Chapter 59
"Wake up kiddo. Your dad wants us to go work on the Hollow for a bit today while your mum is filling out a million forms for the hospital. Get UP!" Sirius shouted as he started to tip the bucket of ice water he had conjured over Harry's head.
Harry had woken up immediately when Sirius had first entered the room, but had pretended to be asleep. As a consequence of this, Sirius didn't see the slight wave of the wand Harry made. A clear barrier was erected and when the several gallons of icy water poured down it was all re-directed to dump over Sirius' own head.
"AHHHH! Bloody hell that's cold!" he shrieked.
"Serves you right," mumbled Harry as he rolled out of bed and plodded into the nursery leaving a prancing shivering Sirius behind.
"Hello Lupins," he said as he picked up the baby. Remus and Tonks both said their greetings and the three adults chitchatted during the baby's nappy change.
Harry was focusing on thinking up new ideas for the prank war as he headed downstairs. He greeted his parents and Sirius. Teddy was being fussy and refused to take his bottle and Harry was getting frustrated.
"Here, let me try," Sirius said holding his arms out.
"You sure?" asked Harry as he handed the baby over.
"Sirius was the only one who could get you to eat when you were fussy," said Lily absently.
"I remember one time when you had this cold and wouldn't eat or take your potions. We had to call Sirius over at one in the morning so you'd take a fever reducer. For some reason, infants love Sirius Ira Cecil Black," James said with a grin. Sirius frowned.
"Are you going to say my whole name every time you need to talk about me?" he asked. Harry laughed.
"Of course, Sirius Ira Cecil! I've been trying to learn your middle name since our first year. If I had known it was as bad as Ira Cecil, I'd have tried much harder," James replied. Sirius rolled his eyes as he cooed at Teddy and slowly but surely got the baby to take his bottle.
"Now that's just spooky," Harry muttered as he watched his Godson merrily sucking down his milk, dribbling a little whenever Sirius made a face at him. Sirius stuck his tongue out at Harry and returned to the baby in his arms. Lily chuckled.
"It was a horrible blow to a new mother's self esteem too. I spent hours trying to get you to calm down and in five minutes he had you dosed with potion and falling asleep," Lily replied. Sirius laughed and Harry shook his head and chuckled.
"Alright, well I'm off to Mungo's. They have stacks of paperwork for me to fill out. It should take me until dinnertime so I won't be able to make dinner tonight, would one of you please cook?" she asked as she stood up.
"Kreacher can cook for Master's family," said the elf from the sink. Lily looked hesitant, but nodded.
"Very well, I should be home around seven, so you guys should be here around then too. I'll see you all later," she said as she kissed the top of Harry's head as she passed by him on the way to the Floo. Harry grinned.
"Have a nice day mum," he replied. After she left the room was quiet. James finished the sports section in the Prophet and laid the paper down. Harry pulled it toward him to catch up with the Cannons' past week. He may not follow them as religiously as Ron, but after nearly eight years of friendship, he couldn't not know the latest scores or Ron would lecture him for hours. Sirius and James sat and chatted about Godric's Hollow for a while when Harry snorted.
"Skeeter … putting out another biography ... Heaven help whoever's reputation she's about to ruin this time," he muttered to himself as he slapped the paper down on the table. Just then the Floo flared up and Ron's head popped in.
"Harry? You there, mate?" he called.
"I'm right here. What's going on?" he asked the floating head.
"Hermione's busy again. I was wondering what you were up to today?" asked the red head.
"Well, dad, Sirius, and I were going to work on Godric's Hollow. Wanna join us?" Harry asked as he got a non-verbal go ahead from his dad to invite Ron.
"Yeah sure, I'll be right over, thanks!" said Ron excitedly before pulling his head back. A moment later he was in the kitchen and pulling a plate of bangers to him.
"So what are Hermione and Ginny up to today?" Harry asked.
