Preamble

There are two parts to this story. The story that starts on page one, and ends on the last page. However, there are bits tossed in that do not belong there: as in a "Magic Eye" book. Which means, if you didn't see what should not be there, you've missed it and only read the excellent story I have written. Rather than trying to explain what I mean, here is an example.

My horse, Nero, knew we would see action today. He could smell it in the air. The atmosphere was a mixture or fear, readiness, anxiety, patriotism, death and victory. He tossed his head, pawed the ground, snorted and pranced about eager to prove himself once again. Stallions are like that. He pranced up and down the line of men. Men, likewise, getting ready for the impending battle. It was in the air, in the sweat, in the fiddling with the knots one last time, feeling the sharpness of the blade, checking slingshot stones, and a thousand and one other small things men do before facing their deadly enemy.

I worked my way up the line as Nero kept tossing this way and that. Finally, I saw Helaman at the head of his two thousand stripling warriors. Small in numbers but true every one of them: they have proved it time and time before.

"Helaman", I said in a loud voice, "Bring me my bow."

He turned to one of his men who handed it to him and he to me. The repair was first class. I expected nothing else.

I moved Nero to front and center. Then, holding the bow aloft, I said in a loud voice, "Today we march on Helms Deep." There mood change was palpable. Everyone knew that's where we were heading. Knowing and verbalizing it are two different things.

It's like; everyone knows they will die… one day. It is a different thing to put an actual day and hour against it. Helms Deep was over the ridge in front of us. That means we shall face death today at 7 o'clock. I always attack at 7 o'clock. I like my battles before breakfast.

We started moving forward just as the sun was coming up behind us. I liked the rising sun behind me as it gives a clear advantage and inspires confidence that I know what I'm doing.

We lined up on the ridge and waited as the sun rose higher to enhance our advantage.

At 7 o'clock, I started forward at the head of the men. Leaders lead while chickens run.

So, let's look carefully and we see a horse named Nero. Who is Nero? Does Nero belong in a HP story? Humm… questionable.

Who is Helaman and his two thousand stripling warriors? Why those specific words? Humm… worth checking out. Seems odd.

Why the specific command of, "Bring me my bow." There is only one accepted "bring me my bow" line in English literature… have you seen it in Jerusalem? Ergo, what is the relationship between Jerusalem and HP? Actually absolutely nothing. However, it fits the story.

'Helms Deep' needs no introduction. It is what it is.

And finally, which mad dog does his shooting at 7 o'clock, before breakfast, while Marty wants to do his shooting at 8 o'clock, after breakfast? A totally ridiculous reference with nothing to do with HP as HP had not been conceived by shooting time.

So there you have it. Every work, sentence, paragraph could have ridiculous references to all sorts of stuff. And that is only the beginning. Then there are loads of Alliterations. I love alliterations. Alliterations are cool.

The 'extras' make writing fun and rewarding as I bury more stuff that no one in their right mind could ever think of.

If you don't find a thing, that's okay. Hopefully you have read a first rate story of Harry Potter. That, in the end, is what it is all about. So, let the magic continue.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

1

Monday May 25, 1998

I was born under the wings of angels

My parents were gods

I am the brother to dragons

And a companion to Silurians.

My wife's voice is like a harp

My daughters play the flute

My son is with the pipes,

And I beat the drums.

I was born under the wings of angels

My finger reaching the sky

With feet on the wall

I see the iron rod and know the reason why.

With wife in hand and children in tow

We see the path and on we go.

Having read the parchments

The path is clear,

In the church, over the graveyard, and through the door in the wall.

"Alpha to Omega." Better known as "Going Home"

Lost about 1065 and recently rediscovered.

Mr. Weasley and Harry Potter apparated a short distance from Professor Rubeus Hagrid's home. Hagrid was outside tapping his boot on the ground: waiting impatiently. "'Bout time you lot showed up. Time to go." Hagrid said as he picked up his crossbow and quiver full of arrows.

"Go where?" Asked Harry as he looked about the familiar landscape.

"The forest… where else would Arthur want to go?"

Harry spun about to look at Mr. Weasley and was about to blurt out something no too nice then suddenly realized this was all prearranged and he was part of whatever was going to happen. Rather than argue and lose Ginny, Harry checked himself, closed his mouth and said nothing. Imperceptibly Mr. Weasley nodded in acceptance that they were now under the rules of engagement with respect to the laws and ordinances of Harveture.

Harry's memory flashed back to his very first day at Hogwarts when, after the evening meal, Professor Dumbledore stood up and said, "Just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give to you.

"First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember as well!" That last comment was directed at the Weasley twins. It was well known they had dealings with forest dwellers: even though nothing was ever proven.

Then came detention, which meant a trip into the forest for Harry, Herminie, Neville and Draco. The unicorn episode was one question Harry failed to ask Professor Dumbledore. If the forest is full of every nasty creature in the known universe, why were they sent into the forest with only Hagrid and a scared dog to protect them against the gathering forces of Tom Riddle?

