Map Travels

Open

No, he didn’t have any business here in this travel bureau. First, he was far too young to legally book anything here, and second, he didn’t have the money. They had enough, he and his aunt, enough to live comfortable, happy lives, but that didn’t mean that luxury was easily accessible. Therefore, he had never in his life been outside of Britain. Hogwarts was the furthest from home he had ever come, and despite telling himself that he would have ample opportunities to travel once he got older, this was slightly saddening him. There were so many places he had no idea of. There were sights he had never seen. Scotland was in fact still fascinating him — the mountains, the loch, the forest. It was so much wilder than anything else he had experienced before. As soon as they’d be old enough to go to Hogsmeade, he’d have to explore more of the surroundings with his friends — and there was still so much to discover in the castle.

It would be enough adventure for the next few years. But then, one distant day, they’d be finished with school and then, then they’d go places. They’d travel and see all the things he had read and heard about. Until then… well, he’d just have to go on journeys in his imagination. And when he had seen the sign of this shop, he had entered and was now perusing the brochures that were lying around everywhere, nervously glancing up every now and then. Maybe those who owned this place didn’t like it when he looked at their stuff as he had obviously no means to buy anything. He shouldn’t even be here in the first place. His aunt was at work, and he had slipped away from home and gone to Diagon Alley all on his own — his small-scale version of adventure. He knew the street well enough by now that he could go here alone, but still he’d rather his aunt didn’t know about it because she might worry though there was no reason to. He didn’t want her to worry.

Maybe she would worry if he’d go to these cursed Maya tombs he was now reading about. There was even a footnote that the bureau here did not accept responsibility for any casualities. It all sounded very interesting what he was reading about, and yet, he couldn’t help but think that his aunt would not like to have him go to any of these locations. But once he had finished school, he’d be experienced enough that it wouldn’t be that dangerous anymore. It had to be that way. He did want to go on adventures, but he didn’t really want to die from them. That wasn’t too much to ask, was it? It certainly wasn’t as perilous as it seemed from the brochure. They only put these warnings there just in case. He looked around hesitantly. The leaflets looked like they could be taken home for free, but he wasn’t sure. He’d like to keep some and look at them and imagine how he’d go there in the far future of six years later. But in case the flyers weren’t for free, it’d be stealing, so he couldn’t just take them. Stealing was a very severe crime, and Henry didn’t want to land in Azkaban.

"A good traveler has no fixed plans and no intent to arrive"

    Summer was apparently a dull affair, here in England. There was little sun, the beaches were made of pebbles, and all her school friends were tied between going on holiday with their parents and spending time with their extended family. While Mal herself had gone away for a few weeks with her own parents -traveling between countries in the south coats of the middle east by foot had been one of the most fun things they'd done together in years- she didn't really feel the need to spend that much time with her family at all. She was used to not being close to them, to seeing them once a year or even less. It was hard to even remember everyone's names, she really wasn't all that fussed about spending time with all of them. Sure, she would, to be like... whatever they called it. Sociable, friendly, family oriented. Something like that. Still, it didn't mean that she was going to make an effort to spend all that much time with them. Juan was nice and uncle Fer was nice and aunt Amparo was somewhat annoying and uncle Martin was a bit... strict in his whole family business stuff. So she'd really rather spend time with her own friends, thanks. With Maeve and G if possible, they were also probably gonna go and visit Tamara, see if they could help her out at all with her depressive episodes, and maybe run into Berry or Emi at some point. She wasn't all that fussed, except for the fact that G had told her she would get off from helping out in the shop like an hour ago and still wasn't done. That was just... annoying, so instead of sitting in that dark shop any more than necessary, she'd decided to take a look around.
    Of course she already knew Diagon Alley. As far as wizarding shopping streets went, it wasn't all that large or impressive. The one in Cancún was far more colourful and the one in New York was for more crowded and varied, and those were just the ones she went to regularly. The one in Mumbai was absolutely amazing, mind blowing, and Cairo was beautiful beyond anything she'd seen before. Diagon Alley? Pretty interesting and nice, but not the greatest thing ever. It got boring easily and she do well with boring. Book stores only had so much that would interest her, clothing shops were just not up her alley, and she'd already nosed around in all the magical artefacts shops and gotten whatever seemed interesting to her. Now what? Now, she had worked away a whole hour and Gian was still not ready, damn him. What was she supposed to do? Socialise? Not on his life.
    There were only a few shops she hadn't been in yet, so she figured she might as well. One of them was supposedly a traveling agency for... haunted places? Scary places? Cursed places? Humming, now somewhat interested, she started to browse the shelves for pictures and pamphlets of what was being offered. She recognised many of the places, her parents being thrill seekers and cursebreakers as they were had never really hesitated to take her along, no matter how supposedly dangerous some place was. She was still safer with them. Safe from the family business and safe from monotony, which to Salva and Bella respectively were worse than any sort of curse. So, with a sigh, she reached out and took a pamphlet about... some cursed ruins in the Indian jungle. Was it India or was it Myanmar? That latitude in Asia tended to look a bit alike. Maybe she'd tell her parents to check that place out together, next time. Over Christmas maybe, then it wouldn't be so hot. Heat was fine, humid heat was death.
    Turning the pamphlet around, she caught sight of a boy standing a small ways away. He seemed a bit familiar, like she'd seen him in passing before. Maybe he was from school or whatever. "You okay, kid?"

