Chapter 20

Harry held his stomach, hoping to keep it intact. He didn't know why wizarding travel had to be so uncomfortable. It was convenient no doubt, but why did they all have to be so awful. Even Mister Weasley's bloody Anglia was better than apparition, to say nothing of the terrible ash choked mess of the floo.

"It gets easier." Consoled his godfather, giving him a pat on the back. It only made Harry feel worse and he waved the man away. He could hear Remus chuckling in the background.

"Dobby brought Harry Potter water." The little elf said with concern thick in his voice. He was holding out a glass of water, where he got it Harry didn't care, he drank it down greedily.

"You're the best Dobby, thank you." The little guy looked up at him and Harry was sure he was tearing up. It seemed like the desensitisation they had worked on last summer hadn't stuck very well.

"This is a sorry sight." Sirius said and Harry looked up. The man was looking out over Laurel's Peak. Sirius had brought them to the very top of the closest hill, where you could see clear across the valley, and forest to the lake, down to the road and then up the hill to the ruins.

There was a large ruin atop the hill below them in the shape of an L, forming a main building and a wing towards them. There was a clearing and another smaller ruin which Harry had surmised had been a greenhouse with another attached building. To the right and set slightly lower and into the hill with a gate and pathway leading down was the more whole building where Dobby and Harry had set up the tent last summer. That had been some sort of potions laboratory or other workshop.

Closer to the road were a few smaller cottages, also destroyed.

"What was it like before?" Harry asked, curious and wanting to distract the man from clearly sad memories.

He pointed to the largest central portion of the destroyed building. "That was the main building there. It's where your family lived, filled with portraits and other normal wizarding bits and pieces." Harry had no idea what was actually normal for a wizarding family, having only ever been to the Burrow. "Lounge and kitchen on the first floor, bedrooms on the others. Had the best views of the forest."

"There was a tower there, it had the library and connected the two buildings." He moved his hand to point at the wing which pointed out towards the road down to the cottages. "The wing had a huge ballroom for events and floor arrivals as well as your grandmother's study, she was the more business minded of the two, kept Mister Potter from losing himself in his potions work."

"Then across the courtyard was a greenhouse and storage shed. Down there was Mister Potter's potions laboratory." He finished with a fond smile.

"And the cottages?" Harry asked. They had always been peculiar to his mind. Why were there full sized separate living structures here.

"Oh! They were homes for Charlus, your great uncle and, my aunt Dorea, she was a Black you see, and later the other was for their son." Harry frowned, he recalled reading about Charlus and Dorea in the Potter family history book, but there was nothing in there about them having a child.

"I would have liked to have seen it all." Harry said with a sad smile. It was strange, to hurt from losing something he had never had. But it hurt all the same. His godfather places a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Another thing to thank Voldemort for I suppose."

"Hmm?" Sirius hummed distractedly, surprised at the use of the name. "Oh no, as convenient as it might be, unfortunately not all of the world's evils are the fault of You-Know-Who." Sirius smiled sadly at him. "But that will have to be a story for another time, it's getting late in the day and we need to get the tent up!"

Harry frowned at the change in topic and made a note to return to this topic before the summer was over.

The three wizards and one elf made their way down the hill towards the ruin. It was much as Harry and Dobby had left it, though some moss and dirt had begun once more to encroach the areas they had attempted cleaning.

"What do you want to do with this place Harry?" Remus asked as Sirius gave them the most depressing tour Harry could imagine. It was painful to watch how sad the man was over the destruction of a place he so clearly loved.

"Rebuild it I suppose, the way it was. Make a home for us four lonely bachelors." Harry responded, trying to lighten the mood slightly.

"Until Harry Potter's Greenie comes to live heres." Dobby agreed, probably thinking he was being helpful. Harry froze, mortified, warmth creeping up his neck. Both men looked from Dobby to him, grins growing across their thrice cursed mugs.

"And who, perchance, might be Harry Potter's 'Greenie'?" Sirius asked first, directing his enquiry to the much less inhibited house elf.

"Not a word Dobby!" Harry ordered before Dobby had a chance to respond.

"Now don't be like that Harry." Chided the werewolf. "If we are going to be living together we should know who we might have as guests."

"If there is anything for you to know, then you will."

"You know Sirius. I have it on good authority that in Harry's year there is one Daphne Greengrass, Slytherin. Redhead, of a height with our young charge, not a bad student though not particularly adept at Defence Against the Dark Arts. If I recall correctly she is particularly talented at potions, herbology and charms." The traitorous wolf man informed his friend.

"Ohhh a snake huh?" Black commented. "My, my, our little Harry likes living dangerously!" Harry marched away, ears bright red. He had a tent to set up after all.

The next few days were incredibly busy. The day after arriving at Laurel's Peak he received a letter from Hagrid to say he would be dropping off Buckbeak in a few days as the school governors were being pushy.

