Hermione, Lord Nott, Theo and Anneken stood at the portal. The two wizards had broomsticks slung over their shoulders and Theo looked wind blown from the loop the loops he'd pulled in an attempt to show off.

'Right, everyone hold on.' Hermione offered out the broken piece of Gorlois staff and everyone reached for it. It was about a foot long, which made it awkward to open the portal and shuffle towards it with everyone holding on to the short piece of splintered wood.

'Ready?' She asked, receiving an affirmative from everyone.

She stepped through the portal.

The piece of wards let them through with the barest inquisitive brush, which made the piece of wood in their hands somewhat unnecessary but Hermione hadn't been willing to gamble with their lives that she'd opened up the island in the 1890s and that nothing had happened to close them since.

'Wow.' Theo said as soon as the winds died.

The courtyard had changed since Hermione's last visit. She assumed that the servants had been hard at work, and if the lack of adverse reaction from the wards was anything to go by they might have had assistance from her and Gellert in the past. The forest that had grown across the main courtyard in the past had been uprooted and the flagstones relaid. The ring of standing stones that had circled the portal now grew among beds of moss and flowering heather. The pearly white rock was a gleaming contrast to the emerald green and fresh purple. Ahead of them, the castle towered up like a skyscraper of pointed spires and balconies and reached a summit in the huge central tower that Hermione knew had housed Morgana's rooms.

'Quite an entrance.' Lord Nott agreed, following Hermione up to the front doors. Once more, she was struck by how tall they were. She could fit a full grown ukranian iron belly though them, and still have space to walk alongside comfortably. She continued, passing between banners as big as houses and went through the next set of doors and into the throne room.

Theo whistled.

'I think that this could be a ballroom.' Hermione said. 'The throne is no good, of course, but the dais would work for the band.'

'Yes, it will certainly do.' Anneken agreed, turning in a slow circle. 'We will need modern bathrooms, and a floo connection. I assume there's kitchens somewhere which will probably need updating.'

'Decorating will be a big job.' Hermione pointed out.

'I don't think it needs much.' Lord Nott said. 'The architecture is incredible and I imagine most decorations would disappear given the size of the room. You'll need a lot of guests to fill it.'

'Flowers.' Anneken announced. 'That purple heather outside was lovely, and it's a nice variation from the blue and white, but not so different that it would clash. There's probably enough growing in Orkney that we could pick it instead of buying.'

Theo wandered over to the smaller doors at the sides and pulled one open.

'Found a bathroom!' He called, then hesitated. 'I think. Definitely needs new bathrooms.'

Hermione clacked across the hall, her boots echoing in the massive room. Theo had found the bathrooms - a long row of holes gouged into a stone bench and a trough of water. It was clean but that's about all that she could say for it.

'Agreed.' Anneken said, peering over their shoulders and wrinkling her nose.

'This might lead to the kitchens, or the dungeons.' Lord Nott called from across the room. Hermione left Theo, who was looking into another bathroom and went to the door that Lord Nott had left open behind him. The white, seamless rock of the castle reflected his wand light in a glitter of refracted magic and Hermione followed him down.

They went down a long way, coiling through a gentle curve.

'Dungeons.' Lord Nott called up from below. 'There must have been a gorgon employed - I've found the prisoners.'

Hermione emerged into a long corridor. On the right was a wall of bars, separated into three or four separate cells. The other side of the room was full of deep shelves and Lord Nott stood at the end, arms crossed as he inspected the stone figure which remained.

'Rather efficient, really. I imagine there were very few escapes whilst waiting for trial. This poor being is long gone though.' Clearly, prisoners were not afforded the same preservation spells as the structure of the castle. Two limbs had broken off and the prisoner's features were worn so badly that there wasn't even a mouth to pour a restorative draught into. Hermione bit her lip, hoping desperately that people petrified by gorgons weren't conscious.

'Lets go.' She said, shivering. It was cold, dug this deep into the rock with only the narrow ventilation shafts to provide light. Lord Nott agreed and they hurried back up the staircase and into the ballroom. Anneken had a long spool of rope out and was measuring the room, having roped Theo into being her assistant.

'Ninety by forty meters. I'm sure I have a number of chairs and tables which can be borrowed from Fort Stark; even if we put food and chairs around the edge, we will need over a thousand guests just to make it feel full.' Anneken sighed.

'Put an advert in the prophet?' Lord Nott suggested. 'This is a ball to introduce the Gorlois family to society, and that includes all of society. 'Space is not something that we are lacking - the entrance hall is large enough to serve as a refreshment room if necessary.'

