… - ...
Chapter Eleven
Kuwait City
Monday November 25, 1996
It was during the last week in November of his fall term when Harry informed his instructors that he'd miss the last two weeks of class. Fortunately, Mandy called them together and insisted that Harry be allowed to present his case properly, rather than receive an incomplete in all of his classes.
He made his presentation and used the photos that Emma had taken from the construction of the lake on his land.
The Charms instructor asked, "Where will you be attempting this project?"
"Kuwait City, Kuwait, specifically just North of Al Jahra."
The Runes instructor asked, "How will you be using Runes in your project?"
Harry explained, "After the hole had been dug, we'll be using Runes to create permanent full seals to protect the liner materials, so the hole doesn't spring a leak. We'll do the same with any areas where we might need to transfigure the ground to something harder. Runes are also used in the water circulation device." She nodded, quite satisfied of his explanation."
The World History instructor was more than satisfied that he'd be spending three weeks in a historical region, making history.
The Physics professor was equally impressed with the plan and secretly wished that he could go along with.
As his Enchanting professor, Mandy admitted, "This is the most ambitious project that an undergraduate student from the Salem Institute has ever undertaken. Will you promise to have enough photographs taken for another photo album?"
"Of course, Professor Taylor."
"Very good. Since we're all in agreement that your successful completion of your project will act as a substitute for an O grade final exam, we all wish you a safe trip and success in your endeavor."
… - …
After the others left, Harry asked, "I have a question, if you have the time?"
Mandy replied, "Go ahead."
"Who exactly is John Steel?"
"First, the MACUSA is the Magical Congress United States of America. It's America's version of Britain's Ministry of Magic. It acts as a supplement to, rather than a substitute for, the main government of the US. Both have their law enforcement arm and have an Auror force. Britain has an operational/research arm known as the Unspeakables. MACUSA has a similar branch, called the Operations Group. One of their interests is magic being performed at extraordinary levels. Mr. Steel is the Director of that specific branch. In this instance, he's acting as a mentor. He can open doors for you, provide you with contacts and equally importantly, keep you out of trouble on a proactive basis.
"You're very lucky to have caught his attention."
"How did I do that?"
She smiled and replied, "I called him. He's a friend. He knows Daryl. He originally heard your name from Earling Magnuson."
"Thanks. He seems nice."
"He is. He truly tries to be helpful."
… - ...
Hermione was conflicted. She clearly would miss Harry and desperately wanted to participate, but knew that her life path currently required that she be in the classroom. She offered her boyfriend much encouragement, wished him success and asked that he hurry home when he'd completed the task.
… - …
The nearly three weeks that Dan, Harry and 100 elves spent in Kuwait were an adventure that they'd never forget. The site was staked out before they'd arrived. After two days of reviewing the plans, and material, the elves quickly got to work as Harry and their contact laid out the path that Harry was to take when collecting and transporting the water.
At 100 feet, the elves found the bedrock, as expected. That was the easy part. The challenge was that the ground above that was entirely made up of sand and getting a solid, vertical wall proved impossible.
Harry solved the structural problem by having the elves make the hole 10 feet wider in each direction and transfiguring a six foot thick granite wall on the inside of the hole made with 10 x 20 x 6 foot blocks and permanently sealed the transfiguration. The elves backfilled the area outside with small stones and sand, then Harry transfigured it into concrete, a few feet at a time. On the inside, they set the plastic sheet over the granite blocks, then he transfigured a two-inch layer of cement over the vinyl. They let that dry for three days.
At Dan's suggestion, Harry marked one of the sides with blobs of cement at one foot intervals, so they could easily measure and record the depth to get a better understanding of the evaporation rate.
The original plan was to make two trips a night for three nights. As the water pickup point was less than fifty miles from the lake, Harry made three trips the first evening, two the second and one to top it off on the third evening.
Harry transfigured the water during the day, hoping to get the job done a few days earlier. They had originally planned on five days for construction, five days for the fill and five days for the transfiguration of the water.
The digging of the hole had taken two and a half days. Transfiguring the granite took four very long days that they hadn't counted on. With the elves' help, placement of the sheet vinyl and the transfiguration of the cement took one day as planned. That could have taken a week except the elves unrolled the 100 foot wide rolls and set the sand in place for Harry to transfigure. They hadn't planned on having to wait three days for the cement to fully cure. He'd put on a thicker coat of cement than he needed to hold the sheet vinyl in place. The first load of water arrived in the early hours of day twelve. Again, through Harry working double shifts, the water was declared fresh at the end of the seventeenth day.
