Chapter 6 The Beginning of Paradise

Thanks to alix33 and darrelldeam for looking this over. All mistakes are my own, feel free to point them out.

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Everyone had a good chuckle when all the animals disappeared and they started to move again. The herd of Centaurs and two humans walked sedately, wanting to take in the beauty of this entranceway of lost city with its tall wild grasses, large colorful bushes and plentiful flowers. Sirius was pointing out to Harry which were magical and which were not.

Harry looked around and noted the grassland was between the dome and the rainforest. The large forest circled most of the area and an overgrown bushy plane separated it from the city with its many houses, buildings and temple.

After about thirty minutes of walking, they made it to the city and could now see that the houses were in great disrepair. The clay like walls were crumpled and the wooden roofs had caved in. There were decayed and collapsing wooden tables set outside those houses, some had pottery on them while others had wooden or stone bowls. There were large cracked vases or what were probably once water jugs. There were weed covered stone wells on the corner of the streets. Harry looked inside one and judged that there was still water in it.

There were one or two broken down carts lining the streets, but for the most part Harry had no clue as to why there were streets and pavements. They must have had horses or some other mode of transportation. The cobblestone street was warped and made it hard for the Centaurs to pick their way across, their shoes making echoing noises in the quiet of the city.

Vines grew everywhere, covering up walls, hiding markings on the stone fences and snaking across the pavements. It gave the city an overall creepy feeling. Harry kept expecting ghosts to come out of nowhere and chase them off or zombies to do the same. He wondered what happened to such a large population of what appeared to be a once thriving city.

"Well, let's find a house that's closer to the temple and we'll settle for the night," Sirius suggested, warily looking around as if he too expected company. "You might want to call Dobby," he said turning to Harry, "or we'll be looking all night." He was too tired to do any repairing magic and he knew Harry was more exhausted than he was. The boy had used a great deal of power to open the dome, Sirius was surprised the kid was still standing.

"Dobby," Harry called.

"The Great Harry Potter is calling Dobby?" the little elf asked when he popped in, then his mouth made an 'O' shape when he noticed where he was. "The Great Harry Potter is opening the lost city. Harry Potter is being the greatest wizard of all time," he gushed, making everyone chuckle. "Dobby will go and get Winky and the others and we wills be finding a place for you and your Paddy." Doing what most house elves do and predicting what his Mast… boss wanted and with that Dobby left, only to return a minute later with about twenty house elves, in various states of dress. There were some that still sported pillowcases, while others took on Dobby's appearance with children's clothes. They all looked around and squealed at all the work they could see needed to be done.

"Alright yous elves, we is needing to find a houses that can bes slept in," Dobby said as loudly as he squeaky voice could. So the elves started popping to the buildings looking for any that would hold the humans. You could hear them moving and squealing as they searched.

"Dobby will be finding a house," the little guy said and popped away with the others.

"Let's keep walking," Sirius suggested, hoping to make it closer to the end before nightfall. The Centaurs were talking among themselves. Matta and Melampus seemed to be debating on whether or not to remain in the city or head for the forest.

"Sirius, what happened to the people who lived here? I mean, look at this place; it once was a successful community. So what happened?" Harry asked as they made their way towards the pyramid, bringing up his earlier thoughts.

"No one knows. Your dad and I used to talk about it, we came up with some wild theories, but no one really knows. It could be something as simple as they all got the flu or some other disease and died out. It could also be they had a seer that told them to leave. I asked Jeuel and he said the villagers didn't know either, only that they were here and then gone. There might be something in the temple that will tell the story." Sirius looked around hopefully as if a ghost would pop out and answer the boy's question. Which considering the place was magical, it could happen. It would go a long way to finding out what occurred. Maybe there were a few in the temple.

"Right," the teen said, nodding his head, "one other thing, shouldn't this place be in worse shape? I mean, it's pretty bad, but I figured over thousands of years the houses would be dust or buried." His nose wrinkled in confusion and thought.

"Magic, Harry, magic," his godfather chuckled and ruffled his hair. "You saw the dome was still strong when we got here, but it got a power boost when you vamped up the ward stone. So it was all still active and the preservation charms probably held on as long as they could. Looks like the temple had the strongest charms," he added looking at the gigantic intact building.

