… - …

Chapter Twelve

The Lakes

June 3, 1997 - Travel Day

The Attendant at Magical Customs – London looked at his watch. At 5 am, the scheduled group arrived. Ted stated, "Potter party of 12 on a pass-through to Paris."

The Attendant gave a quick look to each of the passports, checking that they weren't expired. She stamped each of their passports and said, "You may continue," pointing to the Departures area."

They used the same procedure at the Magical Customs in Paris. Speaking perfect French, Ted had them to the Departures area in minutes. As the girls donned their head coverings, Ted noticed that Harry was wearing a glamour and appeared to be about 30. He thought it a good idea.

At M-Customs in Kuwait, Harry saw Rashad, their client. As he was a Senior Official, the Customs Officer was even faster than usual. Their passports were stamped and they were on their way. The lads were wearing tan khakis with dark blue polo shirts embroidered with Potter Waterworks on the front. The witches were dressed similarly, in a more feminine style and their head coverings. Soon they were in four cars and on their way to the site.

On the brief ride, Rashad asked, "How is the lake business?"

As coached, Harry replied, "We finished one last week in Massachusetts. We have several interested areas in the South Western United States. However, what I'm most interested in is meeting your needs here."

"I'm certain that you will." As they walked around the job site, Harry asked, "If one of the lakes has a higher elevation than the others, it might make sense if there were pipes leading from it to the other lakes. That would improve our ability to refill the lakes as needed."

Rashad had thought the same and replied, "One and two are higher than the other three. We'll install that piping after the lakes are completed. How long are you expecting to take?"

Harry replied, "No longer than five weeks."

"Excellent. You have my telephone number if you need anything, The bank transfers will take place as each lake has been filled with fresh water."

"We appreciate the opportunity to serve you. We have much to do. Thank you again for meeting us at customs. They can be obstinate."

"Indeed. I look forward to hearing of your success." Ted noted a troubled look on Rashad's face and asked what was wrong.

He replied, "The manager at the desalination plant has been bothersome. He's been against this plan since it started and is claiming that I'm not meeting scheduled deadlines. I expect that he's worried that he'll encounter a loss of ... incentives to provide his water."

Harry asked, "Do you need these completed sooner? I have a large labor force that could be... encouraged to complete their tasks a week early."

Rashad's face lit up. He said, "That would be very helpful."

Ted didn't approve of the practice of bribery in business but understood that negotiations took many forms and could see that Harry was quite comfortable working with him and hadn't specifically asked for anything. Ted would talk with Harry about warding the area later.

Rashad, said, "Should you need anything, please call me." He enjoyed working with the younger man. He simply had no idea how much younger Harry was.

Harry replied, "There is much to do. We shall be on our way."

… - …

Harry found Dobby and Winky in his tent. They had set it up while he was talking with Rashad. They walked around to the various lake sites. When they reached the site for lake five, Winky stated, "The rock is deeper here – 110 feet."

"Harry said, "We'll add an extra course of blocks here."

She said, "This one will take more liner material."

Harry asked, "Do we have enough?"

Dobby replied, "Yes, Harry Potter. There be enough. Harry Potter should make thicker walls at the bottom two sets of blocks for this lake. Harry Potter should make them himself."

"How thick?"

"Dobby thinks eight feet." Elves be packing the outside with sand and rock very tightly. Maybe Elves should use cementie like Harry Potter was showing sneaky twins to do."

"Good idea, Dobby. Thank you both for telling me. I'll remark the plans."

"Dobby thinks Elves will dig hole number two tomorrow, Harry Potter and friends can be making walls by night time. Sand is soft by lake three. Dobby's friends be finding many small rocks to place outside granite blocks.

That evening, Ted discussed Rashad's concern with Harry and Dobby. Little D suggested, "Elves could be putting sand at edges of job site and Harry Potter could make wall to keep sneaky people out."

Ted surprised them and said, "The best solution is to volunteer nothing. That way, if there's a problem, it's Rashad's problem, not yours."

Harry was about to ask what could possibly happen and immediately had a thought of someone like a Snape sneaking in and poisoning the lakes. Harry pointed out, "There's a significant cost difference between the water that we can provide and what the desalination guy can produce. Rashad has at least a two cent a gallon cost advantage."

