Garin made his way towards the bronze statue as well, making sure that no one was watching him. Just like before, the lady moved, freeing parts of the pillar for him to pass through.
He didn't think about it and, after making sure he wasn't watched, passed through.
The scene on the other side is wild. There is a lot of noise, the sound of many people shouting, laughing and talking. It looked like a strange bazaar. In the air, sparkling lights in the shape of some elongated lion, which Garin had never seen, flew through the air.
He started walking into the crowd, looking around in wonder and confusion. He watched a young boy jump into a big bubble and somersault inside it as it rose into the air.
Right at that moment, the dragon dispersed into thousands of sparks, surprising Garin, who had never seen fireworks. Seeing the shouts of wonder and joy from those around him, Garin understood that this was this world's form of entertainment and thought nothing of it.
He moved forward, reaching a small group where grown-ups and children stood around a cage with a creature inside. The creature had the same lion-like face as the fireworks one did. It growled at the people watching it from under rosy, feathered folds. It was peculiar, and a bit disheartening for Garin.
In a way, this was slavery all over again. He knew this kind, as the creature clearly was intelligent and projected its hatred and pain outwards. Unlike the dragons of Valyria, who had been bred and turned into familiars using blood magic, this creature was still free at heart and essentially a caged display prop.
All around him, Garin saw uses of magic, unlike any he had ever seen. He had never experienced magic used for entertainment before and enjoyed seeing it used that way. Personally, Garin had only ever used water magic to create shapes to show Nymeria's daughters.
At the centre of this strange square stood what appeared to be a circus. The sign above it showed the name of the 'establishment'.
Le Cirque Arcanus - Musee des curoisites vivantes
"Museum of Living Curiosities. An interesting name."
Deciding to have a look at what counted as 'interesting' to those who used magic, Garin entered the larger tent and joined others. There, he found the woman in the black trench coat again. She seemed to be looking for someone or on some kind of mission.
But Garin ignored her and watched as the presenter walked forward.
"Next, in our little show of freaks and oddities, I present to you... a Maledictus!"
There was a cage in the middle of the tent, with everyone standing around it. The presenter, a corpulent man with a peculiarly eccentric beard, presented what he called a Maledictus. The name seemed imposing, and the audience gasped, but what emerged from the relatively dark tunnel... was a woman.
She looked different from everyone. There was a melancholy to her, which Garin recognised quite well. Before he could think about it too much, the presenter continued.
"Once trapped in the jungles of Indonesia, she is the carrier of a blodo curse."
"Oooohh." "Aahhhh"
"Such Underbeings are destined through the course of their lives to turn permanently into beasts."
"Ohhh!"
"But look at her. So beautiful. Yes. Sooo desirable. But soon, she will be trapped forever in a very different body. Every night when she sleeps, ladies and gentlemen, she is forced to become..."
The ringmaster lifts his arms, clearly waiting for the woman to do something, a kind of demonstration, but she doesn't. She seems focused on someone backstage.
"She is forced to become..." the man tries again.
The audience starts to chatter.
"She is forced to be--"
The ringmaster stops and slams his cane against the cage. That seems to get the reaction he wanted from the woman. She bends backwards slightly, wrapping her arms around herself. Her body twists and she turns into a snake.
"Over time, she will not be able to transform back," the man narrates.
The snake raises its head.
"... it will be forever... trapped in the body of a snake."
As the snake rears up, lifting the front end of its body off the ground, someone behind the stage strikes another cage. The snake shoots forward, attempting to strike at the ringmaster, but hits the bars.
Dozens of smaller creatures that look like newborn dragons to Garin had been set free and are starting to spew fire from their snouts, setting the tent and everything around it on fire.
The crowd descends into relative chaos, as people run around in different directions, shouting and yelling. The small dragons fly around, spewing sparks at everything, and causing more confusion than actual harm.