The client was very happy with the result and invited the team to come back and build four more the following June. The funds were transferred into Harry's Gringotts vault and as promised, the client paid for the materials.
During the construction phase, Dan had taken three rolls of film to record the progress. He had four sets of prints made and placed three of them in photo albums. The other set went into the Lakewood file in the dental office.
As promised, Harry presented one of the albums to Mandy. She looked at it and stated, "This is absolutely fascinating."
Harry sent the other to John Steel at MACUSA and received a letter of congratulations. As he looked at it for the third time, it seemed a lot less like a teen's pipe dream and the Operative ended up pulling out a map and spent the evening studying it.
Harry offered the elves 90% of the one million galleons ($10,000,000) that he'd charged the client. Dobby replied, "No, no, no" and said, "Elves take 10%, Harry Potter Sir keeps 90%. Elves had too much fun digging in big sandbox." They finally agreed on a 50-50 split.
Dobby agreed to go visit the lake each week and check the depth reading.
… - …
Tuesday December 2
Cyrus Greengrass was no fan of the Bones/Scringeour administration. While they were officially a neutral family, he was a few shades darker (and less affable) than his wife, Demi. They made their living running their import business at the very edge of the law. By his thinking, a bit on either side of the edge was where the money was. If some of the plants and herbs that they imported were legal on the magical side and illegal in the nonmagical side, that was fine with him, as long as they could quickly be resold at a serious profit.
When he finally heard that Susan Bones had left Hogwarts to attend school in the States, he decided that rubbing it in at the Wizengamot was an irresistible opportunity. Demi, who had better sense and understood costs and consequences, had heard the news the first week in September. She never brought it up at home. Where Cyrus had heard it was anyone's guess.
When Augusta Longbottom asked if there was any new business, Cyrus immediately stood, smirked, and said, "Minister Bones, can you explain your niece's reasoning for transferring to the school in Salem?"
It never occurred to him that Bones had had nearly four months to prepare and refine a response. She replied. "Of course. All parents and their teens should continually discuss their teen's plans and choices. Since you've previously brought them up, I'll include a few others.
"Hermione Granger wants to go into healing and is working towards certification as a Healer. Eventually she'd like to earn a masters in one of the specialties.
"Harry Potter is well on his way towards earning a masters degree in Enchanting and is focusing on magical construction.
"Last summer, my Susie handed me a list of classes that she wanted to take in the next three years. Only a third of them were offered at Hogwarts. I completely support her decision.
"Hogwarts is at a historically low enrollment point. Fortunately, the youngest years' class sizes are larger than those who will be finishing this year. It's not just these three; Draco Malfoy, Theodore Nott, Vincent Crabbe and Greg Goyle decided to go elsewhere to receive their education. Dean Thomas is pursuing a Magical Art degree."
There was a pause in the discussion. Ted's clarification bill from the previous year eliminated the requirement to obtain a NEWT from Hogwarts for being seated in the Wizengamot. The school was simply too small and underfunded to offer education in multiple career paths, masters programs, or the like. Without the Silver Mask contingent in attendance and functioning as a voting block faction, snide comments like Greengrass had launched were about as far as those thoughts could go.
John Macmillan pointed out, "While Hogwarts itself could use additional funding, or simply raise tuition enough to cover reasonable expenses, the enrollment size itself currently isn't large enough to support the level of academic diversity that a much larger school could offer. Since it's a which comes first - the chicken or the egg situation that we can't solve today, perhaps we should move on."
No one objected. Greengrass didn't know it, but his words would cost his family millions.
… - ...
Wednesday December 25
After Emma had previously explained that giving cars for Christmas wasn't necessary (or appropriate) Harry made Dan, Emma and Hermione ordinary looking medallions that changed the traffic light to green if the medallion was rubbed. Emma bought everyone pool floaties for the pond. Dan made Harry a framed photo of lake one in Kuwait City. He made Hermione a new bookcase, which brought a gleam to her eye.
Their holiday wasn't centered on gifts, rather to observe the holiday traditions, attend church in town and be together. The hugs and greetings to and from each of the elves made the time extra special.
… - ...
Saturday April 26, 1997
Four months later, Dan asked, "How's the lake in Kuwait doing?"
Harry replied, "We're pretty sure that no one's using the water. Dobby told me that the level is dropping a bit less than two inches a day through evaporation."
Dan replied, "That sounds pretty manageable for a 100 foot deep lake."
Harry replied, "I thought so too, given the breeze, but it will be considerably hotter in the summer."