Ted warned, "That's not your concern. You're not a professional warder; at least not yet. Yes, security is a real issue here, but it's Rashad's issue."

"True. We'll get paid for this job, but most of those ten people are hoping that this turns into an ongoing job."

As patiently as he could, Ten replied, "Harry, everything you're saying is true, but the real issue is span of control. Water supplies can be contaminated by a determined advisory. That's a reality anywhere. That's real for any exposed source, such as a lake or river. Any treatment plant can be broken into. You have lakes to make, he has lakes to protect."

He continued, "Remember, you're not here to do all of the work by yourself. You've shown them the basics. Now you need to lead them, direct them, and get out of the way. They'll make mistakes. You can point them out and let them fix them Let's get a bite and go to bed. Most people don't adjust to time changes faster than an hour or so a day. People will be up at odd hours for a while."

"Thanks, Ted."

… - …

Day One

Harry woke up at 3 am. When he stepped out of his tent, he wasn't surprised to see that the elves already were 75 feet down on a third of lake two. The sand was in very large piles 300 feet to the north of the hole. Harry could see Little D's point, the sand had to go somewhere. By the time he'd found a chilled bottle of Orange Crush and a large slice of leftover pepperoni pizza, it occurred to him that the crew would be facing a restless day. There were no tasks yet to be done and he didn't enjoy the thought of the crew wandering around the neighborhood.

As if on cue, Cedric was up next and asked, "Should we get started?"

Harry replied, "It would be tempting, but we need to let the elves finish digging the hole and marking off the lines. This one day, I'd suggest going back to bed and being ready to work early tomorrow morning. I didn't have the option of sending the elves a few days early."

For the most part, the crew transfigured chairs and umbrellas and sat watching the 200 elves perform magic on a scale that literally, hadn't been done in a thousand years. With that many elves, it was like watching a movie at fast forward speed. That said, the crew began to realize the depth and immensity of the hole.

As they watched, Harry reminded them, "When you're down there, be certain that you're wearing your portkey watch in the event that part of the wall collapses. It will be most likely as we're working in the first two levels. The elves won't back-fill the area behind the granite blocks until your transfiguration work has been sealed. I was advised to make the first two courses of block 8 feet thick, so each block will be 10 feet tall, 20 feet wide and 8 feet thick. We'll switch to 6 foot thick blocks on the third course. After the bottom course of blocks, you'll be on your broomsticks. The strings hanging from the top represent a vertical line, so you'll have something to measure the 1 foot setback of each course."

Katie asked, "How are they going to get the water out of the lakes?"

"They'll run several 48 inch pipes on the bottom of each lake and pump the water out like you'd drink a soft drink through a straw. They'll be using large pumps. This site is about the highest around. They'll be using gravity to aid in moving the water to a new water treatment plant, then into the existing piping system."

They decided to have a very early dinner. As they were eating. Dobby surprised Harry by stating, "The hole be ready for Harry and helpers. At 3 pm. they quickly finished their meals and flew down into the hole. From the bottom, the 100 foot wall looked immense. Looking at the strings that marked the edges, he set the first cornerstone block as everyone watched. When he finished, he said, "Cedric, start here, working your way to the right. I'll set the second corner. Tonks will work from there, going to her right. When you get halfway through your row, Professor McGonagall will start the seal process until she catches up with you. Then she'll follow behind Tonks. When I set the third corner, Hannah will start, working to her right. Remember, the first two courses are eight feet thick. Three inches is the tolerance on the back side. The top side and side will need to be trimmed or filled so we have a good seal. Be sure that the front side of the blocks are vertical. Ernie, you'll be up after that. Dean, you'll be fill-in when one of the starters needs a break. I expect everyone to finish a block that they start. Don't leave one half-finished. Katie, please take one of the cans of spray paint and number the blocks after they've been sealed. The first one to the right of this one will be number 1."

In the mean time, after their own break and dinner, half of the elves began work on the second hole. They'd begin the backfill after an entire course side had been completed.