"Well, Hermione said she's got to do some research but refuses to tell me about what, and Ginny is working at the shop today with George," Ron replied with a banger half way to his mouth.
Across the table James stood up and brought his plate to the elf at the sink.
"I've got to pick up a few books in Diagon Alley before we start working. Harry I'm about 98% positive that we're going to have to hire a contractor to fix the roof and the upstairs floor. Are you willing to cover that until we get the Gringotts accounts figured out?" asked James.
"Yeah, sure, I can cover whatever we need. Supplies, contractors ... In fact, if we hire a contractor for Godric's Hollow, we should hire them for Sirius' island as well," Harry replied with a grin.
"Oh, I'd forgotten that … Good idea. Maybe they'll give us a discount. Can I use your owl?" asked James.
"Yeah sure," Harry whistled a low tune and a large brown Horned Owl flew into the kitchen. "Hello Marcel. Dad needs you to deliver a letter for him okay?" he said to the owl. Marcel turned his large, piercing yellow eyes towards James who took a step back and shivered. Sirius' jaw dropped when he looked at the owl.
"What's wrong?" Harry asked the two adults.
"It's like he's staring into my soul," Sirius whispered not taking his eyes off the bird. Ron burst out laughing.
"I felt the same way, mate, the first time I saw him. But he's harmless. The eyes just take some getting used to," he said. James walked over with an envelope in his hands and slowly raised his hands to the birds' leg. Just as he was about to tie it to Marcel the bird spread his wings and screeched loudly, flapping towards James but keeping his hold on Harry's arm.
James screamed and fell backwards to the floor covering his face and flopping away from the bird. Ron and Harry burst out laughing while Sirius dove under the table. After a few seconds James stopped his scooting and uncovered his face while Sirius poked his head out from under the table to see the bird calmly preening itself. Still on Harry's arm.
"You train him to do that?" asked James with a frown.
"Nope, he does that some times when someone offends him," Harry chuckled while Ron gasped for breath after laughing so hard.
Sirius muttered, "Demon bird," as he crawled out from under the table. James handed the envelope to Harry saying, "He's your owl, and I'd prefer to keep my body intact." Chuckling, Harry tied the letter to Marcel and the bird flew up the stairs to the owl chute.
"I'm going to head over to Diagon Alley now. I'll meet you three and the babe over there in about a half an hour," said James.
"Hold on, I'll join you," said Sirius as he handed the baby to Harry. Harry tickled Teddy's tummy for a moment and then looked at Ron.
"Do you think it's a good idea to bring a baby to a practically condemned house while we work on fixing it up?" he asked.
"Now that you mention it…I wonder what mum and Fleur are doing today," replied Ron. Harry finished eating and gathered up Teddy's things while Ron ran home and asked if Molly could babysit. He returned with a hearty yes, and Harry breathed a sigh of relief. He wanted to spend more time with his dad and Sirius but knew he needed to be responsible with Teddy as well. After dropping the baby off with Molly, they Apparated to Godric's Hollow.
For the first hour the guys worked on ripping up carpet, throwing into piles and Vanishing it and various other piles of ruined items. They stayed on the first floor and stairwell, preferring to wait until the contractor showed up to assess the damage to the second floor's stability. While they worked Harry and Ron shared various stories from Hogwarts.
During their midmorning break a loud pop sounded near the front door. Harry jumped up holding out his wand, as did Ron.
"What is with you two? It's probably just the contractor," said James as he headed towards the front door. Harry and Ron sheepishly put their wands back into their pockets and went to sit down. A huge blast burst through the air and the three left in the living room jumped to their feet and ran towards where they'd seen James disappear in a cloud of smoke and debris.
"DAD!" Harry shouted.
"Accio James!" shouted Sirius. A body flew through the air towards them and they heard shouts from outside. Ron quickly sent a Notice-Me-Not charm towards the hole in the front door so no one would come through.
"He's inside! Get him!" Yelled a voice,
"Wait, surround the house! Gaur, set up the wards, now!" a rough voice, sounding familiar to Harry replied.
