Chapter 14 Just Small Talk

So, I'm reposting a story on AO3 that I never finished there. I have to read over it and make sure that I correct a few mistakes. As I was reading over it, I noticed that my style has changed drastically. I mean I used to be wordier, and wax poetic, now I'm more subtle and less wordy. Oh, well, I'm writing it up to being in pain all the time.

This is a filler chapter.

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The next morning, they woke up to a bright sunny day. The campground was washed in sunlight. It flickered through the leaves and shone down on everyone. The cooling ward was great. You could still feel the heat, but not as bad. Those new here wondered about why they weren't sweating, but not cool like an airconditioned room.

"Sirius, do you think we should write to Dumbledore and let him know about Voldemort being a werewolf?" Harry asked. They were all sitting to breakfast, which was eggs benedict and fruit. "I know we talk about it, but you haven't written it yet," he added, tasting his tea.

"How do you know he'll get it?" the dogman asked, sipping his coffee. He was reluctant to write the old man. He knew once he opened communication Dumbledore would abuse it. He didn't want to fight him, even at a distance. The other man was tenacious. Sirius knew it would be all about how Harry had to return to England to fulfill the prophecy. He didn't want to put up with it.

"I got a letter from Hermione, but I'm worried that Hedwig won't be able to get back in. They are in lockdown. I know elves can. Hermione said that they are using them to get food and such," Harry said, wiping his mouth and placing the napkin on his lap.

"I'll get right on that after I eat my breakfast. I'll see if Winky can still get in the castle. She was the only one employed there. We know it's not too far for her, so I'll send her," Sirius said, thinking on what exactly he wanted to put in the letter. He would have to instruct Winky not to let anyone know where they were. Not that Dumbledore could get them, but he could send someone. Still, the wards would keep out anyone intent on kidnapping.

"Harry, what did you say you did with that basilisk?" Kingsley wanted to know.

"I'm not sure where she is right now. All I know is that the house elves took her somewhere where she would have plenty of food," was the answer as Harry mopped up the last of his hollandaise sauce with a piece of toast.

"I want to talk to you about bringing her here," the other man said. "I think it would be beneficial to have a thousand-year-old snake on their side, and we can let her loose in the city if she'll eat the zombies. That would reduce the numbers."

Many people stopped eating just to get that picture in their heads. It was funny to some, and downright terrifying to others.

"Well, all I can do is ask her," Harry said, his imagination taking him down the funny route. "I'm not sure if she wants to eat dead things. She's really much more into live things. All I can do is ask," he added, his thoughts going to doing just that. "After my chores today, I'll go outside the wards on the far side of the woods and have Dobby bring her. It would be nice to have her around, but I'm still not sure she'll eat the dead."

"Thanks, kid," the black man said with a warm smile.

"I'm going to assign some people to round up the pets. We'll leave the rabbits and such, but the dogs and cats will be separated into enlarged tents. Hopefully they can get them all in today," Sirius said, still sipping on his coffee while he waited for everyone to finish breakfast.

"That's wishful thinking," Peggy said, knowing how hard it was to corral cats.

"We have wizards that can use magic to make it faster," the dogman said, giving her a wink. "There's no reason to put it all on the non-magical. They have to earn their keep too," he added, going over who he would assign to that task. They have around twenty magicals right now. They mostly lived in the woods in wizarding tents. They did earn their keep by keeping the underbrush to a tolerable limit. No one wanted forest fires. They were also responsible for clearing the highway.

"Too right," Sue said, she had been there when the first wizard came thinking that they would just lounge around and not work. Sirius put paid to that notion right away.

"After we get them all rounded up, we can get them adopted out," the dogman said. His way of thinking was that everyone would have to walk, or care for at least two animals. They didn't have to keep them in their house if they didn't want to, but they had to pay attention to them. Only the cats needed to be housed. Though they could set a tent aside for them too. With all the stuff they got from the warehouses they should be able to build a pet central.

Remus came up to the breakfast table where everybody was eating and handed Sirius a list of things people needed. It was a long list but workable.

Sirius looked at the list and said, "Well, this isn't too bad."

"What are they asking for?" Harry wanted to know.

"Well, there is some requisitions for alcohol, and we will monitor that, but other than that it's mostly clothes and shoes and stuff," Sirius answered, still looking the list over. "Maybe we'll create a bar for the adults. It would give them a place to relax," he added thoughtfully.

"I would think hard on that. Can we regulate it?" Shack asked, "I don't want to chase down drunken idiots."

"We have sobering potions," Remus said, though looked like he too wasn't sure it was a good idea.

"Still, there's not a lot of demand for booze. Mostly necessities," Sirius said, calming the two down.

"Oh, I was worried that they were gonna be demanding of other things," the teen said, putting his empty plate in the middle of the table.

"There are some requests for tobacco products. I have no idea what dip is, but if they work for it, I'm sure we can find out." He wasn't worried about them smoking or whatever dipping was. As far as he was concerned it was their life and he knew for some people it relaxed them.

"It might be better off just to let them quit," Mac said, thinking long term. "We don't know when there's going to be any manufacturing of any of these products again, maybe it's being a kindness to have them stop now."

"Well, I mean we can give them their vices now. It's not a bad thing. But we'll make sure to let them know that there's not going to be anymore, and they'd have to find it for themselves. I don't want people to have to suffer immediately and in the middle of an Armageddon."

"That or they can grow their own and put it in a pipe, which they can make," Mike suggested, helpfully. "We do have a greenhouse, and more in storage. If they want it, they can grow it."

"That's a good idea, Mike," Sam said, patting his head.

"What if they want to grow weed?" Sue asked, knowing all about that drug.

"Let them. As long as they don't dink off, they can get stoned all they want," Peggy said, also familiar with potheads.

