(Next Day)
He looked out over the valley of the ice falls, where 13 frozen waterfalls stayed frozen all year around, allowing the light to reflect off them, making a rainbow of colours. It was a truly breathtaking sight, he thought, as he walked around the valley. His godfather, however, was busy chatting up the local tour guide, which was amusing as hell, but embarrassing at the sa ti.
He took a couple more pictures with his chard cara that he had bought earlier that day, even though his mind arts were developing to the point that he had near perfect recall of the place. It was still good to have sothing to reference and refresh the mory in the future.
Plus, this way he could show his friends what he had been up to.
"It's beautiful, isn't it," Sirius stated, taking him by surprise.
"Yea, it is," he agreed, looking at the magical wonders before him, feeling a asure of peace. "It's so peaceful, but at the sa ti it reminds you of the power of winter," feeling an increasing amount of respect for individuals who made their hos in such harsh environnts, as well as for cultures that lived without the modern comforts of life, whether they be magical or mundane.
"Want to see its opposite? Want to see Hekla?" Sirius asked, as he continued to look at the frozen waterfalls.
Thinking over the suggestion, he already knew his answer, since it had been one of the things he wanted to do before he died. "Sure," he said, wondering what it would be like to see an active volcano, what he would feel at the sight of it. He walked over to the cabin, which served as the visitor's entrance as well as a cafe, before heading over to the magical fireplace. Paying the small fee to use it, he threw so floo powder in before stepping in and saying "Hekla," and was promptly whisked away.
Instantly he was hit by the extre heat and the stuffy, heavy air as he fell into the room, waiting for Sirius to step through the fireplace. His godfather imdiately voiced what he was thinking, "rlin, it's hot in here, don't they know any cooling charms? Or temperature control wards?"
"This is Iceland; they probably need heating and warming charms more than cooling. Plus, I doubt any amount of cooling charms could fully compensate for an active volcano's heat," voicing his own opinion. They paid the visitor fee—what was ten bits of silver between their respective fortunes—before making their way to the summit of the volcano. Walking up the stone path, they crossed what clearly was a ward as the air around them seed to boil with heat, the air tasted of ash and sulphur, setting his nose and lungs virtually on fire.
"Wait a second, Harry," Sirius urged as his wand appeared in hand. "Let cast a bubble head charm on us, it will help filter the air," sending a spell at him which created an air bubble around his head, making it easier to breathe as heat continued to batter his body.
Continuing the climb to the summit, in less than ten feet the temperature seed to double, causing him to remove his remaining outer layers, no longer needing them, as the heat radiated from the ground like overcharged underground heating. Despite the increasing heat, he pushed on with the climb to the summit. Finally reaching the summit, his breath was instantly taken away at the sight that lay before him, the lava boiling and churning, dancing under its own song. "Wow."
"What did you say? I can't hear you, Harry," Sirius shouted over the crackling of the volcano, as a fountain of molten rock erupted.
"I said, wow!" he shouted back at his godfather, before turning his full attention back to the show of molten gold rock dancing below them, as he knelt down to rub his hand over the volcanic rock, before picking up a hot black stone as a keepsake; it would serve as a physical reminder of standing here.
Taking a step closer to the edge as the heat bathed his skin, he made every effort to rember this mont, to lock in his mind all the different senses, the rainbow of reds and oranges and golds on the hard backdrop of scarred volcanic rock.
Pulling out his chard cara, he started to take a series of photos to immortalize the mont. However, just then the ground shook violently beneath them as part of the opposite edge gave way and collapsed into the mouth of the volcano, causing a plu of lava and ash to erupt up, creating an aweso snapshot. The ground shook again, but much more violently this ti, as the molten rock coated the walls.
"Harry!" Sirius shouted out in alarm, as he looked over to see his godfather had fallen over as a result of the mini-earthquake, his face layered with concern for his well-being. "You might want to step away from the edge, Harry," Sirius advised, monts before another mini eruption occurred; Harry just rode the tremors out.
Looking down into the pit of molten rock before turning back to his godfather, he decided to take a couple steps back, "Sure," he shouted back, before continuing to watch the mini eruptions below, feeling a rush at the primal power laying beneath his feet, waiting to erupt and consu.
"Fuck, your mother is going to kill ," Sirius said loudly as he made his way over to him, testing the ground as he went. "rlin, how are you not a Gryffindor? First jumping out a multi-story window, now this?" Sirius demanded, as he looked down into the magma below them uneasily.
Wondering how many more tis he would have to hear that in his life, he responded snarkily, "Ask the Hat," he shot back, grinning again as the ground shook like an angry beast trying to shake off a pest, as his godfather stepped back.
Turning around to face Sirius, a bigger eruption happened, before he threw Sirius the cara, "Take a picture, will you?" he requested, enjoying the rush that he felt standing there, whilst ntally ticking off 'stand at the summit of an active volcano' from his lifeti to-do list.
...
(That Evening)
"I can't believe you did that," Sirius stated from the armchair, clearly happy to be away from the volcano as he nursed his whiskey carefully.
"Lighten up. Didn't you feel that rush?" he asked, wondering when his 'do anything once' godfather, the one who wanted him to act more like a lion and take risks, had suddenly lost his courage and turned into a frightened house cat.
"Harry," Sirius started slowly, "yea, it was a rush, I admit that, but that was insane, standing less than two feet from the edge," Sirius finished, before quickly downing so more of his whiskey.
"Sirius, it was more like a ter," he answered back. "I always wanted to stand there, on the edge like that, and I wanted to be able to say 'I did that.' There is so much I want to do and see in this life. I want to learn how to swim, and I want to look down on the world from the tallest mountains.
I want to see the pyramids, the Valley of Kings; I want to see Ro and Athens. Those were the things that kept going at the Dursleys, my hope of finally getting out of that cursed street and life, and seeing the wider world that I had only read about in books," looking straight at his godfather.
"Whenever they went on holiday, I was left with the neighbours; when they went to Spain, I was stuck painting the front room of a neighbour's house. When my relatives went to the zoo, I was left at the neighbours, stuck labouring under the sun.
So excuse , I'm going to enjoy being able to do sothing that I've always wanted to do, especially after Pettigrew just tried to kill again, and nearly succeeded this ti!" He knew he was playing the guilt card, but it was true, he was done being the ek, subservient boy who suffered at the hands of others and was denied any happiness of his own.
"I understand. I created a similar list while I was locked up," Sirius admitted. "So where would you like to go this sumr?" whilst taking another gulp of his whiskey.
"Can't say," he admitted, sitting down on the sofa and pouring himself so of the whiskey into a glass and throwing so ice cubes in it. He ignored Sirius' smirk at his antics, "My list was created before I discovered that I was a wizard; I have to take new things into account now, things that are only possible in the magical world. I'd still like to see Paris though, both non-magical and magical, as you know," his godfather nodding along at that.
"But that can wait; it's only across the channel after all," pushing the visit further down the list in favour of other things. "And it can be done in a couple days easily anyways."
"Ok, pick a continent?" Sirius said, whilst refilling his glass with the golden liquid.
"Asia?" he stated, wondering what Sirius was planning.
"That's a big place," Sirius answered back, whilst playing with the glass. "East or West?"
...
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