"Right then, ready?" Hagrid asked Mr. Weasley

"Definitely ready," He replied casually as he tossed a rather well packed rucksack onto his back.

"Well let's go. Got a lot of walking ahead. Want to make good progress today: don't we Harry?" Glumly Harry nodded in agreement now realizing he was caught off guard, with the wrong clothes and no provisions.

Hagrid gave an ear-piercing whistle that brought Fang running from the other side of his home. Smiling Hagrid said, "Well now, that should be it. Anything missing Arthur?"

"I don't think so," was 's reply followed by a clear, "Time to go." With that, Hagrid took off heading to the east path through the forest.

"Not the same path as last time," Harry commented to no one in particular.

In the front was Hagrid and Fang, Mr. Weasley next and a reluctant Harry bringing up the rear. Just as Harry reached the edge of the forest there came a piercing owl screech from high up and behind them. All three stopped and automatically looked skyward as a heavily laden owl came rocketing down towards the group. Hagrid eased his crossbow off his shoulder and held it casual like. Mr. Weasley slid beside a thick tree, and Harry stood his ground while reaching for his wand. Then a second owl came into view following the same downward trajectory as the first. Harry tool a step backward looking for some protection. Glancing about, he was on the edge of the forest, not in the forest. This meant he was without any protection facing two incoming owl's.

The fist owl eased into a gentle loop to the left. He was looking for a good landing spot. This close to the forest meant selecting a good spot with a good exit was of primary importance. That was what the owl was thinking, not what Hagrid, Mr. Weasley or Harry were thinking. They were seeing two incoming owls carrying packages: suspicious looking packages.

The second owl eased into a gentle loop to the right, doing exactly the same as the first. He was also looking for a good landing spot. That is when Harry put up his hand to the others. He recognized what the owls were doing because Hedgwig had done the same all too often.

The first owl straightened out, made a beeline towards Harry, and did a nice landing three feet in front of a very bemused Harry. The second owl landed right beside the first and started to peck at the first. The first owl responded in like manner. Seems the two owls were pleased as punch to arrive before Harry had entered the forest.

"Now you two wait a minute," Hagrid said. "Better check what's going on here. Don't want Harry being disqualified before we get started… do we?"

The rules and regulations of Harveture explicitly exclude outside communication to either party. That is clear. Owl's, on the other hand, are not explicitly excluded if they are not carrying messages of any sort. The two owls were carrying something larger than a message.

Hagrid approached the owls and removed the rather large packages from each owl. Going over each one Hagrid was looking for any writing, omens, hexes, spells or enchantments that might hide a message of some sort.

"Well?" Asked a frustrated Mr. Weasley. "Do you see anything?"

"Keep your shirt on Arthur, gotta be careful here." Hagrid said as he pealed off several layers of brown paper. Finally getting down to the last layer of paper, Hagrid unwrapped a set of outdoor clothes just the right size for Harry. "Well now, who would know you'd be here," Hagrid, wondered aloud. "Not very like you'd know." Hagrid said to Harry. "More like someone else… right Arthur." Hagrid said looking over at a red faced Mr. Weasley. "Didn't say anything over the kitchen table? Did we?" Hagrid asked.

"Of course not," Mr. Weasley fired back.

A not amused Hagrid handed the clothes towards Harry. "Best get changed. Go use the hut; and be quick." Then he added, "No, wait. Let's look at the second one, just in case." With that, Harry and Mr. Weasley gathered about Hagrid as he carefully attended to the second package. Again, Hagrid was scrumptiously through and methodical. He knew that violating the rules and regulations of Harveture usually results in immediate shunning by certain pureblood wizards followed by banishment to Australia. Something Hagrid didn't want Harry to face.

After a through inspection and careful unraveling there, on the brown paper were three resplendent apple crumbles, neatly protected against spills with a wide assortment of wrapped foodstuff to feed one skinny graduate from Hogwarts.

"Right nice of someone to provide provisions for one for a long tramp through the forest," Hagrid said as he stood up looking from Harry to Mr. Weasley. "It's like someone knew Harry likes apple crumble, likes 'em a lot, I would say. Provisions, yes; messages, no. Any problems with that Arthur?"

Mr. Weasley gave a frown and shook his head.

"Are you sure? Don't want anyone to say we didn't talk about it."

This time Mr. Weasley thought long and hard then said, "So long as there are no messages, then there is not much I can say… Is there?"

"Then you better get changed," Hagrid said to Harry, "and be quick. We're loosing daytime." With that, Harry jumped up, ran to the cottage and quickly changed in to appropriate tramping clothing. He ran back and carefully placed all the food into his moleskin pouch. Hagrid smiled, as he knew it was his present Harry was using to good effect.

"Okay, alright… this time are we really ready?" Hagrid asked as Harry licked some crumble from his fingers.

