Category: The Magic Quill

Poor, sensitive Signor Boccachiusa could not stand to watch the duel between Il Comte and the considerably less dapper, but much braver, British wizard. While the lads from Durmstrang gathered around the fight to chant, “Ugly Stick! Ugly Stick!” and the other clowns fussed over the baby who was actually a twentyish-year-old man who had fallen victim to an overdose of Yesterday Pills, the mime wizard wandered.

Merlin and his party ran out one side of Il Comte di Bestemmia’s banquet hall, rounded a corner in the corridor, and immediately ran in the other side of the Il Comte’s hall.

Three Italian clowns, four Durmstrang runaways, a wizard-of-fortune, and a toddler squirmed in Il Comte’s luxurious armchairs, but could not stand up.

After the goblins sealed Merlin and his party in the vault of Il Comte, once again, he gave up hope of ever escaping. Their attempts so far had led nowhere, and the flaws in Gringotts security they had found were now repaired.

Sitting on the floor of the Time Vault with an infant Rigel balanced between his lap and Slavik’s, with their only exit blocked by a detachment of goblin bank guards, Merlin did not expect anything to delay his recapture. And this time, he was sure, there would be no more chance of escape.

Once the Hand of Glory illuminated the inside of the vault, Rigel stopped holding his breath and gave a slight giggle. Up close, the Time Vault looked a great deal like the store-room in the back of an apothecary’s shop. Tall, narrow, wooden shelves stood in long rows, lined with various bottles of pills and corked jugs.

The six wizards were not long in escaping from the chamber of horrors under the fountain of Ursulina the Unwholesome. They had the silken ladder, after all, by which they climbed up to the roof of the chamber, to say nothing of the portable hole, which brought them out near the fountain again.

Merlin stopped tumbling headlong and found himself sliding down a smooth, curving chute. Its walls seemed to be made of dark glass, yet ordinary glass would have put up more friction against his skin and clothes. He tried to slow his descent, but could not.

The best part of the most popular wizarding event in Britain may be one that most of us missed–writes Bo Dwyer for a Broomstick and Wand ppecial issue on wizarding transportation.