The last few months of my fourth-year passed mostly without any further trouble. As I'd expected I'd gotten a visit from a teacher come Monday and got a stern talking to for my little stunt. But seeing as I'd been a model student up to that point, and seeing as no one was really hurt, I got out of it with what amounted to a slap on the wrist. That is to say, I got to serve detention for a week doing scut work around the castle and its surrounding grounds. Not the nicest way to spend your time, but at least I got some quality company since whenever I ended up outside I was assigned to Hagrid. Doing yard work for Hogwarts was backbreaking, but at least I had a good time. And outside of his "rock cakes" Hagrid was a fairly decent cook, sporting a rustic selection of dishes he could make from things he got from the forest, or grew himself. I made a point of not asking what was in his stews, but I had a feeling I'd eaten some things that ain't normally in my diet.
Lys spent as much time as she could spare in the Room going over her new books. I had to caution her several times to be careful unless she wanted to screw up her sleep schedule. Trying to run 36 hour days might seem like a small thing, but the human body just wasn't up for that kinda thing. We were just way too tied to our circadian rhythm for it to be healthy in the long run, as I'd found out myself early on when I started to use the room for that exact purpose. She didn't listen to me at first, of course, reasoning that her dwarven hardiness would make up the difference, and then she wouldn't stop due to stubbornness and pride, which is also a very dwarven thing apparently. I had to threaten her access to the room to get her to back down. We had a bit of a row, which made me feel nostalgic for home.
Tugwood had not been pleased by this new development or her perceived new rival for my attention. She'd backed off for the moment but I would be the world's greatest idiot if I thought that things were settled. I could see it in her eyes when I caught her watching me. There would be something coming my way from her sooner or later. It was funny. Lys spent most of her time in the Room, and I didn't. We didn't get much chance to interact due to that. I had brought her in on one of the long term projects that I wanted her help with. She'd laughed in my face and called me an idiot before throwing the schematic I'd presented her within the bin and drawing up her own.
I had to reluctantly admit that her design was better. We'd still ended up arguing back and forth over the last two months over the various details, particularly the interiors I wanted and she saw no practical need for. It had only ended when the end of term rolled around and she was forced to focus more of her attention on her school work. I didn't have time to worry about her anyways; I had my own preparations to make before school got out.
I'd decided it was time for me to retrieve an item I'd been coveting for the last four years, but had been procrastinating on because… well, I was… concerned, about the defenses likely present. I had a way around them, I thought, but still. It would be the first time since I arrived here that I might potentially walk into something that might actually kill me if I was unlucky. I reasoned that it was only a small chance that the charms guarding the place would harm me if I was careful. And I planned to be very careful indeed.
And after that, provided I was successful, I had the notion of going home. Or at least back to my home country. I wasn't sure I would be able to bring myself to actually visit my home town. But I wanted to at least visit Sweden, and the magical district located on Gotland. I'd been surprised to discover that the magicals in my home country was not based in the capital city of Stockholm.
Even stranger, it was still ruled by a monarchy. Okay, so technically the real world was too, on paper. But Christina the Fifth, of the House of Vasa, Queen of Sweden, was the real deal. She ruled the magical part of Sweden.
Strange times…
I took another look around my room to assure myself that everything was squared away before exiting. "Paddy, you ready?"
The small house-elf butler faded into view standing on the shoulder of one of the armors decorating the hallway outside of my room. How he managed to balance there and still look dignified was something of a mystery. I sure hadn't taught him that. "Of course, sir."
"You sure you'll be able to keep up once I get going? I'll be going quite fast." I asked him concernedly.
Paddy just gave me a tired look. I deserved it; I'd been asking the same question far too many times. I worry, it's what I do. I like to think it's endearing and not at all annoying.
"Not fast enough, sir." He noted dryly.
Why did I get the feeling that there was a double meaning to his words? Nevermind! I float off the floor and then speed down the hall, all without changing position. It probably looked like I was on one of those moving walkways, just standing there with my hands clasped behind my back. I got some odd looks from the students as I passed, but not too many. By now they were almost used to see me flying around. It was a good psychological trick for reminding them to keep their distance a bit. It wouldn't work forever, I knew that, but it would at least take me to the end of the year, and that was good enough.
