A/N: Some people are worried about me not writing for my other story, I want you all to know that is not the case. In fact I have about 50k words ready to be put together for chapters for that story already done (needs some editing too). The reason I am not posting is everything is planned out fairly concretely and I need the stuff on my desktop to piece the chapters together, as it contains my outline, notes, plan, and parts of chapters 9 and 10. Part of the reason I wanted to start this story is I had too much unstructured content for my other story that I was starting to get a bit confused at times organizing it. That being said THANKS to all those who reviewed, I tried to answer as many as I could, for the guest reviewers if you would like answers set up an account and then I can reply to your questions or comments ;).

S/N: Something I get often, in this story and on my other, is about me telling people what is happening rather than showing them a lot of the time. That is true, mostly because telling someone the story takes about 10 times less words than showing them. I honestly do not feel like writing 100k words of Harry and Sirius travelling around Essos. Therefore I choose moments where I change it from telling to showing when I feel it works best with the story. Sorry to those who like stories in the other style of showing than telling, but that is now what I will be doing with either of my stories.

C/N: This chapter is similar to the second one and is the end of their travels and finally settling down a bit. Hopefully people enjoy the direction I have chosen, and if you have any suggestions send me a message or leave a review. This story is only loosely planned unlike my other, therefore good suggestions could be easily worked in if I feel they fit with current and future plans.

To clarify for some Harry and Sirius landed in Westeros at around 165ac or 145 years before the events of Game of Throne season 1.

Chapter 3:

167ac

It took a few days to make it to Qohor, the so called land gateway between the east and west of Essos. Qohor was well known for it various artisans, but even more so for their blacksmiths and steel foundries. Along that vein Harry had sought out a teacher that would impart their skills to him, of course for a price. While Harry could have probably learnt everything he was taught or even better from his books, there was something to say about learning under the eyes of a master of the art.

It did not hurt that he really enjoyed making things with his hands like this and found the rhythm of the craft to be to his liking. It was almost soothing and allowed his thoughts to flow free and weirdly concentrate on his work as a result. The progress that Harry made shocked his teacher, but not so much himself, he expect better of himself than he did others, by a lot.

Obviously his prodigious learning speed was more due to his magical abilities, than how limited or easy the art was to learn, which it was not. Even with his abilities he was only still considered a moderately skilled blacksmith with many years of practice needed to make the amazing pieces he would be able to take pride in. Thus was born his hobby he would be pursuing when he needed a break from all of the things going on in his life.

It was incredibly rewarding seeing something taking shape, or when two metals welded together just perfectly that you were able make amazing patterns when finished. This also led him to read a few books from his LIS on magical blacksmithing, as during his smithing he noticed that as he worked the metal, his magic was being slowly infused into the material. He was even able to augment this process by either drawing his magic back to prevent it from happening or even intentionally infusing his magic into the material to increase the effect.

It did not seem to do anything other than amplify the inherent properties of the material he was working just by itself and without structure. He did learn, once again from a book by Celtic wizards, that if he focused on the outcome he wished magic to take while forging, it would be infused with some level of that ability. Obviously the Celtic wizards did not have either his insane levels of magic or control, as Harry was able to make whatever he was working take of the properties he desired, within a limit. This was of course reliant on him either infusing enough magic into the material or spending long enough working it.

That was when he really started to love the art, as each of his works, while not perfect by any sense, were absolutely unique. It was because of the magic, his mindset when forging that piece, and what he had desired out of it, all coming together to affect the outcome. It seemed to almost give each of his creations a bit of a personality not unlike what Hogwarts seemed to have, but to a far lesser degree.

Once he had learnt all he could from the master smith without letting on that he had more knowledge on the art, he took to using the forge that Dobby had setup for him in his trunk. His first real attempt at magical blacksmithing was something a bit more simple, and that was a set of daggers.

Each dagger contained strengthening procedures to give them unrivaled blades, but also were enchanted similar to the sword of Gryffindor to return to their owners or to be able to be drawn out of anything with a big enough opening. That did not mean he had forgotten or ignored the mundane aspects of improving the blade. He had folded the steel he was using over and over again making an absolutely beautiful Damascus pattern, that seemed to actually flow up and down the blade due to the magic. It made for something incredible that one could lose time just looking at the pattern and still not be satisfied.

Speaking of the Sword of Gryffindor, he had also started to study that blade to try and glean a few of the secrets the Goblins used in its forging. It seemed the universal lesson from all his sources of knowledge, was that the material was arguably the most important factor. That seemed obvious, but the Goblins seemed to have taken the process to the extreme, as it seemed that every process in the making of Globin Silver was imbued with magic, from the mining to forging of their weapons.

However silver would not be enough for his works so he experimented with many alloys. In fact because of his ridiculous strength he was probably one of the only people alive in this planet that could forge the titanium, Valyrian Steel alloy he had created. It kept the properties of normal Valyrian steel but gained even more toughness and hardness. At first he was not sure what he was going to call the alloy, but the alloying process caused each blade have a shadowed white look to the metal, which gave him the idea for the name of Snow Steel.

In his pursuit for more time while forging caused Harry for the first time to cracked out his Time Turner. As he only needed an hours sleep a night, he had a ton of time when Sirius was sleeping and he was doing whatever met his fancy at the time. This was a perfect time to use his Time Turner and allowed him to maximize his time in Qohor learning more about his new hobby, and still have time to train with the sword.

However Sirius was getting antsy as there were few whore houses in the city, as it was seriously restricted. So they decided to make their way to Novos which was the city that provided much of the iron ore for the great forges of Qohor.

When they arrived they were delegated to the visitors sections of the city, as Novos was almost like a super communist state controlled by a Theocracy, where much of your life was determined by your status, including when you could have sex. So suffice it to say there was nowhere for Sirius to go and blow off a bit of steam. It was definitely not somewhere that either Harry or Sirius wanted to stay, but Harry wanted to get a decent amount of Iron ore before they left, so they had to stay for nearly a week.

From Novos they made a straight shot across the mountains to Pentos that was directly across the Narrow Sea from King's Landing. Pentos was as bit of a cross between Westeros and Essos, with slavery being banned, but still employed with indentured servants and a combination of various building designs. However they did have access to a ton of the goods, such as glass, that was coming from Myr to Bravos. Harry had them stocked up on silks, lace, glass, and even carpets during their quick stop.

