Harry Potter and the Fantasy Quest

Chapter 4 - Into the Village and Out Again

Much to Harry's relief, he and his companions followed the road down without incident and were soon within sight of the village, nestled within a valley. It looked warm and inviting, and Harry found himself walking more quickly to reach it.

"Hang on," said Fred, making him pause. "Hadn't we better decide what to do with the money we just found? We can't just go around the town paying for things in handfuls of copper coins. Besides, we don't even know how much is there."

Harry turned to Fred, beginning to speak, and stopped short.

"Fred, where did you get those clothes?" he asked. Fred was now dressed in very elegant clothing, like a courtier. "And when did you have time to change?"

"What? Oh, this?" Fred said nonchalantly. "Hat of Disguise, of course. Don't change the subject, though."

George insisted on seeing more of what the hat could do, so Fred shifted his appearance a few more times, even making himself look exactly like a Gringott's goblin. In the end, however, he rested on his elegant clothing and his natural looks again ("Why tinker with perfection?"). George then took out the Portable Hole and emptied all of the coins out of it. It was an impressive pile, and they realized that Fred was right. After a conference, they decided to go into the village, one or two at a time, and exchange the money at a bank or similar place for gold pieces. Ginny emptied her backpack, and each person filled it with copper coins and came back with a much smaller pile of gold coins. Fred went several times, using the Hat of Disguise to make him look different each time. Since they still had the Candle of Truth George had donated toward the group treasure, they used it to make sure no one was cheating. In the end, they had 600 gold pieces.

"Okay," said Harry. "We'll probably need three rooms at an inn for the next three nights, since I suggest we take tomorrow as a day of rest, the following day to make our exchanges and purchase supplies, and leave early the next morning. That's 18 gold. Then meals for two days for all of us will cost another 14, for a total of 32."

He removed those 32 from the stash and divided up the rest. This gave everyone 81 gold pieces, with 1 left over. Harry held it and looked at it thoughtfully.

"This should provide us with a nice supper tonight," he decided it, adding it to the group expense account previously set aside. "Everyone will be on their own for breakfast the day we leave."

"Wait just a minute," interrupted Draco. "Who gets the Portable Hole and the potion? Those were earned by the group, too."

"I think we first need to find out what the potion is," Hermione put in dryly.

"And I think we should continue to use the Portable Hole for any group treasure we find along the way," added Ginny. "It will make it much easier to carry, especially since, once we leave this village, we're not likely to find a place to spend or exchange it until we're done with our quest."

"And at that point, we won't need it," put in Ron. "If I understood the DM correctly, defeating the wizard will send us home again."

"Which means," said Fred, "that we might as well spend all or most of our money now on things we think we'll need."

"In that case, why do we need to carry any treasure?" asked George. They all thought about this for a moment.

"We can use it for spare weapons, at least," Harry said at last. "We may find some along the way, and we never know when one might break on us or something. Anyway, I'm okay with George keeping the Portable Hole for now."

"You would be," muttered Malfoy, but as no one else made any argument, he kept silent after that.

Ginny was a little worried about her Dire Weasel being accepted and was willing to stay outside the village until they were finished with their business, but Harry didn't think it would be safe for her to be alone and pointed out that people in this world were probably used to people having animal companions. At last, they went into the village and found an inn that looked respectable. Harry placed a gold piece on the counter and asked for as much food as that would buy for the seven of them. They all seated themselves, and a pair of waitresses shortly brought them several loaves of dark bread, bowls of stew, and mugs of ale. They must have looked very impressive as a group, for the other patrons carefully avoided them.

Although the supper before them was no match for the feasts at Hogwarts, it was a more complete meal than they had eaten in two days, and they all ate their fill. When they had finished, Harry went back to the bar and asked if they had three rooms available. They did, and Harry took the chance of paying for the rooms and their meals in advance. The twins agreed to share a room with Draco, reasoning that he knew what they could do to him if he even attempted anything they thought suspicious.