Garin observed everything as the lion-like, elongated creature broke free from its cage and roared. The beast stood on four long, hairy legs, with what revealed itself to be a long, rosy tail. After it saw the ringmaster coming out of the tent, it roared loudly and then took off in the opposite direction.
The fat man's cane turned into what appeared to be a small stick... a wand, Garin realised.
"Gather up. Paris is done for us now," he told his people.
He faced the tent and circled his wand. Garin could feel the man's magic moving at his will, travelling through his arm, the wand, and the magical foci it held, to affect the tent.
Crates and cages began moving on their own. At the centre of the tent, the large cage, a small creature, one that Garin had never seen, snapped his fingers, causing the cage, the string of lights, ladders and everything inside the tent to move, shrink and pack itself into a large box that sat on a wagon.
Garin smiled in wonder at the peculiar demonstration of magic. How peculiar, he thought to himself and how utterly convenient. Packing up everything that had once been a relatively large tent took less than a minute and was the size of a trunk.
...
The plaza had relatively cleared, and apart from the ringmaster, the wagon and a driver, there was only the lady in the black trench coat and Garin remaining. Garin watched everything from the side of the road to appear inconspicuous.
"The boy with the Maledictus, what do you know about him?" she asked the man.
He walked to the front of the wagon and was about to sit up before he turned around again.
"He's looking for his mother. All my freaks think they can go home."
He climbed up on the seat and urged the horses pulling the wagon to set off.
Garin thought about it. He wanted to know more about the use of magic in this world, and from what he could see, there were quite a few 'protocols' in place and rules, if you will. So he might not be able to learn as much about magic as he wanted, unless he knew where to look.
He could go around using his senses to find places with higher magic energy than others, but he didn't want that. For some reason, he felt immense energy emanating from the same boy the lady was looking for.
There was something about him that permeated danger and deep depression. That circus was essentially a place where the deeply wounded and emotionally scarred gathered, and the man responsible put them on display for coin.
He chose to make what he felt was the right call and simply followed the energy the boy gave off.
.
Garin followed the distinct energy the young man gave off, which led him to an outdoor market along the River Seine. He continued to follow the energy and arrived at a large grey stone living complex. He made his way up the stairs until he reached the very top floor.
As soon as he arrived, he felt that there was more than one presence that possessed magical energy.
"I did not want to leave you there," the voice of a woman could be heard.
"Why didn't they want me?" a male asked, whom Garin identified as the young man he was following.
"Why is your name on my adoption papers?"
"I took you to Mrs Barebone because she was supposed to look after you."
Garin stopped listening to the dialogue and focused on the walls. He felt like the other presence, the fourth one capable of magic, seemed to be somewhere inside them. How that was possible, he didn't know, but this was a very special world with many differnet types of spells and uses of magic.
He tried to pinpoint it, but sadly, things turned for the worse a moment later.
.
All this time, a bounty hunter named Gunnar Grimmson had been hired by the British Ministry of Magic to hunt down and kill Credence Barebone, the young man whom Garin was following.
The reason was the following. Due to the repression of his magic, which was caused by the amount of abuse he endured, Credence developed a dark parasitic force known as an Obscurus and became an Obscurial twenty years into his life.
This Obscurus was the manifestation of the repressed energy and could manifest itself as a separate entity that could erupt in violent, destructive fury and cause enormous damage.
Therefore, the Obscurial was a danger to himself, those around him and the Statute of Secrecy, which was to hide the magical world from the Muggle one.
But the British Ministry of Magic wasn't the only one who was interested in Credence Barebone. The current powerful Dark Wizard, Gellert Grindelwald, was interested in the power the young man possessed and was looking to use him in the war he had planned.
.
Gunnar Grimmson emerged from the wall and pointed his wand in the direction of Credence. Garin ran forward and saw the tip of the wand light up with bright green energy, and moments later, it shot forward.
...
The bounty hunter marched forward but didn't find Credence; instead, he found the female elf, whom Credence had been talking to moments ago. Garin looked at the scene, standing next to the woman.
