Wheels Within Wheels – Part Three
Iolanthe
Chapter Fifteen
A Few Prudent Measures
Harry and Daphne were quiet enough, it turned out, and the Honorable Miss Iolanthe Astoria slept soundly throughout the night, as did her parents. That was a good thing, because they both awakened well-rested when the Honorable Miss stood up in her crib around five-thirty and began shaking the headboard to the rhythm of 'MUM-MUM-MUM-MUM-MUM…'
Mum got the change done while Da-da took a moment, then Da-da called for a bottle from the elves and sat down in the rocker with the Honorable Miss while Mum freshened up.
Daphne emerged showered, teeth brushed, hair pulled back, wearing emerald green warmups with silver piping, and took over. When Harry got back, he took up his station on the little side chair.
"I didn't get the whole story told last night," he began, or tried to.
"Imagine that," Daphne said. It was a throwaway, but she couldn't resist giving Harry the co-conspirator look. He returned it.
"I got a really good night's sleep," Harry confessed, "Lots better than finishing a boring story.
"Anyway, after working out my theory at The Mill, I walked to the new house and took a look around. The inside looks great, ready for a final cleanup, art on the walls, furniture, and occupation by the Potter-Black-Greengrass-Davis…"
"Cabal," Daphne finished for him.
"Y-yes, my own private conspiracy, with my co-conspirators close at hand, at the family's country seat," Harry said. "While I was there, I was using that legilimenstechnique, just to be a little extra-sensitive to what was going on outside, and someone came up. I went out to greet him, not knowing what to expect, and he turned out to be a faun."
"Oh," Daphne said, clearly taken by surprise. "I've never seen one. How do you know it wasn't a Lestrange spy in a faun costume?"
"His feet," Harry said. "He has little goat feet. There is no place to put a human foot in that costume. His name is Plum. He was upset with the new house."
Daphne flared a bit. She had done the rough drawings before turning the design over to Fabio for both a sanity check and the finishing touches, and she rather liked the new house. In her mind, it was her 'dream home,' although she was saving that for a thank-you to Harry upon the occasion of their official move-in.
"And why was a faun running around in the middle of the night, objecting to my new home?" Daphne asked. She noticed she'd just staked a claim she hadn't staked before but moved on.
"Is it not to his taste?"
"No, not at all," Harry said. "The reason for his objection is very much in the tradition of rural Britain. It seems the woodland creatures have been holding their revels there since who knows when, and he felt we'd encroached. I pointed out that Potters have been living there for centuries, and all that we did was put a house back on the site. I asked him how his friends had held revels before, and he said they'd had a deal with the Potters. In the end, we settled on a new, preliminary deal and I committed us to establishing an acceptable reveling ground for the future. He lives in that grove down the hill and off to the right. I'll take it as settled we won't sell that timber and plant row crops there."
Daphne was rocking in her chair. Iolanthe no longer lay back in the crook of Daphne's arm with her bottle, unless she was trying to drift off to sleep. These days she sat straight, her back against Daphne's torso, looking at and listening to everything going on around her. Lately she had taken to tossing her bottle aside when it was empty, then commencing to climb off the lap that held her and begin the next phase of her day.
"That does sound magical," Daphne said, an indication, to Harry's mind, that she had been thinking the situation over. Iolanthe's bottle went flying, and she began climbing down.
"Part of the deal is Plum and his friends will keep an eye on things when we're away," Harry said, as he looped an arm around Iolanthe's middle and scooped her up.
"Breakfast?" Harry asked.
"Ap-pul?" Iolanthe inquired.
"Apple," Harry confirmed, as Daphne got up from the rocker.
On the way downstairs, Harry said to Daphne, in his lowest mutter, "Let me work that other problem. No reason to get everyone upset unnecessarily."
"Of course, Harry," Daphne said. "That's your area."
The sunny room was quite pleasant and the Potters had it all to themselves for roughly half an hour. Iolanthe got her fill of Trix' applesauce puree while Harry and Daphne ate scrambled eggs and muffins. When Fabio and Kendra arrived, breakfast was finished and the table cleared of everything but Harry and Daphne's coffee cups.
