Fantasyland [Ilija]

[Vivian River Jordan]

22 May 2027

Look, Viv really wasn’t in it for the ratings. That had never been the point of Potterwatch, scrambling for media fame like many other young witches and wizards looking to leave their mark on the world any way they could. No, Potterwatch was a memorial to her family and the role it had taken as a light in an extremely dark time for the wizarding world. And, of course, to come up with outrageous gossip about the Boy Who Lived so he didn’t only have to read columns speculating that he was having an affair, or that his wife was having an affair, or anything else along those nasty lines. Her gossip was much more fun, thank you very much (“You heard it here first – the great HP planted singing tulips last week that predict Quidditch match outcomes!”). She wasn't political or invasive or disparaging...there were already too many shows like that, and Viv wanted to be different.

But she couldn’t ignore the outstanding ratings from her special episode in Egypt with Dahlia – and why not give the fans more of what they wanted? The new cursebreaker’s dry humor and savvy pyramid-navigating techniques had captured an avid audience, and they wanted to see more of the cursebreaking world thanks to her. Vivian couldn’t blame them, because she’d also spent most of her time in Egypt with her mouth open (except whenever she might accidentally swallow a bug and spit it out hastily). So after endless rounds of meetings with her producers to go over the episode's success, and intense meetings discussing the where and what and how and why of doing another one – here she was again! Except not in Africa, because Viv couldn’t stand the heat and she’d easily begun to sweat through her shirt in the first twenty minutes. Merlin, she couldn't stand the hot weather. Somebody up there (a senior vice president, obviously) had clearly listened to her input though, because Vivian had spent all of a day in Finland and the difference was striking. She couldn’t believe it was May, and she was bundled up in a jacket and hadn’t actually seen the sun fully set yet.

But it was, and she was there, and she couldn’t wipe the grin off her face as she turned in a wide circle to take in the view. “What’s this place called again?” she called over her shoulder as she adjusted the special holster for Drizzle across her chest and pushed her braids out of her face. “Paka… Pakasaivo?” One thing was for sure, even if Vivian had probably butchered the pronunciation – this place was positively dripping with magic. Viv could see it everywhere, even in the little things – from the unicorn herd grazing in the distance, to the gnomes running around and pounding the frozen dirt with their little fists to look for worms, to the gently swaying magical plants growing on the shores of the lake. And the lake itself…which was rumored to host a small merpeople community that had lived in isolation for centuries and sponsored many wild fairy stories about this place. It was the perfect site for her follow-up episode on cursebreakers, with less of an emphasis on the action of dodging tomb traps and more just learning what in Merlin’s beard a cursebreaker did.

She finally turned to face Ilija – the cursebreaker Gringotts had assigned to her after she’d reached out about filming another episode. Haywood, her trusty cameraman, had wandered off some time ago to capture some B-roll footage of the view and magical creatures, which left Viv free to chat before they started filming. They’d traveled through the chain of Portkeys in silence, definitely reinforcing the idea that Ilija was a quiet person in general. Which was unfortunate for him, since Viv was not. She had a million questions at all times, and sometimes it physically hurt to stop herself from asking. She stopped fighting the impulse and shot a grin at him. “Anyway, how’d you even hear about this place? The view is bonkers but I don't see a tomb or anything. There treasure at the bottom of the lake or something?”

@ilija

[Deleted]

Ilija was a private person by nature but he had been trying to open up. Had been, because lately he'd taken to staying home on his own, spending a lot of time between his missions reading. He still went to visit his family of course and he tried to see his friends every once in a while. He'd grown more social, but not more open. If anything his failure to understand his own situation had made him try to be even more self reliant, although he'd done his research. He'd found out about the druid community in the north, he'd found out about many other places that his work took him. He sat up reading hours upon hours and finally seemed to find peace as he immersed himself in a different world. Perhaps that was where he felt most at ease regardless. In the company of things that were safe.

And yet, when Gringotts had been asked for a cursebreaker to tell more about their little world they'd sent him. Maybe because they knew he'd never take risks with the lives of other people, or perhaps just because everybody better suited actually had trainnees to worry about. No need to add people to it that knew about nothing of the world. They'd given him a job that ought to be safe, or at the very least the preliminary research. He'd been there once before to scout so he knew what he'd be dragging this stranger into. He hadn't realised it was paradise. Or well, something close to it. Maybe this was a place he ought to find a house in. It would be nice and peaceful at least.