outfit link

Henry James Blanchet

ψ

Now he only had six years at Hogwarts left. Next spring, he’d have to choose electives. That would be the first important decision. And in four years he’d sit his OWLs, two years later his NEWTs and then he’d be done with school. Thinking about it like that, it seemed to him like he had almost no time left. On the other hand, six years ago, he had been a little child. Now he was a Hogwarts student soon to be a second year. The year, as long as it had been, seemed to have passed quickly now that he was home again with his aunt. He still had almost two months to be with her before he had to return. And she’d certainly take a couple of days off to spend solely with him. They could afford that certainly. He’d willingly live on pasta for a month if that would help to spend more time with his aunt — a sacrifice that he was all the more willing to make because he loved pasta.

They didn’t own an infinite amount of money. For what they had, his aunt worked hard, so Henry was very conscientious that he too had to be responsible with what he wanted. But it wouldn’t always be like this, he was sure. Once he was all grown up and could work himself, his auntie would be able to have more free time. He would support her and give her everything back that she had done for him. He’d have the opportunity to show how much she meant to him. One day, they’d go on holiday together wherever they wanted. Not to any of the destinations that were offered here though. They’d go somewhere where they could relax, where they’d have time for each other.

The places that he was reading about in here were all thrilling, and he did wish to go there. But for this, he’d have to be a good wizard and he would need to have trusted companions. Lizzy and Carin would certainly agree with him and then, when they had all finished school, they’d all travel into unknown regions and have adventures. He had heard it told that travelling around the world after completing school used to be a tradition in the past — a tradition that Henry had decided would be worth to resurrect. He’d also have to write to his aunt daily. They’d have to stay in contact. Always. He couldn’t bear the thought of being away from his aunt with no means to reach her. Maybe there were also other means than owls to do so. Certainly there had to be some magical method to talk to someone who was far away.

It was certainly never too early to inform himself about where there were adventures for him and his friends. All the gladder he was that he had entered this shop. There were so many options for travelling. He half suspected that these adventures might not be the ones that would lead to true discoveries — not when there was a shop selling trips to these places. Still, it was far more fascinating than anything he had ever seen before, and he’d like to spend more time studying it. He had to be back home before his auntie, otherwise she might worry. But could he take such a flyer with him. He glanced down one aisle when he heard a voice from behind himself. “Yes, everything’s fine,” he said, perking up to see another student. She might be older and he didn’t think that he had ever consciously seen her before, so she might not be aHufflepuff, but she would surely know an answer for his problem. Older students knew so much. “But do you know whether I can take these flyers with me. I want to show them to my friends.” Then he added trustingly, “I’ve never been away from the UK before. That’d be exciting, don’t you think? I’m Henry by the way.” He beamed up at the girl.