Note

I'm an incredible lucky person to have you guys. I want to thank those who will continue to support my story and of course those who start to support me. It's all an author could wish for.
I give my special thanks to; Newerher3, Not-Gonna-Update, LazyBrat, SlashAddict4Life, Bloody Gale Reaper, xfireflyskyx, Zlatka, silvermane1, JJFicFreak, Through the Mirror Darkly, Katsy17, Mmeggy999, lovelycrazy,Yazziyou's Daydreamer, Melikalilly and Marie Wolfschoon for giving me wonderful feedback.

Enjoy reading!

Harry opened his eyes and looked to Bofur who was lightly shaking him awake.

"Good morning Harry, did you sleep alright?" Bofur asked as he handed Harry a bowl of steaming stew from the dinner last night.

With the bowl in hand Harry sat up to eat as Sanix and Bifur were already digging into their own meal. The three dwarves had let Harry sleep while they cleaned up and packed their bags, so they could move on after the meal. Harry didn't know how they had accomplished moving around camp without waking him, after all, he had always been a very light sleeper. Not that it mattered; Harry was grateful for their effort so he could get a few extra minutes of sleep.

"Yes, I had a pleasant sleep. I wasn't exactly sleeping on a bed fit for a princess but I felt comfortable being close to the earth."

"You may not know much about being a dwarf but you certainly got the instincts of one. All dwarves are attracted to earth and stone, we like it best with our feet on the ground," Sanix said, causing Harry to turn to him.

"Oh, but I love flying. Have none of you ever wanted to fly?" Harry couldn't help but say.

"I have never seen the reason why. We are not made for flying. This is the will of our great Maker; he made us for the stone and earth."

"I think you have to take back your words Sanix," Bofur was only too happy to point Sanix's misplaced words of praise out, however insignificant the praise may have been. Sanix turned to Bofur and Harry was sure that Bofur's hat would catch fire any moment with the intensity of the glare. Bifur could only shake his head at his cousin's actions and direct his attention towards Harry.

"How did you come to fly?"

Harry wanted to smack himself. How could he have been so careless? It surely wouldn't help to say that he flew around on a broomstick. Way to go Harry Bloody Potter. Harry hated to lie especially when Bofur, Bifur and Sanix had showed him such honesty and kindness but he saw no other way around it.

"I haven't really tried it before, it has only really happened in my dreams. But I love the feeling and I would be most happy to try it for real one day," Harry explained. Bofur sat his bowl aside and started cleaning it with sand, along with the empty pot.

"It's possible but highly unlikely you will ever get the chance. There aren't that many options and since most winged creatures are hostile minded I would advise against it."

"What kind of creatures are there? Do you live together with some of them?" Harry questioned. Bifur handed his bowl to Bofur and went to his backpack where he started looking between his fabrics in search for something.

"We dwarves live by ourselves in Erebor and other great dwarven kingdoms, quite like the humans and elves do. We do trade and bargain but we are otherwise divided. As for winged creatures I can only mention fell beasts, eagles and dragons, though dragons and fell beasts haven't been spotted for centuries now," Bifur answered the younger dwarf.

Harry was saddened to hear that the species of this world lived indifferently towards each other, like in the wizarding world. He knew only too well what the isolation of species could result in; hate, mistrust, and misunderstandings. Something that Harry could already see caused problems between the dwarves and elves of this land.

Bifur had found what he had been searching for as he pulled some brown cloth from his bag and came towards Harry with it.

"Also, out of those three beasts I would say that you would most likely get a ride on those haughty eagles,"

Bifur stopped before Harry and held out the cloth for him. "Here, you will have to tie these around your feet. Sadly, we don't have any extra shoes with us and you will have to wait to we get to Dale before we can purchase any for you."

"I don't have any money," Harry said, taking the two pieces of cloth from Bifur's hands and handing his empty bowl back. He then turned his back to the company so he could pull his feet out from under the blanket he still had around him.

Struggling with binding the cloth together at his ankles, the three dwarves finished packing and hoisted their bags onto their shoulders ready to go. With his feet now covered Harry gathered the blanket, going towards the other dwarves who were looking towards Erebor. Sanix held his hand out as Harry come closer.

"I will carry your blanket. You needn't worry about the money for the shoes. It will be a gift from all of us," Harry hesitantly handed the blanket to Sanix. He felt bad about letting the dwarves carry all the bags when he could help them.

