all of this will never be the same | irina

[rhys alexander greyback]

template by punki of adoxography

you'll open up your eyes and realize

how you fit in the wild

January 3, 2026
Irina Rose Krum

Rhys stood with his arms crossed in front of a desk covered in random scrolls of parchment and various paperwork. He recognized the forms, though he would always be annoyed at having to deal with them. This island business was keeping him busier than he'd kept himself a year and a half ago. Gringotts and shipped them all off as soon as they'd learned the Ministry had landed on its shores, and his only respite was that tonight was a full moon. He needed to be back to take his Aware Wolf potion and hopefully not have too much trouble being up and early tomorrow. He grimaced. He was sore and physically exhausted. If it were up to him, he'd have slept all day, and instead, he was here dealing with paperwork and then later in the day off to St. Mungo's for a proper check-up. The goblins were wary of what the island's magic might do to its beloved personnel.

The slew of activity was loud to him, though he didn't have the energy to tune it out. Curse Breakers were running around trying to plan who was going to the island next and who would stay behind for the regular workload, and most of the in-training Curse Breakers had that look in their eyes like they were taking the lead into a tomb for the first time. The fear of the unknown and in their own abilities evident, but that was expected of them. The ones he worried about were the ones that feared nothing and thought too highly of themselves. Rhys paced a few steps and picked up the file he had tossed on the desk, skimming his own notes and summary of the area of the island he had visited with Dahlia. Crimson sand, heavy fog, and magic you could feel in the air. He paced slowly but still managed to lightly bump into someone. Slightly annoyed but knowing it was his fault, he turned and saw a pair of very distinct eyes. If his and Dahlia's were distinct, hers were uncanny in their own way. "Sorry, Irina. Didn't see you." She was another trainee that he was supposed to have been training, at least until they were all quarantined here in Britain. Sighing, exhausted from pretending he wasn't tired from dealing with Maria, his family, and now this island, he closed the file in his hand. "You getting sent to the island yet?"

[Irina Rose Krum]

Irina was intrigued with this new island discovery, but since she was so low on the totem pole at Gringotts, she was not expecting to be sent over in the first few waves. Gringotts certainly loved the idea of a treasure hunt to be sure, but she doubted they would send everyone, when there’s plenty of treasure around the world to be discovered. It was strange to not feel competitive about the situation; Irina usually reveled in competition but there was just something...off about the island to her. She wanted to know more, but didn’t really want to risk her life on it just yet.

Getting up from her desk, Irina started to make a beeline for the coffee but bumped into Rhys Greyback instead. “Oh, sorry!” she exclaimed as he also apologized. He looked exhausted; Irina knew he had been to the island already but she wondered if something else may be going on there. “No, not yet. I’m honestly not in a rush to go before we know more,” she admitted to him. “What was it like?” she followed up with, realizing with a spark of curiosity that he had already been to the island.

rhys alexander greyback

[rhys alexander greyback]

you'll open up your eyes and realize

how you fit in the wild

January 3, 2026
Irina Rose Krum

Very few trainees had been sent in the initial rush to the island. One of the other Curse Breakers had described it as some kind of “gold rush,” and though Rhys was unfamiliar with the term, it had been explained to him that it was part of some muggle history. Dahlia had managed to get selected through Rhys had figured she would have snuck onto the boat if she could, and in that case, he had figured that she might as well go with him, and he’d feel better about her making it back safe. It was an enormous undertaking and on top of all the usual work they had. Irina expressed that she wasn’t rushing to make her way there, and after what he had seen just the two days he had spent there—he didn’t blame her. It gave him a headache knowing the bank would send him again and that Claire and Vic would as well.

Rhys crossed his arms and thought about what he had seen and experienced a moment, but also how it had contrasted with other’s experiences. ”It was….eerie.” That was the foundation for everything, really. ”You can sense some kind of magic there….I think it bothers some more than others.” Rhys paused again, he wasn’t aiming to scare her off exactly, but he wasn’t sure what the bank was expecting to find there either. Though he couldn’t get that constant feeling of being watched out of his mind when he’d been there. Rhys shook his head slightly. Just his first steps had been a unique experience. ”I’ve never seen anything like it. The ‘beach’ you land on has this red sand….I didn’t get to explore a lot. There’s a thick fog. But Ilija and I are due back in a few days.”