As Harry had advised, they all rested during the entire next day, leaving their rooms only for meals and visits to the necessary facilities. After dinner that evening, the girls insisted on having a soak in the inn's bath house and hinted that it wouldn't kill the boys to clean up a little as well. Actually, a bath sounded rather good to Harry, and they all took turns using the facilities.

On the second day, Harry and Hermione went into the village to trade their goods. They were able to obtain the Wand of Cure Moderate Wounds and received some gold in addition, as the presence of a Paladin and a lawful good Cleric made the merchant disinclined to cheat them. The two friends considered purchasing something else but decided they had better go back and consult with the group.

Everyone gathered in Ron and Harry's room to decide what to do next.

"I think George should carry the new wand," said Harry. "No offense, George, but you're the most likely to need it if Hermione can't get to you. Hermione, Ginny, Draco, and I can all heal ourselves to some extent, hardly anything seems to touch Fred, and Ron appears to be incredibly resilient."

"Then he shouldn't have the Portable Hole anymore," Draco insisted. The others grudgingly admitted that this made a certain amount of sense.

"Hermione, I think everyone can trust you," Harry said. "Why don't you take the Portable Hole. Oh, we also identified this potion; it's a Potion of Vision. It enables the person who drinks it to make out details unusually well for three hours."

"I also don't think the people carrying the potion or the Portable Hole should have a share of the money we found," Draco added. "I'm sure those items are worth far more than the small amount of gold we each got."

This spurred a rather heated argument, which continued until they were rudely interrupted.

"Oh, for heaven's sake!" exclaimed the Dungeon Master, suddenly stepping out of thin air. "You guys are giving me a headache. I know some people really enjoy role-playing these kinds of things, but I'm finding it exceedingly dull. Let's speed things up a bit."

The DM now had her hair mostly down, with only a barrette holding some of it out of her face. Her hair was actually very curly, even more than Hermione's. It fell about her neck and shoulders in corkscrew rings. She was dressed casually, in a blue shirt and khaki shorts. As she spoke her next words, things appeared and disappeared the way she indicated.

"Hermione, you take the Portable Hole, George takes the Wand of Cure Moderate, Fred gets the Potion of Vision. Ron, you upgrade your bow and get 30 masterwork arrows. Harry, you get a masterwork light crossbow and 30 masterwork bolts. Hermione, you get a Potion of Wisdom and a Potion of Enlarge. Ginny, you get a Potion of Swimming; Fred gets two Potions of Spider Climb; and George gets a scroll containing three spells: Invisibility, Darkvision, and Summon Monster II. Finally, Draco, you trade your Sovereign Glue, Dust of Appearance, and Wand of Mirror Image, plus a little money, for +3 Bracers of Armor.

"Okay, that's used up most of the money you all had. It has been transferred to the appropriate businessmen in town, and they will remember the transactions if you should run into them. Carry on."

With that, she was gone again.

"Well, I guess that decides that," said Ron, shrugging. "Let's go get more ordinary things, like, I don't know, food?"

They spent the rest of the day purchasing food, spare clothing, and the like. They slept through the night, bought breakfast at the inn the next morning, and made an early start, climbing up out of the valley and back into the hills.

The group traveled uneventfully for two days. Ron and Ginny hunted and foraged for them so that they rarely needed to use their purchased provisions.

On the third day, Harry began to sense a subtle shift in the atmosphere. They were getting into higher mountains, and the air was growing cooler, but it was something else. He felt a darkness approaching, not of sight but of mind. He was certain they were approaching the evil wizard's domain. Some of the others seemed to feel that there was something amiss, as well. Fred, who had been ranging ahead as their scout, now kept closer to the group, and everyone adopted the habit of keeping weapons ready; except Draco, of course, whose bare hands were his most formidable weapon.

