Chapter 33
"Whoa," Harry said, raising both hands to calm Sirius down. His godfather's eyes were practically blazing and Harry had no doubt Sirius meant what he'd just said. "I honestly have no idea who those people are who you just mentioned." Harry quickly brushed his thumb across his amulet and summoned his parents, who knew Sirius better than he did and could perhaps calm him down.
Sirius took a few steps back from Harry and gave James an accusatory look. "Prongs, your kid wants to free Bellatrix from Azkaban."
James blinked as he looked from Harry to Sirius and back. "What?"
Lily floated over to Harry, her face full of worry. "Harry, why would you want to free Bellatrix?"
Harry briefly clenched his jaws before releasing a long, tired sigh. "Let me make this clear one more time. I have no fucking clue who that is. Marvolo wanted to free some of his followers from Azkaban. That's all I know."
Lily turned to James and mouthed 'Marvolo?'. James shrugged in response and then gave his son a look that was probably meant to project patience and understanding but instead looked just a bit worried. "Harry, we know you're still new to this world, and that you've made friends with Voldemort, but you are not a naïve man. Voldemort's followers are not good people."
Harry stared at his father with wide eyes and then snorted with laughter. "I just spent a whole week moving Voldemort's people to this island and none of you said a word in protest. You even spent the evening with some of them in the pub just the other night."
"Bellatrix and the brothers Lestrange are of a whole different calibre than Lucius or Theodorus or even Corban Yaxley," Regulus said in a quiet voice, his stare intense. "Not all of the Death Eaters serving time in Azkaban are bad people." Regulus quickly held up his hand when Sirius looked about to interrupt him. "People like Dolohov, Rookwood and Mulciber have done no worse than what Lucius got up to during the war, and you accept him as your neighbour just fine, Sirius."
Sirius seemed to deflate a little and sipped his whiskey without comment.
Barty sat up a little and gave Regulus a brief smile before taking over the story. "Let's put it this way, Harry. If Bellatrix and the Lestrange brothers moved here you would seriously risk the lives of every single muggleborn and werewolf on this island. I can practically guarantee they will never agree with the laws of this country. And since they always had the Dark Lord's favour, they would believe they could get away with breaking the rules and torturing and murdering as they please."
Regulus nodded in agreement. "To be fair, there's always been something wrong with Bellatrix. Even as children, long before she ever met the Dark Lord, she loved to inflict pain on others. Rodolphus was exactly the same since he was a child, and Rabastan quickly developed a taste for torture as well, though it's hard to say if that would have happened if he hadn't spent all his time with his brother and sister-in-law."
Harry sat back in his chair and reached for his glass of whiskey. He took a long sip while looking between everyone in the room. "I will discuss this with Marvolo and I will make it clear to him I won't tolerate people like that on the island if they cannot control their urges and go along with the laws of the land." Harry gave Sirius a steady look and slowly raised his eyebrows. "Is that acceptable?"
"Yeah, I guess," Sirius said, and drained his glass of whiskey in one go. "I suppose I can put up with Dolohov and Rookwood, since they are no worse than Lucius. But I spent years and years listening to Bellatrix cackle and scream while the three of them reminisced about their glory days and I can't have her here on the island, Harry, I just can't."
"I understand," Harry said with a slow nod. These people obviously had contributed to Sirius' traumas and Harry didn't want to force them on his godfather. Marvolo would just have to find a different solution for those three.
"Hey," Sirius said with a mischievous gleam in his narrowed eyes as he stepped closer to James. "Did you know your kid is rescuing a basilisk from Hogwarts?"
"Harry!" Lily said, eyes widening dramatically.
Harry sighed and shot a triumphantly grinning Sirius an annoyed look. He then spent ten minutes placating his worried parents that yes, Mum and Dad, it was perfectly safe to steal a basilisk from Hogwarts and he wasn't being a reckless fool.
There followed no more ambushes the rest of the evening, and when Harry went home he was sure his friendships with the Blacks were still intact.
