[TTD – Leknes / Norway] не боишься (Ruslan)

The victory ceremony was over now and even though the medallists were still circling the stadium, occasionally stopping in mid air for photos with their medals and trophies, the crowd seemed to move out of the stadium already. Mostly relatives, hardcore fans and, of course, journalists were still present. It was like it usually was at these events. At least the stadium had been sold out for the ladies' free program this time. It had felt amazing to perform in front of filled tribunes with a crowd cheering loudly.

Aglaya soon landed smoothly on the ground, thinking that she had given the photographers enough of a chance to take her photo. Besides, those who had failed so far, would get another shot at the press conference later that day. She walked towards the exit, looking back once more before entering the backstage area. Now it wouldn't be long before she'd be back in Rybinsk, working for the next competitions. It was funny how, usually already after the victory ceremony the recent event seemed to belong to the past and her attention was on to the next one.

While the corridors had been empty when she had returned there after her performances they were now strangely crowded. Did the security workers stop working after the last medal had been awarded? It seemed odd to the witch and she tentatively walked past the first few people. An uproar seemed to be starting and she quickly made her way to the changing room. It was getting loud and so Aglaya only put on a pair of jeans on top of her golden catsuit and slipped into her sneakers. She peeked out of the door of the changing room, seeing flashes of light and suddenly one of the judges from the competition began to squeak and giggle uncontrollably. Another voice yelled “Sorry, wasn't meant for you,” from somewhere and Aglaya decided that she needed to get away before things would get even more out of control.

Picking up her bag and her broom, she sneaked out of the changing room. She saw that a child was standing near the fighting parties and recognised him at once. It was one of the Shishkin siblings, her distant cousin, Ruslan.

“Rustik,” she said and pulled him back by his arm. “This is not the right place for you. Come let's find the rear exit and then we'll go looking for your family.”

@Ruslan Shishkin

It was already the end of the senior European championships and Ruslan supposed the family would be leaving soon. He'd really had a fantastic time this year. Maybe it was because he was now less than a year away from being eligible to compete in nationals, so he'd been paying more attention to everything. For the mens' competition, he'd actually brought a notebook and written down his own scores for the competitors. He'd correctly predicted the first place competitor, though his second-place choice had come in fourth. That wasn't bad, though. It proved that the boy had a good eye for what the judges were looking for in a champion.

Now though, he was returning from the restroom where he'd slipped away a few minutes earlier. Nobody would miss him, they were still watching the medallists who were only now coming in to land. So he'd taken his time and explored down a new corridor he hadn't noticed earlier in the day, finding nothing more interesting than a large store cupboard that contained Quidditch supplies. Even though the boy didn't play - he wouldn't risk an injury that might affect his grace and agility - it had somehow thrilled him to find something that nobody else knew about. When he returned, there was some kind of commotion going on.

Ruslan was entirely unafraid, so he marched straight up to the edge of the crowd and craned his neck to see what was going on. Two  - no, three - people had their wands out and were firing hexes at each other whilst shouting the sort of words the eleven year old knew he would be in serious trouble if he used them. This was exciting! He was bouncing on his tiptoes to better see the red and gold flashes when there was a loud bang and one of the judges began acting very oddly indeed. Ruslan was just about the see if he could squeeze through the crowd to get a better look when he felt a firm grip on his arm. He spun around, a mixture of guilt and disappointment at his plans being disrupted on his face.

"Aglaya Antonovna!" he exclaimed, amazed that it was hs grown-up cousin, the world champion, who had found him. "I was just..." he began, and then fell silent. He could no more argue with Aglaya than he would disagree with one of his trainers, no matter how much he wanted to see what was going on. Nor was he going to pretend that he was just going to walk away because that was obviously not true. Instead, he let out the tiniest of sighs and followed the woman as she led him down another corridor. Ruslan meant to follow, he really did, but the thing was; World Champions didn't really have time to spend looking around backstage when they were taking part in events...

"We, um...need to go that way" he said quietly as they passed a short corridor off to the right "there's an exit down there, I saw it earlier when I was um, looking for the changing rooms to wish Rodion good luck -" Well actually, Ruslan and his cousin Artyom had been exploring before the event had begun, and the boy had remembered the door because it had looked interesting...

