ᴏꜰ ᴏᴀ𝗄 ᴀꜱʜ ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴏʀɴ || ʜᴏɢᴡᴀʀᴛꜱ ʟᴇɢᴀᴄʏ

Gwen wanted to throw up. No she wanted to hurl every bit inside of her, and then do it again twice over. She gagged, trying her best to not puke since she was very much alive, at least she hoped so.

"Are you alright?" Professor Fig's voice made Gwen's senses come back to her and she groaned, everything hurt. Her arms, her face, her stomach. It felt like she had been shoved into a wall and stretched into butter.

"Son of a Bludger," Gwen muttered and tried to sit up but wanted to down back over from the pain. "Where the blazes are we?" She gasped, trying to put some air back into her bruised lungs. They had been falling moments ago, supposed to a dragon's tasty afternoon snack, and yet now she wasn't too sure.

She groaned when she tried to stand but fell, her leg not cooperating with her as she fell back down. She looked down and immediately regretted it. It was twisted, maybe even broken. She bit back a wail. She could deal with the pain, it meant that she was alive. Alive and not dead. Dead like George. Her mind whispered and she wanted to cry. He was dead, they could have been dead. Dead without finding out anything about herself, about who she was supposed to be.

"You're hurt!" Professor Fig's voice edged with concern and Gwen knew she should have held her tongue but at this point she couldn't stand it.

"Perhaps just a bit," she snapped back and looked away, bitting her tongue from ruining anything more she had with Fig. She actually liked him, he seemed nice, genuine almost, perhaps someone like Kallias. Gwen grimaced at the thought of Kallias. Would he believe any of this if she told him? Would she believe herself if this was told. She would sound like some sort of terrorist for the Magical World. First jinxes and now dragons? She wasn't sure she wanted to know what else was up next.

Professor Fig fumbled for something before holding out of his pocket, revealing a bright green liquid in a small jar. Pulling out the cork, he held it out toward Gwen. "Take this, it's Wiggenweld potion. That stuff'll right you out in a second."

Gwen eyed the potion carefully before taking it. She was in too much pain to complain and if this bubbling potion was going to fix her then it was worth a shot. She downed it and paused, she could already feel herself warming up from the inside. Her arm didn't feel as painful, her right side wasn't as sore. Her leg still hurt but at least now she knew it wasn't broken, maybe strained, but it wasn't like they had all the time in the world to mend her back together.

"What happened?" She asked and Professor Fig shook his head, clearly trying to piece the whole catastrophe himself.

"Poor George - I can't believe he - " The mention of George made Gwen flinch as she watched Professor Fig pace back and forth. Clearly she had misjudged him too early, if Professor Fig thought of him like this, then he clearly wasn't like the other Ministry individuals she had met. She pushed down the guilty feeling and tried to wriggle her toes. She could feel them, though it still hurt to move her leg completely. At least I can still move it.

"What the hell got into that damned thing? Attacking a carriage mid-air? A typical dragon would never-." he paused and Gwen felt her brain being overwhelmed. He was right, dragons didn't just fly into carriages and eat people willy nilly anymore. At least not for a few hundred years. They had some sense of decorum, right?

"Professor?" Gwen asked, afraid to evoke any other emotions from Fig today and strained her voice. "Sir - where are we?"

"I'm not sure. But that key you discovered was clearly a Portkey." Professor Fig sighed.

"Portkey?" Gwen asked, what in the world was a 'Portkey'? There were too many variables at play for her to keep counting. Her head felt like it was spinning and she took in a deep breath.

"It's an item enchanted to bring whoever touches it to a specific place." Professor Fig prattled on and Gwen mustered up the courage to try and stand. She shifted her weight on to her prior bruised leg. It was painful but not intolerable, that was the good news. The bad news was that her headache hadn't gone away. Probably a concussion, not sure even a Wiggenweld potion can clear that completely away. With all that free falling involve, Gwen was starting to get the picture that she wasn't big on traveling via air. Maybe it was motion sickness, but she would definitely be traveling back to London a different way, that she would make sure of.

"I'm feeling better sir, if you'd like to have a look around a bit." She said and Professor Fig nodded he was surveilling the walls of the cave they were in carefully, wherever they were, it wasn't anywhere they had been before.

"I would, but stay close. We've no idea who created this Portkey - or why." He led the way to the mouth of the cave were the light was coming out of.

Gwen glanced down at their feet. They had to be near some sort of civilization, why else were there man made paths? Her mouth gaped when she saw the opening out of the cave. The calls of seagulls over head and the spray of sea water in the air was a bit difference to the pungent spell of dragon breath and ash. They cave entrance widened out to a cliff ledge over looking jagged rocks with waves crashing against them. The smell of salt and grass was overwhelming that it almost made Gwen gag just as much as the fire stench that still lingered.

