Disclaimer: Anything you recognise from the books by J. K. Rowling remains hers and hers alone, I make no claim on them.
Chapter 7
Octo-equestrian.
10th Century.
10th Century.
The visit of his former student had left Salazar unsettled; he sat in his office pondering what he had gleaned from the man's comments and behaviour. He had chosen to sit at his desk in his new office in what his students had already called the dungeons of the castle, although they did not in fact house any cells at all, they were elsewhere in the castle. The windowless room suited him; it was well lit by torches and a fire roared in the fireplace, providing the perfect place where he could concentrate on his work with minimum distractions. The shelves held hundreds of books, his own collection, alongside many jars containing the various samples he had collected over the years. There were three doors leading from the room, one onto the corridor and the rest of the castle, one into the common room of his house, the other to his private quarters, but it was this room that was his sanctuary where he created his potions, planned lessons, thought and that was certainly what he needed to do now.
It had been obvious to him that Styr, his student, King of Jorvik, had been preoccupied while he had viewed the school. The man had not been interested in the subjects taught, or even the accommodation his son would occupy whilst the boy attended as might be expected. He had only shown interest in the structure of the castle, not the undeniable fact that it was unusual and should inspire awe in anyone seeing it for the first time, after all but rather in it's strategic position on the hill in the mountainous valley, the thickness of the doors and walls as well as how it was protected. Salazar had not revealed the nature of the wards nor had he identified the ones they had set just the night before, but had assured his former student of the safety of his son, telling him that this was the most secure place on the Island for their kind. This had appeared not to reassure the man at all, in fact he seemed disconcerted by it, worried, even concerned. What was his pupil up to? He knew Styr was ambitious and anyone who could take a throne the way he reportedly had must be ruthless, but surely he wasn't behind the treatment of wizard kind in Northumbria. Yes he had killed his squib brother, but that wasn't surprising, Salazar would have done the same in Styr's place. It was, in his opinion, shameful to have such weakness in the family, worse even than having Muggle ancestry. No he was sure the King valued Magical blood, Utred was walking proof of that. Hadn't the boy been spared when Styr had usurped his brothers' throne? Surely that showed Styr's nature, the boy had arrived with his families' horde intact after all, even though the family lands had been taken. After five years at the school the boy, even under Gryffindor's tutelage surely understood the importance of a wizard being King and how misguided his father had been to support the squib.
Once Salazar had returned the King to his palace though, the man had still tried to get information about where the location of the castle was; this had really raised alarm bells. Did his former student not trust him to care for his boy? Was it not enough to know that the wards were the most secure that that could be provided? Why was he so, insistent in his need to know where the school was? This had been when Salazar's in built alarms had sounded loudly. Certainly he had suspected his first students motives during the tour, but had put that down to the in-built self-protection he himself had and had nurtured in his student those years ago. It was now he was sure his doubts had merit beyond what he had thought, though precisely what the man's plan was he had no idea. Salazar had quickly made his excuses and left to ponder events in the sanctuary of his office. His doubts soon gave way as he justified the actions of the man who had been more than a student to him; during the years of the apprenticeship they had become friends. Perhaps not trusting each other completely, to do so would have been to allow weakness, it was another of Salazar's maxims born of his experiences in life, he had long ago learned to trust no one totally, others could use that trust against you. His arguments with the other three here at Hogwarts demonstrated the necessity of keeping that in mind, at the least for protection. The three here in this castle were, apart from Styr, the ones he had become closest to allowing himself too trust completely. Yet they had foolishly ignored his warnings of the dangers of teaching the Muggle born, placing magical folk in further danger. They could not see that Muggle born witches and wizards, who had not been brought up knowing the risks of being magical, could easily let slip the secrets of the world they were creating, placing themselves and others in danger, where pure bloods would instinctively know not to gossip or show off their talent. It seemed that only he could see this danger and therefore the necessity of restricting their teachings to those of magical blood. Perhaps one day they could cope with Muggle born, but not now when their loyalty could not be guaranteed and the risk was so high. Styr was one man, it seemed, who had always remained loyal to him, as much as his ambition allowed. That did not mean that now he was King having to tolerate some mad Christian archbishop, he would betray Slytherin or his people, just as the arguments with Godric, Rowena and Helga did not mean Salazar would betray them or the school. Yet still Salazar felt lingering doubts, not everything could be so easily dismissed about the King, after all he was his Master's student and his ambition and cunning might lead to him betraying him, except for one thing. The oath, which was all that protected him from Styr's desire for power and being crushed by his methods to get it.
Salazar looked out over the grounds where the students were still busy dismantling the old traditionally built long houses, he watched his own students before his eyes moved on to take in the other students. Finally he watched the Creaftas and Gryffindor's students. He smiled slightly; the Creaftas might be the bane of his life here in many ways, if only they would focus their talents more seriously. He could not deny they were extraordinarily talented; he even admired their skills and achievements, despite their application being in pranks and modifications to how the Castle had been intended. Even if the great hall ceiling was one of the most inventive uses of magic he had seen for many years, it was, he believed, a waste of that talent and that annoyed him. He hoped that nothing more had been done by them to the school, but feared that more remained to be found. He might have a sneaking admiration for the group he watched carefully, especially its leader, but unless he and they became more focused, he would never admit it.
Utred, the leader of the group that had become the focus of Salazar's thoughts, had remained blissfully unaware that the man who had ordered his family's murder had been in the school, let alone had stood watching them work and had recognised him. Styr the Usurper, as he and his friends called him when they were being polite, was the last thing on his mind as he enjoyed dismantling the long house that had been his home for five years. Erik and Ulf were working with Muggle tools while Utred and his house mates used their wands to remove the thatch and planks to stack them in what, until last night, had been the schools Great Hall. The members of each founder's house worked on the building they had occupied, they had all been well rested in their new accommodations within the castle the night before, following the festivities and excitement of their first night in a new place. There would be another, smaller, celebration this evening, this time marking the end of the old school, the centre piece of which would be the burning of the Hall with the components of the other four houses in it. For the Creaftas though the highlight would be when everyone returned to the castle afterwards and the prank they had planned for years, their biggest prank so far, would finally activate.
The atmosphere amongst Gryffindor's students was light, they were teasing and joking with each other as they worked, and minor pranks were being played on each other as to break up their time. They had simply climbed up over the house and started work enthusiastically; the long house was quickly disappearing, as they ripped into the timbers. This was in contrast to the other houses, the Slytherin's, for example, worked slowly, in disgusted silence as usual when manual work was expected from them, it was well known they thought Pure Bloods such as themselves were above such menial work. The Ravenclaw's worked methodically, discussing the solutions to each problem between themselves before starting, then efficiently dividing the work between them. The Hufflepuff's had also put their heads together before starting work, then worked meticulously all together on the one task before progressing to the next.
The following day, if the four old long houses had been demolished and the former Great Hall had been burnt, then work would begin on a stone replacement for the old lodge that Utred had arrived in. The replacement would still be where Ulf and Erik lived, but it was time to replace the old timber structure next to the lake, it had served many years as a hunting lodge even before it arrived here to become the home of the pair of game keepers. If the Gryffindor's finished early, as their chaotic, but fun approach seemed to indicate they would, then they had said they would start on the destruction of the lodge today. The Creaftas, being the earliest of Gryffindor's students, were looked up to by their house mates and had instilled a love of creativity in them, as well as mischief. As student leaders of the house, they took their responsibility as seriously, taking care of the younger students, who looked to the Creaftas for guidance, ensuring they were looked after as they settled into life at the school. They were keen to start a new building project and so all worked quickly to demolish their old home, so they could start on the smaller project, the only drawback being that apart from preservation and security charms, even Utred had promised not to add any surprises to it.
It was a hot day; the latest of several sunny days without rain, a barrel of ale had been placed next to each house to ensure none of the students went thirsty during the work. It was the weak first brew, made from water of the streams that fed the lake, which although purer than any Utred had seen either at Thwing or at Jorvik, it still had the potential to make someone ill if they drank it before it had been made into Ale. Things died in streams, urinated, washed and worse in them, but it was known that making Ale from it made the water safe to drink, even if the risk was less here than in most places. The Elves, who made the drink, used the bran mash three times, with each brew getting stronger, but each would only stay fresh for a week in the barrel after which it would go stale and was used for a drink for pigs or cattle. There was little chance of any of the Ale in these barrels going stale though, it was so hot that the amount left in them was rapidly reducing as the students did their best to avoid becoming ill in the heat and through the hard physical work.