The next morning, Harry apparated to Britain first thing and went in search of bulk seeds for commodity crops. He chose wheat, barley, rye, oats, sweetcorn, dry beans and peas, sunflowers, rapeseed, sugar beets, fodder beets and soybeans. All of those crops would help feed both the human and the animal population of Magica. Once he got back home Harry took stock of his house-elf inferi.
Aside from the initial three from Sirius' property, Harry had so far only turned three of the Malfoy elves into inferi. He still had four Malfoy elves left in storage, plus five Nott elves and another five elves from all the other followers who had house-elves buried on their smaller properties. That meant that there were thirteen house-elf inferi just waiting to be made, which is what Harry did next. Thanks to his ritual room it didn't take him more than an hour and a half until he had his small army ready to go.
Harry stuck to naming them after colours and came up with names such as Mauve, Magenta, Ash, Cinder, Granite, Opal, Charcoal, Navy, Cobalt, Teal, Sage, Olive and Indigo. To be fair, at this point Harry had to write all the names down or else he'd forget them with as many inferi as there were running about. There were nineteen in total, and Harry dutifully wrote all the names down on a sheet of paper he carefully tucked in his desk in the library, after he charmed little nametags on the pillowcases the elves wore so he could tell them apart. To command inferi to do complicated tasks, you needed to name them and use that name while giving them orders or else they would be unable to do more than stumble around and look intimidating. Well, human inferi looked intimidating. House-elf inferi, as it turned out, looked just kinda creepy but also kinda cute.
Harry gathered all his new elves, plus Lilac, Plum and Boysenberry the first Malfoy elves, around the table in the library that held the newly created map of Magica and explained in detail where they should be digging and ploughing new agricultural fields and what crops should be grown where. Harry then marched all the elves out of the castle, pointed them towards the many, many bags of bulk seed he'd stored on his lawn, and set them to work.
While he'd been buying the seeds Harry had remembered another crop he wanted to grow on the island. Grapes, and specifically grapes for wine. Harry's wine cellar was still quite full but Harry wanted to ensure that Magica had some wine production of its own in the future. So Harry got his broom and flew to the western part of Magica, where he selected a nice, open area and started transfiguring hills into the landscape. Planting the grapes on the south sides of the hills would ensure maximum sun exposure and a harvest of plump, sweet grapes.
Creating the hills didn't take too much time, and as Harry got to hover on his broom while doing so the whole thing was a relaxing experience. V took to the sky and cawed obscenities at the hippogriffs who flew up to them a few times to check them out and probably to determine if Harry was a threat or not.
Just as Harry was about done with making hills, he saw a human figure flying towards him.
A figure that was flying without a broom.
"What the fuck," Harry said, as he touched down to the ground on his broom and stared in amazement as Marvolo came flying towards him without any tools. "How did you do that?" Harry demanded the second Marvolo landed in front of him with an unbearably smug grin. "You have to teach me."
"Name your price," Marvolo said while he gave Harry a look that conveyed both innocence and a deep cunning, which did things to Harry's entire body.
"Fuck, no, you name your price," Harry said impatiently. He had no time to negotiate, he had to fucking know how to fly without a broom.
Marvolo laughed, his whole face crinkling with amusement. "I can see that patience is not your personal virtue." Marvolo scrunched up his face as though deep in thought. "Very well, I'll teach you how to fly without a broom in exchange for unlimited access to your personal library. My Santireen is coming along nicely and I'll be able to read all those books sooner rather than later."
"Done," Harry said at once, extremely pleased with that deal, since he'd always planned on giving Marvolo access to his library anyway. Harry suspected Marvolo may even know that but just wanted to make a deal for appearance's sake. "Now show me." Harry quickly tucked his broom into his satchel and gave Marvolo an expectant look.
"Very well." And for the next half hour Harry was treated to an in-depth lecture on the theory of magical flying without any objects to help you, which was surprisingly fascinating. Then Marvolo taught him the spells he used and Harry got to work trying it for himself.
