"Grandpa, do you think they'll pull it off?"
Rock asked while packing up his things.
"I'm not sure. But with Norwegian Aurors on the case now, they should be fine."
Newt's voice was calm. They were outsiders here. Once the Aurors took over, it was time for them to step back.
"Fair enough. So where are we headed next?"
Rock nodded. With nothing else keeping them here, he and Newt could finally get back to their own trip.
"Thor Eriksson had his secretary bring us a pass," Newt said, holding up the document. "We can go into the mountains now."
Rock paused, then stared at him in disbelief. "Wait… Grandpa, were you seriously planning to sneak us in without permission?"
"What are you talking about?" Newt reached over and tapped Rock on the head before pushing the door open. "Without this pass we could've only wandered the outer edges. Now we can actually go in properly."
The moment they stepped out of the guesthouse, the sky had turned dark with heavy clouds. A cold wind cut across the valley.
"This weather changes fast…" Rock muttered.
"The rainy season here lasts a long time," Newt said. "It's normal."
They started toward the distant mountains. Being wizards, a little rain wasn't going to slow them down. A quick charm would handle it.
But the closer they got to the mountains, the more Rock realized both of them had underestimated the terrain.
The forest floor was already soaked. Every step sank into thick mud that tried to pull their boots right off their feet. Newt had to cast a quick charm on their shoes just to keep them from getting stuck.
After that they moved faster, but the deeper they went, the thicker the fog became. Visibility dropped fast. Every now and then a bird call echoed clearly through the mist.
"That's a river bird," Newt said quietly, his breath fogging in the cold air. "They like cold mountain streams. Common up here."
"Grandpa, what exactly is ancient magic?" Rock asked, pulling his robes tighter around himself.
Newt was quiet for a moment. "I don't know the full details. What I do know is that it's different from modern spells. It's closer to the raw, primal energy of the magical world. Extremely powerful. Usually needs strong emotion or clear intent to work."
"The biggest difference," he added, "is that it can be cast without a wand."
Without a wand?
That sounded like silent, wandless casting taken to another level.
"Even so, little Rock, I wouldn't recommend trying to learn it right now. And honestly, you wouldn't have the chance or the place to study it properly anyway."
Newt's tone was gentle but firm.
"Why not?" Rock frowned. From everything he'd overheard between Newt and Anders these past couple of days, ancient magic sounded incredibly powerful.
"Because it's an innate gift," Newt explained. "Only a very small number of people can even see and manipulate those traces. Understanding the echoes and energy nodes of a spell isn't something you can just pick up from a book."
Rock's hand drifted up to touch the corner of his eye without thinking. The way Newt described seeing magic traces sounded a lot like what his own eyes could do now.
"Besides," Newt continued, "scholars have studied ancient magic for a long time. The general conclusion is that it's tied directly to intense emotion. The power is enormous… but extremely hard to control."
He reached over and patted Rock's head. "The risk of losing control is too high. It doesn't fit with how magic is taught today."
Rock nodded slowly, though his mind was already turning over the possibility that what he saw through his eyes might actually be those energy nodes Newt mentioned.
And ancient magic… aside from old ruins, the one place in the modern wizarding world that supposedly had the densest concentration of those traces was Hogwarts.
"All right. We're here."
Newt stopped walking.
Rock blinked back to the present and looked around. The fog was so thick now that he could barely see ten meters in any direction. The trees loomed like ghosts through the mist.
"Little Rock, go ahead and set up the tent," Newt said, pulling a small folded tent from his bag.
"No problem."
Rock nodded and got to work, floating the pieces into place with practiced ease while Newt moved around the clearing, tapping his wand against trees and rocks.
"Grandpa, is that a protective charm?" Rock asked once the tent was up.
"That's right. We might be spending the night here, so this will let us sleep without worrying about surprises." Newt smiled faintly.
"We'll probably need to stay a few days," he added, pulling out a lantern and starting a small fire. The forest was cold enough that the warmth was welcome.
"What are we looking for?"
Rock watched him curiously. Newt wouldn't have come all the way out here without a reason.
"A Chimera," Newt said quietly. "Come warm up by the fire."
"A Chimera?" Rock's brow furrowed. He remembered reading about them in Newt's books—classified as a XXXXX-level hybrid beast. "Aren't those from Greece? I think there was even a Quidditch commemorative badge for 'Dangerous Dai.' Dai Llewellyn got killed by one while he was on holiday there."
"Looks like our little Rock knows his creatures," Newt said with a soft laugh. "Chimeras didn't originate only in Greece. They're also found in Scandinavia. These steep Norwegian mountains and isolated cliffs make perfect nesting sites for them."
"I want to see if the ones here are different from the Greek subspecies."
"If Grandma finds out, she's going to scold you," Rock sighed. A creature that dangerous wasn't something you casually went looking for.
"I'm only confirming their presence," Newt said, pulling a kettle from his case. "Chimeras are extremely dangerous because of their strength and intelligence, but their numbers are very low. If I can verify that these mountains are a breeding ground for them, I can notify the Norwegian Ministry so they can put proper protections in place."
"Grandpa," Rock said, the corner of his mouth twitching, "I think the ones who actually need protection are the wizards who run into one."
Newt chuckled. "You're not wrong. Any wizard who encounters one should Disapparate immediately."