"Have you given any thought to taking on a helper or ten? How about that Dean who wants to be a painter? He could be one a lot easier if he also had a fantastic part-time job to support him while he got going with his painting. You could make a staff for him. Hannah might be interested too."
"Good idea. I'll go see them sometime and ask."
Hermione pointed out, "Think about Malfoy and Ron from our first year or second year. If Mr. Weasley happened to have had a bit of family money, or a better job at the ministry, Draco should have been teasing Ron about being a slacker, or an inept wizard. Since he wasn't the greatest himself, except in potions, they probably could have managed to have been civil to each other. Wealth can create income if invested decently, or having a good income can create wealth over time."
"Are you saying we have an opportunity to help some people here?"
She beamed at him. "Exactly. Find ten people who can help you do the work. If they happen to be new blood, or half blood, and you can give them a leg up, so much the better."
Dan asked, "What does Dobby think?"
"Apparently there are 300 elves in the back section of the property. He thinks that except for the moms and the little elflings, that they'd all go help for a few weeks."
Dan speculated, "They could dig the holes for you. With 200 elves, you could probably be working on two lakes at the same time. You probably want to stay out of personally having to do many of the refills if you can. From the plans that Rashad sent you, how far away do the lakes appear to be from each other?"
"Not too far. It would be great if they could run a pipe between whichever one has the highest elevation and the other four. That way, we could fill and clean the water in that one then let the water flow into the others. That would be a one person, one week job once a month."
Dan remarked, "It would also save them a bunch of money doing the refills. It really depends on how much of the water they consume. What's the population?"
"The client told me that there are about two million in the city proper and half again as many in the surrounding area. They began a serious desalination program about 40 years ago, when they ran so low on ground water that sea water mixed back into the area where the clean groundwater had been, contaminating it."
Dan took out his pocket calculator and did calculations for a few minutes. He said, "You agreed to refill one lake for one million US. You have a 50 acre lake that's 100 feet deep. That's 5,000 acre feet with 325,000 gallons per acre foot. That's a 1.6 billion gallons in a lake. That's fractions of a cent per gallon. If they stuck to providing it for municipal water and held to the 50 gallon per person number, each of the lakes would last about two weeks and be a bargain, compared to desalination. That's an amazing part-time job. Even if they offered it to all three million people, a lake would still last about a week. What you don't know is, if the 50 gallon per person per day number is accurate, or it turns out to be 150 gallons per person per day."
Harry asked, "Wouldn't they get sick of paying someone that kind of money to refill and treat the lake?"
He shook his head, "At the volume and price that they're pumping oil, you'd be a very small cost of doing business. Your task would be to find a large handful or two of people who you absolutely trust to be reliable, who could use a staff. I'd talk it over with Ted and have him write up a contract that you could use. You should be able to afford to hire anyone who you want to work with."
"Good idea."
… - …
Sunday April 27
The next morning before they got up, Harry had the same conversation with Hermione to get her perspective. She suggested, "We could bring a few people over for an interview. You could make or lend them a staff, then take them 20 miles out over the ocean on a nice day and see how they do. They'd need to be an excellent flyer and a very strong wizard or witch."
He asked, "Who do we know who's really good at transfiguration?"
"Professor McGonagall, Dean, Hannah, Cedric, maybe the Twins, for sure Angelina, Katie, Tonks, Susan and for sure Ernie Macmillan." After a moment, she said, "We should add Mandy to the list."
"Who do we know who's a great flyer?"
Hermione replied, "Cedric, the Twins, Katie, Angelina and Ginny. How good do they have to be?"
"They need to be able to fly at least 75 miles an hour, one handed, while holding a staff and maintaining the strongest spell of their lives. If they dropped a load of water from 1,000 feet, they'd likely kill someone and get shot for their mistake. Scratch Ginny off the list. I don't want to deal with Mrs. Weasley, or Ron."
Hermione pointed out, "It doesn't have to be one person doing both jobs. You have two very different tasks – moving water and transfiguring it into drinking water. No matter how many ways you split it, it's life changing money, Fortunately, we have the perfect place to audition them and rehearse. They could also portkey to Hogwarts and practice. As for the Twins, it would be a short, deadly-serious conversation, telling them that if they even think about pulling a prank, they'd be jailed, or more likely killed.
"As for practicing, I'd suggest that we build another pond here and have them help. You could change the granite back to sand and start fresh with the next person. You're really looking for someone with stamina. How long did it take to change the water?"
"Six long days total to fly it in and transfigure it. We started at seven am. I took a five minute break every half hour for a snack and an Orange Crush. We took an hour for lunch and another for dinner. We called it a night about nine."
