Holiday

Edward fell through a strange dreamscape of distorted colours and images until he blinked and everything stopped moving.

Upon opening his eyes, he was stood up behind a long line of people. He looked around to see he was in a gigantic building, about as large as an airport, with floods of people walking around and queueing up at the many desks.

'Last time I was in a queue, I punched Death in the face,' Edward reminisced silently.

The queue moved slowly, but he eventually reached the front and was greeted by a tall, blonde woman wearing a purple uniform and a silver badge engraved with 'T.M.A'.

"Hello sir. How can I help you today?"

Edward scratched his head as he looked at her awkwardly.

"Umm, I don't quite know actually. Some guy in a bar just sort of pushed me in a portal and here I ended up."

The woman furrowed her brow.

"What was the name of the bar?"

"Constantine's Retreat."

The moment he said that, the woman's eyes turned fiery and her nostrils flared.

"That stupid Golem, he's been around for over 2000 years and he still doesn't know how to treat customers!"

"Golem?"

"Yes. The man you met is a Golem, created by the founder of the bar to help out Wizards and Witches even when he was no longer there."

"Oh, ok. But why did he send me here?" Edward inquired.

"This is the hidden magical city of Justiniad, named after Emperor Justinian I, who was emperor when it was founded in 540 AD."

"So this is an entire magical city?"

"Well, it's not really a city as there's only about 3,500 Wizards and Witches in this country and just over 3,000 live here. When it was founded its population barely reached over 700."

"Why was it created?"

"It was to refuge all of the Wizards that were entering Constantine's Retreat. Due to magic it was quite large for the time but only enough to house about 100 people. So, the strongest Wizards in the Byzantine Empire worked together to create a portal to a place hidden by Muggles and built a city there. Of course, after the invention of Floo Powder in the 13th Century, the portals weren't needed to travel here."

"How long did it take to build?"

Edward wondered how powerful ancient wizards were.

"116 years, from 424 to 540 AD."

After all the exposition, Edward was itching to see it.

"So how do I get in?"

"I just need your name and date of birth to register on the system."

She pulled out an old piece of parchment and a quill, as she dipped it in ink.

"Richard Lyore, date of birth is second of January 1958."

As he said this, he quickly used Legillimency to make her think he had looked Richard the entire time.

"Thank you. Now head on through and have a wonderful visit."

"Thank you."

Edward turned around to leave before he remembered something.

"Yes sir?"

"Is there any mythical beasts here?"

The woman looked at him with a strange expression.

"No, there are a couple of Acromantula silk farms but they're not native here, they've been imported from Borneo. Rumour has it that Cyprus still has Zilants (chicken-like dragons) but they're not dangerous animals."

"Oh, ok."

"Wait! I did here that there was a Yuxa spotting in the mountains outside of the city, but don't get your hopes up."

"Alright. Thanks."

"Oh and remember not to leave through the borders, lest you want to end up in some random part of Turkey."

Edward left the building, still wondering what she meant by borders, and came across a sign that pointed straight ahead for 'The City Centre', West was 'Flavius Street' and East was 'Petrus Street'.

He decided to first head West to look at the housing - he was like an excited tourist.

The city outside was an odd but pretty mesh between Mediterranean housing with slanted, red tile roofs on rectangular or square buildings and Balkans architecture with darker roofs and visible brick. Some grander houses even had domes with a spire for roofs.

He followed the roads - a few cars went by, but not many - and eventually arrived at a sign that said Augustus District. Inside this area was grand mansions and, continuing on, Edward saw that in the centre was a majestic statue in perfect condition with letters engraved at the bottom saying 'Theodosius Anthemius Lascaris - First Head of Byzantine Magical Association'.

Behind the statue was a vast marble palace with decorated spires topped by a coloured tile dome. Grand gardens surrounded it behind an imposing fence of thick iron. The entrance had a golden mihrab that looked newer than the rest of the building. It was slightly isolated from the other houses but it still managed to overwhelmingly outshine them.

Wandering over, Edward saw 2 guards at the only opening in the fence. When he walked over, they put their hands up for him to stop.

"Got a pass?" one of the guards asked.

"A pass?"

"To get in to the palace you need a pass to show you're identity. If not then please step away."

Edward began walking towards them before they readily drew their wands.

"Step away!"

"Woah, woah! Hang on a moment," Edward tried to calm them as he raised his hands in surrender.

"Sir, if your not here for any reason we're going to have to ask you to leave."

"I was just wondering what that is."

The guards looked at eachother and then back at Edward like he was an idiot.

"This is the Magicis Domum Regis, where the Head of the TMA lives."

"TMA?"

"Turkish Magical Association. You seem like a tourist, but your the most oblivious one I've ever met. Did you not even read the booklet in the Registration Centre?"

"No...I didn't know there was a booklet," Edward replied honestly, his face becoming hot.

"Well anyway, the rules - as stated in the booklet - say you have to stay at least 10 metres away from the palace fence."

"Oh, sorry," Edward chuckled awkwardly.

"Don't worry. In fact, I think I've got a booklet somewhere. I picked it up from some tourist that we had to pepper spray for getting too close. I was going to throw it away but I just forgot about it."

The man fished into his back pocket, eventually pulling out a crumpled booklet, which Edward gladly took.

"Alright, thanks."

"No problem, now go explore anywhere but here."

***

Edward walked around the city for a bit and decided to head to the centre as it was beginning to get dark.

The booklet was mostly about the sights to see such as the palace built by the first Head of the Byzantine (now Turkish) Magical Association and his burial ground, which was a marble pyramid inspired by a time he visited Egypt. There was a large Orthodox cathedral built in the 12th century and opposite it, a 16th century mosque. There was a mausoleum, a mountain range, a beach, and so much more.

However, as Edward approached the city centre, it had begun to darken and most shops were closed. So, he decided to call it a night and paid to sleep in a medieval style tavern.

The next morning, he rushed around the whole city and realised that it was like a paradise. Nature was thriving, the city was bustling with life, and there was so many sights to see.

For the next week, Edward explored every inch of the place, incuding the borders which were weird walls of mist far away from the city.

As he lay on the beach, sunbathing, he thought about those miserable students still at school.

***

"Achoo!"

Ron sneezed all over his parchment, smudging the ink with spit and snot.

"Weasley! Do you think it appropriate to speak when I am talking?" Snape interrogated, with a dirty scowl on his face.

"But sir I snee-"

"I don't want to hear it! 5 points from Gryffindor!"

Annoyed, but knowing that he couldn't do anything about it, Ron placed his head on the table in frustration.

Unfortunately, he had forgotten that he just sneezed in it.

"Oh for f-"

"WEASLEY!"

***

'Nah, I'm sure they're enjoying school," Edward thought as he lifted himself off the sunbed and used magic to make it disappear.

Now, there was only one more thing he needed to do.

He wanted to visit the head honcho.