Chapter 2 - Stupefied

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The Shadow Forest was quite beautiful and mysterious, though a bit too dark for Cedric's tastes or his nerves. The canopy of trees they were walking under let in little to no light and wasn't very high. (He was very glad that he wasn't claustrophobic.) The only light that they had was from the floating, paper lanterns that some of the locals were holding, the occasional pixie that would play with the children, and the glowing moss that glowed blue on the trees. (And the moss was all on the same side of all of the trees that they were passing, what was up with that?)

Cedric watched the locals that were walking ahead of them, the children playing and dancing all around them as they were lead to their destination. The children's excited whispers of dancing and training and names of their favorite people to visit while at the "field". The teens, who were gradually speeding up as they got closer, were also gossiping about their favorites and their apprenticeships to some of the, who Cedric assumed to be, masters of the fields that they trained under. The adults just seemed to be humoring the juveniles as well as amused by their actions and the Hogwarts' group's reactions to everything going on around them.

Though he couldn't really blame the locals for finding their reactions amusing. It seemed that their culture and way of life was very different. He had never imagined that he would start to question the way he lived, but the Forest and its people had certainly made him start.

-~-~- Begin Flashback -~-~-

The students and teachers of Hogwarts, plus one Lord Malfoy, gaped profoundly (Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs) or subtly (Slytherins and Ravenclaws, plus Professor McGonagall) as they watched the Mayor and his son direct the movement of little over two dozen men and women (and another three to four dozen children and teens) to move two wagons and connect each to two Gypsy horses per wagon as well as putting the saddle and reins on six riding horses of various breeds. The wagons were about two meters in width, four and a half meters in length, and a bit more than one and a half meters above the ground. The wagons themselves were blue and were lightly filled with hay for sitting on since there were no seats. ((A.N: Look up a Conestoga-Style Farm Wagon if you want a visual.))

The Hogwarts party looked away from where some teens and adults were hooking up the horses when they heard someone clearing their throat. Mayor Bellator was looking at them in amusement with his son at his side, who was looking at them as if he couldn't believe that they had never seen something like this before. It had caused quite a few of them to blush or berate themselves for their lack of awareness.

"Well," the Mayor said in an amused tone, "I believe that it is time to get the adults fitted out and the students loaded in so we can make it before night fall."

Silence was all that met after that statement.

-~-~- End Flashback -~-~-

Cedric chuckled a bit at the memory. Watching the professors and Lord Malfoy get a crash course on how to ride a horse and about the gear in under an hour had been informative and amusing. Especially when the Lord and Slytherin Head were taught by a woman who demonstrated everything and didn't take an shit from either of them. He thought that he saw a his Hufflepuff counterpart swoon over her too.

During the ride to clearing they were now walking to, a lot of other kids and teens had either started to ride up next to the wagons on their own horses, brooms or carpets, or had run up and jumped into the wagon itself. It had been amazing to watch as sometimes they would hop off when they saw someone they knew or to trade/buy something and then jumped back in when they had what they wanted. Sometimes an older teen or adult would run up with a younger child on their backs and either jump in with them or just put them in and continue to run along the side of the wagon. And wasn't that just another amazing thing to think on. They had been riding in the wagons for just about seven hours since about ten o'clock that morning. Seven hours those people were running next to the wagons and now that they had stopped at their destination, those same people (teens a few years younger than him to adults that could be the same age or older than his grandparents) were just barely winded. It was just unbelievable!

His thoughts were cut off by a sudden cheer from the small children around them. Cedric looked up (when had he put his head down?) to see the children and teens start to sprint towards what looked to be a glowing dot in the distance, but as they got closer, the "dot" became more "dots". He watched as the locals started to push their way through the veil of flowered vines, said flowers glowing softly in faint purples, reds, and blues.

The original Hogwarts group had froze just a few feet in front of the veil, frozen by something that none of them could quite name. Mayor Bellator watched them silently, his eyes sparkling in amusement and understanding as he did. He had sent his son, Avem, through with the others, giving him orders to warn their Lord that the delegates from Hogwarts had arrived. Their Lord had wanted to be informed of their arrival so that he didn't get too surprised when meeting them.

Surprisingly, it was one of the Ravenclaw prefects that had stepped forward first, a Ms. Penelope Clearwater if he wasn't mistaken. This seemed to break the rest out of whatever trance that had captured them and they all began to move toward the veil of flora once again. They didn't noticing Mayor Bellator, who was simply watched them approach the doorway, some more cautiously or curiously than others.

Cedric felt like he was passing through a thick sheet of water after he had passed the veil of vines. The archway was practically saturated with magic that was like nothing he had ever felt before. It welcomed him, washed him with warmth that seeped into his very bones, but it was also scanning him, he knew, for any malicious intent. Towards who or what he didn't know, but it was so subtle that he knew that anyone who was ignorant or untrained in the Mind Arts would not had noticed.

After a few seconds of feeling like he was being gentle crushed and then soothed by an invisible force, he seemed to be physically thrown from where ever he had been (because he knew that he had been in some sort of subspace, he just didn't know how he got there) and on to soft, tall grass that acted like a cushion.

He had to shake his head to clear it of the vertigo that came from the... "trip" he just had, as he just lay on the soft grass and listened to the wind and felt the sun on his face...

'Wait.'

Cedric's eyes flew open as he jerked to an upright position, eyes flying upward to see the clear blue sky with birds flying by. He could only stare in disbelief as he stood up, casting glances around him to see where he was. Though, there was one thing that Cedric knew was certain. They were no longer in the British Isles.

He was startled by a sudden chuckle coming from the portal, and turned toward it, knowing that the rest of the Hogwarts group had down the same. Mayor Bellator was standing before it with his son and another old man on either side of him, and watched as he looked on at them with amusement.

"Welcome," he said in a confident and pleased voice, "to the Shadow's Sanctuary."

((Disclaimer is on the prologue, comment if you have something to say, but flamers beware, I have cupcakes.)) 

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⏰ Last updated: Apr 15, 2018 ⏰

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