It was shortly before they were due to break to have a mid-day meal, when a distant sound distracted them. The Gryffindor's had almost flattened their long house, only the large uprights of the frame remained in place, these large tree trunks were set deeply in the ground, held sturdy with rocks and stones buried with the base, the four largest set at each corner. Once the remaining pile of planks and thatch had been cleared from between them the Gryffindor's were planning a race between four teams of themselves to flatten the largest poles. The Creaftas and their ladies would of course be one team, Ulf, Erik and Godric were going to referee the race, no magic was allowed of course, though Muggle tools were, this was to be a physical test, which would probably prove far more entertaining for participants and spectators alike. In the meantime they were all moving the debris and stacking it in the central long house, which had been the Great Hall. The students of the other three houses had barely completed removing the roofs of their houses in the time the Gryffindor's had torn into their own, but still progress had been made. They were all anticipating the meal of bread, meat, and cheese washed down with more of the Ale, when the low continuous rumbling sound, like distant thunder, came from the direction of the village.
"Sounds like Durslieg is hungry again." Quipped Tigelwotta, to the merriment of those nearby.
The rumbling sound continued, a constant drone coming closer.
"Sounds more like horses, lots of them, moving fast as well." Ulf observed.
"Someone's coming then, in a hurry too, by the sounds of it." Utred commented and turned to a nearby younger student. "Fetch Godric quickly, tell him we have unexpected visitors on the way."
The youngster ran off towards the castle, but didn't need to go in as the tall figure of Godric Gryffindor appeared at the door, just as the student reached the top of the steps. He nodded to the boy and sent him to tell the students of the other houses to be ready, then strode towards his students. "I doubt its anything to worry about, but be ready just in case." He instructed.
The Gryffindor's withdrew their wands, Ulf and Erik drew their swords, they noticed the students from the other houses readying themselves as well, just in case of an attack. Abandoning their tasks for the time being and gathering together, forming a barrier across the lawns, wands drawn alongside their schoolmates facing the direction of the thunder. They may have rivalry between the houses, but when it counted they all knew they would unite against any potential threat to the school, even the haughty Slytherin's would stand shoulder to shoulder with the others to protect what they had here. As they watched, a cloud of dust rose above the trees between the school and Hogsmeade, the sound was getting progressively louder.
"At least two dozen riders I would say, at least from the sound they are generating and that cloud of dust, most likely more." Ulf told Utred. "Moving very fast too, if it's an attack watch yourself my Lord, we may be too occupied to help, as will you if it comes to it."
Utred nodded as his two sworn men from Tang took defensive positions on either side of him and the Creaftas formed a tight group around them, in case those approaching charged at them and got through the barrier they could cast with their wands.
The dust cloud reached the gate, moving faster than Utred thought was possible for horses, thick near the ground the particles rising like a dirty cloud in a plume behind it appeared to be rolling quickly across the ground, masking whatever was creating it. Whatever it was, it veered away from the track that led to the main door to head towards them. The sound of the hooves dulled over the grass as it slowed, but continued to approach the defensive line of students. The dust cloud began to dissipate, revealing six pure white, very large rider less horses, Gryffindor sheathed his wand raised his hands, palms forward, reassured by the founder's actions the students sheathed their wands too.
Godric took three steps forward, the equine continued to slow, their legs still a blur of motion, the sound like still like thunder. The white horses drew to a halt a few yards in front of Gryffindor; they truly were massive beasts, towering above him, his head only just the same height as the bellies of the Equine, as he stood before them. Their silvery manes, thick and luxurious, the thin gossamer like strands dancing in the slightest breeze on their necks as they tossed their heads and whinnied, flicking their long tails. Sweat was running down their bodies and their nostrils flared as they drew air in and tried to calm themselves from what had obviously been a long gallop. As magnificent a sight as this was, it was not the size or beauty of the equine that caused all the students to gasp, for as they halted their legs had become visible, each one had not got the expected four, but eight, these were not horses, they were Sliepnir.
Every student, whether Wizard or Muggle born, had heard of Odin's eight legged steed, they were part of the mythology of that god, none however had believed them to actually exist, yet here, right before their eyes, at this magical place, six of them stood in front of them. Even the staff that had been in the castle and had rushed out to see what was happening had stopped in their tracks at the top of the steps to gaze open mouthed at the newcomers. The sound of heavy footfall behind them broke the awed chatter amongst the students that had grown in the moments since the Sliepnir had arrived, one of the Centaurs made his stately way towards Gryffindor.
"Godric, I heard the approach, I am happy to translate for you, find out my cousins purpose, if I may?" His deep booming voice sounded.
Gryffindor nodded as the six large white heads turned towards the Centaur. "Of course, your assistance would be most welcome Thane." Godric agreed.
Everyone watched as the single centaur and the Sliepnir appeared to hold a quiet conversation with each other. After a few moments the Centaur turned back to face the founder. "Godric, the Octo-equine, as we know them, are relieved to have reached their intended destination at last. It has been a long journey, they set off yesterday and have not stopped until they arrived, they also recall well meeting you many moons ago, during your apprenticeship, when there was many more of their kind. Since then they have been hunted by the Muggles, almost to extinction and seek sanctuary in your lands, which they heard had become a refuge for magical beings of all kinds. They are the last remaining of their species and wish to live the last of their days in safety, they are willing to offer whatever services they can to the community here in return for sanctuary."
Godric nodded "Please tell them they are welcome, I well remember my time with their kind and it is a pleasure to renew our acquaintance; we are honoured by their presence. They may join you in the forest or live with our horses in the stables where Ulf and Erik will assist them with whatever they need, which ever they prefer."
A brief conversation took place as Thane relayed the information to the Sliepnir, when it was over he spoke again.
"They understand you Godric, though they request I continue to speak for them until they can re attune their talents to communicate with you directly, a service I am happy to provide for them. They would welcome room in the stables and the opportunity to graze the grass again untroubled; they only resided in woodland when forced from their grazing lands."
"As they wish." Godric bowed. "I shall brief Erik and Ulf, all we ask in return is that they become part of our community with all the rights and responsibilities that entails as they have already offered."
"They will be relieved Godric, but for now require rest and refreshment, they hope you will allow that, then once rested will begin working with us all." The Centaur responded.
Godric nodded acceptance. "Of course, Ulf, Erik would you lead the way to the stables for them?"
The two Muggles nodded, then turned towards the stables, the Sliepnir followed slowly, with the Centaur bringing up the rear.
As the odd procession disappeared from view, most of the students made their way to where their food awaited them, with the exception of those of Gryffindor's own house who gathered round him. He raised his hand to prevent questions as the staff joined them. "Well that was unexpected, but we have six very rare new arrivals." He smiled as they arrived.
"Were those really what they appeared to be Godric? I never imagined Sliepnir really existed, I've certainly never come across them before." Hufflepuff asked amazed.
"They were indeed Helga, the very last of their kind though; it also appears the Centaurs know them by a different name." Godric assured her.
"Are you sure there are no more?" Ravenclaw asked.
"So they told me Rowena." Godric suddenly looked sad. "There were only about thirty when Merlin introduced me to their colony in Wales, many years ago, even then that was the last place they could be found. They are of course only to be found in Britain, none have ever been found in any other country and they would know if there were any. They only usually gather in family groups of a few, they can live in woodland, but prefer isolated open space, miles from other groups, I expect the colony that Merlin took me too, must have gathered for protection from being hunted. They are all telepathic within their species, though given time they can extend that talent to be able to communicate with humans, they can sense each other, if there were more anywhere they would more than likely know. It must have been so painful for them, feeling the deaths of each of the others, these are the remnants of the colony I met, they say they remember that occasion."
"Godric they may breed now they are here, it may not be the end of their line and they are a very powerful magical species after all." Salazar tried to assure his friend.
"No my friend that is impossible, when these six die then there will be none left and there is no possibility that they could breed again." Tears were on Godric's face at this tragedy.