"Reitzman, that way! Landey, that way!"
"You sure this is a good idea Travers?"
Sirius Enervated James who coughed as he sat up.
"What the hell?" he muttered.
"That was so not the contractor dad! It's the remaining Death Eaters. They must have intercepted Marcel," said Harry.
"We have to get out of here," said Ron as he attempted to Apparate out. When he didn't move, he glanced at the others in fright. "Anti-Apparition wards," he muttered.
"We could try to capture them. There are only a handful of people outside which is about the same amount of left over Death Eaters we've been getting word about. This could be our chance to finally get rid of them all," Harry said.
"How the bloody hell do you plan on getting them? They set up wards now so we can't escape!" asked Ron.
"Exactly, wards might mean we can't escape, but neither can they!" Harry exclaimed. He thought for a minute before whispering, "Dad, you go upstairs and set up an illusion that the floor is still there in the nursery. Ron, Sirius, you go into the study and set up an area where they'll be trapped, knock them out as they fall in, anything. I know you can do it. Also disillusion yourselves, you too dad. I'm going to wait for them to see me and let them chase me upstairs. Dad when you see me, create an illusion of me running into the nursery, while I disillusion myself and hide behind that old sofa that's still up there. Everyone understand their parts? Good, whistle softly when you're done getting ready. I'll hold them off until I hear it and whistle back, okay? Go!"
The other three nodded and headed off into the directions Harry had assigned them while he went around and cast several spells. He spelled the back door and windows with heavy locking enchantments and anti-breaking charms and set a password key to them so only he could undo the spells, similar to the snake prank he'd played on the Weasleys at his party. This made it so the Death Eaters could only enter the house through the hole in the wall where the front door had been where he'd removed Ron's Notice-Me-Not charm.
Harry waited several minutes, hearing both his dad and Ron whistle to him they were ready. He whistled back shortly and then waited. After another minute or so, he heard cursing by the backdoor and thumps as people attempted to jump through windows only to find them unbreakable. Harry sniggered to himself and heard Ron thump Sirius from the other room where they had obviously watched someone's failed attempt to crash through.
Slowly but surely he could see through the windows the Death Eaters gather and gesture to the windows and back door. He counted eight robed figures. One pointed to the front of the house and one person ran around the house. Harry tensed waiting for the one person to come through the wall, but the Death Eater returned to the group pointing towards the direction he'd come from and nodding. The group made their way to toward the front of the house cautiously. Harry readied himself facing away from the front door heading from the kitchen into the living room where the staircase was.
Only a moment later he heard a shout from the front door and glanced over his shoulder before bolting for the stairs. The eight black robed men fell for it and started to chase him. As he'd hoped they fought a bit at the bottom of the stairs which gave him a moment's head start to get up them and behind the sofa. As soon as he rounded the banister at the top he waved his wand and disappeared before leaping behind the rotten sofa. Just in time too, for as soon as he landed, Travers arrived. He watched as a slightly shimmering Illusion glanced over its shoulder and bolted for the nursery. Travers shouted and ran after it, the others following on his heels. The first five through the door fell through a fake floor, which caused the last three guys to stop dead in their tracks. James and Harry took care of them though by stunning them from behind, letting them fall through the floor.
The whole 'battle' was over in minutes and Harry watched as Ron summoned the eight wands to himself as Sirius went around and completed the Stunning process and binding them with Anti-Disapparition jinxes. Harry sent a Patronus message to Kingsley and the Head Auror, Robards. James waved his wand a few times and removed the widespread Anti-Apparition ward.
"Help's on their way. I can't believe we finally caught them all!" Harry cried as he slapped Ron on the back in excitement. The two jumped around acting like kids when they heard several more pops outside. All four raised their wands and crept to the doorway.
"Harry?" called out a familiar deep voice.
"It's just Kingsley," Harry sighed in relief. "In here!" he shouted back. Shortly, the room was filled with the Minister of Magic, Head Auror Robards, and five more Aurors.