"Right, magic," Harry mumbled and fell silent. It took a better part of the day to get to the end of the city. It was dark, the wizards had their wands lit and the Centaurs had torches. The light cast eerie shadows on the abandoned houses, making the whole place look sinister.

Dobby didn't find a house that could be lived in, but told them that he would fix one up as soon as possible. To which they replied that they could do it themselves. Which made the little leader elf frown and pop away.

So the two wizards brought out the tent and put it up right in front of the temple at the base of the stairs.

"I'm knackered," Harry said, after they set up for the night.

"Yes, I expect you are," Matta replied as he came up to them. "We are going to venture in the forest and see if there is a place for us near the city. We will report if there are any magical creatures there. Until tomorrow, Harry Potter and Sirius Black," he said with a slight bow. More goodnights were called and the herd turned and went to the forest.

"Wow, I thought they'd stay for at least a night," Harry said as he watched them fade into the darkness.

"They're forest dwellers. They wouldn't be comfortable here. Don't worry, we'll see them tomorrow. Let's get you to bed." The older man led the tired teen into the tent and they went straight to bed, well, Harry did. Sirius spent most of the night going over the runes to see if there was a Fidelius charm on them. He wanted his godson safe. He really wished Moony was here, Remus was better at runes than he was. He finally gave it up and went to bed. Tomorrow they'd fix a house and get settled.

Harry woke up the next morning feeling refreshed. He looked at his watch and noticed it was past ten. He could hear Dobby puttering about the kitchen, so he got up, got dressed and went to see what was for breakfast. It looked like they were having Scotch eggs today. Digging in to the meal, Harry's thoughts wandered to where his godfather was.

"Dobby, have you seen Padfoot?" he asked the little elf.

"He is already been eating his breakfast. He is asking Dobby if Dobby is finding any house that is being fixed up easy. Dobby is telling him where one is, so he is going to see if he cans be making it a good home for the Great Harry Potter," Dobby answered, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"Oh, okay, I'll go look for him. Thanks for breakfast, Dobby, why don't you let me handle that from now on. You can work with the other elves at… whatever you're going to do," Harry said as he finished his meal.

"Dobby will think about it," the little elf said, a bit out of character. Harry knew his littlest friend was showing his new independence and was happy for him, so he just smiled.

"Right, well, I'm going to go find Sirius," Harry said and he got up and headed out of the tent. He stood and listened for any noise, hearing some off to his left, he started walking.

He admired some of the marking on the walls that fenced the houses. He couldn't really make them out, but what he could see was pretty wicked. Like stories being told as you walked. It reminded him of cave drawings, only more defined. There were pictures of people holding things or hunting. He couldn't wait until they got the vines cleared so he could see the whole thing. "So," he said when he reached the older man, "how's it look?"

"I think, if we work together, we can get this one built up enough to move in tonight," Sirius answered, not taking his attention from his spell work. He waved his wand and moved the roof off the house in front of him and put it in the middle of the street. Then he transfigured the decayed wood into new wood and set them off to the side. "Here, let me show you how to build up the walls. We're going to need to repair them with some of the adobe from the other houses, since a Reparo won't work without all of the pieces and most of this has crumbled into dust. So we'll puzzle some together and have a nice cozy place to live."

They went inside the house, it was disturbing. If it weren't for the deterioration they would have thought the people who lived here had just stepped out for a minute. The floor was packed dirt and the walls were adobe. The wooden table was set with stone plates and what looked like spoons carved of wood. There were piles of molded fur and other dilapidated wooden seats. The adobe fireplace was crumbled and you could see the rusted hook still hanging inside it. There was a clay stove with a metal door that hung off its hinges in what appeared to be the kitchen area. There were a few waist high walls that separated sleeping areas, the hay, furs and blankets gave that away. There was no water closet that they could find.

"Looks like we'll have to build from the ground up," Sirius said gleefully as he started banishing what was left of the furniture and pottery. Harry simply nodded and helped. He felt a little bad about getting rid of the old stuff, but most of it was irreparable, though they did keep some of the stone plates and repaired some of the water jugs. They would make nice decorations and remind them of the lost people.

So the two magicals, with the help of the house elves, who brought material to them, fixed the small house. First they transfigured wood for flooring, then going from room to room they started building up the walls, adding a few windows and doorways. Sirius showed Harry what runes to place on the base of each rebuilt wall. Then the older man added a few more household runes to keep the place from catching on fire and such. After the walls were formed, Sirius made a slanted roof with his transfigured wood.

