Chapter 19

Harry frowned. "I've never even seen a dragon." He'd heard of them plenty, from stories his family members told him over the years, of course, but he had no idea what they actually looked like.

"Dilby!" Sirius yelled, putting his cup of tea down on the table. "Bring us all the books about dragons from the library!"

It took a few moments, but then Dilby popped into the room, balancing a few huge stacks of books in his spindly arms, which Sirius and Remus managed to catch before they toppled over.

Before long Harry had a large book in his lap, filled with moving pictures of huge, fire-breathing monsters. Who the fuck thought it was a good idea to put a bunch of kids in front of those things, honestly?

"There were no dragons in Santika?" Voldemort asked quietly as he looked from Harry's face back to the book his Harry's lap.

"No. There weren't any magical creatures there, not like you have here, at any rate." That reminded Harry he needed to figure out which magical plants and animals he wanted to add to the island, on top of the hedgehogs and co. Perhaps he could give his young assistants some more research to do.

"Dragons are hard to fight with magic," Barty said in his usual enthusiastic tone. "But their eyes pose a weakness. There are plenty of curses that would let you magically gauge out their eyes."

"Or you could give it conjunctivitis with a charm," Remus said pleasantly, which caused Sirius to roll his eyes.

"Yeah, Moony, let's piss the dragon off some more by giving it itchy eyes."

"The Killing Curse is only illegal to use on human beings," Voldemort pointed out and when everyone gave him disbelieving looks, he added, "Just in case things go wrong."

They all sipped their tea and argued for a good half hour on how to combat a dragon in a way that let you steal a golden egg from their nest, as Barty explained was the ultimate goal. By the time their tea was finished, Harry had plenty of ideas on how he could survive the task, at the very least. Harry wasn't concerned about winning anything, since he didn't even want to be a part of the tournament in the first place. He just wanted to survive the whole thing with both his body and his magic intact.

"There is one last thing I would ask of you," Voldemort said politely while he placed his empty cup on the coffee table. When Harry nodded in reply, he asked, "Could I see the prophecy orb?"

"Sure." Harry got up and gestured for Voldemort to do the same. "It's in my library."

"Library?" Barty shot up from his chair is if someone had just ignited a magical firecracker under his arse.

"Follow me," Harry said with a grin, and he led the whole procession out of Black Manor and towards his castle.

As they were walking, Harry remembered what Remus had told him earlier. "If your werewolf friends are ready to move here, I can have houses ready for them in a few days."

"You would just give them houses?" Barty asked, with a curious frown. "For free?"

"I did so at first in Sildar, the magical society I built in Santika," Harry said while everyone seemed eager to hear his explanation. "But that caused some strife and jealousy eventually, so we came up with a housing program for anyone who wanted to move to the island. Any new citizen could get a magically constructed house for free if they signed a contract that they would live in it themselves for at least five years. After those five years, if they sold the house or rented it out, half of the earnings would go to Sildar's government and they could keep the other half. If they lived in the house for a continuous fifteen years, however, they then owned the house outright and they could keep any earnings from a potential sale."

"That seems more than fair," Remus said, looking very pleased by this development. "It means anyone can move here, no matter their economic status."

"Yeah, that's why we came up with a construction like that," Harry agreed.

"And how did you decide who gets what house? Or rather, who gets lots of land, like the grounds around Black Manor?" Barty asked, still with a thoughtful frown.

"We had simple rules for that. All houses we built had some land around them, standard was half an acre or an acre," Harry said, and gestured around them, towards the ocean that was now visible. "When you live on an island, space is limited, especially for agriculture. We tried to be as self-sufficient as possible, so we encouraged people to grow some of their own food, plant fruit and nut trees around their homes, keep some chickens, maybe a few ducks or geese, and if they wanted, raise a pig or two for their families. Having land also meant people could build their own workshops or other outbuildings and work from home in all manner of trades and crafts that were needed."

Harry looked over his shoulder and gave Sirius a grin. "I forgot to tell you, but people who own more than an acre of land are obligated to produce food for not just themselves, but also the rest of society."

Sirius blinked as he looked at Harry in confusion. "Er… I'm no farmer, Harry."

"You don't have to be. You can fence off all that grassland you have and graze sheep or cattle. Put some pigs in those woods. That's enough." Harry chuckled at Sirius' apprehensive expression. "Besides, you've got house-elves, you can put them to work growing crops. It's not like you'd have to sow and harvest anything yourself."

