I stayed on the island for a day to do some sightseeing. Not so much in the magical section of the place. Once you got over the difference in architecture it became rather obvious that the place was no different than the Alley back in England. The same types of shops just different names, a Gringotts of course, Sweden is the country where the main branch is located due to the proximity to Nidavellir. Instead, I spent most of the day wandering around the normal side of Visby, where I'd never actually been before in either life, despite it being a popular tourist destination for natives and foreigners alike, and although I was practically living next door.
I knew my grandparents used to make frequent trips out here in the summers to visit friends and relatives, but I'd never had the opportunity to come. So now that I was here I made a point of swinging by some of the attractions, hit up the local museum and visit the nearby ruins, one, the St. Nicolai Ruin was the entrance to the magical side of the place.
Not sure if it was an intentional fuck you to the church or if it was just convenient for them. It could be both.
When the next morning came I took a portkey to the magical district located in Stockholm's Old Town and from there I could take the Floo to Kiruna. From there I had to fly. My destination was the Swedish Short-Snout Reserve, though I wasn't there for the dragons, though I had plans take a peek at those too.
The pictures I'd seen of them in books made them out to be very beautiful regal beasts with silver scales and a slender body. I'd been pleased to find when I'd looked up after I arrived in this world that the dragons of Harry Potter weren't of the bat variety, as I referred to them in my mind. That is to say, their front limbs didn't double as wings as with bats, which is how they'd been depicted in the movies. Instead, they had a more traditional western look, with four legs and a pair of wings by their shoulders. A far superior look in my opinion, though I might be biased.
Still, they weren't my goal here today, merely a bonus. My true goal was the home that the Goblins stole from the Dwarves. Nidavellir was located in Norrbotten County near the border between Sweden and Norway, smack dab in the middle of Sarek national park, which also housed the reserve, something that got me laughing something fierce. The old home of the dwarves, located in a place that shared the name with someone that was essentially a space elf, that was just too rich. The main entrance was located on the northern side of the Piellorieppe massif situated in what looked like the caldera of a long since extinct volcano that I didn't know the name off.
Let it not be said that Goblins can't make defending their home profitable. Non-magicals might buy a guard dog as a deterrent. The Goblins founded a dragon sanctuary right on their doorstep. Not only would they get protection from the outside by the flying, firebreathing and magic resistant giant lizards, they also had a secure and self-replenishing supply of both dragons to guard their valuables, but also raw materials to sell to wizards in the form of dragon parts, such as heartstrings, blood, skin, scales, and even dung.
Quite the profitable little enterprise, or so I'd been told.
As I closed in I started to keep a lookout for the caretaker's house. It was supposed to be somewhere near the entrance to Rapadalen, a valley that separated the Piellorieppe massif from the Skårki massif. The valley was densely forested and had an extensive river delta running through it so it took me a good half hour of zigzagging around the place but I eventually caught sight of the house sitting just by a small river that flowed down from the Skårki massif.
"Entrance to the valley my ass," I muttered.
The house was a large wood/brick combination three-story traditional Tudor style home with wooden beams visible on the facade and white plaster between them and a shingled roof. An elaborate waterwheel setup with three wheels and a rudimentary wooden aqueduct had been built over the stream that the house sat beside. A small rickety-looking plank bridge spanned the stream a bit beyond the house allowing access to the other side. Everything looked to be in a state of some disrepair. The plaster on the house had large patches of discoloration and the shingles on the roof looked like they were in a desperate need of being replaced.
On the other side of the house from the river lay a well-worn path that looked to be cut right out from some fairy tale, what with the threes leaning over it forming a natural arch that blocked the view from the sky. Ad a bit of mist and the picture would be perfect.
I landed some ways off and immediately had to reassess the size of the house. It was a great deal larger then I'd initially assumed when viewing it from distance. The damn door I was standing in front of was at least twice as tall as me, and three times as broad.
"Oh boy," I muttered to myself before raising my voice. "Hello, the house! Is anyone here?!" I called out before waiting for a response. When none came I moved closer to knock on the large door. I didn't have a chance though, as I want to knock the door was suddenly and violently yanked open, and someone stepping out.
It was a woman, a very large woman. Emphasis on very. Twice my height at least. She had a large untamed mane of bright red hair, that happened to be the same color as Fawkes, with a pair of piercing blue eyes, that was currently glaring at me, set in a pretty heart-shaped face. Her style of dress looked somewhat medieval. She had on a deep red apron that covered a beige white top with blue stitching along the ages and a robust long brown skirt down below. She had a large fur half-cloak across her shoulders and other pieces of fur attached around her midsection along with a pouch by her waist and a very large knife in a sheath that hung down around her crotch area. She had a simple bracer made of what I think might be brass on her left forearm and a far more elaborate collection of more decorative bracelets covering her right forearm.
She did not look happy to see me, something that might not have been too intimidating if her hands hadn't been soaked in blood which she was busy wiping off with a formerly white rag.
"Ah… Hi?" I hazard with a wobbly smile. "I come in peace?"
"What do you want?" She demanded brusquely.
"I-ah…" God, couldn't she look a little bit less hostile? I hadn't done anything. "I'm here to, ah, to… I want to, that is, to… eh, visit Nidavellir."
The half-giant woman, because she could be nothing else, frowned even more severely then she had thus far. "The main gate in the mountain is barred." She stated bluntly. "To come to Nidavellir you must first pass through Gringotts. Not that it matters in your case. No wizard has ever been invited to visit. I don't know what business you have here, but neither the Goblins in the mountain or the dragons on top of it welcome uninvited guests." She smiled grimly. "Perhaps not the dragons, they could always use more food."
