A year after moving in, the modest house on a small parcel of land had grown to encompass 10 square miles, 5 of which were along the coast, several small one- or two-bed cottages, a berth (jetty/pier/dock) for three boats, and was home to many magical creatures, from Bowtruckles to Centaurs, that just wanted a place to live in peace. In exchange, they all placed protections on the land, and traded with Harry for the things they couldn't get on their own. As a result, what the patchwork family had come to call home, and everyone else called Black Point, was warded better than Gringotts, Hogwarts and the Ministry combined.
The family bought the store next to Weasley's Wizard Wheezeys, and there Andromeda (and sometimes others like Luna or Neville) worked selling whatever had been given that week, from wand-grade wood and cores, to Centaur weapons, to beautifully crafted furniture from the House-elves. It quickly became known as the place to go for the highest quality goods at reasonable prices, but there were strict rules. You could request an item, and may receive it, but you could never demand anything. Names, positions of authority, wealth, pedigree, all meant nothing. Often, they didn't charge money for goods, they were quite happy to take fair trades, for instance House-elves were willing to restore old or broken furniture to pristine condition in exchange for table cloths or bed linens. Of course it had it's fair share of people against it, but Harry's name was still a currency of it's own, and with famous potioners and wand-makers the world over beginning to become regular customers, there was nothing the malcontents could do.
The joke shop had gone through a bit of a slump after Fred's death, but after a few months of living with Harry and Teddy, Marauder children and orphans both, George began to see that alone did not have to mean the end of laughter, and just like Harry and Teddy's parents, Fred was in his heart and always would be, and if he listened carefully enough, he could still hear his twin. It helped that on May 2nd, after the memorials and remembrance services, Harry had taken out the Ressurection stone, and given them all two hours with those they missed most, with the promise to do the same every year. He may not be able to bring the dead back to life, he said, but he could manage short yearly visits at least. Knowing the other Weasley's, especially his mother, would never accept just a couple of hours a year with Fred, and that he could never reveal Harry's status as Master of Death, he simply told them he sometimes heard Fred in the ear he lost during the flight from Privet Drive when he passed on messages.
Harry spent his time with Teddy, and with learning all he could, whether from books, other wizards or witches, or the many magical creatures he welcomed onto his land. Winky the House-elf, who, after being allowed to join the family in a traditional bond, stopped her Butterbeer addiction, taught Harry how to sew properly, ("Master Harry! That not proper stitchings! That be comings apart! Winky be teachings you proper stitchings, you be needing it on sea!") and many recipes he could use in a galley with preserved foods, in the nigh impossible event that whatever charms and House-elf wards were placed on his eventual craft failed. Firenze and the handful of other Centaurs who had decided to move to the slightly warmer Cornwall when the opportunity was presented, taught Harry how to shoot a bow and arrow, how to sword fight a much larger opponent, how to find plants and roots good to eat, a little of their knowledge of stars, including navigation, how to tell the season and even the year by them, and as a particularly rare honour, some of their sacred Divination secrets. The Bowtruckles taught him how to care for wand-wood trees, how to harvest from a tree without damaging it, how to carve and preserve new wood, how to care for old wood and many more skills. As part of their agreement, the Goblins taught Harry how to fight, both fair and dirty, in many weapons, and as their hostility to the one who caused such destruction to the bank lessened and their respect for his skill, determination and his sense of equality grew, they taught him other things, like how to mine, how to recognise good stone, metallurgy and other skills with rock and gems and metal. Having been at the point where knowing or not knowing something instinctively was the difference between life and death, Harry both made meticulous notes of what each tutor would allow, and worked to make each skill or piece of knowledge as easy as breathing. He also made vows to never teach any sacred skills to anyone without permission, vows that to him were simple courtesy, but to them, elevated his standing in their estimations exponentially, and prompted them to make him Friend to many species, whether or not they told him.
One day, as he was leaving the Gringotts infirmary after a particularly tough sparring session (most of the Goblins still at the 'hostile' stage at this point in time), Harry was called into the Director's office.
"Ah Harry! Good news! My envoy to the Sirens has returned, they are willing to meet with you in one week at Black Point to negotiate with you about the temporary suppression of your Call."