"Yeah, alright," Sirius conceded. "I suppose I could keep some sheep eventually."

"But they'd be able to sell that produce, right?" Barty asked, looking like he was doing lots and lots of calculations in his head. "They wouldn't have to give anything away for free?"

"Of course, they can earn money from the sale of whatever they grow. It's just that on an island you cannot waste acres and acres of land on a flower garden or a manicured lawn. Space like that needs to be put to use in food production. If people don't feel like putting any effort into that, they won't get the land, simple as that." Harry was pleased to see that Barty was nodding along with his reasoning. It had always worked well in Sildar, and Harry was sure it would work equally well in Magica.

"As long as the landowners don't have to get their own hands dirty and can use house-elves, I don't see how this will be a problem for the magical families who will be requesting larger pieces of land," Voldemort said, and Harry was happy to see he, too, seemed perfectly alright with Harry's plans for land distribution.

They reached the castle and Harry led his guests straight to the library.

Barty's mouth dropped open as he walked slowly to the middle of the enormous hall and looked around while craning his head left and right. Even Voldemort's eyes widened as he took in the many, many books in Harry's collection.

"You're welcome to read anything you like," Harry offered, because he recognized two bibliophiles when he saw them.

"No, no," V cawed in a tone that was far too amused while he flew from Harry's shoulder to his perch beside Harry's large desk in front of the window.

"Yes, they're allowed," Harry said, frowning at this companion. Since when did V care who read their fucking books.

"No, no," V cawed again, head bobbing up and own. "Can't read, can't read."

Only then did Harry realize what V was saying and he turned to look at Voldemort and Barty with an utmost apologetic look on his face. "Fuck, I forgot. V's right. You can't read these books."

"Oh come on," Barty said in a pleading tone, giving Harry what could only be described as puppy-dog eyes. "What's in these books that's so bad we're not allowed to read them?"

Chuckling, Harry shook his head. "Nothing, Barty. You're allowed to read them, you just can't."

"Ah, fuck," Voldemort breathed, apparently having cottoned on to the problem before them. "They're in Santireen."

"What?" Barty asked, face paling as he turned on the spot, looking at the thousands and thousands of books he literally couldn't read. "WHAT?"

"Igor!" Harry yelled in the direction of the door. "Bring us wine for five!"

"Eurgh!"

"Here, sit down." Remus grabbed the closest chair and pushed Barty towards it, since the poor man stood swaying on his feet in shock.

Igor came shuffling into the library, large tray in his hands.

"Is that an inferius?" Voldemort asked, apparently having recovered from the shock of realizing there were thousands of books around him he couldn't read. Barty was still hyperventilating.

"That's Igor. He's my butler." Harry accepted the tray from Igor's hands, placed it on a nearby table and poured five glasses of red wine. When Voldemort didn't reply, Harry looked at him over his shoulder.

Voldemort stood with his head bowed while he pinched the bridge of his nose, slowly shaking his head. "You have an inferius for a butler."

"He's dead useful," Harry said, feeling a little defensive. He all but thrust a glass of wine in Voldemort's hands. "I find that people always underestimate how useful inferi can be."

"I know how useful they can be," Voldemort countered quickly, giving Harry a snooty look. "I've made plenty of them myself."

"Oh?" Harry perked up as he sipped his wine. "What did you use them for?"

"Security, mostly." Voldemort tilted his head while he seemed lost in thought. "Sometimes I used them in battle, mostly for the intimidation factor."

"Ah, yeah," Harry agreed with a knowing smile. "I once raised a whole army of inferi and sent them to fight a battle against his persistent warlord who wouldn't take no for an answer." Harry chuckled at the memory. "Half of that warlord's troops dropped their weapons and ran screaming for the hills when they saw thousands of dead bodies walking towards them. And the rest, who were stupid enough to fight, were easily dealt with."

Voldemort was giving Harry a very peculiar look, one Harry couldn't quite place, but his brown eyes were shining, while his lips twitched a little. "What did you do with them afterwards?"

"Put them back to rest. They'd done what I needed them for." Harry perked up again and toasted Voldemort with his glass. "Which reminds me, I'm going to turn some of Sirius' dead house-elves into inferi. Have you ever tried that?"

Voldemort blinked, looking like such an idea had never even occurred to him. "That is… an interesting idea."

