3No Different Flesh
By Oriondruid
Luna and Rolf Scamander whilst on a 'working honeymoon' are seeking some unusual magical creatures in America when they come across the Cougar Canyon community and it's mysterious 'People'. A story about two previously separate magical races finding each other and a new friendship that grows between them from the encounter. See my profile for my 'open letter' about The People and their wonderful originator. This explains my intentions in writing this unusual 'crossover'.
Dedicated to an incredible author called Zenna Henderson who created magic and wonder decades before our dearest Jo ever wrote about Hogwarts. This is also dedicated to her wonderful, magical 'People', who live as strongly in some hearts as Harry and the Wizarding World also do. I own neither the authorship rights of JK Rowling, nor those of the late, great Zenna Henderson. This story is purely a tribute to these two great writers and is an amateur work and not for profit. See my long footnote/open letter called Of Crossovers and Coincidences as to why I think Zenna's work is still important and why she should be revered in the hearts of Harry Potter fans almost as much as Jo Rowling is.
Chapter 1: An unplanned encounter.
Luna was concentrating on the instructions she was getting from her husband as she was slowly driving their off-road Landcruiser expedition vehicle across the scrubby desert flat in in near complete darkness, lit only by the sliver of a new moon.
Her new husband Rolf Scamander was standing with his head out of the roof hatch telling her which way to go. He was manning a spotlight mounted on a pivot, to which a small HD camcorder was also attached. The infra red spotlight was aimed at the ground a few feet ahead of the slow moving vehicle, invisibly illuminating on the camera screen watched by Rolf a set of animal tracks clearly defined in the ground. The couple were attempting to catch sight of the animal whose tracks they were following, which they believed to be a rare lesser spotted hippogriph, the local sub species of which were only about a third the size of the British and European type and a species thought to frequent the hills and bluffs around this bumpy and dusty plain.
Luna asked, "Do you think we're getting close Rolf, can you still see the tracks?"
"Yes Luna," the newly-wed Magizoologist replied, "Just keep going on this bearing, not too fast, keep it at walking pace, it can't be far ahead and we may catch up with it soon, as long as it doesn't get frightened and take to the wing that is. I'd love to get some footage, it'll be the first taken in the wild if we do."
No sooner had he said it though than a battered looking pickup truck swooped over them in the almost complete darkness and dropped out of the air right in front of their vehicle, only just clearing Rolf's head and their roof as it did so. Landing with a thump in the dirt and kicking up a cloud of dust it screeched to a shuddering halt, sliding sideways and nearly tipping over.
Luna slammed on the brakes of her own vehicle and it slid to a halt as Rolf started to swear and shout because he'd banged his ribs on the rim of the roof hatch and despite the slow speed they'd been travelling at he'd been hurt by the impact of the hard braking. Luna was worried that his injuries were serious as he slumped back into the body of their vehicle and back into the seat next to her. She began to check him out as soon as she could, to see how badly he was hurt. Her attention was entirely focussed on Rolf and so she didn't even see that the occupants of the pickup had exited their vehicle and had approached them.
The first she knew they were there was when a concerned sounding female voice said; "Oh my God! Are you both OK? We so nearly hit you, Cliff didn't even see your truck 'till a split second before we landed, 'cos the lights were out, if it wasn't for his good night vision we'd have hit you. I dread to think what might have happened if we had, he only just had time to pull us up enough to miss your car's roof, then it was hold on tight and hope for the best."
Luna looked out the open side window of their Landcruiser and saw a shocked looking dark haired female in perhaps her mid twenties with a handsome blond man about the same age with his arm around her in a reassuring fashion.
Luna's husband Rolf, wincing a little, nonetheless smiled and replied for Luna saying; "Not too bad thanks, but I might have busted a rib or two on the hatch rim as I fell. It's nothing that a skilled Mediwitch couldn't sort out without too much difficulty though. I take it you folks must know of one around here, from the way your pickup was flying I'd guess you're magical people too?"
The young woman looked a little puzzled at Rolf's words but smiled and said; "Oh I'm sure our healers can help you out. My name's Valancy Green and this here's Cliff Allbright, we're from Cougar Canyon, just up away's along that rough track over there, this is where we normally set down and drive the rest of the way, in case there's strangers in town. We've got a little community there in the canyon and around-abouts, mostly a few farms, a farm machinery workshop and automobile garage, a nice little schoolhouse, blacksmith shop and general store, you know the kinda thing you get in rural areas around here. How comes you folks aren't shocked that our pickup was flyin'? Mostly we try and keep our powers low key around here, people don't normally take too kindly to flyin' cars in these parts."