Harry and Daphne stayed off the unpleasant topic of Georges Lestrange and his aggressive approach to making a deal for Fabio's businesses by talking about the new house. They had to get started with furnishing the place, without further delay. There were a few magical furniture and household goods merchants, but the great magical households combined ancient and modern, enchanted and non-magical, goblin-made and muggle craftsmanship, in idiosyncratic melangeries that defied description. It was rare that a wizarding family built a new home to decorate and furnish from scratch. Daphne had always liked spending time with Kendra doing mother-and-daughter stuff, and she anticipated the furniture-choosing and home-commissioning phase of her relationship with her new manor house to be a revel in and of itself, with the added bonus of hauling her own daughter around and letting three generations share the fun.
"You might want to go pick out art with Mrs. Greengrass," Harry said, at one point. "Not that I want to poke my nose into your business or tell you how to do your job."
This got a genuine laugh out of Kendra.
"So diffident! You've been domesticated, Harry," Kendra observed.
"I give all credit to my teacher," Harry said, as he nodded toward Daphne.
"Oh, Harry," Daphne said, "You're such a quick and independent learner, all I had to do was point you in the right direction."
"Well, why not?" Harry said. "Get a colleague to take your patients at St. Mungo's for the day, coordinate with Professor Davis, take Iolanthe along for entertainment."
Kendra looked at Daphne.
"Sure," Daphne said. "Let's do calendars, and you can call Uncle Larry."
"Wins all around," Kendra said, getting up and leaving for the library. Daphne put Iolanthe on the floor
"Go with Gran," she ordered, and gave Harry a wink before falling in behind Iolanthe.
Harry let everyone clear out of the sunny room before turning to Fabio.
"Mr. Greengrass, I'm working on the Lestrange issue. It may be necessary for you to be scarce for a day or two. Is there something credible you could do, like go to Davis Manor and polish an enchanted lamp, or something?" Harry asked.
"You know about their enchanted lamp?" Fabio replied. "They usually don't talk about that."
"I didn't know," Harry said, "It was just a hypothetical, something to use for an example. What kind is it?"
"It's got a genie," Fabio said. "He's kind of a refugee. Very quiet, keeps his head down. There is a very bad Moroccan wizard after him. The genie cost the wizard a princess, a very delectable princess, according to the legend, and the wizard won't let it go. If it goes just a few more years, the feud will get into the record books.
"So, to answer your question, sure, there's always something I can do, someplace I can go," Fabio concluded.
"I'll let you know," Harry said. "I'm going to get out of here so I can be seen in public, in case anyone is looking for me. I plan on attending that Wizengamot session this afternoon. Will I see you there?"
"As far as I know," Fabio said. "You've got my curiosity riled up."
Harry stopped by the library to advise Daphne of his rough schedule for the day, then left via the front door to apparate to #12 from his usual spot just outside the Greengrass Manor wards. Kreacher greeted him at the door, and Harry suggested they proceed to the kitchen. He was feeling the need for another cup of coffee, and a debrief from Kreacher.
Nothing untoward had happened between Harry's stop-by the previous evening and his arrival. Kreacher had not set up an observation post for the park but had checked periodically and had not observed anyone loitering across the street. The disillusion charm for #12 was functioning perfectly, which meant that anyone who did not know how to see the house would not be able to. Ever since the mannequins had shown up to give him some opponents for his workouts, Harry had known that there was some consciousness at work in #12, although he didn't know exactly what it was capable of, or how it worked.
Kreacher was the resident expert on the house and its enchantments and capabilities. Harry gradually came to learn that Kreacher was naturally reticent about the house, much preferring to carry out his house elf duties as the perfect adjunct and supporting column for the family. Thus, Harry understood he would have to employ diplomacy to get the information he wanted, and that if he asked an inappropriate question, or made a careless statement, he could cause Kreacher to freeze up, and he wouldn't get anything.