"Think about it," Harry said, stepping a little closer to Voldemort, beyond chuffed he'd found someone he could talk inferi shop with without that person freaking the fuck out. "They're magical creatures. As inferi, I could use them to farm the land, or to help keep public spaces clean, things like that."

Voldemort was nodding along with Harry's suggestions. "I'd be more than happy to be there when you try such a feat."

"Sure!"

"But for now… the prophecy orb, if you please." Voldemort offered Harry a sage nod, and Harry gestured at him to move to a nearby table that was still covered with books and opened maps.

"Here is it." Harry picked up the darkened orb and handed it to Voldemort.

Raising the orb up to his face, Voldemort took his time examining it as he moved it around with his long fingers. He even got out his wand and waved that over the orb a few times while his whole face was crinkled in concentration.

Finally, Voldemort lowered the orb again and placed it back on the table, his face an unreadable mask. "It is a genuine prophecy orb, and it has been fulfilled."

"Yep." Harry took a big gulp of his glass of wine.

"The old man had it wrong from the very beginning," Voldemort mused, still staring down at the orb.

"Yep," Harry said again, also looking at the orb. "And he still believes it's about you and me."

"You haven't told him it's been fulfilled?" Voldemort asked in genuine surprise, finally looking at Harry.

"Nope." Harry couldn't hold back a grin. "I thought it would be funny if Dumbledore spends a lot of his time the next few months trying to get me to act on a prophecy that's already been fulfilled."

Voldemort released a rather undignified snort and then he raised his glass of wine in a salute to Harry. At once, Harry clinked his own glass against it while they shared an utterly amused smile.

"Harry." Barty breathed like he'd just ran all around the island. "Harry, I know we haven't known each other for very long, but could you please teach me how to speak Santireen?"

"I can do better than that." With a wave of his hand, Harry summoned two books, which he handed to Barty. "An English-Santireen dictionary, and a grammar guide. I taught several people on Sildar to speak English, and it became the unofficial language of the country, since no one outside the island spoke it and it allowed us to keep certain conversations private even in public settings on the mainland."

"Bless you," Barty said, hugging both books to his chest. "Bless you, laddie."

"I don't suppose…" Voldemort said, but before he could finish his sentence, Harry waved his hand around and two more books came flying, which he handed to Voldemort. "My thanks, Harry."

"Sure. We could make Santireen the unofficial language of Magica, have it be a way to keep correspondence private and such," Harry suggested.

"I think that's a marvellous idea," Remus said. "We could even keep the name Silgram as the Santireen name for this country, and keep Magica as the international name."

"Ah!" Harry beamed up at Voldemort. "That works!" Honestly, Harry didn't care that much what the country was called, which is why he had agreed so easily with Voldemort. It had been a way to test the Dark Lord. Agree with him on something, and see how he reacted, and then disagree with him on something else, and see how that went. As far as Harry was concerned, so far Voldemort had passed the test. Harry was well aware Voldemort wasn't the type to simply bow down to every one of Harry's wishes and commands, and he certainly didn't expect that of him. Harry welcomed ideas and well-thought-out arguments. But what he didn't welcome was anyone thinking they could take over Harry's country and turn it into a dictatorship with themselves at the helm.

Harry was pleased to see that so far Voldemort was willing to work with him enough that Harry didn't expect huge problems in the future.

"My thanks for your hospitality, Harry," Voldemort said once he finished his glass of wine. "I will return home and start getting my affairs in order. Set up a new identity, ready my property for relocation and quietly inform a few trusted friends of the existence of Magica."

"That sounds good," Harry agreed easily. "And I'll start moving the island, which is rather important."

"I will send you an owl when I've accomplished my tasks." Voldemort offered Harry a polite nod, which Harry returned, and he saw his guests to the door.

"One final thing," Voldemort said once he and Barty stood outside the castle. Voldemort reached inside his robes and pulled out a small scroll. "As promised."

"Ooh." Harry accepted the scroll eagerly, and before he was even able to open it, Voldemort and Barty apparated away. Harry stared at the runic arrays written in a neat script on the piece of paper in his hands. "Ooooh. Those are some sexy runes."

"What is it with you and that word," Sirius said with a small shudder.

"That went well," Remus said with a pleased smile, ignoring Sirius' dramatics.

"Sure," Sirius agreed, and then shuddered again. "I mean, I feel like I need a shower or something, but at least no one died, so there's that."

Harry finally looked up from the paper in his hands. "Let's put up some phoenix wards!"

"First get the island moving, please," Remus reminded him with a gentle smile.