After most of the crew was working, Harry asked Angelina to make a list of who transfigured which blocks. Fred and George were handed measuring tapes and asked to measure the thickness of the blocks. Harry recognized that it was essentially make-work, but it got them involved with the construction.

Nym had the first section that needed to be rebuilt. It was too thin and the granite had several large cracks that could crush when additional blocks were set on top. Individually, Harry pointed out the large cracks. He suspected that she was exhausted. He called Dean over, vanished the section and had him transfigure it. He went up to the dining room with her and reminded her, "Serious transfiguration burns up a ridiculous amount of energy. Have a slice of pie and a few cookies along with a sugary drink or two. How many did you do before you ran into trouble?"

"That was my fifth one."

"Nym, that's way too many at a time. Each block is a NEWT exam. Unfortunately, they all have to be Os. That one was a P. I'd rather see two perfect ones. Come back when you're ready. Cedric should be here any minute."

"Thanks, Harry."

As if on cue, Cedric walked in as Harry was leaving. He said, "That's exhausting work, Harry. I barely finished my fourth."

"Take a break and get something to eat and drink."

He went down to check. All four of his blocks looked OK. He proactively stopped Hannah after their third. He did the same with Dean and Ernie. He announced a limit – two blocks then a break. There was a bit of grumbling, but he was firm.

… - ...

When they stopped at 8 pm for a late dinner, the first course had been finished and the second course of blocks was half done. Minerva had finished sealing the second row of blocks. He and Ted sat there quietly until the others had come and left. Ted brought over another bottle of Orange Crush for Harry and an ice tea for himself.

After a moment, Harry observed, "It wasn't too impressive, was it?"

Ted pointed out, "Perspective is everything here, Harry. No one got hurt and no one quit. I'm impressed that you found some meaningful make-work for the flight crew. Was it just the one rejected section?"

"Yes. I spoke with Nym. She'd failed on her fifth block. I'll keep the limit at two for a few days and raise it to three for lake three."

"How did Minerva do?"

"The same. She did fine at first. After the first course, I found some paperwork for her to do for an hour. After that, she was fine on the seals on the part of the second course of blocks that had been transfigured."

"So you have 400 out of some 2,800 done for lake 2?"

"Correct."

"I'd call that a remarkable achievement."

Harry frowned and complained, "They have no stamina. I should have anticipated that."

"Listen, Harry. For the next month, they're what you have. If anyone quits, or gets hurt, you don't have a backup. With the possible exception of Ernie, none of them have worked construction, or have done sort of any extended manual labor. They'll get better. If you need someone to complain to, complain to me, not them. I know you were tempted to finish the second course of blocks today; probably so badly that you could taste it. This one is going to take the longest; you have to let it get done at their pace. They're going to feel like crap if they see you making blocks twice as fast and a dozen at a time.

"They'll still be working on lake 2 for another week. If you feel like you have to do something, make blocks in lake 3 after the elves finish the hole. Don't rub it in their faces. They'll get faster, just like you did."

"Got it. Thanks Ted." He realized that they all had things to learn and practice.

… - …

Day Two

Harry got up again at three. The transfiguration crew were on their jobs at five. When breakfast opened at six, they'd all completed six sections, including Dean who was still doing fill-in. It was cooler and somehow felt less tiring than the day before. Fred asked, "Why not have people work both ways?"

Harry replied, "The walls tend to be a lot straighter when there is a corner to work towards. Lake 3 will open up tomorrow. There will be more jobs open in another couple of days. Besides, they'd rather have you out there with the tape measure than me. It's more efficient with multiple projects. I was stuck doing nothing, waiting for the cement to cure when I made the first one."

George asked, "Are you sure we're going to need to fly at 1,000 feet?" That was several times higher than they were used to playing quidditch.

"Absolutely. Keep in mind that your water cloud is probably 300 feet tall and half again as long. It's going to be below and behind you. There are some pretty tall buildings in Kuwait City. The last thing you'd want to do is accidentally slam into one with a tidal wave of water going 75 or 100 miles an hour. We'll be better off going around them when we can."

"It makes sense."

Harry offered, "The first night that it's cloudy, we'll take a practice run out and back."