Not wanting to see everyone on their list fail, she said, "Your audition would have to start with five minutes of transfiguration and a ten minute break and work up to ten and five. You had a lot of practice when we were at Hogwarts."
"True, but we're not looking for the common wizard or witch."
As patiently as she could, she replied, "Harry, I realize that. Somehow you managed to fly 800 acre feet 100 miles on your first true attempt. Maybe McGonagall could only manage 75 after two weeks of practice at the Black Lake. Anyone who you invite has the opportunity to have their life changed for the better. I'm not saying that it should strictly be a social experiment, like mum was going on about, but for the five or fifteen people who you give the chance to, it will be. Dean, Katie, or Angelina, the Twins and Ernie could do the work and you'd be doing them a great service. Hannah, Susan, Cedric, Tonks and Professor McGonagall would be great additions."
Harry admitted, "I see your point. It took two trips to fill the pond and six trips to fill the Kuwait City lake. I never took as much as I did with the first trip to minimize spillage."
"OK, so with a lot of practice you averaged 1,000 acre feet. My point is, on the refill trips, there's 100,000 galleons per lake to split. Mr. Weasley makes 500 gallons a month. If you kept half of the money, the others would be beyond delighted to split the rest. If half of the people went one time and the other half went the next, it would be life changing. I just don't want you to have to do it by yourself. Get Ted's opinion first, it you want."
"OK, I'll pop over to see him, write the letters, give them a week of notice, take another portkey to London, rent a flock of owls and send them their notice. Can I at least grumble that most of them don't have telephones?"
"Almost. After they've received their first bank drafts, yes, then you should insist that they get cell phones."
"Thank you."
… - …
Tuesday April 29
George opened the envelope that had just been delivered.
Fred and George,
I have a need for some ambitious, highly talented people for a part-time job and thought of you. If you're interested, please go to Gringotts this Saturday at ten am. The teller will take you both to the silver conference room. This isn't an open meeting. Don't mention it to anyone else.
Harry
"See brother mine, highly talented. We'll go there and hear Harrikins out."
"I agree."
"Obviously Ron isn't invited."
"Perhaps that ambitious part was a total disqualifier."
"I believe you're right. Mum's the word."
… - …
Saturday May 2
A week later, Harry was in Barchoke's office for some quick business and a visit when Chiptooth knocked and told him that the planned guests had arrived. He thanked Barchoke for his help and was escorted down the Hallway to the conference room.
He'd rehearsed his presentation several times with Dan and appeared very confident.
"Thanks for coming. I have ongoing business in Kuwait, developing an alternative water system for them. For those who don't know, Kuwait is a small country in the Middle East. The project involves making lakes. That means digging really big holes in the ground then sealing them, filling them with sea water, transfiguring the sea water info fresh water and refilling them on an ongoing basis.
"There are two ongoing activities. One is summoning a seriously large amount of seawater from out in the ocean while riding a broomstick and guiding it back to the appropriate hole before carefully setting it down. The holes are fifty acres in size and 100 feet deep. For this activity, you'll need to be able to fly your Firebolt one-handed, cast and hold a summoning charm for thirty to fifty minutes, then guide the water into the hole."
Katie Bell asked, "Wouldn't people see you and the cloud of water?"
Harry replied, "No. We'll go between one and four in the morning on moonless nights. The client clears the airspace during those hours, so we won't run into a jetliner."
McGonagall asked, "Are you seriously considering doing this?" I thought bet..."
As practiced, he cut her off before someone said something that would be difficult to unsay. "I've already done it twice, Professor. Let me show you the pictures. This is the first one that I built in Massachusetts." He spent the better part of an hour going over the album in some detail.
McGonagall asked, "How large is this lake?"
"Twenty-two acres, about fifteen times the size of the quidditch pitch at Hogwarts."
With far more respect this time, she asked, "How long did it take?"
"Some elves helped me with the hole. This one uses a vinyl liner with sand and clay to complete the seal. I'm going to change it this spring. Let me show you the second album. This is the first lake in Kuwait City. It's fifty acres. I transfigured the sand into granite to form a more solid wall than the sand. Over the granite is the vinyl sheet liner and over that is a layer of cement. All of the transfigurations were set with permanent seals."
"How long did this one take?"
Harry replied, "A bit less than three weeks. It took a few days for the cement to cure properly before the lake could be filled. The hard part was transfiguring the sea water into fresh water to get the salt out."
Ernie nodded and thanked her.
With far more respect, she asked, "How thick are the granite walls?"
"Six feet. After making them, I used a permanent seal on each block."
Ernie asked, "I thought you couldn't transfigure food or water. How does that work?