The only thought on Aglaya's mind was that she needed to get away from the turmoil. Even if it had nothing whatsoever to do with her, the redhead feared that if some photographers spotted her somewhere near she'd soon find another misleading article in the press that would associate her with the uproar that was going on. She had her experience with entirely harmless things being blown out of proportion and turned into something that was not true at all .She had already read the headline 'the demise of a star' about her before. Pictures did not always tell the whole story and the photo of something entirely innocent could look different depending on the angle and with a creative writer it could always be turned into a scandal.

There was no question that she'd take Ruslan with her on her way out though - she had not seen any other family members anywhere close so it was just a natural thing to try and move the boy away from where he might even get hurt. However, her cousin was still a child and thus not quite thinking along the same lines as she did. She did not care what he had been doing in the corridor in the first place but it had been fairly obvious that he found the turmoil exciting. She wondered where the older Shishkins were and why they let the youngest family member walk around alone. However, there was no time to ask that now as they were hurrying down the corridor, the noise of the uproar getting fainter.

"Are you sure?" Aglaya asked the boy. She somehow didn't really believe him but as she didn't know it any better, she decided to just follow the boy's lead and walk down the short corridor. What was the worst that could happen anyway? They could either just turn around and go back or go around the stadium to find the main entrance and exit. "Okay then," she said, shifting the position of her broom on her shoulder and entering the short corridor with Ruslan. The boy was quick to open the door and Aglaya stepped out first.

Aglaya made a few steps onto the street, looking around and trying to figure out where they were. She had not been to this side of the stadium yet and had no idea which way might be the shortest to the main entrance or the hotel. "Rustik," she said, turning around to face the boy again, "we should get back inside and find..." her voice trailed off as she saw that Ruslan had stepped outside as well letting the door fall shut behind him. The entire stadium suddenly faded into seeming nonexistence. Both her ideas of what they could do if they didn't get out at the right place now lapsed. This was hardly the right way to spend her time between the victory ceremony and the press conference at the hotel. The witch closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to compose herself. She could easily apparate them both to the hotel but apparating herself, Ruslan, her broom, and her bag out of which her trophy was sticking as it was too large seemed like something that might go wrong. There was no way she'd leave any of the items behind and she could hardly ask Ruslan to wait for her here. Who knew what would happen to the boy in the meantime. 

"Great," she muttered under her breath. "We can let the organisers know that the protective enchantments work really well." The redhead looked at Ruslan again, still vaguely considering leaving him behind but he would not stay put if she left and she could hardly immobilise him... then again, immobilising him and using the disillusionment charm on him might do the trick. He couldn't get away and nobody could kidnap him either. However, the prospect of having to justify her actions in front of her family quickly let her dismiss this idea.

"I suppose you don't know how to get to the hotel from here?" She tried to sound kind and relaxed but she could already imagine the headlines... 'Aglaya Antonovna Tikhomirov behaves unprofessional and skips the press conference'. Her sister would naturally be there in time and be everybody's darling once again. 

Noddingly reassuringly, Ruslan looked from his cousin to the door. He was sure that it led outside, but naturally he had no idea where it went after that. In his eleven year old mind, he visualised the stadium as standing alone in the middle of the city. They would be able to just walk around until they found the main entrance, simple as that. The boy was feeling very pleased with himself for knowing where the door was. Then he remembered that Aglaya was carrying her broom and wouldn't be able to open the door herself, so he ran ahead and pushed on the metal bar that would open the door. He always liked those kind of doors, they made a satisfying clunk as they were opened.

He followed Aglaya outside, still smiling, and trailed behind her as she walked several steps. Not for a moment did it occur to the boy that his all-powerful cousin would be unable to lead them straight back to where they needed to be. He heard the reassuring click as the door closed behind him and felt no concern whatsoever until she turned and spoke to him, and he realised that actually they were in a street facing another large building that he'd never seen before. "Maybe..." he began, walking back towards the door, but even as he approached it seemed to shimmer and disappear. Turning back to Aglaya, eyes wide, he couldn't resist asking in an awed, hushed whisper "what spell did they use to make it do that?"

If he'd been alone, Ruslan would have started to feel quite nervous now, but he still believed absolutely in the power of adults to make everythng right again. and it wans' tuntil Aglaya asked if he knew the way to the hotel that he felt a twinge of unease. "Sure I know! We take a portkey..." he said confidently, though no sooner were the words out of his mouth he realised they sounded silly. The portkeys were inside the building, and they couldn't get back in there, unless... Ruslan decided that maybe it was just an illusion, and if he acted as if the building was still there, it would be. This belief lasted right up until the moment he walked straight into a road and a fast-moving muggle machine let out a loud noise. With a little shriek which he tried to disguise he leaps backwards, rushing back to stand next to his cousin who would keep him safe.

