Gateway 8

I didn’t stay there too long, I still wanted to fetch Luna so we could explore together and by the time I left, she should already have been awake for a few minutes.

When I reached the tent I came upon a familiar sight: Xeno and Luna sitting on a table, animately discussing with a mess of parchment in between them.

I rolled my eyes and loudly clapped my hands.

“All right you two! We came here to see and experience different cultures while having fun! No work allowed while we’re here!” I said and, upon seeing their dejected looks, conceded with a sigh. “Fine, some work allowed, but only if it involves what’s out there right now!”

They cheered at that, and soon enough, we were leaving the tent.

“I’ll have to return soon,” Xeno said, looking at the time with a wave of his wand. “Lunch shouldn’t take long to make, but I’d rather have it ready for when you two return.”

“No need,” I said, shaking my head. “We got invited to lunch by a group I met while exploring, and I can guarantee both of you will love the food.” I finished with a smirk.

“Well then, in that case, I’ll meet both of you here at lunchtime.” He replied with a smile before walking off.

“Soooo, what are we doing?” Luna asked.

“Oh, you’re gonna love this!” I said while taking her hand and pulling her with me.

It didn’t take long for us to find a ‘duel’, an Indian witch against a Mexican wizard, with the main theme being snakes.

“Oh” Was all Luna said, adoringly looking at the dozen crystal snakes the Indian witch had summoned, which were undulating upright, bathing the area in a rainbow of dazzling colors.

“Pretty great, right?” I asked.

She nodded vigorously, enraptured by the Mexican wizard’s response of conjuring a golden-winged white snake.

And so we went, seeing amazing feats of magic while learning every spell we could.

Soon enough it was time for lunch and, after meeting up with Xeno, we headed out.

Upon seeing where we were going, both of their eyes lit up in anticipation.

We quickly reached the Brazilian tent and, after introductions and pleasantries with our hosts were finished, we sat down to wait for the food.

Looking around at the now severely extended table, I noticed plenty of other groups were also invited.

The only one I recognized was the cute Japanese witch from before, who was here with her family, but there were easily over a dozen new people as well.

It didn’t take long for the food to arrive, and even I got excited by seeing it: Feijoada.

I taught Luna and Xeno how to set up their plates, and we ate like until we couldn't anymore.

___

After finishing our food, everyone at the table was calmly talking, the previous energy now spent.

Xeno was quietly talking with one of our hosts, but Luna was dead to the world.

“You ok there Luna? I asked, amusement clear in my voice.

“Worth it” She muttered.

I snorted and laid back in my seat, enjoying the calm ambiance that settled over our area of the camp.

A few minutes later, Xeno called us to return to our tent, so we could comfortably relax until it was time for the game.

In the tent, we relaxed for a good long while, until Luna finally had enough energy to grab a quill and parchment and start to write on the living room table.

“What you’re writing?” I asked from my place on the couch.

“The spells we learned. Come on here and add the ones you got before I woke up.” She replied, motioning me to sit beside her.

With a shrug, I joined her.

___

And that’s what we spent the afternoon before the game doing, with Xeno joining us not long after we started to give us tips and tricks while also teaching and learning some spells.

But now it was finally time for the game that I heard so much and so little about at the same time.

We met up with the Diggorys on the way to the massive stadium that apparently popped up while we were in the tent.

On the way, they finally decided to explain Quidditch to me.

“So, let me get this straight,” I say as we enter the stadium. “Two teams, seven players each. Three chasers, two beaters, one seeker, and one keeper.”

Luna and Cedric, the ones who were explaining it to me, nodded.

“The chasers play with the quaffle to score goals, which is what the keeper is for. The beaters play with the bludgers to protect their team and attack the other. And the seeker needs to find the snitch to end the game and get a massive amount of points.” I reiterate what they’ve told me.

They nodded again.

“Are you guys pulling my leg? Because it looks like you just mashed a bunch of different sports together and called it a day.” I asked.

“No, this is the way it was created, isn’t it great?” Cedric replied with a beaming smile.

Soon enough, we were in our seats waiting for the game to start. Cedric pulled out a weird type of binoculars and seemed to be vibrating with excitement while Luna told me more about the teams that would be playing.

There was a loud noise, and the presenter appeared to announce the start of the game, so we turned to the field as the match finally began.

___

The game was actually pretty fun. There was always something interesting happening and the way the Bulgarian seeker made the Irish seeker crash was masterfully done, not to mention how funny it was when those siren-like women made Cedric almost jump from the stands.