It was a good thing the meadows around them were lush and the grass was long, because the first dozen times or so Harry managed to launch himself up into the air with no idea how to land safely again. Thankfully the worst of his injuries besides his wounded pride were a plenitude of scrapes and bruises.
V, in the meantime, laughed like he hadn't done in a long time, his hysterical cackles probably echoing around the whole bloody island.
Marvolo hovered a few dozen feet in the air and watched patiently, though also with some obvious amusement, how Harry finally managed to touch down with his feet first. The next step was staying in the air long enough to manage to propel yourself forward, which also took some practice, and it took Harry well over an hour to 'fly' home, with both V and Marvolo moving around him as Harry launched himself up and down and left and right but rarely forward in a steady line. Eventually Harry got the hang of it somewhat and he made it home in one piece where V landed on his shoulder and sagged against his head in sheer exhaustion from laughing so much.
Marvolo had more composure that that, but he too looked as though he hadn't had that much fun in years.
"Why I actually sought you out this morning," Marvolo said after Harry invited him inside for lunch. "And may I say that while inferi are useful they lack the ability to answer anyone calling at your door asking for your whereabouts, which is highly annoying."
Harry snickered while he led Marvolo to the kitchen, imagining how often Igor would have responded with 'Eurgh' while Marvolo asked him where to find his master. "So you flew around the whole island looking for little old me? I'm so flattered."
"As I was saying," Marvolo said, choosing perhaps wisely to ignore Harry's childish teasing. "I have finished my homework and you had promised a test."
Harry sat down at the kitchen table and gave Marvolo an amused smile. The man actually looked eager to take a test and prove himself. It was downright adorable, for some stupid reason. Marvolo sat down opposite Harry while giving him an expectant look, eyes wide and eyebrows quirked. "After lunch I'll give you a test in the library."
"Excellent," Marvolo said, leaning back in his chair with a satisfied nod.
Violet served them a delicious quiche with smoked fish and creamy leeks, and Harry and Marvolo remained quiet for a few moments as they enjoyed the meal.
"I talked to Sirius and everyone else last night about project Azkaban," Harry said eventually as he was about halfway through his lunch. He sat back to sip his white wine and to observe Marvolo's response.
"Am I to guess that Sirius did not look forward to a reunion with his dearest cousin?" Marvolo asked in a lightly teasing tone.
"Understatement." Harry shook his head and took another bite of quiche which he chewed carefully. "Everyone present there was vehemently opposed to Bellatrix and the Lestrange brothers joining us here on the island, and that's putting it mildly."
Marvolo sighed, long and deep, and put his cutlery down for a moment while he reached for his own glass of wine. "I must admit that Bellatrix and the Lestrange brothers have been causing me plenty of inner turmoil these last few weeks."
"Barty and Regulus claimed they would never accept the laws of Magica and just torture and murder people left and right," Harry said in a steady voice while staring at Marvolo. He was glad to see that at least Marvolo seemed to understand the problem they were facing.
Marvolo nodded slowly. "That is what I worry about as well. Bellatrix was always unstable, very eager to inflict the most amount of pain on others she could get away with. And she genuinely despises muggleborns and half-breeds, that's what she liked to call werewolves and their ilk." Marvolo took a long sip of wine. "I doubt over a decade spent in Azkaban has improved her mentality at all."
"They can't come here," Harry said, narrowing his eyes a bit to show this was not open to negotiation. "As far as I'm concerned it would be better to leave them in Azkaban altogether."
"I know," Marvolo said, looking quite regretful as he said it. "The problem with that, though, is that it might cause displeasure amongst my other followers. They might even take it as a betrayal, that I would rescue some from Azkaban but not others."
Harry ate a few more bites of his quiche as he considered that. That was a tough dilemma, because it could very well lead to mutiny amongst the Death Eaters. Though, as far as Harry could tell, the ones that had moved to Magica so far all seemed perfectly happy to go with the flow now that they had a true magical land to call home where they could perform whatever magic they wished. None seemed set on taking over the world anymore, at any rate.