"The hotel had a blue carpet outside...and it was next door to a Spanish restaurant...and there was a flower shop across the street!" he said thoughtfully, trying to remember anything that would help them get to where they were supposed to be and hoping Aglaya wouldn't be angry with him for not knowing. "It's probably not far. We could start walking and see if we find it..?" he added hopefully.

"That will be some kind of disillusionment charm combined with protective enchantments. It's very well done, no doubt about that. There's definitely no chance to get back in from here." Aglaya couldn't help but admire the magic done here but it was inconvenient to say the least. She somehow wished she had just pulled Ruslan into the changing room and locked them in there until the end of the turmoil. That would probably have been the safest approach. However, she had learned not to think about the past too much. It never did well to dwell on things that couldn't be changed anymore.

Aglaya smiled slightly when Ruslan mentioned the port key. It was cute that the boy still had this optimism. Unfortunately though there was no port key anywhere near them but Aglaya looked around anyway, wondering if maybe there was an item that could serve as a port key. There was nothing, of course, or at least nothing Aglaya felt ready to touch just to try it out. There was an old plastic bottle next to them on the pavement but she could hardly tell Ruslan that they'd both need to grab it at once to find out if it maybe was a port key. It didn't glow either so the chances were low that it would be one but even if it turned out to be a port key - it wasn't clear where it would lead them.

The athlete gasped as the boy walked straight into a road, almost getting hit by a car. This reassured her that she could not leave him out here unattended unless... well, unless she used the disillusionment charm as well as an immobilising spell on him. She was clearly able to perform this kind of magic but Ruslan was a little boy, he was (distant) family. She could hardly get away with that without their family attacking her for it until the end of time. Therefore, she dismissed the thought for the second time already.

"Rustik," she said louder than she had spoken before. "Stay away from the road. That's too dangerous. You're not stronger than a car." Ruslan had apparently come to that conclusion himself because, while she spoke, he was already leaping backwards and soon was standing right next to her again.

"Hmm," Aglaya said, not sounding convinced. A blue carpet, a Spanish restaurant and a flower shop? She wasn't sure if the surroundings of the hotel had been muggle or magical so asking a local for that place might lead them nowhere. Besides they were in Norway. While the Russian witch spoke English and a little Swedish and felt certain that they'd find someone who also knew one of these languages it was still tricky.

Ruslan said that the hotel probably wasn't far but his suggestion to start walking was not very helpful if they didn't know in which direction they needed to go. Then again Leknes wasn't exactly a big town... "How did you get from the hotel to the arena?" Aglaya asked, suspecting that Ruslan had taken the port key and thus really had no clue how far away the hotel really was. She looked around again. They were pretty much in the centre now and the hotel had been closer to the mountains than they were now. She tried to remember the view from her hotel room and pointed at a mountain to their left. "I saw that mountain closer from my room. We should walk into that direction." she suggested, not wanting to lose much more time. She really couldn't risk missing the press conference.

Ruslan thought that sounded amazing. Imagine being able to wave your wand and make a whole building disappear! He started up at his famous cousin, eyes wide with fascination as she explained how the building had managed to hide itself. Okay, so it was kind of annoying for them, but for the first time he began to see that there might be advantages in going to school. The fact that they apparently didn't have a designated practise stadium was an obvious and major drawback, but the thought of learning such spells was actually quite interesting. Oh, his tutor had explained that to be good at wand magic took time and practise, but Ruslan already knew that. You only had to look at his family to see where time and practise could get you.

Okay, so perhaps he would pay some attention in his Durmstrang classes, he decided. The decision felt good. He decided he was even a little bit excited at the prospect of getting his own wand, too.

Getting scolded was embarrassing though, especially as he'd already decided that he was going to stick to Aglaya Antonovna like glue until they figured out how to get back to the rest of the extended family. He almost frowned, then remembered that a champion never shows their negative feelings in public and nodded instead, though he still felt uncomfortable about it. Still, he now knew something he hadn't remembered from before. "A car" he muttered softly to himself. The muggle machines they rode in were called cars. Such knowledge wasn't something his family considered important, so out here Ruslan was even more clueless than most magical children his age. He decided to stay quiet and let his cousin figure out what they were going to do next, but was a little surprised when she asked him a direct question.