His company today? Not much in terms of peaceful and quiet. She had energy for days from what he could tell but her enthusiasm was real and genuine. That was all that really mattered in the end, wasn't it? He nodded for a moment as she repeated the name he'd told her. "Pakasaivo. The magic here is so strong that even muggles fully realise it. They protect this place just as much as the Ministry here does.Naturally they get a fair part of the information wrong but well, it keeps everybody safe." He shrugged for a moment. "They think the oxygen in the water doesn't reach the bottom so no life is possible down there. It means that the merpeople community in that lake is safe from their interference." Ilija explained, a faint smile on his face as he looked over the small paradise.

"There's a wealth of well kept secrets in this world, for both muggles and magical folk. Even with all the time in the world we wouldn't be able to explore and discover all these places. It's part of why I really love my job. There's dark sides to it, certainly. The curses people place on their final resting places can be beyond horrifying for sake of protecting treasures they can't use in this world regardless. But you get to see some of the most beautiful places too. Places that are without a doubt worth protecting as treasures in their own right." He smiled warmly as his eyes looked across the beautiful valley below them. "There are small caves and a natural phenomenon. All of these are entrances to an underground hidden cave system. It's a peculiar sort of city of the dead under the ground. The muggles never found it, but they could sense it."

The stories and the creatures that muggles told of hinted at the realisation that there was more to this world than met the eye. The belief that these small caves were important to the older native tribes and that those were sites of worship was without a doubt accurate. Magic had a way of lending itself to those willing to believe in it. It was why even muggle children were often enchanted by magical creatures if they came across them, unaware of what they were. An active imagination to the older muggle folk, but always with a core of truth to it. He loved the travel and the history. What better way to see the world, after all?

Vivian River Jordan

[Vivian River Jordan]

Viv listened eagerly as the cursebreaker began to explain more about the site he’d chosen. Merlin, she loved stories – and the way he spoke, he was clearly a natural storyteller. She knew some people couldn’t help but give a dry account of the facts and leave it at that. She’d been in Ravenclaw, after all, and they had more of the awkward academic type than any other house. But there were ways of telling the facts without using an obscene monotone voice or avoiding any mention of emotion and history. Ilija described the rich sense of magic that Vivian had noticed from the moment they’d rolled in, and the fact that even Muggles could sense it. She used a finger to stroke Drizzle’s head – unlike her last trip, she couldn’t bear to leave the puffskein at home – and giggled slightly. “Muggles are just the cutest, aren’t they? I took Muggle Studies in school and we learned loads of things about how they get by. They’ve even invented their own sort of Veritaserum. Pol-lee-graph. Mad, innit?”

Merlin, she could talk about Muggles all day. “You ever try to do things their way? My uncle’s got quite good at copying their tricks. I can’t ever seem to manage it without my wand, though. You must actually be right talented to be a Muggle and do it all without magic.” As she began to wonder out-loud, her voice grew distant as she remembered all those trips to Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes when she was young. Even though Uncle George wasn’t really her uncle, he was the closest thing she had to one and her dad was just as mad about the shop as him. But as she realized she’d been rambling slightly about Muggles and how positively bonkers they were, she gave a sheepish laugh and shrugged as a way to apologize. It hadn’t really been the point Ilija was trying to make, and she only nodded as he continued to explain the beauty of Pakasaivo.

“Are we seeing the caves today?” Viv blurted out as he seemed to finish talking, an expression of deep fondness on his face as he looked out over the view. She wanted her reactions to be genuine once they started filming, so she hadn’t asked for details about what they were doing. That was up to Ilija for the most part to explain whatever he thought the audience should hear, and for Viv to only occasionally guide him since she was the media expert here. She joined him to squint at whatever had caught his interest, although she was distracted by the unicorn herd in the background. “But those are unicorns!” she gasped, eyes wide, “I haven’t seen one since Care of Magical Creatures. So there still are wild herds, hey?” Oh yeah, she could definitely see why a cursebreaker would be interested in this place. It looked practically untouched by man, but it sounded like there were so many secrets hidden just under the surface. “I suppose the job could just as easily be called secret-breaker too,” Viv noted with a grin. She couldn’t wait to jump into action. A career change wasn’t in the cards for her, but getting a taste of other people’s lives for the day was part of what she loved about Potterwatch.