"I could free them and give them tasks to keep them busy in Britain, like I've done with Macnair and the Carrows. They are also three of my more volatile followers that refused to even consider moving here." Marvolo gave Harry a questioning look, as though he wasn't even sure himself if this was a smart thing to do.
Harry remember that Marvolo had told him he'd been unsure how to approach his followers in the first place, because even without Harry and Magica his plans had changed once he returned to the land of the living with a large part of his sanity restored. This was just one more dilemma Marvolo was facing because of those changes, made even more apparent thanks to Harry's construction of a land where all magic was legal. "From what I understand, it would not be a good idea to unleash those people on Britain in any way. Their presence would undoubtedly give people the idea Voldemort had returned."
"Hm." Marvolo sat back and frowned. "I hadn't even considered that yet, but you do have a good point. Bellatrix especially does not do subtle. She'd be unable to remain unseen behind the curtains for very long. She's always demanded the spotlight for herself."
Harry finished the last of his quiche while he came up with a solution. "I've got an idea, but you might not like it."
"I'm willing to at least consider any solution at this point," Marvolo said with no hesitation.
Harry leaned forward, resting both arms on the table. "You free Bellatrix and the Lestranges from Azkaban, same as the others. Then you give them jobs and a safehouse in Britain somewhere. And once everyone is settled, you inform the Aurors of their location and let British law enforcement deal with them."
"Aside from the utter betrayal of people who were always loyal to me, it's not a bad idea," Marvolo said softly. He didn't outright refuse the idea, so that was something, Harry figured.
"They were always loyal to the old Voldemort," Harry couldn't help but point out. "Would they be so loyal to you if they could see you now? Sharing a companiable lunch with Harry Potter? Spending a Saturday night in a pub drinking muggle beer with muggleborns and werewolves?" Harry offered Marvolo a teasing but warm smile.
"You are right," Marvolo said with a sigh and a nod, briefly bowing his head. "They would despise these recent changes in me, and they wouldn't show this new me one ounce of loyalty."
"Then you owe them no loyalty in return." Harry raised his eyebrows in a challenge to see if Marvolo wanted to argue his point, but Marvolo remained quiet with a contemplative look on his face. "Either way, we don't have to decide just yet," Harry said to soften the whole conclusion a little bit. He understood all too well that betraying your own people would not sit well with Marvolo. Harry had been a leader for decades and decades at that point and he'd always prided himself on looking after his people no matter what happened.
"I still haven't created a suitable potion to mimic the required illness," Marvolo said while Violet served them tarte Tatin for afters. "So the break-out won't happen anytime soon."
"First there's the Yule Ball tomorrow," Harry said, sitting up and putting a little bit more energy in his voice. "What are your plans for stealing the basilisk exactly?"
And Marvolo told him what he had in mind for their Hogwarts heist while they enjoyed their apple tart.
"Now for the real challenge," Harry said as he got up and gestured at Marvolo to follow him. Marvolo looked more eager than anyone Harry had ever seen on his way to take a test. Inside the library, Harry sat down behind his desk and wrote down seven questions about the subject matter of the necromancy book Marvolo had finished studying. Then he handed Marvolo the list, a few blank sheets of paper and a self-inking quill and sat him down at one of the empty tables. "No cheating," Harry said with a stern frown as he wagged his finger. "V will keep a close eye on you."
Marvolo, naturally, looked the picture of innocence as he started reading the list of question, while V settled down on the back of a chair opposite Marvolo, glaring at him with narrowed eyes.
"No cheat, no cheat," V cawed in a menacing tone.
"I have to pop into the public library," Harry said while he strolled towards the hallway. "I won't be long." Marvolo didn't even seem to hear him as he was already writing down the answer to the first question.
Harry apparated to town square and hurried into the library where he found Regulus sorting through a crate of books at the front desk. It seemed that Regulus was still working his way through the many, many books Harry had provided him with.
"Hey," Harry said as he stepped up to the desk.
