Chapter 41: Arts and Crafts

"You have everything?" Hermione asked the two for the umpteenth time. Still, her expression was so endearingly worried, Sirius could not help but be moved; nothing would hold him back from teasing the bushy-haired witch, though.

"Yes, mum," he chortled. "I have that special material you wanted me to bring the wandmaker, Daphne is about to drink the Polyjuice potion and is already wearing the warded amulet, we both have our portkeys, which we aren't supposed to use outside of an emergency because they're not exactly legal and… did I forget anything?" The expression on Hermione's face was priceless. "Oh, yes: Daphne's cover; the potion contains the hair of an eleven-year-old muggle girl, Daphne is on vacation with her distant relative Sirius, and her actual name is Cassiopeia."

There was a small glare directed in his direction as Hermione realised she had been played, but the relief she felt was also quite visible. "Sorry, Sirius," she conceded almost abashedly. "I just worry."

Taken with how affected his godson's girlfriend was by all this, Sirius stepped toward her and gave her a small hug. "I know," he said amicably. "We'll be careful, not making any dangerous detours; apart from Knockturn Alley, of course."

Hermione looked at him gratefully for even trying to assuage her worries, and they were shortly joined by Harry and Daphne; it was an interesting experience, to say the least, seeing Harry with his arm around who at least looked like a complete stranger.

"I've enchanted your bracelet to warn you in exactly 50 minutes, so you can take a new dose of Polyjuice from the flask in your bag," Sirius watched the pup explain the same thing he had already been explained earlier. It was charming, seeing Hermione reflected in him; at least there was hope his more relaxed attitude would then reflect in her, as well.

Still, such an excellent opportunity for teasing could simply not be ignored. "Oh, pup," he greeted cheerily, immediately eliciting a wary look on the young man's face. "It's great seeing Hermione… rub off on you, you know? But you've told us that before."

While his godson was fighting a smile from coming onto his face, the woman mentioned in his admittedly bad pun was shooting him an almost toxic look; although, if Sirius had not known better, he would have guessed there was some longing in those eyes, as well. Not too surprising, given that she was a woman of around twenty, trapped in the body of a thirteen-year-old. Any rubbing had to be a sore subject. Desperately pushing his wandering mind away from thoughts of his godson and his girlfriend (there were much less gross thoughts to be had), the marauder concentrated on the here and now again.

"We should really get going," he piped up, before the terrible duo had time to repeat everything they had said before; it was not getting them anywhere and just keyed everyone up even more. "We should not be too long, a few hours at most." After taking another look at the two anxious faces, he added, "And please promise me something: Don't just sit around, waiting for us to come home, alright? Do something worthwhile, or you're going to drive yourself crazy with worry over Daphne."

Resigned looks and nods told him his advice would probably be followed, even though some worrying was bound to happen, regardless. With only a few more words of farewell, cognizant of their limited potion supplies, Daphne's polyjuiced alter-ego had tightly grabbed Sirius' arm and with a swirl, they were gone.

The pair, easily mistaken for a father taking his daughter out for shopping had the adult not been Sirius Black, reappeared in a back alley close to the Leaky Cauldron, where Sirius schooled his features into the air of smug arrogance that the children of many a noble family were sucking up with the breast milk. No one particularly liked questioning Black family business, and today it was important that no one dared to; with the muggle girl from whom they had taken the hair easily looking like she could be a distant cousin, or maybe a long-lost nibling, that should be manageable.

With a practised strut, Sirius led his young charge into the pub that was the entrance to Diagon Alley; given the time of year, the festively adorned main room was packed with old acquaintances, friends and families reuniting over lunch and an early drink. However, taking in the stony expression showcased by the man who had just entered was enough of a deterrent to make sure that a comfortable passage was available for the two. Within minutes, they had joined the throngs of people in the wizarding shopping district that were occupied with last-minute Christmas presents, various petty squabbles and some unruly pets.

Quite purposefully, the duo made their way toward the back of Diagon Alley, where the somewhat foreboding entrance to Knockturn Alley was located. Sirius still remembered his first jaunt into the darkened place, remembered being almost terrified by the many questionable people one could find there. However, these days were long behind him, now; spending years with Dementors and veritable psychos as the only company tended to give you a new perspective. With his (mostly) adult eyes, he could see past a lot of the mystery of the place. Sure, there were reputable businesses here, like Woodworm's wood-shop, McHavelock's hats or the undertakers, businesses that had been forced into the dark by either senseless laws or senseless prejudices. At some point, everyone needed a mortician.