"Isn't all of this transfiguration going to return to its original state?" Harry asked as the roof formed in the middle of the street.

"Nay, that's what the runes are for," Sirius waved away his concern and finished putting the roof together and then placed it on the repaired house. They stood on the cobblestone street for a minute and admired their handwork, then went inside.

The house now had five rooms; two bedrooms, a living area, a kitchen/dining space, and a bathroom. They were going to need Dobby or one of the other elves to get the appliances and other fixtures that were needed for the other houses, but the adventurers used what was in the tent, since they wouldn't need it anymore. So they now had a fully functioning wizard's kitchen and bathroom. It took the better part of the morning to get it all built, but in the end they were satisfied. Magic was wonderful.

A few of the herd came to see what they were doing around the middle of the afternoon. Matta came up to them as they were double checking the outside walls. "Good afternoon, Harry Potter, Sirius Black. I see you have succeeded in obtaining shelter."

"Yeah," Sirius said, putting a proud hand on Harry's shoulder. "How about you guys, did you find a place?"

"We have. There is a clearing not far inside the forest. It will suffice for us," the steel-coated leader said. "Melampus informs me this forest much reminds him of the Forbidden Forest of Britain, without the animals that dwelled there. We have seen no sign of any magical creature, but we have not yet explored much. However, unlike the Amazon, there are many magical plants growing within."

"That'll be helpful in the future," Sirius said, scratching his goatee in thought.

"Yes, our new healers are very enthusiastic about the bounty," Matta smiled, glad they had obtained mares that were versed in potions and healing. The Amazon herd had not had a healer in many moons; if someone was injured they did their best and lost a few. Now this new home would be better than the last. The herd would flourish, the stars agreed.

"Wait," Harry said, confused, "I saw magical plants on our journey." He remembered seeing a few he had studied in Herbology and used in Potions.

"They were few and far between and not plentiful enough to maintain a potion supply," Matta explained. "Now we can have a better healing/potions stable. Magical plants make better balms and potions than the mundane plants of the rainforest. We will lose less people now; the stars have foretold me thus."

"Oh, what about the ones that need sunlight? Isn't it too dark in the forest for them? Are we going to need to build a greenhouse?" Harry fired off some questions that had been bothering him about sustaining a city. Though from what he'd seen so far, this place must have done well until they died, moved or whatever.

"There are clearings between the city and the forest, where these plants are abundant," was the calm answer from the Centaur leader.

"Oh, okay, so the whole place is set up to be self-maintaining?" the teen asked, still mulling over how that happened.

"No, not quite," Sirius answered. "There's no game or livestock, unless you want to eat monkeys and snakes. Which is what I'm sure the natives did and do eat, but we have a bit more refined palate," he added with a chuckle.

"Oh, right, well, that's something we're going to have to figure out," Harry said, not wanting to have to eat snake again. Not that it was bad tasting, but eating something that he could communicate with gave him shivers. And the thought of eating a monkey made his stomach rebel. They were too smart for him to even think about it calmly.

"Yeah, I figure a few farms and such," the older man said, wondering if the house elves could set one up until he got a few people here. "We should still see about greenhouses, there are some potion ingredients that do better in them."

"Right, so what do we do now?" Harry asked, wanting to get away from that conversation.

"Right now, we wait for the villagers. Some of them want to move into the city, while others want to go to the forest with the Centaurs. They all want out of the Amazon and away from the Spiral Snakes and Jacksaws and such. Like the Centaurs they're dying out and are hoping they can repopulate here. They had a seer not long back, which told the same prophecy as the native Centaurs. The city would be found, only one with great power and two in flight, blah, blah, blah," Sirius said, waving it all away now that they were inside.

Matta cut him a glare for dismissing the stars, then stomped his hind legs and said, "We must settle. Our foals are restless after such a long journey. We will come and see how you are faring and help in any way we can." He then whirled around and started back to the forest, the rest of the herd following.

"I think you made him mad," Harry said as he watched them go.

"Yeah," Sirius agreed, "I'll go and apologize tomorrow. But for now, let's get settled. We have to empty the bag and tent and set up everything."