Luna smiled and replied; "We'll, being as how we're magical people too we've seen much more strange things than a flying pickup in our time. Over in England, where we're from flying cars are almost ten a penny now in the Wizarding World. I fact it was our friend Arthur Weasley who started the trend and ever since the war ended there's been more and more of them around, our friends Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and their families both have one now, they're a bit more contollable than the prototype was too. They told me that had a mind of it's own! I'm Luna Scamander and this is Rolfe, my husband by the way, we're on a working honeymoon doing some filming for a magical creatures documentary. I take it you nice people must be part of the local community of witches and wizards on this side of the Atlantic? Only I thought you were all located on the East Coast up in New England and thereabouts, or so they told Rolf and me."
The handsome blond man looking surprised said; "You're Witches and Wizards you say, nope we ain't nuthin' that fancy, we just go by the name we call ourselves. We're called The People, plain and simple as that, but it seems like we do have somethin' in common, don't we now?" The man smiled and held out his hand to Luna and Rolf, who both shook it, although in Rolfe's case very gently and slowly, wincing slightly. Luna and Rolf introduced themselves to the American couple, and it was smiles all around.
The woman called Valancy then said; "I reckon that track will be a sight too bumpy for your husband's banged up ribs Luna, why don't you let us fly you'n him into the town, it'll be a lot less hard on Rolf to travel that way. We'll go slow and use our personal shields, so it shouldn't even muss his hair."
"That would be kind of you Valancy." Rolf replied, "But we have our own broomsticks in the back of our truck, I'm sure I can use mine well enough to get me there at a pinch, as long as I take it easy."
Valancy smiled and replied, "Broomsticks you say, well I never did! Yer hear that Cliff? The storybooks are true, they use brooms to fly, I'd like to see that! But, I think it might be best if Cliff and I take you Rolf, as we can use our personal shields to cushion the flight and make the landing real gentle. You can tag along on your broomstick Luna, or drive into town if you'd prefer, it's not far. We can always send a couple of the boys back to collect both the vehicles and drive em into town when we get there, if you want to come with us though.
Luna agreed to the flying solution and soon Rolf was stood between Cliff and Valancy they held him gently under his arms between them, ensuring not to put pressure on his damaged lower ribs and the trio lifted into the air, without need for any broomsticks or other external aids to flight. Luna mounted on her broomstick lifted off and followed.
Rolf felt his weight diminish and then the three were off together across the rough ground, fast as any bird and without even the customary wind rush that generally accompanied broom flying. It was odd to fly that way, without any inertia or sense of motion, it felt like it was the world that was moving, not him. "This must be the 'personal shields' in action that Valancy had mentioned." Rolf thought.
Luna flew accompanying the trio astride her Mark 2 Nimbus Stormcloud, but even though it was a top class racing broom she was having some trouble keeping up, until seeing her struggling Rolf asked the other two to slow down a bit.
They reached a canyon in the surrounding hills, a deep cleft in the rocks with a small river flowing out of it. Around it on the level ground at the foot of the large, rounded topped bare rock hill Luna could see the lights of a settlement surrounded by outlying small farms, glowing in the dark ahead. The trio and Luna began to angle down into the place she now knew was called Cougar Canyon.
xxx
They landed by a charming two storey wooden house, with a wide porch and a swing at the front and saw a smiling and waving dark haired, older mid fortyish looking man, along with a dark haired boy of about mid teens standing by the front door.
"I 'pathed a message ahead, so they knew we were coming. Arnie's got a good 'ear'." Valancy explained cryptically.
As the trio set down Valency let go of Rolf, who, supported still by Cliff was ushered into the front door of the house and into the living room. He was sat on a very comfortable couch and the older man asked if he wanted to lie down, but Rolf replied he was fine sitting up as it hurt less.
Valancy smiled at the teenage boy who'd greeted them on their arrival and said to him, "Please can you scoot and get Beth please Arnie, Rolf here's in need of her services as he's got a couple of busted ribs that're in need of healin', so ask her to come straight over if she can please. I'm sure Becky is old enough to look after her younger brother and sister by herself fer awhile, but maybe you could hang around with them for a spell, till their Mom gets back will you?"
The boy Arnie smiled, said he'd be happy to go and immediately left on his 'mission', running all the way.
Once he'd gone Valancy beamed at Luna and said, "I knew that was something that wouldn't take much persuasion on my part. Any excuse to see Becky and he's off like a shot. That young pair ain't exactly 'two-ing' yet, but near as dammit are, I'm bettin' it'll be 'official' soon enough come this Blooming Day.
She then introduced the older man, saying, this is Jack Oldmore, our lodger at the moment. We're rentin' him a room as he's here to carry out a contract, drilling a new well for the Glasman farm. He's come over from another of our People communities at Silver Vein, where they are used to sinking shafts for the mining, so if we need help along those lines one of them comes to do the job and their folks brings the equipment needed, since it's too hard to rip out bedrock usin' a Lift. Could do yerself a nasty injury tryin' that! Valancy smiled at the puzzled magical pair.
Rolf and Luna shook hands with the man, but with Rolf very much still favoring his broken ribs.
