Yn Anfarwol

Condeco Regina

Rannoch Moorland, when Harry actually allowed himself to think over the startling beauty of the land, was not the first place he would have suspected a whole civilization would hide. In fact, with all the Muggles strolling about, he wasn't too sure if Professor McGonagall had used the correct Portkey. Not that he would mention that aloud to her. He glanced over his shoulder; she still seemed to be staring intently at a small crystal orb, the inside swirling with silver smoke. When they had landed, she had pulled the orb from a pocket and immediately placed all her attention on it, ignoring any questions or looks he tossed her way.

And from the looks of it, her current fascination wouldn't fade anytime soon. So he contented himself with the view and left her to the orb. Facing the sunset, he watched as the light slowly pulled away from the moors and slithered behind the hills. Darker colours, purple, blue, and red, crept up into the sky and painted twilight unlike any he'd ever seen from Gryffindor Tower.

He then glanced down to himself. Professor McGonagall had made him change into clothes one would wear to an informal event. His slacks were pressed, his button-up was sharp and crisp, and his tie itched worse than any of his school ties. She had even done something to his hair that made it less unruly. She too had changed. Still in wizarding clothes, she wore an ensemble of dark blue robes over a different black under dress. Her hair was out of its customary bun and plaited down her back in a complicated design.

His attention drifted again, and with Professor McGonagall still intent on what she held, he looked at the Muggles. It was strange, being only yards away but having them not notice him at all. Professor McGonagall had explained that the Sithen, the home of the Fey, was akin to being Unplottable, as was the moorland surrounding it. Any visitors to the Fey were ignored by those who weren't invited. Muggles could visit the land, and they did in droves, and never noticed anything amiss. Their eyes would only catch Harry for a second, then pass over him, forgetting about him as soon as he left their sight. In fact, the Fey could hold a battle and the Muggles would see only a turbulent wind on an otherwise summer day.

"Ah! I thought the connection had faded, what with the years being what they are nowadays."

Harry paused in his reflection and turned to see a misty figure of a woman hovering an inch or so above the orb. It reminded him of the prophecies, but this figure was in the present, not the past.

"Novus," Professor McGonagall said, a smile curling over her features, "it's been awhile."

"Too bloody long for my--"the woman was cut off by a rather odd explosion sounding off. Harry looked around and saw nothing amiss; even the Muggles were peacefully going about as if nothing happened. "Damned experiment." The figure brushed herself off, then spotted him. "Oh? Who's that, Minerva?"

Harry looked to Professor McGonagall on what to do, and her return look was one of 'well, introduce yourself'. So he did. "I'm uh, Harry Potter, ma'am."

Novus dropped her hands from slapping at something out of view. Her eyes glinted with a hidden mirth as she looked him over. "Are you really? Well, the Queen will want to know that he's arrived, then," she said. "Are you sure about taking him in as well, Minerva?"

"Yes, there's something ...oh, I'd rather explain it in person. Can you summon the door for us?"

"Of course, just let me adjust this and it'll be there in half a blink." The figure of the woman called Novus dissipated with another loud bang and left Harry feeling rather left out.

"Door?" he asked, "Professor, we're in the middle of the moors."

"I see that, Mister Potter," McGonagall stated simply, her eyes not on him but on a hillside a few meters south of them. She appeared to be waiting for something to happen. He copied her, watching the same hill, and jumped in shock when a door appeared from the grassy knoll, and a ripple branched from that door to the surrounding hillsides. The Sithen, the Faerie Mounds, rose up before him as a small mountain range of emerald glass against the dying crimson melt of sky.

"Come along, now." He followed her down a dirt path towards the door.

The path ended a ways away from the door. Coming closer, Harry could suddenly pick out faint music in the wind. Unable to make out the melody, Harry turned to find the source but found nothing. He turned back and faced the door. It was made of a wood he had never seen before. Dark grey and carved with intricate designs heralding back to a long-lost age, the door stood out against the soft green of the hill. It was large enough to have him and Professor McGonagall walk in side by side. There was no knocker, and no hinges from what he could tell. Professor McGonagall reached out a hand and brushed it over the centre, her fingers tracing over one of the patterns. When she removed her hand, the door faded to an archway leading into a long hall. Light pooled out from that doorway and breathed like a luminous fog into the crisp twilight.

Professor McGonagall murmured a word of thanks skyward and stepped inside, Harry at her heels.

The hallway inside was large enough to have Grawp walk without fear of slamming his head into the ceiling. The walls were made of granite and had that same pale light that had poured from the entrance. The light came from everywhere and nowhere and surrounded them. Harry could see no torches and assumed that magic was at work. He had spent enough years at Hogwarts learning not to question everything. He caught up to McGonagall, and the doorway vanished. He spun and saw only the plain grey wall. He hoped that was not the only exit.