So Sirius emptied the bag on to the street where there would be room for everything stored in it, which was a lot, while Harry gutted the tent. Furniture was moved and bookcases were transfigured. Some books were sorted and placed on the shelves. Rooms were set up and soon the house looked lived in.

That night after a nice simple dinner of fish and chips, Sirius stayed at the cleared table and started writing letters. Harry talked to Dobby and Winky. "So where are the house elves staying?"

"We is working all day on the houses and we will be staying on the island at night. There is being no rooms for house elves in the temple, so we is staying in the camps we made," Dobby said, bouncing with excitement. He had done as suggested and roamed the world looking for them and was more than happy at who he found. Each of the elves he brought didn't want to be enslaved again, barring Winky, but she was coming around.

All of the new elves were happy to finally have work to do. Dobby explained to them what the humans were trying to create and they were all excited that soon there would be families that would hire them on.

Harry had wanted to explore the temple, but Sirius said to wait until they had curse breakers. So the teen contented himself with admiring it from the base of the stairs. He wondered how the house elves got in, and then brushed it aside for now.

"Well, how about half of you work on the houses and the other half build a village just for you elves? Or renovate some of the other houses for those of you who want to live in the city? I mean, there have to be some that don't want to be separated, but we're not going to force you either way. Maybe you can see if there are any farmers among you and start building farms and ranches," Harry said as inspiration struck. "We can get some cattle and horses later, but it would be better if we had a place for them."

"Ohhh, that is being a good idea, Harry Potter, sir," Dobby said, his eyes going wide.

"Winky is thinking there is being a few that is knowing gardens, Harry Potter, sir," the little female elf squeaked shyly.

"Right, why don't you guys work on that tomorrow?" Harry said, hopeful that such a plan would work. He had no idea who Sirius was going to bring and what their trade was.

"Yes, sir, Harry Potter, sir," Dobby said mockingly, making Winky's eyes go wide in horror as she looked to Harry as if he was going to make Dobby punish himself.

"Prat," Harry said, knocking off the male elf's hat. The two giggled and Winky looked on with confusion.

"We is being going now. We is being very tired from our works today," Dobby said, picking up his hat and grabbing Winky's hand.

"Try not to work too hard. Goodnight Winky, Dobby," Harry said, waving to them and then he watched as they popped away, after they said their good-byes.

Sirius was still writing letters, so Harry cleared an area and started his practical spell work. The two stayed on their tasks for an hour, until Harry bid Sirius a goodnight and went to bed. It was the wee hours of the morning when Sirius dropped onto his bed, but he completed over twenty letters. They had been long ones, since he was making sure each person understood just what was happening and what they would need to bring with them. He spelled the letters to catch fire once read, not wanting them to fall into the wrong hands.

The next morning Harry cooked, arguing with Dobby about getting the house elves settled first. He made boiled eggs and soldiers and after eating, he and Sirius made their way to the forest. Melampus was right; this forest reminded Harry of the one back home, only more humid and noisy. However, it gave off a feeling of magic that the Amazon didn't. He worried that it might change the animals that had flocked in the other day, but if it did, would it be better? Or would some of them turn predator? Would the intent wards allow that? Something they'd have to watch for.

They wandered for a half an hour, until Gundabald found them. He led them to the new settlement and Sirius went to apologize to Matta. Harry looked around to see how the new place was set up. It looked like they were still building, there were half formed stable like houses, with no furniture or shelves. There were also the cloth lean-tos on the outer rim. A large fire pit was in the middle, with a stew pot bubbling away. He could hear Talar's hammer banging away at something in one of the cloth tents.

Harry's three tutors informed him that they would come to the city to continue his education, within the next week. He thanked them for doing that and then he offered to help Nalla's family and they accepted.

So they all worked hard in building the village until it was time for the humans to eat lunch. They still needed to sort through the stuff from the bag, so they went back to their little house and after some beef burritos they did just that.

It took three days to go through all of that stuff, but it was well worth it. They found gizmos and books they had forgotten about and set them up in the living area. One of those gizmos was like the Sneakoscope and would let them know if danger was near their house, which wasn't really needed because of the wards, but they put it up nonetheless. There were books on runes, to further help Sirius. As well as some on Dark magic to do the research on Harry's connection with Voldemort. More furniture and appliances were found and they put those back in the bag for the future citizens.