"Oh, we took the portkey!" he exclaimed happily, and then "oh" again as he realised why she was asking the question. The young boy racked his brains, trying to remember anything else that could help. Then his cousin mentioned the mountain and the boy wondered why he hadn't thought of that before "Yes, the hotel must be closer, because I went into Zina's room last night and we looked at the mountain and said wouldn't it be fun to fly over there and I said what a great backdrop it would make for a freestyle programme, and she laughed and I know a stadium is more sensible but it..."

Ruslan managed to cut off his explanation, deciding that it probably wasn't helpful right now, though it had been an interesting conversation. At least they had a plan and walking somewhere was better than just standing still hoping something was going to happen. Once they began to move though, the boy realised that his cousin had rather a lot to carry and he should offer to be helpful. "Aglaya Antonovna, would you like me to carry your.... wand? Or your costume bag?" he asked politely. He'd almost said broom, but he knew she wouldn't want to let that out her her hands and besides an adult sized artistic flying broom was nothing he could handle until he grew another few inches!

“I thought so,” Aglaya said, trying to sound calm and nice when she actually felt a little irritated. Why had she even expected a little boy to be helpful? Rustik was a cute kid, yes, but he was a child and could hardly help in this situation.

As he talked about having gone into Zina's room, Aglaya didn't really listen closely any longer but looked around, trying to figure out just how close they'd have to get to the mountain and from which angle she had looked at the mountain. She felt like she had a vague idea of the right direction now.

Aglaya turned to face Ruslan as he offered to carry her wand. That was probably the worst idea the boy could have had. The athlete shook her head in disbelief but soon smiled at him as he offered to carry the bag. The trophy had not fitted in perfectly and was obnoxiously peeking out of the bag but it was not too heavy for an eleven year old boy, she assumed.

“That's sweet of you,” she said approvingly, wondering if she needed to tell him to be careful with the trophy but she figured the boy, being an athlete as well, was well aware of the worth of such a trophy and would handle it with diligent care. He'd probably even feel offended if she mentioned it. She held the bag out to him and smiled. “Thank you, Rustik. Let me know if it is too heavy for you,” she said, thinking that she'd get into a lot of trouble with the family if he later complained that she had let him carry something that felt too heavy.

“Let's go,” she said, walking on the pavement next to some parked cars until they reached a crossing. She briefly wondered if Ruslan was even aware of what the colours of the traffic lights meant as she stopped to wait for green light. As the lights changed to green she crossed the street, putting her free hand onto Ruslan's back to guide him across the street.

He shouldn't have said wand. Ruslan had meant to be helpful, but he'd forgotten that adults tended to be funny about their wands. Even Zina didn't much like letting him hold hers, and when he'd heard his mother mutter "Bother, I left my wand upstairs" last year and he'd run to fetch it she'd had a funny look on her face when she'd thanked him. Ruslan figured he'd understand better when he had a wand of his own, which wasn't going to be long now.

But she did let him carry her bag, and he really wanted to reach out and stroke her trophy, but instead just let his eyes wander to it every now and then. Right up until the moment when he nearly tripped over his own feet because he wasn't looking where he was going. Okay, maybe when they found their way back to the hotel he would just ask whether he could hold it for a minute. Besides, the bag was actually quite heavy, but he had already said that no, it was fine and he could manage, so he wasn't going to change his mind now.

There were a few people around, but they were on the other side of the road and seemed to be going about their own business. Ruslan tried not to stare at them either but he was curious to see what muggles looked like and if was difficult not to walk slowly while his eyes wandered from one thing to the next. Already Aglaya was getting ahead of him, though she'd reached the side of the road and had stopped to wait for him. Ruslan stared at the coloured lights and was wondering what it meant when they changed from one colour to another when his cousin started walking, putting her hand on his back to guide him.