"Yeah, alright." Harry wandered to the coastline and activated the runes again which were still left in the bedrock, and the island came to life with a few booming jerks before smoothly moving across the ocean westwards. After that, Remus and Sirius helped him decipher the phoenix wards and add them to the existing wards on the island.

The next week kept Harry plenty busy. So busy in fact he conveniently didn't have time to tell his family anything about his new friend.

Harry took his time flying around the island on his broom and mapping out the areas for different types of development. Until that point, Harry had been winging it without any solid plans but now that he was expected to build a town, Harry knew he needed to start developing the island properly.

First Harry dug out at least ten large holes for ponds and lakes spread out across the island. The frequent rainstorms they got in November filled them all up soon enough. They would provide water for wildlife and different habitats for aquatic life and many species of insects. Harry got pond and lake water from Ireland and Britain, filling up barrels which he emptied into the sterile water, adding much needed bacteria and other microscopic life. He also added lots of aquatic plants, and things like reeds for the banks.

Somewhere in the middle of this job, Harry received a heartfelt letter from his three young assistants, offering their condolences for the loss of his godfather and asking what the fuck actually happened, because as expected, the Daily Prophet had given an utterly biased report of Sirius' trial.

Harry wasn't stupid enough to tell them the truth in a letter, so he simply accepted their condolences, told them he was fine, and that all he could tell them at that time was that the Ministry was utterly corrupt and that unfortunately Dumbledore was in on it, but that any other news had to wait until later. He then asked them to research what kind of magical plants and animals they would add to a newly constructed country, hypothetically speaking, of course.

After that was done, Harry apparated to and from Britain and Ireland a few times to collect all sorts of small animals. He got plenty of hedgehogs which he placed all around the island, and also fieldmice and different voles and shrews. He also got hares and rabbits, both animals who could easily survive off the meadows that covered most of the island, since the many trees Harry had planted were still growing and only reached up to his waist at that point. So animals like squirrels and most birds would have to wait until the trees were more mature.

On top of that Harry chased down a small herd of roedeer and port keyed them to the island. The deer preferred to hide out in Sirius' mature woodlands during the day but swarmed all around the island after dark to eat all the luscious grasses. Thanks to Harry's growth runes all plants were growing very rapidly, and Harry realized he needed more grazers, which led him to the Soay sheep after a tip from Remus.

Soay sheep were a small breed of feral sheep from the St Kilda Archipelago in Scotland, who were tough as old boots and used to surviving in the harsh conditions there. They'd be perfect to keep as feral animals on Magica, to graze the land and add manure to the soil. Harry bought all the animals he could find for sale, which weren't many, and then he also sheep-napped a few of them from their island home to add to his own herd.

While Harry had tracked down the sheep, he'd come across a farmer who kept Shetland ponies and by the Sun Goddess, they were the most adorable ponies Harry had ever seen, so friendly and so fluffy in their winter coats.

Harry immediately bought twenty, in all different colours and released them onto the island, to help graze the meadows. And then he had a very stern talk with Keket about not eating any of his precious livestock. If she wanted to hunt, Harry would gladly apparate her to the Forbidden Forest so she could munch on oversized spiders.

And then it really was time to start building houses, because Remus let him know he had at least fifteen werewolf friends ready to move to Magica as soon as the houses were finished.

Harry drew a rough sketch of a town, with a town centre, a town hall and several shops around a market square. Those buildings could wait to be constructed, but Harry marked them out on the ground as he picked his spot to build their capitol, which he dubbed Spellbridge.

It sounded nice and the town lay beside the river, over which Harry constructed an arched, stone bridge.

To construct the houses, Harry drew stone from what was to become the street, so that it lost some mass and sunk lower than the houses around it. This would help with drainage of water during rainstorms, Harry knew from bitter experience. The first time he'd build a street of homes from scratch in Sildar, they'd all flooded during the first decent rainstorm of the season.

Not making that mistake again.

The houses were simple enough, transfigured out of bedrock, with stone walls and glass windows and a roof covered in rooftiles. They all had a large fireplace, a kitchen and large sitting and dining room. Upstairs there were three bedrooms and a small bathroom. Harry kept the rooms themselves bare, with stone floors and walls, so people could decorate it as they saw fit. All inhabitants had magic, so that wouldn't be a problem. They could even add rooms to the house if they wanted, or magically expand the rooms that were already there. Then he measured out half an acre of land, divided in a front and backyard with paths on either side of the house, and placed simple, waist-high stone walls around the property.