"Sorry, Kingsley, but I gotta verify you are who you say you are. What was that meeting with the Ministers from around the world actually about?" Harry asked.
"They all wanted to fight over who got to hire your Dark Wizard arse kicking skills next," Kingsley laughed. Ron, James, Sirius, Robards, and the rest of the Aurors all laughed loudly while Harry blushed.
After fifteen minutes of questioning Harry and the others, the Aurors took away the eight prisoners each clapping Harry on the back and congratulating him.
"Well done, Mr. Potter, well done. An Auror cadet capturing eight criminals singlehandedly is a rare, if never heard of feat. You'll probably get some kind of award and—"
"Erm, sir," Harry interrupted his boss. "It wasn't exactly singlehanded. I had help from my dad, godfather, and best friend. It would be wrong to claim that I did it all by myself," Harry finished modestly. Ron sniggered behind his hand.
"Er, right, well, you're going to need to come in and fill out the paperwork for this, cadet. Gotta get these things done right," Robards muttered.
"I'm sure Harry wouldn't mind coming in an hour early tomorrow and filling out the paperwork then. Right Harry?" asked Kingsley. Harry nodded and Robards grunted.
"Very well then. Be sure to fill it all out correctly, good day," he finished before nodding to them all and turning to leave. Kingsley chuckled and saluted the four of them before following Robards.
"Sheesh, can you say personality disorder?" said Sirius.
"Yeah, what was with that guy? He heard the whole story and knew it wasn't just you here," said Ron.
"He's the Head Auror, Gawain Robards. He took over after Scrimgeour became Minister and was able to fake his way through the Thicknesse regime. Kingsley's told me he wants to replace him but there aren't enough competent people so he stays. The worse part is Robards' been trying to get himself positioned so he can take over the DMLE by training me to be the best Auror out there and boosting his career using me. So far I've avoided it, but today was close. He doesn't want to use anyone but me in some sort of Press Release by awarding me with something or other and making himself out to be this amazing trainer when in reality he's done pretty much nothing in training me or the other cadets," said Harry.
Just then a pop was heard outside. Harry raised his wand and walked to the gaping hole and looked out. A man was staring at the house in astonishment. He caught sight of Harry and shook his head for a second before calling out.
"Are you James Potter? I'm Gerard Luminati, the contractor. Looks like we've got our work cut out for us," said the man as he stepped into the house.
"Er, I'm James. Over here, that's my son, Harry, this is Sirius Black, and Ron Weasley," replied James.
The guys spent the next hour looking over the house and letting Gerard assess the damages while Ron and Harry ran out to buy some Muggle Take-out and bring home lunch for them all.
After lunch the guys sat around and Gerard talked about their options.
"I'll be completely honest with you, James," Gerard began. "It would be easiest and cheapest to tear her down completely and build from the ground up. It wouldn't be impossible to do repairs, but it would take longer and cost more in the long run. We'd be able to basically copy the blueprints so you'd essentially have the same house, just new. Maybe even add on some things you may want. You mentioned a library and dining room, and you could have more bedrooms," he finished.
"How long would it take if we do repairs versus a total rebuild?" asked Harry.
"Well, repairs would be about six months at the least. If we rebuild completely we could be done in about three at most. The reason for that is that it takes a while to assess where the worst of the damage is, and safely repair that before moving on to the easier stuff like new drywall and carpeting. Repairs on a house this bad off would require a team of experts to assess damages and do the big repairs, then a team of grunts to do the minor stuff. If we start over completely, we can bypass the experts completely saving you gallons of Galleons. Does that make sense?" asked Gerard.
"Yes actually it does make sense but I would like to discuss it with my wife before any final decisions are made though. Sirius and Harry have another job they'd like to discuss with you though," James said waving his hand towards the other two.
Sirius spent a few minutes explaining the Island, where it was located and the specifics.
