The Adventures of Harrison O'Brien (HP AU)

Chapter 7: Russia

He started in Russia with his newfound friends from Italy. The entire first month of his stay was in Moscow. Of his new companions, he was closest with one of the boys named Aleksander. Alek had taken it upon himself to show Harrison all of the best spots in their countries capital, starting with The State Tretyakov Gallery: the foremost depository of Russian fine art in the world. Alek shared every shred of knowledge about each individual piece in the gallery as well as his dreams of going to Paris to study art.

Harrison smirked, planning a few things in his head.

Next they moved onto The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts where Alek, again, had information about every piece there, the same thing happening at every other art museum and gallery they went to.

Their following destination was the one Harrison was most excited for; The Museum of Cosmonautics. Since he was a young boy he had always been fascinated by the stars and space. Everything about it intrigued him, thinking back on it now, he supposed some of it came from his Black family heritage, as they were known for their tradition of naming their children after the stars. The museum contains a wide variety of Soviet and Russian space-related exhibits and models which explore the history of flight; astronomy; space exploration; space technology; and space in the arts.

Then the two split from the group and went onto the monumental task of climbing Mount Elbrus. Elbrus has two summits, both of which are dormant volcanic domes. The taller, western summit is 5,642 metres; the eastern summit is 5,621 metres. They did indeed climb the highest and even camped as close to the top as they could for 5 days just so that they could watch the sunrise and sunset from the most idyllic point. Though, instead of climbing back down, Alek decided to introduce Harrision to the no-maj sport of Skiing. Which Harrison ended up loving so much, that they then went to the Sable Mountain, Baikal Ski Resort to ski for another few days.

Seeing as Harrison loved the first muggle activity Alek had introduced him to, he decided to take him to an amusement park. Starting with the traditional rollercoasters and such, they spent 2 days exploring Divo Ostrov and then moved onto water parks as they were much easier to find. They began with Akvamir and then went to 3 others all over the country.

Harrison had confessed to being a wizard shortly after they'd met. He hadn't wanted to keep secrets and trusted Alek with his life. Thankfully, Alek had been incredible. He wasn't scared at all, only slightly envious but mostly excited and just wanted to know more.

Soon after, Harrison made the decision to leave and move onto his next destination, promising Alek that he would visit. Not before gifting him a full ride scholarship to his dream college in Paris and a 2 bedroom house to go with it.

"I wanted to give you something back for all of the things you've done for me. I know that this has been your dream for years and I also know that your family can't afford it and that breaks my heart. So... this is my thank you." Harrison said before giving Alek the envelope.

"I've confirmed everything with your parents and I promise to come and visit when I've finished travelling."

Alek ended up sobbing in his arms for a good 10 minutes, repeating his thanks a million times. They spent the rest of the day chilling out on the beach and eating the finest Russian delicacies.

The two split the next day as Harrison wanted to spend some time in the magical districts. He actually ended up going back to the ministry and asking if he could intern, for free, under one of their spell crafters as he was interested in the subject. By the end of the week he had managed to complete the equivalent of a NEWT level qualification in the subject and gained a few allies in the Russian Ministry who'd been impressed by his willingness to learn and his passion for knowledge.