"Surely they might Godric; I will need to learn their physiology, like I have with so many of the species that have arrived, perhaps some of my medicinal potions will help." Hufflepuff said laying a caring arm on his shoulders and hugging him.
It was undoubtedly true that of them all, Helga Hufflepuff was the medical expert at the castle and was the healer for all the occupants of the school and grounds, regardless of species. She had learnt about each species individual ailments and how to treat them as they had arrived. She had even managed to find a potion to help Kneazles breed again having discovered that the colony, the last they knew of, that lived here had not reproduced for many years. It was this that gave her hope she might do the same for the Sliepnir, but Godric shook his head. "No, Helga that won't be possible, not even by adapting your methods with the Kneazles. You see, due to their height, I was able to clearly see that these last six are all male my dear."
It was only then, that they realized why it was that Gryffindor was quite so upset. Only now did they see that this would be the last home of the wondrous creature, before it became extinct, the first magical breed to disappear completely for over a millennia. It was therefore a sombre group of Gryffindor's and Staff who returned to work a few minutes later, the arrival of the Sliepnir, initially so surprising, had also served as a reminder that Wizard kind was not the only magical species threatened by the growth of the power of the Christian church in the country and intolerance of its priests.
After his old mentor had returned him to his palace in Jorvik, King Styr of Northumbria had shut himself away to think about everything that he had been shown. Although he knew that having someone on the inside at the castle would be very useful to him, there was no question in his mind that his son would not be attending that school. It was far too risky with Utred Huntrodds there, who knew what the boy knew or if he sought revenge against him, which he might take out on his son. The Huntrodds runt was not supposed to have survived the hall burning at all, never mind flourished to be trained in any shape or form. It seemed Utred was magical, why else would he be there, so why had he not heard about it before? It would have been far easier to get rid of the family without going to all the trouble they had needed to, the church could have acted against them openly, if it had been known. He would have been glad to pass the information on himself, after all they had never found the wealth of the family, he wondered if it had existed at all. Now, having gone to all that trouble he had discovered they had not only failed to discover the Huntrodds hoard, but it turned out that they had not even eradicated the family at all and that spelt danger to him and his family. There could be no doubt that, from what he had seen at the school, Utred had thrived in the years since that night, he had grown into what appeared to be a formidable man, he would be an alarming warrior to face if his stature was anything to judge by. Unless he could be sure the landless Lord had no clue of who had killed his parents and would remain ignorant of it, then Thorfin would be in danger. Although the idea of having his son on the inside of the school was appealing, perhaps he would then learn of its location and any weaknesses in it as well. A spy inside the Castle would without doubt be very useful, that was undeniable, especially as he had no idea of its exact location, just a vague idea it was beyond the northern wall. The risk was far too high, especially for his son, even so, this school and what he had been told of the nearby settlement was equally an opportunity to solidify his position with the church, he needed to find a solution to this dilemma, soon.
Around mid-morning he entered the largest room of the Palace, it was one of the intact Roman built areas of the Palace, with a central area surrounded by large stone columns, creating aisles between them and the painted walls where statues and busts created in stone still stood. He had often wondered who they were, presumably they were wizards and the carvings created by Magical folk as well, no muggle could do so he believed. As such they were testimony to the higher civilisation of his kind, one he believed few of them today were worthy of, especially if they stood in the way of his ambition. The floor of the room was edged with the patterns of a mosaic, although the centre area between the pillars was covered with slabs of plain stone as if the whole was unfinished. This was his public Great Hall, the only room in the palace not completely private and used for the daily court, held to hear the disputes between his subjects, usually residents of the City, though not always. It was one of his duties as King to pass judgement on them, settle the argument and pronounce sentence where necessary. Most of the arguments were simple, land disputes, disagreements between families who either wanted to arrange marriages for their offspring or default on one for some reason or another. There were even one or two thefts from city stalls and disagreements between traders this morning, which would break the monotony of listening to boundary disputes. The court would begin with disputes between one or more people of high rank, then any between church and others, although in such cases the church would not lose often so even most pagans would bow to its demands. After those disputes, those between people of less importance or wealth were heard, before any involving criminal actions were heard. Still, despite the seriousness of each dispute to those involved, nothing could take his mind off the events of that morning. The castle, a structure as impressive as any the Romans had built, with a community of wizards and the other a possible threat to his ambitions, but still out of the way for the present. He would need patience if he were to take it for his own, the school would undoubtedly make a great prize to add to his status, but he had no idea how to capture it without having to give it over to the church even if he knew where it was. Still it would be an ideal prize to take, the perfect gift to the church that would ensure he would be the one chosen to rule all England.
His mind was still on the problem as the court ended and he returned to his family's quarters where he ate a distracted lunch. He ignored his wife's ramblings as he tried to think of a plan to capture the massive stone building, if he could find it. The thick stone walls would withstand any attack he could mount, no matter the strength of his army, and those were just the defences he could see. He wondered what the nature of the magical defences were, probably aimed against Muggles finding it he guessed, that would be a problem, his army could not attack what they could not see. Salazar had given so little away, if he were honest he was disappointed that his old friend could not see the importance of the King proving himself to the Christian leaders. So what if a few magical students might be killed, there were more important things to consider, no he would receive no help there. At least he had the afternoon to work things through with no disturbances, he must find a way of first locating the wizard school then capturing it for himself, the defeat of such a large community of wizards in one swoop would impress the Archbishops, gifting the crown of England to him.
He was drawn from his thought as one of his servants approached him, he indicated for the man to speak.
"My Lord, a messenger from the Archbishop's palace is here, you are summoned to attend Hrothweard this afternoon."
The King frowned, he had been summoned very few times to attend the Archbishop in the last five years, it was more usual that the senior priest in the city would come here. The first time he had been summoned to the house behind the Minster was just after he had become King. That was to receive instructions to raise taxes so the Archbishop could build a shrine to some saint or other. The shrine was still under construction and the saints' earthly remains, which were to be entombed in the shrine, were being stored at Onripum. The King shivered as he recalled having to kiss the preserved lips of the cadaver as part of his coronation, the fact that the flesh was so well preserved indicated to him that the Saint the Christians revered so much had in fact been a wizard in life. The body had been carried all over the north of England for many years after its original shrine had been destroyed in a raid. During that time it had been a trophy, leading the Christians into battle, though it was now a number of years since it had been placed in the safe keeping of the church at Onripum whilst the new shrine was built. It had been brought to Jorvik for the coronation, which was the last time it had journeyed, fulfilling the churches tradition that a new King show homage to a Saintly relic and therefore their God before they gave them their blessing.
The only other time he had been required to journey the streets of the city to attend the Archbishop had been so he could demand reinforcements be sent to aid the King of Wessex. This he had had to do to maintain the support of the church, though it left Northumbria vulnerable at the time.
Whatever the reason the pompous Archbishop wanted him for this time, he could not refuse the summons. To do so would remove any chance he had of reaching his goal, he had to play his part well, at least in the eyes of the Archbishop who he had spent many days convincing to allow the churches warriors to fight under his banner and allow him to take the throne from his brother. Besides, despite the spies he had across Northumbria, both inside and outside the church, he knew the Archbishop was far better informed. Every priest could write and sent letters with news to each other, which they passed on, all of it reached the Archbishop, who would pass it on to his counterpart in Cantwaraburh, who would pass news to him. Their network was vast, even covering the lands of the Welsh, Irish and Scots, wherever they had priests, they gathered information and the knowledge gave them power.
"Very well, have my horse prepared." The King sighed.
The slave bowed and left the room as well as a thoughtful King behind him. Had the church already decided? Had his absence this morning been noticed? Was he about to lose his throne so soon? This was his worry every time Hrothweard appeared before him, or even at his side as a supposed trusted advisor in his Witan. The King gave every appearance of taking the man's counsel, to fail to do so would be seen to refuse the advice of God in the Christians eyes. His entire household knew to act loyal to the church, even though none of them were truly Christians themselves, they knew enough to act as if they were when any of the followers of that faith were about. In truth, their only loyalty was to him, he had made sure of that. Still he had to answer the call of the man, he had to go when summoned, he had little choice. He left his family to change into his finest clothing for the ride through the city's streets, another thing he only did when necessary, although he would be in another's palace, a place where he would not be in power, it did not mean he should not dress to impress those who saw him.
