After leading the two of them out of the study, Jaina brought them into the living room, where they found Nymphadora Tonks sprawled across a sofa, looking as though she'd been waiting long enough to start growing mushrooms.
The moment she spotted them, she waved enthusiastically.
"Lewis! Ciri! You finally made it! I've been waiting forever!"
"Hello, Tonks!"
The two stepped forward and exchanged hugs with her.
Tonks then looked them up and down with open admiration.
"I have to say, those outfits look amazing. I've never seen anything like them before. Where did you get them made?"
"I made them myself," Lewis replied casually.
"The design is based on styles from Ciri's homeland. As for the materials… they're all trophies from last semester."
"You mean that basilisk?"
Tonks whistled.
"That's incredibly extravagant."
After another careful inspection of their leather armor, she sighed.
"Honestly, outfits like these would be perfect for Aurors. But the old fossils in the Ministry would never approve equipment upgrades. They keep pretending Aurors don't spend their lives fighting dark wizards and dangerous magical creatures."
Ciri instinctively glanced at Jaina.
As Deputy Director of Magical Law Enforcement, she definitely qualified as one of those "important Ministry officials."
Who exactly was Tonks insulting here?
Yet Jaina seemed completely unbothered.
"I agree," she said immediately.
"The Ministry allocates far too little funding to the Auror Office."
"If I had the authority, every Auror would already have a suit of enchanted armor."
After all, Voldemort was going to return sooner or later.
Preparing for war was never a mistake.
Why save money?
Save it for what?
War reparations to Voldemort?
Unlike Lewis, Ciri had absolutely no interest in politics or bureaucratic authority.
Instead, she asked:
"Tonks, where exactly are we supposed to find this black dragon?"
"According to the Ministry's intelligence," Tonks answered, "our destination is the Amazon Rainforest."
"The Amazon?"
Ciri blinked in surprise.
"That dragon flew all the way there after leaving Britain?"
Although she'd only been in this world for six years, she knew enough geography to realize how absurd that distance was.
"That's exactly what's so strange," Tonks replied.
"Based on our calculations, it traveled over nine thousand kilometers."
"Ordinary dragons simply can't cross an ocean like that."
"Not even close."
Ciri nodded thoughtfully.
As expected.
A true dragon from another world was nothing like the fire-dragons native to this universe.
"Alright, everyone."
Jaina checked the magical clock hanging beside the doorway and picked up an old, dusty teapot.
"Regardless of where it came from, this dragon became Britain's problem first."
"So now it's our job to clean up the mess."
"Time to depart."
Deep within the southern reaches of the Amazon Rainforest, a capybara cautiously emerged from a patch of bushes and approached the riverbank.
For a creature positioned so low on the food chain, drinking water was one of the most dangerous activities imaginable.
Predators could attack from the forest, from the sky, or even from beneath the water.
Fortunately, there didn't appear to be any immediate threats nearby.
After a few minutes of nervous observation, the capybara finally lowered its head and began drinking.
Then the air nearby suddenly distorted.
The capybara froze.
Ripples spread through empty space like waves across a pond.
Terrified, the little animal immediately dove back into the bushes, leaving only half its head exposed as it watched.
The distortion expanded rapidly.
Then—
WHUMP!
Four people were violently ejected from the portal.
"The people who designed this transportation system should be arrested."
Lewis managed to regain his balance before crashing into the ground.
He caught the three women behind him and immediately began complaining.
Ciri.
Tonks.
Jaina.
All three were highly capable magic users.
Yet every one of them looked pale.
"Lewis…"
Ciri covered her mouth.
"I think I'm going to throw up…"
Lewis immediately uncorked a vial of Invigoration Potion hanging from his belt.
He gave Ciri a small sip, took one himself, then handed the bottle to Tonks and Jaina.
Only after that did everyone start feeling remotely human again.
Even so, their expressions remained miserable.
Because the journey had been absolutely awful.
The old teapot Jaina had produced earlier was a Portkey.
Portkeys were enchanted objects designed to transport people to predetermined destinations.
Most were disguised as ordinary Muggle items.
Teapots.
Buckets.
Boots.
Anything inconspicuous.
Compared to Floo travel, Portkeys offered several advantages.
They could transport multiple people simultaneously.
Their destinations didn't require fireplaces.
They could be used by children without special training.
And unlike Apparition, they were relatively easy to activate.
For those reasons, Portkeys were widely used throughout the wizarding world.
Unfortunately, they also had one major drawback.
For Lewis, it was an unforgivable drawback.
The travel experience was horrible.
Compared to magical transportation methods like Teleportation or Portal magic, Portkeys were primitive torture devices.
Even Floo travel and Apparition felt luxurious by comparison.
Before Hogwarts adopted the Hogwarts Express, the school hospital wing reportedly filled up every September with students suffering nausea and hysterics caused by Portkey travel.
If even Ciri—whose Elder Blood granted her innate spatial abilities—felt sick, that alone demonstrated how dreadful the experience was.
Another issue was precision.
Creating Portkeys was difficult.
Mistakes could result in wildly inaccurate destinations.
Because of this, the Ministry maintained a dedicated Portkey Office responsible for regulating their creation and use.
The Portkey they'd just used had been professionally produced by the Ministry itself.
No wonder Tonks immediately began cursing Ministry employees the moment she landed.
Jaina tried to defend them.
"Honestly, they did their best."
"The farther a Portkey travels, the worse the experience becomes."
"For an intercontinental jump of over nine thousand kilometers, this is actually pretty good."
Judging by her expression, she spoke from painful personal experience.
"Tonks, where do we go now?"
Ciri finally recovered enough to stand upright.
Even while asking, she couldn't stop looking around.
Back in the Continent, she'd spent most of her life in the Northern Kingdoms.
The endless rainforest stretching in every direction, combined with the tropical climate and bizarre plant life, was unlike anything she'd ever seen.
Her curiosity was impossible to hide.
Tonks looked toward Jaina.
Meanwhile, Jaina was repeatedly casting frost spells on herself to combat the oppressive heat.
A blue sphere of ice floated around her like a tiny personal air conditioner.
This was one of Azeroth's signature mage techniques.
By maintaining elemental spheres, spellcasters could accelerate the casting speed of related magic.
Masters like Prince Kael'thas Sunstrider could even maintain multiple spheres simultaneously.
"Let's see…"
Jaina pulled out a magical compass-like device.
The needle spun briefly before locking into place.
"Found it."
She pointed westward.
"We need to travel upstream."
"Our destination lies near the center of the rainforest."
Lewis immediately looked disappointed.
To be honest, dragon hunting wasn't his only objective.
He'd also been looking forward to sightseeing.
Unlike Ciri and Jaina, who came from entirely different worlds, Lewis's original home had been Earth.
He knew a fair amount about the Amazon.
The world's largest rainforest was full of extraordinary wildlife.
But for tourists, the truly scenic regions were mostly concentrated near the main channels of the Amazon River, where settlements and landscapes were more varied.
Heading straight into the wilderness meant missing most of that.
Still.
The mission came first.
Jaina reached into her pocket and produced a tiny ship model.
She gently placed it onto the river.
The model immediately expanded.
Within seconds, it became a full-sized vessel.
After the four of them boarded, Jaina tapped the deck with her wand.
Without sails.
Without oars.
Without any visible source of propulsion.
The enchanted ship began gliding smoothly against the current, carrying them deeper and deeper into the heart of the rainforest.
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