Chapter 110: [Romania] - Journey's Beginning
"Are you all prepared Alfreda?".
Oz strapped on his extension charmed pouch to his belt that Alfreda made for him. as he turned to look at his elf servant. Alfreda herself was dressed up in a similar outfit to Oz's, mostly blacked out with some accents of purple here and there. She smiled and nodded towards Oz as affirmation.
"Yes master im all set~".
It had been a couple of days since the two had returned from unveiling the Magi-Cast. The device in question had started to receive worldwide attention across the wizarding world. Oz expected as much and now that the device was released it was high time he got his journey on the road.
"Where's that dragon gone?".
"She's probably asleep in the den master~".
Oz slowly walked from the main room of the hideout to the den and peaked on inside. Norberta was there sleeping soundly. He felt a bit bad waking her however it was time they made a move. He walked over towards the sleeping dragon and stroked her head slowly rousing her from her sleep.
{Pap- I mean Oz? What's the matter?}.
Oz sighed as he heard Norberta start to speak to him.
{Would it kill you to call me papa again.... Anyway Norberta it's time we start making a move. Me and Alfreda are ready we just need you to come along now}.
Norberta's expression seemed to fall into sadness as she realised the time had come for her to be sent away. Oz looked on with a knowing smile as he stroked the dragon a couple times more.
{Honestly Norberta I wish I could bring you along on the journey as well but... You need to grow in an environment thats best suited to you. If you stay here you will remain docile as if being grown in a greenhouse. You need an environment that will train you to be a true dragon}.
Norberta hugged Oz strongly as affirmation towards his comments. Her face that was depressed changed to a light smile as she followed him along back to the main room. With Alfreda, Oz and Norberta gathered into one room Oz began to debrief them on the situation.
"Well it seems like we are completely ready to get going... Our destination will be Romania which will be a long flight for me and Norberta, Alfreda you'll have to sit on my back as we fly there. One thing of note though long flights in my Dragon form tire me out a lot so a lot of little stops along the way will be needed in order to make sure I don't fall and crash...".
When it came to Oz's dragon form compared to other Animagus forms his seemed to suck out a lot of magic to keep up. He managed to learn how to control the size of his form at one point in the previous years however that added a whole other layer of difficulty when it came to power consumption. When Norberta and Oz made their first trip from London to Stonehenge he was exhausted multiple times on the journey. This journey would be across countries so it was set to take a bit longer. Oz wished Alfreda could just apparate the three of them however she had never travelled outside of England especially in the recent century so such an arrangement couldn't be made.
{You struggled a bit when we travelled to here first Oz didn't you? No problem you can both just get on my back and fly the whole way!}.
Oz looked at Norberta with a slight chuckle escaping his lips.
{Whilst you've grown norberta I don't think your strong enough to carry both me and Alfreda... Maybe in the future though}.
As Oz checked over his things once more he felt ready to finally leave on this journey.
"Okay guys lets make a move".
Alfreda and Norberta both nodded as they started to make their way towards the entrance of the hideout and in extension up the staircase leading out of Stonehenge. Oz as he followed after them looked back on the hideout with a smile and when he spotted the fireplace sighed.
'If only Norberta was a bit smaller we could have used the floo network for a head start... Oh well'.
Oz followed along quickly and met the duo on the surface surrounded by the Stonehenge rocks. Oz looked towards the direction they needed to go with a smile.
"Our destination is Romania however in Romania we need to head towards the Carpathian Mountains. There we should find this so called 'Dragon Sanctuary'".
Taking a wide berth from the Stonehenge site Oz and Alfreda checked the surroundings for any muggles. Noting that none were nearby Oz looked up at the night sky with a smile noting it will work as his camouflage. His form as a Hebridean black dragon was known to be naturally elusive and the night sky made it that much more so.
'Seems I've still got the trace blocked as well so all should be good to go...'.
Oz transformed from his human self into his Dragon form. Something he found curious about this transformation was how his clothes and items held on him seemed to be absorbed into himself so that when he transformed back they were waiting for him. Magic was sometimes a wonderful thing, The ultimate deus ex machina to life some would say.
As he spread his wings up he lowered his back signalling Alfreda to jump on to which the Elf responded with a big smile as she climbed aboard. Norberta flew up into the skies and seemed to be excited at the prospect of flying in the open. Oz flew up to join Norberta and as he looked at the dragon that had all grown up he spoke to her.
{Follow my lead Norberta... When the dawn breaks we will make a pit stop to cloak ourselves for safety however throughout this night we need to make as much ground as possible...}.
.
A long and arduous journey welcomed Oz, Alfreda and Norberta as they ventured off from Stonehenge. With the occasional pit stops and the constant vigilance towards not exposing themselves the journey took longer than Oz would have wanted. Multiple times on the trip he cursed how he hadn't learned any sort of apparation at all that could cut down the journey time.
Regretfully though apparation only worked cross country when you had a place in mind that you have visited before so such a set up would be impossible even if he did learn it. For Oz the only way to travel was this way.
'What a pain...'.
A few days passed on the trios journey across the English channel and through Europe. They took some time to sightsee whenever they needed a break however such time was short lived as Oz placed importance on reaching Romania as soon as possible. Eventually the trio passed Hungary and arrived in Romania.
