Date December 22, 2025 Time (morning) Location Palermo, Italy Tags solo, part 1 of 2

Reducio Any color-coded text (red/blue/green/yellow) is intended to represent the speaking/thinking character's house or former house, other characters will be grey. Colored italics are thought; colored "quotations" are spoken. Uncolored italics are usually books or songs etc., while uncolored quotations are usually meant to emphasize the included word or make it sarcastic.

This winter break was special. It was Robin's first time traveling outside of the United Kingdom. Due to his mother's work involving a significant dose of nature, he had been to a lot of beautiful landscapes in Scotland, namely the forests in the Scottish Highlands. He had also been to England a couple of times, but really not that much. And that's it, he had never been off the island and was excited to visit other countries.

When Robin arrived home from Hogwarts, the family first celebrated his birthday, which was on the 21st. It wasn't a big celebration, just like always, it only involved a store-bought cake, the Locketts, and their neighbor the Kellys. Noah Kelly, also a first year at Hogwarts, came back home with Robin. They chatted almost for the whole way back, since they hadn't been hanging out that much for the past few months. After arriving home, Robin's mother Myrcelle was excited to ask all kinds of questions about his life at Hogwarts. They did exchange a couple of letters throughout the semester, but his mother had always liked to hear stories in person.

After his little birthday party, Robin was informed that they were going to Italy the next morning. Yes, he was only informed one night before, but considering the shortage of time, his parents had already packed up most of his things. Robin usually prefers planned trips that are thoroughly communicated between each participating member, but as it was his first time traveling abroad, he allowed his personality to go on a vacation.

The morning they arrived at Palermo was very pleasant. It was described as mild to cool by weather forecasters, but it wasn't anything out of the ordinary for a boy born and raised in Inverness, Scotland. It was even slightly warmer than what he would've experienced if they had stayed back home over the break.

"Let's see what we will be doing today . . . " Myrcelle was reading her notebook, it looks just like the one Robin used to record information of new acquaintances and relationships. "Oh, it's your lucky day, Robin! We are staying in the city, so there is no hiking required."

"Right, though we're still gonna be walking around the city for hours."

"At least you'll be looking at baroque buildings and stuff." His father Jeremy patted him on the shoulder, "Be glad she didn't plan a full week of camping in the mountains."

"I supposes so."

Robin's legs were protesting after roaming the vast city for half a day on foot. Well, it was really a full day, they just took a lunch break in between. Myrcelle wasn't initially the most excited since she preferred to be in contact with nature more, but she could always find ways to make something enjoyable for herself. In retrospect, it was definitely a fun experience, Robin's legs just couldn't agree less at the time of their suffering.

The day went by very slowly for Robin. It might be the ancient architecture casting some sort of spell on the boy, he felt as if he was transported back and forth between the 12th, 17th, 19th, and 21st centuries. Time was warped and disoriented, despite the towering cathedrals and bustling town squares being as stable as when they were first built. No, it was exactly because of that. Something from hundreds of years ago still standing in front of Robin, an insignificant twelve-year-old, shows how the concept of time is both unmoving and ever-changing.

Robin was awestruck, but that sense of wonder contained hints of fear. Fear of history covering up his proof of having lived, just as it did to the equally insignificant people who came here before him . . . long before history books about their time was written.

Reducio

Language Notes
Inverno: "winter" in Italian

Date December 31, 2025 Time (early afternoon) Location Palermo, Italy Tags solo, part 2 of 2

Reducio Any color-coded text (red/blue/green/yellow) is intended to represent the speaking/thinking character's house or former house, other characters will be grey. Colored italics are thought; colored "quotations" are spoken. Uncolored italics are usually books or songs etc., while uncolored quotations are usually meant to emphasize the included word or make it sarcastic.

To paint it in a positive light, the past week was very rich in experience. To make it sound more similar to what Robin thought at the time, well, it sure was tiring.

After their "leisure" tour in the city of Palermo, the family spent a day in Monreale, where Robin's love of history was again satisfied. The next day was dedicated to Cefalù. It had medieval history, but also included some light hiking to which Myrcelle was overjoyed. The next few days were also a combination of history and scenery, then they slowly drove back to Palermo while visiting towns and beaches along the way.

Jeremy was the one driving, he rented a car for this trip. His parents forced him to learn how to use muggle transportation in case "his magic suddenly disappears like how it suddenly appeared", and it had been pretty convenient for the small family when they can't locate a Portkey. Non-instant travel was also interesting for Myrcelle, she liked to look out the window at passing scenery, she said it reminded her of the Hogwarts Express.

As they arrived back in Palermo, the Locketts decided to take a more relaxed and unplanned stroll in the city. Well, specifically Myrcelle's the one who decided that, but the others didn't complain. They thought that the best way to do that would be to test out various restaurants or vendors, since food is both relaxing and not too boring for any of them.

The breeze was comfortable and soothing. What it couldn't soothe was the full bellies of the family. They must have overestimated their stomach's capacity, as they're now sitting on a bench in a random park they came across. It had a lot of greenery, so Myrcelle was again overjoyed and forgot about her supposedly aching belly. She wandered around a bit, Jeremy just watching her from the bench. Robin leaned back and tilted his head upwards, just enough to see some of the branches of the tree behind him.

On one of those branches curled a snake. A jet black snake.

The observation didn't fully register until that snake slithered off the branch, down the tree trunk, and slithered down a pathway leading out of the park.

"Dad, there's a snake." Robin stood up and started following it, his dad squinting his yes in attempt to make out the species. Jeremy called out to Myrcelle, whom after making sense of the situation, ran to catch up with her son. Jeremy yelled out to her that he would stay at the park in case the two got lost and needed an anchor to meet up at, but he never thought that this precaution would actually come in handy.