"You lead the way while Harry and I follow along and chat for a bit." Mr. Weasley said.

"Good idea," Hagrid said. With that, Hagrid pushed ahead into the forest. He set off at a good pace. He could do that because of his size and easy walking style over rough terrain. Soon a gap between Hagrid and the other two developed and Hagrid had to keep stopping to let the stragglers catch up. At every stop Harry could hear Hagrid muttering something under his breath about how slow small people are when there was places to go, people to see and important things to do.

"Well now Harry," Mr. Weasley started with as they clambered over a particularly large tree trunk. "I think we can begin the formal part of Harveture while we walk. Since I have only one daughter I am particularly interested in the person who wants to marry her. I want to make sure they are fit, able and it is a good match." There was another break in the conversation as they walked round another rather large tree in the middle of the path. "I reviewed the crib-notes on Harveture and guess I better start at the beginning. Firstly, Harry, tell me about your family."

Harry felt a wave of relief sweeping over him. He had been doing this speech for the past several days as the others listened and tore into him until he had honed the story to a fine finish. Taking a deep breath Harry started at the beginning and carried on. He found the tramping through the forest made the story sound more real as he had to keep stopping and starting as they wandered down the lumpy trail. It took a full twenty minutes of chatting, scampering, walking, and generally meandering along the trail to complete the story. Of course, Harry did not reveal the fact that his parent's home is not a blown up shell of a house. He felt he would rather save that information for a quiet moment with Ginny.

Suddenly Hagrid raised his arm stopping the other two. He turned and held up a finger to his lips. With the ease of a gazelle, Hagrid slipped off the track and disappeared into the thick undergrowth. It was a full five minutes before Hagrid returned with the Ronan a centaur of the forest. "Just been talking to Ronan here. Says things are abuzz in the forest. Not as it was: like. Said it is all predicted in the stars. Seems Ronan and his friends have been doing a lot of study lately… lot of star study he says."

"Predicting the future is one of our specialties. Tricky at times, but well worth it when truth prevails and the alignments are right." Then Ronan continued with, "Just like I said to the others. I said, 'Potter will prevail' and I was right. You did prevail and rid us of a most odious of individuals ever to grace Hogwarts. Of course we knew he was rotten…"

"Predicted it, did you?" Hagrid said half in jest and half in frustration. He found centaurs hard to follow and harder to understand what they are driving at. Centaurs say a lot, which, when thought over, does not amount to much.

"Of course we did."

"Then why didn't yer get rid of him yerselves and save us the time?"

"We are not allowed to interfere in human ways. Humans have to learn to follow their own straight and narrow path by holding to the iron rod and press forward. Humans have the tools and still refuse to use them. So why should humans listen to us? Never done before and doubtful they will do so in the future."

Mr. Weasley was just about to take a step forward when Harry put his hand on his shoulder. Best not let emotions overrun a conversation between a half giant and a centaur.

"So you let it happen." Hagrid fired back.

"Of course we did not 'let it happen' as you so crudely put it. We let free agency happen. If we had stepped in, we would have been accused off interfering in human ways. Assuredly, Tom Riddle would have twisted our good intentions into something debased and ugly. Look at yourself: did anyone believe it was not you who opened the Chamber of Secrets? No, of course not. There was a preponderance of evidence against you and Tom was a master of deceitfulness. Only Professor Dumbledore had a glimmer of suspicion, which he could not prove, but managed to keep you at Hogwarts against all the odds."

Seeing Hagrid stumbling a bit Harry added, "And you were there fighting against Riddle and his death eaters."

Ronan stood a little taller. Then with pride added, "We were. We were there and happy to be of assistance. Of course, we shall tell our children and grandchildren that we were there helping all the others defeating Voldemort and his ilk to make a better place for our offspring."

"Very commendable, I'm sure," Muttered Hagrid. Then he asked, "And what is going on in the forest these days?"

"Aside from the Pan Stones playing away, not much."

"Not much as in not much? Or not much as in not much?" The difference between the two questions was where Hagrid put the emphasis. In the first 'not much' Hagrid emphasized the word 'not' while in the second 'not much' the emphasis was on the word 'much'. Centaurs are like that.

"Difficult to say as we are getting a new moon tonight. New moons, as you know are new and anything new is not dependent on anything old."

At least we aren't having a ruddy eclipse. Remember that?"

"Eclipses are difficult to read…"

"Disappearing like that gave everyone the willies."

"We didn't disappear. We chose to move to the Land of Many Wonders as it had been a very long time since we had been there."

"Right," Hagrid said giving emphasis to every letter in the word. "Just like you said when you returned three months later."

"Well, it does take time seeing all the wonders in the Land of Many Wonders."

"Where is the Land of Many Wonders?" Harry quickly asked. "Never heard of it."

"Well you weren't since you dropped my class. Talked about it that third year." Harry went bright red in embarrassment. Dropping the class was still a sore point with Hagrid. He liked having Harry, Ron and Herminie in class, as he knew he could rely on them.