"Thank you, I will pay you back of course when I have the money. I'll take some of your bags, it's the least I could do," Harry offered.

"Ahh, you don't need to carry a thing Harry."

"No, I insist," Harry took the bundle of wooden branches from Bofur's hands, hoisted it over his shoulders and started walking towards the mountain before the dwarves could stop him. Bofur came up to his side smiling as always.

"Well if you insist, I can hardly find it in myself to stop you. However, I have to say that we will not take any money from you. You don't know this of course, but if you gave us money from a gift, it would be a terrible insult to us."

"None the less," Bifur said as he and Sanix came up beside them, "you will have to find a job when we get to the mountain, any ideas?"

"I have some knowledge and skill at healing, would that be of any use?" Harry shrugged. Bofur's smile got positively wider.

"I don't think that would be a good idea, Harry. If you worked in the Hall of Healing people all over Erebor would suddenly get into bizarre accidents every day. Then you wouldn't have time for little old me."

"I wouldn't blame him for wanting to work there now cousin, just to get away from you," Bifur joked. Sanix gave a short laugh in agreement.

"Other than to avoid my cousin, I think the Hall of Healing would be a good place for you to find work. They are always short of staff since the art of healing isn't a favourable craft for dwarves. You would be welcomed there."

On the way to Dale, Harry learned that this world was filled with other magical creatures. They had orcs, goblins, trolls, wrags, balrogs, hobbits, fairies, ents, skin-changers. They even had wizards, but sadly there were only a few and he was not one of them. He was told about the cooperation between Dale, Erebor, and Mirkwood. That Erebor was the wealthiest and greatest of all the dwarven kingdoms and that Erebor had a king.

Harry was interested in the dwarven life at Erebor and the three dwarves were happy to talk about their lives. Bofur was the owner of a successful toyshop which was located in the shopping district. His cousin Bifur was also a toymaker and they ran the business together with their newly employed apprentice Khîm, who was currently in charge of the shop while they were gone. The two cousins lived at the same home together with Bofur's brother, Bombur, who was Head Chef in the royal kitchen.

Sanix had, for a long time, worked as a common guard standing at attention before the gates of Erebor, the market and shop districts, and going back and forth in Erebor's many halls. He had only very recently started rising in rank from a guard to a known fierce warrior. He was being trained under the great general of Erebor's army Dwalin, son of Fundin, whom Harry learned a fair deal about, since Sanix wouldn't stop taking about his idol.

Luckily Bifur and Bofur saved Harry from hearing more tales of Dwalin's great skill in battle by drawing him into a conversation about the importance of hair, braids, and beads. Harry had contemplated cutting his hair when he reached Erebor for he always kept his hair short but that idea seemed to go out the window. He would not want to make another spectacle, like the feet incident yesterday, and defiantly not in front of a whole mountain of dwarves. Dwarven hair took decades to grow and if your hair was cut it was a sign of great loss, shame or treachery.

::::::::::

They reached Dale a little after midday. When the group stepped through the open Eastern gate, Harry felt like he had when he walked through the hidden entrance to Diagon Alley for the first time with Hagrid. It was magical in its own unique way. People; men, dwarves, and elves alike filled the streets in their colourful clothes. Laughter was shared between friends, music was heard along with shouts from the salesmen who advertised their goods.

Harry would like to think that his own world could have looked like this once upon a time. This world didn't have cars or electricity, nor did they have wizards in the quantity he had known, but they were content and happy in a way Harry had not seen from the people in his world.

Blown away like a child in a candy store Harry walked around with the biggest smile on his face, captivated by all the things he saw. He completely missed the astonished looks from other dwarves who walked by.

Bofur burst out with laughter when one poor lad walked straight into a wall when he caught Harry's eye and was rewarded with a blinding smile. Harry didn't know how long he had walked around in his dreamy haze, but he was pushed out of it when Bifur took the lead.

"We are going this way. What do you think of Dale, Harry?" Bifur asked, guiding the dwarf in the right direction.

"It's absolutely brilliant." Harry replied in awe.

"Wait until you see Erebor it will make your heart sing."

Harry had never enjoyed shopping and he only bought what was strictly necessary. He knew he needed a pair of shoes before he could enter through Erebor's gates but shoe shopping with three other male dwarves proved to be one of his worst shopping experiences yet.