After spending a semester at Hogwarts, Robin started connecting everything unusual with magic. Whether it really was or not, he would only know after the fact, and he sometimes won't know at all. When he saw the snake, there was an urge akin to his sixth sense telling him that there's something up with it. His curiosity couldn't bear the uncertainty.

The snake seemed to have detected their pursuit. It made a sudden turn into an alleyway, and by the time Robin and Myrcelle turned around the corner, it had already disappeared into one of the narrower alleys.

"Aw, too bad." Myrcelle sighed, before noticing her son picking one of the alleys and diving into it. "Oh right, we can totally just split up!" She ventured into the opposite alleyway, not remembering how her son was only twelve years old and didn't know any Italian except for the basic tourist "ciao" and "grazie".

Shite . . . It was only after a few turns when Robin noticed that his mother wasn't behind him. And yes, he also noticed that he was lost. The streets weren't too crowded but everyone seemed to be heading somewhere, Robin couldn't muster the courage to interrupt them. It was just like that one time back in Hogwarts when he couldn't find the study room.

Robin heard some birds, they sounded like seagulls. The air also contained the faint hint of a salty aroma, and the wind somewhat stronger. All this lead him to think that there's a beach, or a port, but either way the coastline nearby. Robin had gave up looking for the snake, there's no way he would find it in such a maze. He just wanted to ask someone how to get back to the park. The port, or beach, would seem like a good starting point as there's probably quite some people resting there.

Sure enough, after following where the salty wind and bird noises came from, Robin arrived at quite a large port. There were big cruise ships waiting for its passengers to board, medium sized boats likely used for fishing, and smaller yachts for private entertainment. It was also quite busy, so Robin, a twelve-year-old boy walking around aimlessly seemed extremely out of place.

He gravitated towards the area where all the yachts were docking, he felt like if anyone here might have more time to spare, it would be them. As he slowly drifted to his destination, a hand was set on his shoulder.

"Ehi, tu! Ti sei perso?"

Robin tensed up. He quietly turned around, cluelessly staring at the person who called out to him, grabbed his shoulder, even. That was probably Italian, but he didn't understand a word.

The boy standing in front of him had dark brown hair and light blue eyes, was a few centimeters shorter than Robin, and wore a wide smile on his face. He was wearing a blue hoodie with patterns resembling waves, and a tiny sailing ship embroidered near his heart.

"Non parli italiano? Français? Español? English?"

"Aye sorry, I uh . . . speak English. From Scotland. And yes I'm lost." Robin moved his shoulders around to shake of the boy's hand, who got the signal and raised his arms in the form of a surrender.

"No problem, where were you trying to go?" According to Robin's limited knowledge of accents, the boy seemed to be French, though it's all kind of mixed up due to how many languages he spoke.

"Uh, there's a park not too far from here, me and my parents were there . . . " Robin just realized he didn't know the name of the park, so he trailed off in awkwardness.

"Does it have super big trees?"

Robin thought for a moment, "Yeah, I think so."

The boy clapped his hands together, celebrating his success: "You're talking about the Giardino Garibaldi. It's pretty popular and near the port so I know about it. Need me to take you there or do you only want directi0ns?"

Just as Robin was about to answer, he caught a glimpse of a long black creature peeking out from an alley that led to the opening where they were standing. It was the snake. The boy saw him distracted by something and turned to where he was looking at. His eyes widened for a split second and muttered something under his breath before turning back to Robin: "Don't worry, that one's harmless. Look, it's already gone. So, do you need a private tour guide, or–"

"Robin! So you were ahead of us!" Robin was relieved by the familiar voice accompanying the black snake's arrival. Myrcelle emerged from the alleyway smiling, "Next time you run off with a head start like that, I will use Scourgify in your mouth."

"I'm fine with that, you know." Robin loved to brush his teeth. Though Scourgify is sometimes uncomfortable since it fills your whole mouth instead of just the surface of your teeth, he was still generally fine with it.

Wait . . . Robin's heart skipped a beat. He tried to not show any emotion and slowly turned to the boy to see if he thought that was some family inside joke or if he had suspicion in his eyes.

It was neither.

His eyes and smile simultaneously widened, like an itchy sleeper agent who finally heard his trigger word. "You are–" He cut himself off, lowering his voice to a whisper: "You're wizards too?"

Myrcelle too, got even more excited then she already was. "What a coincidence! Are you in a wizarding school yet? Do you attend Beauxbatons? Wait, where are your parents? Oh, look at me asking all the questions, where are my manners? I'm Myrcelle Nightingale, this is my son Robin."

"Nightingale?" The boy seemed to know that name. "Bonjour, Madame! I'm Julien Fo–Morte. Julien Morte." Robin didn't know if the boy named Julien bit his tongue, or if he almost genuinely said the wrong surname.

"Yes, I go to Beauxbatons, and my parents are restocking our pirate ship." Julien paused for reactions, then winked at his two audience members. "I jest, they're just stocking up our plain old boat. I'm walking around the port to see if there's anyone in need of my language expertise." He looked at Robin when he said that last part.

"Well, nice to meet you, Julien. Be sure to say hi to Robin if you ever visit Hogwarts, okay? He needs more friends."

"I have enough already."

"Sure will, Madame."

" . . . Whatever."

Since now his mom was here, Robin only needed simple directions and not a companion to get back to the park. Julien was very clear with his instructions, so they waved each other goodbye pretty soon.

After catching up to Myrcelle, Robin turned to take one last look behind him. That's when he saw the black snake slithering towards Julien, and the boy bending down to let it wrap onto his arm.

Reducio

Language Notes
1. Ehi, tu! Ti sei perso? Hey, you! Are you lost?
2. Non parli italiano? Do you not speak Italian?
3. Français? Español? English? (French, Spanish, English in their respective languages)