In a short while a pretty and petite woman with brown curly hair and a compassionate expression arrived at the house and was introduced to Rolf and Luna as Beth Marsden, one of the community's Healing talents.
She examined Rolf gently, simply by passing her hands over the affected side of his body and said to him. "Yep, two of 'em's busted alright, no damage to the lung though as far as I can tell. You're lucky, they're nice clean breaks, no splintering and I can fix em back together for you easy enough, at least well enough to get you up and about without too much pain. But ribs're tricky, it'll probably take a week or two before the soreness goes completely, so you'll be taking it easy for a while I hope, 'cos I don't want you cracking 'em apart again, yer hear?"
Beth's slightly stern but kindly tone reminded Luna of Poppy Pomfrey, the Matron and brilliant mediwitch of Hogwarts School when she'd been a pupil there. It was a tone full of compassion, but which brooked no nonsense.
Rolf nodded in agreement and the woman then once more began to pass her hands across the affected part of his lower chest. But this time a strange golden glow shone out from her hands as she did so.
Rolf felt a warming sensation and then a stirring in his chest, a slight stabbing pain as broken ends of the two ribs clicked back into place and lodged there, then a great relief as he found himself able to breathe with much reduced pain. He smiled at the woman called Beth and thanked her for her help. Luna too expressed her gratitude to the Healer.
Beth then opened the small bag old fashioned looking 'medical bag' she had brought with her and pulled out a small bottle of some sort of brown medicine in it. She gave it to Luna and said. "Here honey, you make sure he takes a good swig of this when he goes to bed, it'll help him sleep as he'll be a bit sore for a while, the soft tissue bruises around the ribs take a while to heal fully but it's best to let 'em do so natural. Don't you worry none, it's just a herbal draught and won't do him no harm, just ease it a bit. I'm givin' it to you so's I'm sure he'll take it, men can be so stubborn about takin' medicine sometimes, just like little kids."
Luna nodded and smiled in acknowledgement and again both she and Rolf offered their thanks to the strange Healer.
Becky replied, "Twern't nothin', glad to be of help. You just take it easy for a while and all will be well, those bones need to grow back together properly, so no strenuous activity for at least a week or better yet two, cos I don't want to have to refix 'em."
Rolf and Luna swore they would listen to Becky's advice and offered to pay her for her services, but she would hear nothing of it. Soon she left to get back to her children, with Rolf and Luna's gratitude ringing in her ears.
Valancy also smiled at the woman as she left and thanked her for coming over so swiftly. She then turned to Rolf and Luna saying, "We'll you two, we'd best find you somewhere to stay in town, there's no hotel here I'm afraid but I'm sure someone will be able to put you up for a while in a spare room. Normally we have one here you'd be welcome to, but as you know Jack'll be using that for a few more days, whilst he's here workin'."
A smiling Luna replied, "Don't worry Valancy, if you can find us a bit of level dry ground we can pitch our tent from the truck when it gets here, it's got all we need to be comfortable in it."
"I'm not sure a tent will be a good idea Luna." Valancy replied sounding concerned. "After all sleeping on the ground with Rolf's sore ribs might not be good for him."
Luna just smiled serenely though and said. "Oh don't worry Valancy, our tent's a little bit more sophisticated than most and Rolf certainly won't be sleeping on the ground."
xxx
When Arnie returned some minutes later from Becky's house Jack and the boy went off to round up a couple more people to go and retrieve both the stranded vehicles from where they'd been left out on the scrubby plain, and within less than an hour both of them had been driven into town and were parked near the house.
Valancy had told Luna and Rolfe they could pitch their tent in the large backyard of the house, but still seemed very sceptical about their using it for accommodation. She became even more so on seeing the edifice erected and eyeing the small, very ordinary looking canvas ridge tent with alarm she stated, "There's no way you can stay in that for two weeks, look at it, it's tiny!"
Luna and a now much more mobile Rolf however simply smiled at her and invited her to come and look inside. Valency however doubted that the three of them would even fit inside the thing. However she followed them through the front flap and was astounded by what she saw.
Inside the interior of the tent was large and sumptuous, about the size of a big comfortable apartment, with rich fabrics draping the walls and separating the internal spaces. There was a large 'kingsize' four poster double bed in the sleeping area, a well stocked and equipped kitchen. Also there was a fully plumbed bathroom with a big bathtub easily large enough for two people, a shower and toilet. The living area had comfortable chairs and sofas, a coffee table, a wizard radio and Hi Fi and even a large screen TV which the pair used to view the wildlife material they'd shot, as well as other programmes. Electrical power to run the lighting, TV and other gadgets was, Rolf told Valancy, generated by a silent and fuel free magically driven generator, of a recently developed kind.
Valancy was staggered by what she saw and very impressed. Secretly she was astonished by the degree of magical power this strange English couple exhibited, since even though she herself was of The People, their magic was so very different from that which she knew. She felt they'd have much to teach each other over the coming days.