When Harry stopped feeling nauseous he was surprised to find himself in a wooded area on a long, straight stone path two metres wide. The path led up to tall black gates made up of metal railings surrounded by a sandstone wall around four feet high, with metal going up a further three feet to the height of the gate. Within the gate itself was the image of a winged boar, which 'flew' back and forth across the gate, the railings melding to form the image of the boar as it moved.
Slowly Harry moved in front of the Professor and carefully walked up to the gate keeping his eye on the boar. The boar turned towards Harry and the two-dimensional boar moved into a third dimension as the metal railings of the gate melted to form the boars head. The boars head opened its mouth and eyed Harry's ring. Knowing what was required, Harry put his right hand into the mouth and waited. The warmth in the ring increased and the boars head glowed with an ethereal blue light. An odd metallic click broke the silence and before he knew it the boar was back in two dimensions and the gate was swinging open. Once the gate was open he was confronted with one of the bizarre sights he had ever seen. He was looking at the House in front of him on an angle. To the left of the near corner was a three storey elegant sandstone house with two large windows either side of a large doorway. Closer inspection showed that it was not made up of stone blocks but that the stone front was formed from one giant piece of sandstone. That wasn't the odd part, the house itself had no roof but instead was seemed to be carved into living rock. The rock sloped leisurely down to ground level and was partially covered in grass, except where three odd glass structures jutted out from the slope.
At a confused look from her student, the professor explained, "As I have told you previously your family are historically increasingly strong earth elementalists. Whether you have inherited the gift or not I am unaware, however, your transfiguration marks are promising. The strength of the gift in later generations allowed for the single solid structure you see here, in fact the rooms inside are all formed from the same single piece of stone. As for the glass, they're greenhouses, while the earth elemental gift has normally manifested as a gift with stone, occasionally, it has manifested as a gift with plants. From the reports from Professor Sprout I don't believe you have that particular gift I'm afraid. Not that her reports are unfavourable but rather plant gifted Potters have a gift more like Neville Longbottom." Harry nodded in understanding and looking with awe at the building in front of him. "Shall we?" He could only nod in response.
The stone path from the front gate wound round to the front entrance of the house about a hundred yards away. To his left not quite following the route of the path was a stream, an apparently fast flowing stream, though judging by the hills he could see in the distance that wasn't overly surprising. The stream carried on around the back of the house and seemed to lead into the trees he could see on the far right corner of the property.
As the house loomed up in front of them Harry couldn't help but look up at the beautiful visage, facing him. The house was large clearly, but not so much that he felt overwhelmed. The doorway in front of him appeared to be formed of black marble, it pulsed and opened as he stepped onto the first of the three steps leading to the entrance.
As he stepped through he saw gas lamps flare in a warm, welcoming yellow and he was confronted with a large sandstone stairway in front and to the right of him, which twisted halfway up and doubled back on itself above his head. The walls were, as Professor McGonagall suggested, formed from a single piece of sandstone, while the floor appeared to be formed of a single piece of pale blue marble.
It was another few moments before Harry could collect himself, and it took a gentle tap on the shoulder for Harry to move.
"Wow!"
"Yes I always appreciated it. Come I'll show you the sitting room first." So began the tour, though the Professor wasn't intimately familiar with the house she had a more than fair idea of the layout. The ground floor it turned out was a more formal area, with a small sitting room and rather elegantly furnished, there were no paintings anywhere but there were statues and busts built into small alcoves in the wall. The small room led into a larger though equally well appointed room, which was most notable for the black marble fire place that was the focus of one of the walls. This it turned out was where the floo network was connected. Next came the kitchens which were spacious if rather old fashioned, though Harry was all the more taken with it as a result. A small side door led to the grounds and there was a large central island covered in black marble, the pale blue flooring had given way to pristine, unblemished white and all the cupboards were formed of intricately carved sandstone.