That evening, as the sun was beginning to set, they came through a pass and caught sight of a village situated at the bottom of a large mountain. Unlike the village they had left a few days before, however, this village was not at all welcoming. There was something dark and sad about it. Looking up at the top of the mountain, Harry saw a black fortress that looked as though it had been carved out of the rock of the mountain itself and felt a shiver of foreboding; this could only be the stronghold of the evil wizard himself.

Everyone seemed to share Harry's unease. Suddenly, Harry saw most of his companions lift their heads as though listening to something, and Hermione's eyes widened. He couldn't hear anything, and things began happening so quickly that he could only watch, though he seemed eerily aware of everything going on around him.

"Bull's Strength," said George quietly, touching Harry's shoulder. Harry immediately felt even stronger than normal. Draco made an incredible leap up onto a rocky outcrop. Ginny whispered a spell and began talking to her Dire Weasel in strange, purring tones. Ron whirled and struck out wildly behind him with his sword. At last, Harry caught a glimpse of the threat that had caused the others to act. One blue-black tentacle stretched out from behind the outcrop of rock to slap Ron. As though at a signal, five additional creatures seemed to abandon all attempts at stealth and appeared, advancing in a loose semicircle about 10 yards away, on the downhill slope between Harry's group and the village. The beasts looked something like large, catlike predators, except they had bluish-black fur that seemed to shimmer, six legs, and two powerful-looking tentacles sprouting from their shoulders.

Hermione clasped something at her neck, then cast a spell.

"Holy Smite!" she shouted. Harry didn't see anything happen, but the three creatures in the middle paused in their advance as though staggered by a blow. The one on the left only paused briefly, then continued on. The other two stopped short and moved their heads around as though confused.

"Fireball," George called out, and flames erupted around the three creatures to the right, including the two who had already stopped. Draco took out a wand and used it on himself, though there was no obvious effect.

"Flame Strike," said Ginny calmly, and a column of flame enveloped the three creatures on the left; the one on the far right of these, already hit by George and Hermione, collapsed. Ron attacked with both swords, but Harry still couldn't see much of the beast he was fighting, so he couldn't tell if he'd done any damage. Fred came up to help Ron, disappearing behind the rock. Ron was attacked again, smacked with the tentacles and apparently bitten, but he didn't falter. One cat-thing injured by Ginny ran up to slap her with a tentacle, another hit Hermione, the confused one still standing remained where it was, and the last beast ran up and got George. Harry finally recovered from his surprise, decided Ron had enough help, and ran to Ginny's assistance, managing to injure the creature. Hermione took a swing at the cat on her, but her mace appeared to go right through it. Harry's eyes widened when he saw that, and he knew this was likely to be a more difficult battle than he had first thought.

George's spear appeared in his hand, and he stuck the cat in front of him. Draco leapt down from the rock he was on, apparently attacking the creature engaged with Ron and Fred. Ginny struck the one in front of her with her scimitar; her Dire Weasel attempted a bite but missed. Ron and Fred continued to battle out of Harry's line of sight as the beast Harry was fighting attempted to strike him, both tentacles landing harmlessly on his armor. On the edge of his vision (Harry found himself marveling at the wonder of peripheral vision, something he didn't really have while wearing glasses), Harry saw that George was struggling against the creature he was battling and also noticed that the animal that was still at a distance and had seemed confused before was now making a retreat. Harry struck twice and managed to score a massive blow to the one he and Ginny were fighting and brought it down. Hermione again struck at the animal she was fighting and managed to hurt it this time.

George cast Magic Missile, striking the creature he was fighting but not slowing it down. Glimpses of tentacles and sounds from behind the rock indicated that the battle there was still going on.

"Flaming Sphere," said Ginny, and a ball of fire appeared near the cat that was attacking George. Unfortunately, it dodged, causing Ginny to swear in frustration. Her Dire Weasel stayed by her side. Ron, apparently having finished with the other creature, ran to Hermione's aid and brought down the one she'd been fighting. Fred took off after the retreating predator, causing it to increase its pace as its only standing companion again struck George, knocking him unconscious. Harry went to help George, though his blow seemed to pass through the creature.

