On the streets of Malvadogar- the village of the dark witches- Gerald, Isabella and Oscar were surrounded by its residents- witches and wizards.
Oscar was trying to make them understand that the muggles as humans were known as in the world of witches and wizards did not deserve the resentment they received.
After years of failed attempts, Oscar doubted it would make any change now.
The crowd's attention diverted when they heard the sounds of claps coming from behind. Every head turned around to see a man- tall, slim with a pointed, long nose. His peppery hair was tied in a short ponytail behind the back of his head. His long beard rested on his chest, with grey hairs peeking out of the black mane.
His slightly big eyes were observing, calculative. He wore a black dress with an ankle-length coat that looked more like a cloak. His glasses rested slightly below his beard hung around his neck by a gold chain. He used them only while reading.
He looked calm from outwards, but one could see the dangerous glint in his greenish eyes. As soon as the crowd saw him, the silence prevailed on it.
"I appreciate your intentions Oscar. But it takes centuries to prepare a society for a revolution. Unfortunately we are at a very early stage of it." He said calmly.
Not waiting for anyone's response, he turned around, and the three visitors followed him wordlessly. The crowd dispersed but not before glaring at Isabella.
She sighed that at least she would not be bothered anymore, at least during this visit. The bearded man took them to a house, that was at the end of the road. The village of Malvadogar was not a large habitation.
It was only a humble habitation of about thirty to forty huts. And the bearded man was their chief, their guide and the one who provided them with what they needed- resources and refuge.
The house they all walked in looked like any other house in Malvadogar. The only difference in its exterior was it was decorated with various strange symbols coloured in white paint.
However, the normal-looking house transformed into a huge place that was no less than a villa. It looked like half of Malvadogar was present inside doing their respective things.
Isabella always got fascinated by this place. Looking from outside at a humble house one could never guess a four-storey space was fitted inside it. That was what was called magic!
Gerald always got annoyed by the fact that half of the things in Malvadogar flew in the air from here and there. He always got bumped into one of them, receiving a disapproving look from the onlookers afterwards.
"Look!" Isabella held his hand when a jar passed flying right in front of his face.
That was what annoyed him! Lazy magicians!!
Climbing the circular stairs that had heads of snakes at both ends, they reached the fourth floor where their magic chamber was.
"Come in," Reznor said.
This was Isabella's favourite part of this place, although nobody particularly cared about her opinion. The large space was covered by a doom shaped roof, and the most interesting part was- it reflected the sky outside even though it was as solid as the thick walls of this place.
It felt like the room was roofless when actually it was all for the amusement of Reznor.
"Isabella, I want to present my sincere apologies on behalf of my people for their rude behaviour towards you. I understand that they need time to accept the humans. I hope you understand it too!" He said in a sweet voice.
But Gerald knew better than that.
"Oh come on Reznor! You do not seem biding by your words in front of your people." Gerald did not care to hide the sarcasm.
Forcing a mild smile on his face, Reznor matched Gerald's stare.
"Yes, I do not because accepting humans is my personal choice and I can not forcefully enforce it upon others. If we need change, then we have to take small steps. Right Oscar?!"
"Hmm" Oscar did not explain much and directly jumped on the business.
"Why did you call us?"
"Ahh, yes!" Reznor said.
He pulled out his wand from the sleeve of his dress, another trick of his. And chanting a spell, he moved his wand in a particular pattern.
They were standing around a large vessel that contained a transparent liquid that resembled water. As his wand moved, the water turned misty.
Reznor then moved his wand down and then up, and a glittering figure came out of the misty water. It was an image of a mushroom.
"What is this?" Isabella asked.
"This is a type of fungi that grows at the foothills of the Northern mountain range. It is a very rare variety of mushrooms and blooms only in a particular period of the year.
And I want it!" Reznor told.
"Why don't you get it with the power of your stick?" Gerald rolled his eyes in annoyance.
"WAND! It is called wand Gerald! use the appropriate words. The right words at the right time can turn the tables around."
Gerald hated when that wizard spurted some philosophical shit. It sounded weird coming from his mouth.
"Do you need it for one of your experiments?" Isabella asked to ease the tension between the powerful wizard and a grumpy human.
"But I do not remember use of this particular variety of mushroom in any of the experiments." Oscar commented, rummaging through the pockets of his knowledge chest.
Reznor laughed, shaking his head. "Oh no, dear! I do not need it for my experiments. Actually-"
A black coloured hairy creature jumped out of nowhere curled in a hairy ball. It uncurled itself strutting around on its four paws. He had no eyes, nose or mouth as all he had for a face was a round that was covered in thick long, soft hairs.
It made some peculiar squeezing sound that always irritated Gerald. But Isabella found the creature very cute. She tried comparing it with a dog once, and the way Reznor roasted her verbally made her shiver in displease.
"Hello, Muffy!" The creature jumped in Reznor's hand, and the wizard caught it easily.
Laughing at it, Reznor scratched its neck that was again hidden under the thick sheet of black hair.