Anneken blinked at him, then shrugged.

'I will ask for Lady Longbottom's assistance. A ball that big will take more than me to plan.'

'I will write to Daphne Greengrass. She does have very good taste and I'm sure she'd appreciate the experience of working with you.' Hermione offered and Theo nodded in agreement; he knew Daphne much better than Hermione did.

'I can oversee the renovations.' Lord Nott offered. 'Theodore will assist me.'

'What will you do, Hermione?' Theo asked curiously and Hermione grimaced.

'Spend a lot of time in court, I imagine. Lord Nott, I will need you with me for the case against Dumbledore.'

'You don't think he will hand over the seals?' Theo asked, surprised. The law had been outlined perfectly in the letter that they cad composed and Dumbledore had no foot to stand on.

'I'm counting on it. He can't just give me the seal because the Nurmengard wards are linked to it, and there are exactly two people who know how those wards work. He will have to raise it in court as "special circumstances" and I will happily move control of the wards to the seal of the Supreme Mugwump.'

'So why do you need me?' The elderly Patriarch was mystified.

'Because, you visited Sirius Black with me in Azkaban.' She grinned as it dawned on him what she meant and a wicked smirk painted his face.

'I don't know how anyone ever doubted you were a Slytherin, Priestess. I can't imagine a better alibi. Heir Potter will be there as well?'

'His ring is in contention as well. I anticipate Dumbledore trying to step in for that one as well because he seems rather keen to have Harry stay with his uncle, but he can't make those decisions without arguing that he has been given Locum Patriarchy somehow.'

'Do I want to know?' Theo asked after a brief pause.

'You and I will be working on your occlumency.' His father informed him and Theo groaned.

They finished in the ballroom, found a massive dining room opposite the door to the dungeons and a kitchen that would have been considered well appointed even a century ago.

'I don't understand.' Hermione said, spinning on the spot to take in the gleaming hobs and pans, wide sinks and beautifully oiled tables. Then, a tan bolt shot from a small balcony door, rocketing across the room and colliding with Hermione's legs. Spindly arms wrapped around her.

'Missy Hermione is home!' The elderly house elf squeaked in German. 'Flighty was thinking it would never happens.'

'Flighty?' Hermione asked, untangling the skinny arms so that she could look the elf in the face. There was little similarity between the young elf she knew and the one in front of her, but she could recognise her elf magic. 'Have you been here alone all this time?' Hermione demanded, concerned.

'Oh no. Master Gellert sent Beastie to live with Flighty when naughty Master Gellert was accused of murdering the nasty Miss Ariana, who used to pull Beastie's ears. Flighty and Beastie have been having many children, and they had been meeting other elves and coming here and having many more children who is also having children. We has been teaching young elves to work in the city. Flighty is hoping Missy Hermione is not angry, Flighty is forgetting the appropriate punishment in her old age.' The elf tugged at her ears anxiously.

'Oh no, Flighty. That's wonderful.' Hermione told her warmly. 'Flighty, you remember Anneken. She's going to be organising a ball, do you think you could choose some elves to join my service officially? This is Lord Nott, and his son is Heir Theodore Nott, they're going to be organising some renovations.'

Flighty eyed both men suspiciously through eyes that perhaps weren't as sharp as they had been before curtsying deeply.

'Flighty knows many young elves who would be honoured to serve Missy Hermione.' Flighty decided. 'Flighty will be going to find some.'

She hobbled out of the kitchen, picking up a miniature walking stick along the way. Presuming that the kitchen was in good hands, they left, walking back up to the courtyard where a number of skeletal guards had gathered. She sighed in annoyance, noticing that they'd been decorating Katana's new leather harness with blue markings again. It would take her hours to wash it off but left on it would dry out the leather; perhaps she should ask them to make an embroidered saddle and be done with it.

'How many of them are there?' Lord Nott muttered.

'Hundreds. It was a great honour to commit your body to the defence of the city. Apparently they used to earn the privilege and then Elaine - Morgana's sister - would engrave the ritual into their skulls whilst they were still alive so that they would remain here even after their flesh was gone.'

Three pairs of horrified eyes turned to her.

'I know, but they thought it was an honour. People used to think all sorts of nasty things were an honour fourteen hundred years ago.' Hermione defended. 'And these guys had a wixen healer, so at least it wasn't going to kill them.'

Her argument was unconvincing but she was pretty certain that it wasn't a tradition she intended to revive so it hardly mattered. She did still have to do some ritual to keep her own essence on the mortal plane but so far she was swinging to whatever Gorlois had done.

With little else to do and lots to organise, they stepped back through the portal.