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　　 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐋 𝐉𝐀𝐈𝐋 𝐁𝐀𝐑𝐒 of the Anvard dungeons were cold to the touch. Most days in Anvard were still chilly at best as spring had only just begun. The pass was surrounded with towering mountains on all sides, trapping the cold air that descended down the mountains within it. It was only after a warm summer that the heat would stick around until late autumn.

The walls of the dungeons were cracked and badly damaged in some places, allowing small animals to freely enter the castle. It was from those cracks and the open glass-less windows, that were barricaded with the same steel bars that allowed the air, rain and sun into the cells, that had caused the steel to corrode over time.

The floor was made of simple, grey cobblestone and was softened by hay that was spread everywhere. It was routinely cleaned by the castle staff when new supplies would be delivered to Anvard.

The hay smelled fresh and slightly sweet, even though it had absorbed the rainwater that streamed through the cobblestones only yesterday when there had been another heavy rainfall. Each cell had at least two wooden beds which hung on the walls with metal chains. The wood was neatly sanded so no one would accidentally get a splinter. One could sleep better on the hay-stacked ground than on those beds, but it was comfortable enough to sit on.

Victoria was pacing back and forth, her eyes occasionally looking at her three cellmates; Florence, Peter and Edmund. She tried to shake the feeling of isolation off of her whenever she saw them talking to each other and was wishing wholeheartedly for Alexis to have been in her cell.

Peter straightened his shoulders with a long sigh. 'We shouldn't have to worry. Once Caspian sees us, they'll let us out unharmed,' he said and stretched out his arms.

'Peter?'

He turned his head from Florence and Edmund towards the jail bars to see Victoria look at him with a curious expression. 'Yes?' he answered reluctantly. He didn't really want to hear the question she was about to ask. If he'd learnt anything during the last few hours, it was that Victoria could and would use everything against you that you've said.

Victoria gracefully sat next to him, her long dress twirling after her and then resting around her legs. Peter could smell her sweet scent and even recognised it; she was wearing rosewater perfume. They locked eyes, an amused grin growing on Victoria's face. 'That King Nain said that you were never to return here, why?' she eventually asked.

'I had grown up,' Peter replied in a careful manner. 'Aslan said I'd outgrown Narnia and that it was time to grow up in my own world.'

This was the second time the name Aslan had been brought up ever since Victoria had landed in Narnia. The name alone had raised many questions in Victoria's head but she decided to not press onto the matter for now. She saw Edmund nodding understandingly as if he'd had the same experience as his brother.

It was remarkable to her how quiet Florence was. It almost made Victoria feel anxious to see how restless her hands were. One second she ran her hand through her hair, the next she rubbed a thumb against her palm. Victoria noticed how it was always her right hand going through her hair and her right thumb against her left palm; Florence was likely to be right-handed.

She'd slept for hours on the bed which Edmund and Peter had filled with hay and she'd used her own jacket from her school uniform as a pillow. It wasn't comfortable, but with how tired she was from the several attacks she'd had, she fell asleep within seconds of laying down.

Victoria stayed seated so as to not appear too intimidating and focused her entire body language towards Florence. 'What about you, Florence? Did you outgrow this world too?' she asked in her usual silvery voice.

Florence shook her head, feeling the eyes of the others burn on her. It wasn't hard to sense Peter and Edmund's curiosity. 'I didn't outgrow it, but I wasn't meant to return either,' she mumbled. She didn't say more as the prophecy she'd heard about herself upon first entering Narnia kept replaying in her head. It did stir up a question in her mind.

'Shouldn't there be some sort of prophecy about why we're here?'

The gears in Peter and Edmund's brain sluggishly began to work, but they both had trouble to think if there was a prophecy every time they'd gone to Narnia. The frowns dug deeper and deeper into their forehead as they strained their brains, which caused them to miss Susan for the first time in a long while.

While Peter kept trying to recollect, Edmund had given up the battle and strolled over to the jail bars until he could see Lucy happily talking to Eustace. 'Lu, has there been a prophecy every time we went to Narnia?' he asked her, prompting a sideways glance from Peter.