There was little else of value to them in Pentos, and it seemed their buying spree had attracted the attention of a few of the merchant lords that controlled the city. They bailed before their shadows that had been following them around decided to do something more than simply watch. Hopefully when they were gone they would be quickly forgotten. Fortunately before they left they had already set up a warehouse and manager, this time a woman by the name of Elise.

Bravos was like a breath of fresh air in many respects. One it was simply an amazing city, with their connected islands of boats and amazing bridges, let alone the giant Titan that watched over the entrance to the bay. It also had NO slaves, and if it was not for the fact that magic was frowned upon a bit here due to the bad taste the former slave founders had for the mages of Valyria it may have been a great place to settle down. Sirius had asked for them to stay a bit and so Harry decided for them to start making a public name for themselves here.

They decided that they would keep their names and not bother with using anything else, mostly because they did not see a need, however Harry did decide to go by Hadrian as he had gotten a few laughs from people in the past few months when introducing himself as Harry. He was not the biggest fan of Hadrian, but it fit in with their persona of being from the North, and sounded better than the alternatives, at least those that didn't throw away the name his mother had picked out for him.

To first start making a name for themselves, instead of buying a single warehouse they bought a dozen and set up a business renting the space out and having it managed by a good lad named Bran Snow, a 'fellow' Northerner that had come to Braavos to make a life for himself. It would also help them with their next step, which was to have three trade ships to be built and manned by crews they were going to have assembled.

It was actually not hard as Bravos thrived off of traders and ship production, meaning that there were ample Captains looking for new vessels to man, and crew positions easily filled. There were many different pay programs for the crew, but they settled on straight salaries with bonuses which was a happy surprise for those they were hiring. There were some fairly unfair pay programs in use throughout this world.

At first Harry had wanted to have the three ships based off of Carracks from Earth, but quickly found out that even if he gave the blueprints to the shipwrights they would have no way to build what he wanted without serious time and money. Therefore he bought three ships that were almost finished being built and left them to their new captains. He had one stay doing local routes between Bravos and Pentos as they may need it sometime in the future, and didn't want it to be months away. The other two he had them doing trips between King's Landing, Braavos and Dorne, passing goods between their warehouses for a tidy profit.

With the money they were throwing around they had started to catch the attention of many people around the city, and they had decided their back story was going to be: that they were two close family friends from The North, who had decide to head to Essos and make their fortune as merchants. After a few years making money in the east they decided to pack up and head closer to home. This way they were able to have an excuse for their money, and cause no one to start asking questions they didn't want to answer. It didn't hurt that Sirius was socializing like he was born to it with the wealthy of the city, and sharing outlandish stories of their 'merchant adventures'.

It did do the trick of spreading their name around, as they even had a few people approach them about investing in a few businesses and trade opportunities. Harry looked over all the proposals closely and only rejected the ones he felt were going to fail. Sometimes that was as simple as his magic almost giving him a feeling that said enterprise was going to fail and he shouldn't invest, so he didn't. In the past he had thought that this feeling was his gut telling him what to do, but ever since they arrived here in this world, the feeling had more substance to it and felt magical in nature.

They spent almost six months making a name for themselves in Braavos so that anyone who would check up on their identities in the future will at least be able to track them back to Braavos. One of the things that had surprised Harry was when a representative of the Iron Bank had sought him out, especially when he was the one sought and not Sirius. He observed the person who had just been let in and introduced to his private dining room in the fancy hotel they were staying at.

"What can I do for you Mr. Breken?" Harry asked the representative of the Iron Bank who had been introduced by the manager of the established as we was being let in.

"Mr. Potter it has come to the attention of the Iron Bank that you and your business partner, Mr. Black, have been successful in the far-east and have ample funds to support your future ventures. We at the Iron Bank would like to offer to open you an account with us so that we can start investing your money for you as well." Breken said while giving his honest speal. Harry checked the man's surface thoughts and found he was being honest and was here to find new wealthy clients for the bank.

"Why have you sought me out and not my companion Mr. Black?" he asked the question he had been wondering since the man had walked into the room.

"From our short investigation, it was our understanding, that Mr. Black was the public face and socialite of your group, and that you were the brains and operational manager that mostly worked from behind closed doors." Breken said honestly. While definitely a funny summation, it was true to some extent, as Sirius left all the decisions up to Harry.

"How much would the bank like for an initial deposit on opening an account?" he asked getting to the real question.

"A deposit of ten thousand dragons is required to open an account, and must only be maintained for six months. Afterwards the balance of the account only needs to stay positive for the account to remain open after any debts have been settled." Breken went into his sales speech.

"Alright I will have a few of my workers bring a chest or two with myself tomorrow to the bank. What time would be best for you?" he asked Breken not wanting to have to deal with a new person tomorrow.

"Anytime after dawn will work. However for future reference the bank is open all day for account holders, and you may use the services during the night if you wish." Breken said continuing his practiced speech.

"Well then I shall see you tomorrow." he said while standing to shake the man's hand. Harry had been thinking about going to the bank and inquiring about opening an account, but this had just saved him a bunch of time.

"Very good Mr. Potter, I look forward to seeing you on the morrow." Breken said as he left.

Sirius returned that night, and Harry gave him the news about Breken's approach earlier in the day and Harry rubbed in the fact that he was the 'brains' of their operation. Sirius did confirm that some of his contacts had told him that some of the Iron Bank representatives were asking around about them, but had been told it was a fairly normal occurrence, as they kept updated on almost all wealthy people in the city.

It was during these months that Harry and Sirius had a few serious, no pun intended, conversations about where they wanted to settle down. It really came down to two places and was not truly a hard decision in the end. They had decided to settle in the North if possible, but were willing to settle, heh, for Dorne.

The reasons were fairly simple, being that The North had friendly but realistic people, the much more potent magical environment, the fact that the Old Gods were not against magic unlike their southern counterparts, and finally was the fact that there was so much open land they could settle on and still have privacy.

With their final destination in mind, that meant they needed to go back to Winterfell to talk to Lord Stark about purchasing land, and about getting a title to go with it that they would need to be taken serious in Westeros. They had their local ship filled with goods, mainly those from Essos, and set sail for White Harbour. White Harbour was the only place in the North were they worshiped the Seven and both of them were expecting the typical southern attitude that came with that worship, however they were pleasantly surprised.