He repeated this process ten times, five homes on either side of the street, which he covered with cobblestones. To finish the whole thing, he added sidewalks and walnut trees to line the street, which would provide some shade and some edible nuts in the fall.

It looked rather ridiculous, this nicely built street with homes in the middle of a huge field of grass and flowers, but it was a start and Harry knew that before long many more homes and other buildings would be constructed and their capitol would truly be born.

"Very nice," Remus said as he and Sirius came to admire Harry's hard work. "I know my friends will be thrilled to live here."

"I hope so." Harry sat down on the stone wall in front of one of the homes. "I'd like you to be our immigration officer, Remus."

Remus widened his eyes as he looked down at Harry. "I'd be happy to. What would I be expected to do?"

"Basically, keep records of all who move here. Make sure they all sign the necessary magical contracts, that they receive copies of our laws, thing like that." Harry gestured vaguely to his right, where he planned on constructing the town centre. "I'm building Spellbridge's town hall next, that's where you'd work."

Remus' smile was both shy and grateful. "I'd love to, really."

"Hey, Sirius," Harry called towards his godfather, who had his head stuck inside the door of the house behind them. "Want to be Mayor of Spellbridge?"

"Spell what?" Sirius asked as he turned to stare at Harry in confusion.

"Spellbridge." Harry waved a hand around. "You know, our new capitol."

"Is that what we're calling it?" Sirius yelled though he seemed happy enough with Harry's offer.

"I really like the name," Remus said quickly. "Very classy."

"Come on," Harry said, jumping up. "Let's get started on Town Hall. I'll show you how I construct buildings."

"What would I be expected to do as Mayor?" Sirius asked as he hurried to catch up with them.

"Not much, for now. Answer questions, keep the peace." Harry frowned for a moment. "You were good at potions, right? Brew Wolfsbane every month." They had decided the moment they knew werewolves were moving in, that they'd receive free Wolfsbane potion every month. For now, Harry and Sirius were the sponsors, but eventually, when taxes and other revenue started coming in, the government would pay for it.

Harry showed Remus and Sirius how he transfigured the surrounding rock into useable buildings, and before long his two friends got the hang of it, and together they constructed Spellbridge's town square, starting with Town Hall, the surrounding storefronts, and even the outside walls for two buildings that Harry planned to turn into a public library and a health clinic.

And then it was time for Magica's first residents to arrive. Harry had sent all of them empty wine bottles as portkeys, and that day, just over a week after Voldemort's visit, Harry, Remus and Sirius stood outside Town Hall waiting for the first folks to arrive.

Magica's first resident was a young woman with short black hair, carrying a large duffel bag and a worn, black suitcase, who beamed the moment she spotted Remus.

"Hello, Rachel," Remus said with a warm smile and in a tone that made both Harry and Sirius raise their eyebrows. "I'm so glad you decided to move here."

"Glad to be here." And then Rachel turned to Harry and Sirius and gave them a little bow. "Rachel Sutherland. Nice to meet you."

"Likewise." Harry entered Town Hall and waited for the rest to join them.

Remus had a little desk set up with all the necessary paperwork, and he let Rachel have all the time she needed to read through everything before signing.

"You're moving into Walnut Lane number 1," Harry told her, because he was tired, all right, and out of energy to come up with fancy names. "You're welcome to put up your own wards, as long as it's nothing lethal."

"There's nothing much there yet," Remus said in an apologetic tone while handing Rachel her copies of the paperwork and a lawbook.

"I don't care," Rachel said with a harsh frown on her face, though her lips trembled. "I'd sleep in the mud if it meant living in a magical country where I'm accepted and not treated like a monster. I'm lucky I'm a muggleborn and was able to flip burgers for a living in the muggle world. Others like me who are stuck in the wizarding world are literally starving in the streets because no one will hire them."

Remus nodded in sad agreement while Harry blinked at her tirade. Harry had known things were bad for werewolves in Britain, but he hadn't realized how bad.

"Well," Harry said optimistically. "We won't rest until we have every last werewolf of Britain living in Magica."

"Thank you," Rachel said, her eyes suspiciously bright, and then she stepped up to Harry and pulled him in an unexpected hug. "Seriously, thank you, Mr Potter."

Harry stood stiff as a board, not used to unexpected affection from strangers while V pecked at Rachel's hair until she let go.