The villagers came a few days later, there were only about fifty of them and they spilt almost in half. One half going to the forest, the other claiming houses near the two Brits. They had their own magic and didn't seem to need help. Soon enough more houses were repaired and the noise started to increase as happy families settled into a new life. The ones that stayed in the city had children, but they were shy and when Harry went to greet them they ran away giggling. It was a work in progress.

Sirius, Matta, Melampus and Jeuel were seen many times going over the runes. The two Centaur leaders would go to the ward stone to confirm what Sirius had written down. Then it was decided among the four leaders to bring the ward stone inside the dome. They dug it up and Sirius levitated it to the inner rim of the forest. Now they didn't have to go outside to study it and it was better protected.

Sirius did find a Fidelius rune, but waited for now to activate it. He wanted the people he had written to, to be able to find the place. Then he would charge it, besides it needed more than one wizard or one with great power and he didn't want Harry to do that again.

Harry finally met the teen he had been waving to. The boy came up to him a few days after his family repaired a house nearby. "Hello," he said in Portuguese, "I am Zeeb. Your name is?"

"Harry," the British teen said, holding out his hand. Zeeb just looked at it and frowned, so Harry slowly lowered it. "You like the city?"

"It is different; we are used to the trees. We are hunters, gatherers and warriors." He waved his arm to the forest and then broke out in a grin. "An adventure, yes?"

"Yes," Harry said, returning the smile. Now he had someone to talk with who was his age. It was going to be great. "If you need help, we will," he offered, his Portuguese not up to a full conversation.

"Thank you. If you can help, we will ask," the tan teen said, understanding Harry's limit and then he nodded his head and went to help his mother.

Harry watched him go and then went back to his book. He was reading up on Charms and household spells. Now that they were here, he was going to be using Dobby for the housework less and less, until the free house elves got their village or houses up.

About a week later, people started appearing, via portkey or house elves. They were transported outside the dome and then had to get through the intent wards. Most could, but some were blasted into the forest, what happened to them after that Harry didn't know.

Families, singles and couples showed up with everything they owned in expanded bags or trunks, mostly muggle-born and squibs. The houses around the base of the temple were being repaired and soon there were stores opening along the main street. Harry had no idea where they got their merchandise, but figured they brought it with them. Most of the businesses were household stuff and books. There was one pub/inn that was put up almost straight away and it was busy all the time. Harry and Sirius had dinner there one time and the Shepherd's pie they ate was really good.

The free elves were hired to go to outside magical places to obtain needed material. Though, Sirius's letters must have been thorough, since many of the new citizens brought their own things, like they had emptied out their houses completely. Some of the house elves were being hired as cleaners, builders and store clerks.

"Sirius," Harry started one night after a few more families showed, "How many people did you invite?"

"I think I pretty much cleared out the slums of Knockturn Alley," his godfather answered, putting his feet up on the coffee table, only to have Dobby come by and knock them off.

"How do you know them? I mean, aren't you a pure-blood and one of the upper-class?" the confused teen asked.

"Well, my mother went down to Knockturn a lot, me and Regulus used to follow her and talk to the people there. I made loads of friends with the poor, while Reg made quite a few connections with the shady characters. I kept in touch with them when I went to Hogwarts. Gave some money when I could, had James do the same. It pissed my mother off, so that was a bonus," Sirius explained, taking a sip of his tea. "I even befriended a few that Reg introduced me to."

"Oh, I didn't know there were nice people down that Alley. I mean, the only ones I ran into when I was there gave me the willies." He shuddered as he remembered the hag that tried to kidnap him.

"They stick mostly to themselves. There are a lot of half-breeds living there and I've invited them too, but they are not as trusting of me as the humans are," the older man said with a frown.

"Well, I guess that kinda makes sense," Harry said, standing from his chair. "Time for practical stuff."

"Right," Sirius agreed and helped move the furniture. They were going to need a better space for spell work.

A few days later the magical creatures started to come through the portal. Fairies, unicorns, gnomes, thestrals and hippogriffs, plus many more that Harry couldn't identify. He had no idea how they got there, but shrugged it off as magic.

Most went the forest, while others lived in the grasslands. Others still installed themselves in the occupied houses, like the fairies and gnomes, which caused whoever lived there to either chase them off or deal with housemates that would keep insects and pests out. Harry liked the twenty fairies that were in his and Sirius's house. They lit up the rooms better than the torches and ate the bugs, though they did have a bad habit of trying to fix his hair.