The people of White Harbour were just as welcoming as those they had met in Winterfell. They even were introduced to the son of Lord Manderly, Wendel, who was helping with tax collection at the harbour. Probably as a learning experience for when he had to start ruling in his father's place. What that meant was they were able to make proper introductions as wealthy merchants looking to become landed nobles in the North. They even started to spread their story of rags to riches by starting a trade business in Essos.

From there they were introduced to Lord Manderly who was a large man, not fat, but of large stature. They spent a few days sharing some of their goods, such as wines from Reach and Dorne while getting to know the area a bit. They had their ship stay in the Harbour to await their possible return from Winterfell, as they may need to to deliver supplies, or create a cover for the magic. After three days Sirius had asked Lord Manderly for a letter of introduction to Lord Stark to make their process of seeing him easier.

The large man had acceded to their request and gave them a letter that would speed up the process. They had also learnt that during their two year trip around Westeros and Essos, the North had been attacked by both a large Wilding raid from beyond The Wall, and most unusually an attack on the eastern coast by Ironborn raiders. Apparently Skagos had been hit especially hard, not that anyone here cared as it seemed most of the North had bad opinions of those living on the island.

This may mean that there was some land that was missing its lords, if the raids were as bad as Lord Manderly said they were. With that in mind they started their journey to Winterfell after giving farewells to their hosts. Once again they were back on their brooms after months of having put them away. Harry felt it was nice to finally get back into the air, as he had been busy over the last few months, between furthering his skills in magic, blacksmithing, and the sword, all while setting up some minor businesses in Braavos.

Therefore the leisurely trip to Winterfell was just what he needed. Sirius was also happy to be back in the north, as he said the lasses here reminded him of home, and a little bit of Ireland, with the odd freckled redhead. Their trip also served to reinforce to Harry about the sure potential of The North and how much of it was just waiting to be tapped into. They pasted sprawling mountain ranges that seemed to not ever have been explored for mining, covered in timber that could be used to expand many industries.

It was a nice seeing the large castle of Winterfell in the distance, as they performed their well practiced maneuver of dismounting their brooms and mounting up on their horses. Their horses had gotten even stronger and were in much better shape than when they had left, it was mainly because of all the time they had spent in the highly saturated magical manor trunk. They rode into Winter town with a nod to the guards and could really see no difference from the last time they were there, beside it be a bit more on edge and somber. He imagined that was because of the recent attacks on the North.

They went to a more upscale inn this time around and Sirius went out to collect some information for them. Which was basically code for some drink and maybe a quick toss in the hay. However he did come back with all the recent gossip and the mood of the people in Winter town.

Apparently the Iron Throne had done little to reprimand the Iron Islands after their raids on the east coast of The North. The already negative opinion of The Iron throne in The North was lowered even further. Apparently many people here can still dream of the times were they were not under the yoke of a central government in the south.

While sure the Iron Throne once again sanctioned the Iron Islands, they did little more than the empty gesture and moved onto things they felt more important. This may be able to be played to their advantage if they approached Lord Stark correctly. With that in mind Harry and Sirius got spiffed up and took the short walk from their inn to the front gates of Winterfell, where they were stopped by the guards on duty.

"State your business, Lord Stark is not taking public audiences today." The guard on the left said calmly without any arrogance and by simply putting out his hand to stop them coming forward anymore. There were two guards standing outside the gates, and about a half dozen standing inside the gateway to prevent people from just barging their way in. They wore hard leather that had the Stark sigil pressed into it, but it looked like sturdy material, and was a far better choice than just straight steel up here in the cold north.

Harry was fairly confident that they would be successful to some degree with their request, as The North could use some additional wealth coming into it. Especially considering the recent two years, and the fact that everyone thought Harry and Sirius to be Northerners. So he took one more step forward to address the guard and taking out Lord Manderly's letter from his satchel at the same time.

"We are here to request a private audience with Lord Stark." he said while holding out the letter. "Here is a letter from Lord Manderly as introduction for Lord Stark." he said while he handed off the letter to the guard. The man only looked over the sigil to make sure it looked authentic before waving one of the other guards over.

"Send for Maester Kennet, there are some guests he needs to greet." The guard captain said to the clearly younger recruit, and handed him the letter to be brought to the Maester before turning to address them again. "We will need to wait here for Maester Kennet to confirm your letter and make an appointment for you to see Lord Stark." The guard captain said.

"That is fine." Harry said happily as it would speed things up if they could talk to Maester Kennet as well, as he would be able to answer any questions they may have about The North too. Harry didn't know much about the current Lord Stark, other than his name was Brandon, and he was the son of Cregan who was the previous Hand of the King. Harry's thoughts were interrupted as an old Maester approached, who looked to almost be eighty years old.

"I am Maester Kennet." Kennet said giving them a head nod in greeting.

"I am Hadrian Potter, and this here in Sirius Black." he said motioning to Sirius who nodded as well. They didn't exchange handshakes as that was not common between those who were unacquainted of higher standing in Westeros.

"The letter from Lord Manderly says you are successful Northern merchants who are looking to now become landed nobles?" Kennet asked clearly surprised, as Harry imagined most wealthy merchants chose to get land in the more prosperous south, even those of Northern decent.

"That is about the sum of it." Sirius said finally deciding to use a bit of his charm to move things along. "We visited many places in our travels, but there was always something about the region that made us miss The North that much more. So when we were in a position to settle down we decided to try to see if we could get titles and land here first before moving to our second choice." Sirius said happily as if he was starting a long story.

"I can understand that as well, the north has always been my home and in these many years here I could not see myself living anywhere else." the old man said smiling as he looked around the landscape surrounding Winterfell. "Well Lord Stark has room to see you in two days time for a private meeting, if that will work for you two?" Kennet asked.

"That works great for us as we had a bit of business to deal with soon anyways." Harry said thinking about what they need to do next. "Would you know who we are to talk to about purchasing land in or around Winter town? We hope to build a nice manor for when we stay in the area." he asked believing the man would know the answer.

"Well you are in luck, you are speaking to him." Kennet said with a smile. "Do you know what land you are wanting to purchase?"

"We are not quite sure what is available, though we did spend a bit of time looking around for possible locations." Harry answered honestly.

"Well then young man let us go to my tower and we can see what land is available." Kennet said while turning around and walking away clearly indicating for them to follow. This was reinforced by the guard captain standing back and indicating they could enter. It seemed that there was other business that could gain them entry into Winterfell other than just speaking to Lord Stark.

