Northern Crown [t.r]

Chapter Twenty One

  The first few weeks of camping went as well as one could except with a group of people who had been raised in wealth, and a boy who had gotten used to the taste of money. Delilah almost found the whole situation to be amusing had their circumstances been different. Perhaps when it was all over she could take them on a proper outdoor excursion, somewhere beautiful with mountains and lakes.

Pyrrhus huffed as they came to a stop above a cliff, hands on his hips and his head thrown back as he tried to catch his breath. "This sort of work isn't for me, Del."

The girl eyed the group, all of them panting save for Tom. She mused over the fact he was most likely winded as well but for the sake of his pride he was refusing to show it. Because breathing was somehow a weakness.

She sighed and dropped her bag. "The sun is setting so we can stop here for the night, we've traveled a decent bit the last three days."

"Is all this camping really necessary?" Olive called out as she sat herself down on a large rock. "It feels like we haven't made any progress at all."

"Well for one, getting to Potter by foot is going to take time. We can't risk using too much magic when we travel. Besides, this gives us time to think rather than just rushing into things." She gave them all a hopeful smile but it didn't do much to lift their spirits.

After lighting a fire and getting their tents set up, they grouped around the flames as they ate and discussed what was to come.

"How exactly would two Elder Wands work? Aren't there rules against that sort of thing?" Abraxas asked.

"What rules?" Pyrrhus replied as he scarfed down some stew, which earned him a look of disgust from Olive.

Delilah fought back a smile as she watched the raven haired boy grin at Olive in response and she rolled her eyes. Perhaps it was the poor lighting but for a moment it looked as if Olive had blushed.

"I don't know, time rules. Rules of existence. The same object from different points in time doesn't seem like something that would have no consequences." Abraxas finished.

"Perhaps," Tom chided. "There's no way to know, though. Given this has never happened before. And if there are consequences, maybe they could work in our favor."

"Bold of you to assume something would work in our favor." Abraxas chided, surely thinking of all that they had lost which led to this moment.

"Moving on to what we do know," Delilah interrupted. "Grindelwald has no way of getting the Resurrection Stone."

"Not unless he plucks it from Tom's cold dead hands." Olive chimed with an innocent smile as she took a bite of her food. At Tom's raised eyebrows she shrugged. "All jokes of course. Who would ever want to kill you?"

Tom laughed dryly. "I'm sure you could give me a list."

"We all could," Abraxas muttered.

Delilah ignored their bickering, though she was happy to be back with everyone again. "We just need to hope Grindelwald doesn't know about Potter. We have to get to the cloak before he does."

"How exactly do you plan on convincing him to give you a family heirloom? Since robbing him is off the table, which I still think is stupid." Pyrrhus sighed as he sprawled out on his blanket and rested his head in Olive's lap. The brunette huffed, as if it was the world's biggest inconvenience but her fingers started playing with his hair a few moments later.

Delilah bit the inside of her cheek. She couldn't exactly approach Potter as if he were Harry. They were completely different people. Telling the man they needed to fight a war lord didn't seem feasible. A thought popped into her head, it was awful but she couldn't think of anything else that may work.