"We were wondering if you could have a large house, probably more like mansion or manor, built before Christmas on this island," said Sirius.
"Well, our firm is a mite small to be working on two big projects at the same time. I'd say yes, we could get the Potters' home built, and then your island home built, by Christmas, but if we're doing the repairs on this house instead of re-building then I'm not sure we could be finished by Christmas unless we wait on this one and do yours first. Not that I'm trying to push Mr. Potter in a certain direction, his house is up to him, we just don't have that many people working for us this soon after the war," said Gerard.
"Well, if it helps to know, I think I'm leaning towards re-building this house. I just have to make sure my wife feels the same way," replied James.
"Okay, well, assuming the Potter's do go for the re-build, we could have both projects done…right around Christmas time. We could even split the workers towards the end to do the small things like carpet and flooring and be done a couple weeks early." Gerard waved his wand and a stack of parchment floated to his lap. He handed the papers to James and Sirius.
"Mr. Potter, these are my figures for a re-build using the same foundation, maybe a little altering of the original foundation to add some more space. If you and your wife decide on adding some rooms, we will of course revaluate the plans and provide a new estimate. The second sheet details the estimates for repairing the house, if you decide on that instead.
"Mr. Black, these are spread sheets with various numbers. These numbers are of course subject to change, yadda, yadda." Gerard looked at his watch. "Merlin's balls! I just realized how late it is, and my wife was expecting me an hour ago! We can make a second meeting with you, Mr. Black, to work on blueprints and floor layouts on another day. You know where to reach me via Owl post and Floo so I'll just let you guys get on with your discussions. I hope to do business with you in the future; it was nice meeting you Mr. Potter, Mr. Potter, Mr. Black, and Mr. Weasley. Good day," Gerard finally finished talking and walked back out of the building and disappeared.
The guys spent a little while discussing all the options they had before switching to talking about Sirius' island house.
"What do you want it to look like Sirius?" asked Ron.
"Well, I know I want it to fit everyone comfortably, so it'll have to be fairly large. I'm guessing eight to ten bedrooms. Not to mention I need a pool," Sirius said with a grin.
"Erm, Padfoot, you live on an island…surrounded by water…in the Caribbean. Why do you need a pool?" asked James.
"Hello? Have you ever swum in the ocean? You find sand in places you didn't even know you had for days! And the chaffing! Ye gods the chaffing! Nope, I demand a pool, large and deep and a hot tub nearby as well," he finished with a grin.
"Well, we have to have some Muggle toys too. Like a large, loud entertainment system complete with Playstation and hundreds of movies. And a game room with poker, pool, fooze, and air hockey tables. Maybe a dart board and a Muggle Arcade like at my birthday party. OH! And a personal bar complete with many types of liquor," said Harry with a huge smile.
"What about magic, won't that disrupt the Muggle things?" asked Ron.
"Not if you do it right," said Harry with a wink.
Sirius stood up and stretched. "I think it's time to head home. We got a lot done today, I think the only area that's left is the cellar and we can do that one tomorrow," he grunted. "Besides, Harry owes us another memory night or two."
"Yeah, fifth year is O.W.L.s year, I can't wait!" James said with a laugh as the others stood up.
After Harry retrieved Teddy, the four of them, minus Ron, returned home where James and Sirius spent a few hours regaling Harry with stories of pranks they'd played at Hogwarts, and stories of James' parents.
"Grandma Potter was an Unspeakable?" Harry said with surprise.
"Yep, and your Grandfather coached the Montrose Magpies for twenty years," James replied proudly.
Harry just stared for several moments before he grinned.
"Where did they live?" Harry asked. "You mentioned Haven something a few days ago."
"Meadow Haven? Yes, that was my parents' home. Not quite your average Malfoy Manor, but it was quite the home. There were enough rooms there so Sirius, Remus and the rat, could all have their own rooms when they came over each summer. Dad even fortified the detached apartment over the duelling arena so Remus could transform safely at our house. We guys had the whole upstairs level to ourselves, and we even crafted some stairs off my balcony so we could sneak out to the pool at night," James said with a grin.
