. Dora was already feeling tired as she came out of the door of the cottage they had rented for a days. It was right by the forest they were supposed to be exploring today.
They were somewhere in the Northern parts of America, and this forest is one of the old and deepest magical forests here. It's said that no one has been able to explore the totality of it and it is actually larger than it looks due to some mysterious Extension magic.
This only made the forest more interesting to Dora.
"Definitely much more interesting than my exercise routine," she muttered. Dora suddenly had a thought. Why not just have a look around while Moody's gone? It's not as if she's going to encounter an XXXXX creature or something.
Besides, she'd even explored the depths of the magical Amazon hidden from the muggle world. What special could this forest bring?
Dora decided to give it ago.
Before leaving, Dora once again looked through the notes which she'd obtained about this forest through her research.
"Let's see...the Bat-thorn is supposed to be here in this region." She mumbled pointing to one point of the map "—and I'll have to be careful not to step on any Murtlaps, might even encounter a Waterwinder or two, but there's no need to worry."
"Hmm?! There's even rumored sightings of a Snallygaster?! That's XXXX! Though it's much deeper than where I'm going, so I shouldn't encounter it. Besides, they're easily manageable as long as I disillusion myself. They're not like Dragons, who can even sense you under invisibility."
[-Bat-thorn: A Flower which is the bane of Vampires, similar to Wolvesbane for werewolves.
-Murtlaps: (XXX) Found in both fresh and salt water, the structure is complicated to explain, so just remember that you don't wanna step on them.
-Waterwinder: (XXX) Most common magical snakes which live in water regions. Their cousins are Ashwinder (Hot regions), and Icewinder (Cold regions)
-Snallygaster: (XXXX) They look similar to dragons. But they're part-bird, part-dragon. Can't breathe fire but bulletproof hide. Very curious in nature.]
"So, this is about it," she muttered as she closed the notes and map.
There was some mention of legends of Isolt Sayre, the founder of Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft, and Wizardry finding some special place as well, but those were never confirmed. It was just her personal research due to her curiosity.
"Oh, something's missing." She spread her hands apart and soon, her cloak took a forest green color and her hair also turned green. Three green stripes appeared on either side of her cheeks, looking cute on her.
"Now I'm ready!"
Done with the preparations, Dora took out her broom, which she'd won from Chris in their bet, and flew directly towards the forest which wasn't far away from the cottage. Before reaching the forest, she flew over a small market of sorts where the natives sold herbs and games they acquired from the beginning parts of the forest and some other local specialties like crafts and ornaments.
"After coming back, I'll see if I can get a souvenir from here too," Dora murmured She's been collecting small things for her family and Chris from every place she's visited.
'But I need to hurry now.'
Thinking so, she accelerated.
She was flying above the forest, but as she went in deeper, the size of the trees noticeably increased.
These trees were obviously much older and had also absorbed the magic of the forest since the density increases as you proceed towards the center since the magic density increases.
She passed by many beautiful sceneries on her way. There were many clearings, and many water bodies. After all, this was home today of the many varieties of water creatures.
"Hmm?"
But for some reason, the scenery looked extremely familiar to her. All of this felt like a Deja Vu to her, like it had already happened.
Usually, people would give up after not being able to remember anything, but Dora had excellent memory due to her mastery of occlumency. Dora delved into her memories to search it.
"A dream?" Dora usually can't remember her dreams which she's forgotten, but somehow, this one was etched clearly into her memories.
"How is this possible?!
She could see that the scenery below somehow matched with the one in her dream!
This only had her curiosity, but now this has her attention. Detective Dora decided to investigate.
She quickly increased her speed and disillusioned herself since she was reaching the middle parts, where the danger start.
Dora didn't forget to cast the spell to erase her smell as well.
"This should take care of the Snallygaster." She muttered. If the Snallygaster was the only dangerous creature reported, this should be enough to prevent it and any other creature from detecting her.
Dora had soon bypassed the area where she was supposed to find the Bat-thorn flower. But she gritted her teeth and increased her speed further.
Dora kept flying at eye-watering speed in the direction she remembered flying in the dream. After about 30 minutes of non-stop flying, Dora didn't realize it, but she had entered a warded area whose wards had let her bypass them freely.
And then, she finally reached it!
A clearing between two hills, just like her dream. A wide creek, with water that looked blue.
"This is it," she murmured. As she flew around the creek.
"🎶🎶🎵🎼"
But before she could do much, she heard musical notes eerily similar to her dream echoing throughout the area.
Dora froze and her eyes stopped at the creek, remembering what was going to happen next.
And sure enough, the surface of the creek rose up, and Dora was finally able to see just what it was!
Beautiful black scales, sharp fangs, then came its forehead, and Dora saw a shinning blue jewel glittering there, and as soon as it got out, the surrounding blue color of the water intensified. Then came the eyes which were as blue as the gem on its forehead. Behind its head were white horns. Dora was dimly aware of the fact that she should probably be fleeing as fast as she can right now, but she was really unwilling.
Of course, she knew what this creature was. She'd researched all about snakes. After all, snakes and rabbits were her favorite animals.
This was a Horned Serpent. An XXXXX category snake! Its rarity only surpassed by the Basilisk's! Both of them have only ever been mentioned in legends.
And somehow, a real Horned Serpent was right in front of her eyes! And... for some reason even after being invisible and odorless, its eyes were trained directly on her!
***
A.N.: Here it is! Tell me your opinions what do you want to see and also guess what happens next!
Also, spare some POWERSTONES for this pitiful author who's wraking his brains daily to make the story more and more interesting.
For reading ahead, go to
Pat reon.com/Snollygoster
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