So rebuilding efforts were put on hold before they even began in favour of getting muggle repelling wards set up and then a paddock.

Harry and Remus transcribed the necessary runes around the perimeter of the property so that it would be fully surrounded. They were fairly simple to do by finding a large rock, mostly for its lack of movability, and inscribing muggle activation conditioned confundus protections along with the required ambient powering runes. They would only work in a set area though so had to be placed along the border of the property, with only a gap at the road entrance for the mail. It took a whole day.

Following that they went into town and used the check book Gringotts had given them for muggle transactions to purchase a shipment of fence posts and rails. They also bought shipments of landscaping stone, apparently muggles didn't build with stone anymore, structural timber, nails, copper pipes and other needs to build back the house.

Wizard houses were apparently much more simple than their muggle counterparts, largely made of bare rock or wood rather than plaster boards, bricks and render. The plumbing would be the same but other than that the ingredients were much more natural. Remus and his book from Hermione both confirmed.

Sirius had been very shocked to discover how cheap the materials were, though Harry had no clue what he was comparing it to. They didn't buy anything complicated, apparently that could come later, once the structure was up. Magic, apparently, was useful like that.

Interestingly, while visiting the local town Harry saw in the window of the real-estate agent that the property just next to his was advertised for sale.

Being a rural area all of the fence materials came the following day. A large truck arrived and was suitably confused at the request to unload at the front gate, but the man dutifully did so with their help and drove off back down the road shaking his head.

Sirius and Remus went about digging holes. Though all they were really doing was blasting sections of the field, Sirius in particular was making a real mess of it.

Harry, meanwhile, took the posts and begun crafting the containment runes he has read about in Dumbledore's book on warding. It was an interesting process, requiring linking numerous arrangements to a master arrangement, which contained the passphrases and other controls. Unfortunately warding runs of this nature could not be compressed as it would invalidate the connections between them.

While this was simple, preventing animals from passing the line established by the connected runes, it was very interesting and new for Harry. It was also good practice for the eventual work on the protections of the house, and before that, something similar and stronger for Remus.

Finally they spent a day building the full wooden fenced enclosure. Only then did they realise that they had bought far too much wood.

Harry and Remus stood looking down at a large pile of planks and fence posts. A light rain had picked up but thankfully not enough to have to retreat to the tent for the day.

Behind them an acre of the hillside between the ruins and the forest had been fenced off. The newly built wooden structure was so large it almost connected the two. Yet still they had all this scrap wood which was in no shape to use in building.

"So do we get more pets?" Harry asked, pushing his wet hair back. He really needed to get it cut. "Hagrid has a spare cerberus."

"I'm not sure I want to know." Remus replied with a smile. "We could just use it for firewood eventually."

Harry looked up at the sky and then over at the paddock. It was a bit bare, though Hagrid had kept the hippogriffs in an enclosure just like it.

"Perhaps Buckbeak would like somewhere dry?" He asked with a shrug. "Though our lesson on hippogriffs was cut short pretty dramatically when Malfoy decided he was too good for instructions."

"It's not a bad idea, shouldn't be too hard to put something together."

"We will need to get a few different pieces of wood, I don't think we can build anything with these round posts." Harry noted, shifting one with his boot. Now one of his favourite gifts from Sirius, after they were broken in, following days out on this field.

"Are you a wizard or not?" The werewolf asked his young charge.

"Well I'm not an adult wizard, so that's debatable." Harry rebutted, confused. Remus chuckled.

"Fair enough. We will just transfigure the wood we need."

"As stated, I am not a real wizard, but I'm still pretty sure that transfiguration is only temporary."

"I suppose this is NEWT level work, so you definitely haven't covered it yet. There is a permanent form of transfiguration. It's called shape manipulation." Professor Lupin took out his wand and flicked it up and down, with a slight turn at the end. "Mutatio fingunt."

The piece of wood his wand was aimed at, a round post, stretched and flattened, forming sides and corners. It wasn't actually very impressive as far as transfigurations went.

"It's a spell used to change the form of an object. I believe it is something commonly used in alchemy. It's permanent but the challenge is that it has to retain the same amount of material and you cannot change it to anything else. It also only really works on objects that are made of one material."

"So if the wood was full of nails it wouldn't work?" Harry asked, picking up the newly made plank to inspect it.

"It would change, but come back in a few hours and it would be sitting there round and full of nails." He nodded. This was definitely something he would be practising in Hogwarts once he got back. A general form changing spell, if he could make that work in runes, he couldn't even begin to imagine the limits.

It was the roar of a motor that alerted the inhabitants of Laurel's Peak of Hagrid's arrival.