The talk of the school over lunch was the new arrivals, especially with the younger students, except amongst Utred and the Creaftas. They busy were plotting how to fell the pole they had selected in the most entertaining way possible, at least the best they could come up with. The race to fell the uprights had been their idea and supported by all the Gryffindor's, each welcoming the extension of the fun of the opening of the new building the evening before. Still it meant that Utred's group had to put on a show, rather than pick simple or sensible ideas, it was what was expected of them and they were more than happy to comply.
After the meal the Creaftas led the Gryffindor's out to the skeletal remains of the long house, word of the race had spread throughout the school, anticipation grew. The students of other houses watched them approach the fourteen uprights, left standing around the rectangle of floor in the grass, expecting, knowing they would be entertained. The Gryffindor's soon removed the ten intermediate uprights along the sides of the building, leaving the four massive corner posts, which were to be the subject of the race. These were the main posts in the construction, erected to anchor the long house frame firmly in the soil; even without the support of the walls they were solid and unmoving in the ground. With the wall posts stacked in the old Hall, those Gryffindor's participating in the contest arranged themselves around the posts, the Creaftas chose one and stood around it, the girls stood with them.
Erik and Ulf together with Godric stood in the middle of the bare space between the posts, Godric started the race enthusiastically and the four teams began. One of the teams attached ropes to the top and started to pull until the ropes broke, the post had bent over at the top a little, it sprang back and vibrated when the break released the tension. Another team started chopping at the base with axes, while the third simply gathered round there's and started to try and push it back and forth. The Creaftas had a plan though; they used spades to quickly dig out the earth on one side of the post to a depth of three feet, half way round its diameter. Then they climbed one by one to the top until no more could fit there, then began shifting their weight to destabilise the post. Soon they were wobbling the top, using the pole itself for leverage and the post began to move, pushing itself through the rocks that had been packed round its base to hold it in. The stones began to shift, until the back and forth motion dislodged first one into the pit, then another and others soon followed as they were shifted and the compaction weakened.
The team with the axes were tiring and they weren't even a quarter of the way through their post. The team with ropes had realized, breaking them for the third time that they needed to excavate the base. The ones trying to shove the post were getting nowhere, when suddenly the Creaftas post shifted through the rocks, reaching the point where it moved under its own weight, they all leapt clear laughing. The post hit the ground with a deep hollow thud and the watching students cheered as the Creaftas stood to take a bow. The post had left a gaping crater in the ground where it had pushed up the earth behind it; soil had sprayed the watching students as the post had toppled. Undaunted The Creaftas decided the other teams needed help and split up to help them enthusiastically. The next post to fall was the one hauled by the team using ropes, having weakened the ground supporting it they successfully pulled it from its position, again leaving a deep hole in the earth.
After a brief celebration they again divided to help the other teams. The team with axes had given up the tools and had started to dig round the base, as had the other remaining team; it was now a race to see who would dig out enough to topple the tall timbers first. Whilst half of each team was digging, the other half was shoving or climbing the timbers, hoping to dislodge them. The diggers had to watch out and be ready to jump out of the way not wanting to get crushed when the posts fell. Suddenly both tree trunks broke free of the earth at the same time, students scrambled clear as with a final push on each they fell to land at the same time. The other houses loudly cheered the Gryffindor's as they rolled the massive timbers to the one remaining intact long house, one fourth of the number of students helping to push each one, then man handle it into the hall.
The students of the other houses returned to dismantling their own long houses, those of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff abandoning their methods and using the more haphazard style of the Gryffindor's, the Slytherin's, still bemoaning the menial nature of the task. The Gryffindor's gathered next to the lodge with the founders who had decided where it's replacement would be built, with several hours of daylight still left of the day for the Gryffindor's to start on the task. By the time all four long houses had gone, leaving the central one stuffed with timber and thatch, the old lodge had also gone and the foundations of the new one had been dug, using shovels and wands. A substantial amount of stone had been gathered and placed nearby ready for construction to begin the next day. Last to finish work on the old houses were of course the Slytherin's, who finally placed the last of their timbers in the old hall just before the celebration was due to begin, they had refused any and all offers of help from the other students in the end, it had become a matter of pride to complete the task themselves.
For the second night running the students gathered in front of the castle, this time to mark the end of an era, the school they had known would be no more after tonight. The villagers of Hogsmeade joined them for this momentous occasion, except of course the Durslieg's, the three Muggles had been invited, but did not arrive. Rumours spread of another run in with a neighbour, the story concluded with various endings ranging from the elder Durslieg male being stupefied and carried home to be dumped outside his house, to the whole family being hit with hexes so they now resembled slugs. Some wondered how anyone could have told the difference, but the truth had been somewhat more mundane. Utred spoke with the Ollivander's, who told him that the Muggles had shut shop early and retreated into their home, shouting loudly so anyone who was in ear shot could hear that they would not attend some freak celebration not wanting to subject their poor delicate son to such depravity and would enjoy the peace in the village that evening. It hardly mattered; the family was not missed as everyone else tucked in heartily to the feast, sat at tables set outside for the event.
The old hall was set ablaze from torches thrown by most who attended; the flames soon reach high into the sky, smoke bellowing high into the night sky, lifted by the heat of the fire. Music was provided by wood nymphs from the forest and many danced or joined in the singing. Others listened to Orin as he told stories of his adventurers with Utred's father as well as the more traditional Saga's, which they all knew, but changed slightly with each retelling. Utred stood silently, sadly watching the hall burn from the steps of the castle, Ulf and Erik at his side.
"Orin is trying not to watch." Utred observed. "Keeping himself distracted telling the tales."
"Yes my Lord." Eric agreed.
"Too many memories." Ulf said flatly.
All three men were remembering the discovery of their destroyed home. Ulf had not seen the remains at Tang, but still he remembered, Orin had witnessed the hall burning and despite his enthralling telling of the tales, Utred could hear the sadness in his voice as the old man sat with his back to the blaze.
"I will take revenge, I haven't forgotten." He said, determination in his voice.
"We will be at your side when you do Utred." A voice said.
The Creaftas and their ladies climbed the steps to join them; he felt Frayja's hand grasp his, as she took her place at his side he looked at her, deep into her eyes.
"All of us will be there when you destroy the usurper my beloved." She whispered.
"Aye I expect you will be my friends." He nodded his thanks to them as they renewed a pledge they had made when they first heard his story.
They turned to watch the flames which ravenously consumed the wooden hall, fuelled by the remains of the other four inside and fanned by the wind. Behind the group they heard a large crack echo through the castle and a grinding noise began, followed by another and another. More followed each sounding higher up the interior of the castle, though no sound of falling stone came after any of them indicating structural failure inside. Glancing at each other, the group of young apprentices began to laugh.
"They work then." Grinned Leoforwic and the laughter increased.
Erik and Ulf looked at the group bewildered, then as realization set in Ulf muttered. "I don't believe it, they've bloody well done it again, Salazar will go spare after what they did to the ceiling."
Erik Groaned. "You lot will give Godric a heart attack if you've put any more surprises in his castle he can't fix, but Odin, if you are half as ingenious in battle as you are with pranks, your enemy's don't stand a chance."
20th Century
The next morning, the occupants of Grimmauld place planned to stay in, following the excitement of the day before. They met at breakfast, during which Maria arrived to spend her day off with Dudley. They decided that they all had things that they needed to sort out, not least what had been retrieved from Privet Drive, so they separated and went to different rooms to complete their tasks.
Harry and Ginny went into the drawing room, where they finally explored what was amongst the paperwork that was still in the family closet that they had found when clearing what had been Sirius' room in Grimmauld place. What with Harry's illness, being at Hogwarts and the preparations for the wedding they had realised they had not had chance to see exactly what the parchments in it were, although their initial look last year had told them to expect surprises amongst the documents. They had, of course, already seen some of the parchments and papers, such as the family tree, it was only now that they took the opportunity to at least sort through them properly. They found that there were many bundles of letters, each pile tied together with narrow ribbon, as well as sheaves of other, loose parchments, many folded, that they had yet to examine.