McGonagall replied, it's very straightforward, since they're so very similar. Effectively it would be a permanent transfiguration, just the same as if you transfigured a slice of bread into a slice of toast."
The questions continued for another hour. Hannah marveled at his patience. Finally, she asked, "What are the next steps?"
He replied, "I'd like you to make two or three weekend visits to Salem. On the first, I'll help each of you to make a staff. On the second one, we'll practice summoning, flying and transfiguration. For that visit, you'll each be given a new Firebolt broomstick.
"If you make it for the third visit, we'll make a pond. The construction in Kuwait will begin in June and continue through July. The refills generally will be the nights before, of, and after the new moon. Transporting the water could be done in one night if there was a line of people doing it, each ten minutes apart. Transfiguring the water after that takes two to five days, depending upon the size of the crew and how much water needs to be transfigured."
He let that sink in a minute before adding, "I need to stress the seriousness of this. There are no jokes, no pranks and no mistakes. There's no detention, or second chances. If somebody dropped a huge load of water on someone, we wouldn't plan on getting out of there alive. There's no Dumbledore there handing out second chances."
McGonagall was going to admonish him, then realized that he just may have saved someone's life.
"Who's in?"
Everyone raised their hands.
"Who needs a passport and proper identification documents?"
The twins, Katie, Angelina, and surprisingly Cedric raised their hands.
"OK. Wait here and someone will help you. For the next meeting, please be in the lobby next Saturday morning at ten. Bring your passport and an overnight bag. Dress is casual, non-magical. Thank you for coming." He left to let the others talk.
Hannah and Dean watched as the four former quidditch players began a lighthearted discussion about how much fun they'd have and how cool it would be to have a staff. She quietly commented, "They have no idea how hard this will be." In a louder voice she said, "His test pool is a circle almost 1,000 feet across. I'm talking diameter, not circumference. If the lake that he made in Kuwait was square, it would be 1,475 by 1,475 feet. You lot better bring your A Game. There's probably life-changing money involved here, but you'll earn every knut."
Tonks added, "The pictures that he didn't show you were of the armed guards. There's no fooling around." Pointing to the Twins, she said, "Boys, you've had your warning."
… - …
Saturday May 24 - Travel Day -10
Harry went over the plans again. Unlike his pond, which was 40 feet deep with an extra 75 feet of wading area before the drop-off, the five lakes had or would have walls that were straight or nearly straight up and down. He'd spoken with Rashad, the client again, confirming that there was no dual-use intended. These were water storage facilities. Fortunately, the Firebolts that Devlin Whitehorn had made were comfortable enough and hovered almost effortlessly.
It had taken the granite wall team several days to get used to transfiguring a 10 foot high, 20 foot wide block of granite that was six foot thick. It took them a few more days to make them consistent. Harry worried that it would take them all summer to develop the stamina to make them on a production basis. Essentially they were working at their tasks for 10 minutes at a time and needed a 10 minute rest.
At the same time, he didn't fix anyone's' granite blocks. He offered a sentence or two of suggestion then reversed the block back into a pile of sand. After the person's third mistake, he carefully demonstrated the technique again; pointing out the specific applicable tips and tricks. The height and width had to be virtually exact. He allowed a three inch tolerance with the thickness, as it was the hardest to see when making the block.
One thing that was noticeable to him but remained unspoken were the staffs themselves. Simply put, the basilisk venom staffs allowed the witch or wizard to wield a more powerful spell by about 25% than the unicorn hair version. Unfortunately, only Dean, Katie, and Hannah could make them work. The others used a 48 inch unicorn hair in their staffs.
Harry decided on one design change for the remaining four lakes. Whereas the first one that he'd made had vertical walls, he took one of Mandy's colleague's advice and stepped each layer of wall back a foot, like an inverted pyramid. The idea was to not have all of the weight of the walls resting on the bottom blocks.
… - …
Travel Day -5
Harry, Minerva and Hermione were driving to Chesterfield together after dinner. Emma had suggested spending an hour alone with everyone, so they'd have the opportunity to ask questions, or share any concerns. McGonagall slipped into a comfortable conversation topic and asked, "How are your classes coming along, Miss Granger?"
As she was driving, Hermione replied, "In healing, we had the opportunity to assist, ever-so-slightly in the delivery of a baby this morning. The father tried to be encouraging and everything, but for a while, he seemed to need more attention than the mom. It was their first." She was careful with her choice of words; making a conscious effort to not disparage the school that had placed her or Harry in deadly situations so many times. Ted had stated those points quite clearly when they'd withdrawn and she didn't want to rehash them.