Winterfell was in good shape, if a bit spartan. However it certainly was a massive fortress, easily the biggest in Westeros, besides that of the Rock, and that only won the competition because it stretches for hundreds of meters into the ground. There was also what appeared to be a big forest and garden just to the right of the main courtyard they were passing through. Harry also saw a few large greenhouses he expected they used to grow food during the winter months.

It was honestly quite impressive and gave Harry ideas about including a lot of different areas to his own fortress to balance it out a bit in the future when he finally gets around to designing one. They followed Kennet up the stairs at his slow pace, but at least the man's office was only a single floor up and not at the top. Without saying anything he pulled out a few large pieces of parchment and rolled them out on the big table in the middle of the room, clearly experienced at the process.

"Well here we is a map showing the ownership of the land surrounding Winterfell, and here it is for The North." Kennet said indication the smaller and then much larger, but less detailed map. Apparently there was quite a bit of land that no one owned in and around Winterfell. Obviously that land was controlled by the Starks, but if he guessed right most of it was up for sale as long as it was not being used.

Sirius was looking over the maps as well and not goofing off like he usually was. It made Harry happy that Sirius was invested in this as much as he was. There were a few locations in Winter town that might have been good enough if they wanted to have a small manor or large house with a yard, but not quite up to their standards. After about thirty minutes of discussion between them, Harry and Sirius decided on a large parcel of land just outside Winter town on the Kingsroad.

They were only getting two hundred meters of road front property but it still ended up being dirt cheap considering they were getting twenty acres. The fact that it was outside of Winter town proper made the transaction much easier, and 100 Dragons lighter and a deed in hand they left the Maesters tower as he escorted them back to the gate.

While they had the deed for the land, it was still under Lord Stark's direct rule, unlike the land they wanted to purchase in their private meeting. However they were also able to get permission to improve the section of the Kingsroad in front of their new land and the two to three hundred meters of road that separated their section from the gates of Winter town.

They decided to keep their rooms at the Inn for a the duration of the construction rather than setting up something temporary on their land. In fact they paid to rent out the entire inn so it was more private.

The first thing they did at their new land was to put up some wards and charms to prevent anything abnormal from being noticed, and even an illusion that was going to show work as it was being done. That last one was fairly complex and required Harry to modify it everyday in order to follow the progress of the House Elves as they showed their skill in building.

If there was one thing the House Elves did better than cooking or cleaning in Harry's mind then it had to be their ability to build anything to your exacting specifications. Harry was almost certain that they somehow used some passive magic to just known what you wanted rather than having to rely totally on your description as a normal builder would. He had told Dobby about his admiration of their skills, and it had apparently motivated some of Elves, as they had started wearing construction hats Harry had stored away.

Speaking of clothing, all the House Elves were forced by Harry to wear clothes. He said that it was not him releasing their bond, but that they represented House Potter and would not be seen in rags, or at least that was how he sold it to them. They had gone fairly crazy since then wearing what they fancied as long as it was in good condition, and they honestly brought smiles to his face when he saw their crazy outfits, like the hardhats as everyday wear.

They had told Maester Kennet they had some foreign crews already hired to do the building for them, but said they would source what materials they could locally. That meant that Harry had sent Sirius to various local business to start setting up deliveries of materials, mainly Ironwood, and granite blocks. Instead of buying additional land for a series of warehouses, they instead decided to setup a nice looking warehouse in the corner of their land. The entire piece was going to be surrounded by a twelve foot walls, to add a bit of extra protection from possible raiders, as they were outside the walls protecting Winter town.

Inside was going to be a nice Tudor styled manor, with about a dozen bedrooms, a reception and dining hall, and various other amenities that they both expected, like indoor plumbing, and heating. It was going to be fairly advanced and mostly made out of granite stone and Ironwood. The entire manor itself was basically a fortress not really needing the walls, but they did add a layer of privacy to hide some of the ongoings inside. That was why they were also the first thing to be built after the foundations.

The day came quickly for their meeting with Lord Stark. Harry even decided to wear the Sword of Gryffindor that he had been neglecting to wear since they had arrived in Winter town.

At times during their trip he had even been glamouring it to reduce scrutiny because of the delicately crafted silver hilt and the large rubies situated throughout. Thankfully it was a broadsword variant being just short and slender enough to comfortably sit as his hip. He didn't bother putting any glamours on it to disguise it as it was going to become a known quantity of his house.

They were given a brief once over by the same guard captain that was at the gate two days previous and were waved in with nary a word. Maester Kennet was waiting on the inside of the gates for them, and smiled when he saw them approach.

"I have heard you are already quickly started construction and the procurement of materials for your manor." Kennet said with a smile, clearly happy about the new ongoings in Winter town. He started walking as he looked to them to answer.

"Yes, we felt regardless of the situation at hand that we would want to have a manor close to the heart of The North." Sirius said with his usual Black smile. "I placed some orders in ahead of the time when we would need the materials, and some extra for possible trade, or to use on our new lands if today's meeting is successful." he finished to the attentive Kennet.

"That is good, it is nice to see new coin making its way into the economy." Kennet said before becoming a bit pensive. "And it is no secret that the North could do with a bit of good fortune with what has happened in the last two years." the man said unhappily, clearly his feelings about the situation leaking through. "Well enough about unhappy thoughts, do you two have any more plans in the area?" This time Harry handled the question.

"Yes, a few, such as possibly purchasing some land on Kingsroad that stretches from it to the Whiteknife, most likely just to the west of Winterfell to possibly set up a relay for trade goods if we start trading within the North." Harry said. "However a lot of that is reliant on how our meeting goes here today." he finished as they finally made it too what he presumed was the audience hall.

Kennet nodded and led them inside and took a position to the right and behind the young man who was sitting on the sturdy wooden throne chair. He looked no older than thirty, but seemed to have an interested look on his face towards this meeting. Which was only good for them. When they got within a few paces they both performed deep bows and but did not kneel as he was not their liege lord yet.

"You are Hadrian Potter?" Brandon Stark said looking to him, which he replied with a nod. "And you are Sirius Black? No relation to the brothers of the night's watch?" he asked Sirius.

"No my Lord, my family has had the named Black for generations." Sirius told him.

"Kennet here and Lord Manderly's letter sate you are wealth merchants originally from the North, who found their success in Essos and the far-east, but now you want to become landed nobles here in the North?" Brandon asked not letting much show on his face.

