The Wizard called Oz - HP

After their short break, Alfreda took Oz's hand and apparated the two of them towards Minsk seeing as though it was in their field of view now. With that she could mitigate Oz having to transform or them having to travel on foot. In a flash the two arrived at Minsk as the sun was still rising on the day.     

"I can't believe I'm saying this Alfreda but our first step will be getting some kind of book that can help translate for us... We had Charlie last time in Romania luckily but here we are walking blind without something to guide us".     

Alfreda let out a little giggle as she nodded at her masters words. Seeing that Alfreda understood the situation Oz then continued.     

"Remember also to keep your eyes peeled. We'll spend maybe a maximum of two days here. If we can find any wizard-folk in that time then we can ask them about the giants that live nearby. If we find nothing in two days then we'll just travel in the general direction Hagrid told me in the hopes of spotting it ourselves. I'd like to avoid the latter though as we'd be searching blind even with my eyes...".     

After giving the full run down of the situation Oz motioned Alfreda to put on her hood and he did the same as well. Enchanted onto the hood were a few charms that simply masked their presence and aura so to muggles they were 'less noticeable'. Muggles would only be able to spot them if they did something that drew attention, say a large scale spell that exploded would expose their location for instance. This also helped in finding wizard-folk as only witches and wizards would notice them quicker.     

With themselves prepared, they walked into the city of Minsk completely blind at what could happen. Despite walking into the unknown though, Oz kept a confident grin thinking to himself that no matter what arose whilst he was in this country he would find a way to overcome it, just like he did with that damn mountain...     

.     

Hours zoomed by as the duo of Oz and Alfreda roamed the streets of Minsk and sadly they had no luck at all spotting any wizard-folk in the city. The more hours passed the more theories pierced through Oz's mind making him wonder if the wizards of Belarus had a gathering point somewhere else other than Minsk.     

'That wouldn't make sense though seeing as though the giants live so close by... If I governed the wizarding community here I would want to keep in contact with the giants as much as possible less they go haywire and decide to attack any nearby muggle settlements. Considering Hagrid specifically mentioned Minsk it would make sense that this place is where they would be based... But where the hell are they?'.     

As the sun rose up to the highest point in the sky Oz let out a small sigh realising that its not going to be as easy as rocking up to Minsk and seeing someone with magic. It seemed as though Belarusian witches and wizards hid themselves from muggles much more deeply in comparison to the UK community that seemed to roam the streets when they felt like it. Dependant on different jurisdictions and how different people are brought up it may be instilled into young wizards here that they need to be completely hidden not interaction with any muggles at all, even their cities for that matter.     

'The best bet for now would be to switch our focus from any wizard-folk to maybe wards/charms in the area... before that though I'll need to get a damn book...'.     

Oz briefed Alfreda on the new plans as the two headed towards the main street where the majority of the stores were at. Looking in the shop windows Oz eventually spotted a shop that was filled with books. He entered in with Alfreda and as they entered the door jingled, letting the shop owner know that someone had entered.     

"Сардэчна запрашаем!... Ага?" (Welcome!... Huh?).     

The shop owner looked towards the door and saw nobody there. He looked on confused for a while, poking his head around different corners of the shop yet no matter how hard he looked he couldn't see anyone. He scratched his head for a moment before sighing to himself.     

"Мусіць, маё ўяўленне..." (Must be my imagination...).     

After confirming to himself that nobody seemed to be in the shop, he went back to his desk and sat down again looking through the newspaper he was reading. In the meanwhile Oz and Alfreda held their breath as they watched the man search for them before giving up. Oz couldn't help but let a slight giggle escape his lips.     

"These cloaks enchantments seem to be more effective than I originally thought... Anyway Alfreda, Let's search for a translation book. We may have to look for a while...".     

At that both Alfreda and Oz split off within the book store looking around different areas. A long time seemed to pass before finally Oz spotted a book that had some English on it as well as Belarusian. He plucked the book from the bookshelf and looked within its pages. As he read on he realised that this book was exactly what he was looking for.     

'This won't help with talking to people but at least I'll get a somewhat accurate guess on what's going on around here... Guess I'll let Alfreda know I've found the book'.     

Oz walked across the bookstore after finding the book he needed sneaking a glance at the shops owner who was half asleep in his chair at the desk. Considering nobody besides them had entered the store for some time it seemed to Oz that this store was considerably dead. With the rise of technology in the modern muggle world it'd make sense for places such as these to receive a hit.     

