Just a rock with a door in Solo Finished

When: December 2025 | Where: Somewhere in Europe

This was a weekend that Hjørdis would not forget easily. In one short weekend, she had gone from being Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts to moving out of her home in Hogsmeade. She had gone from staying in Scotland to travelling across Europe with very little on her. For seven years, her life had been fairly consistent, and she was suddenly being uprooted. Everything was different now. And the foreseeable future? She had no idea what it would look like. All she knew was that they would need to do a lot of travelling in the near future, stay on the move.

In September 2018, Hjørdis had first entered the castle without realising that she would end up spending more time at Hogwarts than at her own home. Her entrance was quick yet quiet. Now, over seven years later in December 2025, the former Deputy Headmistress slipped out of the castle through the corridors that she had patrolled for far too many hours. There was no party, no grand goodbye. Just a note, left in her shared office with @Solomon Lear, who had kindly given her a space in his office when she had changed roles so she was not a wandering nomad.

As a woman of few words, the note matched her energy. “It’s time, I’m sorry. Good luck.” That was all she had written, but it was not like the Headmaster wouldn’t have seen it coming. Her luggage was as small as her note. In the same way, she carried a small designer bag and a cat that strolled alongside her as her cloak fluttered in the wind. That was it. For once, she wore a full black wizards robe and hat to hide herself as she walked over the viaduct, making her way through the castle grounds and heading to the exit. In her wizard's outfit, she blended into the town of Hogsmeade in the dead of night. Her time at Hogwarts was over and she snuck out like a thief in the middle of the night, taking even less than she had entered with.

The next morning, just as the sun had started to rise, Hjørdis had stepped out of her home in Hogsmeade, making her way out of it with two bags this time. The same small designer bag, but with an addition of a small backpack. To a muggle, it looked like she was barely carrying anything of course. And in reality, the silver haired woman was carrying a lot less than she probably would have if this move was a happier one. However, she had packed up everything she would need into the enchanted backpack. At the very least, her essentials.

She locked the home behind her, pausing to gather her restraints for a moment before turning towards the street with a new sense of purpose. As she made her way to the train station, she paused for a moment and looked back down the road. Hogsmeade held a lot of memories for her outside of work. It was where she spent most of her time outside of the castle and now, she had no idea when she would return. If she would return. There was nothing left for her here either, except empty buildings with many memories.

Her best friend was being trialled for something he definitely did not do, her partner had disappeared several weeks earlier and most of the people she loved were all hidden. This was not going to be easy, this was not how she imagined life to be but nonetheless, it was how life was turning out. She knew where she had to go though. Everyone was being tested. No, this was not a test. This was a hunt. They were prey, and they were all in danger of being hunted down like animals.

She had something very important to do before anything else could happen. Hjørdis headed to London dressed as an average muggle in winter clothes, luggage in hand and a nice thick coat draped over her shoulders with knee high boots on. Passport ready, flight mode activated. Her task took the full weekend but it was one of the most important things she could do.

It took a while to get to her destination: a small village in the middle of a very snowy Norway. It normally did not take so long but she intentionally took a longer route, just in case anyone happened to be following her. After all, she did not intend to lead anyone here. Hiding in the trees, she overlooked a house for the next twenty four hours to ensure they were fine. It was probably strange, and admittedly a little creepy, if anyone did know she was lurking out there. Of course, the former Deputy Headmistress could have gone in. There was little stopping her from going in but that action would pose an additional risk on the inhabitants of the house and she refused to add any additional risks. In truth, she should not have even come. But the silver haired woman wanted to make sure they were okay. She could not risk it. After all, they were the only family she had left that she still deeply cared about. Her father’s side - muggles that did not need to be dragged into whatever this ridiculous thing with the ministry was.

She smiled softly as she watched them, and secretly helped them out a little where she could. After she was satisfied that they were all okay, that they were likely not being watched, she departed the area even faster than she had arrived. After all, she did not want the ministry to find them if they did not know about them already. She hated this. Life on the run did not seem like the ideal way to live but at the very least, her family were still safe and she had the freedom to go wherever she wanted. The same could not be said about her friend, who was currently being accused of a crime that she was convinced he did not commit. He was an easy target, because of a curse that he could not control. It was awful.

Before she left, she harvested a few plants and local items that would be very useful in brewing potions. She had a lot of time to think during her travels and whilst watching them. She had enough money saved up to go travelling and make a new life somewhere else but to sustain the lifestyle, she needed something that she could do on the run. Brewing potions seemed like the best option, but getting the ingredients would be an issue if she could not just wander into her regular apothecary. Harvesting what she could, when she could, seemed like a good idea.