"Yes my lord." Harry answered drawing attention back to him, Brandon was probably assuming Sirius was the one who normally lead their group due to him being nearly twenty years Harry's senior. "There are many reasons for choosing to settle down here rather than other places. One being the people and the honor of most Northerners. Another being the potential in the North that could be tapped into with a bit of money and knowledge. Let alone the fact that there is the Old Gods here and no slavery." Harry said with a bit of heat in his voice about the last one.

"Well it is not everyday that new lords are appointed here in the North, but that is usually because of a lack of means on others parts." Brandon answered honestly, showing a bit of the Stark honest honor they were known for. Not that one should underestimate them, wolves could be vicious when they needed to be. "What are you exactly looking for?"

"Well we would like to both gain titles, and large pieces of land we could start improving." Harry answered similarly with his honest intents. "Somewhere a bit private so we don't need to worry about too many neighbors, and hopefully somewhere on the coast, preferably the east coast." Harry finished, almost ticking of criteria in his head.

Both Lord Stark and Kennet looked thoughtful, before Kennet leaned over and whispered something in the young Lord's ear. Who almost looked excited by the prospects of whatever Kennet had suggested before centering his attention back on them. "What are your financial limits on purchasing your titles and land?" Brandon asked them.

"Well my lord, we have been extremely successful, and even have an account opened up with the Iron Bank that is fairly flush with gold." Harry answered not wanting to give away all their cards. "It would entirely depend on the land being offered, to determine how much we could ourselves afford to spend on it." he said showing a bit of their supposed merchant creed, which got chuckle and a soft muttered 'merchants' from Lord Stark.

"Well Kennet had a wonderful idea, that the current situation makes all the more practical." Brandon said referring the recent two years of strife in the North. "The last living relative of the noble house that ruled Skagos in our name, died in the Ironborn raids. I would suggest, if it is within your means, for one fo you to take over the islands there, as well as one of you taking a smaller portion of land on the east coast just south of the new gift." lord Stark said excitedly, mostly likely because the Starks had historically had issues with getting the inhabitants of Skagos to pay fealty.

The lands offered were almost perfect and Harry was going to request something similar on the east coast anyways, but getting all the islands of Skagos was not something he expected. Honestly if what he knew was right, just the island of Skagos was nearly three hundred miles long, and two hundred at its widest. Meaning there was a ton of land, and that was just the main island. Harry honestly didn't really care about how large of land they were offered on the mainland, Skagos would do them just fine.

"One of you will have to choose to take the smaller section of land below the New Gift for your house." Brandon said as he saw them seriously considering the offer. "Both areas will also need a lot of work as there is hardly any people left living there any longer." he finished a bit solemnly.

"I don't think we will have any issue with that my lord." Sirius answered while Harry was still thinking all the implications over. "How much will this cost us?" he asked with a small smile poking fun at them being merchants still. Kennet once again leaned over and whispered into Brandon's ear, and a near silent discussion broke out between them from there. Harry used a bit of magic to sneak into their minds and see what they were discussing.

Apparently Kennet believed they should charge more than Brandon believed the lands to be worth. Kennet felt that twenty thousand Dragons was something Harry and Sirius would be able to afford and was not too high of a price. Whereas Brandon felt the lands were barely worth ten thousand Dragons, seeings they currently had no taxable income. Harry decided to cut in and make a generous offer, higher than even Kennet was suggesting to ask.

"My lord if I may make an offer that may be acceptable?" Harry interrupted their quite discussion and drew their attention back to him. "From my understanding the land offered while fairly barren of current industries and people, but have quite a bit of potential. I would like to offer fifty thousand Dragons between Sirius and Myself to be payable over the next year?" he put the offer out there.

To say that they were shocked as his generous offer was easy to see with Kennet's widening eyes. "Mr. Potter your offer is too generous, that land in question are not worth nearly that much." Brandon said displaying the renown Stark honor that was even known in Braavos.

"My lord, I understand where you are coming from, but I believe you to be underestimating the potential the North holds in its lands." Harry said a bit passionately. "With the extra gold we are offering, you will also be able to make some infrastructure improvements here around Winterfell which will mean more sources of income for lords of the North in the future." he explained his reasoning, and really the difference between ten and fifty thousand dragons to them was not much; but could mean the difference between thousands starving when winter came here in a year or so's time, and for there be ample food in the stores for all the smallfolk.

He still had not asked how much gold that Sirius had brought with him, as the man had not asked for any gold since they had left Winterfell two years ago. Sirius had also spent gold like it was going out of fashion during their trip, not holding back from those select few comforts they could find in this medieval world. Harry himself had just over two hundred million Galleons an ungodly amount of gold for this world. They would have to be careful, because if they were too quick in spending gold they could devalue gold causing major economic issues. Though this was offset a bit by the majority of lords who liked to hoard wealth rather than reinvest it.

That was part of the reason that Harry was thinking of setting up a small local bank that could produce a fiat currency of some kind. One that was backed against gold, but only in the sense that there was a standing buy/sell rate directly to the bank for gold that would fluctuate daily. This would also prevent someone else from devaluing the economy by flooding the market with one of the precious metals currently used.

"Well then kneel!" Lord Stark commanded happily of them while drawing his ancestral valyrian steel sword Ice. Harry and Sirius were a bit surprised by the abrupt change in proceedings but kneeled before their soon to be liege lord. "You kneel as common men, but will raise as Lords of the North, charged with it's defense, and defense of the realm as called upon by the Starks in the name of the King." Brandon said dubbing them with his sword. "Now swear fealty to the Stark family, and rise as Lord Hadrian Potter, and Lord Sirius Black." he finished with a flourish.

They quickly swore their fealty, thankfully it was not magically binding as it would not suppress them in that way. However that did not mean they didn't mean the oaths they took. So far Brandon Stark had shown them nothing but reasons to support his family and their lead in the North.

"My Lord." Harry said happily with a huge smile on his face. Sure he had been a lord to be in Britain, but it felt so much more real here and something he had more claim to. "If you would send a few of your guards with us to one of the temporary buildings on our new land outside Winter town, we could send them back with our first payment on our debt." he said happily hoping quick payment would be seen even more favorably.

