The Curious Case Of The Rising Dead [Azalea & Josh]

The sound of slanting rain against his compartment window roused a certain runes professor from his light repose. Wiping the sleep from his eyes, he glanced out into the light curtain of rain with a gaze that seemed to be a hundred miles away from the blurring urban sprawl of Swansea. He'd visited the city more than a few times in his youth and it hadn't been all that memorable. The countryside, however, was a different story altogether, though still not what Andrei Kessler's thoughts dwelled on.

No, instead, he pondered the strange chain of events that had somehow led him to the redeye train from London to Swansea on which he now found himself. It all started with an almost forgettable letter from a Muggle colleague, Jennifer Hansen, teaching at Bangor University. The operative word here being almost as the Hogwarts professor had almost dismissed the letter out of hand until he read deeper into the long-winded document. Besides most of the interpersonal fluff about the health of her family and recent research projects, the letter referenced the possibility of a groundbreaking archeological find on the distant Murray Manor.

At first, Andrei had been less than impressed by the vague reference, but as he continued to exchange letters with Professor Hansen he found his interest sufficiently piqued. It soon became clear that this find could very well have Nordic roots and given the relatively little history of Scandinavians in Wales, it was an opportunity that Andrei could simply not pass up. The only issue came with a bureaucratic roadblock that would have put off the man not a year and a half ago: access to the site was heavily restricted. However, times had since changed and Andrei found himself in a unique position as a Hogwarts professor—not that Professor Hansen would ever know.

And so, roughly a week ago Andrei had reluctantly gone to speak with Adelaide Goshawk. He didn't particularly like the interim headmistress, but he had long since come to understand what made her tick. Though it wasn't much of a secret, Andrei found that by framing each and every request as some form of PR or bottom line boon for Hogwarts that he stood a better chance of not being rejected outright. He spun his tale well: the possibility of a Hogwarts professor making the find of the century was enough to give him leave for a weekend. Adelaide pulled some strings—and god only knew what else—to get Andrei into the prominent wizarding household of Murray and now here he sat aboard a nearly empty train watching people stream off onto the Swansea platform.

Unlike most other people, the father of two preferred to remain in his seat for the initial rush of humanity pass before disembarking and, indeed, he was the last passenger off the train. Stepping into the unyielding drizzle, he popped up an umbrella and wound his way to the street in search of a cab. To anyone watching he no doubt appeared to be your stereotypical intellectual with a dark khaki tweed suit, red tie, and a pair of frameless glasses. This assumption was thrown into sharp relief for the older man when he had to correct his bewildered cabbie as to his desired destination.

"No, not the University, Murray Manor."

"Oh, you're one of them," the cabbie finally sputtered out after a few uncomfortable seconds of silence.

"One of who?"

The man behind the wheel never clarified, but instead drove onwards to what Andrei could only hope to be the right address. With nothing to keep him company save for a static-filled radio, Andrei's gaze once more fell to the changing landscape. The sharp unnatural corners of the cityscape soon morphed into the pastoral ensellure slopes of the Welsh countryside. Even if the trip amounted to nothing, the strangely nostalgic cab ride made it all worth it.

"This is as far as I'll go. You'll have to walk from here, buddy."

"Ok...thanks?"

Andrei paid his considerable fare and stepped out into the idyllic countryside.

"Go down that road until you come to the gate," the cabbie instructed gruffly before driving off in a gravel spitting hurry.

Not bothering with the umbrella again as the rain had long since devolved into an opaque sea of mist, Andrei hefted his briefcase at his side and began the walk up the road the cabbie had indicated. This road, in particular, seemed to be better maintained the others he'd seen on the way, so he held some hope that he had not just been left in the middle of nowhere. Though, it was not until tall iron gates appeared in the distance that the professor's doubts about the crusty old cabbie truly left him.

Hopefully, there'd be someone there to let him or he'd find himself having to explain to a none too pleased Headmistress how he'd failed to even find the right address.

Hint: it wouldn't go well.

A new day commenced, and with it, all the routines and sequences of the new day. Being washed and dressed, being groomed and styled, being brought to breakfast where Azalea Murray would initiate the same greeting protocol as she had for the last six years before indulging into her food the same way she did every day. Pick, insert, chew, swallow, speak. Repeat. When the doll encountered an exchange that deviated from the norm, the sequence for such an event would come forth, as it did on this new day.

"Professor Kessler will be here in twenty minutes, my Lord."

"That sounds very interesting," the human doll replied emptily as Master Murray spoke to the servant. Her words soft compered to his new rebuke.

"Come, A-Azalea, we have guests."

Another sequence, one that compelled the doll to put down carefully whatever she held, rise slowly to her feet and walk towards Master Murray wherever he stood, always coming to stand at his right and slipping her small hand through his. As they walked the to the Withdrawing Room, there was no sound. There never was unless Master Murray initiated conversation.

There was only place place she had to sit in the room, and the doll walked mechanically to it, siting with her ankles crossed neatly as the giant wolf fell into place beside her, his hot breath warming her more than the fireplace could have. The doll simply waited until engaged once more.

"I'd like to introduce my wife, Lady Murray."

"Welcome to our home, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance," the woman spoke, eyes blank and a cultivated smile on her face directed to their guest. This was what she had been taught to say following the words Master Murray had just spoken, and this was all she would say until prompted oherwise.

“The one and only,” Andrei confirmed with a half nod.