"Harry, hello," Regulus responded with a polite smile. "Can I help you?"
"I'm looking for books on wine, or more specifically, on what sort of grapes to use to make wine in this world," Harry explained, leaning his elbows on the counter.
Regulus cracked an intrigued smile. "Are you going into the wine business?"
"Well, I suppose I am," Harry said with a shrug. "I want Magica to be as self-sufficient as possible and I do enjoy a good glass of wine, so someone's going to have to make it."
Regulus chuckled and stepped away from the counter and into the library proper. Harry followed him at once. "This is our section on agriculture," Regulus said as they reached a section in the back. "There are quite a few books that discuss growing fruit, so you might find something about grapes in there. I don't think we have any specific books on making wine, though."
"I know how to make the wine, I just don't know what the right kind of grapes are called in this world," Harry mumbled as he pulled a few books off the shelves.
"Perhaps you'd be better off asking wine farmers what kind of grapes they use," Regulus suggested and then he cleared his throat, which made Harry looked up with a frown. "Some people have asked if we could start stocking muggle books."
"What sort of muggle books?" Harry asked, wondering why people needed muggle books when he'd just copied the entire Hogwarts library.
"Fictional books," Regulus said in a voice that suggested those words had a bit of a foul taste to them. "According to more than one muggleborn visitor, muggles are the superior writers when it comes to fiction."
"Well," Harry said as he considered that. "I'm not opposed to stocking some muggle books. I'll pop by a muggle bookstore to have a look around when I go hunting for the right grapes to grow."
"I'll let people know they can expect some muggle additions to the library soon," Regulus said with a short nod. "We've had quite a few visitors already."
"If it gets too busy for just you to manage this place, you can hire more people to help you," Harry felt compelled to point out, since he didn't want Regulus to feel forced to run the library all by himself, especially since he didn't even get paid for his work.
"I'm doing just fine by myself for now," Regulus was quick to say. "Once Barty is done playing Moody he's eager to join me here, so I'll have help in a few months."
"Sure, that will work," Harry agreed and put the books back on the shelf. "It seems I'll be talking to some wine makers to find what I'm looking for. Thanks anyway."
"You're welcome," Regulus walked Harry to the door and Harry quickly apparated back home where he found Marvolo still writing down answers, head bowed, face creased in concentration.
"No cheat, no cheat," V was quick to assure Harry, who grinned at his companion while he sat down in a nearby chair and picked up one of the books he'd been reading. It was funny, especially since Marvolo still didn't have a clue about V's true nature, but V was the reason Harry was so eager to have Marvolo in his life.
Harry wasn't a fool. He knew Voldemort had done the exact same things that Bellatrix and the Lestrange brothers had done, perhaps even worse. But Harry knew Voldemort's soul, had spent most of his life with it, and it was impossible for Harry not to want to be close to Marvolo. Even if that perhaps made him a hypocrite. Harry honestly couldn't care less. He was far too old to worry about any of his own perceived character flaws.
Marvolo sat up and lay down the quill while giving Harry an expectant look. Harry grinned at him, summoned the sheets of paper with a wave of his hand and then sat back to read the very well thought out answers. It illustrated perfectly that Marvolo had an incredible memory and a thorough understanding of the subject matter so far.
"Full points," Harry said once he'd read all the pages. "I can't find a single fault in the whole thing." Then he went back to grinning. "Except perhaps the fact that you're a tad verbose."
Marvolo sniffed, raising his chin in the air. "You cannot give me full points and then criticize my work."
"Fine," Harry said with a laugh. "Your longwinded answers were absolutely perfect, nothing to critique there whatsoever."
"Do I get the next book now?" Marvolo asked, eyes wide, looking like an overly eager student again.
Harry summoned the correct book and levitated it to Marvolo. "There will be more tests," Harry added, just because he loved seeing Marvolo's face light up in joy. "Also, would you like to go to a muggle bookstore with me?"
"Why?" Marvolo asked, though he didn't sound opposed to the idea at all.