Professor McGonagall led him along the deserted hall to a sharp bend. Rounding it, he saw that the hallway merged in with five others, all with the same stone on the walls. It would be very easy to get lost here. He trusted Professor McGonagall to know her way. She took the hall nearest them and, her heels clicking over the stone floor, headed to another door, this one tall and rounded off.

The door opened as they approached, and the woman who had been the misty figure stepped out to meet them. She was about the same height as Professor McGonagall; her hair was the same raven-wing colour as well. The differences came with the olive tint of her skin and golden eyes. She didn't look like the two people in the book.

"It's good you came here first. She's in the middle of her hobby," She was looking at her hands, brushing them off on a towel.

Professor McGonagall gently pushed Harry in front of her. "Mister Potter," she said.

The woman looked him over, her eyes touching on his scar. "You're shorter than I expected." She then held up a hand, a smirk on her features. "Then again, I've been around men with the average height of six and a half feet, so most other humans are short."

"You're human as well?" Harry blurted out. "But Professor McGonagall said the Sidhe lived here."

"They do, aye, but they tend to pick up one or two of us mortals and keep us as pets and companions." Novus's eyes glittered. "I have horrible manners, the name's Novus. However, if you want, you can be less prattish than Minerva here and call me 'Neo'." She held out a hand.

He took it.

Professor McGonagall glared at Novus but kept any thoughts she harboured to herself.

"So, Harry, there's only one reason why Minerva would drag you down here to gain audience with the Queen of Air and Darkness," Neo said brightly, tucking the towel away in a pouch at her hip.

"You know?" he asked.

She nodded and showed them inside. Packed over nearly every surface were cauldrons, bottles, and gemstones. Cages lined the far wall, black drapes covering the top half of them. Notes were scattered about the place, and soot reigned supreme over anything else on the walls, floors, and ceiling. The floor was the same stone as the hall but was pock-marked, like it had seen many explosions. He spotted a half-opened door hidden behind a stack of books taller than him, and then a sitting room, less chaotic, beyond that. The first thought Harry had was Mad Scientist, and it was gone with a shake of his head.

"Sorry about the mess, I'm still trying to work out the kinks in my latest experiment. It's normally much more organized." Her tone betrayed that it wasn't.

"Don't worry; it looks like Ron's room." Novus stared at him quizzically. "A friend of mine. What is all this for?"

Novus exchanged half a glance with Professor McGonagall; the other half had formed in the smirk they shared. "He's rather blunt with his questions."

Professor McGonagall sighed, "I should have told him--"

"No, no, he's a breath of fresh air," Novus grinned.

"To you, perhaps." Professor McGonagall's lip quirked. "However, to everyone else in the Sithen, it'll only insult them." She turned to Harry to elaborate, "The Sidhe, well, the Fey in general, look down on personal questions. It's complicated and would take years to fully detail, so I'll simply tell you to think very carefully before you speak here."

Novus gave her a long look that was hard to read before shrugging her shoulders and answering the question Harry had asked. "This front room is my alchemy lab. I've been practicing with knowledge passed down from over 5,000 years ago in the heart of the Nile valley." She appeared to read Harry's mind, for she continued on without letting him ask anything aloud. "I'm reaching my one thousand and ...twenty-third, or was it the twenty-fourth birthday. I don't remember exactly, it's been far too long," she said. "When the Fey offer eternal life, you forget little things like that."

Harry remained quiet, but stared. She was over a thousand years old? She looked in her early thirties. She hardly looked like someone who was older than Hogwarts itself!

"So!" Novus clapped her hands together, the sound jolting Harry and causing something to bubble behind her. "Oh blast it, Minerva; you'll have to go along a bit earlier, I'm afraid that I have to get back to work before another potion explodes."

Professor McGonagall nodded. "Very well, is Aithra in her chambers or with the Queen?"

"She loathes the Queen's hobby; you know that," Neo muttered, her attentions on a tentacle creeping out of a cage, "she'll be in her chambers. You remember the way?"

"I do."

"Wonderful, take the lad along and introduce the two. They'll be seeing a lot more of each other as the month wears on." Novus shot a glance to Harry, slapping at the tentacle while she did.

Professor McGonagall halted in mid-turn and slowly turned back to Novus, directing her famous Look at the back of the alchemist's head. "What, pray tell, are you suggesting?"

"It's for the Queen to reveal. She's almost giddy about the boy's arrival."

"Oh, dear." Harry had never seen that look cross Professor McGonagall's face. "That's never a good sign."