"James, mate, we should go check it out. Remus told me a couple years ago that the house was still there. He'd checked up on it every couple years, made sure it was still standing and everything. I believe he said the elves were still there and keeping it up well enough," said Sirius, who was bouncing in excitement.
"Yeah, let's do it tomorrow. We can bring Lily with us too. I'm sure she'd be interested to see the old place," replied James.
A couple hours later Lily showed up just as the guys were finishing dinner. James jumped up to take her bag from her and give her a kiss.
"Hello, sweet heart, how was Mungo's?" he asked as she plopped down un-ladylike into a chair with a huff.
"I never knew paperwork could be so exhausting," she said, placing her hand on her forehead. A plate of salmon filet with sides of steaming broccoli and cheese and baked potato was set in front of her by Kreacher. "Oh, wow this looks amazing!" she exclaimed before digging in. She bit into the fish and closed her eyes in delight.
"Oh, this is almost better than…um, never mind," she finished glancing at Harry who frowned and then, eyes widening, groaned in disgust.
"I really didn't need that image, mum, thanks," he said while shaking his head. James and Sirius guffawed loudly.
"I'm sorry! I haven't eaten anything since this morning. I thought since all I'd be doing was paperwork, I'd get a lunch break, but I barely got one bathroom break and that was because I was doing a potty dance," she said rolling her eyes and eating more salmon. After several more bites, she slowed down and asked between bites, "So how was your day, boys?"
She finished her meal to the tales of capturing Death Eaters and talking to contractors.
"So we need to make a decision about rebuilding or repairing?" she asked. James nodded.
"Well, I love that house, but if it costs less to rebuild, then I guess that's what we'll do. And this was I can get my library and an actual dining room," she said happily. "Maybe we can even add more rooms too."
"Yeah, this is possible. Well, Sirius is also making plans for his Island House with the same contractors. I'm glad you like the idea of just rebuilding, because if we want to have an island Christmas at Marauder Paradise, we'd need a house built by December, and if we chose to repair our house, Sirius' wouldn't be finished by then…unless we hired a different contractor," James said. "Anyway, all this house talk got me and Sirius remembering Meadow Haven, and we figured we'd all go there tomorrow and check it out, see if it needs some work done too."
Lily looked thoughtfully at him. "That's a good idea," she said.
"Do we own any other properties? Just out of curiosity," Harry asked suddenly.
"I don't think we do. My parents' home went to Petunia, who I'm sure sold it immediately. James' parents left Meadow Haven to us, and they gave us the Godric's Hollow cottage before they died. Did they have any other homes, James?" asked Lily.
"Not that I know of. But my Great Uncle Thomas might have left a house to my dad at some point. I'd have to check with Gringotts. Other than that, I don't think so. Why do you ask Harry?" he finished.
"Well, I know I inherited everything from both of you and Sirius and I'm managing Teddy's inheritance also. What with the war and my feud with the Goblins right after the war, I've never had the chance to talk with an advisor at Gringotts about my inheritance. Maybe after we visit Meadow Haven, we should go figure out the finances with Gringotts tomorrow too. That way you all don't have to keep asking me for money."
"Feud with the Goblins," Lily stated in disbelief. "I think it's about time you continued with your fifth year memories tonight."
"Agreed," said James and Sirius in unison.
A/N: Wow...I am very sorry it's been so long. My only excuses are life, school, and my good friend Coni came up from Chile for a month. I'll tell you all what I told my awesomely patient beta Teufel1987, I'm done with classes in about 2 weeks and hopefully will be writing much more often. If it helps to understand my school stress, I've been working on one video project for the last month (and putting off my other 4 projects that are due next week) and I finally finished it today! I'm literally taking a 20 minute break from homework and posting this since Teufel got it back to me so fast. Please Review! I love hearing from you all!