Meanwhile, Petunia, Dudley and Maria were leaving them alone to do the task; they were sat in the living room chatting while they sorted through the chests that had arrived the previous evening from Privet Drive. It was Maria's day off and she had chosen to spend it helping the two Muggles go through some of the chests, helping to sort through them. The chests had been packed as expediently as possible, so now they were repacking them as they sorted, so they knew what each contained.
It was a task of discovery for both groups, though for the Dursley's it was with mixed emotions that they sorted through the items in the chests. The Potters, however, were feeling excited as they sifted through the documents, sorting them into piles depending on type on the long table that Kreacher had brought up from the dance hall downstairs. The bundles of letters, neatly tied with thin ribbon, were placed at one end of the table, deeds, share certificates and other legal documents were placed into neat piles according to type by Ginny while Harry was still carefully lifting items from the ancient chest. The objects they had kept in the closet, including the number of magical instruments, he placed on a separate table, to be returned to the chest later.
Finally he announced. "That's the last of them." As he added more to the stack of loose parchments yet to be sorted.
There was certainly much more than they had expected, or remembered, from that initial opening last summer or the more recent one a few months ago.
"At last, there's so much to go through. You start on those bundles of letters, see if you can put them in some sort of order, I'll keep looking through these. Your family seems to have owned more than we thought, both property and in stock Harry. At least if all of these turn out to be deeds and certificates like I think they are."
"Let's just hope none of those are us owing a fortune to anyone." He grinned as he opened the family tree, spread it across the floor and looked at the names on the first bundle of letters.
They had decided that he should try to match the bundles to people on the tree if he could, the document was larger than they had seen before, they had not opened it fully previously, the floor was the only place there was space in the room for it. He collected a small pile of the bundles and began searching for the people referred to on them, including one stack addressed to the ancestors with whom they shared a name and who had owned the bureau he and Ginny had retrieved from the cottage at Godric's Hollow. It was now positioned between the windows of this room that looked out onto the green outside, on it, next to the small broomstick that had been in the closet, were the tickets that had arrived from Gwenog by owl early that morning for the weekends Harpies game. She had been delighted to arrange them for the group, even though it was an away game for the all-female team, their oppositions owner had been just as enthusiastic that they should attend.
Ginny was becoming more and more intrigued by the number of companies the Potters had a stake in, or owned out right, as well as the bonds and other investments she found that they owned. She came across a list someone had drawn up of the stock held on his or her behalf at Gringotts, at the bottom was written.
"This is merely what they know about at the ministry or the bank; my father didn't trust either completely so he placed more in the family closet for safe keeping, ensuring there was a backup for us all."
She looked at the date of the list prepared by the Wizarding bank attached to the note, 1980. The note must have been written by James, Harry's father, she realised, so this was simply a list of what was in the vault, the couple had yet to explore its contents fully they hadn't even had a statement yet to show what was contained in any of their vaults in fact.
"Harry" She called as he placed the last bundle on the tree.
"Yes Gin, what's up?"
"I think we are going to need to visit Gringotts soon," she told him.
"Why? We don't need to get any gold do we?"
"No, it's not that, but we need help to sort through this lot and there are more in the Potter vault, goodness knows what's in the Black one as well. There is just so much, it could take us the whole summer to wade through it all, we need someone who knows what they are looking for, you need to know what you own."
"You mean what we own my love." He smiled and picked up the list she had just put down and glanced down it to the hand written note.
Ginny smiled at her slip, much as she'd looked forward to marrying Harry she was not yet used to thinking of herself as a Potter, part owning what Harry did, she was just not used to it. "Ok, what we own. We still need all this official stuff gone through properly though, it's a real mix of magical and Muggle assets, we don't know if some of these older companies still exist." Her eyes fell on the next certificate; it was for a Muggle company. "Besides we need to know what responsibilities we have for all of them, if any. We might even need to form a holding company, I just don't know."
"All right Gin, though from this we shouldn't just leave it to Gringotts, we need someone we can trust."
Ginny read the certificate in her hand and a wry smile crept across her face. "Oh Harry you have got to see this." She chuckled.
"What is it?" He sighed then read the document in her hand. "You must be joking, I own that?"
"Looks like it, if only you had known before" she giggled.
"Too right, oh this could be so funny, can you imagine his face if he found out. I wonder what Dud and Petunia will think?" Harry laughed, then a thought struck him. "Hang on, I wonder if that needs looking into, he always seemed to get rises and stuff at the drop of a hat."
"That's another reason to have someone who knows about this kind of thing go through all this, your family own quite a number of companies, not just Grunnings. We need to make sure our companies are being run properly, but who would go through all this paper work for us that we can trust?"
Harry thought for a moment, then he looked at Ginny, they both smiled and said "Bill."
They laughed, "He's one of the few I know who would know what to do, could properly advise us and who I can trust with this." Harry said.
"Me too," Ginny agreed with Harry. "I'll owl him to ask, I am sure Gringotts will let him though."
"We could employ him for it if they don't." Harry said, "He would be able to get us a statement of what's in the vaults too. I wonder what other banks are involved in this, the Muggles could hardly pay into Gringotts could they."
"Bill will find it out, I'm sure, I've heard they have links to Muggle banks, but he will know for certain, I'll send Tiberius to him now."
He nodded agreement and returned to the family tree, while she went up to their room to write the letter to her oldest brother Bill.
Across the entrance hall, in the lounge, Petunia, Dudley and Maria were busy sorting out the contents of the trunks that had been retrieved from Privet Drive. They too had created a number of piles, though theirs were on different parts of the floor of the room. One pile contained any items Petunia was taking to Hogwarts for lessons, she knew that Hermione had done her best to bring the class up to date and planned to continue that process with examples of technology so the pile contained mainly electronic items. There were a number of other items that they had needed to explain to Maria, which had surprised them as they considered them to be everyday objects, but as she had been puzzled about them they were added to the pile. Maria was as fascinated by these objects, which the Muggles considered normal, as Dudley and his Mother were about what to expect in the magical world. The long forgotten toys, that had been in the loft after Harry had moved into Dudley's second bedroom took up an entire trunk, even after Maria had shrunk them as they packed the items to be taken to the school. Petunia's gadgets and gizmos, were packed alongside a computer, video recorder, Television, even an electric guitar and Keyboard, went in the electronics chests. As they then sorted the piles of personal belongings they were keeping, both Petunia and Dudley were embarrassed by the lack of things that had belonged to or were about Harry, Maria didn't ask them about it, but it was a strong reminder to them of how they had both behaved towards him.
Petunia suddenly burst into tears, Dudley and Maria rushed to hug her.
"Oh Dud, why did we push him out so much? My sister's only son, he had nothing and we punished him for it." Petunia sobbed. "I can't believe the years I wasted for him, we took his childhood from him."
"I know mum, he didn't deserve any of it." Dudley replied. Maria was looking puzzled as Dudley continued. "Just remember though mum, he has forgiven us, put it behind him."
Petunia looked at him. "How can he do that so easily though? I couldn't forgive my sister for being who she was, I was so jealous of her I took it out on her child. I took the easy route to keep my husband happy, thinking I was happy too. All I really wanted was to have my sister back and it wasn't until our time in hiding that I began to see that I had got the next best thing in Harry, yet I had wasted those years when I could have got to know him, shared what I knew of his mother with him, with you both."
"I know mum, but I doubt if I would have wanted to know, not then anyway, I was not interested. He is the brother I never had now though, despite it all." Dudley comforted.
Petunia would not be comforted, not at that moment. "I was just so scared of standing up to what your father would say, Vernon's attitude and my desperate loyalty to a dream of an ideal marriage, even though looking back it was far from that, prevented me seeing it earlier. Then he was gone to fight, maybe die trying to defeat the man who had killed his parents, my sister and her husband who I barely knew. That first night in Derbyshire, I just hoped I wouldn't lose that last link to your Aunt Lily, prayed it wasn't too late for me to try to set things right. Seeing how you changed Dud, as you learnt about this world from Dedalus, I could see how you embraced the knowledge and how you grew as a person, fast, though I realised you had started that slowly after Harry brought you back that time. You were so concerned for Harry as you learnt more of what he had to do and so was I, but I was scared, frightened to show it, terrified that it was too late for me to get to know my nephew, petrified that he would reject me, as I believed I deserved from him. I thought that if I defied your father and was rejected by Harry I would have nowhere to go, I could not be alone, I could not have coped with being rejected by both."