Over these musings, the walk to 'Woodworm Turner and Carpenter' had gone by without Sirius even taking note of it, and they were standing in front of the surprisingly friendly-looking store, where Sirius turned to his charge. "Cassiopeia," he addressed the polyjuiced girl, delighted that she immediately reacted to her cover-name. "I would like you to have a look around the store, while I talk to Woodworm for a few minutes." The answer was a regal nod and a smile, making Sirius think 'Cassiopeia' might be enjoying the whole thing just as much as he was.

The bell on the door jingled warmly as they stepped through, immediately alerting the attentive man behind his counter. "Ah, Mr. Black" the man greeted, showing that even in Knockturn Alley, Sirius image preceded him. "A good thing to see you and your young… companion; what might I be able to help you with on this fine day?"

Sirius nodded for Daphne to go browsing through some of the wooden artwork and practical goods on display, then turned his attention back to the man in front of him. "I would like to make a deal with you for some… special appliances," he uttered the same passphrase his godson had, pretty much exactly a year earlier.

It was a special moment to see the man lighten up in front of him, his face filled with the unbridled passion Sirius could only guess was kindled by either his love for his craft or the idea of making a lot of money.

"It might be an unusual offer," the marauder went on, "but I would like to pay in kind."

Now, the eagerness and curiosity on the carpenter's face was impossible to miss. "And what exactly would that payment entail? I'm sure you're quite aware that, in my business, I use rather… exotic ingredients."

As soon as he had heard the reply, Sirius was unable to suppress an anticipatory smile; sure, rare and exotic ingredients were all well and good, but he doubted even Woodworm had seen something like what he had to offer in a long time. Therefore, without further ado, he pulled the Basilisk horn Harry had given him from his bag. The look of wide-eyed astonishment on Woodworm's face was as hilarious as it was promising.

"I take it you know what this is," he guessed to eager nods from the surprised shopkeeper. "What would you usually pay for such a thing?" the happy trickster inquired with an innocent smile.

Woodworm, for his part, was still very much in shock, to which Sirius ascribed his willingness to be questioned like this. "Something like this…" he replied, his usual aura of mischief and mystery completely absent. "Something like this is of immeasurable worth; there hasn't been a wand with a core from basilisk horn in at least several centuries."

Eternally grateful for the wand-maker having taken his bait, Sirius went on with his pitch. "I'd thought as much. Now, I will need two wands, my lovely young companion will need three, with three holsters for each of us," he began his offer, at which Woodworm got an eager glint in his eyes; understandable, considering the worth of a few measly wands compared to what he had to offer. "Don't agree just yet, there's more: If I send you someone with a special passphrase, and I promise there won't be many instances of that, they will also get two of your creations and three holsters, free of charge. I like you, so I'll also 'let slip' that you have a basilisk horn available to the right ears; you won't be able to accommodate all the business that will get you."

The carpenter mulled around over the offer a few moments, or at least pretended to, since the offer Sirius had made seemed to have awoken his haggling-spirits again. "I can't do free of charge SPATULAS, no matter how much you promise it won't be many," he replied faux-apologetically. "That's too much of a risk for me, at least if we do it indefinitely. How about two years, free of charge?"

"Ten years," Sirius replied, having expected this; sure, free 'spatulas' would have been nice, and it was worth a try, but never a very realistic one.

"Five years!"

"Indefinitely, but at cost. Final offer," he gave what had been the real aim all along; that way, Woodworm made sure he would not run a deficit with doing work for Sirius, something any legitimate business-owner was deadly afraid of. The small business-owner in the room seemed to agree with Sirius on the matter and held out his hand for a shake, which his new customer readily reciprocated. "You might want to invest in some security, though, when I let slip that you have a basilisk horn," Sirius added as an afterthought, looking around the dusty shop; the wicked smile on Woodworm's face told him he need not worry.

While the craftsman was preparing what he would need for making the five 'spatulas', his customer was retreating back to the showroom where he found his 'distant relative Cassiopeia' looking at an assortment of beautifully crafted wooden artwork.

"Cassiopeia," Sirius called for the girl, startling her out of her reverie. "Time to try out for your ingredients."

A smile lit up Daphne's face, probably at the idea of being able to do magic again, and the intense, heart-warming sensation he felt at that was short only of the way Sirius usually felt whenever he made Harry smile; not even Hermione, who he had grown quite fond of, could make him this happy just by being happy.