The next day, Hjørdis arrived here - to her new home, where he was already waiting for her. In a small village that she could only describe as the middle of nowhere. Even more on the outskirts than where her family lived.

This time, she was wearing a hat and her very recognisable hair was tucked underneath her hat and into the back of her coat to cover her face slightly. She was not worried about being followed; she had literally travelled to a different country and taken several different modes of transport over the weekend, so it would be almost impossible to have followed her without her noticing even once. If someone was following her, she would have noticed by now. At least, she was pretty confident in her abilities to spot them by now. Some would say, she had a sixth sense about these sorts of things. What she was concerned about, however, was being lost.

This truly felt like the middle of nowhere, and yet, if she had gotten the right address then this would be where she needed to be right now. It had taken her almost two full days to reach since she had left Hogsmeade but she had made a very important pitstop. It was dark once more. She was pretty sure it was a Monday, around three in the morning but in her travels, she might have been mistaken as she changed timezones a couple of times. The sun still had not come up.

Her delicate hands plucked the daisies from the ground with a sigh. She hated having to gather the ingredients from the ground - in the most literal sense! However, these precious ingredients were worth gathering as and when she spotted them because she had a strong feeling that in the near future, just popping into an apothecary would not be easy. Even ordering from one may not be easy but visiting one? That seemed almost out of the question. Perhaps in a different continent though… They were already abroad, right? Maybe that would help.

At the very least, this time she was plucking flowers that she could use - and not more live caterpillars or spiders! Why these awful things were ingredients in potions she would never understand but her job was to try and figure out how to brew the necessary potions without using these disgusting ingredients that she hated using. Eye of newt? No thank you.

Hjørdis made her way through the trees, having headed off the beaten path. With her bags in hand, she marched through a forest and past a lake, pausing for every moment that she spotted some potion ingredients. She had noticed quite a lot of stuff was readily available if you looked around for it. The lake had some frogspawn. By the time she had reached her destination, she had already added a few things to her potion pack. Sprigs of lavender, aloe vera, a few beetles, some caterpillars, chamomile, nettles, earthworms and so on. The insects were definitely the grossest part of this but brewing potions required handling a lot of insects or their body parts. It was not fun. When she was searching for ingredients, she took whatever she could. Once things had settled down, perhaps her new focus could be to reduce the amount of animal and insect parts in the potions. Make some vegan potions that were just as effective as the current recipes.

The flowers made up for the grossness, though. Roses, for example, were much easier to grow yourself than other things. And whilst the insects weren’t fun, it was easier to have an insect farm than to find runespoor eggs. She took what she could, when she would. That was her new motto in life. First thing was first, find the house.

Before she reached the remote village, she had stopped at a coffee shop and penned a few letters. She had sent them off through muggle mail, but they were letters sent to various wizards and witches that she had known in the past. Different apothecary owners, alchemists and people who may be able to help her set up her very small potion business. Not that it could really be called a business per se but hey, perhaps one day. She needed different things. Rare ingredients that she could not harvest herself, which she could perhaps get an apothecary owner to owl to her as well as clients to purchase the potions that she brewed. Perhaps if she could improve on the existing recipes then that would also help or to create her own potions entirely. Experimentation was never easy but it would be worth it. However, if it was going to be hard to source the ingredients, her best bet was trying to ensure that every potion was efficient. Reduce the amount of ingredients involved. That would help other potioneers to brew potions with less cost too, if she sold the recipes to them afterwards.

She approached what she could only assume was a small oddly shaped home. Though it may have been bigger on the inside, like the Tardis. This truly felt like the middle of nowhere, and yet, if she had gotten the right address, then this would be where she needed to be right now. It was practically just a giant rock with a door in it, but that seemed very on-brand for the man she was looking for. It had taken her almost two full days to reach. It was dark once more.

Raising her free hand, she knocked on the door. Not just once, but rather multiple times. Almost as though it was a tune. Yes, a pattern she had become very familiar with over the years. The same knock one would do on, say, a barrel hidden away in the kitchens. Her head slowly tilted up to gaze at the door - or rather, the person who would answer it.

For the foreseeable future, this rock with a door in it was her home. It might be a few days, it might be a few months. She had no idea. They had no idea. But as far as she could see, for now, it was home. At least, he was home.

Within hours of reaching, she had set up a small garden with plant pots and a few small insect farms with what she had collected so far. It was not much but it would help. She had also managed to raid her own potion store back at home before she had departed, collecting anything that might be important so she had a few of the slightly harder to harvest items.

[ Thread Finished ]