"We will be returning at some point," Harry began.
"Kreacher will look forward to seeing Lady Potter-Black and the Honorable Miss Iolanthe Astoria," said Kreacher, clearly relishing giving all of the family the maximum honorifics.
"And they are looking forward to seeing you, and #12 again," Harry returned.
"The security measures we are employing are, understandably, I think, something I should be interested in," Harry continued. "A responsible husband and father has to think of those kinds of things."
Harry let that hang in the air, giving Kreacher an opportunity to return service.
"Kreacher understands, and shares, Lord Harry's concerns," said the elf.
"Can you tell me something about the garden?" Harry asked. It wasn't that he was particularly concerned about the garden as such, but it did back onto the shared alleyway to the rear of the townhouse, so it was a credible vulnerability. Harry's strategy was to get Kreacher talking, stay back, and let Kreacher go as far as he liked.
"The same disillusionment spell that protects the front protects the back of the house," Kreacher said. "Kreacher did suggest to Madame Walburga, when she lived here alone, that an anti-intruder charm might be a useful addition in the garden, but she declined, as did Master Sirius when he returned. Master Sirius had confidence in his dueling skills and felt secure enough, he said."
"I understand self-confidence," Harry said, "But we do have to sleep sometime. I will put an anti-intruder charm in place today. I think an alarm, audible only inside the property, ought to be sufficient."
"A wise decision, Lord Harry," said Kreacher. "If I may make one additional suggestion?"
"Please," Harry said.
"Lord Harry is aware that the wards at #12 are not to be trifled with. Sufficiently energized, they could be lethal, if triggered, even in error," said the even-more-serious-than-usual elf. "You and Lady Daphne might wish to consider widening the circle entitled to status as members of your family, to avoid setting the conditions for tragedy."
Harry sat upright. That was one subject he'd never had to worry about. His personal life prior to Daphne centered on his flat, and Ginny, Ron and Hermione had all had permission to enter by floo through the flat's fireplace. He had added Daphne when things became serious between them, but that was as far as he'd taken it. Kreacher's comment caused Harry to think of the people who ought to be included as family, or near-family, and be given that status just so there wouldn't be any misunderstandings.
Teddy, certainly, first of all. He was twelve and would be moving about more on his own, or with a friend. Andromeda, by extension, ought to be able to come and go. Astoria, certainly, Daphne's sister and the person she was closest to in all the world. Tracey Davis most definitely needed to be able to come and go. Daphne had saved Ginny and Millicent's room for them, as she'd promised, and, Harry wasn't sure just how, they had clothes in the closet and toiletries in their bathroom. Ron and Hermione were well-known to #12 going back to Order of the Phoenix days, but were they still free to access the house on their own? That also needed looking into.
Harry broke off his reverie. No doubt it would come back to him in coming days. He resolved to discuss it with Daphne and get an agreed-upon access list prepared. Thanking Kreacher for his counsel, Harry headed for the bookcase in the salon, and took out the Standard Book of Spells. He quickly found the anti-intruder charm he was looking for, ran through the steps two or three times, and walked to the rear of the house. The charm was simple and didn't take Harry very long to put in place. He activated the charm, then spent a few minutes looking around the garden.
Back inside, Harry checked the time, dropped a pinch of floo powder in the hearth and asked for Ron Weasley's office.
"Harry? What's up?" said Ron's voice from the fireplace.
"I wanted to see if I could treat you and Hermione to lunch," Harry said. "I was thinking the Leaky Cauldron."
"I can come, for sure," said Ron. "What time?"
"Noon?" Harry asked.
"Noon it is. I'll see if I can bring Hermione, but that depends, as always," Ron confirmed.
"As always," Harry said. "See you there."
Harry let Kreacher know he was going and expected to be back for a change of clothes on his way to the ministry, then left via the front steps. His purpose was to be seen, while doing a little seeing himself, so he paused for a few seconds before apparating to the usual point near his flat.