With a highly motivated, almost squeal-like noise his charge raced past, once and for all clearing up the question who was going to be fitted for their wand first. From then on, everything went pretty much the same as Harry and Hermione had related it to him. They were both shown different woods and cores, some of which reacted, some not. A good deal of time had passed, with both Sirius and Daphne (who had had to drink two additional doses of potion) wandering around the multitude of Woodworm's creations, when they were recalled to the backroom of the shop where the joyful man was waiting for them both with two elongated boxes.

Letting any sort of preamble fall to the side, the carpenter handed Daphne her new wands. The excited girl slid the lid off the carton, revealing three impressively mysterious wands: They were of a medium length, around ten to eleven inches, if Sirius had had to guess. However, that was not the mysterious part; these three wands all carried an intricate pattern of interwoven black and white, polished to a shine.

Obviously noting the fascinated look on his two customers' faces, Woodworm made to elaborate. "Ebony and yew," he explained. "Fascinating combination, and beautiful to look at. Such contradictions in only a single piece… protector, fighter, the power of life and death. The core is a shaving from the horn of a basilisk." The last bit he said with a wink to Sirius, to whom he turned next; meanwhile Daphne was completely engrossed in looking at the three new wands in her possession.

With a decent amount of excitement, Sirius took his turn in taking a first look at his new wands. What greeted him in his box was less visually impressive than what Daphne had received, just two rather long sticks of varying shades of bright wood. His critical examination of the product did not go by unnoticed, though and Woodworm took this as his cue.

"Maple and dogwood, dragon heartstring and thunderbird tail feather" he reported, a mischievous look on his face. "The tool of an adventurer, a trickster; a marauder, dare I say…"

OOOOOOOO

"Oh, come on," Harry tried to get his girlfriend to spare him a smile. "You know as well as I do that Sirius can actually be a responsible adult from time to time; as soon as we leave for Hogwarts, he will have to be."

Hermione was certainly not looking happy about the fact that facts and logic were being used 'against her', but in the end it was a fruitless effort to resist the sense he was making. Seeing a reluctant smile on her face was the sign for Harry to continue with his plans for their day.

"Now that we've established that, let's take a look at the list of things I did that we'll have to tackle," he announced , immensely enjoying the proud smile that graced the face of the woman he loved at hearing him so diligently planning something; after all, it had been something she had been trying to motivate him to do for almost seven years. "We will have to install all the enchantments to make the ship seaworthy again; that means navigation equipment and a check of the engine enchantments at the very least. Plus, the prep work for a Room duplicate and another Fidelius would be nice. Everything else, Sirius and Daphne should be able to copy from some DIY-books; stuff like drains, or a freezer."

The doubtful look he was receiving from Hermione was not doing much to help in increasing his hopes for getting all that done. "I'm not sure casting another Fidelius is worth it," Hermione admitted almost ashamedly. "I know it would allow Daphne to get outside safely, but it will completely lose its value as soon as we move the ship…"

Hearing this was her main concern was incredibly relieving to Harry, because it was something he had already thought about. "I don't actually think so," he began his explanation, momentarily surprised at the fact that he was explaining something to Hermione that was not about Quidditch and to which she barely listened. "I mean, what does the Fidelius charm do? First, it erases the knowledge of the location and exact identity of something from the mind of everyone but the caster and the secret keeper. Second, it creates a filter centred around the secret keeper that will only let you perceive that information when it is told by the secret keeper. If we properly anchor the spell to the ship itself and not the location in which it is right now, it arguably makes the thing even better. We'd have to try, of course, but if I had to guess I would say that every time we parked that thing somewhere else, you would have to be told about the spot anew."

The scrunching of Hermione's face that started forming during Harry's explanation, the expression he called 'thinking Hermione', was unbearably cute. However, he had once tried giving her a kiss when she had looked like this, and she had severely told him off for interrupting a valuable train of thought. Waiting for that train to end, on the other hand, had often given him great rewards. He turned out to be right, because as soon as her thinking had passed, his girlfriend pounced on him with a steamy kiss that had him curse his damn, twelve-year-old body.

Now, with a delay of around twenty minutes, they were underway to the small bay where the HMS Phoebe was anchored.

Just after having landed, Hermione made one more observation.