McGonagall asked, "What classes are you taking this year?"
"We have different classes every semester. Currently, I'm taking Healing, Charms, Potions and Herbology on the magical side. On the nonmagical side, I'm taking Biology 4 and World History 2."
"When does your school finish for the term?"
"May 29. The first summer session will begin the following Monday." She waved at the two teens walking down the sidewalk.
"What did you take, Mr. Potter?"
"Charms, Transfiguration, Enchanting 3, Potions, World History 2 and Physics."
"How is it that they let you drop the last month of your classes?"
"I signed up for a work-study plan set up by my advisor. I made a presentation to them before the beginning of term, similar to what we had at Gringotts and they all approved the request. How about you, Professor? Hogwarts must still be going for another six weeks."
"The opportunity to check up on the two of you seemed irresistible. Hogwarts doesn't shine as brightly since the two of you left. Then with Miss Bones leaving this year, I wanted to see the three of you myself.
"Beyond that, Hogwarts never officially provided for retired teachers and Albus left the school on less than a solid footing, financially. With Mr. Thomas, Miss Abbott and Mr. Macmillan leaving early, Filius insisted that I take up your invitation, so here I am."
He replied, "We're more than happy that you're here, Professor."
She admitted, "I wanted to thank you for assigning me one of the less strenuous tasks. Inspection and sealing are better fits for me at this stage of my life."
"The granite is pretty easy to work with; at least a single block is. The repetition and sitting on the broomsticks for hours will be tough; even with the extra cushioning that I asked Devlin Whitehorn to put on. Be sure to drink plenty of fluids and eat lots of snacks. Also, sealing can just as easily be done in the evening, rather than in the afternoon sun. The side walls will be illuminated just as brightly as daylight."
"None-the-less. It was very apparent to me that I failed the water carrying exercise miserably. My water cloud wouldn't fill a backyard swimming pool, let alone make a scratch in filling a lake."
"Everyone is bringing their own set of skills to the table, Professor. Finesse with a decent bit of stamina are a powerful combination. You'll want to see how transfiguring the sea water into fresh water works for you. The one week a month task might become a perfect part-time job for you."
"I also wanted to thank you for the accommodation in your home. I appreciate it."
Harry said, "I stayed at one of the hotels when I was in Kuwait the first time. It wasn't a good fit for the elves, so I bought a bunch of these magical tents. Each of the tents contains a 900 square foot area set up as two bedroom, two bathroom, a kitchen and a large sitting area. Everyone has their own, but if you'd prefer, I'll happily arrange a room at the hotel. It has a lovely view and a driver. Dan and Ted will be here alternating weeks."
"Not Andromeda, or Emma?"
"The Middle East has a different culture than ours – not right or wrong, but different – especially toward women. They'll leave us be on the job site, but if we venture outside, we're expected to fit in."
McGonagall replied, "I take it that you've had that discussion with Miss Abbott, Johnson and Bell?"
"Twice, but it won't hurt to have it again."
Finally, they'd seen the town and Hermione parked the car back in the driveway. She said, "Goodnight Professor."
"Goodnight, Miss Granger, Mr Potter. Thank you for the tour."
It was Katie's turn.
… - …
The last two years had been very kind to Katie Bell. She'd grown into her face and her body had grown into her 5'9 frame. She was no longer a beanstalk. Plainly spoken, she was gorgeous. As before, Harry went into the back seat of Hermione's 1992 Honda Accord. Seeing the two girls hug put a smile on his face. As the car began moving, Hermione asked, "How was your seventh year?"
"Ordinary. Honestly, it was boring. After the tournament, the school changed a lot. It felt like all of the sharp edges and interesting things weren't there. The quidditch league all but fell apart; they're friendly pickup games instead of epic contests that had felt like they had meaning. Slytherin changed the most. A bunch of the students transferred to different schools two years ago. A few others left this year. I didn't hear the Mudblood word once this year."
Hermione asked, "What about your NEWTS?"
"What about them? I can take them here anytime, or I can take them in Britain in Mid August. I plan on attending masters classes at Salem in September. My parents' herbology business will still be there three years from now, if I haven't found anything better. My plan is to do this as long as it's offered. I'm beyond grateful for the opportunity."
Hermione was shocked. "What about...?"
Katie cut her off. "Hermione, what does an entry-level Healer make?"
She admitted, "I don't know."
"650G a month."
"Is that good?"
"Yes. No. It's not the point. Your parents have that beautiful home. Your support system is a mile deep. My Mom told me, Maybe we'll take you on, if you can't find anything else. Would you really want to spend your first three years working at the Ministry, getting coffee for Scrimgeour while half of the men and some creepy women leer at you?