He felt suddenly anxious about walking across the road with all those cars, but they seemed to have stopped and be waiting now. That was strange, but then so were lots of other things about the muggle world, so he didn't question it. Maybe he'd ask Zhenya about it later, though. He adjusted his hold on the bag with the trophy as they reached the other side and made a determined effort to match Aglaya's pace, even though his arms were starting to ache. Just keep walking, that was enough for now. Aglaya seemed to know where she was going as they reached the end of that street and she did the same thing again, waiting until the cars stopped and they were able to cross. This time Ruslan watched the lights and they seemed to change colour when the cars stopped. It was clearly a system the muggles had made to tell those who were walking when it was safe. That was really quite sensible, he thought.

This next street was different from the first. There were more people walking and it had the feel of somewhere...well, richer. The young boy could see the mountain at the end of the wide street, the angle almost the same as he'd seen from Zina's room, but for one thing... "Aglaya Antonovna, the mountain... I think we need to turn to the right sometime soon" he suggested. There was such a road visible a little further up the street, Ruslan had a hopeful feeling about it.

Relieved that the boy took her bag and seemed to handle it carefully, Aglaya focused more on the way she wanted to take than on the younger relative. She realised that people looked at her in particular as they were walking down the street. While she was used being recognised in Rybinsk or at competition venues, she was not quite used to muggles starting at her. It was obvious why they would be looking though – the young witch had only pulled jeans over her catsuit, having the golden top still clearly visible and not only did that form a rather flashy contrast with her red hair – she was also carrying a huge artistic flying broom on her shoulder.

Realising how that might not be well received by the ministry, the athlete frowned. “Rustik,” she said quietly. “Please can you just stay here for a second as I hide behind that parked big car and bewitch my broom so it doesn't attract attention of the muggle passersby? Do not leave. I'll be right back.” She hoped that the boy would listen and stay put.

It didn't take her more than half a minute until she came out of her hiding place, carrying her broom transfigured into an elongated handbag over her shoulder. “Now that's better,” she said, confidently walking past some men who still looked her with unconcealed interest.

They walked for a while longer and then Ruslan addressed her again. Aglaya looked down at the boy, from him to the mountain and then to the right. “Yes,” she agreed, “I think you're right.”

They turned around a corner and soon spotted the flower shop. Moments later the Spanish restaurant as well as the hotel came into view and Aglaya let out a sigh of relief. Hopefully she wasn't too late for the press conference yet. “Finally,” she said, making quite clear that she hadn't been enjoying herself a lot.

As they reached the blue carpet, Aglaya stopped. “You can give me my bag back now,” she said, smiling at the boy. “Thank you for your help carrying it, Rustik.” After she took the bag, they walked into the lobby. “You'll find your room?!” she said hopefully as she spotted some photographers that were hurrying to approach her.

[out]

Ruslan hadn't realised people had been staring until Aglaya mentioned it. That is, he had noticed the staring, but because he spent so much of his time around famous artistic flyers he assumed that people were just staring because they recognised his older cousin. He wouldn't have felt at all surprised if someone had approached and asked her for an autograph. He was surprised therefore, when she said she needed to disguise her broom and hesitated for a second.

"Sure. I'll keep watch for you! Like when my sisters don't want someone to walk into their changing room" he confided, thinking of Zhenya's rival who he wasn't allowed to say bad things about (though nobody had mentioned he wasnt allowed to think them). He turned to look down the street, making sure that nobody suspicious tried to follow her behind the large car. Truth be told, Ruslan would rather have liked to follow and watch what she did, because apart from the ordinary, mundane kind of magic for cooking and cleaning it wasn't used very much at home, but he knew that acting as lookout was just as important. Besides, he was very good at such things, even when nobody seemed to be very interested in going behind the parked car anyway.

Still, he'd done his job and now they were walking down the street again, with Ruslan falling a step behind so he could stare hand at the handbag Aglaya now carried. It really didn't look anything like a broom any more and once again he wondered if going to school might not be such a bad idea if he could learn to do such things. Anyway, she now agreed with him that the street looked familiar and he did a little celebratory dance of delight (once Aglaya's back was turned) when she agreed with him. Sure enough, moments later "Look! That's the same flower shop!" he exclaimed far too loudly and proudly.

Aglaya Antonovna clearly hadn't found this whole adventure as exciting as Ruslan, which was a shame. He hoped he would never turn into the sort of adult who forgot how to have fun. "Sure, I'll be fine ...oh! There's Rodion!" he exclaimed, having spotted his elder brother disappearing through a doorway across the lobby "see you later!" he added, darting around the photographers and heading off to find the rst of his family.

[out]