"If you need anything," Remus said as he walked Rachel out the door, "I live in Black Manor, which you'll find to the east of here."

"Thanks, but I'll be fine." Rachel held up her black suitcase. "I've got my whole life shrunk in here, I'll be spending the next few days unpacking." And with that their first resident was off to occupy her new home.

"Remus," Harry said with a thoughtful frown. "From now on, could you also ask people what their talents are, what sort of magic they're good at, and what they'd like to do for a living?"

"I'll make a list," Remus agreed easily enough, and then the tell-tale sound of a portkey sounded outside and the door opened to reveal a middle-aged man and a woman.

"Frederick and Nina Roberts," the man said, and then waved at Remus. "Hi, Remus!"

Harry chuckled as they got ready to welcome their second and third residents, and that's how they spent their morning, getting all the fifteen new residents booked and settled into their new homes. All of them were ecstatic to be there, and all of them were happy enough at the prospect of working any kind of job that would come up.

Harry already had his eyes on Rachel as his new natural development officer. Someone to help Harry expand the ecosystem on the island, which really was a full-time job, to monitor all the different animal species, making sure they were all thriving and making adjustments where needed. Harry loved that kind of work, but unfortunately he didn't have the time for it.

Thankfully, Rachel happily accepted the job once Harry suggested it to her, and it earned her a liveable income.

Fred and Nina Roberts were an enterprising couple who immediately approached Harry to rent one of the storefronts, which they turned into a very small grocery store that sold the essentials, which was very welcome because it meant no one had to apparate or portkey all the way to Ireland or Britain just because they needed some sugar or eggs.

Another one of the new werewolf residents, an older man named Arnold Milner, saw an opportunity and started selling vegetable seeds, young fruit and nut trees and chickens from his front yard, which were in high demand because everyone wanted to start growing their own food as quickly as possible.

And Harry went back to building more homes while Remus, and their new residents, got the word out, very quietly, amongst all the werewolves of Britain, and almost at once they had dozens of applications.

Harry selected two young men, Shaun and Arnie, and a young woman, Sue, from amongst the residents and hired them as construction specialists, to help him build more homes and other buildings. Soon enough Spellbridge had a few more finished streets. Oak Lane, Chestnut Drive and Elder Street. Harry figured he might as well stick with the theme he'd accidentally come up with.

It was around this time that Voldemort sent Harry a letter, letting him know he had his affairs in order and was ready to move to Magica. Harry replied he'd happily come move his mansion the following day.

That evening, Harry had been invited by Sirius and Remus to have dinner with them at the Manor, which he gladly accepted.

"I'm so tired," Harry said as he leaned back in his chair once the excellent food was gone and Harry was stuffed.

"You're working too hard," Remus chastised him mildly.

"I've already hired people to help," Harry replied in a rather petulant voice. "There's just so much to do."

"You should save some strength for those dragons," Sirius pointed out as he sipped a glass of fire-whiskey. "The first task is coming up in a few days."

"Ugh." Harry rubbed both hands across his face, messing up his beard, but he couldn't care. But thinking about the first task reminded him of the visit from Voldemort, which brought back a specific memory. "Sirius, I keep meaning to ask you," Harry said as he gave Sirius an expectant look. "If you want to talk to your brother Regulus, all you have to do is ask."

"What?" Sirius' eyes widened in realization and then he lowered his head and thumped his forehead against the table. "Why didn't I think of that?"

"You can't think of everything," Remus pointed out with a fond smile. "But that is a good idea, Harry. We'll finally be able to learn what happened to poor Regulus. He was only 18 when he disappeared."

Harry nodded in agreement. "I'm going to need a picture if you have it."

Dilby was soon ordered to bring a picture of Sirius and Regulus from Arcturus' study, and Harry stared at the young face of Sirius' brother while he took his amulet in hand and brushed his thumb across it, focusing his powers on pulling Regulus' soul from the beyond.

Nothing happened.

"Is it working?" Sirius asked a little worriedly, looking nervous enough already about the prospect of talking to his brother again. "What's happening?"

"Hang on." Harry frowned and concentrated again, summoning Regulus' soul.

Nothing.

"Huh," Harry said as he looked at Sirius and Remus with wide eyes. "Either someone else is summoning Regulus' soul at this very moment, which seems rather unlikely."

"Or?" Remus asked softly while Sirius swallowed against his obvious nerves.

"Or," Harry said with a knowing smile. "Regulus Black is still alive."