"That's great! I could already feel it getting stronger, and it's only been a year. If they have no objections, you're of course welcome to come to the meeting, it may help smooth any misunderstandings." At this, the Director bared his teeth in what was to Goblins, a rare show of ecstatic joy, and to others was simply bloody terrifying. Fortunately, over the year Harry had gotten to know the Director pretty well, and understood the action.
Seven days later, a patchwork crowd was waiting on the jetty for the Sirens, a large table laid out to one side with food and drinks and gifts to be given, and another, slightly smaller table with chairs around it for the negotiation. Harry, Teddy who refused to be parted from his Dada that day, Andromeda who refused to leave in case Teddy got rowdy or simply wasn't welcome at the negotiations, George who just didn't want to be left out, the Director and two bodyguards, Winky who had become Head elf of all the Elves who'd decided to make Black Point their home with or without a bond and Kreacher who was the Head Black elf and refused to let his Masters and Mistress host such an important negotiation without him there to serve and so had left his beloved Grimmauld Place, all waited on the dock itself, while many others, curious as to what was going on, waited up the beach or in the tree line. After an hour of waiting, in which everyone had relaxed a little, a small boat appeared and stopped off shore, then three figures jumped into the water, rising again a minute later at the end of the jetty, dry and in shorts and scrappy tops often worn by muggles at the beach. The Director and Harry started forwards, only to have to wait as Teddy screamed until Harry picked him up and took him with them to greet the three ladies.
"Well met Lady Mairin," the Director said as he bowed his head, "I present Harry Potter, who has many titles but prefers to be called Harry, and Teddy Lupin, his godson and the reason for this meeting. Harry, this is Lady Mairin, who holds a similar position with the Sirens as myself with the Goblins."
"Well met my Lady," Harry bowed his head as the Director did, not being able to do much more with Teddy in his arms. "Thank you for agreeing to this meeting. Would you like some food and drink? I was not sure what you would like, but the Director assures me what I have is good." The Siren in the centre, with golden skin, black hair and eyes of deep blue, studied them for a moment, then spoke, giving her own nod at the appropriate time.
"Well met Director, Harry Potter, Teddy Lupin. We will have refreshments and then talk, for I am curious as to why there are so many here for a negotiation with one?" Harry had to grin.
"That's quite a story, one I will happily tell while you make yourselves comfortable. Kreacher and Winky will help you with anything you need, and will no doubt tell me off in their own way for being improper."
Mairin looked slightly startled at this. "You would allow your servants to reprimand you?"
"Of course. They are family whether they are technically servants or not, and I will do whatever I can to make them happy. Indeed, I would have been happy for Winky to live here as a free elf and be paid like some of the other elves here, but she wished to bond to a family after her last died out, so I welcomed her. I owe my life to House-elves, one in particular who died to save my friends and I, allowing them to tell me off when I almost certainly need it is no hardship at all." Harry's voice had become quite cold as he was speaking, thinking her to be like the purebloods who would never allow an elf to do such a thing, but Mairin had a smile that slowly grew as he spoke, and by the end, her whole demeanour had warmed. She had been expecting one of the elitist, stuck up, modern wizards, who had forgotten the truth of magic, what she got instead renewed her hope for the humans.
"Good, Harry Potter, very good, I think we can come to an arrangement easily." She said, and they moved to complete the age-old ritual of hospitality, before opening official negotiations.
By the end of the day, Harry and Teddy's Calls were suppressed (Andromeda and George not needing it), the original working was modified so that it wouldn't affect anyone until after they reached 18 (to give them chance to finish school and settle affairs before going to sea, or negotiating for their own suppression), and Black Point had some new residents. It would serve as a haven for any sick, injured or old Sirens for generations to come, and should the family die or break the agreement, part of the land would revert to the ownership of the Sirens, under care of the Goblins. Once the contracts were signed (with Blood Quills, much to Harry's distaste) the small boat sailed up to the jetty, and several more Sirens got out, and were lead by Winky to a spot further up the shore where they could build a place for themselves. All in all, it went very well, and now they were only waiting for the envoy back from Captain Turner.