Posted: 13 October, 2009
Disclaimer: I do not own anything in this story that is recognisable from the Harry Potter books, movies, etc. Everything else however (eg. story plot, original characters, etc.) stems from my own imagination and belongs to me. No copyright infringement is intended and I am not profiting financially from this story in any way.
Chapter 4 - Meeting Barnaby Owens
The next day, Harry contacted Mr Owens via letter and a meeting was arranged immediately at the Leaky Cauldron. There he and the man met in one of the private parlours to discuss business. Barnaby, as he asked to be called, was a burly looking man who, Harry was informed, also led a magical construction team. He offered, should any building faults be found, to head the repair work and Harry agreed immediately, not knowing any other builders. Back to the business at hand, Barnaby went over the basics of what an inspection involved with Harry before both headed out. They had to Apparate to the location as Floo was not connected to either estate, something Harry reminded himself to arrange for soon.
"Well, looks good from here," said the inspector, staring up at the first building they were looking at. "But it's the parts you can't see that really matter."
The house was a large, sprawling manor, built of stone, but with the occasional turret rising up here and there. It reminded Harry of some whimsical blend of the traditional manor style, with a Hogwarts' castle flair.
"I understand the second estate is adjoining this one?"
"Yeah, you can probably see a few roofs peeking over the tree line there," Harry said pointing toward the south end of the property.
"Aye, I see it." Barnaby nodded. "Looks like more than one building over there."
"Oh, didn't I say? Sorry," he apologised. "There's two larger and several smaller houses there. I inherited both estates from a woman named Dorothy Camden who was the last of her family. Her grandparents owned these grounds, which will be the school, but they bought a large area of land next door to build homes for their children: Dorothy's father and aunt," he said, explaining the history. "And then, when Dorothy's own generation came along, extra, smaller houses were built for each of them as they got old enough. It's more like a little town on the other estate. That'll be the orphanage homes."
Soon after that Barnaby got to work. Harry followed him around for a while before realising that testing for wood rot, magical wear and floor sturdiness was mind-numbingly boring work. After that he excused himself, claiming he was off to rustle up some lunch for the inspector and himself. By the time he returned, packaged meals and butterbeers from the Leaky in hand, Barnaby was finished his inspection, and both sat down on the front steps to eat.
"The house is in pretty good shape," the burly man commented between bites. "There's some floorboards needing replacing in one of the corridors, and the magical support spells could use updating, and it has an infestation of Doxies in one of the living rooms, and a Boggart in the attic. Also, you'll want to have the wards updated. One of my boys can do that for you, if you like. You'll just have to agree on what you want."
Harry immediately agreed to the last; it was easiest to get it all done in one go. Then he led Barnaby past the southern boundary of the property, onto the orphanage-to-be estate with its multiple buildings. He left the man there, to continue his work, whilst Harry took another trip to Diagon Alley for some Doxycide, then returned to the school building where he cleaned out the Doxy infestation and banished the Boggart. That done he searched out Barnaby once more.
"I've just about finished both of the larger buildings," the man told him, "but it's getting late. I think I'll come back tomorrow to do the rest, if that's alright."
"That's fine," Harry said, "I'll need to Apparate you in again – you need to be accompanied by the Master to get past the wards – so why don't we meet up at the Leaky Cauldron tomorrow."
A more precise time was quickly arranged and then Harry Apparated the inspector out of the wards. They parted ways to meet up the next morning.
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