The next room, which took up one whole side of the house, was the formal dining hall. It had enough seating for twenty comfortably around a beautiful black marble dining table which rose elegantly from the again pale blue marble floor.
The second floor had a more lived in feel and there was a more informal sitting room, as well as a study/library, large bathroom and some form of stone workshop. The final floor had five bedrooms, including the Master suite and two bathrooms shared between the other four rooms. The master suite itself had a royal blue marble floor and an apparently King size bed covered in white cotton sheets and a small elegant fire place although Harry really hoped it wasn't connected to the floo. It also had its own bathroom which appeared to be the only room in the house not to have sandstone walls. The room was made of off white marble with a black marble floor and had a beautiful separate shower and bathtub formed from the same single piece of black stone. All the fittings appeared to be untarnished silver.
They finally came to the back of the house and went through the final door. The pair's eyes were immediately assaulted by greenery and the glare of the sun as they attempted to forge their way along the path through the uppermost greenhouse.
"It appears Mr Potter, that fourteen years, is too long to leave a number of these plants unattended." She said acerbically. Harry wasn't sure why she seemed to be taking it out on him but then again she had had his plants caught in her hair.
Making their way back to the second floor and the informal sitting room the pair decided to wait for the other professors to show up, McGonagall having sent them a message.
"Mr Potter, while we wait I thought it would be prudent to discuss how the current arrangements are working? I see you have been exercising" this shocked Harry who hadn't noticed any physical results from his workouts "but what about your studies?"
Harry launched into an explanation of his timetable including an enthusiastic assessment of the magical theory texts, his Potions experiments and his Runes studies. He did also point out, as he felt it was best to be honest that he struggled through Arithmancy and History and had barely scratched the surface of Herbology.
"Mr Potter, I am unsure which particular wards will be used to augment the existing ones here but in the interests of security it would not surprise me if one of them is the Fidelius Charm. The charm itself is rather obscure and I only know of it due to the warding precautions people were forced to take during the last war. It involves the entrusting of a secret to a living person and it is hidden to everyone else, anyone not let in on the secret will never be able to discover it until the person dies. This secret could be anything in theory but the most practical use is the hiding of a home. Anyone living in the home will be unable to be found by anyone not in on the secret."
Harry nodded along with explanation.
"Due to the nature of the magic involved, anyone living in such a house cannot hold the secret, as the magic is built on trust that the secret will be safe. Trusting yourself to keep your own secret is not strong enough. If you have someone who you think could be your secret keeper it would be prudent to have them right the secret on some parchment you could then show to others you want to be let in on the secret.
"If, and it is still an if, this charm is performed, you may well be able to solve your problems with both History and Herbology. Since the first war Madam Longbottom, Neville's grandmother is rather paranoid about safety, she is also extremely well versed in magical history and Mr Longbottom, as you know, is somewhat of a Herbology prodigy and would no doubt be delighted to help you with your greenhouses."
The thought of seeing someone his own age again, pleased Harry even more, admittedly he didn't know Neville that well but both of them were rather shy, it was kind of inevitable it would take time.
It was at that moment his thoughts were interrupted by a gong reverberating through the house and the announcement that the professors had arrived, Harry wasn't entirely sure who, or indeed what had made such an announcement.
They met the pair at the door at Harry brought them back up to the informal sitting room. The new arrivals looked around appreciatively.
"Well Mr Potter, it appears thing are looking up for you." Said Flitwick excitedly.
"It looks that way sir" answered Harry with a grin.
"We had a brief look at the wards and they are relatively sound" Professor Babbling stated "It would help if we could see the primary ward stone and from there we should be able to see to any potential upgrades." The professor looked at him questioningly while Harry was just confused.
"Err primary ward stone? I don't know if we have one, or where it is, I've only been here about an hour." Harry responded nervously, it would be ridiculous if this was scuppered now.
An oddly earthy cough from behind the seated quartet startled them and Harry looked round and was surprised to see no one.