"Shield Other," Hermione said in a somewhat desperate voice, pointing toward George. Draco appeared from behind the rock but did not appear interested in getting involved with the continuing battle. Ginny moved her hand, and the flaming sphere moved away from the creature, leaving room for others to jump in and help.

"Produce Flame," she added, and a small fire appeared in her hand, which she then threw, striking the surviving creature and leaving a small scorch mark on its fur. Ron then rushed in but missed. The catlike beast attempted to tear out George's throat and was definitely making a mess of him. Hermione winced as she took some of the damage from the bite. Harry managed to strike the thing a solid blow. Hermione came up to George and cast a healing spell on him, earning herself a slap with a tentacle but bringing George back to consciousness.

George brought up his spear again, with no effect. Ginny ran in and touched the beast with the fire in her hand, causing it to fall. Ron gave it a final blow, ensuring that it was dead.

Hermione and Ginny dropped to the ground, exhausted, but Harry remembered seeing Fred run off and turned to follow him. Fred, however, was already returning up the slope, grinning.

"I got the other one," he said triumphantly. "And I found their cave. You guys gotta see it; there's some pretty cool stuff in there. When you feel up to it, that is."

Everyone took a moment to catch their breath. George used his wand on Hermione, then on himself.

"I've really got to try and stay out of melee combat," he commented wryly.

"Why haven't the bodies disappeared yet?" mentioned Ginny after a moment. Ron frowned in thought.

"Maybe to give us the option of skinning a couple of them. It could be helpful to have that displacement ability," he answered. He had already explained that these were Displacer Beasts, whose fur caused light to bend around them so that it was difficult to see exactly where they were.

"I hardly think we have time to sit here and skin the animals, not to mention curing the skins and cutting them into a form that would be useful," said Harry. "This is enemy territory, after all."

Although this was a difficult thing to accept, everyone eventually agreed with Harry, and the bodies subsequently vanished.

Harry and Draco had been untouched during the fight, and Ginny and Fred had only minor injuries. Ron accepted a couple of healing spells before Fred led the way to the cave.

The cave entrance was fairly large, though it would have been hard to find if they hadn't known where it was. They all entered, and Fred pointed out the stash of treasure apparently accumulated by the Displacer Beasts over time. There was a respectable pile of silver coins, a few handfuls of gold coins, and two platinum coins, which was a surprise to Harry. There was also a silver pitcher, a beautifully carved mug, a potion vial, a shortspear, a suit of studded leather armor, a quiver full of arrows, and four small bags that were squishy to the touch. George cast a Detect Magic spell and told them that nothing was magic except the potion. Still, the shortspear, leather armor, and arrows were obviously made by master craftsmen, and they opted to put them in the Portable Hole to keep in reserve.

Hermione studied the potion vial and found that it had a label denoting it as a Potion of Jump. She placed this in a small pouch at her side for potential use. Fred identified the four bags as tanglefoot bags, which could be thrown at an opponent to capture their feet in a sort of glue. Ron and Ginny each took one, in case the need should arise, and the other two were stored.

An argument began over the rest. Harry didn't see the point of taking the money or decorative items, since they couldn't really trade them. Others, such as Fred, George, and Draco, were reluctant to leave them behind. At last, Hermione pointed out that it was getting late and they could always decide this in the morning. Since the cave was large, dry, and currently unoccupied, they decided to sleep there. They didn't want anyone surprising them, though, so Ron threw down a small charm in the shape of a tree a short distance outside the cave entrance, and it instantly sprang into a large oak tree, six feet in diameter. This did not block the cave completely, of course, but it provided enough cover that it was unlikely that anyone or anything would stumble across them in the night. As an added precaution, however, they still set a watch.

Harry lay awake for quite some time after his turn at watch, staring at the stone roof above him. After their fight with the six Displacer Beasts, and lying in the shadow of the forbidding fortress, he doubted any of them would sleep well.