"I guess that makes sense. I know I don't want to give up my hobbies," Harry said, not quite as versed in marijuana as the girls.

"Harry, did you get with the healers to see what they can do with the Philosopher's Stone?" Kingsley asked, remembering the stories that Harry had told on that first night.

"No, I actually forgot all about that. I'll go see what they can do with it after breakfast. I'm not going to just hand it over though," the teen warned, knowing that even in the end of the world there were still greedy people.

"Good call," Kingsley stated.

"I've already got a list of where I can go to get some lumber. Where do you want me to store it? After I go and get it," Mac said, putting his empty cup on the table only to watch it refill with tea. He picked it up and took a sip. Caffeine in the morning was a godsend.

"We've got some more tents that we can use for storage," Remus said, as he was the one in charge of supplies. Well, the house elves were, but he put the tents up, and made sure that everyone sorting put things in the right place. It was one of the jobs that most people did. That or work in the greenhouses.

"OK, I'll shrink it down when I get it. The tent would be helpful. Let me know where to drop it all off. I'm going to take a few people with me. One wizard and three non-magicals," he said, rubbing his chin in thought.

"Watch out for animals too. If you find some, let us know we'll rescue as many as we can," Sirius said, thinking about the farmers in the wards. He hoped the first one was more approachable. "Sam, did you get all the supplies out of the CDC, or at least put them all in one place?" he asked, getting up from the table, everyone followed him.

"Yeah, I got it all in one room. I had just finished when you came to pick me up," the shorter man said as they walked out of the tent.

Everyone stopped to look at what was going on around them. It was a beehive of activity as grownups went about their business and kids followed along or running around after the dogs, or cats.

"We're gonna have to get a list of the people who want to go to the CDC and who want to stay here. I think that most of the children and the one pregnant woman should go to the CDC," Sirius said, stopping outside the place he used as his office, which had once been the main office of the campground.

"Actually, I think we should keep most of the kids here because keeping them cooped up and out of the sun is actually a bad idea," Sam said, knowing a bit more about raising children. He was an uncle that helped his sister raise her kids. They were at Hogwarts right now. He, like Sirius, didn't want to be behind war wards.

"He has a point. Cooping kids up is really bad for their development," Tonks agreed, coming up to them and catching the end of the conversation. She had been organizing the newbies for the day.

"They could live in the CDC and come here every day," Harry suggested. "It's not like we have a problem with transportation, what with Apparation and all. We could make a port key that goes back and forth there daily. They need to come and learn how to run and hide anyway. That way they'll be in the sun, and they will have things they have to do." He knew he never wanted to be locked up in a building all day.

"That actually sounds like a good idea," Sirius said, going over it in his head. "They'll be safe at night and be productive during the day. We should actually make that mandatory for anybody who's in the CDC. There isn't anything to do in the CDC other than research, and we don't know how many of these people have a background to do that."

"Now that you've pointed it out, I think we should probably check to see who's good at what, so we can assign them at better things. Not everybody here is a blue-collared worker," Remus said, knowingly "A few people have complained about the menial work they had been assigned."

"Bugger them," Harry grumbled.

"Okay, we'll get started on that today," Sirius said, not wanting to fight over the lazier folks.

"Sounds like a plan," Remus agreed.

"So, which one of us is staying here and which one of us is going to the CDC?" the dogman asked, hoping most would stay, but knowing not everyone liked the great outdoors.

"I'm going," said Mac. "I'm not the outdoor type. Give me four walls and a ceiling."

"Staying," said Remus and Harry together, looking at each other and smiling.

"I'm going to the CDC." said Sam turning to Kingsley.

"I am undecided," Shack said, looking to the kids.

"I wanna stay here." said Peggy.

"Me too." said Mike and Sue.

"I think Jessi wants to stay at the CDC." Said Sam.

"I don't mind you kids staying here, but you're going to have to find somebody to share a tent with." Sirius stated.

"They can stay with me. I'm staying here." Tonks said, glancing at Remus.

"That sounds like a plan too. Mike can stay with us." Remus said, ignoring Tonks for the moment. Now was not the time to flirt.

Sirius clapped his hands together and said, "OK, let's get started for the day. You get the lumber," he said, pointing to Mac. "You get the list for the people who are going to the CDC," indicating Sam. "You try and talk the families into going to the CDC and letting them know that there's going to be the port key back and forth," this was Remus' job. "You kids go do your thing. The greenhouse today," he finished, then turned to go into his office. Who knew that there'd be paperwork during Armageddon?

With that they scattered to do what they had to do. All the while hoping that today would just be a good day.

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Lori stopped pulling weeds and wiped her brow. "I'm pretty sure I'm not supposed to be doing this intensive work when I'm pregnant."

"Who on Earth told you that?" Sue asked, leaning back on her heels.

"Yeah, it's only if you're, like, from the Victorian ages is that true," Peggy said, knowing from what her mother, who had been a nurse, told her.

"What would you know? None of you have mothers. Nor are you old enough to have kids," Lori sniped.

"No, but my mum was a nurse and she worked to the day she gave birth to me," Peggy snarled at the rude woman.

"If you knew who your mom was, why were you a street kid?" the pregnant woman asked, a bit ruder then she had intended.

"Not that it's any of your fucking business, but my mother died," the teen said, getting up and moving away from the woman.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I don't know what's come over me," Lori said, knowing she was taking her husband's abandonment out on everyone who didn't deserve it. Carol gave her a knowing look, and she blushed.

"Forget about it, just get back to work," Sue said, willing to cut the stressed woman a break. She'd talk to Peggy later.

Lori looked at the girl she had insulted and sighed. Then she got back to work, no more complaining. She didn't want to alienate these people, but she was just so stressed. Hopefully Rick would come back soon. Maybe he could tell these people not to work her so hard.