"It is a place on the other side of the Waters of Sebus, close to the Land of Many Sorrows but not as far as the Land of Desolation."

"How big is the forest?" Harry asked in a puzzled voice.

"Of all the creatures in the forest maybe we Centaurs are the only ones who truly know the size of the forest." Ronan said in an easy tone. "We are the only ones who travel the length, breadth, width and depth of the forest. We see, explore, understand and follow the signs. Indeed we may say we are the keepers of the forest as no one else does what we do."

"So how big is it?" Harry asked again.

Seeing that was the wrong question Hagrid cut in with, "Now don't you go bothering Ronan here with silly questions. We best be off now as we have a ways to go before time to camp."

"In which direction are you going?" Ronan asked.

"Down the Great East Road…"

"Oooh, not the Great East Road. Lonely that road is this time of year. Dwarves still use it, you know."

"So we hear," Hagrid said in a dry tone. "But it's the one for us."

"May see you down the road. Then again maybe not. Not quite a location suited for Centaurs."

There was some movement behind Ronan that caught his attention. "Time to go, the others are here."

"Good thing the others are here now," Hagrid said. "Any roads, good to see you Ronan and takes care."

"We always do." With that, Ronan slipped off into the forest and within two seconds was lost to view.

"Tricky customers them there Centaurs," Hagrid said to no one in particular.

"The Great East Road, did you say?" Mr. Weasley asked.

"That's right," Hagrid replied, "Seems that's the last place your ruddy car was spotted. That was until it took off at the speed of thunder. At least that's the latest I've heard."

"Hang on a moment," Harry said cutting in pretty quickly. "What car is this we are talking about?"

"Didn't you tell him Arthur?"

"Ah, must have slipped my mind." An absent-minded looking Mr. Weasley said as he looked up to study the sky.

"So why don't you tell 'im now while we keep on walking. Got a ways to go." And with that, Hagrid took off at a good pace.

"Car, what car is that, Mr. Weasley?" Queried Harry.

"The old Ford Anglia, actually. I thought since we were going to have some quiet time together we could do a little Harveture while we looked for the Anglia. I mean, we can't talk all day, every day… can't we?" Mr. Weasley's forced chuckle didn't go down too well with Harry. Harry was thinking it was supposed to be a one-on-one between himself and Mr. Weasley. Not some expedition up the Khyber looking for a renegade Ford Anglia that seems more interested in killing than tootling down the M1. "We could talk while wandering through the forest…" Mr. Weasley said in a general sort of way.

Upset at getting Harveture and the Anglia mixed up, Harry carefully selected his words and said, "I thought it was Ron's job to get rid of the Anglia from the forest, not anyone else?

"Ah, yes. That is true. However, I must point out that it is a car I was responsible for. Because of that responsibility I feel it is incumbent upon myself, under the existing circumstances, to assist in this endeavor."

Harry could clearly see Mr. Weasley was smitten with the notion of finding the rogue car and bringing it back home. However, he wanted to push one point a bit harder. "What will Ron say when he finds you have the car?"

"Oh, I expect he'd be glad he didn't have to go wandering through the spider infested forest."

"I thought the Ministry want Ron to do the job?"

"True, true… but after some internal discussions I was informed that I could assist Ron with the car."

"Oh, assist is it?" Harry said in a heavily sarcastic tone that Mr. Weasley missed as he was getting a bit uncomfortable about the Harveture and Anglia mixture. Then Harry added, "Here we are, wandering through the Forbidden Forest for Harveture. Also in the forest are all sorts if nasty things, as well as a killer Ford Anglia."

"Yes, that's right… full of nesting things. However, and I must point this out, we do have Hagrid with us as our guide and protector."

"With a dog that is scared of its own shadow"

"Don't know about the dog…"

Yep, one not so brave dog."

"But Hagrid did hear Ronan and headed him off, so we have enough."

"I hope you're right Mr. Weasley… I really do." With that, Harry took off after a fast moving Hagrid. Mr. Weasley was struggling to keep up with the two of them as they were behind schedule and Hagrid wanted to get to a good camping ground before it got too dark.

These days the Great East Road is a quiet road: a really quiet road. Way back when, several hundred years ago, it was a well-used path for dwarves as they traveled to their mines in the Blue Mountains from the homelands about the Misty Mountains. On their return, the dwarves were accompanied by their heavily laden wagons. The weight of the wagons cut an easy trail to follow. Even though the ruts are there they are covered with moss, lichen, spider's webs and the like while the vegetation was regaining control of the trail.

Harry had never seen Hagrid kill anything. It was as if Hagrid enjoyed all sorts of animals and found the good in every one of them: including great big spiders. The whoosh and thump of the arrow from the crossbow was something like a shock to Harry: not so to Mr. Weasley. Hagrid quickly moved aside through thick forest undergrowth and came back with a lizard impaled on the arrow. "Ysalamir… Nasty buggers they are. Don't want them nearby when things get rough."