The shoemaker was a kind elderly man who presented himself as Thorsten. He was delighted to see dwarves in his shop for he had never made shoes for a dwarf before. He told Harry to sit and went to kneel before him to look at Harry's small bundled up feet. Harry could feel Sanix, Bifur, and Bofur freeze behind him when Thorsten took one of Harry's feet in his hand to unbind the cloth. Thorsten found himself thrown to the ground by two toymakers and a warrior, having only touched Harry's foot. The dwarves were raving mad, Sanix even had his sword out and Harry being Harry soon jumped into the fray to stop the madness.

After regaining some sense of order Harry made the three dunderheads apologize to poor Thorsten and asked them to wait outside the shop so that he could get his shoes, but they absolutely refused to leave his side. They were convinced that Harry would be taken advantage of because he didn't know their ways. It would be very improper to leave him alone. Thorsten had a difficult time assessing his shoe size since he couldn't touch nor look at his feet without the cloth on.

In the end Thorsten found a pair of old boots his son had grown out of years ago. The boots were much too wide around his calves but Thorsten fixed it quickly with a two leather straps which went around the calves to bind the boots tightly to his legs. The boots were comfortable around his feet and having thanked Thorsten while the three dwarves paid him the group exited the shop to the cobblestone street.

Walking towards Erebor Harry was determent that he would not need another pair of shoes before these fell apart around his feet. He didn't even want to think about how dwarves in Erebor had shoes fitted by the shoemaker.

::::::::::

They were so close to the gates now he could see two giant stone statues standing guard on either side of the great carved stone entrance. The front gate was an incredible piece of work that showed the dwarves superior skills in working with stone. If it wasn't for his body brimming with energy he would probably think the whole thing was a bit too extravagant. The entrance was flooded with dwarves going in and out of the mountain. When they came closer, Harry couldn't help but notice that people were looking at him.

"Why are they all looking at me? Have I done something wrong again?" Harry whispered.

"Harry, sweet Harry. You are a beautiful new dwarf nobody knows about, everyone will be incredible interested to get to know you better," Bofur explained. "You will do fine as long you remember to be polite and to not accept gifts from strange young men."

"Merlin Bofur, you sound like a worried mother." Harry sighed.

"That is because I'm worried. We will help you in every way we can but we cannot be together with you every hour of the day," Bofur replied. "What's a Merlin?" He added as an afterthought.

"It's a figure of speech, forget it." Harry didn't want to talk anymore. He felt that his voice drew even more attention towards him and he wanted to focus.

They were passing through the gate and as they went by, the guards stationed there all turned their heads to look at the sight walking past them which made Sanix glare at them in anger. Harry ignored the looks he got for he had never before set foot in a dwarven settlement. Did the dwarves in his old world live like this? For if they did, it was no wonder why he or other wizards haven't been allowed into their home for their human hearts would most likely be filled with greed at the sight.

The entrance hall was enormous, the floor structured like a mosaic and the walls were decorated with great skill. The fifty meter high celling was adorned with shining diamonds and stones, but it was nothing compared to the second gate ahead of them. Harry wasn't able to say which kind of metal it was made of but it came together with giant dwarves standing shoulder to shoulder, crossed arms and weapons in hand. It was an inspiring sight. Bifur was suddenly rushing forward and ran into the arms of a man, woman, Harry couldn't really tell.

"That is my cousin's wife Karga, I can imagine that they would want to have some hours to themselves" Bofur explained.

"I have to report back to my department, I will see you both at a later time Bofur, Harry, goodbye." With that, Sanix walked through the second gate and disappeared into the crowd.

"It's just you and me now Bofur, where do we go from here unless you plan to leave as well?" Harry asked.

"We will go to the department for citizens' employment and housing to see if there are any free homes at the moment and to fill out a job application for the Hall of Healing. It shouldn't be too much trouble." Bofur told the raven haired boy.

"Master Bofur, master Bofur. You must come to the shop immediately." A young dwarf without a beard, with brown eyes and hair came running towards them.

"Khîm, what is it?" Bofur questioned the young dwarf. Harry had to jog keep up with them for they were already walking in the direction of what Harry presumed was Bofur's shop.

"It's lord Rorek, he's demanding to see you and only you to make his request for a gift for his daughter's birthday. It would be a big opportunity for us so I knew I had to find you."

"You did right Khîm I will go there but you will have to lead Harry to the department for citizens' employment and housing. I'm so sorry to leave you Harry but this is an important business deal I cannot miss." Bofur apologised. With that, he too went off and Harry stood alone with a now very quiet and red face dwarf.