Lucy looked up from her conversation and together with Eustace she walked over to the jail bars as well to see Edmund clearer. 'There have been prophecies about everything we came to Narnia for, but only the first one we heard was about us specifically,' she answered.

Harry seemed unsettled as he perked up from the hanging, wooden bed. The hay underneath his feet crackled though it had been stepped on so often that it didn't break anymore. 'Don't tell me there'll be a prophecy. I don't want my supposed destiny to be decided by some Seer again who makes a prediction about the future.' He got pulled back onto the bed by Hermione, the thud of him hitting the wood carrying carelessly through the air.

'It wouldn't be a Seer, it'd be an Oracle,' Eustace mumbled. He did it so softly so he could correct Harry's mistake without him reacting to it.

Chrys, who was stuck in a cell with all four of them, rolled her eyes at the display. 'Let's not be worried about a prophecy that isn't even there yet,' she huffed.

Everyone in the cell fell silent, but curiosity sparked within Chrys and Victoria when they heard the name Dumbledore come out of Charlotte's mouth, before Kiano interrupted her again.

'I never liked him much. I may not have been the best student, but I think I only followed one Transfiguration class per month if I was lucky,' he scoffed. 'Always said that I was wasting his and my time.'

Charlotte let out a chuckle which she quickly swallowed away again when she saw Kiano's glare towards her. 'If your Transfiguration skills are as good as your charms skills, I'm not surprised he sent you out. You could probably improve more on your own than in his class,' she blurted out in the hopes to make Kiano less made, but it didn't help as much as she'd hoped.

He cast his glance elsewhere which caused Charlotte to repeat what she said, though phrased a little differently. 'There's no need to repeat yourself. I ignored you just fine the first time,' he said before she could repeat herself again.

Alexis shook her head with a soft smile on her face when she saw the smallest hint of happiness in Kiano's eyes before he looked away. 'So if you know Dumbledore, there's a chance you might know professor Slughorn too?' she questioned, her mind already thinking of other people she could ask about.

'He's still teaching at Hogwarts to this day,' Aiden responded. Even though he was very aware of the dangers of time-travel, he'd decided for himself that everything was possible in this new world that they were in. Perhaps in this world, the dangers of time-travel were different or even non-existent. Besides, talking about people both sides were familiar with but in other time periods seemed harmless to him.

'Were you guys part of his Slug Club too?' Alexis' hands curled around the side of the bed she was seated on, her nails softly tapping the wood. 'Victoria, Chrys and I were part of it. Kai could've been too if Slughorn had liked him a little more.' Despite Kiano's cold glance, she chuckled, knowing that Kiano didn't mind such a comment made by her.

Charlotte nodded eagerly. 'All four of us, though it was an odd club if you ask me. I don't think I've ever seen a professor blatantly showcase his favourites like that,' she said.

Alexis agreed as she sat back on the bed and rested her head against the cold stone wall. 'I've always wondered what happened to a student a few years below us after he got expelled. Really tall kid, but one of the nicest people I've ever met,' she said, her voice mirroring the wonder she felt. 'You don't happen to know what happened to Rubeus Hagrid, do you?'

Aiden's face completely lit up by the sheer mention of Hagrid's name though he was astound that he'd made such a lasting impression on Alexis, who didn't seem to be impressed by anything so far. Her calm demeanour and confident attitude made her look as though nothing ever even wavered her.

'Hagrid is doing really well. He was made the gamekeeper and Keeper of and Keys and Grounds of Hogwarts by Dumbledore and he truly wears both titles with such honour and pride. Everyone at Hogwarts loves him.'

Alexis let out a breath of relief at Aiden's words. She was glad that he had a good job that made him happy at the end of the day. 'Gamekeeper, that sounds like the job that definitely fits him most. He always used to keep animals around in the Gryffindor common room, but no one minded it much. He even had a pet Acromantula named Aragog, of which I wasn't the biggest fan, though he kept him a secret in the dungeons.'