Dudley nodded understanding. "You would not have been alone mum, I was there for you and I don't believe Harry would have rejected you, he was never like that. That was what surprised me, back on that day, when he went to the trouble to rescue me from the Dementor. I could just see it, a dark shadow hovering towards me, a feeling of utter despair, then it was covering me, it felt like it was sucking out my very soul. Yet after all I had done to him, ensuring he had no friends at school, beating him up, bullying him, he still acted to save me. Even then I was too stupid to realise what he had done, I made him try to carry me home, he did it too. It was only later I realised what he had done and tried to tell Dad, then as I thought about it, I could not understand why he had rescued me, I was determined to try to work it out, it was then that I began to see things differently. Not just Harry, but lot's of things, so I was not surprised when he arranged for us to be taken into safety when he had to. I still couldn't understand his motives, but was not surprised he did it. It was only while we were in Derbyshire that I began to understand the value he placed on family, he had none other than us and despite how we treated him, that was enough for him to care enough to give us another chance. Thanks to what Dedalus taught me, I became determined not to waste the opportunity we had been given."
"You became a man in that time Dud." Petunia said proudly. "Much more so than your father ever was, or it seems sadly could ever be. You did that despite us, not because of us. Dumbledore was right that day he collected Harry, we had harmed you by encouraging you to treat Harry like we did, by giving you everything you wanted, teaching you that you were better than Harry. Despite all that, you saw more, then for the last year you were there for me, even when your father was so intransigent. You gave me the strength to defy him in the end, for the sake of my family. You never knew my parents Dud; they were such lovely people and friends with everyone they met. They loved to learn about other cultures, always willing to accept other ideas outside what might be considered normal, whatever that really is. They could never understand my attitude to Lily, once she found out what she was, I was so jealous I shut them all out, but still, despite how frustrated they must have been with my behaviour, they supported me in everything I did, even when I met your father. He never liked them of course, he never knew they got him the job at Grunnings, he never allowed them to visit us, they never met you. They both died in a car crash when you were only a couple of months old, that's why we used that story about Harry's parents, I almost came to believe that lie, but it was never true about them anyway. I had lost my sister, lost my chance to reconcile with her and before that I had lost my parents, yet I still didn't learn not to waste opportunities. They would be so proud of what you have become now Dud, I wish you had known them, all of them. Our parents funeral was the last time I saw Lily, except in my own mind, until that photo in that shop, it was only when I saw that, that I realized how much I missed them all and it hit me just how much I had missed out on because of my childish envy. I blamed my parents' deaths on their openness to others; they were on their way to see Lily when the Lorry hit their car on the motorway. I took that out on Harry, instead of grieving properly for any of them. It was only in that shop that I realized how much I had blamed him for things he couldn't help."
"Mum it's all right, come on, things have changed, you've changed, and Harry knows that. He has accepted us for who we are now, not what we were, or what we did." Dudley assured her.
Maria was beginning to understand a little. "Petunia, I don't know what happened in the past, only what was rumoured, but one thing the war taught me is that you cannot change the past, just learn the lessons from it and move forward. Harry has forgiven what happened, come to terms with it and moved forward, he doesn't do that for people he doesn't believe deserve it, but it is typical of what I know and have seen of him. Despite whatever went on as he grew up, he has welcomed you into his home, not because of any sense of duty, or just because you are his family, but because he wanted to help you when you needed it. Your sister died to protect him and that was an awful thing to have to do, but if she hadn't you might never have got this chance to get to know him, or have the opportunity to be yourself again, the person she knew and loved. I have not known you long, I think I know Dudley better than I know you, but from what I have seen you have become a caring person who I can't wait to know better, if you will let me and I know Harry would like that chance too."
Dudley looked at his girlfriend. "I am so glad that you didn't know me a few years ago."
She smiled sadly "I guess the reports about how you treated him are true."
Dudley nodded cautiously. "Probably don't tell half the story really, I'm afraid Maria. I am not proud of who I was or how I treated him and others back then, in fact I'm rather ashamed of how much of a spoilt brat I was."
Maria nodded and took his hand into hers comfortingly. "That's what matters Dud, it's what shows you have become a person I am glad to know. When I met you, at the wedding, I knew who you were before you told me, I was quite prepared to not like you, after all that was known, but I was intrigued that despite the stories Harry was obviously glad you had accepted the invitation, he wanted you there. As we talked to each other, I realized that you were no longer the person that had been reported, that you deserved the chance. I was at the battle at Hogwarts, saw what Harry did, we fought against prejudice taking control amongst other things. I realized I had judged you without knowing who you had become and that was unfair of me. Needless to say, I liked what I saw that day, very much indeed. You are not the person you once were any more, it's who you are now that matters, that's who I fell for."
She grasped his hand and they kissed.
Petunia watched her son; tears were still falling from her eyes, though now they were tears from gratitude. She was glad that her son had avoided being like his father, happiness that he had found someone like Maria, a strong girl who would be good for him and so obviously loved him for who he was. The couple broke their kiss and looked towards her.
"You all right Mum?" Dudley asked.
"Oh yes Dud." She smiled and wiped her eyes. "Just so happy for you both. I just realized both my boys, you and Harry, are so lucky, he to have Ginny, you to have Maria, not long ago I wouldn't have believed it possible."
The two young people blushed, and then hugged Petunia.
"Oh stop it you two or I really will cry." She chuckled returning the embrace.
They separated laughing before they resumed checking the trunks, sorting through the contents and packing what was to go to Hogwarts. They had finished filling the first two that would go to the school by the time Kreacher arrived in the room and started to pick up one of the emptied trunks that they had finished with, to take back upstairs.
"It's all right Kreacher, I can do that, I don't mind." Dudley said to the elf.
"Oh no Master Dudley, it is Kreacher's pleasure to help, I will transport the ones for Hogwarts to the castle for you as well." The Elf replied, then with a slight pop, he and the trunk disappeared.
"We can't let him do that; he'll wear himself out poor thing." Petunia exclaimed worried.
Maria put a reassuring hand on the older woman's arm. "It's all right Petunia, I promise he won't, elves have a magic all of their own, it means he will be fine."
The elf reappeared "Miss Maria is right Madam Petunia, we elves can do lots of things with our own magic and not tire, especially when we have a family to work for which boosts our power and wellbeing. I am proud to help my Masters family; it is not the slightest trouble at all."
"Thank you Kreacher." Dudley smiled "We are just not yet used to having such good help, if we forget I hope you will forgive us."
"Of course Master Dudley, now are any of these other trunks ready to go, or is there anything else I can do for you."
Dudley showed the elf, which trunks could go to either his or his Mother's room and the ones which were for Hogwarts, Kreacher transported those directly to the castle and into the Muggle Studies classroom, ready for when Petunia arrived before the start of term.
Molly and the Twins arrived at Grimmauld Place just in time for lunch, by which time both groups of the residents of house had finished their different tasks, at least in Harry and Ginny's case as much as they could without Bill's help. They were gathered in the lounge where Harry, Ginny and Maria were telling Petunia about Hogwarts, what to expect and what to look out for. Peeves being quite high on the latter list, a fact which Harry was sure would be a source of pride for the Poltergeist. Petunia took the news of the mischievous spirit quite well, considering how she would have reacted not long ago he thought.
The Twins bounded into the room enthusiastically, they had spent the morning at St. Mungo's, visiting Eli and Maggie. They had their new broomsticks in their hands, having taken them to proudly show the elderly couple, who were happy the twins were so pleased with the gifts. Molly followed them into the room at a more sedate pace, it was clear she was happy at the twins exuberance and gave each of them one of her trademark hugs. This was Dudley's first experience of Mrs. Weasley's usual, enthusiastic shows of affection, he had watched Harry and Ginny receive one before his turn, of course being used to them neither of them reacted too much. He happily accepted her invitation to her greeting, but emerged from it gasping for breath.
"Blimey Mrs. Weasley, I am pleased to see you too." He smiled gasping.
"Don't worry Dud, you get used to that from Mum," Grinned Ginny.
