Ex-Auror Manannán and the Tear of Ra

-Chapter Eleven- The Cave and the Dragon

Oliver's elation at the discovery of the Draconis cave picture soon faded as the mammoth task before him was fully understood. Looking through the near endless quantity of maps, magical and non-magical made pictures and photos of caves throughout Europe, he managed to narrow down the search from over seven hundred potential locations down to just twenty-one. Although the picture had drastically reduced the number of possible caves to something more searchable, the daunting task of checking out each location now lay ahead. And Oliver kept reminding himself, it was still possible that the Draconis cave was not even amongst them.

Jynx's attempt to uncover the artist behind the Draconis picture was as fruitful as Finikis' search into what or who was the Dread. Both had not unearthed anything that shed any light on the subjects. They had spent the past two days going over books in Finikis' library, even venturing out to checking local magical book and supply stores. And still nothing. Finikis had pretty much resided himself to the fact he wasn't going to get anywhere, and Jynx was nearing that conclusion too with her own investigation. The pair had been sat in the library since breakfast and it was now nearing lunch. Finikis had not once opened a book that day and Jynx flicked through pages in a book about famous artists within the magical community. She was confident it held no answers, so she was apathetically reading it.

'The Dread must refer to a dragon. I thought it about it. Draconis basically means dragon. The most infamous dragons that acquire a name are often prefixed with an adjective. And dread is not an uncommon one.' Said Jynx, as she closed the book she was reading.

'I thought same. I haven't found anything. It can't be anything else.' Replied Finikis.

'Well, if we do find the cave. I'm not looking forward to facing a dragon. What dragons are local to this area?' Said Jynx, as she raised from her chair and made her way to the stacks that contained books about dragons.

'Norwegian Ridgeback and Ukrainian Ironbelly have been reported. But not common. Anyway. If it is a dragon, I wouldn't Vorry. Not as ve have Oliver.' Said Finikis, who remained seated as he watched Jynx, who turned to stare at him on the mention of Oliver's name.

'Oliver. Why?'

'He faced a dragon before. At school. He vas only student in thirty years at Mahoutokoro to complete Vat Vas described as the true tradition of Mahosodachi. He held out getting robes changed gold until he finished his Mahosodachi vand. He nearly didn't graduate, he vas so obsessed vith honouring the traditions of Japanese magic. He vanted to proof a foreign born vizard had vat it took. And he proved professors vong.'

'Mahosodachi?' Asked Jynx.

'Ya. Had I not told you? Mahoutokoro differs lot from most vizrding schools. You given robes at start and each year vhen you pass and get the grades, your robe takes on new colours and markings. In the last two years, you complete all classes to graduate. And vith each of the seven class you achieve a gold band on the robes. If you receive top marks in all classes your entire robe turns gold. I only gold bands. But Oliver was pretty much top of the class for everything, particularly transfiguration and defence against the dark arts. The class he nearly failed was Mahosodachi, and that vas because he vanted to do it the old vays. He vanted a dragon core to his wand. And in true tradition, he vasn't going to use dragon heartstring supplied. True Mahosodachi required a vizard to find and kill dragon themselves, and to take heartstring. Only then vould you be able to produce a vand that truly belonged to you. Oliver wanted that so bad. He vas a mad man that final year.' Said Finikis, who as he spoke it was clear he was reminiscing of good days. Jynx was eyes wide listening to the story.

'So, Oliver hunted down a dragon for his wand?' Asked Jynx.

'Ya! He did. Only student in years to complete Mahosodachi properly using a dragon heartstring. He vas coy about the story to other students. But the Professors vere impressed and verified it to be true. He got top marks from that and earned golden robes. I still remember how annoyed so many classmates vere at his achieved. Not just them, but their parents. But you couldn't argue. Oliver vas very gifted.'