He honestly wished the bank would send him to some tomb they’d found in Antarctica at this point, but he knew he was just tired and a bit cranky with the full moon being that night and the handful of tasks he still had to complete that day. Rhys looked back at Irina. ”You’re almost done with your training, aren’t you? You should go.” Rhys could hardly keep track of long individual trainees had been in training, at least unless he had been there since the beginning. Still, he felt it was worthwhile to at least venture there for a day.

template by vee

[Irina Rose Krum]

Irina listened to him describe the way the island felt and she involuntarily shivered. It was strange to think that all this time there was this island waiting for the wizarding world to discover it. She supposed that was par for the course though when it came to magic - there was always something new just waiting to be discovered, or rediscovered. “Bothers some more than others?” Irina asked, her voice slightly higher than normal. She had the gift of Clairvoyance after all; she wondered if the island would affect her visions differently than those not ‘gifted’ with The Sight. Her visions were already troublesome enough without any mysterious island magic messing with it.

“It’s just…” Irina hesitated for a moment, then carried on. “I’m a Clairvoyant, and my visions tend to deal with...well, death and destruction. I guess I’m just worried that going to the island would mess with that even more,” she admitted. She doubted Rhys was the type to gossip about other wizards abilities, and it wasn’t as though she really kept it a guarded secret.

“What if...what if I went with you and Ilja? At least for the first time. Then I know I wouldn’t be alone if something were to happen,” Irina asked tentatively. She knew Rhys and Ilja had a good bond going from being Cursebreakers, and she was just finishing up her own training, which had taken a little longer than normal due to her accident in Mexico. She just did not like the idea of traveling to this strange island alone and with no backup in sight.

rhys alexander greyback

[rhys alexander greyback]

you'll open up your eyes and realize

how you fit in the wild

January 3, 2026
Irina Rose Krum

Rhys noticed Irina’s reaction. It was common among some of the people with who he had discussed his experience. There was something about it and even the way people described it that put people off. Rhys was still unsure of what to make of it all, and maybe when he returned, he would decide whether to go back or avoid it altogether. ”Um—Well, I wasn’t terribly put off by it. I felt like I was walking into a new tomb, but some seemed more uncomfortable than others.” Rhys thought for a moment. He really didn’t quite have the words to describe how he’d felt about it. Not wanting to accidentally scare Irina, he didn’t mention how some stayed on the boat, and others came back looking pale as ever and as though they’d seen several ghosts.

Rhys paused before responding. He wasn’t expecting that answer though it brought him more questions than anything---his curiosity arising. ”Oh—well, that does complicate it a bit…” Rhys paused, but he was just in thought for a moment as his expression shifted. ”What about the tombs we go into? Has that ever bothered you?” Rhys was curious how such an ability was affected by their work, but he stopped himself from asking too many probing questions. Rhys wasn’t one that liked his privacy being poked at, so he figured others didn’t either. But, he’d worked with Irina long enough that Rhys knew she was competent—plus Renfri had trained her. ”Well, we wouldn’t let you go alone regardless, but I don’t mind, and I know Ilija wouldn't either.” Ilija was as experience as Rhys was, plus if it meant helping someone, he knew he would be onboard.

template by vee

[Irina Rose Krum]

Irina chuckled weakly. “Yes, I suppose it does,” she said with a small smile. Irina didn’t necessarily keep her ability hidden, but most people who only knew her on a surface level were unaware of her ‘gift’. It wasn’t real prophecy like Professor Trelawney in the past, just glimpses and flashes into terrible, horrifying things. She had, to her knowledge, never spouted off a prophecy, and she assumed someone would have told her by now if she had.

“No, it hasn’t,” Irina reassured Rhys. “I only get flashes of what’s to come in dreams, not by touching or going in somewhere cursed. Trust me, that was my mothers’ main worry when I told her I dreamt of becoming a Cursebreaker.” Among other things, like not following the family plan of an all-Krum Quidditch team, but Rhys didn’t need to know her familys’ personal business. “I’ve had some odd dreams after, but since they seemed to be in the past they may have just been reflections of what’d happened pre-Curse.” Irina shrugged, they didn’t damage her the way the future dreams did after all, so she hadn’t been too bothered. She was relieved to learn that they would not be letting her go to the island on her own. “Oh, well then in that case...I suppose I could give it a shot,” she told him, still not entirely sure she wanted to visit this odd island.

rhys alexander greyback

[rhys alexander greyback]

you'll open up your eyes and realize

how you fit in the wild

January 3, 2026
Irina Rose Krum

Maybe it was the matter that Rhys hadn’t worked with Irina as closely as Renfri had. His only trainee at the moment was Dahlia, and he hardly volunteered to take on trainees in most cases. Still, he didn’t mind when they had been around a while, many trainees didn’t last their first year, but after that, they typically showed they were solid and skilled, and then Rhys tended to have more patience with them. Renfri and Jasper exiting the field in the same year had caused a shuffle and more work for Rhys than he had expected, even with the lockdown that had kept him in Britain. He tried to think if Renfri had ever mentioned this fact about Irina, but he doubted he would forget something like that—not that it mattered if she could still do her work. Irina assured Rhys that it hadn't gotten in her way in the past, and he nodded in acknowledgment. While he was concerned about how the island and its strange magic might affect it, he also trusted she would speak up if she had a problem going to the island.