A wave of energy passed through the room. All three people- Grimmson, Garin and the woman looked to the ceiling, where the sinister energy came from.
Acting quickly, Gunnar cast the shield charm, Protego, creating a transparent bubble around himself. From within, he watched dozens of items float towards the ceiling.
Broooooomm
The roof and the outer wall blew apart. The thousands of pieces of debris flew outwards, only to stop moving and remain floating mid-air. Black smoke, which was the form the Obscurus takes, came together in the air and exploded forward, smashing against the protective bubble, where Grimmson grinned at the spectacle.
The Obscurus controlled all of the suspended debris and crashed it into the Protego bubble. However, the protection charm held on. The Obscurus roared in a distorted voice. Realising that it wasn't working, it expanded the debris, only to then smash it back again with more force than before.
Garin, who still stood next to the woman, observed this and saw the bounty hunter grin before disapparating.
The debris fell, the Obscurus burst, and then began to come together to reform the figure of Credence. He stared at the dead elf's lifeless body, thinking about the questions he had and how he now wouldn't be able to find his mother or family.
The woman stepped forward, looked at him empathetically, and hugged him. Neither of them seemed to realise that Garin was still standing there. He looked around, impressed at what the young man had done, and also understanding that he was merely a frightened boy. People were clearly hunting him, but he also believed there was something else.
He was convinced that Grimmson hadn't missed his spell by mistake. And if that was true, then there was more going on behind the scenes than met the eye. But none of that mattered at that moment, because both Credence and the woman finally turned towards him.
"Greetings. My name is Garin, and I mean you no harm."
The Prince of the Rhoynar held his hands up to show how he was unarmed. Not that that truly mattered, but it seemed to put others at ease. And here, it also seemed to help.
"Who are you?" the woman asked in broken French.
"I already stated that. My name is Garin, and I was wondering if you would be able to help me?"
"Help you? We have our own problems; you need to leave!" she said.
"Ah, I understand your distrust, my lady. But you need not worry, for I am as new to this country as you. No, that's not correct. I am even newer here. I actually only arrived last night, and I have nowhere to go."
"And how is that our problem?" she asked.
"It isn't, but I believe that we could both help each other. What do you think?" Garin asked.
"Help how?" Credence asked. "Do you have information about my mother?"
"I am deeply sorry, my friend, but I just stated that I am new to this country and therefore have absolutely no knowledge of your mother. However, I observed a few things, and I believe I could help you. I possess, like this man, a set of skills, which I believe would be beneficial to you and your search."
As he said that, Garin raised his hand and a small bubble of water appeared. He had the water start transforming into different shapes and move through the room.
The other two didn't look impressed. Although Credence was interested, the woman wasn't.
"Is that supposed to be impressive?" she asked.
In response, Garin controlled the water to move towards a wound on her hand. Before she could pull her hand back, the water shone for a brief second as Garin channelled some of his magic through it, and the wound closed, leaving behind fresh and unblemished skin.
This caught her attention.
"You can heal?! Do you think that--"
"Nagini!" Credence said suddenly.
"I was present last night, my lady. I understand what it is you seek as well. And I believe that after some study, I will be able to heal you and free you of that blood curse. I'm somewhat of a magician myself. And I have a bit of experience fighting against blood magic. So I am optimistic."
Both of them looked at one another, then back at Garin.
"And what is it that you would want as compensation for this?"
"I would like for you to tell me what you know of the magical world. I am interested in learning as much as possible. The more I know, the quicker I will be able to help you break your curse and help you, my friend, find what you are looking for."
"..."
"Do either of you have one of those wands? I am interested in trying one of those. It's quite quaint to use a wand, I think. Cute in a way."
The two looked at Garin like he was an idiot, but in their position, what were they supposed to do? They needed all the help they could get.
"Very well. Sadly, we don't have a wand. That costs galleons, which, if you haven't noticed yet, we don't have. But we can tell you where to find one."
"Wonderful. Shall we?"