"We can do that later, but first we feast to celebrate the raising of two new lords in the North!" Brandon said getting up from his chair and dropping some of the formalities while issuing orders to servants. "We must find out how good of a drinker you both are! You will find many a time deals are struck between Northern lords when sharing drinks." Brandon said happily as he lead them out of the audience hall to a small dining area. It was big enough to fit a few dozen people and was probably used for the smaller feasts or more intimate gatherings. "Sit." Brandon said pointing to two seats across from the one he took at the main table.

"My Lord I don't mean to question the quality of your drink, but on our travels we picked up some excellent examples of a few different types of drinks we encountered, would you wish to try some?" Harry asked thinking about all the alcohol they had from Earth and had purchased on their travels. Harry's idea certainly seemed to have peaked Brandon's interest as he looked excited at the prospect of trying some new drinks.

"That sounds great! Where do you have it stored?" Brandon asked.

"I will just need to go to our temporary construction site, as we have some of our goods we collected stored there, while the rest are still in Braavos, White Harbor or at a few of the other warehouses we own." He said to cover the fact that they were carrying most of it right on them.

"Well then I will send a guard with you to help carry some back and hopefully the food will start coming out by then." Brandon said while looking to a servant on the side who nodded her head in affirmation. "You better be quick I wanna try this new drink, and that's an order Lord Potter." Brandon said with a smile and humour in his voice. Harry was starting to really like this guy, and could even see him becoming a friend.

"At your command my lord." Harry said in a super over the top way followed by a deep bow, making Brandon burst out laughing. Harry left the hall with a guard in his wake and they made good progress to their manor's construction site. Having the guard wait outside, he went in and grabbed a few barrels of wines from their travels and few bottles of various selections from Earth which Harry promptly removed the labels of, but the bottles were distinct enough for Harry to recognize which was which without the label.

Moving outside he handed a box that he had put the bottles into to the guard, and took a small barrel under each arm as they made the five minute trek back to Winterfell. When they arrived they found Sirius and Brandon laughing and sharing stories over a cup of what appeared to be northern ale. Harry took his seat after setting down the barrels and box beside them on the table. He pulled out some spirits, Vodka in this case, and poured each of them a small measure in a few of the cups on the table.

"This here my lord is called Vodka." Harry answered before pounding it back. "It is usually drank quickly, but some enjoy sipping it as well." he finished. Brandon took the drink and followed Harry's example of shooting it back, however he was not prepared for the strength of the drink and started choking and coughing, much to the amusement of those present. From that point it degraded into Brandon challenging his chuckling guards to do better.

"This is a drink made for the North. It brings such a heat to your chest, and could wake up a deadman." Brandon commented after having his second shot of vodka.

The night basically ended up being a small scale party where many of Lord Stark's guardsman and various personal present in the castle joined them to add numbers to their group as there were no other lords currently at Winterfell. However it did allow for some more frank discussions between the three lords. Harry was also able to get answers to many of his questions and concerns.

He had asked about possibly getting people to migrate to Skagos, but Lord Stark said even if they had opportunities available the amount of people that would be looking for a new place would be low in the North. They may have a few hundred on a good year immigrate, but should expect less usually, and that was if they were openingly advertising. Brandon had told them that with the current losses in the last two years there would be few lord's willing to let their smallfolk leave. Though he did give his permission for them to try and get people from outside the North to migrate to their lands.

Brandon had not been kidding about deals being struck while drinking either, as they had ironed out more than one deal during the feast. For one they had gotten a large parcel of land on the Whiteknife as they had discussed with Kennet earlier and permission to build a small private port. In exchange they agreed to upgrade and repair the Kingsroad from their new piece of land all the way to Winterfell. It was only about thirty miles and was a fair deal all things considered.

What it did provide was a new place for them to set up a dock, possible business outlet, and warehouses to service some of their ships coming up the Whiteknife to trade in Winterfell. While trade may be slow at first, as they started up more and more industries on Skagos, they would be searching for customers, and access to the second largest city in the North was key to that goal.

The other deal they had secured was fairly broad permissions to setup various bylaws on Skagos, as long as they didn't conflict with existing laws of the Six Kingdoms. It had taken Harry explaining the need for such laws to streamline businesses to get the permission, but once he had it, it gave fairly broad powers. To go along with that they had gotten approval to setup a local bank if they wished. Apparently there was no rules that said they couldn't, but getting Brandon's approval would go along way to having legitimacy in the eyes of others.

Another outcome, that everyone even Kennet was shocked about, was how much booze Harry could chug while only being mildly inebriated at most. That for some reason seemed to gain him quite a bit of status amongst the men present and even had a few of the serving girl batting their eyelashes at him. In the case of one of the girl Harry was actually interested, as she was smoking hot redhead. Harry had ended up doing something he had not done often and had joined the young 'lady' in her bed that night.

The last major event of the night before he had gone off with his bed partner, was the sword of Gryffindor being asked about. Harry had drew it to the exclaim of everyone, and not in fright as the Northerners took guest rights so serious it probably didn't cross their minds, but because of its beauty. They had asked him what it was made of and he said the description he had found with it said that it was made of something called Mythril, going with the cover story he had for it.

That lead to them insisting they test it against good hard castle forged steel, which was funny as a huge gouge was cut into steel when the two swords crossed blades. It shocked almost everyone present and when someone wanted to hold it, Harry had to inform them about the magic in the blade that absorbed whatever it come into contact with to make it stronger. Followed by him telling them at sometime in the past it had taken on the properties of an extremely virulent poison. Everyone was careful after that, but no one didn't want to hold the blade and personally inspect it, Kennet being the largest culprit looking it over for nearly an hour. Even doing a sketch.

When he had returned to their temporary accommodation later the next day after his night 'out', Sirius had laughed so hard and said he was just like his father chasing those redheads around. It was only his occlumency that let him avoid blushing about the connection Sirius had made. The Stark guards were to arrive soon so as Harry had arranged for them to when leaving Winterfell to pick up lord Stark's first payment. Harry quickly pulled out a small chest from his pouch and used a coin counting spell to transfer twenty thousand Dragons from his money pouch to the chest, which was almost overflowing.

It was just in time as a squad of twenty guards arrived, shocking Harry with their number, but he guessed it made sense seeing they were going to be transporting a large amount of gold. Even if it was only a few minutes journey. Harry also laughed as the guards struggled with the one large chest and its weight, as he had set it down in front of them with little issue, showing off his strength. He also learnt from the complaints of the guards that for the next time he should split it up into smaller lock boxes.