"I believe I can help." A rich baritone voice interrupted. One of the alcove statues was talking. "Edward Potter at your service. I believe young master that you are an heir." It amazed Harry that he was still surprised by things in the magical world but to his credit it no longer took him as long to recover.
"I err...guess I am sir. Harry Potter."
"Well young Harry why have you not been here before, it has been years since a Potter has lived here?"
The Professors made a tactful withdrawal with Professor McGonagall saying she would show the others around the home and would meet the pair later.
An hour later and Harry had related his tale, albeit in a rather reduced format. It was rather odd to see the look of pride on the statue. The pair were rejoined by the professors just as Edward was relating his story. It appeared that by two hundred and eighty years ago both the magical and elemental powers of the Potter line had increased significantly. Allied to their legendary intuitive control it made them rather revered and Edward had taken it upon himself to build himself a new home. Due to his particular skill and power, he was able to call forth and meld various types of stone together, hence the seamless transition from sandstone walls to marble flooring and the various different marble floorings. In the end he was so proud of his creation that similar to magical paintings, he left an imprint of his personality not so much within the statue but on the house as a whole, as such the statue could move anywhere throughout the house, flowing along and through walls. It was a rather disturbing, though impressive, sight.
Explanations complete, thoughts returned to the wardstone and Edward explained the route to the warding chamber. The group followed Edward to the foot of the staircase where, at his direction, Harry cut his palm and pressed it against a specific point on the wall. The stairs shifted in front of them sliding together to become horizontal, before continuing down into a new chamber. Inside the chamber the group were presented with a 6-foot by 4-foot by 4-foot piece of obsidian which left the three Professors gobsmacked.
Harry was informed by Edward that different stones were suited to different tasks in warding, diamond or obsidian for basic power, rubies for offensive wards, sapphires for more passive wards etc, a network of various gemstones were fitted around the property boundaries and all keyed back to the obsidian primary wardstone which took magic from the building which in turn took in ambient magic from the environment. It turned out this was a standard set up but what amazed the professors was the size of the primary stone. Somewhat sheepishly Edward admitted that he had no clue about the Runes required to properly set up wardstones but he was able to use his elemental skills to call forth what was effectively a hugely overpowered obsidian battery and use raw power instead of rune finesse. It turned out no subsequent Potter had seen fit to rectify this situation and introduce the necessary Rune systems to the primary and secondary stones. As only a Potter could touch the primary stone it left Edward rather embarrassed by the oversight given his heirs current predicament.
"Well Edward, myself and your heir will have to make a project of it during his time at Hogwarts won't we?" the runes professor stated matter-of factly barely taking her eyes off the stone. The expression on Harry's face fluctruated between a smile and a grimace. The statement did shake everyone out of their stupor though and soon the assessments were complete. In terms of powering the wards, there was very little to be done at the moment in terms of adding to their capabilities, until the runes could be added to the necessary stones. All that there was to do was for Harry to place his still wounded hand on the wardstone so that he himself would take over the wards from Edward who had been keeping them going to the best of his abilities. As he did so a surge of power flowed through him and the building seemed to hum and lights flared before it settled. Even then the lights seemed somewhat brighter than before. Given the new status of the wards Professor's Flitwick and Babbling went off to reinspect them while Harry took it upon himself to call Dobby and ask him to prepare dinner for the group, who he had invited to share a meal.
The meal was ready when the pair returned. The runes professor particularly excited believing that if they could do the rune work properly the sheer raw power of the wards would make them among the finest in Britain. It was decided that Professor Flitwick would cast the Fidelius charm powering it from the wardstone with Edward's help. Professor McGonagall struggled to hide her emotion as she was asked to be the secret keeper.
Two hours later the job was done and the Professors took their leave. Dobby had retrieved all Harry's possessions from Privet Drive and he was ready to start a new chapter in his life. It didn't take long after lying down to drift off in a sleep of complete contentment.