"Is that my bike!" Cried Sirius, strangely looking up into the air. Harry squinted up against the midday sun as a shape came into view. Great, more flying vehicles. Say what you want about the man but he was anything but small. He was far larger than the bike he was flying in on, but even larger was a horse trailer attached to the back of it. "I completely forgot I left it with him."

"You have a flying motorbike?" Harry asked, though he wasn't sure why. From only properly knowing Sirius Black for a few days, of course he owned a motorbike. "Isn't that illegal?"

His godfather shrugged in reply with a grin. "What are they going to do, lock me up?"

The roaring beast rocketed towards the ground before pulling up at the road and landing heavily, large man swaying forward dramatically. Bike bumped about roughly on the loose rock of the road, kicking up dirt, loud squawks replying angrily from the trailer.

"Hagrid!" Harry greeted, running down the path to greet his first friend. The Hogwarts professor ambled off the bike, pulling some goggles off his face. They were caked in insects, while his face was equally covered in dirt. The large man waved his new wand at his beard, giving it a clean. He shuddered to think at what was being cleaned from it.

"Alrigh' there 'arry! My, you've shot up like a weed, you 'ave!" The affable man greeted. Harry ran up and hugged him, which he returned with a heavy pat on the back.

"Hello Hagrid, glad to see you have been looking after the old girl for me!" Sirius greeted, with Remus following slowly after him.

"'Lo Remus, Sirius." Hagrid greeted in return. "Right glad to hear yer free of that place. Never thought you were bad, not after how I found you at Godric's Hollow. Not that anyone listened ta me tho', on account of, well you know." Harry didn't know on account of what though, and looked confusedly between the two men. Was it because Hagrid had been expelled?

"Thank you for trying anyway, Hagrid."

The large man nodded and waved away the thanks, in typically embarrassed fashion. There was a loud squawk again from the trailer. "Alrigh, alrigh I'm comin' you ruddy beast." He moved around the bike and unhooked the trailer by tapping it with his new wand. He then lifted it easily and began moving it towards the new paddock and hut under the direction of Remus. They had put together a reasonably large, if very basic, structure with liberal use of transfiguration, cutting charms and some runes from Harry to keep it warm and strong. It wasn't much, but with the straw Harry had just got done unpacking, it would keep buckbeak happy.

To Harry's surprise though, it wasn't Buckbeak who exited the trailer, at least not at first. A smaller Hippogriff, with a mix of golden and brown plumage descended the ramp through the gate. Buckbeak then quickly followed and both animals took off into a gallop, stretching their legs and exploring their new home.

"Ah Hagrid, I didn't know we were having another guest?"

"Right, sorry 'bout that. I just thought Beakey might get a bit lonely all by 'imself. Dumbledore said it would be alrigh' if I brought Marigold with 'im. For company. I hope it's not too much trouble."

"No trouble at all, everyone needs a girlfriend, isn't that right Moony!" Sirius crowed. This had become a typical point of ribbing for the former convict. When he found out that Remus had been single since he had been carted off to Azkaban, Sirius had made it his mission to both remind the werewolf of this fact every chance he got, and to encourage him to do something to rectify it.

"It is really for his own good. You see. There's a key to motivating Moony to do things he doesn't think he should, whether due to rules or his monthly problem." Sirius had informed him one night. "Make it even more unbearable and embarrassing for him then whatever outcome he is worried about."

Harry, having been the butt of bullying for much of his young life, wasn't sure that was particularly nice. That said he could see how Sirius' heart was in the right place, he didn't want his friend to be lonely. Harry had noticed it was slowly getting to his former professor.

They all watched the two hippogriffs play for a while, even managed to give them both a scratch as they came over for a feed. It was a nice moment, one that Harry felt strangely at peace in, just watching the animals play without a care in the world. It was like all of his own cares disappeared with them. That moment of peace made for a stranger feeling, of being at home in this place, a feeling he had only felt at Hogwarts, though had slightly lost it in his second year. The whispers and taunts of the other children had destroyed that comfort, that kind ignorance initially created by escaping the Dursleys, with whom he had been able to blame all his troubles. Here though, in this moment, that feeling returned.

Eventually Sirius and Remus went off to inspect his old motorbike. A little bit after that Hagrid looked down at him. "Nice place here you got 'ere, I passed over that forest on the way. Good old forest, that is, a magical place."

"I've only been a little way inside. But I have seen a forest troll, a unicorn, pixies, gnomes and a gringwort goff."

"Fancy another look inside?" The large man asked, looking side along at Harry conspiratorially. Harry grinned in reply. Clearly his friend's love for magical creatures had won out.

"Sirius! Hagrid and I are going to have a look inside the forest!" Harry yelled up at the man, who just waved in reply. Another thing Harry had come to realise about his Godfather is his utter disregard for personal risk. He could be convinced to do almost anything, and allowed Harry the same lack of boundaries. The Boy-Who-Lived and Hogwarts Professor adventured into the forest of Laurel's Peak.