Dreams. They were funny things, Rhys didn’t typically have them versus having nightmares, but he wondered what kind of things Irina saw or what she had seen. It didn’t seem appropriate to ask, however, and he kept that curiosity to himself. Rhys paused and looked at Irina and thought for a moment. ”Alright. If it’s not a problem now, it shouldn’t be a problem there.” There was that tiny percentage that something could happen, but he’d seen an array of reactions to the island so far. The comment about her mother’s response was similar to others he had heard. Every parent wanted their child to fall into a career that perhaps had them at a desk rather than walking into a tomb that held unknown curses or traps. ”The bank doesn’t want to lose any more of us. Even the most senior Curse Breakers are doubling up.” Rhys explained, fiddling slightly with the paperwork in his hand. ”Dahlia and a few others joined us on New Year’s Day. I’m hoping we don’t have to be there any longer than we need to be considering our current caseload.” Work was piling up while manpower was taken away for this new island, Rhys wasn’t convinced there was any gold to be found, but he did what he was told—albeit begrudgingly. Then again, he was just having one of those days and the full moon didn't do anything for his mood.

template by vee

[Irina Rose Krum]

Irina nodded briefly, but was still not completely convinced she should go to the island. Her visions came at most inopportune times, and with this new magic that clearly permeated around the island, she was worried it would render her incapable of moving, which not only would be embarrassing, but scared her as to what she might See. Still, as Rhys mentioned, Cursebreakers were dropping like flies - not due to death of course, but Renfri and Jasper Yaxley had both left at the start of Hogwarts term to take up posts as professors. She would try not to let her visions be an inconvenience to Gringotts. “Do the goblins think they can find treasure on the island?” she asked, her curiosity getting the better of her. Obviously they must think something of value was on the island, else they wouldn’t be sending their Cursebreakers to explore. She wondered what else could be there; it had been hidden for years, centuries probably, and had just been discovered now. Why?

Irina studied Rhys’ face for a moment; he seemed exhausted, well moreso than a Cursebreaker returning from an assignment normally did. “Are you alright Rhys? Do you want me to give you a Pepper Up potion? I can brew them pretty quickly but I always keep a bottle or two in my bag, just in case,” she asked him, sounding concerned. Irina had been aces at Potions, but she had decided against making a career out of it. She did still brew potions at home, in the spare room where her roommate once inhabited. It tended to calm her down after a stressful day; all of her concentration was honed in on the potion at hand, and it tended to box out any other thoughts she may have had when she was not so occupied.

rhys alexander greyback

[rhys alexander greyback]

you'll open up your eyes and realize

how you fit in the wild

January 3, 2026
Irina Rose Krum

Rhys shrugged. After his time there, he doubted that there was some hidden cave of gold waiting to be plundered like some lost sunken pirate ship. ”You know they would never pass up a chance.” The goblins weren’t ones to take advice if they could help it, so Rhys typically kept his mouth shut as it was easier to control his temper that way. But Renfri had spoken well of Krum, and Rhys trusted Renfri unequivocally. Fortunately, the trainees that did make it this far into their training could handle themselves—even if some of their personalities left something to be desired.

Plus, a group of three was a safe bet for such a place. Ilija was someone else who Rhys allowed a large amount of trust, and there was the added fact that Ilija had been to the island as well. And Rhys liked to think that if he was a trainee in this situation, he’d volunteer to go, but those first few years were filled with a motivation to prove himself. But the conversation shifted, and Rhys stopped and looked up from the folders in his hands. ”I—um—I’m alright.” He responded, not being prepared for the question. ”The full moon is tonight.” He added, clearing his throat slightly. The worst time of the month, really. ”And all the traveling…it just sort of adds up.” But, he had to push through—just like he always did. Rhys offered her a half-hearted smile. Really, the past year and a half or two years had been a blur, though by this point Rhys felt that if he stopped, it would all actually catch up to him.

template by vee