A few minutes later I blasted out of the main gates of Hogwarts and into the overcast sky beyond. I kept fairly low this time. After my big stunt, it had occurred to me that radar was a thing already. I wasn't sure how sensitive it was, but I figured that it might not be very nice to scare the pants off the none-magicals. They might get into their heads that I was a ballistic missile. I didn't feel like reenacting the scene from Iron Man where he was chased around by a pair of fighter jets. Not that the planes at this time could match my speed and maneuverability.
No need to taunt Murphy though, I wasn't bulletproof. Which reminds me, I needed to see if wizards had come up with some sort of passive defense against getting your head ventilated by a sniper.
I could do without a new hole in my head. I was fine with the ones I had. No need to be greedy after all.
The trip didn't take too long, even though I stayed below the speed of sound it didn't take more than about forty-five minutes to reach the outskirts of Yorkshire. I slowed down then and cast a disillusionment charm. It took me another five minutes to hit Great Hangleton and a few moments more to find Little Hangleton. It was a dreary, windswept place that looked thoroughly inhospitable. I had no idea what people were even doing here.
It took me another ten minutes of flying around the outskirts of the town looking for a certain shack, I actually flew passed it twice due to the place being so overgrown. Nature had pretty much taken over the whole place, and I was sure that if it wasn't for the charms that protected the shack the place would probably have been swallowed entirely by the forest.
I landed a good fifty feet away from the place to avoid activating any of the likely unpleasant defensive charms. I had been reading up on how to go about breaking through charms like this, but honestly, I didn't feel confident in challenging Piddle on this. So I'd come up with a workaround.
"You here Paddy?" I asked out loud, feeling a bit silly, I always did.
"Naturally, sir," Paddy answered from where he was standing on a large boulder.
"Well then, let's get to digging," I said with a sigh.
---
I don't exactly how long it took me and my faithful manservant to tunnel down into the earth below the shack, but it took a while. It wasn't really hard work, as such. Transfiguration was amazing if you wanted to get a tunnel going. It went down at a steep angle for about twenty feet, which I felt was deep enough to get me under the defensive charms. I needed to do that so that I could abuse a little-used loophole when it came to charming a place.
They only work as long as the thing the charm is anchored to is still somewhat intact. Smash it and problem solved. After some fireworks of course! Catastrophic charm collapse! HA HAH HAH!
The plan was as follows. Dig down deep below the shack. Completed! Hollow out a big ass grotto large enough to fit said shack, preferably without it collapsing down on you throughout. Completed! Retreat to the entrance of the tunnels and weaken the foundation the rest of the way: Completed! Barricade the entrance and wait! DONE!
Almost soil yourself when the barricade almost splinters into ruble from the titanic blast of chaotic magical energy being suddenly released. ACED IT!
I carefully fingered the large cracks running through the three feet thick stone wall that I'd erected between myself and the grotto beyond and gave myself a mental pat on the back for making it that thick AND reinforcing he tunnel leading down here. Man Piddle took his charms fucking SERIOUSLY!
With a gesture, I transformed the wall back to its original state before cautiously entering the grotto. The place was a mess, unsurprisingly. Also on fire. Entirely expected. I cast a flame freezing charm on myself and pulled out my wand. Pine, dragon heartstring, rigid, good for charms if Owl-man was to be trusted. Still, don't know how that old fucker got behind me. I almost wet myself. That's fucking child endangerment or something. Didn't even get to trash his shop! I matched against the first damn wand he put in my hands. That was so unfair!
I started to magically shift the rubble around, tossing large pieces of it towards the sides, and as I worked I looked for pieces that might have been part of the foundation and the floor as that was where Piddle was supposed to have hidden his little treasure.
It didn't take me long to locate the golden box, it wasn't really a big shack after all. I found that the box had been torn in half by the explosion. Fortunately, the ring was intact, not that a little explosion like that was likely to damage it. I refrained from actually touching it, instead levitating it into a small pouch which then went into my expanded backpack. I'd get to it later. I decided that it would be best to extinguish the fire. It was liable to have attracted attention from the locals by now.
I swiftly resealed the tunnel leading to the grotto before flying out and doing the same thing to the entrance to the tunnel. Better let the locals think that the old shack just collapsed into a sinkhole and leave it at that.
I smiled, a successful start on my summer vacation, if I do say so myself. And I do.
"Let's go Paddy! Daylights burning and I have a stone to get out of a cursed ring." I proclaimed like the dork I was.
Paddy wasn't impressed from where he was standing on a low oak branch. "At once, sir."