She smiled for a moment to let the thought of Hagrid being alright sink in. 'Got your wands from Ollivander, I assume? He's still in the wand business after so many years?' she asked.

Aiden shrugged slightly. 'I wouldn't know who would help him. He doesn't want an apprentice and he never remarried after his wife's death a few years ago nor does he have any children of his own. I think he'll be in the wand business until the day he dies, I'm afraid,' he replied and Charlotte nodded rather solemnly at the thought of how long he'd been working in the shop alone.

Alexis couldn't hear anything from the cell next to hers in which she knew Victoria was. She locked eyes with Chrys who in turn shifted her gaze to Victoria's cell.

As Chrys was hidden at the very end of her cell, she could discretely shake her head to Alexis. 'I wonder when this Caspian will arrive here,' she said instead, changing the subject.

'Don't worry, he'll get here. It takes around seven hours to get from Cair Paravel to Anvard by horse,' Peter muttered as he did the calculations in his head. 'And let's not forget that telephones aren't a thing here. You want to get the word out, you either write a letter or hold a speech.' The ways of Narnia felt familiar to him. Even though he'd gotten quite used to using professor Kirke's telephone to phone home to his family, he'd always liked writing important letters here in Narnia during his time as High King. It was simple yet sophisticated.

Chrys sighed at the prospect of being in the cells any longer. 'How long does it take for a letter to be delivered?' she mumbled in response.

Peter scratched the back of his head as he tried to recollect to the best of his abilities. 'Depends on the wind mostly, but I'd say around an hour,' Peter replied.

'We've been here for hours already. Shouldn't he be here by now?' Alexis argued with him from her cell.

'Maybe he is. Let's not be impatient,' Peter retorted.

Florence bumped his side with her elbow. 'Says you,' she said.

Kiano scoffed again from his cell. 'How can we even be sure we can trust him or the ones expecting him?' he protested against the whole idea of meeting Caspian and got up from the wooden bed. His hands were twitching by his side and so he wrapped them around the jail bars. His hands cramped around the bars, causing even his knuckles to be white from the pressure.

Lucy cocked her head to the side. 'What have we done so far that makes you distrustful of us? I know I threw stones at you, but I apologised for that at least. You were the ones who threatened us for no good reason,' she argued back at him.

'Sounds like the perfect reason for revenge, don't you think?'

Lucy's lips dropped into pout and she looked down to her feet. Kiano started to push and pull against the jail bars, trying to pry them off its hinges. He kicked and hit the jail bars and didn't seem to care about the bruising starting on his hands or the painful throbbing in his toes as he kicked again and again.

Aluna and Raiden got up from their spot at the end of the corridor and sped over to Kiano, who was restlessly trying to break the bars in front of him with his bare hands. 'What is going on here?' Raiden asked as soon as he caught sight of Kiano.

'Get me out of here,' Kiano screamed, pushing and pulling the bars even harder.

Aluna gave a warning signal by banging their sword against the bars. 'Calm down. We cannot get you out of here. Not without clearance,' they said loudly and sternly as though they were a teacher talking to a student.

'I said,' Kiano growled and took hold of their collar in both his hands before roughly pulling them against the bar. 'Get me out of here.'

The sudden movement made Aluna drop their sword. They tried to find any way they could free themselves from his firm grasp, but he was protected by the bars.

Raiden put his sword back into its sheath and held up his hands. 'Let's just talk, Kiano. That's your name, right?' he began and took a deep breath. 'I apologise that Aluna came off a bit aggressive to you, it was her way of trying to calm you down. Victoria told me all about you. She seems very fond of you, you know. She told me about how kind and protective you can be. You're not just some angry, mean guy. You don't enjoy hurting people, so what's going on? Talk to me, Kiano.'

'Alexis,' Victoria interrupted Raiden's attempt to negotiate with Kiano.

The initial shock that Alexis felt while seeing Kiano's rage made her body go numb for a moment. When she heard Victoria call out her name, she jumped up from where she was sitting and slowly walked over to Kiano. 'Let her go, Kiano,' she whispered to him. 'I know being locked in here freaks you out, but you shouldn't hurt her. If you do, you'll be in here for a whole lot longer.'