"I'm Harry, son of James, it's good to meet you. I would be very happy if you were to be so kind to show me the way for I don't know my way around this mountain yet," Harry grinned at this new dwarf. "Oh, and please call me Harry, I want us to be friends," Harry added as an afterthought.

Khîm was a bubbling mess but after some time he stopped stuttering enough to have a decent conversation with Harry. He was a sweet boy, probably around Harry's own age but Harry felt much older which he was sure had something to do with his life as a human. Khîm was happy to work under Bofur and Bifur to become a toymaker. He was talking none stop about his work in the shop. He wanted Harry to come and visit him when he was settled but only if Harry wanted, of course.

They had wandered through black marble like halls for some time now before Khîm stopped beside a large half open door.

"I will wait out here for you while you settle your business I don't mind waiting for you, I wouldn't want you to get lost." Khîm offered.

"Thank you Khîm, I will try to be done as fast as I can."

Harry easily walked through the half open door into what looked like a more crowded Gringott's. The only other notable difference was that it was dwarves sitting in the high booths stationed around the room instead of goblins. Harry hoped that these dwarves were nothing like the goblins but he had his doubts. They sat in the same manner behind their high booths filled with stacks of papers wearing grim expressions, emitting an air of self-importance.

Getting in line, Harry really hoped he was wrong about these dwarves. While waiting Harry felt more than one person try to make eye contact with him but he kept looking ahead. Thankfully nobody came up to talk to him for he wouldn't know how to deal with it now.

"Next."

The clerk was a robust dwarven woman, dark beard and all. Harry stepped forward and she looked down on him from behind her big nose with her dark eyes.

"What do you want?" She barked at Harry.

No, this was nothing like Gringott's at all. The goblins would snare at your back from time to time but they were polite which couldn't be said about the bearded lady in front of him.

"Hello, I have come here because I need assistance in getting a home and I have heard that you can help me in that regard. Second, I want to apply for a job in the Hall of Healing so I would ask if you could hand me and application form."

"Hnn, do you really think that I will just give you a home when there are hundreds of other dwarves who are in need of one as well? Maybe you do not think about the other dwarves here in mountain because you usually get what you want, don't you pretty face?"

"What no, that is not true I.. "

"What is the problem anyway? I cannot imagine that you would have a hard time finding a place to sleep. Come again when you decide to not waste my time, next." The female dwarf interrupted, calling to the next person in line.

"NO. Now you just wait a moment I have done nothing to deserve this kind of treatment and I will pretend I didn't hear you say all those horrible things about me since I do need some help from you. I can understand if there isn't any home ready for me at the moment but I wish to get in line and contacted when the opportunity arise. Also I wish to apply for work in the Hall of Healing."

"Mahal you are an annoying little twig but I suppose the fastest way to be rid of you is to deal with this as quickly as possible." She huffed, turning to the left to run through a stack of papers, facing him again when she had found the right forms.

"Here, you have to fill these out with your information and deliver them over at the office in the back. Then we will contact you when we have something open for you to move into. Now for your work application I will have to see papers from your medical education. " She stuck out her hand, her face pinched with impatient.

"I do not have those papers you are asking for but I have worked as a healer for many years. Can it not be done without those?"

"What do you think, quit wasting my time." She scoffed.

"Will it be possible for me to go through my medical education again to get those papers?" Harry asked. The bearded lady turned to the paper stack on her left again.

"You will have to find someone in the Hall of Healing who would take you as an apprentice. Here is the application form," She pushed the paper over to Harry, "You can leave it at the same office in the back of the hall. I do believe that was all, NEXT."

Overjoyed to get away from that horrid women Harry walked towards the free tables in the middle of the room. He hated paperwork but it didn't look like it would be too much trouble. Having put the papers down on the table he looked around for a pen but none was found.

"Excuse me."

Harry turned around to face the deep voice and was face by a pair of wine red eyes. Harry stood before a very handsome dwarf with long black hair and beard. The beard was plaited together in a complicated pattern that went all the way down to his breast and his hair was pulled into a low ponytail filled with rubies to match his eyes. He wore black clothes that showed off his broad, strong body. All of his fingers held golden rings with diamonds and in his outstretched hand he held a silver quill with tiny white stones around the edge of the feather.

"It looks like you could use one of these. I will give you this, as a gift."