He was very embarrassed about that.

I had the most fun pointing out the snitch to the rest of the group, Mr. Diggory and Xeno mostly just squinted at where I was pointing while Luna and Cedric excitedly searched for it. However, as the game went on, Cedric became increasingly frantic at not being able to spot first or even really follow the snitch like I did after he found it.

I had a good laugh with Luna about that when we returned to our tent.

By now, a lot of people are still partying, but Xeno and Luna had already gone to bed and I decided to conjure a chair to sit down in front of the tent to smoke some cigarettes.

I was just finishing my second one when the screaming started.

I quickly got up and went inside to wake up Xeno and Luna.

“Xeno! Luna! Wake up! You need to leave!” I screamed as I got to the second floor.

“Alex? What’s going on?” Xeno groggily asked, while trying to wake himself up.

“Trouble,” I said as, from the window in his room, I was able to see fire consuming the campsite as figures in black cloaks sent spells into the crowd.

Hearing my words and the screams from outside fully woke him up, and he quickly started changing.

“Finish there and go wake up Luna, I’ll be outside to dissuade anyone from trying anything in the vicinity.” I told him as I left.

I was standing in front of the tent for a few minutes before they arrived. Xeno looked ready for war with a serious look on his face, hair tied behind his back, and his wand confidently held in his hand. Luna, on the other hand, was very obviously scared and unsure of herself, with her wide eyes, pale face, and wand slightly trembling in her hand. Although my and her father’s presence seemed to calm her down a little.

“You’re here, good!” I exclaim loudly before turning to Xeno. “Xeno, how do we get out of here!?”

The people screaming and running around made it difficult for him to understand me, but he managed.

“There's an anti-apparition jinx in the area! We need to go to the outskirts of the campsite to get out of its range!” He exclaimed. “Follow me!”

So saying he grabbed Luna’s hand and started running.

I easily kept pace with them, looking around for any sign of the cloaked people causing this.

We were almost at the forest in the periphery of the campsite when I felt something, so I quickly stopped and pulled Xeno and Luna towards me.

“Well, well, well. What do we have here?” A tall, cloaked man wearing a mask said from our left.

We backed off a step and turned towards the voice.

“That one has good instincts,” Another man, equally cloaked and masked, but shorter than the first, said while stepping out from behind him and nodding at me. “He felt your Cruciatus coming just as you cast it.”

“Indeed. But it’s not him that I’m worried about, he doesn’t even have his wand out.” The first man while pointing his wand at Xeno.

“You’re right, we just need to get rid of them so we can have some fun.” The second man gleefully replied, keeping his wand trained on Xeno while his head turned to…  Luna.

The instant I understood his meaning, it was like a switch was flicked. Time slowed to a crawl and everything in my field of view came in sharp focus.

I heard Xeno screaming something, but I didn’t register it because I saw the men shout something and send two vicious green spells at us.

With my sight, speed, and reflexes it was trivial to position myself so both spells could splash harmlessly on my skin. And with a slight push from my feet and a cocking of my arm, the punch I aimed at the second man’s face connected almost instantly.

What I didn’t expect was for his skull to offer no resistance and instantly explode in a shower of gore.

I didn’t have time to think about it, however, because my moment of distraction let the first man send another spell my way.

I tried to rein my strength in this time, but the backhand I hit his face with still splattered his head’s contents all over the grass.

That’s progress, I guess.

With the two dealt with, I turned back to check on Xeno and Luna to see Xeno ready to fight with Luna pressed behind him.

“Xeno! Luna! You guys ok?” I asked, slightly coming down from the adrenaline high.

“We’re fine!” He said, checking the area one last time before turning to Luna.

“Pumpkin, I need you to close your eyes for this bit ok?” He asked her.

She shakily nodded and closed her eyes tight.

He turned to me, took her hand, and started moving.

“Let’s go!” He exclaimed, with me following close behind to make sure no one else would get in our way.

We weren’t that far from the edge of the campsite. So, once we passed the border into the forest we stopped.

“Wait just a little bit more Pumpkin.” He told Luna before turning to me.

“Xeno, go,” I told him firmly. “I’ll stay and deal with this, and I’ll do it easier knowing Luna and you are safe.”

He stayed still for a few moments, indecision clear in his eyes, before he nodded, grabbed Luna, and seemed to twist himself into another point of the universe, dragging Luna and our things along for the ride.

I sighed and turned towards the campsite, where screaming could still be heard. This entire thing started not that long ago and I could already see several bodies in the distance.

Time to put a stop to it.