@ilija

[Deleted]

She had a very good point in muggles being quite inventive. He raised his brows slightly in amusement as she mentioned that muggles had their own version of veritaserum. "Really?" He found that very idea to be quite intriguing. "How does it work? Does it hurt? Have you ever tried it?" He'd taken some muggle studies himself, but he'd never been a very good student in almost all of his classes. There were other classes he enjoyed quite a lot more than muggle studies and well, he'd figured he'd never really need those classes. He always knew he was going out for adventure and while he'd considered dragonologist for a while he doubted any career he'd find interesting would involve a lot of interaction with muggles. He'd been mostly right, though he did encounter them on occasion due to his work as cursebreaker. It was... challenging.

He wasn't sure what she meant with muggle tricks, but he was interested in seeing them regardless. He wasn't sure why, but her passion for muggles in the way she spoke of them in that moment reminded him of his own passion from when he'd been young. The one for the thrill of the job and the amazing things hidden deep from the realm of the living. The world of the dead was all together different, filled with secrets as quiet as the undisturbed graves into which they were taken. Secrets that he, at times, glanced at without realising their true meaning. Quite something. It seemed they both enjoyed discovering something about a world they didn't fully understand. Hers was just a lot less.... morbid. "You'll have to show me one of those tricks at some point. I'll pretend you don't use magic, since I want to imagine what it'd look like performed by an actual muggle." He said with a bit of a grin. How interesting this world was. He'd almost forgotten...

She asked if they were seeing the caves and he wriggled his nose and shrugged. "I'm not sure. If we are, we can't go too far. I rarely even take trainnees into places that aren't properly explored, even if they are supposed to be very safe. The dead keep their secrets well and they can be very difficult to predict. I won't gamble with your life, so I won't enter the caves if I find anything at all that indicates there might be something dangerous yet to be uncovered." He wasn't willing to be responsible for another death or injury and he didn't really want to have to find out how she reacted to... well similar things if he'd get hurt himself. She seemed joyous and full of life, and he didn't want to accidentally take that from her by showing her something she couldn't handle.

He smiled a little as she called the curse breakers secret-breakers, as if this sort of beauty was more common than the mangled bodies of those that had entered the tombs and gotten hit by a multitude of disfiguring curses. "There are still some. These woods are well protected. Not just by muggle laws. There are local druids in these lands that protect them." Then he smiled a bit and chuckled. "In a way, thinking like them is sometimes an indicator of what things you might expect in the tombs here. If possible, you want to understand those that built the tombs. Like in Egypt, where many spent their entire lives preparing for death. Even their art prepared them for the afterlife. If they were drawn with missing limbs they were believed not to be able to take those to the afterlife. It's why their art looks so peculiar to us. It's why so many of their tombs are so well protected. They believed they could take everything they had in this life with them to the next. You don't want somebody stealing things you expect to need, so you ensure they can't. Perhaps archeologists and curse breakers alike are simply robbing some poor Egyptians in the afterlife of their goods. Hard to say. For those that believe all earthly things are left behind? They have far less treasures to safeguard. They merely hope to preserve a part of themselves so their body might rest in peace. It gives a very different type of protection to a tomb. Graves, tombs, pyramids... Their functions are not all identical, as their intellectual heritages differ. It's a very important thing to keep in mind, when you enter the final resting place of the deceased, regardless of their culture in life. Respect for their way of life can actually save yours." Not that it always did, but it certainly helped in figuring out what to be wary off.

Vivian River Jordan

[Vivian River Jordan]

Viv grinned sheepishly as she shrugged slightly at Ilija’s follow-up question to her fun little fact about Muggles. “Alright, you got me. I didn’t pay that much attention in class,” she confessed, tossing her braids back as she thought back fondly on her professors’ exasperated sighs when they realized her mind had drifted off to somewhere far away from Hogwarts. She hadn’t been a bad student, not by any means – Viv got her homework done, and she was quite inventive when it came to her charmswork. But she had trouble focusing, and Muggle Studies had been no exception – so she knew a polygraph by name only, and she probably wouldn’t be able to pick it out of a line-up. She laughed again and returned his grin as she stopped to pull a deck of cards out of her pack. “Oh don’t you worry, Mr. Fortescue. I’ve got plenty hidden up my sleeve, almost like magic.”

