Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

After a great meal served up by the house-elves and raucous conversation, McGonagall stood up and addressed the group. "All of you have separate assignments and you will be training with just your own group. Harry already knows what he has to do, but I will be assigning all of the others to their groups in the morning. Tonks and Remus will be with Harry whenever he needs to leave the grounds. So get a good night sleep and I will see everyone down here at breakfast."

Harry pulled Remus and Tonks aside. "There is something that I will have to do over the next few days that I will need a lot of help with. Moony, I need to go to Godric's Hollow. I need you to go first and set up anti-apparition wards up and create a two-way portkey that we can use to travel back and forth. Make the wards large enough that we cannot be taken by surprise while we are there. If they appearate, we can portkey out. It will take about 3 days for the project. We are then going to have to place the whole thing under the Fidelus Charm."

"What are you planning to do?" This from Lupin.

"Come on upstairs and I'll show you." With that, they went to the Gryffindor tower and Harry opened up his trunk to show them the plans for the sweat lodge.

"And this is important…why?" Tonks asked.

"It is all part of the plan. I can't explain it totally, you are just going to have to take it on trust. I need to build this at the site of my parent's home there."

"Harry, I've been there. There is nothing left, the house is completely destroyed. And after 16 years, even the ruins are ruined."

"So much the better. If it wasn't, I would have to clear it anyway. We should leave right after breakfast." Harry took a miniature trunk from his travel trunk, it was only about 4 inches cubed. He took the ballpoint pen out of his shirt pocket, concentrated on it, and transfigured it back into his wand. Pointing at the tiny trunk, he told them that it had to go along with them. "I'll see you in the morning." With that, he bid them good-night, grabbed his pajamas and headed for the showers.

The next morning, Harry, dressed in proper wizarding robes, headed down to breakfast. Dudley had not wanted to dress in robes, but had finally been talked into it. He wore the robe over his western clothes, complete with pearl button shirt, blue jeans, boots and Stetson hat. He also charmed his string bolo tie to reflect the Gryffindor colors as a compromise. The whole effect was as unique as anything that Mad-eye Moody or Tonks had ever come up with and Minerva pointed that out.

Putting on his best John Wayne imitation, Dudley drawled "Well, a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do." The whole table cracked up.

"Merlin, Dudley, You have gone completely colonial." This from Ron. "You don't even sound British anymore."

"That is the idea, Ron. Nobody outside this room should know that I am a wizard until the last minute." Dudley took a large helping of sausage and eggs, tasted the eggs and made a face. Taking his small wand, he pointed it at the door and said "Accio Tobasco!" A small red bottle flew in and Dudley grabbed it and shook a large amount onto his food. He then took a taste. "Better." He said, and dug in.

"May I try that?" Ron asked. Dudley handed him the bottle. Ron shook a liberal amount onto his eggs and took a bite. He immediately dropped his fork, his eyes bugged out, he huffed and grabbed his pumpkin juice. "Dudley! I think the twins got to your bottle and put some liquid dragonfire into it!"

Dudley took another bite, rolled it around in his mouth thoughtfully. "Nope, tastes okay to me. Liquid dragonfire, huh? I was wondering what I was going to do for spice once my bottle ran out. Think they can send me some?" Ron looked at him in amazement.

McGonagall stood up and tapped her glass. "I believe that it is time that you receive your assignments. Hermione, Ginny, and Ron, you three will be working with me in the DADA classroom. Dudley, you will be working with Auror Shacklebolt in the Room of Requirement. Harry, I believe that you have worked out your schedule for the next few days with Tonks and Mr. Lupin?" Harry nodded. "Very well, Ms. Tonks has asked Mr. Moody to assist her in her assignment." With that, Moody and Tonks headed out towards the front entrance while the others went to their respective rooms. This left Lupin and Harry alone at the table.

"So, Harry, I never did find out just where you were during your stay. From the suntans that you and Dudley are sporting and the clothes, I assume that you were somewhere in the American West."

"Yes, we were in west Texas, outside of El Paso." Harry then began to regale Lupin on his adventures. Remus sat there fascinated as Harry told about the different things that Harry had learned from his two American friends. When Harry told him about speaking to the spirits of Pablo's ancestors in the sweat lodge, Lupin perked up.

"Do you think that will work here? I mean, British spirits coming into an American Indian sweat lodge? It doesn't exactly go along with our traditions here."

"Pablo seems to think so. It is the form of magic, not where the spirits are from that is important. Other countries and cultures have much the same thing. In fact, our British and European spirits have been neglected here. Unless they leave a ghost behind, we tend to lose touch with them. The Mexicans have the Dias de la Muerte, or Day of the Dead, where the spirits of the ancestors visit them, the Asians communicate with their ancestors through shrines and meditation. I think that it is about time that we get in touch with our ancestors as well. Portraits and ghosts are just not enough."

"To speak with Lily and James again… Do you think that you can contact Sirius? After all, he is not one of your ancestors, strictly speaking."

"I believe so. He had a special ceremonial connection to me by being my Godfather. If he cannot come in, at least Dad and Mum can still speak with him. And also speak to Dumbledore even if I can't." Just then, Tonks stuck her head in the Hall.

"Harry, Remus. We are ready whenever you are. Do you have everything you need for today?" Harry patted his pocket. "Well then, lets go." They went over, touched the portkey, an old bicycle tyre, and disappeared.

Godric's Hollow

Harry, Tonks, and Lupin popped into a clearing next to a ruined house, overgrown with weeds and ivy. About the only thing left standing was the chimney. That and the steps up to the front porch. Immediately Tonks and Lupin, along with Moody, spread out in a triangular pattern facing outward. Harry took out his wand and the shrunken trunk, tapped it, and muttered an incantation. The trunk expanded to its full size, about 4 foot square. Harry then vanished the ruins of the house and transfigured the rubble into a small stone wall surrounding his building area. He also leveled the ground, adding the excess material to the wall.

"This is just in case unwanted visitors show up. There will be something to duck behind."

"Good thinking," growled Moody.

Harry then began to look at different trees, cutting off limbs and trimming branches, then levitating them over to the building area and weaving them in a pattern until they formed an oval, igloo type shape. He then began to transport mud from a small creek in order to fill in the cracks between the branches. By the time he finished with this, it was late afternoon. He quickly cast a spell that baked the mud into brick-like texture. He was dripping with the sweat from his exertion by the time he finished.

"Now comes the hard part. I cannot use any magic for the interior. I have to manually haul the interior in and then tomorrow I will come and do the installation." He then began to pull painted cowhides out of the trunk and, one at a time, take them into the lodge. When he finished with that, he began taking different ceramic pots out of the trunk and taking them in. The last thing that he took in was an old, hide covered book.

"That's it for today. I will need daylight to finish it, and it is about gone." Tonks brought over the portkey and they quickly left.