They had told Lord Stark that they were going to stay in Winter town till their manor was finished being built, which was a going to be about half a year at the least. Unfortunately one of the few things Elves were not great at was planning out or doing the very initial surveys of land to determine where things should be built. Once you told them or gave them past examples, they were good to go, but what that meant was Harry needed to ride to the Whiteknife to determine how they were going to setup their dock and trade station.

Harry had decided to ride his horse for some extra practice as it was only about thirty miles away. He also brought along a Stark guard who knew that area well and was going to show him exactly where they were on the map so he doesn't just start building in the wrong place. Though that would be hard as the land they had gotten was actually sizable as they needed to build a road connecting the last three miles of kings road to the Whiteknife at this junction.

While the Kingsroad does pass the Whiteknife south of Winterfell, that area was already controlled by House Cerwyn who was only a half a days ride to the South. However they only seemed to have a small dock for some fishing vessels, and instead Winterfell mainly relies on trade caravans for goods. This meant that the dock Harry would need would have to be big enough for larger trade ships to dock at.

The Whiteknife was plenty deep and wide that it could have more than a single ship traversing it without issues. Even though it was getting shallower where they were building nearing the rivers start. So Harry decided on a four ship dock, with a dozen or so warehouses and a few buildings for office space and additional storage. He also had a small storefront built that could possibly sell some of their own goods in the future. Though being as far as it was Winter town meant they would probably only get more wealthy customers that could afford a horse or cart ride.

After returning to Winter town with the guard, who Harry tipped a silver stag for his help which got him many thanks, he dispatched a team of Elves to start building the trade hub. He had Winky, Dobby's new wife, put in charge of its construction and operation as Dobby was already working hard on the manor. Hopefully getting more work for Winky and then telling her that it was Dobby's request will earn the little guy some brownie points, and if her excitement was anything to go by, his little friend was probably gonna get some.

Honestly he would not mind seeing a few little Dobbys running around and while he had asked Dobby about seeing a baby Elf, he had been told they were not taken from their homes till they were basically teenagers. And because their homes were small there was no way for him to see one. He was definitely interested in seeing if they were uber cute or just ugly. Hopefully Dobby will let him see one their little ones when they come along, as he was not willing to ask any of the other Elves.

Work on improving the road also had to commenced quickly as the area around their land was starting to get damaged with the heavy traffic delivering various materials for the construction project. Harry wanted the road to be two lanes, one each side made out of stone that was cemented together closely to reduce any bumps to nearly nothing. It had to have proper drainage and a good ditch for snow removal. What this meant was that more Elves needed to be working outside the warded space and in the open to boot. This precipitated Harry to work on a bit of an enchanting project, as well as getting his forge modified to produce high quality cement.

He first did some research on the various ways that wizards had done semi-permanent illusions before, and worked from there. His goal was to create a small pendant his Elves could wear that would make them appear to be human, but the even more difficult part was to make the illusion physical as well. This meant that if someone smacked the head of an Elf, their hand would not just pass right through the illusion. Basically the pendant almost morphed the Elves outside physical body into the desired result. This meant they experienced the size change as well to some extent, except it was muted quite a bit.

Once he got the process down it was not hard to make a few hundred simple pendants in his forge and enchant them one after another. Though while he was at it, he had decided that there was no reason not to add a few protections, and permanent cooling and heating charms to the amulets. It would make whatever conditions the Elves were working in all that much more comfortable, and made Harry feel a bit better about so many of them refusing to be paid for their work as he had convinced Dobby to be. In fact Dobby was actually far richer than most of the population here on Westeros if you took the buying power of Galleons into account.

The warehouse on their manor land they were building was going to have some cleverly hidden expansion charms. This was to allow for them to hold as much as they need without it taking up too much room on their land, and away from the manor. When the foundations for the manor had gotten to the right place, Harry had put a wardstone down with basic protections he had been putting in most places, as well additional protections from magic and other possible attacks.

The whole area of Winter town seemed to be booming only few weeks after construction started. They had also hired locals to work under the Elves to build the roads and do lots of the preliminary work. This did require that Harry take a bunch of the more simple tools he had stored in his trunk from Earth, like pickaxes which was basically just a piece of shaped steel with a wooden handle, for them to use. He had seen poorer examples around so he was not afraid to pull them out and put them in the hands of workers. Regardless it created more good will in the community as they were not just hiring their 'foreign' crew anymore, and were providing jobs to locals as well.

Sirius had also ordered a lot more materials than they were going to need, stating that they were good prices, and we could ship them somewhere else to trade or use. Harry did not disagree, but as a result of them throwing a few thousand Dragons around the economy was having a revival from the slump of the last two years. It was good timing as summer seemed to be on the tailend and was going to be ending in what the Maesters believe to be just over a year.

While their manor was going to be to a scale of something rarely seen outside the large castles or fortress of some of the larger lords, it was not going to have the opulence of those found sometime in the south or in Essos. This was the North and there were standards. Though construction had already started on the main building as the foundation and wardstones were laid.

The first lord Harry got to meet since becoming one himself was Lord Cerwyn when Sirius brought him by their inn to greet him. The man was honest, open and was extremely interested in their project on the Whiteknife. In fact his family had been trying to save enough for a few decades to upgrade their own docks to be able to receive larger ships. That got them talking and Harry agreed to allow Lord Cerwyn to gain a 25% ownership of their new docks they were building in exchange for a hundred Dragons.

It was not about the money at all, but more about ensuring the there was no issues with House Cerwyn down the line, as it could be seen as taking away opportunities they thought they had some claim to. This way everyone was happy and Lord Stark even allowed them to expand the docks a bit and open it up to public traffic at the request of Lord Cerwyn. This meant they could start taking in docking fees and collecting some duties, which they only would have to pass on portion to Lord Stark.

Another result of the meeting was Lord Stark requesting them to improve the Kingsroad to Lord Cerwyn's castle as well. It was a hefty request as the distance was nearly seventy-five miles, and road building was slow, though in exchange Lord Stark said he would owe them a favour which Harry immediately agreed to. He was happy that he had not just offered them less off their debt, because really Harry was giving them more than they were asking for, for a specific reason.

This way if a need cropped up in the future they could cash in the favour, which was fairly large seeings as the cost of the road building was decently high. At this rate they may become known for road building in Westeros more than being merchants

Harry also got introduced to a few other Lords as they came to meet with Lord Stark about various things. There was an annual harvest feast held by the Starks each year which only some of the Lords were able to attend due to the sure size of the North. However it had been a month or so before they had arrived. This meant that they were most likely not going to be here for the next one, and only a few lords had business with Lord Stark in the time they had been in Winter town.