It had been an impulse decision to bring the cards, but Viv figured there’d be plenty of long silent stretches during the trip. She got bored quite easily, so it seemed like an ideal opportunity to learn how Muggles did card tricks. And besides, she was ace at shuffling the cards – if only because she’d practiced in front of the mirror a million times. It seemed like Ilija might be a receptive audience too, which cheered her up quite a bit. He was actually quite friendly, even if his earlier silence had given her the impression of someone who liked to keep their distance from other people. But hey, never judge a cursebreaker by their dragon leather jacket, she supposed.

“Bloody hell,” she said mildly at Ilija’s warning about the caves. His tone had shifted into something more somber, and he spoke about not gambling with her life like he meant actual business. Which she supposed was good – that was what you wanted to hear from your guide, after all – but it was a rapid shot back down to earth from the place in the clouds her head had been at earlier. Dahlia had already reinforced in her last cursebreaker episode that the field wasn’t all fun and games and adventure…it could also be deadly serious too. Episode on the deadly if you weren’t clever and had all your wits about you.

Viv took the opportunity to seize on his mention of Egypt and move on from the depressing thought. “I was in Egypt last summer. Literally mind-blowing to see what Egyptian wizards could do,” Viv said eagerly. She still remembered the moment of entering one of the pyramids for the first time and thinking back on all the history that it had seen. It was one of those moments that reminded you how truly small you were. She blinked owlishly as she processed Ilija’s last words, then felt her face break into a dazzling grin. “Hold on, that was bloody brilliant. Wait a sec.” She fumbled for her phone and switched it into selfie mode, hitting the ‘record’ button as she bounced over to stand by Ilija. “Hey Potterheads, this is Viv reporting live from Finland! Ready to hear your first hot tip of the day from an actual cursebreaker? Ilija, hit us!” She nodded at him to repeat what he’d said to her.

@ilija

[Deleted]

He wasn't surprised she didn't know the details on that. Most wizards didn't know the recipe for veritaserum either, nor had they actually attempted to take it for fun. It was nothing but a fun fact, but that didn't mean he wasn't genuinely interested in the concept of it. He was! He just didn't expect her to explain, as she wasn't quite known as an expert on all things muggle. She was more of an entertainer than anything. She seemed to have been more invested in their magic tricks, which he found rather endearing. She could do actual magic and still spent time on learning the muggle version of it? He was sure that it was more than easy enough to cheat any muggle card trick with actual magic if one didn't know how. "Well you'll have to demonstrate at least one." He pressed, mostly because he was very curious what a muggle magic trick looked like.

The reaction he got to his assuring her that he wouldn't take her into danger was almost unexpected. As if she couldn't imagine any danger at all in this very idyllic place. He could imagine why, as it looked so close to paradise from a distance that it became increasingly difficult to believe anything here might bring harm. But nature was savage at times, wasn't it? He'd discovered that in a few of the tombs that were connected to civilisations or groups that had very deep roots in natural spiritualism. The druid myths around the insane island? Just more confirmation. Not to mention the part where every decent nature documentary involved hunters and prey. Nature simply wasn't harmless.

She attempted to change the subject, he could see it in part by how eager she was to share what she'd seen. Eager and very interested in curse breaker life in general. A rather amused little smile crept up on his face that betrayed the kind of grave humour that plenty of curse breakers built up over the years. Something about seeing disfigured bodies did something to a person. "Indeed, quite literally." He noted with amusement. "In both the figurative and literal sense of the meaning." He said with a grin and a wink. There were spells and curses that could make ones head explode. They were less common, but nonetheless present in tombs on occassion. "Though my worst accident was more leg-blowing than mind-blowing." He said in a rather dry tone, a smile on his face for the first time in his life as he made light of the worst day of his life. Yes, it had blown his mind, up to some point. It had taken him a very long time to recover from that accident and he knew his life would never be the same again. Yet for the first time he felt that he knew in his heart and soul that Hannah would have laughed louder than anybody at that joke if she'd be alive today. She'd have seen it as a sign he was moving forward. Besides, it was his own leg that suffered under the grim humour of the situation. As he finally healing, for real?