"I can take a few classes a semester here and be gone a week a month or so. I'll be the happiest witch around. You know?"
Hermione didn't know. The issue of money had never come up in her life. Her parents weren't multi-millionaires but they'd had a nice home in Surrey and her mum implied that without the NHS discounting 90% of the fees, they were doing a lot better here.
Harry tried to smooth the conversation, stating, "You'll earn every knut when it's 115 degrees in the hot sun." Neither one mentioned using cooling charms. Hermione started talking about the baby delivery and Harry smiled, watching the two friends reconnect. There would be room at the house in September, He looked out of the car at the nearly full moon in the sky, thinking.
… - …
Travel Day -4
Fred and George had each practiced collecting the water in Harry's lake last night. They were highly successful – both in scooping up the water with their summoning charm and also setting it down in place, relatively gently. Katie and Angelina would get their opportunity much later this evening.
The exercise for the day was summoning sand and placing it on the sheet vinyl in a two inch, even layer. They they would transfigure the sand into a two inch thick layer of cement. The floor was easy. Placing a serious sticking charm on both sides of the sheet plastic and applying the sand before transfiguring it into cement took some real effort.
After each person from the flying team had tried it and the depth had been measured in several dozen spots, Harry cast an almighty finite. Moments later, the sand was back in a pile at the bottom of the hole. Then they each did it again.
… - ...
After dinner, Cedric and Ernie were in Hermione's car with her and Harry. When they'd been driving a few minutes, Cedric said, "I always thought that you would win the tournament. I went by the upside-down cloud and I didn't see anyone."
There was a silence in the car and Hermione was ready to start casting obliviates when Harry replied, "I got twisted around and must have run in the wrong direction. Anyway, I was never a Champion; you were the Hogwarts Champion and I'm glad that you were the winner."
There was a shorter silence before Cedric replied, "Thanks, Harry."
Hermione quickly changed the subject and said, "Ernie, Harry mentioned that you've done some construction work. What did you do?"
He replied, "My dad does home restorations – both inside and out. I've helped with sidewalks and driveways last summer – cement work."
Harry said, "We have some of that. I'm glad that you both are here."
Cedric replied, "Thanks for inviting us. The ministry isn't doing any hiring this year."
Harry remarked, "You're both good lads. The work is tiring. Be sure to drink enough fluids so you don't get dehydrated. It will be hot there."
Ernie asked, "Why aren't there any Slytherins?"
Honestly interested, Hermione asked, "Who would you have recommended?"
McMillan replied, "Maybe Millie or Blaise. I would have said Daphne until her Dad shot his mouth off at the Wizengamot."
Harry admitted, "I don't know either one very well. I just..."
Cedric averted an awkward moment, saying, "My dad told me that people tend to want to work with people who they already know."
Hermione inwardly pouted a moment, then replied, "That's not fair. What if someone else is better qualified?"
Cedric admitted, "I don't know; I've never hired anyone. It's just what my dad told me."
They passed two teens who were walking. The two girls waved as they went by.
Harry said, "I'm just glad that you're here."
… - ...
Angelina dropped her staff as they practiced flying over the water disillusioned several miles outside of the Salem shoreline. Fortunately, the solution came to her. She turned around, took out her wand and summoned her staff out of the water. While Harry had repeatedly told each of the flyers that the size of the clouds didn't matter, years of being friendly competitors with the other chasers had never really left her psyche. She'd tried to summon too much water. They each made five summons and were as comfortable as a human could be, knowing that a wall of water was racing towards you. Then they stopped and as carefully as they could, set the water down.
They portkeyed back to Chesterfield and were successful picking up and setting down the water into Harry's lake.
… - …
Travel Day -3
That morning at breakfast, Angelina was razzed about dropping her staff in the form of the dog leash with a wrist holder that appeared by her plate as she sat down. She would have been embarrassed until she saw Fred and George each holding one of their own. Fred admitted, "Mine's slipped away twice."
"George added, "I'm on my third mistake."
Hermione asked, "What's the issue?"
Fred replied, "Put it like this; on one hand, you've got a monstrous cloud of water the size of Hogwarts coming at you at 75 miles an hour. On the other side, you have a fair bit of wind in your face."
Dan, who was listening, asked, "Why don't you wear a motorcycle helmet with a face shield?"
Silence.
Finally, Katie, who knew what they were, proclaimed, "Brilliant! Emma, the lot of us need to go to the motorcycle shop in Amherst."