"We're going to need a new name for her; she's not 'Her Majesty's ship anymore…"

OOOOOOOO

Xavier Greengrass was in a brooding mood; admittedly not completely surprising, yet still annoying. He was angry, at his daughter, the Malfoys, his own decisions and the wretched world he was living in for forcing him to make these decisions. Was it his fault they all happened to live during the lifetime of a powerful dark wizard who had, once before, almost brought the magical world to heel? A dark wizard, who had been missing for a whole decade, only to reappear as an insubstantial ghost that could possess people, if that lying newspaper was to be believed. And it was surely not his doing that the Malfoys happened to be one of the families he knew would be able to protect him and his from having to really pick a side.

Eventually, he resigned himself to the knowledge that he had done everything he could; yes, the Malfoy boy was as much of a creep as his father, possibly worse, but he was still a fair bit better than some of the other people he had seen over the past few months. If the sons of those oafs Crabbe and Goyle were the cream of the crop, expectations for the crop had to be adjusted accordingly.

No, now that he was thinking about it, this was Daphne's fault; she should have been less obstinate, more understanding of the trouble he was facing. What was living as the well-cared-for trophy wife of a future lord, a member of the future ruling elite, compared to the opportunity of keeping your family safe.

Still, he could calm himself with the thought that all was not lost; Astoria would only be going to Hogwarts in nine months, time enough to drill into her the importance of fulfilling her duty to her family, because one way or another, a member of House Greengrass was going to have to pay up on what Lucius Malfoy had been offered.

OOOOOOOO

"Four-point-spell, that modified altimeter for brooms, the super-deluxe-long-distance-flyer's astronavigation device… anything we forgot?" Harry asked his girlfriend, throwing a wary glance at the pile of surprisingly expensive equipment Jarpey had been happy to acquire for them. "Those hyphenated names are a real menace."

Hermione subjected the parts to an equally intense scrutiny, scrunching up her nose again, until she huffed and answered, "I don't think so… astronavigation only works at night, so we'll have to make do with a sextant and knowing how fast we're going. We'll have to find someone who knows how to navigate a ship like this."

Her frustrated expression forced Harry to consider what exactly had wound her up like that; was it that she was annoyed with another problem popping up? Was is the fact that she would have to let someone else handle this admittedly interesting responsibility, making some excellent knowledge completely redundant?

"I love you," he declared out of the blue, knowing the dopey smile on his face had to be closely matching the one worn by his girlfriend.

"And I you," she purred back. "Might I ask what brought this on?"

Deciding that honesty was the best way forward, Harry relayed his thoughts from before. "I just realised all these could be true, and I liked all of them," he replied, pressing another kiss on her receptive lips. The giggle he managed to extricate from that was only the cherry on top of the giant ice-cream the day had turned out to be, despite any worry they might be feeling over Sirius and Daphne.

However, as it is with all things, this had to end at some point; in their case, that point was reached when Hermione reminded them both (ironically, to both their discontent) that they still had some work to do, and while his girlfriend had soon vanished into the bowels of the proud frigate, he was climbing up the ladder-like stairs that would lead him to the pilothouse. Again, he found himself marvelling at how hollow the ship seemed without the many things that had probably once been in all these rooms; that was completely discounting the general absence of any other living beings, apart from Hermione and him.

Back in elevated position the ship offered to the ones steering her, another thing occurred to Harry: the whole vessel was in pristine shape. There was neither wear nor tear, and he had not found a single dust bunny on any of the decks. Now, the reason this came as a surprise to Harry was that when he had inspected their new base before, all these things had been noticeably present, just like on his tour with Hermione.

"Jarpey," he called out to confirm his already quite distinct suspicion. With the usual pop, the old elf (whatever that meant, given their centuries of lifetime) appeared before Harry, the tools of his trade strapped to his belt.

"What cans Jarpey be doing for Master Harry?" the little creature asked deferentially, something Harry had been frustratingly unable to make any of the elves stop doing.

"Jarpey, you wouldn't happen to know, how this ship's condition changed from 'it needs a lot of work' to 'you could eat from the floors' without any of us noticing, would you?" he asked of the proudly beaming guy. If, at the end of his question, any doubt had remained with Harry that it had indeed been Jarpey's doing, the eager nodding put those to rest.

"Jarpey be seeing that Master Harry is very distracted by Miss Hermione, so he called other elves to help," Jarpey explained, looking very proud at foreseeing his needs as perfectly as he obviously assumed he had.