Then after his little speech and explanation she went into some form of frenzie mode. She took out her phone (which he wouldn't have been able to work with) and pressed a few buttons and before he was fully aware of what she was doing, the phone was sort of stuffed in his face. He blinked a few times, before the realisation hit him that she probably wanted him to repeat what he'd just told her. Must have been somewhat enlightening then? He felt a little awkward, but he glanced at her a moment and her very infectious enthusiasm caught on. Besides, what better way to let the world know that connection mattered even beyond death? So he took a bit of a breath and ran a hand through his hair before repeating what he'd told her. At first he spoke somewhat awkwardly, but by the end of the speech he almost forgot he was talking to a phone. He would give her credit for that, as she was quite the natural at this, and she somehow managed to make him feel like he wasn't an idiot for talking to a small little box with his face in it. Telephones? Still weird to him.

Vivian River Jordan

[Vivian River Jordan]

She had to appreciate that Ilija seemed to be a good sport, even if it wasn’t the first impression he gave off. Viv knew that her request to see a cursebreaker in action was an odd one – Gringotts certainly hadn’t seem to known what to do about it and it’d taken quite a bit of intervention from Witch TV to make the first trip happen. She supposed that had greased the wheels, since the episode had been crazy successful and woken an appetite for a sequel. Still, it wasn’t obvious that a cursebreaker would agree to the request and take along a complete novice to what could potentially be a dangerous situation. At any rate, it was more work on his part and he wouldn’t have been obligated to do anything more than what was required.

So she responded to his enthusiasm with a cheery grin, especially as he pressed her to show off one of the magic tricks she’d taken great pains to learn. “All in good time,” she promised, stowing the cards so they’d be safe from whatever shenanigans they’d get into soon enough. Viv supposed it was possible Ilija was just being polite, but the glimmer of excitement in his eyes told her that he wasn’t quite as humdrum serious as he came off. Maybe there was even a mischievous streak in there somewhere. The answer came soon enough at Ilija’s cheeky response to her Egypt musings, and Viv blinked for a moment as she processed it. Then she gave quite an unladylike snort and nodded her head vigorously. “That must’ve been the intention,” she agreed. His last joke felt more personal than the previous one had been, and Viv’s eyes wandered down to said legs. She’d noticed the prosthetic almost immediately, but the Gringotts people hadn’t said anything and she supposed it must not seriously impact his ability to do his job. There were plenty of stories of early retirements for cursebreakers, but here he was. And joking about it too. Viv could understand that – it’d taken ages for her to accept what had happened after confirming that she was indeed a werewolf following the attack, but she’d turned to dark humor soon enough. Anything to make light of a condition that she’d be forced to deal with forever. So Viv returned his smile with one of her own and observed, “Well now I’m embarrassed. My story hasn’t really got a leg to stand on, hey?”

Taking out the phone was second-nature to her, and Viv immediately brought out a dazzling smile once she hit the record button. She was worried that he might be too overwhelmed too participate – cursebreakers weren’t exactly known to be the most social savvy people – but she let out a little laugh of relief as he took a breath and began to talk. She looped an arm around his shoulders (partly as a comforting move, partly so the whole shot would look more natural) and then tilted the camera so Drizzle was in the shot as well. The puffskein gave an excited ‘whee’ as Viv finished off with, “You heard it here first! Don't worry, we'll have plenty of little tips and tricks throughout the day to satisfy you budding cursebreakers!” She quickly moved to finish the recording and stuff her phone back in her pocket. She turned on her heel to face Ilija excitedly. “You’re a natural,” she praised as one hand dived into Drizzle’s fur so her puffskein wouldn’t feel neglected. It was actually quite thrilling to know that they'd gotten that in one take – Viv had never had the patience to say the same thing multiple times.

@ilija

[Deleted]

It was true that Ilija had changed a lot over the years. When he'd been in school he'd always been very open, warm, and perhaps a bit of a mischievous type. He hadn't been as serious, nor had he had the same burdens on his mind as he carried now. It had significantly changed him. To feel some of that old spark he'd once had return to his life was oddly pleasant. He enjoyed it a lot, and while the situation was almost eerily similar to his actual young and carefree days just after starting as a cursebreaker, it was more comforting than distressing in that moment. Something that he'd never expected to experience again. He wanted to hold on to the feeling, but he knew he couldn't force it either.