{Seems we are finally here Norberta...}.
Dawn began to break on another day as the trio finally found themselves at their destination. Almost a week and a bit of constant flying at this point had left Oz and even Norberta tired out. Thankfully during their breaks they had the super-elf Alfreda there to nurse their exhaustion. Travelling across countries was no joke especially considering that most had their own form of magical government. As they finally crossed borders into Romania Oz felt a sigh of relief escape his lips.
'A Hebridean black dragon is known for its elusiveness yet I still felt pause about travelling like this... If I plan on travelling across continents in the future another way must be sorted out...'.
As the trio entered into Romania's borders Oz signalled Norberta to descend onto a plain where they could take a break. Using his eyes he scanned the vicinity to ensure nobody was present and after an extensive search he realised the coast was clear. Descending they both landed on the plain and Oz transformed back into his human form. Alfreda looked towards her master with worry as she saw his face had gone pretty pale.
"Master maybe we should have taken more breaks on the journey, Look how exhausted you are...".
As Alfreda approached him Oz smiled and shook his head.
"I'm fine Alfreda, really, The quicker we got here the better. This should be our last break before we finally reach the Carpathian Mountains and that Dragon Sanctuary".
Alfreda sighed as she reached into her pouch and grabbed a bottle of water for Oz tossing it his way. Oz and Alfreda both sat down on the grass as they looked towards a sleeping Norberta. Considering the sun was rising Oz casted a cloak spell onto Norberta just to be safe. The cloak spell he intended to be a quick solution ended up digging into his magical reserves much more than usual as he casted it wandless. His face started to go pale once again.
"Master... If I may ask a couple questions while we are taking a break?".
"Go ahead Alfreda, You're free to ask me anything".
Alfreda smiled as she looked at her masters pale complexion, seeing a bead of sweat trickle down his face she wiped it away with a handkerchief she had on hand.
"Well for starters why are you not using your wand? You seemed awfully connected to that partner of yours yet for the past week or so I haven't seen you use it once?".
Oz wondered when this curious elf was going to ask this question.
"It's true that I am connected strongly with my wand especially after everything we've been through... However that connection was becoming 'too' strong. Witches and Wizards of this day and age rely on wands far too much as a conduit of their power. Me not using my wand is a way to train my wandless magic so in the long run it will eventually catch up with my ability whilst using a wand. At that point I'd have nothing to fear if I ever lost my wand...".
Alfreda nodded at Oz's explanation understanding where he was coming from. For her that question was only something that cropped up as she saw him cloak Norberta without a wand. The real question was the next one she wanted to ask.
"I see... The other question I had master was about Norberta. Why are you so insistent on taking her to this 'Dragon Sanctuary'? This place was recommended by those people in the order right? Don't you think leaving her there may be to their benefit instead of ours?".
Oz sighed as he looked over towards the cloaked Norberta who was fast asleep. Looking down at the ground he started to voice his reasons.
"The main reason im so adamant on going to this place is because of how suspicious it is... Think about it Alfreda, the dragons we've known are all intelligent beasts who were miles stronger than any witch and wizard and required troves of such people to keep them under control. Don't you think its strange that a place like a 'Dragon Sanctuary' even exists? A place where these all powerful beasts are actually kept behind lock and key? Something about the situation screams suspicious... And about Norberta, truth be told if we had more time I'd want to leave her in a place that was different to here however she needs to be around her own kind. This is the only location I know of that definitely has dragons residing".
As Alfreda listened to her Master's words she dwelled on the dilemma he had placed before her as well. The dragon's she had seen in her lifetime and the ones Merlin would bring back to raise and study, they were all vastly intelligent and powerful. For a place like a 'Dragon Sanctuary' to exist seemed incredibly suspicious. Merlin in the past was one of the greatest wizards of all time yet he could only look after a few dragons at a time on his own. For the wizards of this era to have an entire sanctuary to look after seemed incredibly suspicious.
"Well... I guess we will know all the answers when we get there. Dumbledore passed along word that I would arrive before hand through the Weasley couple. There should be a person there named Charlie Weasley who will be expecting my arrival soon. Hopefully he can provide answers to these questions".
As Oz laid back onto the grass he felt his eyes grow heavy as he started to sleep. Alfreda placed herself near Oz's head and picked him up resting him on her lap. As she looked down at her master in adoration she wondered what would happen on this journey of theirs. Even when she was with Merlin she only ever stayed in England so the prospect of travelling the world with someone she felt connected to strongly was a dream to her, especially after centuries of solitude.
Alfreda was slowly devoting herself not towards the bloodline of Merlin but more towards Oz as a whole...
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
BoiGeorge
BoiGeorge Sorry for the long pause on chapters recently. I've started to slow down a bit so that I dont burn out like I did at the beginning of the year where I ended up on hiatus. Compared to that time though I've planned a lot going forward so even if a day or two passes I'm able to easily pick up where I left off.
Something I will note about Alfreda's attitude towards Oz. There probably is small hints of 'Love' in there however the majority of her vision in more towards 'Servitude'. Think of her as an extremely loyal knight rather than a lover who longs for her other half. She is after all hundreds of years old so thoughts of romance are long gone from her eyes, everything and everyone shes ever known has passed by so Oz is the only person in her eyes in this era.
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