"Actually someone gifted those mushrooms to me and muffy accidentally ate some of them. And guess what, it became her favourite snack! Right muffy?!"
That was it!
Gerald looked at Reznor as if the wizard had just grown two heads. "Are you serious Reznor? Did you call us here only to get your dog's favourite snack? What do you think about us???" Gerald growled.
A deep scowl formed on Reznor's face as he glared at Gerald.
"It is NOT a DOG!" He gritted through his clenched jaw.
"Whatever that freaking creature is! We are not one of those elves who lick your feet all the time." Gerald retorted, angry at the whole thing.
"Did you just mentioned us, Gerald?"
A short creature with big blue eyes and bigger pointed ears walked towards them after appearing out of thin air. He had no hair on his body and was very slim that his limbs looked like sticks.
The elf named Fudge glared at Gerald with his distractingly big blue eyes.
Gerald only rolled his eyes at him. Seems like the man did not share any compassion with any of malvadogar's residents.
"Fudge, take him." Reznor passed Muffy to him before turning towards the three people in front of him.
"Now let's talk about the price."
"We are not getting your dog's snacks!" Gerald protested, but Isabella pinched him in the side.
"We are listening Reznor." She said.
Reznor's lips stretched in a satisfied smile. "This is why I like you Isabella even when you are a muggle, I mean... a human."
Gerald knew that it was not an unintentional mistake of calling Isabella muggle. Although Reznor let these two muggles- humans- establish some sort of relationship with Malvadogar, it was all for his selfish reasons.
Reznor again danced his wand in the air, and a brown bag fell in his other hand.
"What one bag for so much efforts?" Gerald spat.
Reznor nodded his head. "One bag for each one of you!"
The way Isabella's eyes twinkled in delight, Reznor knew that he had them where he wanted them.
Gerald opened his mouth to retort before Oscar nodded his head. "Deal!"
"What? I-"
"He is also contributing!" Isabella added quickly before Gerald lose his stake and made them lose theirs too.
"Good! This is the advance. And I will see you in two days."
Before they replied, Reznor was gone, disappeared into thin air.
Gerald sighed in frustration. This happened all the time. He fell into Reznor's trap when he saw money. Isabella took the pouch from Oscar and began throwing it in the air, only to catch it again.
Filch, who fell asleep in Gerald's coat pocket, woke up at the sound of clinking coins. It moved in the pocket, before jumping out to grab the pouch. But Isabella was quick to push Filch away, and the poor animal fell on the nearby table.
"Hey! Do not dare to hurt my pal!!" Gerald ran to Filch as the niffler gave him his most innocent look.
"Then tell your niffler to stay away from my money."
"Your money?" Oscar and Gerald asked in unison.
Isabella gave a sheepish smile to Oscar before she hugged him sideways. "I mean OUR money."
"Our money?" Now it was only Gerald, but then his niffler was right there to back him up.
"Yes. Because I am not sure if you will complete the mission and not leave us midway. So you will get your share only after you contribute your share of efforts... with honesty!" Isabella warned.
Gerald always wonder how this short and petite woman with curly hair dominated the two men- him and Oscar.
"Fine!" Gerald grumbled.
They began climbing down the stairs, but Gerald's eyes were searching for someone.
"Gerald will you walk little faster please?" Isabella called him.
He did not realise that he had paused mid stairs.
"Erm... yes."
He then resumed climbing down the stairs. He wanted to ask about the person he had not seen for quite a few days.
Reaching the ground floor, they were walking towards the door when Gerald saw a familiar figure around.
"I will be back in a minute." He told before running to that person.
"Hades! Hades! Wait a minute." Gerald called the man as he was walking in another direction.
Hades stopped and turned around to see Gerald approaching him. His mood instantly soured.
Gerald was the last person he wanted to see today.
"Gerald? What do you want?" Hades asked, masking his annoyance.
"Erm... I wanted to ask you something."
"What?" Hades narrowed his eyes.
Gerald's big green eyes again roamed around before they settled on Hades' face.
"Where is she?"
Hades' jaw ticked in irritation. He knew exactly who Gerald was referring to, yet he played obliviously.
"Who is she?"
"Sylvia. Where is Sylvia?" Gerald asked.
"I do not know." Hades tried to wrap up their conversation as soon as possible.
He did not understand why a muggle was interested in her and why she seemed more comfortable around him even more than anyone in the Malvadogar.
"How can you say that you do not know? You are always with her. She tells you about her whereabouts. Tell me, where is she?" Gerald was not a little angry.
"And why do you care? Why do you want to know where is she?" This time Hades did not try to hide his resentment towards Gerald.
"I do not need to tell you that!"
Sensing the tension between the two men, Oscar was already by Gerald's side.
"Enough! Hades do you really don't know where is Sylvia?" Oscar asked.
Hades shook his head with a milder tone, he said, "No Oscar. I really don't know or else I would have told him."
Oscar nodded his head. "If you contact her then tell her that gerald was asking about her. See you later!"
With that said, Oscar held on Gerald's hand before dragging him out of Reznor's place and then out of Malvadogar.