She laid her hand on Kiano's arm and could feel his muscle slowly ease. His fists sluggishly stopped clenching their collar and he retracted his arms. He apologised under his breath and walked to the back of his cell.

Aluna straightened their collar, picked up their sword and put it back in its sheath. They glared at Raiden and put their finger in his face. 'Next time, use your sword,' they said and rubbed the back of their neck. The muscles were strained with how much force Kiano has put on them and they rolled their head in a circle to loosen it up a bit.

They marched past Raiden, still rubbing their neck, and walked to the door of the corridor, which opened with a soft screech. Raiden watched them walk away in disbelief and wiped his hands over his face once to compose his posture. 'Aluna, where are you going?' he asked and began to follow them.

'To the physician to check on my neck,' Aluna grunted back and halted at the door.

'What about the prisoners? We can't leave them alone,' Raiden protested.

Aluna rolled their eyes. 'First off, you do not need to come with me. Second off, they can't go anywhere. This place is filled with guards, they'd need some kind of miracle to get out of here.' They left, keeping the door open, and made their way to the physician.

Raiden hesitated for a moment but then also disappeared through the door. 'No, I have to come with you. They don't allow you in there alone ever since you hit the physician for checking your reflexes,' he could be heard saying until the door closed.

Victoria sucked in a long breath of air and blew it out after a few seconds of keeping it in. 'Are the guards gone?' she asked Florence.

Florence was standing with her hands cramped around the jail bars, looking out over the small, thick corridor and nodded without giving her a glance.

Victoria circled her hand around and dropped it from the top of the circle to the very bottom and repeated this movement several times. Her eyes were shut, slightly squeezing as she tried to feel if her surroundings were moving the way she wanted them too.

Right beside Victoria, Florence was watching her. She followed her movements with her eyes—every turn, every drop—as carefully as she could. 'What exactly are you doing?' she eventually asked when still nothing had happened.

'You'll see,' Victoria answered.

When nothing happened still, she began to feel rather frustrated. It was obvious to her that something was blocking most of her magical skills and especially with no wand in hand, it was even more difficult to perform her magic. She rotated her hand once more while she quietly uttered something that Florence couldn't hear and dropped her hand.

With an awful screech, the lock opened itself and Victoria let herself out of her imprisonment. 'That's what I was doing,' she said to Florence behind her who was still in the cell. 'Florence, Peter, Edmund, if you three could be dears and free the rest of our companions, I'll see what I can find out about this place and get our wands back. You know, a new layer of fresh paint wouldn't hurt anyone,' she spoke to her cellmates and stretched herself from the long hours of standing and sitting.

Chrys flung herself against the jail bars to watch Victoria be free. 'How did you do that? I haven't been able to perform a single spell since we left that beach,' she said, her eyebrows knitted together in a frown. 'Something is different here.'

'Indeed and there's only one way to find out the reason behind that,' Victoria said and turned on her heels and walked out of the corridors filled with cell blocks. She was quick on her feet with the same grace that she always wore. Back at Hogwarts, she'd learnt from a dear friend of hers how to hide herself. Her flexibility had not lessened over the years and with her small, thin feet it was no wonder that no one ever heard her coming.

She stopped in her tracks when she noticed two grand doors, assuming that information could be instilled in the room that laid beyond. However, not taking the risk that anyone could be there to catch her, she resumed her search for information.

Not even a yard away from the door, she abruptly halted again when heavy boots were coming her way at a rather quick pace. She backed away, but saw a few hairs coming around the corner, forcing her to hide in the room with the two grand doors. She noiselessly opened one of the doors behind her and closed it with just as much noise and took a few steps back until a voice behind her made her freeze on the spot.

'Welcome.'

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Hey everyone,

First off, it made me so happy that some of you said you like my babbling in my author's notes, it means the world to me. I always enjoy writing these author's notes and seeing your reactions, so it made me happy hahah.

Also, for those who know every small bit of the Harry Potter universe; I did my research and I'm