Okay, that was a bit much. I arched an eyebrow at her. "Am I sensing a bit of hostility here?" I asked her frankly. "Because I kinda don't feel like I deserve it, seeing as we have never met and all."
"I know your kind, you are all alike." Was the flat response.
I rolled my eyes. "Well, that's not racist-hugh!"
That had been the wrong thing to say. Faster then I'd thought possible for someone that big she had reached out and snatched me off the ground by the front of my suit. "How dare you! How dare you say that to me! After how your kind treats my kind! We cannot even live amongst you without constant harassment, belittling, and prosecution. For the crime of not looking like you!" She roared and pulled her arm back and making a fist. That's when Paddy popped into being, standing on the very arm that was holding me up and pointing a fiercely glowing finger close to one of her eyes causing her to freeze in place.
"I would ask you to please set sir down, unharmed." He stressed formally. "Or I shall be forced to take action." He moved his glowing finger slightly closer. "The vaunted resilience of the giants will not help you should I cast at this range. I would consider your next action most carefully." He stated coldly.
The half-giant woman twitched in surprise when Paddy's threat registered. Her eyes flickered between myself and Paddy a few times, resting on Paddy's clothes especially before they settled on me again. "Hiding behind your slave I see," she growled acidly.
Before I had an opportunity to respond to that Paddy spoke up again. "I would thank you not to call me that, madam. I'm a servant, not a slave, I follow willingly, and should I wish it Master Drew would release me from my bond." He stated matter-of-factly. "Not that I think you truly care about me. Now, either you set him down, or I remove your head from your body. Choose." He told her grimly.
The woman hesitated for a moment before slowly lowering me down to the ground again. I quickly made sure to get out of easy grabbing range. And she had a pretty broad range. Paddy merely bowed shallowly. "Thank you, madam. Now trust you can manage a civil conversation. I would hate to have to intervene again."
The woman gave Paddy a dubious look. "You are a very strange house-elf."
Paddy merely inclined his head before fading away like smoke in the wind.
"I think we might have gotten off on the wrong foot." I tried and had to hold back an involuntary flinch when she pierced me with a look again.
"I have nothing to say to you wizard." She snapped back angrily.
I sighed in frustration. "Look. I don't know exactly what all that was about, I can infer some from what you said. Wizards been shit to you, got it."
"It's gone far beyond mere "shit"." She growled.
"The point is, that wasn't me. Don't blame me! One of my best friends is a half-giant so you got nothing to worry about from me." I told her earnestly.
The half-giant woman snorted in disbelief. "You must be stupid if you expect me to believe that you have an ettin friend." She told me snidely. "Mom, dad and me are the only ones around here, there are no others."
"I'm from England actually. The guy I know works as a groundskeeper at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." I said with a smile.
"You don't sound English." She retorted.
I shrugged. "I'm not, I was born here, muggleborn, but I ended up in Britain and Hogwarts when my parents died because of certain circumstances that are unimportant right now."
The woman still looked suspicious. "And what is this supposed half-giants name." She asked.
I smiled. "Rubeus Hagrid, though he prefers just Hagrid, thinks Rubeus sounds too ostentatious for someone like him."
"For someone like him?" She echoed, I noted that there was an edge in her tone.
"Yeah, he's a real salt of the earth kind of guy, friend to all and sundry, steadfast, reliable, wouldn't hurt a fly unless a friend is in danger. Real hands-on guy. I'm sure you know the type." I told her with a fond smile.
The woman huffed and looked away. "Humph, maybe. I didn't think there was anyone of us in England."
"He's the only one there, as far as I know," I told her before adding. "I know there is another one down in France, I think she is teaching at that school of theirs, Beauxbatons Academy of Magic names Olympe Maxime."
The woman looked back at me in surprise. "A teacher, at a magic school?" She said in astonishment. "She is allowed to do magic? To go to school?"
Oh boy, no wonder she might be resentful if what she is implying is true. Man, that sucks. "Sure, Hagrid did too." I winced as I was reminded how that went. "He doesn't use a wand thought." I continued hastily. "Prefer wandless magic these days," I told her and conjured a blast of flames in the air.
She looked at me in astonishment. "You don't need a wand. I thought only the most powerful could do that."
"Hah, yeah not so much. Anyone can do it. Most are just too lazy to." I told her with a snort.
She didn't seem to be listening to me anymore, having gone off into her own little world. "Anyone…"
I smiled as an idea came to me. "I could show you some basic exercises you could do to get started if you want. Then you can just owl Hagrid for some more advice. He picked it up faster than I did."
The woman's attention immediately snapped back to me. "Really? You'd teach me?"
"I'll teach you how to get started." I emphasized firmly. "It's not as easy as picking up a wand and start waving or everyone would be doing it. And I don't have time to stick around for a month or three so you'll have to go through Hagrid." I corrected her.
"That's fine, I can do that." She said and then looked momentarily uncertain as to what to do now. "Should we do it here or…?"
"We might as well get comfortable," I told her. "No sense standing around when one doesn't need to."
"Sure." She said then hesitated again before walking inside. "Please come on inside."
I made to follow her. "Thank you. I think now would be a good time for an introduction. I'm Andreas. How do you do?"
The half-giant smiled faintly. "Sigrid. It's nice to meet you, sorry about…" She said before trailing off embarrassedly.
I waved it off. "It's in the past. Let's get comfortable and get down to business, okay?"
Sigrid nodded enthusiastically. "Okay."