Just as when he went to release the pixie and fight the forest troll the hike was an almost claustrophobic experience. The trees were tightly packed, dense and dark. The ground was mossy and soft with only a few small shrubs. It smelt moist, of mildew and wet leaves.

Harry spent much of his time clambering over thick roots, some as tall as his waist. Hagrid, on the other hand, struck his head on low hanging branches on multiple occasions.

They spied many of the same creatures Harry had seen on his last venture. Pixies played in the canopy, and Harry wondered if one of them was the one he had released. One even got itself tangled in Hagrid's beard somehow. Harry turned around at a few points and saw an entire troop of gnomes scatter, clearly following them. There was no sign of the troll.

One one or two occasions Hagrid pocketed plants growing on trees or in the undergrowth. Harry didn't recognise any, though one looked like a flower with teeth. Harry asked him to grab a few more for him if they were interesting.

When they reached a clearing, caused by tree fall and blanketed by clover and moss, Hagrid grabbed his shoulder, bringing them to a stop. Harry looked up confused but his professor motioned for silence. So they waited and watched. Harry wasn't sure what he was waiting for and looked around the clearing curiously. Nothing appeared and the forest was almost silent.

Then a small fern at the edge of the clearing hopped to its left. Harry jumped in surprise with it. Then another hopped after it, then another. A much larger tree, its trunk was curved up in a neck and was topped with large antler like branches, took a step, large roots lifting off the ground, followed slowly by another.

The whole forest started moving through the clearing, animated trees swaying in the sun as though a strong wind had struck them. Small ferns and bigger shrubs jumped around their root feet.

"Hagrid?" Harry asked uncertainly, watching the herd of trees with wide eyes. "What exactly am I looking at?"

"Florapeds, Harry. And a mighty fine herd of em too."

"Right, is that good?"

"Rare creatures are florapeds, completely harmless as you might expect. Shy as you will find and completely blind and deaf. They live in old forests like this and get about feelin' the air an' vibrations. As they grow they look like different plants fer camouflage." Harry hoped that they were more in line with his own definition of harmless, and not Hagrids.

Still, as they sat and watched the herd Harry felt at home once more, just like in watching Buckbeak and Marigold. Just like when he first arrived at Hogwarts. He wondered what Dumbledore would say it was. The wonder of magic or some such. It was a feeling he cherished though, discovering something beautiful in the wizarding world, a world that so often seemed so awful. So naturally he sought to spoil it.

"Why would people not listen to you about Sirius, Hagrid?" Harry asked, breaking the silence. Hagrid, initially surprised by the question, seemed to blush beneath his abundant facial hair, like he had just told three eleven year olds about a secret hidden stone that granted immortality. Harry quickly realised that he had put his foot in his mouth though.

"You don't have to answer that."

"No is alrigh', I'm part giant Harry. People don' much like folk like me, half breeds." There was more venom in his voice than Harry had ever heard and it made his stomach turn. "An giants ain't the friendliest of folk neither."

"Most of the school thought I was evil or disliked me for one reason or another." Harry said, empathising with his friend, giving him a pat on the arm. But then a familiar feeling of indignation welled up inside him, at the treatment of his friend and himself and so many others. It was no different from Remus getting fired or not being allowed to testify, Dobby and the treatment of house elves, muggleborns, centaurs. Is there anyone who wizards and witches didn't look down on?

"I have had it up to here with the lot of them and their opinions! You're the friendliest person I have ever met, Hagrid, and I couldn't care less about any of that. And if everyone dislikes us, we can still like each other!"

"Right nice of you to say." The half-giant muttered, fiddling with his beard. The large man took a big sniff and Harry took a slight step back. He knew how Hagrid could get when emotional and he didn't want to be in the firing line.

"You will always have friend's here, Hagrid. If you feel like it, you can even build a new house here, whenever you want."

"I think I might like tha'." His half-giant friend said with a big smile. He pulled out a huge handkerchief from his ever present large hide coat and blew his nose so violently it sounded like a trumpet. The herds of florapeds froze.

Thank you everyone who kindly reviewed. Some pointed out small continuity errors that I have gone back and fixed so thank you.

A bit short again but still a good time to stop on this chapter. The last bit of this chapter I am really happy to get around to writing. It's a small thing I thought up near the beginning of this story, more than a year ago. I hope you all enjoyed it. It is a scene I really wanted to help with the vibe of this story, of making a very magical story. Not people throwing spells around and writing stupefy a thousand times. But magical moments, some adventure, some small moments of kindness, maybe some scariness later on who knows.

I also hope to be developing Harry into more of a caring character and I hope this chapter demonstrates his changing attitude as well as his changing life, becoming more settled and independent without needing to rub it in people's face.