"Why not?" Harry quickly asked as he peered closely it the twitching animal.

"They make you forget," Mr. Weasley said with a shudder. "It's like you just forget the spell, or whatever you were going to do. Get out of their area and you are okay. If you don't… Since they live in the forest we never see them and forget about them at our peril."

"That's about right, Arthur," Hagrid said as he studied the Ysalamir closely, "But you forgot they do make good eating. Think we'll have this one for supper tonight. Little sauce with our vittles followed by some apple crumble and cream… and Bob's your uncle!" The gleam in Hagrid's eye said it all.

"Keep your eyes peeled Harry. That was one of the smaller animals that are a problem to wizards wandering through the forest." That was when Harry fully understood what an understatement meant as he moved his eyes from bush to bush; from tree to tree; from shadow to shadow… until he was getting dizzy and stopped whipsawing about.

Harry missed Hagrid raising his crossbow and firing another arrow rapidly followed by throwing his ever-handy sax knife. "The buggers always travel in threes. Knew there were others about, just couldn't see them." Hagrid said in a firm voice. "Got them though… and more for us to eat." Just before Hagrid took off to retrieve the other two Ysalamir's he turned to the others and reminded them with, "Just like I was saying, keep our eyes peeled. Things are out there keeping an eye on us lot." Mr. Weasley and Harry stood rooted to the ground while Hagrid was gone. Neither had the desire to take off without Hagrid and his crossbow to become someone's meal.

A shortish while later Hagrid reemerged from the dense forest with the two Ysalamir hanging from his belt. "Let's get going. Loosing time to all this stoppin'." With that Hagred picked up the first Ysalamir, put it on his belt, then pressed forward into the forest. Hagrid took the lead while Mr. Weasley and Harry followed at a more circumspect pace.

Once back on the trail, Mr., Weasley was back on Harveture with, "Tell me about the times you used magic for the first time. Times when you didn't know you were a wizard."

"Before Hogwarts?"

"That's right, before you arrived at Hogwarts."

This was an area not specifically addressed in his preparation with the others. So Harry started with the story about when the Dursley's took him to the White Tower at the Tower of London and Henry VIII's suit of armor. The suit actually stepped forward and fell on top of Dudders as he was pointing at something and laughing. When he was young, Harry had no idea what Dudders was pointing at: now he did. At the conclusion of the story, Mr. Weasley was bright red with embarrassment.

Then Harry continued with the time the Dursley's took him to Portsmouth and HMS Victory. It was supposed to be an education trip for Dudders but, as usual, turned into a fiasco. As every English person knows, HMS Victory was the flagship of Lord Nelson as he sailed into the Battle of Trafalgar., the death of Lord Nelson, and a fantastic victory. Sadly the ship was badly mauled and had to undergo considerable refurbishment. Eventually HMS Victory was put into permanent dry dock as a fitting retirement for such a noble ship.

Trouble started at the walkway onto the ship. Dudders was not allowed to carry on his rather large bag of Smith's potato chips. Once disposed of in a near by bin they were allowed to proceed up the walkway and onto the ship.

Trouble continued as Mr. Dursley insisted on calling HMS Victory a boat, not a ship of the line. And he made sure everyone heard him as he used his rather loud voice on his wife. Harry, not wanting to draw attention to himself, eased away from the Dursley's to the back of the tour group. Being small has its advantages.

As they went down the decks, the height from floor to ceiling got less and less. Dudders and Harry were fine, not so Mr. and Mrs. Dursley. What fascinated Harry were the big and powerful Carronade cannons and the neatly stacked pile of cannon balls. As he looked at the balls, the balls began to shake. The shaking continued until the pile collapsed and the heavy cannon balls started to roll across the floor. In all five piles broke free which made everyone in the tour group run for the exit. Fortunately, Harry was closest to the exit and first up the steps and out of there. Not so fortunate were the Dursley's as they were at the front of the group, fussing the loudest and closest to the cannon ball stacks. This meant they had to run the fastest to get away from the ever-rolling balls. Because of the mayhem, Harry was able to circle round and continue the tour without the Dursley's and Dudders constant whining for his lost chips.

Another time, Harry was on his way home from Infants School. Yet again, he had managed to out dodge Dudders and his palls. Harry had taken a route passed the corner sweet shop. This was his all time favorite haunt. Standing outside the shop looking at all the goodies through the window. All the jars of hard-boiled sweets just waiting to be eaten. Licorice Allsorts of every shape and size. Dolly mixtures by the jar full. Jawbreakers of sizes way too large for any small boy.

With only six pennies in his pocket, Harry knew that would not go very far. With a sigh he entered the shop to the small tinkle of a bell over the door. A small woman with a harsh voice came sailing out the back and over to the counter. "You again! More money this time I hope." Harry looked down and despondent. He usually had ten pence to spend, but Dudders pushed it down to six. Seeing his sad face, the woman said, "How much then?"

