Bill held up a hand to get Harry to stop. "Enough, Harry. If we're adding elves to our group, they need to be seen by Sissy and Fleur."
"They do. Come on, let's get you sorted. Mione and Draco will work out where we're putting you all and how you're going to travel. Dwalin will want to know your weapons and how proficient you are with them." As he spoke, Harry gestured and began to lead the elves back to the encampment and the waiting Medi-witches.
The rest of the flight to Erebor was quiet. The elves were still coming to terms with magic and how freely the Hogwarts community used it and how versatile it was. So very different from the Istari. They specialised in one area and rarely moved outside that circle of capability, but the Hogwarts community seemed to cover many areas.
Neville was the one to startle them the most, the gentle man going from tending his plants to a training spar with his father or Harry, just stunned them. Here was a plant healer but… he was also a warrior, the two didn't meet, not as far as the elves were concerned. But it was the common theme for Hogwarts, that everyone be able to work in a number of different fields.
And then there was quidditch.
The night the elves joined them there was a pick-up game. Harry and Draco were the seekers and the game lasted for nearly two hours, by which time the elves could do little but shudder. The lengths the witches and wizards went to for a game? It scared the fertiliser out of them.
No wonder they weren't afraid of a dragon.
They reached the ruined city of Dale a little before sunset, eleven days after leaving Beorn's and within moments of landing, Bill, Charlie and Remus, who seemed to be a jack-of-all-trades, threw up a series of protection and concealment charms, before Hermione and Sirius added a few from the Black library from Grimmauld Place.
While they were doing that Harry sent a Patronus to Beorn to update him on their arrival and that they would spend that night making plans and probably only do a reconnaissance trip the next day, before more planning. They expected to attack the mountain and the dragon in the next few days, but until the recon trip was done, that was unconfirmed.
Colin was the unofficial 'mayor' of the Nest and it was he that carried its pocket-space frame in a belt like Harry's. He removed the frame and after clearing an area against a wall, in the corner of a destroyed building that still had most of its ceiling intact, he attached the frame to the wall and one by one, the tired travellers entered the Nest. The elves had been given a house, and much like the dwarves had, had asked if it were possible for someone to alter its appearance to resemble a stone building. It had startled the dwarves when they'd first seen the newly altered structure, but the heavy stone comforted them, and they'd begun to tentatively accept the elves as part of the group.
Unfortunately the elves had no more of a developed core than the dwarves and for them flying was to require the same conditions as the dwarves. Legolas, Tauriel, Jessian and Torvold were the only elves to be comfortable flying, the others could do it, but much preferred to ride a carpet than a broom or even a chair. Having four elves with their enhanced vision as spotters made a welcome change for the scout rotation, allowing the group to have a rotation of just spotters, consisting of the four elves, Harry, Charlie, Draco and Bill. They still had a magical with them, but that magical was there more for the spotter's protection and communication, than as a second set of eyes. It made the trip a little less stressful and a little more fun, the younger magicals being allowed to fly between the carpets to visit their friends.
But now they were in Dale, making plans for the recon into the mountain.
"Okay…" Headley was the youngest and clearly the least able to take part in the upcoming mission, so he was the one to chair the planning meeting, with Natalie taking notes. "What do we need this mission to achieve?" He asked.
There was a smattering of mutters before a dwarf spoke up.
"We need to know if the dragon is still alive." Kíli said.
"Right. Natalie?" Headley turned to the young blonde Gryffindor at his side. "Can you make two lists? One for if the dragon is alive and one for if it's not?"
"Sure." The little Canadian-born muggleborn gave him a small smile, nervous at speaking in front of so many people.
"Thanks. Let's work on the first list. The dragon's alive. What else do we need to know?"
"Is it impervious to magic?" Harry called out.
"How big is it?" Charlie asked from between Bill and Harry.
"How badly its infected the mountain." Hermione added.
"How badly damaged the city is." Balin said.
"Has the dragon laid traps? Has the damage caused instabilities in the mountain that we'll have to correct before attacking dragon? The last thing we need is to kill the dragon and have the mountain brought down on us in retaliation." Bill added.
"How will we get into the mountain?" Thorin asked. "There's a hidden door but we don't know where it is. Not exactly, anyway."
"Why would we need a hidden door?" Dennis asked.
"How else do we plan to get into the mountain?" Fíli asked.
"Uh… Windows…? We have brooms that can fly." Dennis said slowly. "We can fly in through any open space, no matter how far above the ground it is." Thorin's face showed his shock. "You'd forgotten that, hadn't you?"
"I had." Thorin admitted. "Very well, access is not the issue."