"Alfreda, I've got the book. Let's leave".     

Alfreda frowned slightly as she looked at her master.     

"You aren't going to pay the shop owner for it?".     

"I'll leave him a piece of gold or something if that pleases you... Its not like we have any Belarusian money on hand".     

Walking over to the desk Oz placed a couple pieces of gold he had in his pouch in front of the now fully asleep shop owner. Even if Alfreda didn't notify him, Oz would have left something here as a thanks. Looking over to Alfreda he motioned towards the door and the two of them left. The jingle of the door awoke the Belarusian shop owner as he called out saying welcome before noticing the gold in front of him.     

"Золата!?" (Gold!?).     

The shop owner seemed to forget completely about the weird happenings as he saw the gold in front of him, his focus now entirely on the few pieces placed on his desk. He grabbed them all with a smile placing them in his pockets. This shop of his was on a downward trend recently however with the gold supplied it seemed he could keep the shop afloat for a while longer...     

.     

After their little episode in the book shop Oz and Alfreda continued their exploration of the city of Minsk, looking for anything that could lead them in the right direction. The sun that felt like it was high in the sky only a moment ago seemed to now be setting as darkness started to spill over Minsk. Noticing this Oz sighed to himself, looking over to Alfreda he started to tell her their next course of action.     

"We'll set up our tent somewhere hidden away... Looking at the maps around our best bet seems to be this park nearby. If what I've learnt from the book is enough I think the parks name in English is 'Victory Park'...".     

Alfreda followed beside her master as the both of them headed towards the park. As they approached their destination night fully fell on the city of Minsk bringing a cold and quiet atmosphere along with it.     

Victory Park seemed to look like a good place to stop for Oz and Alfreda as there was a number of trees acting as a natural camouflage for anyone within. The dense foliage would allow Oz and Alfreda to set up camp and ward off the area. Whilst it was tempting to use their cloaks to just waltz into a motel or something, there was still the risk of being seen if anything did happen. This setup in Oz's mind seemed much more comfortable and fitting.     

As they approached closer to the park, Oz looked towards the the trees that sprawled across sections of it, taking in the sight he was seeing. Although it was dark, he could still appreciate the scenery. As he was appreciating the scenery though he noticed a slight 'wobble' in the atmosphere.     

"Alfreda, stop a second".     

Alfreda stopped abruptly in her tracks looking at her master with confusion. Oz activated his eyes full force as he looked towards the direction of the wobble and as he did he noticed a thick ward within the trees of the park, encompassing a sizeable area.     

"There's a ward within the foliage that way... seems we finally found some wizards".     

Oz kept his wits about him considering the situation. He wasn't about to barge in all smiles asking whoever was there about the wizarding community here thats for sure. Seeing as though these people had warded themselves off in this park in Minsk it raised alarm bells in Oz's mind about the intentions of these people. He stared deeper into the ward straining his eyes as much as possible hoping to see inside, after some time he started to see a blurry image appear in his vision.     

Two people seemed to be sat at a campfire discussing something, one with a stick and marshmallow in hand. As Oz scanned the area he looked for any signs of who these people could be. As him and Alfreda walked closer and closer the blurry vision became less blurred and Oz was starting to see more of what was happening inside the ward. With his eyes working full force however, a slight drop of blood seemed to slowly run down his face very similar to what happened way back when he used magic in his eyes to spot the Lovegood's house when he was younger. The abundant magic being forced into his eyes was even too much for his dragon eyes to bear. Alfreda bit her tongue as she saw her master's eyes bleeding slightly however seeing how focused he was she refrained from speaking.     

The moon rose eventually shining a light on the camp with the two men in it, At that point Oz was able to see a mask that he never thought he would have seen here.     

"Death Eaters...".     

As Oz saw the mask he pulled the magic from his eyes and allowed the aches and pains in them to settle. It seemed now that tonight wasn't going to be a peaceful night.     

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A/N - Chapters will be slower for a while however they will still be continuing of course. Just pacing myself for a while :)     

If you want more updates on what's going on join the discord: https://discord.gg/HVvRupJY     

(Shout out to Jonathan Silva Zero who in the Pictures chat of the Discord gave some good images as reference for those reading the novel!).