Harry met quite a few new people, but kept mostly to the teens. The three Centaurs continued teaching, but now they had a class. They had the lessons outdoors, when the weather allowed, which so far was always. They said they would continue to impart theory until the human magicals where done with the building. Then wizards and witches would use some place for a school or build one.

Harry still got letters from Hermione, but Ron's seemed to have petered off. The letters were about the daily happenings in Britain, mostly about the tournament and how dangerous it was. There had been a few articles in the Prophet about the two fugitives, but they had no idea where they had run off to. There were articles about people disappearing out of the lower slums of magical Britain. The theory was that they had all run off to another country, which was true. But the articles speculated that it was France or somewhere on the continent.

Dumbledore had questioned his bushy-haired friend about him, and Harry was now glad he never told her where he was, because Hermione confessed that she had told the Headmaster the truth. Harry was angry at first then realized that it was just her way. So he wrote back that it was okay.

Sirius and a few others activated the Fidelius rune about a week after all he had written to stopped appearing. The new people had let them know of more people that wanted to come. Now that there was rumor of a paradise, it was best to keep it hidden. Sirius made Harry the secret keeper, which had Harry beaming with pride that the man trusted him that much.

Harry had written to the king of the goblins, letting him know that they had space for any goblin or half-goblin that wanted a safe place to be. He did the same for the dwarves. Melampus used one of the free elves to let the herds know. Sirius wrote to Remus to let him know they were working on a place for the werewolves and to get them ready to move at a moment's notice. He spelled the parchment so only werewolves could read it and not talk about it with anyone.

So far the werewolves had not come, Sirius reasoned was that they had no place to go on the full moon, so they were waiting until something could be set up. Right now he was working on some safe houses with the half-dwarfs.

Many half-breeds started to join the new city. They too appeared outside the dome, got questioned, were told the secret and had to get past the wards. Soon there was a bank set up by the half-goblins. And the half-dwarves were looking over the outer rim of the now named Great Forest. They felt that there could be something to mine there and wanted to create their own burrows. The half-giants lived around the forest; they were the ones who started farms for animals in the ranches the elves built. Livestock and horses were being brought in and the citizens were happy to have a form of transportation, besides Apparating.

Not all of them bowed to their creature heritance, some resided within the city; opened shops, built up houses and the kids studied with Harry.

"Sirius, why aren't there any pure goblins, dwarves and such?" Harry asked when they had opened an account at the newly constructed bank. Unlike the one in Diagon Alley this one was renovated from one of the larger adobe buildings on the main street. It was much like a muggle bank with wooded counters and doors; instead of going underground the rooms in back were divided and expanded. There were vaults and safes with huge locks and spells. There wasn't a lot of economy yet, but the bank, named Barkley's after the founder who was more human than goblin, was holding its own. Many of the citizens had emptied out their vaults and were now thankful they didn't have to keep their money hidden in their houses or businesses.

"They still don't like humans," his godfather answered. "These guys are persecuted in their own homes. Many of them just want to start over. Maybe later there will be a few more open-minded ones joining us. But for now, we'll be happy with the half-breeds. Did you see? There were wizards and squibs hired on. That's the kind of attitude we need to build our dream. "

"Oh, yeah, right, I saw that," the teen said a bit proud of what was happening. And they continued their way down the main street, which was now named High Street.

There were many businesses open now; potion shops, a hospital, clothing stores (no robes), restaurants, butchers, apothecaries, a newspaper and many more. Everyone so far seemed to be getting along, but they would need to set up an Auror force and government soon. Sooner or later there were bound to be some who would create problems, and they had no idea what the wards would do to such people.

People from other countries heard the rumor and many could be found wandering the Amazon by the half-giants and the Centaurs, who just liked to roam the outside rainforest and compare it to the Great Forest. These explorers would be questioned by a council of leaders; Sirius, Melampus, Matta, Jeuel, and members of the other races. If they could answer correctly, Sirius would give them the written secret and then they had to get passed the wards. Most did. Harry had heard that the ones who didn't had their memory of the city wiped by the wards and they either went home or were never heard from again.

The Magical Brazilian government also came through the Amazon, but couldn't find the city, so they brushed the rumors off as just that… rumor. They did keep an ear out for anything substantial, but were more worried about their own civil wars than a bunch of gossip. There were a few in South America that were let into the city; many joined the natives in the forest, which was good, since they would have died out otherwise.