Following the man with the deep-set eyes and generous forehead, the runes professor took his first steps through the wrought iron gates and onto Murray land. Left to walk in a welcome silence, Andrei allowed his eyes to dance across the ever-expanding tracts of land as the veil of mist began to coyly lift around him. At first, the white curtains hid all save for the road on which he walked, however slowly but surely the vastness of the estate came into view.

The father of two did not need the tingling of his wedding band to tell him this place had known magic. Though, this was a different magic than the wizarding world knew and wielded well. No, this was not the mundane magic that beguiled the senses and disarmed those who wished you ill, but rather the magic—and majesty—of the world’s first witch, mother nature herself. Rolling hills stood to his right, a flat moorland stretched out to his left, and directly in front of him, with its roof still shrouded in mist, appeared the main house which seemed as much a part of the landscape as either the hills or moors.

The designers of the manor clearly had a Bronte sisters fetish.

No, it wasn’t the Bronte sisters, Andrei decided upon being led into the antechamber, one too many of those Victorian shows Marie enjoys, perhaps?. Shrugging off his jacket, the professor gave up his halfhearted attempts at ascertaining the reasons for the house’s dated appearance. He had never been all that good at analyzing architecture built after the 1600’s anyway. Though, as he the butler led him through a maze of halls and to the drawing-room he could not help but speculate on what living among such grandeur did to its occupants.

Now, dear reader, I would not be entirely honest if I related to you that in the next sequence of events Andrei’s heart did not skip a few beats in the presence of the large beast known as Darr. That said, his face did not betray even a flicker of fear, but rather contorted itself into a shallow annoyed frown. The runes professor—to the chagrin of his only son—did not much like animals, so the prospect of being faced down by the snarling mongrel was not an altogether happy one for the man. Nonetheless, he kept pace with the niceties expected of him.

“I assure you the pleasure is all mine, Mrs. Murray,” Andrei gave the woman a kind smile before returning his attention to her husband.

The two made an odd couple and perhaps this was part of the reason why Andrei felt more at ease than you might expect considering the presence of Darr. On one hand, the lady of the house seemed to be mouthing platitudes from behind a pleasant looking mask. Then, on the other hand, the man appeared to put on airs of assumed authority, but his obvious youth did him no favors making him look like—at least in Andrei’s opinion—a boy wearing his father’s suit for the first time. Together the couple amounted to the prototypical square peg and round hole; which was the peg and which the hole was anyone’s guess.

These were latest of the great and powerful Murrays?

Andrei was not impressed.

“Business isn’t the right word,” Andrei gently corrected the man across from him. “I don’t know if you follow recent archeological developments, but thanks to a few advances in methodology Wales has become the center of the newest wave of Scandinavian research. Experts in the field, myself included I’m afraid to say, discounted the region’s relevance up until about a year ago when a few spectacular digs revolutionized our understanding of the Scandinavian peoples who came to our humble isle from the north.”

The professor paused here and carefully removed a folder of papers from the worn leather briefcase he’d kept with him despite the butler’s best efforts.

“I took the liberty of compiling some of the recent finds for you to peruse at your leisure,” Andrei held out the folder for the man to take, though if not taken the professor would opt to place it on a short reading table to his right. “In particular, I’d like to draw your attention to a mass grave uncovered just to the south of your property. The marks on the bodies are characteristic of a violent end leading many to suspect that somewhere nearby a battle took place. And so, my business as you put it and if you’ll allow it, is to survey your land for any trace of this battle. More specifically, the low-lying moorland where logic dictates we might find something of historical worth.”

Falling silent, Andrei stole a glance down at Darr before returning his even gaze to the young Mr.Murray—it wasn’t every day the runes professor met someone tall enough to look him in the eye.

Archeology wasn’t business, it was a passion.

The witch sat in silence as was the norm with her, letting the two men carry on a conversation she could neither understand nor would ever make an effort to. No conditioned cues had popped up within the conversation which meant the doll could languish on her chair where she was, strangely unloving, her polite smile blank as ever where she sat.

As the visitor finished off a long monologue about something or other, the brunette finally displayed movement, nodding her head mechanically and adding the four words she had been taught to respond with when a conversation hinted at no other lines of instructional value.

"That sounds very interesting."

After which, the young woman fell silent once more, letting Master Murray speak to his guest. She would be called upon when she ws needed, and in the meantime, there was no place for her in this conversation.

In this house.

In this world.

Her blank chocolate gaze resting on a patch of sunlight streaming in through one of the large windows of the withdrawing room, the Lady Murray stayed unnaturally still - no emotion betrayed on her pale, blank features.

Rich people and ancient artifacts went together like peanut and butter. Perhaps they thought that possessing such objects gave them some kind of control over the past? Andrei couldn't be too sure. All he knew was that he had dealt with more than enough wealthy people in his time to know the ins and outs of how they worked. That said, the patriarch of the Murray family was something different. Yes, different, but not new. Sure, the man before him was no doubt rich beyond reckoning, but he seemed more like Andrei's rebellious daughter Helen than anyone else he'd met before.

Childish and distant.

"Wonderful," Andrei agreed with a nod. "Those are most certainly agreeable terms. If there's nothing else I can get started immediately and leave you two to enjoy the rest of the day."

The professor considered mentioning the procedure that was to be followed under wizarding law if objects of value were indeed found, but he decided against it. Surely the man already knew of these or Andrei would not be standing in front of him. Or, on the other hand, he knew nothing and did not understand the full extent of the ministry's reach in such matters of magical importance. Either way, it was not of concern at the moment as the older man, for his part, had already done his due diligence.

Permits, check.

Permission, check.

An actual find? Well, that remained to be seen.