Fourteen hundred dollars later, the seven broomstick riders all had Bell helmets with ¾ face shields. The sales person didn't ask questions and simply said, "Enjoy your ride."
… - …
That evening, Harry and Hermione put Fred and George in her Honda Accord and they went for a drive to Chesterfield. Halfway there, Hermione asked, "Ignoring your grades, and pranks, what are you two actually good at?"
Fred replied, "We're pretty good at potions and substituting ingredients. We're good flyers. We're good at charms and decent at transfiguration. Last but not least, we like to think that we're affable. As for charms and transfiguration, until recently, it's been hard to say for certain; there's little opportunity to practice."
Harry replied, "That's exactly what you two should be doing. Pick an object out of your Dad's tool shed; a hammer would work. Transfigure a rock into the head and a stick into the handle. Do it a hundred times until each copy is exactly the same. You'll get loads better at it and develop stamina.
"In this go-around, you two will be on the water crew, but for the construction phase, I want you two to also be on the cement team. It won't require the same precision as the section blocks but doing acres of it all at once will be taxing."
He added, "I'll say it one last time lads, no pranks. The guards have a shoot first attitude; they're all business. Everything is serious – the work, the responsibility and the reward."
"We get it, Harry. We won't let you down."
"OK."
… - ...
Travel Day -2
Harry gave everyone the day off. Calls were made to those homes with telephones Ted had arrived. He would be with the group for the first ten days. Dan would come on the tenth day and remain for the rest of the trip. Dan loaned Ted his camera and had a dozen rolls of film for his use.
… - …
Travel Day -1
Ted rechecked that everyone had a valid passport and gave everyone an envelope with a few hundred dollars in local currency, as well as a small bundle of French Francs. He also went over a lengthy list of items which would be considered contraband, including alcohol. The tents were packed away and everyone found space in the house.
Harry gave everyone a stainless steel Gringotts wristwatch. While his own gold watch would easily take him and a few passengers to Kuwait, the stainless steel watch had a limited range. It would take one person up to 5,000 miles, or two people, up to 2,500 miles. He carefully set the coordinates on everyone's watch. Their first stop would be M-Customs in London. Their second stop would be M-Customs in Paris. Their third stop would be M-Customs in Kuwait. His rationale was, if they wanted to spend a few hours in Paris, good for them. The fourth stop was the job site.
The evening that they were going to leave, Harry gathered everyone together. The 200 elves who were making the trip had lined up in rows of 25. Harry said, "These elves will be making the trip with us. The two in the red t-shirts are Dobby and Winky Potter. They answer to me and to me alone. Do not ask any of the elves for personal favors. They have their own tasks with the lakes and are being paid, just like yourselves.
"We're leaving at ten minutes to midnight. Our first stop will be the Magical Customs building in London. Present your passport and state that you're on a pass-through to Paris. At Paris, do the same. State that you're on a pass-through to Kuwait. Before you leave Paris, hold your hand over the face of your portkey watch and say recharge. It should take less than 30 seconds. At Kuwait, present your passport and this paper. It's an invitation from our client. If asked, state that you'll be staying on his property.
"Ladies, before we leave Paris, put on and wear the head covering that I provided; at least until we get the tents put up. Wear them any time you would be leaving the job site.
"Everyone, have your passport and the invitation letter on your person at all times, Try and avoid contact with the guards. Keep in mind that they all speak perfect English. Leave your luggage here. Dobby's crew will bring everything to the job site. London is five hours ahead is us. Kuwait is another three hours ahead of London.
"When we arrive at the job site, collect your tent and get it set up. If you need help, ask one of your workmates. My advice is to activate the cooling charm on your tent as soon as you have it set up. At 3 pm Kuwait time, we'll do a walk-through of the job site. At 6 pm Kuwait time, dinner will be served. Meal times will be 6-7 am, 11-12 am and 6-7 pm. Snacks and refreshments will be available at the dining tent from 4 am to 9 pm. Don't ask for things that aren't on the whiteboard menu.
"Again, it will be hot. I expect you to work 11 hours a day. Which hours you work are entirely up to you, with the exception of the water runs. If you see that we're running low of anything, particularly the water testing kits, tell me before we've run out. The job site will be very well lit. My experience is that it's better to work in the shade. Are there any questions?"
There were none.
"Hold your hands out." He reminded them how to use the portkey feature of their watch. "Activate London."
… - …
A/Ns
Extra points to anyone who caught the Hal Moore reference.
In the next chapters, I'll bring up my theories relating to elven magic. I've read some that differ. I don't think there's a single right or wrong answer. These fit my story.
Thanks for reading.