Harry held out his six small pennies in his uplifted hand.

The little woman plucked the coins out if his hand and made a bit of a fuss counting out the pennies. "Okay the. You can have one of these, or two of these, or six of these…" and so on through Harry's favorite sweets. After studying the sweets long and hard, Harry picked two sweets that tasted like Tizer, his favorite soda.

With a smile on his face, Harry stuffed the small bag into his duffle coat pocket and left the shop. Knowing how crafty Dudders was, Harry peered up and down the street, making sure Dudders wasn't lurking about before taking off at a high rate to the park.

As he walked he fingered his sweets. Then the two sweets started to bounce about in his pocket. Suddenly there was a small pop and the two became three and then four and carried on until he had six sweets in the bag in his pocket. Harry took his time going home. The yelling he received for being late home from school was well worth it.

The stories flowed easily as they walked along behind Hagrid. Several times Harry felt Hagrid wanted to turn around and join in the conversation. Harry was wondering if there was more than one person keeping an eye on him during his early years.

It was something like six o'clock afternoon that Hargrid called a halt by saying, "Time to set up camp. Not where I was planning, but I suppose it'll do."

Hagrid pulled out the tent and began to cast spell after spell over it until it was fully erected. "There, nice and easy. Soon have a pot of tea going." Then Hagrid added, "Getting the food goin' Harry?"

Harry stood rock still until he remembered that Harveture dictated the boy seeking the girl's hand does all the cooking. Forcing a smile over his face Harry replied with, "Of course Hagrid."

Hagrid nodded and said, "Good on yer. Just make it a healthy one as I feel a bit peckish… if you know what I mean."

Once it became known the boy had to do the cooking, his Hogwarts friends started to back peddle. Things changed once they realized they could use magic as much as they wanted. Then they realized no one knew how to cook as their parents, house elves, or someone else did all the work. And being at Hogwarts hadn't helped. So all of them went on a crash course of cooking, Wizard style.

First and foremost was Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration and the five Principal Exceptions to Gamp's Law, the one in question being food. This caused an instant rush to the library to get it right. Once read, digested, regurgitated and thrashed over, they had a pretty good idea what they could and could not do. That was when they went down into the very clean Hogwarts kitchen and made a mess practicing all the wrong ways to create a culinary delight.

Rather than being bold, unnecessarily creative, and risk ta total disaster, Harry went for a simple, but effective stew.

Building a fire is fun. A careful flick of the wand removed enough dirt to make a nice sized fire pit. A second flick and a search was made to find only dry wood suitable to cook the stew. Harry remembered to be careful not to whack anyone on the head with the flying sticks. They came the long way round the camp and fell neatly into the pit with paper at the bottom. After a careful review Harry used the smaller Incentee spell, rather than the Incendio spell. All you need is a small flame to get things going.

That is when Harry turned his attention to the hanging Ysalamir. Chopping cut and trimmed beef was one thing, skinning and extracting the meat out of an Ysalamir was something else. Fortunately, Harry had packed Mrs. Beaton's cookbook that comes complete with spells and moving pictures. In Harry's opinion, Mrs. Beaton is hands better than Julia Child and all her fancy French stuff. Harry had to concentrate to do each part of the spell in the correct order and in the correct way. He didn't want to make a pile of chopped skin, bones and sinew. Carefully the spells came and the razor sharp kitchen knives went to work on the Ysalamir.

With that going Harry turned his attention to the vegetables located in the larder. The tent was well stocked: Hagrid knew his stuff. Harry looked through all the necessary items for a good thick and tasty stew. Finally he selected two plump onions and set a knife to work with the obligatory onion pealing and chopping spell that had the anti-squirt addition to the spell. That was a good find by Terry Boot in a really dusty Cooking Wizard's by Betty Crockshock. Then there were carrots, leaks, and turnips. All went under the knife.

In between all this chopping and cutting, Harry put a little oil in the pan. Once hot enough Harry put in the carefully chopped Ysalamir. The minute they touched the hot oil a spurt of blue smoke came out of the meat. "Blue means good meat, Harry." Hagrid said from his easy chair. "Yellow means sorta okay and pink means its bad and you better toss it out. Simple… see."

Rather than argue with Hagrid on meat blowing odd colour smoke at you, he had to keep the meat moving so it didn't stick to the pan. Once nicely seared Harry put out his hand and summoned a bottle of Ready Sauce. Everyone called it Ready Sauce but it was a home brewed sauce of whatever you liked. Harry liked his sauce a bit spicy with lots of flavor. Hagrid liked his Ready Sauce 'sparkling spicy' as he called it. In reality, it was hot enough to blow both socks clean off!

Since Harry was cooking, Harry was more interested in Keeping Mr. Weasley happy than Hagrid, so he toned down the Ready Sauce.