"It is, but more where to gain access? Which of you lived here? Who knows the mountain the best?" Hermione asked. The versions of the books, that she'd read were never quite clear. Yes, Thorin was mentioned in Smaug's attack, but was anyone else present?
"Myself and Balin were the only ones in my Company that knew Erebor but Balin was only ten when Smaug came." Thorin answered.
"I remember little of the mountain, the panicked leaving, yes, but not the mountain itself." Balin added.
"Then Thorin is in the recon team." Headley said. "Anyone disagree? No? Good. Next…?"
"Getting to the treasury." Thorin said. "That's where the beast is likely to be, nesting in the gold and gems of our people."
"Right. Getting there…?" Headley asked. "What do we need to know about that?"
"Instabilities and traps." Bofur replied. "Flying means we're not as concerned about walkways and the like, but ceilings could come down if the dragon has damaged the support columns."
"Then there's the chance of magical traps. We don't know if this dragon can do magic or if it is magical at all." Charlie said.
"How do we keep the dragon from knowing that someone has entered the mountain?" Torvold asked.
"Concealment charms." Fred replied. "Disillusionment charms."
"Scent removal charms." George added.
"Silencing charms." Fred added.
"And link them together so that each member of the team can see and hear the others, but the dragon can't." Bill finished.
"Back to access." Headley rapped a rock on the table to get people's attention. "Thank you. Access. Traps. Stability. Who do we need for that?"
"Thorin for access and pathfinding. Thorin? How are you with reading the stability of stone?" Natalie had forgotten that she was nervous, now she was just doing her job.
"Good. Not great, but good. Bofur's better, but I can keep us away from the worst of it." Thorin answered.
"For a recon, that's all we need. Once the dragon is no longer an issue, we can look as shoring up the mountain properly, but first we need to get that oversized lizard out." Dwalin countered.
"Agreed." Thorin nodded.
"Right, so Thorin's all we need as far as access, pathfinding and structural assessment for the recon." Headley hummed. "So, next is… traps. Magical and physical."
"That would be Bill, then." George said.
"He's a curse-breaker…" Fred added. "He has to get into a site…"
"… before he can assess the curses and break them." George finished.
"And he has a small amount of dragon experience, too." Luna smiled at the tall redhead.
"Okay, Bill for traps. Any objections?" Headley asked. No-one answered and most shook their heads. "Right. The dragon, itself."
"Charlie." Harry, Bill, Fred, George and McGonagall all spoke at the same time.
"We need Charlie in there to assess the dragon. Its size, strength, weight, intelligence and any weaknesses." Bill went on.
"Agreed." Thorin and Legolas had viewed some of Charlie's memories and both of them were confident that the handler knew what he was about.
"Harry." Charlie added. "Harry's the only one with flying experience in combat with a dragon. We might need that, hopefully not, but it's something we can't rule out. We've no idea if the dragon is magical, if it is, it might be able to sense us. Then again, snakes can detect heat signatures, we don't know if this dragon can do the same. It might be asleep, or it could be awake, if it is, how aggressive the dragon is likely to be? We don't know."
"Given that… I think we need to take quidditch brooms, not modified brooms." Bill said.
"We may need the manoeuvrability." Thorin agreed.
"I have a thought in regard to the concealment charms." Snape interjected.
"Yes, Professor?" Headley asked.
"Those entering the mountain are going to need their magical reserves to be at their peak. I believe that the charms should be cast on them, instead of them casting for themselves. I've been working on a core boosting potion, that I am confident will open the cores of the younger dwarves, however, I'm not so certain how the more mature dwarves' cores will react." Snape said.
"If my Company wish, they may take your booster, but I shan't until the dragon is no longer a threat to my people." Thorin declared. "I cannot risk a negative reaction in such dire times."
"Nor can we risk accidental magic outbursts, Severus." McGonagall added.
"I am aware, and I agree, but I felt that I needed to alert you to the option." Snape nodded.
"Thank you, Professor Snape. Once the dragon is done, I'll take your booster." Ori said. "I want to keep flying…" The last sentence was whispered with a smile.
"Back on track…" Headley dragged them back to the dragon. "Let's see what we have… Quidditch brooms instead of modified brooms. The recon team will be Thorin, Charlie, Bill and Harry. Anyone else that we feel needs to be on that team and why?" There was a lot of humming and a few thoughtful faces before most heads were shaken. "Alright. What preparation will the recon team need? Miss Sissy?"
"I'd suggest a decent meal this evening and a small dose of Dreamless Sleep™ to ensure a restful night's sleep." Narcissa replied.
"If Hermione and Garrick were to bond a few more crystals to Thorin, Harry could charge them up this evening." Remus offered. "Then in the morning… or whenever they are ready to leave… someone takes them directly to the mountain, via a carpet, they'll all be at highest magical levels we can get them to."
