Harry Potter and The Jade Dragon

Chapter 20 ~ The Timeless Land

Used as he was to unusual things happening in the wizarding world by now, Harry found he hadn't been quite prepared to find something like this. The most he had expected was a Portkey, or some new secret passageway leading out of the school grounds.

Shan was the first to break the silence.

"It's incredible, isn't it?" she said softly. "Where do you think we are?"

Chee Chong and Robert were looking at the sky.

"Western China," said Robert, in a decided tone of voice.

Harry and Shan gaped at him in amazement.

"What?" said Shan. "Where did you get that from?"

"Look up there," said Robert, pointing at the sky, where a few faint stars were still shining. "Chee Chong and I were just looking at the night sky before we left the Tower, and the stars were in a different position. We're about six hours further east from Hogwarts now, and we're still in the northern hemisphere, but at a lower latitude. In fact I'd say we're somewhere in Sinkiang or Tibet, except that it should be winter there now. "

They stared at him for a moment, then looked around again. Harry looked at the mountains; they were wreathed in cloud, tall and rugged-looking, and covered with snow. But the air around the mountain they were standing on was mild, as if it was spring, and the ground around them was carpeted with bright green grass.

"You mean, we're not in Britain any more?" he said. But actually, that makes sense, he thought. The Marauder's Map only shows what's happening inside Hogwarts. If Dumbledore came here that day, he wouldn't have been in Hogwarts any more.

Chester hopped off Chee Chong's shoulder and into the grass, and began to chirp happily.

"He knew, didn't he?" said Shan, watching him, "He was hopping all over that chest!"

Looking up, they saw that they were near the summit of the mountain, so they climbed up and eventually came to level ground. The top of the mountain seemed quite flat, as if someone had horizontally sliced its peak off. A meadow lay in front of them, and beyond that, a forest of dark green conifers was visible.

They wandered out onto the meadow. There was not a person in sight, but just to be on the safe side, they kept their wands out. Harry found himself scanning the surroundings warily, in case Dumbledore suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

Flowers were blooming all around them. There were long spikes of lemon-yellow flowers, with dark blue-green foliage; there were plenty of gentians, and another blue-violet, star-shaped flower; there were fields of scarlet and yellow cockscombs. As they came near the forest, they found rhododendrons blooming in plenty, of all colours : red, maroon, white, cream and pale pink.

The forest consisted of mostly fir and pine, the trees having a rather unusual appearance : their trunks glittered faintly in the morning sun, and looked as if gold dust had been somehow mixed in with the bark. The pine and fir needles, too, had a translucent look to them, as if they were made of fine jade.

"Look, there is a peach orchard," said Chee Chong, as they walked around the perimeter of the forest. He was pointing at a stretch of trees in full bloom in the distance. He had placed Chester, who was looking very smug, back on his shoulder.

They could still hear voices singing, from afar, but there was nothing to indicate where the music was coming from. As they approached the orchard, Harry thought he could hear other voices as well.