With the Ready Sauce added, Harry pushed in the chopped vegetables and gave the pan a stir. Things were looking really good. Next to the fire was the heavy Dutch oven. Inside was the Heavenly Bread Rolls. Every consulted cookbook said bread rolls are needed to go with stew. Seems their main use was to wipe the plate clean before letting out a huge sigh of satisfaction. It was Anthony Goldstein who stumbled over the Heavenly Bread Roll recipe. And after eating several they were unanimously declared better than the usual rolls they got at Hogwarts.

There is a general temptation to pull a stew off the fire before it has time to absorb the Ready Sauce. That is why, Wizards being Wizards, Harry and the others had developed a timer ingredient that would shoot out white sparkles when the Ready Sauce had penetrated the meat. Then it was up to the cook to declare when the meal was ready: knowing the stew was good to be consumed.

Harry kept a close eye on the food while directing a spell to set the table for three with cutlery, butter and chilled butterbeer. Once set it was only a few minutes to wait for the shooting stars to appear. That's when Harry said the truly magical words, "Food's ready!"

""Bout Time," muttered the fast moving Hagrid

"Smells fine," an impressed Mr. Weasley said as he folded up a confiscated muggle newspaper.

Taking the lead, Harry asked Hagrid to say grace before spooning out generous portions of stew into empty bowls. Then a profound silence descended over the three travelers as they had the first good meal of the day. Hagrid had seconds followed by smallish thirds. The bread rolls quickly vanished and were just as quickly replaced from the second Dutch oven. The rolls helped fill out Hagrid and clean the plates. With a casual flick of the wand the plates were cleared away and out came one apple crumble with three clean bowls. Hagrid's eyes had a thoroughly satisfied look about them. "And crumble," he said in a silky voice.

"Not for me," a well-fed Mr. Weasley said as he pushed back his chair from the table. "I think I ate too much stew." Then he added, "Maybe later. Or breakfast. Okay, maybe breakfast."

Hagrid had room for two generous servings of crumble. While serving, Harry began to realize just how much Hagrid could put away at one meal. As cook, he was sure Hagrid's apatite would only increase the more they tramped through the forest.

After the meal, the three of them gathered about the good fire Hagrid had started. With his feet stretched out, left hand scratching Fang's head, Hagrid started to tell a story about days gone by. "You know it was 1940 when I made the train journey to Hogwarts. Jus' a small boy, on the same train, from the same platform, as you lot. Yep, that was me. A small scared boy. Good thing I knew a couple or other boys as we sorta grew up together. Mothers went to the same Lamaze class. If I remember rightly, you weren't too different Arthur in 1961, and like you Harry in 1991. All part of growing up Wizard. Two good years and then things turned in the third year. Tom Riddle was not a nice person even back then. I was lucky to have Professor Dumbledore on my side, much like you Harry. At least I got to stay at Hogwarts. That's when I moved out to the junior gamekeeper's cottage. That's when I got to know the gardener.

"Seems back in the old days Hogwarts had its own gardener who looked after the place. He had a large greenhouse for growing small plants and then moved them outside at the right time. Not many folks were willing or wanting to talk to me back then: not so the gardener. I think he liked to talk, as there was no one about to talk to. Some said he talked to the plants, which was a load of nonsense. He talked to the plants as much as you or I talk to dogs or cats…"

"…or dragons," Harry added. Then he realized he interrupted Hagrid's flow and kept quiet.

"As I was say'en," Hagrid said as he picked up his train of thought, "The gardener was a really interesting person. He was interested in the plants he worked with, the trees he pruned, the fruit he picked, and stuff like that. What I liked the most was he treated me like a real person. Like, he would ask me what I thought about this or that. Now me being a young' an didn't put him off, in fact it sort of helped me see things sort of differently. Opened my eyes to new notions.

"Other boys weren't interested in plants and the like. Not so me and the gardener. We were always outside doing stuff and sometimes taking off into the forest. See, there are some things you can only learn here in the forest that don't exist outside. So we would come here and do some looking and poking and tramping about. Sorta made up for the stuff I weren't allowed to do since I was kicked out of school.

"Sure Professor Dumbledore knew what was going on. He'd drop by to chat every now and again. Spent a bit of time with the gardener himself. Don't know what they talked about. Important stuff I'd suppose. Mean to say, two great men talking so quietly as they walked about the place.

"The gardener was always looking for ways to interest other kids in his way of life. Many thought it too boring, but they didn't know. Or thought it too silly to get your hands dirty or bitten by some bug or other. Then there were some that thought that being a gardener didn't take any magic: just playin' in the dirt with silly plants. That's not what Professor Snape thought of the gardener. Those two were always off somewhere looking for this or that. Stuff only found in the forest. Stuff Professor Snape loved to go looking for. Being the potions master made him very partial to certain herbs, mushrooms, toadstools, and some red fungus that only grew on dead Obegus trees.

"Never really liked Professor Snape, just knew Professor Dumbledore trusted him and that was good enough for me." Turning to face Harry, Hagrid added, "Just thought you should know that Harry."