Harry just sighed at the incredibly well-meaning, but potentially dangerous gesture. "Look, Jarpey," he began, keeping an eye out for any elven attempts at self-punishment, "that's a really great thing you did there, but I'll need for you and the other elves to keep quiet about this, alright? It's extremely important."

The house-elf who, for his part, seemed completely disgusted by the simple idea of betraying his master's trust, nodded emphatically again. "Jarpey be quiet as death himself," he promised. "Many of the other elveses not be part of Potter Family, but they be very loyal and quiet as well."

Allowing himself a small chuckle at the earnestness with which the little guy took to this, especially with Harry's first impression of house-elves being Dobby, Harry declared, "Well, then; thank you for your help, Jarpey. Now I only have to get these fitted, somehow…"

OOOOOOOO

"Another one," Daphne demanded, a demand which to comply with Sirius was all too happy. Seeing her this distracted and joyful was a real feat, considering how she had been only a day earlier. Therefore, he had no problem with being ordered around for training purposes.

A balloon in each hand, Sirius stepped back into the room furthest down the hall of the Potter-cave, lightly chuckling to himself; granted, when he had bought these amazingly entertaining muggle contraptions he had not exactly had a plan what to do with them, but he had never expected this.

"Come one, I'm waiting," Daphne called to him, clearly getting antsy. As per their preestablished routine, the marauder readied himself and threw first one, then the second balloon into the corridor. It only took moments and two whispered spells from the young woman he was training with to fill the cave with the loud sound of popping balloons.

"Honestly," he heard a very familiar voice comment. "We leave you alone for a few hours and what do you come up with?" The words being said in a mixture of jest and actual puzzlement left little room for guessing who exactly had walked in on them.

"Come on, Hermione, it looks like good practice, actually," Sirius now heard his godson observe, amused with imagining the intrigued expression the man would be wearing right about now. Yes, he would be willing to bet a good deal of money that he would be throwing balloons for Harry soon, as well.

An exasperated sigh reached his ears, this one probably from Hermione, again. "Enough goofing around," she declared finally. "Sirius, come out; we have to compare notes on how the day went."

Somewhat disappointed at having to end his very entertaining pastime/training routine, the marauder emerged from the doorway in which he had been standing and joined the three younger people waiting in the communal room of the safe house. The group proceeded to the table, sat on the comfortable chairs and just looked each other over a little. Taking pity on both Hermione and her boyfriend, Sirius eventually began the tale of their outing to Knockturn Alley, bland as it was.

"So this," he went on, "is one of my new wands; dogwood and maple with dragon heartstring and thunderbird tailfeather as the cores." Valiantly ignoring Harry's snickering at hearing that one of his godfather's wand woods was dogwood, he instead chose to address the little squeak he had heard from the direction of Hermione. "Care to enlighten me what particular bee stung you, little miss?"

After seeming a bit flustered by his unusual address, the young woman answered, "I was just surprised you had the same cores as me; I suppose it's not that surprising. A powerful wand with a penchant for transfiguration."

With that issue cleared up, Daphne proceeded to showcase her new acquisitions. "Ebony and yew," she explained, pulling out the fascinating object of contrast between light and dark. "The core is a sliver from a basilisk horn… why are you looking at me like that?"

Prompted by the girl's exclamation, Sirius turned to look at the other two people in the room, as well. They were indeed wearing rather comical expressions of bewildered shock; not surprising, really. Even he, as the one being present when the wands had been handed over, was continually surprised that Daphne had happened to match the one ingredient he had brought.

"Sorry Daphne," Harry raced to soothe the obviously distraught teenager. "It's just a surprise that you would have that particular wand core, because it was me who killed that snake. That was Slytherin's monster that lived in the Chamber of Secrets."

It was now Daphne's turn to wear the gobsmacked expression. However, her stupor did not hold long. "One of these days, you'll have to tell me how you know and can do all that stuff, already." And if the non-verbal communication Sirius was able to observe between the two time-travellers was any indication, she was not the only one to think that way.

OOOOOOOO

AN: Hi all,

I'm diligently using the holiday break to pump out word after word for your enjoyment. However, I have decided to pace the publishing of these chapters, so there won't be as much of a dry spell during the time in which I have to prepare for exams.

Now, since I'm writing this in the past, care to tell me how that Iran thing went? Ah, don't bother, I'll find out.

Hope you enjoyed this one, leave a review and have a nice day,

alexandertheII