"Muggleborns want muggle books in the library, and I have no idea how to navigate the muggle world," Harry said with a vague gesture.
"Shouldn't book acquisition be a job of the librarian?" Marvolo asked with a curve of his eyebrow.
Harry chuckled and shook his head. "I honestly believe Regulus would be even worse than me at moving about the muggle world without attracting unwanted attention.
"Very well," Marvolo said as he got up. "Let's explore some muggle literature."
Marvolo apparated them to quiet street in some British town. Harry honestly had no idea where they were, nor did he care. Marvolo quickly disappeared into a small store filled with second-hand books and Harry eagerly followed him. As much as Harry wasn't sure if muggle books would be at all interesting, he couldn't resist the sight of so many books in one place.
"If you need anything, let me know," the middle-aged man behind the counter said without even looking up from the book he was reading.
"Actually," Harry said as he approached the counter. "I'm looking for a selection of books to start a small neighbourhood library with."
The man looked up and raised both eyebrows. "What sort of books would you need for that? We've got a special going on. Buy one book, get one free. We're bursting at the seams with our inventory."
"I'd like the classics," Harry asked as he considered what was needed in their public library. "But I'd also like a nice selection of more modern literature. What's popular especially."
"I can put together a complete package for you," the man said, now sounding more than a little enthusiastic.
"Make sure they're in reasonable condition," Marvolo said, appearing out of the overflowing stacks. "And make sure it's got a little bit of every genre."
"And give me a price, so I can fetch enough money for you," Harry added quickly.
The man got a big grin on his face, obviously eager to get rid of a chunk of his inventory. "I can do 50p per book, with every second book free."
"So a thousand books would be 250 pounds," Marvolo said by way of confirmation.
"Yes, exactly," the man said with an eager nod.
"We'll take four thousand books for a thousand pounds," Harry said with a big smile. "If you have them, that is."
"Just pile them up, we'll bring the boxes," Marvolo said with a chuckle at the man's gobsmacked expression. "We'll be back in half an hour with the money."
While the man started rifling through his shelves, Harry and Marvolo apparated back to Harry's castle to collect enough galleons, which they then exchanged into pounds at Gringotts. The man had a pile of books already waiting for them and Harry applied a few discreet notice-me-not charms on his expandable crates so the man wouldn't question where all the books went. Harry saw books about a character called Sherlock Holmes pass through his hands, and from authors such as Charles Dickens, Jane Austen and Agatha Christie, and more modern looking books from writers called Douglas Adams, Thomas Harris, Terry Pratchett, Stephen King and Danielle Steele. Harry had no idea what any of these books were about, but he was curious about the books that had pictures on them of scantily clad ladies fainting in the arms of half-naked muscled men.
Marvolo helped the man pull interesting titles off the shelves while Harry dutifully filled up crate after crate until the store looked significantly emptier and the store owner much happier.
Harry paid the man a thousand pounds and Marvolo quickly adjusted the man's memory so he'd believe Harry and Marvolo had transported all those thousands of books out of there using muggle means.
"What an annoyance," Harry muttered as the left the store. "Having to always adjust people's memories just because you used a bit of magic."
"Thankfully, where we are going we no longer have to worry about that," Marvolo said with a warm smile and apparated them to town square right in front of the library.
Regulus looked as if he wasn't sure whether to smile or break down in tears when Harry started unloading the many, many expandable crates.
"There's only four thousand books," Harry said with a chuckle while Regulus' face paled.
"These are all muggle books?" Regulus asked with obvious hesitation in his voice, looking as though Harry had just placed several hungry lethifolds at his feet.
"Every last one of them," Marvolo commented from where he stood leaning against the counter. He looked as though seeing Regulus speechless and anxious over a pile of muggle books was the height of comedy somehow.
"Well," Regulus said eventually, squaring his shoulders. "I suppose the third floor is still mostly empty. I can start putting them away there, though I have no clue where to start with all these strange titles."