Harry smiled and replied with, "Yeh, I know what you mean."

Then Hagrid continued with, "The gardener was always busy and always talking about his father as he learnt everything he knew from his father. Thought that odd at first, then I realized that me mum taught me to read, write and do basic 'rithmatic. She made sure I could eat proper without making too much of a mess. Drink without spilling a lot and teaching me how to do the wash. She taught me an awful lot that I still remember to do.

"Then every autumn it was time for picking and planning on pruning. The gardener said that without pruning, a good tree would never happen. It needed digging, pruning, looking after and even grafting in some other braches every now and again. Never did get the hang of grafting in… grafting out sounded fine, 'jus not grafting in. Then again, that's why he was the head gardener and I was a young' en trying to learn.

"Even though he was the gardener he was awful good with animals." Turning to Mr. Weasley, Hagrid asked, "Remember your time with those Diggerrubs?"

"I really don't think this is the time or place to discuss Diggerrubs," Mr. Weasley replied in a somewhat cold tone. Changing the topic he asked, "What I'd really like to know is how you got out of the clutches of all those spiders during the battle at Hogwarts. I thought they had you as were rolling all over the place."

"Had me? You thought that? Bunch of spiders having me for lunch. Not on your life. Aragog's carnivorous children might have had thoughts outside their ability to deliver. Once outside the castle I got to my feet and started kicking the crap out of them ungrateful brats and gave them a taste of my umbrella. Trouble was by the time I did all that there were a might too many death eaters about. Sorta found myself surrounded and Voldemort heading my way. An' you know the rest of the story." Reflectively Hagrid added, "Strange how children never turn out like their parents."

Sensing Hagrid losing the thread of the story, Harry quickly asked, "Where is the gardener now?"

"Gone. Gone one day early in April. Said he had something to finish off and would be back soon. Jus' took off like that and never came back. That's when I started asking more about the gardener and the more puzzling it got. Seems only Professor Dumbledore really knew he was here working on the grounds. Other people wouldn't remember him, only shrug their shoulders. Then I'd ask, 'Who do you think kept all the flowers fresh and proper?' and all I'd get was proper blank looks. It was like he was here and not really here. Then I'd remember all the times we were going tramping through the wood an' I could recall the names of things. That's how I knew the gardener was real because of all the things he learnt me.

"There were twelve unicorns that were his favorites. Most uncommon to have unicorns that friendly, but they were. Not as fussy as Centaurs, these unicorns would allow the gardener to sit on their backs when they saw him grow tired or needing a rest. The gardener would use the unicorns, not owls, to pass messages to the other animals in the forest. Sorta like a private letter service. The gardener would tell the unicorns that would then pass the message on to others who would pass it on further down the line. Worked just fine until Riddle came along and everything changed for the worse.

Hagrid paused for a moment as he thought about Tom Riddle. "Riddle was a bad influence. He liked to promise stuff that was appealing for now only to bind later. Trouble was, once caught in his web; there was little chance of going back. Riddle saw to that. Riddle met the gardener only the once. It was like Riddle wanted to see for himself what the gardener was like. Riddle did all the talking. He liked to do that. Sorta hogged up the conversation to show off how good he was with his flash magic and boasts of what he had done. When the gardener did nothing but look and listen, Riddle ran out of steam and left. The gardener said nothing as he got up and went back into his small cottage. Later I asked the gardener about Riddle. He never said one bad word about the lad: always looking for the good in all of us.

"Anyways, it was the gardener that got me through the bad patch and sorta took me under his wing. Just what I needed at that time. And now I sorta carry on the tradition of gardener and animal keeper for Hogwarts."

"Well, I don't know about that," Mr. Weasley interjected in a slow and thoughtful way. "If I remember correctly there was that young girl that almost had you expelled."

"Never proven." Hagrid said too quickly. "She went into the forest on her own. Should have known better. We found her… eventually."

"That's not what she said," Mr. Weasley countered with. Then added, "She said you were with her."

"Look Arthur, we have been round and round on this for years. Professor Dumbledore and Gennsburt heard all the evidence and concluded she had been drinking Gungleprunes that gave her nightmares."

"Nightmares about you swinging through the forest from vine to vine."

"Just what I said, her stories weren't right. And I was Scot free."

"Until it happened the second time."

"And that was her younger sister. Professor Dumbledore said it ran in the family."

Finally realizing these two men had predictable rolls to play, Harry said, "I'm turning in early. Guess we got a long day tomorrow."

Hagrid quickly looked at Harry and said, "We are behind schedule so tomorrow will be long 'un." Harry gave a nod and headed to his bed looking for some good rest. Harry considered himself fit, but that was using magic to get from one place to another. It had been a very long time since he had done so much walking, let alone walking through a forest.

When Harry's head hit the pillow, it was only a couple of seconds before he drifted off to a sound and restorative sleep that he needed. As usual, he dreamed a dream of Ginny.