It was because of those explorers that they learned who won in the fight for leadership in the Centaurs' old herd. Nahand had beaten Bane, but only just. Bane, in a fit of rage, left the village with a few of the British herd to start his own. When the herds from Britain and other countries came to the Amazon, they now had three choices of where to live, Nahand's, Bane's or in the Lost City of Z.

Right now the city, still called the Lost City of Z, had about three hundred citizens. A makeshift government was set up, more like a council of elders. They were all reading over the book 'Government Structures for the Complete Moron' to agree what would be the best form for this society. Laws were being made, a jail was built and a small Auror school was formed. It was slow going.

Harry, Zeeb and a few other teens were having a great time. They were free all afternoon, after classes, and took a lot of pleasure exploring all the abandoned houses and stores on the outer part of the city, since everyone was building from the temple outward. Right now they were looking up the steps of said temple.

"Will we go?" Zeeb asked in broken English. The poor guy looked uncomfortable in jeans and a T-shirt, but his mother insisted they conform. It had been decided that since most of the citizens were English speaking that would be the primary language.

"I'm not sure," Harry answered, turning to the four teen boys surrounding him. "What do you think, Jake?"

Jake, who was a huge boy, part giant, with bright blonde hair and blue eyes, shrugged. "Mum said not to." But you could see the want in his eyes.

"I think the adults are just being over protective," a half-goblin said. He was shorter than Harry and looked human, but for his bushy goblin hair and eyes. He told everyone to call him Player.

"Yeah, but they might have reason to be," a brunette boy whose name was Zack commented. He was taller than Harry, but not as tall as Jake.

"We must," a French black-haired boy named Jean insisted. "We are explorers and zis must be explored." He waved his hand towards the stairs.

The other teens agreed, reluctantly or enthusiastically, as their personality dictated.

"Right, but only to the top of the stairs," Harry said as he started to climb. He had wanted to do this since day one.

So the five teenage boys climbed the stairs and made good progress. It was a wonder they weren't stopped, but the whole city was still rebuilding, so the adults were busy. It was a long time before they got to the top and they were all huffing with exertion, well not Zeeb, who just smiled at their plight. Harry made a mental note to start working out again. Now that they weren't trudging through the rainforest he was getting sloppy. They made it to the top and stopped to stare in wonder at the still intact marble statues and pillars.

"Come on let's see if there's anything up here," Harry said as he wandered to the nearest statue.

It was of a woman, who was wearing a long tunic like dress, but with belts and jewelry. He could see that she was high up in whatever class system they had had from her jewelry and aristocratic face. Her carved hair flowed straight down her back and her hands were held in a cup like formation, like she was catching the rain. He could see she was a person of great beauty.

While he was admiring the woman the other boys were doing much the same. Then Player went to the golden doors and knocked, a mirthful grin playing on his lips. Then to his great shock there was a knock back and the doors opened. The spindly teen peered in the darkness and took a step forward.

"Player, no," Harry called as he rushed forward, grabbing the other boy by his shirt and pulling him back. "No," he repeated, "we can't go in. Sirius said this temple might be tombs or something. We don't have any curse breakers yet."

"Are you a wuss?" Player asked, rounding on the dark-haired teen. "Do you do everything your godfather tells you? Come on, Harry, let's just see what's inside the door," he taunted.

The other boys gathered around and waited to see what Harry would do, since he was their sort of leader. Harry peeked around the door and saw that while they were talking the torches had lit.

The whole room was marble and gold with a white stone floor. There were off white colored stones that made a pathway up the middle. There were more statues and at the end of the pathway was a large throne. It was gold and had red cloth cushioning on the seat and back, there were many colored jewels implanted around the headrest. Marble pillars lined the area and armament and shields hung on the walls. The torchlight made the metal and jewels sparkle throughout the room and made it look like the statues were moving.

"Right, Sirius is going to kill me," Harry said as he squared his shoulders and walked through the doors.

Hphphp

I'm not an archeologist, so I have no clue if my Lost City is more modern than they should be, more behind the times, or a mix of both. I was trying for the latter.

Okay, I have a few ideas about what to do in the temple, but putting them on paper, as it were, might take a minute. So the next update maybe be later than normal. Suggestions are always welcome.