"Thanks," he told them. "I appreciate it. I'll only be a couple hours." Passing Michael in the hallways, Angus went back upstairs and went back to sleep for a bit. Michael went downstairs and poured himself a mug of tea.
"Eggs benedict? What's the occasion?" Michael asked.
"I don't know that there's any occasion. I think Angus just wanted to do something a little different," Brian said.
"Well, I'm tucking into it. I like his hollandaise because he adds a wee bit more lemon than average, and I think it makes all the difference," Michael replied, fixing himself a plate. "I just passed him in the hallways, and he looked like he had been up all night."
"He was, basically," Brian said. "He forgot his sleeping potion, so we said we'd cover for him, and he went back upstairs for a bit."
"Is he really ready for this Romania trip?" Michael asked.
"Well, he really isn't ready for mountain climbing, but that's no secret. Everybody knows that. I know Robert has ordered him a heavy duty shoulder brace for the trip. I expect that will probably come today. Once that's fitted properly for him, I think we'll probably be good to go," Brian said.
"Well, and I've got several different styles of climbing harnesses, so I'll try to fit him with something that reduces load on that shoulder, but Robert is right. Fortunately or not, Angus is needed on this mission," Michael said. "We could do it without him, but it would certainly take longer and would be more difficult."
"Michael, how will we manage if he can't climb?" Brian asked.
"We go up first and haul him up, that's how," Michael said. "If he can help with his feet and his good hand, then I think we can provide enough assistance to reduce his body weight by hauling him. There are several different techniques for that, and I think we need to connect him to one of those rescue techniques every time he climbs, just as a precaution, just in case he starts out well and the shoulder gives part way up. He might never need us to haul him up, but if he needs us just once and we're not prepared, that could get exceptionally dangerous in a fraction of a second."
"Agreed," Brian said. "If worse comes to worse, I say we take a chance with our magic and levitate."
"Absolutely," Michael said. "I've never left anyone behind, and I'm not about to start now. So you think we could be ready to go perhaps as early as tomorrow?"
"Perhaps, yes," Brian said. "Even if we port to Paris, the best way to get to Romania is to take the train. Its at least 18 hours by train, but the remote we get to the mountains, the stranger the magic becomes according to Edward and Gabe. So, I say we try to take a late afternoon train with sleeping compartments, enjoy a leisurely dinner on the train, sleep there, and that would give us breakfast and lunch both on the train. We can take the train straight across Romania to the mountains on the eastern side of Romania and that would put is getting there by about supper time the next day."
"Then I think we would need an inn for that night to start fresh in the morning," Michael said.
"That was Edward's thought too. He said those mountains are not worth trying to go up into after dark. He thought we'd be best off to start at first light."
"Agreed," Michael said. "So how long would it take us then to get to where we need to go in the mountains?"
"A couple days up and a couple days back, and then back on the train," Brian said. "Weather depending, of course. Some of the distance up into the mountains, we should be able to cover by renting a muggle car. I presume we all have muggle drivers licenses, so it shouldn't be a problem. We can take donkeys for part of the way, and then the last leg up will be straight climbing to reach the mine."
"What sort of a dunderhead makes rock climbing the only access to a mine?"
"Apparently it was a muggle mine until cave-in's forced them to shut it down."
"Oh, splendid. Sounds perfectly safe to me," Michael said sarcastically.
"Wizards, remember? They've shored the place up magically, but to do that, they've had to make it rather unplottable to muggles."
"Ok, then. I'll give you that, then. So the better part of six or seven days all together for the trip."
"Right. Just about," Brian said.
"Sounds very doable to me," Michael said. "Here's a thought, though. The Oriental Express runs a route from London to Budapest. We could go first class, all the way to Budapest, hop a much shorter lesser quality train over to the foot of mountains, stay overnight at a local inn, leave in the morning to go up the mountains--which you think is going to take us a couple days due to the rough terrain, get the rock, come back down, take a train back to Budapest, and hop the Orient Express first class all the way back."
"Oh, I like the way you think," Brian said, never having thought of that before. "I think we definitely should make that happen if we can. Robert isn't going to care about the expense. He'll be fine with it. It's just a matter of seeing if there are vacancies on the train. If he agrees, I can pop into London and make the train reservations for us today."
by 