"Oh Dud, come on, surely you are over reacting." Said Maria, going to Molly happily when her turn came. She too emerged breathless and wheezing slightly. "Ok no you aren't." She gasped, laughing.
Harry, Ginny and the twins were howling with laughter, even the twins had got used to the strong greeting from their foster parent. Petunia was last to be hugged and knew what to expect, Molly had hugged her several times during their talk a couple of evenings ago. She actually quite enjoyed them; it reminded her of the hugs she used to receive from her own mother and sister, which she had returned, as she was growing up.
Molly was quite unperturbed by the reaction to her hugs, it was simply her way and she knew she was known for it. Greetings done, the twins sat on the floor between the sofas and started to tell them about their morning as well as passing on messages to them all from the elderly couple in the hospital.
"Maggie and Eli send their love and best wishes to everyone." Delilah began.
"They loved the brooms too." Tarquin told them.
"We told them both about meeting you Mrs. Dursley..."
"... They hope you are all right and settling into our world."
"Then we told them about Dudley and Maria..."
"... They know your parents Maria and were glad you have someone..."
"...Who likes Quidditch even if he can't play..."
"... And that he has a car that we can have a ride in."
Harry and Ginny looked at each other, blinked twice and burst out with laughing again, as did Molly. Petunia, Dudley and Maria were watching the two children wide eyed and open mouthed, their heads turning from one to the other as each spoke, as if they were watching a tennis match as the pair spoke.
"You two have been with George haven't you; he's been teaching you 'twin tricks' as he and Fred called them if I was to hazard a guess?" Harry said, still laughing.
The two youngsters nodded. "Yes, after breakfast this morning, before he went up to Hogsmeade..." Tarquin smiled.
"... He introduced us to the picture of Fred..." Delilah told them.
"...They showed us how to twin speak..."
"... As they called it, they were really pleased we picked..."
"...It up so quickly..."
"...It took them a few days to master it, they told us." Finished Delilah.
Dudley finally gave up and howled with laughter. "That is brilliant you two, I love it, I am glad I don't have to be one of your teachers, I bet you will even confuse this Peeves chap at Hogwarts."
The twins grinned, looking proud, Molly looked at them wistfully. "I wondered what George was doing with that photograph this morning. I remember when those two started that trick and noticed it today at the hospital. You know Eli thinks it's brilliant, you made his day."
The twins' smiles grew wider as their pride in what they had done grew.
"Brilliant! Harry we hope..." Delilah started.
"... You don't mind, but we told Maggie and Eli..." Tarquin joined in again.
"... About the surprise you got in Swiftshot's..."
"... They are so happy for you, though Eli says that he is not surprised..."
"... That a Marauder didn't let being dead stop him..."
"... And his wife, from attending their son's wedding as more than just photo's."
Harry smirked. "Good old Eli, he's right of course, if anyone could find a way it would be them."
"Just one thing Harry..." Tarquin asked looking puzzled.
"... What's a marauder?" Delilah finished the question.
Harry laughed, while Molly groaned, shook her head and put it in her hands, knowing what was coming.
"My father and his friends were well known as pranksters at Hogwarts, Fred and George found out about them and decided they were their heroes. The Marauders became famous in their time, but they were really talented too. One of them was a Werewolf, so the other three learned how to become Animagus, just so they could safely be with him during his transformations each month. They are all dead now though, although one of them was a teacher at Hogwarts for my third Year, that was Teddy's dad, he and I are the only two actual heirs of the Marauder's, although Fred and George were definitely the spiritual ones, George still is of course." Harry told them, grinning.
He noticed that the twins' eyes twinkled in delight and mischief, so added. "However, just remember, you have a marauders son as a teacher and his wife who grew up with both of their spiritual heirs. So we both know how to take merciless revenge on the perpetrators if they or their family are the targets of any pranks, so any that you trigger had better not be targeted at us." He winked.
"Harry, don't encourage them!" Molly exclaimed. "They will be needing to concentrate on their school work, not prank wars, I hope you understand that Tarquin, Delilah, I don't want to hear about you getting into trouble for such things, neither would Maggie and Eli. When you get back to school, you concentrate on work, yes?"
"Of course, Mrs. Weasley we understand." The twins chorused and Molly smiled.
"I know you do my dears." She told them satisfied her message had got across.
She didn't notice the smile that passed between the two, but Ginny did and grinned. She knew the twins would ensure they didn't get into trouble and would work, just not on school work alone. She could see George's influence on the two already, she wasn't about to point this out to her mother though, the twins deserved a chance at being children. She would do her best to curb any excessive pranks they planned and she knew Harry would too, she had a feeling that Twin speak was not the only secret George would let them in on, she knew her brothers had studied hard too, just knew how not to let it show.
At that moment Kreacher announced that lunch was ready, he had decided that the eight of them should eat in style, so he had laid it out in the dining room for them, they all went through to eat. As they sat down, the conversation moved on to what Petunia had begun to plan for her classes. She had lots of ideas, but she had assumed that the students would know about some of the things she took for granted, like electricity, however after the morning with Maria she was questioning that assumption. Ginny pointed out to her that many of the youngsters who had been brought up in the Magical world would have very little experience of the Muggle world. Some may never have set foot in Muggle Britain at all, so she might have to start with very basic facts about Muggles to begin with. The first years would especially benefit as they would not have even been in Hermione's class last year and she also thought the others might benefit from such a start as well at least for the first few lessons just to see what they recalled from their previous lessons. They offered to help Petunia put together lesson plans, to ensure the students caught up so she could teach them what she wanted to afterwards. Petunia, for her part, suggested that she might take topics such as transport or cooking and make at least one lesson from them, an idea all the adults thought a good one.
After lunch Maria and Dudley walked to Diagon Alley to meet with George, Harry and Ginny took the twins to practice on their brooms in their room of requirement, leaving Molly and Petunia to chat in the living room.
George had spent the morning in Hogsmeade, looking over and discussing the company's expansion with Ron. He had arrived at the new warehouse behind the shop, to find his brother dealing with the latest delivery. Merchandise and materials were arriving at a steady flow from the Diagon Alley store room leaving space to expand that shops store front and for George to extend his Laboratory where he created new lines. Once the warehouse was in full operation it would supply both shops, they were going to make the shop floor at the Hogsmeade branch larger too. The shelves were getting full, not just with complete products, but also components ready to be assembled in another part of the building. Although the warehouse did not look out of place in the village from the outside, but inside it was a large space and would employ a number of villagers and others.
"Morning Ron, how's it going?" George asked as he began helping to stack the newly arrived items onto the shelves.
"Hi George, not bad. We are on target to open this place next week, just got to add supplies to the mail order department upstairs then we will be ready for the delivery owls." Ron replied.
The building was divided with the ground being primarily for storage and a factory area for assembly of products alongside a kitchen where products such as Canary creams were made, next to a laboratory for the production of the lotions and potions. The upstairs floor housed the staff facilities, office, mail order store and dispatch areas. They had employed staff from the village for the mail order and assembly departments, but still needed staff for the warehouse area and to oversee the whole operation.
They completed their task and made their way upstairs to what would be the office and sat to talk about how the business was doing and progress of the project to date. Ron reported that work on the shop floor expansion at Hogsmeade would start as soon as the warehouse opened; they would be able to get stock very quickly from the store, which was behind that branch. The Floo had been connected to Diagon Alley that morning to ease delivery to that shop. George smiled. "Good that will be easier than Apparating the stuff over as we have been. How's the search for staff?"
"We still need four people for the storage area, but I am interviewing tomorrow morning. The big problem is that we have no one to manage the place yet." Ron responded. "We both agreed it needed to be someone we know and trust rather than just any old applicant."
George smiled. "Well I think we have someone, Harry's cousin. I said he could work up here with you now that he is going to settle in our world. I think we can trust him and he has a good mind for this kind of work from what I saw at the wedding. His knowledge of the Muggle world will be useful too, we can start that line of non-magical jokes with his help, perhaps even invent some new ones to sell in their world too."
"Hmm good idea." Ron nodded. "Where will he live though? He is a Muggle, so he would need to be careful about that, a wizard landlord could easily fleece him with a memory charm making him forget he had paid the rent."
"I thought of that too." George grinned. "Now you have your own place in the village, how about we give him use of the flat over the shop here?"