Construction went smoothly and about the only other things of note to happen was the crowds that liked to come and see the progress daily on their manor, and that Harry had been able to score access to the Stark Library, which he copied into his LIS. This resulted in Harry spending some time with Maester Kennet who Harry didn't actually mind as he seemed to be one of the few honest Maesters out there. In Fact he had ruled The North in Brandon's fathers place as he was down in Kingsland being the Hand of the King to a child. Harry also learnt tons about the local laws and what was expected of him as the lord of Skagos.

Another thing he found out was that Westeros used be home to two confirmed magical races, and few other suspected ones. The best known were definitely the Giants and Children of the Forest. That did not surprise Harry in the slightest due to how high the magic was on this planet, and especially here in the North.

It was during this time at one of the almost weekly small parties they had at Winterfell, that the discussion of magic came up. Not that Harry blamed them for having parties as it was one of the few sources of entertainment available in the region. Sirius had managed to tell a story about some of the magic they had encountered in Essos, not explaining that sometimes it had been themselves using it. The crowd had been entrapped by his stories, and when one of the guards had asked if he had any proof, before Sirius could say anything more and do something stupid while drunk Harry spoke up.

"This is probably a good time to broach this." Harry said getting everyone's attention, as he pulled out a small tabletop mirror from his bag and passed it to Brandon, who looked it over a bit perplexed at getting an arguably fine mirror. "This is one of the few magical artifacts that Sirius and I managed to collect during out travels." With that he had everyone's attention and most were trying to get a good look at the mirror in Brandon's hands.

"What does it do?" Brandon asked turning the mirror over looking for its function.

"Well my Lord, it works with a pair." he said pulling out a second similar mirror. "They are actually ingenious communication devices." he said before speaking lord Stark's name. Which caused the mirror in Brandon's hand to start ringing. "You simply need to answer the mirror my Lord by touching the center." he said as Brandon followed his instructions, which caused to everyone shock Harry's face to appear in Brandon's Mirror and vice versa.

"This is amazing." Brandon said as his voice came out of the mirror at almost the same time, causing everyone even more shock.

"These can be used at almost any distance, and as we will be taking over Skagos and some of the eastern coast I felt it would be a good idea to be able to contact you quickly and be able to have full conversations without the need of ravens." he said.

"How do I make it connect with your own?" Brandon asked looking at the mirror with even more reverence as its function was explained to him. Kennet was almost looking like a ghost had taken over at the possibility such mirrors could do if spread on a large scale.

Harry said end and tapped his own mirror ending the call. "Simply say my name, and it will connect to my mirror." he said to Brandon who did just that and caused Harry's mirror to ring which he tapped. "Now simply say end and tap the mirror to end the connection." Harry said.

"How do you know so much about these mirrors function?" Kennet asked from his seat down the table, more interested than anything else.

"There was a small book in High Valyrian describing their function when we found them." Harry said to the man to allay any suspicions he may have.

"I am surprised you can read High Valyrian." Kennet said pondering the discovery of the mirrors.

"I cannot, I just had someone translate them for me." Harry said before turning back to Brandon. "My Lord our manor is near completion and afterwards we are going to be leaving by boat at out new docks to Whiteharbour and from there to Skagos, as we need to get started construction on our new home before winter sets in." Harry said explaining their soon departure to their liege lord.

"It will be a sad time to see you two go as you have added much warmth to these halls, but winter is coming, and all men must prepare, even lords." Brandon said a bit more seriously than their past conversations. "I thank you for this precious gift. It is good that we can keep in contact, and I will make sure to check in often." Brandon said indicating the mirror.

Thankfully they were finally finished in Winter town, as Harry was smarting a tiny bit about how they had to delay construction of the manor so no one asked too many questions, like how they were building so quickly. Hopefully when they get to Skagos it won't be a problem. The road upgrades from their manor and the new docks was also complete and now work was progressing on the road towards Lord Cerwyn Castle. It was going to make this section of the Kingsroad the best section in all of Westeros, and they had been getting tons of compliments on their process and quality.

Kennet had actually made inquiries into the process for making their cement, but Harry told him it was a trade secret and something they may trade in the future. Kennet also asked them on behalf of the Starks about possibly doing the upgrades on the road for its entire stretch in the North. He had told him that they wouldn't be able to do it cheaply as it was a large piece of road to upgrade, but would be willing to undertake the project if the budget was ever successfully raised.

Harry had decided it would easier if they had a few of their Elves managing their manor and businesses in Winterfell as they could use magic more easily that way. It also meant that Harry didn't need to worry about security as much, as no one was going to be getting through an Elf protecting their home without some serious firepower. With the new pendant this became all that more realistic of an option and gave even more work to be shared amongst them.

Speaking of the elves, apparently more work equaled more of them getting randy and having even more kids. He had actually felt the additional magical drain over the last six months as their population grew, but he was not worried as it had not outstripped his magical growth yet. His magic also seemed to be constantly growing with all the use he was putting it through on a constant basis and the strain from the Elves was like walking around with weights on for his magic.

On the day they were leaving there was a bunch of the smallfolk they had impressed during their visit here waiting to see them off. After a few good farewells and promises to return they were off. The ride to their new docks was even better than the first one Harry took, and he was honestly surprised at how much of a difference a better road made. The entire trip, on horse so not something that even saw great gains from better roads, was reduced by nearly 5 percent with the new road. He could only imagine the gains carts or caravans would see.

When they arrived at the docks they saw almost all the buildings were up and the Ironwood docks were all finished. Now just some work on a security wall to surround the entire complex was underway. Their large Braavosi trade vessel was waiting to take them in Whiteharbour, where they were going to make a quick stop to get some supplies and thank Lord Manderly for his letter, and finally make their way to Skagos. They had decided to leave the area on the mainland alone for the time being and concentrate on Skagos to build up a solid power base.

End

A/N: Well here is the chapter 3 which was mostly finished by the time i posted chapter 2, but still needed some work. Hopefully you all enjoy it and I am sorry but I cannot promise when the next chapter will be following. Remember to review, as they are a great sources of encouragement and ideas. 40k words will have to tie everyone over as I am moving into a period of heavy course load and will have little spare time, but don't let you that think I can't even surprise myself.