"Put up a sign on the door asking for a muggleborn volunteer to help. I'm sure there's a few bibliophiles on the island," Harry suggested and then laughed when Regulus all but flew towards the counter to write just such a note to hang on the door. "At any rate, the people have their muggle books. Good luck, Regulus."
Once they were outside, Marvolo turned to look at Harry. "That was worth the effort just for the look on Regulus' face alone. A pureblood Black having to decide what genre some of those muggle books are will never not be funny."
"I'm going to take your word for it," Harry said, well aware he was just as clueless as Regulus was when it came to those books. "But I am glad you're enjoying yourself."
"Were there any other pressing matters that you needed assistance with?" Marvolo asked as they strolled across town square.
"I need grapes for making wine," Harry sighed, because he'd still not found a way to learn what grapes he would need. "But I have no clue where to start."
"There are several large wineries in France that use magically improved grapes to make wine. Write to them and ask if they will sell you some grapevines," Marvolo suggested with a careless shrug. "I'll give you their names later, if you'd like."
Harry could have kissed Marvolo just for that, but he resisted the urge. "Thanks," he said instead with a small smile. "I would appreciate that."
"It's not a problem," Marvolo assured him and then gave him a hopeful look. "It's almost time for dinner. Shall we see what Dobby would serve us tonight?"
And that is how Harry joined Marvolo for dinner that evening, where they enjoyed some juicy lambchops with potatoes gratin and roasted vegetables while they talked about all sorts of things, and once again Harry was struck by how easy it was to spend time with Marvolo and how comfortable Harry felt in the man's presence.
After dinner Harry went home with a glow in his chest and a smile on his face.
The next day Harry spent the morning puttering around his own grounds, checking up on his chickens and his pigs, which were doing fine under Slate's devoted care. Right after lunch, Harry flew to Melissa Greengrass' house and yes, he used a broom because he did not want to make a fool of himself trying to land in the middle of Spellbridge. He was well aware he needed a bit more practice in flying by himself.
Melissa had created a modern set of robes for him, that opened at the front and showed a rather tight pair of back trousers and a button-down black shirt. Harry gladly paid her a handful of gold coins for her efforts.
After carefully dropping off his new clothing at home, Harry did fly by himself, without a broom, to basilisk island, much to V's amusement, who again couldn't stop laughing at Harry's inability to fly in a straight line. Still, Harry made it to the island and never once fell into the ocean, so he counted that as a win. The wards were already humming and ready to be activated, and Harry studied the intricate rune patterns Marvolo had inscribed around the edges of the island. They seemed familiar somehow, yet Harry was sure he'd never seen them before. He'd have to ask Marvolo about them, but that would have to wait for another day.
Harry returned home by way of apparition, so save some time, and then both he and V took a bath. Harry made sure to shave and brush his hair back in a tight ponytail at the base of his neck, and then he got dressed in his brand-new clothes. He admired himself in the mirror in his bedroom and thought he looked quite handsome and sharp by wizarding standards.
Marvolo arrived on time, dressed in brand-new black robes as well, and much like Harry's they were opened in the front, though their design was a little more minimalist than Harry's, which had some minor embroidery around the collar. Still, Marvolo looked ridiculously handsome and Harry admired what he saw while Marvolo looked him over a few times in return.
"Ready to turn some heads?" Marvolo asked, holding out his arm like a gentleman. Harry easily slid his arm through Marvolo's.
"Absolutely. And to steal your murder serpent," Harry added with a wide grin. Marvolo winked at him and apparated them to the gates of Hogwarts where they entered without any problem. They were right on time as they strolled across the lawn, through the double doors and into the entrance hall where they saw a few of the other champions already waiting.
"Ah, Mr Potter," McGonagall said as she seemed to be herding all the champions together. "I am glad you came to your senses and decided to attend after all." It was then that McGonagall noticed who Harry had brought as his date and her face paled at such an alarming rate that Harry stepped forward without a thought, and just in time, too, because McGonagall's eyes rolled back and she promptly fainted in his arms.