"That would work, he could come to us for meals if he wanted, it's not far, but you would need to check with Aberforth if Muggles can live here. It's all wizards and I don't know if that's because of any rule or anything, it might be that he can't live here. He would know if there were any restrictions on who could live here, though I hope there isn't a problem." Ron said thoughtfully.
"Good thinking, I'll do that before I go back and meet with Dud, so are we agreed that if we can sort out his accommodation he is the new depot manager?" George asked.
Ron nodded. "Yes I would say we can, is Harry ok with it though?"
"Yes he's fine with it, glad his cousin will be close to Hogwarts in fact, apparently Petunia will be teaching there and I think he wants to be able to keep an eye on them both until they are used to living in our world."
"Good I thought that would be what he thought; I have no problem with it."
"Right well its time you knocked off to help that wonderful fiancée of yours; I'll go have a chat with Aberforth."
They soon made their way out through the relatively quiet Hogsmeade shop, waving good-bye to their shop assistant on the way. It was only on the Hogsmeade days that the town was overwhelmingly busy and the store was filled to bursting, though they did enjoy a steady stream of customers in these weeks of summer and there were a few browsing the shelves as they passed through. Professor Flitwick was one of their best customers in fact, though Neville popped in whilst he was working in the glass houses at the school too. Some of the locals had children who spent at least some of their pocket money in the shop and there was the new influx of visitors to the new memorial in the schools grounds which meant trade for all the shops in the village. The battle and memorial had boosted tourism to the area amongst magical folk, meaning that even Aberforth had smartened up the Hogs Head a little to try and get some of the visitors' trade. The village had not been so popular a place to visit since the shrieking shack had first started screaming once a month, but that attraction had waned over the years it had been silent, despite the locals taking turns to occasionally report noises from it to try to boost visitor numbers. They did not, however, play on the new reason for the villages' popularity; too many of their own had been lost for them to do that. The only memorial or battle merchandise available in the village was authorised and made under license to be sold in aid of the fund that had been set up for the victims and their families, none of it was particularly celebratory in nature. Other than those few items, each shop sold what had usually been on offer their before the battle, just more of it, the village was enjoying and benefiting from its new found popularity, at least for now.
Even though busy, the streets were nowhere near as crowded as they were on the days the students came down from the castle and for the most part the visitors were too involved in their own tasks to notice the others that they passed. Even so as Ron walked home, some of the visitors stared as he passed by, their children not so subtly pointing to him occasionally; he ignored it as parents told the children off. He had grown used to his new celebrity status and being recognized by people this summer, sometimes it annoyed him, especially after a long day in the shop when he was tired, more often he just ignored it. Occasionally a child would nervously approach and ask for his autograph, in which case, no matter his mood, he always cheerfully signed and chatted with the youngster. Mostly though as he walked from the main square through the village, visitors ignored him, either they were too deep in their own thoughts or assumed he was simply another wizard going to pay his respects at the memorial in the school grounds.
It was one advantage of the cottages location, when they had first moved in, they had worried they would be inundated with callers once it was realized they lived there, but that hadn't happened, at least not yet. Only the neighbours acknowledged them as they either went into or came out of their home and they treated them as they would any other resident or visitor. They had made friends with a number of the villagers during the last year, while Ron had worked at the shop, all of them knew them as people, not Celebrities, but they had both gained an insight into what Harry's life must have been like since he was eleven and why he valued genuine friendship and shunned hero worship.
The prospect of visiting the memorial seemed to have an odd effect on the. "Pilgrims" as one villager had dubbed them.
As they got closer to the edge of the village, they seemed to become more thoughtful and keep their heads down as they made their solemn way up to the school. When they returned their mood seemed to last, at least while they were passing Titch Marsh Cottage and its neighbours. They didn't seem to notice when he or Hermione entered the property, in fact when the couple had spent the day working entirely in the front garden, not one visitor had shown any sign of recognition, or interest in what they were passing, all of them appeared to be in a deep reflective mood.
Ron walked through the gate and up to the door, he heard the lock click back as his hand touched the doorknob, he pushed it open and entered the house. Calling his usual greeting to Hermione, he was surprised when there was no response. Odd, he thought, perhaps she had nipped out or been called away for some reason. They had agreed last night they would leave any notes in the lounge on the bureau, so he pushed open the door to the sitting room and went in, glancing to his side he saw there was no note. He looked round the room, there she was, and transfixed, staring unblinkingly towards him, from where she stood next to the sofa.
"Hermione?" he moved towards her.
She didn't notice. He followed her gaze, straight to the picture of Whitby.
He went over to it and looked at it, as soon as his head blocked her view she shook herself. "Oh Hi Ron, I didn't hear you come in."
Ron turned to her, stepping in front of the picture. "No, I saw that, are you all right, you were just staring over here."
"Yes I'm fine; I guess I was thinking about something." She replied nonchalantly.
"No 'Mione, I think it's more than that." he looked concerned, but she wasn't looking to notice.
"Oh, don't be silly Ron, what else could it be?" She said breezily, stood and walked past him to the door. "I'll go fix something to eat."
Ron nodded, then as she left he picked up the frame, something about this was affecting her, and he knew it. Next time he saw Minerva or Filius he would ask them to check it for magic, he didn't know what was going on, but he was damned if he would let it harm Hermione.
Authors Notes:
My apologies for the long wait between chapters, real life got in the way of both me and Balthazar91, who I thank as usual for checking my work.
My thanks to those of you who have read this story so far and especially to those who have left a review to date, I look forward to reading any that any of you are kind enough to leave. Those reviews that are posted by those with an account here, I always reply to.
Hopefully it won't be so long until the next chapter is up.
Now onto the...
Historical notes:
Onripum = Ripon, North Yorkshire.
Dunholm = Durham.
There is no archaeological evidence for the existence of Sliepnir though plenty of period mythology. Of course absence of evidence does not mean evidence of absence, it could be that we just haven't discovered any evidence yet. (Ok I know highly unlikely really and I am not really grasping at straws just demonstrating an important archaeological principle, that of approaching every dig without preconceptions and with an open mind you never know what artefacts you might find.).
The King remembering his coronation, kissing the preserved remains of a saint is based on monks' writings of the time. Such a show of respect to a holy relic, it seems, was part of a coronation of a Christian King, as was baptism, which the Norse described as the Christians taking a bath, something that Saxons were not well known to do. There seem to have been a plethora of Relics for the church at the time, the saint mentioned being one that is even today acknowledged as genuine, it's history being well documented again by Monks. However quite a number were probably the result of enthusiastic non Christian traders cashing in on the churches greed for anything associated with saints or bible stories. Many religious relics of the time survive to this day in the collections of Cathedrals.
As mentioned above, it is recorded that the Norse would laugh at the Saxon Christians being baptised either in a river or a barrel of water, describing it as having a bath, because it was one of the few times Saxons would take a bath or wash by choice. The Norse bathed once a week and valued personal hygiene, they were quite clean, which probably explains why many Saxon women were attracted to them, certainly marriage between the two cultures was not uncommon. Saxon men would bath as little as possible, seeing it as a weakness, so they may bathe once a year if they decided they needed it, hence the Norse seeing the irony of the Saxon religion requiring them to take a bath, at least once, at baptism.
Despite bathing regularly and taking personal hygiene seriously enough to carry spoons to clean earwax in belt pouches, there were still some unsavoury, aspects of 10th century life and as personal hygiene of the time seems to be a bit of a theme in these notes, it seems opportune to mention one of them here. It is known that all would have been infested with head lice, amongst other parasites. We have found antler, bone and horn combs with period head lice in them, and so we also know that some action was taken to control them. In fact it is known that they had a chemical treatment for them, which was used as frequently as possible. They would collect cows urine and store it for several weeks until it was very stale, then wash their hair in it. This may well have had some effect on the lice but it also effectively bleached their locks blonde, and the lingering smell must have been interesting to say the least. However prevention being better than cure married women wore cloth caps as a sign of marriage, thus preventing lice infestation somewhat, in the first place. In the unlikely event that you can get the raw materials necessary please do not try this at home, your friends might notice and then you would not keep them for long. Has anyone begun itching now?
Best wishes to you all.
Tgfoy