"How far did that Portkey even take us?!" She exclaimed, looking out to sea in surprise. It didn't seem to end past the horizon, the blooming white clouds and wisps of dark gray dotted along the edges of the sky as the sun began to dip behind them.

"Farther than London than the carriage travelled. We're somewhere in the Scottish Highlands." Beyond them laid a tall rocky island with ruins hanging along the edges. Professor Fig stared in bewilderment, eyeing their surroundings carefully. "This has not been the day either of us expected! But Miriam sent that Portkey to George for a reason. And I believe that she - and now George - died in the pursuit of whatever it was meant to lead to. If you're sure you're all right, and wouldn't mind indulging me, I'd like to have a look around."

The mention of those two names felt like stones had dropped into the pit of Gwen stomach and she knew she couldn't say no. "Absolutely, sir."

Professor Fig grinned in excitement, as if his old age was just a disguise as he perked up at the thought of getting down to the bottom of this problem. "Good. let's see if we can find a path, however faded it may be."

For an old man, Professor Fig sure seemed rather spry as he made quick work of the path in front of him. He kept calling back to make sure she was okay, and Gwen wasn't sure how he wasn't out of breath. She sure was but there was no way she could admit that, not today at least. Apparently being winded and hurt by dragons only worked on new students, not spry old professors. He called back to make sure she minded her step every now and then, pointing out loose rubble, or fallen debris, even pausing to make sure she was right behind him.

But Gwen couldn't help but think about the Portkey. It made them travel all the way into the Highlands of Scotland, that as no easy feat and clever magic at that. But why here of all places? Just what mysteries does this place hold?

"Professor, where do you suppose your wife got the Portkey that brought us here?" she called out, she wasn't sure what answer to expect but Professor Fig seemed to enjoy questions, and solving riddles even more.

"A good question indeed! Miriam spent years searching for evidence of a long-forgotten form of ancient magic." Ancient Magic? He paused and let out a laugh, almost as if he read her mind. "Yes, a powerful magic willed by a rare few - that seems to have been lost to time itself. I believe that Hogwarts castle was built by, and is itself a stronghold of, that ancient magic." He paused again, letting Gwen a moment to catch her breath as he gazed at the ruins up ahead over the ocean misty breeze.

Does he just not age? Or are all old people this fit? Gwen couldn't help but wonder more about Professor Fig. He didn't seem shy about talking about his now departed wife, Miriam, nor of what her research entailed. Perhaps it's his way of remembering her, solving the unanswered riddles she left behind. Gwen hoped that was the answer, it seemed like a noble cause. If he liked to be the solver of his own mysteries, then maybe he could help solve her's too. Hope began to grow in her at the mere thought of having another person understand her issue at hand. Kallias could only do so much for her now, especially with the mess she had gotten herself into, after all, he was an Auror, he couldn't just swing by to her whenever she pleased. Dread poked at her at the thought of the dragon attack. The Ministry will have my head for sure if they find out I was of the attack, victim or not, they already don't trust me as far as they can throw me.

"I don't know where she came into possession of the Portkey, but I am certain it was to do with that search." Professor Fig determined with a nod." His eyes lit up when he pointed down across from them. "Ah! There's the path down below, this way!"

They traveled a bit more and Gwen started to feel a bit better than before. Her leg still ached, and her scratches weren't bleeding anymore, they were still there but nothing she could fix now. She paused at a bigger cliff. Professor Fig had jumped down from it with ease but with her leg, she was more likely to hurt herself again. Professor Fig looked up and held out his hand to her and she bent down and grasped it, using it as leverage as she hopped down, carefully landing on her good leg before eyeing the Professor with a small smile and quietly thanked him. He smiled back, continuing on as if the calling of adventure energized him.

"But sir, I know it's not my place, but I wonder, why was your wife searching for evidence of lost magic." Gwen blurted out, wishing she could take the words back but Professor Fig gently looked at her.

"I have no secrets to hide, any question you have are natural ones." He smiled with a twinkle in his eye. "My wife, Miriam, wanted to understand why such powerful magic disappeared from the Wizarding World - spoke often of all the good it could possibly do." He lent his hand out once more, helped her carefully over some jagged steps and the path turned and sloped down ward before reach a barrier. "But magic is no different than any power. What really matter is the one who wields that power. It is the wielder who chooses the fate, not the other way around."

Gwen looked at the barrier and gently touched it, it wasn't cold to the touch, rather it felt solid, but looked similar to ice. "Is that ice?" She peered at the wall confused. How could there be ice on the seaside? And only in one place? This is awfully strange to have in ruins.

"it's not cold enough here. It appears to be a sort of enchantment. Someone wanted to clearly block this path, but why she wondered.