Harry Potter and the Lost Cities

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

"Sophie, you have visitors!" Grady called from down the stairs.

Sophie raised her head from her pillow, where she'd been laying, deep in thought. Visitors? Dex had mentioned earlier that he was coming over, but visitors plural? She wasn't sure who that would be.

Curiously, she forced herself to her feet and hurried out the door and down the stairs, wary of who would be there. Hopefully, it wasn't someone annoying like the Council.

To her gratitude, the Council wasn't waiting for her in the living space. In fact, it was her friends. But not necessarily the ones she'd expect. It wasn't surprising to see Dex there, but Wylie didn't come often. And Stina (did she count as a friend?) was also there.

And Biana.

The latter was pointedly avoiding eye contact, her face determined but tired. Sophie stared for a moment, wondering if she was seeing things. Why was Biana here? Did she come to apologize? Why did she bring a group with her?

Someone cleared their throat, and Sophie jumped, startled. "Hey, Sophie," Wylie said. He was looking in confusion between Sophie and Biana. Sophie felt her cheeks warm up.

"Hey, guys. What are you doing here?"

Stina shrugged. "Well, our Team leader hasn't called a meeting in a while, so we figured we should."

Of course. Team Valiant. That's why Biana was here. Not for any other reason.

"Right. Sorry. It's been a busy week," Sophie replied, rubbing her temples slightly.

"Don't worry about it," Dex said quickly. "Are you feeling better?"

"Yep, fine," Sophie supplied casually. Although that wasn't really true. She still had a stabbing headache. But mostly, she was frustrated. Frustrated that she wasn't doing more. Frustrated that the Neverseen was out there making plans and figuring out who knows what, but they were practically doing nothing but waiting for an attack.

"So... did you guys have anything specific you wanted to discuss?" Sophie asked.

Wylie glanced at Stina. "Yeah. Should we go to the Panakes tree?"

The Panakes tree seemed to have become their team rendezvous point, so Sophie nodded. But just as everyone turned towards the door, Sophie felt a buzz in her pocket. She fished out her imparter and saw a message from Harry. Need to talk. On my way.

"Hold on, everyone. Apparently, Harry's coming."

"Harry..." Stina snapped her fingers as if that would help her remember who the most famous character in the Forbidden Cities ever was― although admittedly, no one in the elvin world had ever heard of him until a few weeks ago.

"Harry Potter," Sophie explained impatiently. "The wizard."

"Right, right," Stina agreed. "What's he doing?"

"I dunno, I guess we'll find out―"

Sophie was interrupted by a loud crack from outside.

"That would be him," Sophie said, and the group hurried out the door.

"Hey, Harry," Sophie greeted as the tall man walked towards them.

"Hey, everyone," Harry slipped his wand into his robes. "Sophie, I need to talk to you. First of all... do you know what this is?"

Sophie's jaw dropped open as Harry took a cache out of his pocket. "Where did you get that?"

"Is it dangerous? Or important?" Harry asked, clearly alarmed at her reaction.