She cleverly noted it must have been the intention, but also didn't seem to be too shocked by his joke. It was like a weight of his shoulders really. He noticed her eyes trailing down to his legs, and for once he didn't mind the fact the gold gleamed from behind the socks and trousers that covered them. Almost to the point of paranoia. He'd began to work on accepting everything that had come to pass, but the way she handled seemed to make things much easier. He shrugged a bit as she joked her story didn't have a leg to stand on. Yet the smile didn't seem to leave his face, feeling an odd warmth of acceptance in her sense of humour. "Depends, it's probably just a little wobbly." He said, figuring her story wasn't all that dependent on that one singular leg. It was quite a weak story in that case, wasn't it?

It was weird to tell about his profession, but even weirder that there would be people listening that would hear his stories and actually want to go into the field. It left a funny aftertaste in his mouth, as his shining passion for the field had been ever so diminished by the losses that had come along with it. He took a very deep breath afterwards, running his hand through his hair again. "We should keep going. I'd rather not be out too late. The dark hasn't quite left these lands yet, and places like this tend to become more dangerous after dark." He told her. It was true for any place that got dark in his opinion. The odds of missing out on important details went up, and it could make him a bit nervous. For now he just needed to wrap his mind around everything that was happening. Perhaps his mood had gone down a bit, but he didn't want her to worry. Not when she made this more pleasant than he'd expected it to be. "I'd like to show you one of the entrances I explored earlier. It shows at least some of what I mentioned earlier." He said, motioning vaguely towards the location of said tomb. If he could focus on his job, this would get easier, right?

Vivian River Jordan

[Vivian River Jordan]

“Sir yes sir,” Viv said with a cheeky salute as Ilija turned to take a scan of the surrounding area. She was a complete novice in this field, sadly, and the goblins had made it 1000% clear that she was at the mercy of the cursebreakers for this trip. Not that Viv particularly minded, because all this would be ace experience for when she finally got around to all that traveling she intended to do. It hadn’t panned out after graduation for a variety of different reasons, mostly her mum’s insistence that Viv needed a proper job, but hey. Someday. Drizzle gave a questioning coo as Viv completed a slow circle so she could snap a panorama shot of the clearing. “Really Drizzle, I should’ve gotten into photography,” she remarked as she admired the photo she’d taken. Crystal blue skies, wide sloping hills, and Ilija sternly surveying the scenery like a red-headed Indiana Jones.

Her excitement level shot straight up as Ilija mentioned one of the entrances he’d scouted out earlier. “Ooooh yes, sounds smashing,” she said eagerly, tightening her puffskein’s harness as she stashed her phone back into a pocket. Scandinavia truly was roaring different from her experience in Egypt – what with the scorching desert sand, cramped pyramid corridors, and overall sense of historical antiquity. Everything felt much more open and natural here, free land and creatures that roamed without limitations. It was hard to notice any signs of humanity at all, except for the faint footprints that marked where they’d come from. “How do you find these entrances, anyway?” Viv asked idly as she squinted in the general direction Ilija had indicated, “Is it, er, a good deal of magic or just natural intuition?”

There was no doubt that being a cursebreaker meant you needed to have good instincts, and learn to listen to your gut. But there was a good deal less magic involved than Viv would have thought, at least if she’d learned anything in Egypt. Cursebreakers did a lot of research (which was funny when you considered the stereotype that most couldn’t read) and they learned to read their surroundings fast. Not that you didn’t need the occasional flashy spell either, but that part usually came later. Viv adjusted her backpack straps on her shoulders and went to stand by Ilija, expectantly waiting to hear what kind of guidance he would offer next. The man clearly knew what he was doing, and Viv wasn’t just asking for the sake of her show. Nah, she’d get back to filming later but really – what drove all these special episodes was her natural curiosity. There were always a million questions running through her mind, and her thoughts usually ran faster than her mouth could keep up. So she was willing to be a good sponge and soak in everything Ilija explained – it would make an awesome story later, she was sure.

@ilija