"Oh, they should also take a Pepper-Up, too." Sirius said. "And maybe a standard core booster for the magicals?"
"Anything else to add?" Headley asked and more heads were shaken. "Right. What if the dragon is dead? What do we need to do then?"
"I think we should leave the 'what do we do if it's alive or dead' until we know." Draco said. "I'm more concerned about what do we do if the dragon is alive decides to follow them out of the mountain?"
There were a number of wide-eyed looks and a few blank faces.
"Ugh…" Headley grunted.
"Charlie? Can we set up a perimeter like the dragon preserves?" Fred asked.
"Wards like you had in Romania?" George added.
"Can you do that, here? Or is it something that takes time to create?" Remus asked.
"It takes time, not much, only about half an hour but it requires a crap-load of power" Charlie warned.
"Could we use the booster crystals?" Hermione asked. "Even if we leave Thorin's alone, there's at least fifty crystals bonded to people and another hundred or so in the infirmary ready to use. If we charged all the crystals this evening and took Pepper-Up's in the morning, we could have… each of the adult witches or wizards with three or four crystals and each of the elves and dwarves with three. Would we have enough power, then?"
Charlie tilted his head in thought. "If we classified each crystal as… hmm… two crystals equalling one person, that would give us…"
"One hundred and six and a half." Hermione provided quickly. "If we used every adult, bar those in the recon team."
"But that leaves us with no reserves, if the wards aren't enough to hold the beast in." Dwalin warned.
"True." Snape hummed. "Take Narcissa out, we'll need medical observation. And Fleur is pregnant, she should also be omitted, the risk to an unborn child is too great."
"Ah… Better leave me out, too, then." Sirius' grimaced comment brought a flurry of startled comments. Harry leant back and laughed, while the elves and the dwarves just looked confused.
"I'll explain later." Narcissa said and shook her head at Sirius. "Really, Siri? Already? If you're not careful, you're going to end up with more children then Bedivere and Ellwood Weasley."
"I'm fine with that." Sirius grinned. Through all this Remus hid his red face in Teddy's hair.
"Wards for the dragon." Headley dragged them back on subject, yet again. "Miss Sissy can explain this to those of us that don't understand, later. Right now we need to deal with the dragon!" Headley snapped and a few people winced. "Thank you. Bill, Charlie? How many people do you need to triple the wards that the Romanian preserve had?"
"Thirteen people set the preserves wards. If I had thirteen magicals, who each had seven crystals? I think that would be enough and it would give us a few magicals as backup, just in case things go pear-shaped."
"How big of an area, are you thinking of?" Bill asked.
"Each compound in Romania was twenty-one miles squared." Charlie replied. "Here, I think we'd get a better result if we stuck to a thirteen-mile radius from the peak of the mountain… The arithmantic equation would be stronger and when that's backed by a coven of thirteen? Nine witches, three wizards and lead by a carrier. Yeah, much stronger."
"But… That would mean… we'd need another carrier." Hermione objected.
"Yeah, we would. To get the strongest results, yes, we'd need another carrier." Charlie turned to Narcissa. "Have we got one?"
Narcissa didn't answer, she just looked around the pavilion and met each person's eye as she went. Some minutely nodded and she sat back.
"Yes, we do. Please remember that twenty percent of men are carriers, that's one in five." Narcissa said. "And their orientation has no bearing on whether they are carriers or not, neither does heritage, it's just luck of the draw. Magic decides, where magic decides." She glanced around again. "Each of them have acknowledged their consent for me to divulge their names. Sirius, of course, is already pregnant. The others are Harry, Draco, Oliver, Seamus, Headley and Garrick. Magically, Harry is definitely the strongest, but he's on the recon team, so we can eliminate him from consideration. I would say that… Draco and Oliver are fairly evenly matched, as far as magical strength is concerned, so either would work. Draco does have the advantage of having been involved in warding rituals in the past. However, I am unsure if Oliver has that experience." She looked to Oliver and he shook his head.
"No, I haven't. I studied them for my NEWT's but that was for Arithmancy and there was no practical involved." Oliver shrugged.
"I'd be prepared to participate." Draco shrugged. "But perhaps Oliver, Bill and Charlie could give me and the rest of the coven a refresher on what they see being involved?"
Oliver exchanged looks with Bill and Charlie and nodded. "We can do that."
"Great." Headley grinned. "Who's the rest of the coven?"
"Draco should decide that, the more comfortable he is with them, the better the result will be." Bill said. "Draco?"
"Padma, Parvati and Lavender." Draco answered. "Mione, Alice and Minerva. Katie, Alicia and Angelina. And… Fred, George and Severus."