Fred asked, "Why don't they just pipe it to the lakes?"

"It's 30 miles away. Eventually, they probably will. In the mean time, they're willing to pay us good money to do it for them. Whether that lasts six months, or six years, time will tell. Check the thickness on level three for me."

"Will do. Thanks, Harry."

The green-eyed teen checked the seals on the first five levels before turning in for the night.

… - …

Day Three

The elves had begun work even earlier than usual and had the lines done on Lake 3 by 4 am. Harry was up equally early and had finished the cornerstones and one row on one side before he stopped for a late breakfast.

At Lake 2, the elves had just back-filled the area outside of level five when the crew went out. Their plan for the day was to finish level 8 and finish level the top level (10) by noon, the next day.

At his request, the elves re-dug the outside of lake one on the west side and refilled it with gravel and cement to make a stronger wall.

At noon, Harry went back and did the seals, as far as the transfiguration team had gone. Again, he asked if Minerva could help him with some paperwork. She gladly accepted, though she mentioned that it seemed like every elf out there had come to visit with her for a moment and hug her. Katie was doing an excellent job, keeping track of the progress on each block.

Having had a big meal and a few hours off. Minerva completed the seals on level 8 before she turned in for the night. It had been a good day.

… - …

Day Four

At 3 am Harry and the broomstick team were ready for their practice run. They disillusioned themselves with the understanding that they'd remove the charm when they reached the rendezvous point two miles out. After they'd all met up, Harry said, "One at a time, summon some water, take it out to sea and drop it a minute later."

It was difficult to estimate the exact volume but no one lost their balance. The true challenge would be two of the taller buildings four miles inland. They didn't have lights on. The crew wanted to fly over them, Harry wanted to go around them. He pointed out, "There are always people who work late or come in early. With the tinted windows they're difficult buildings to see. If someone looked out properly, it would look like they were going to get hit by a wall of water. If the flyer lost concentration, they would get hit by a wall of water."

The consensus was mixed. Finally Harry pulled rank and stated, "We'll go around them." They each practiced summoning and letting the water down a few times, then flew the path back just as the sky was beginning to lighten.

Meanwhile, the transfiguration crew had gotten an early start on course 9. They had a staggered breakfast so they could continue working. At 11:30 the last block of level 10 had been transfigured, with Harry and Minerva each sealing two of the sides. At 11:50, the permanent seals had been finished and everyone went in for lunch.

They'd met their goal.

After everyone had eaten, Harry stood and said, "Earlier this morning, the flight crew made a successful practice run out to sea and back through the city along the proscribed path. With the aid of the wrist leashes, there were no lost staffs." He winked at Katie. The others gave a good natured laugh. She gave an exaggerated bow back. Harry said, "To continue their success, Dobby just informed me that the sheet vinyl lining and the sand piles are in place. As such, the flight crew will be coating the sheet liner with cement this afternoon. I'd like one of the transfiguration crew to assist them, if we have a volunteer?"

Ernie raised his hand and Harry nodded then said, "When they're done transfiguring the cement, Professor McGonagall will seal the floor and I'll apply seals to the walls. The goal is two inches, the tolerance is ½ inch. Ask for help of you need it. OK?"

They nodded and Harry added, "The rest of the transfiguration crew will work on lake 3. Questions?"

Realizing that there was a schedule to meet, George asked, "How much time do we have to place the cement?"

"All day. It will be a lot easier in the shady areas. I suggest getting started."

Just being out in 115 degree heat was oppressive. Attempting to do actual work was brutal. The transfiguration crew stopped complaining about the two block limit; especially as they reached the higher levels where they were in the direct sunshine. Harry conjured a bucket and put a dozen conjured glasses filled with cold ice water to pass around. No one refused them.

… - …

Day Eight

A serious level of fatigue had set in. Almost everyone had made one or more significant mistakes the day before. Harry had ended up vanishing the cement on lake 3 and redoing it himself.

At breakfast, Ted stood up and announced, "Everyone has the day off. I hear Paris is nice this time of year." He handed everyone an envelope with banknotes that contained the equivalent of 500 galleons and said, "Remember to carry your passport and the invitation letter at all times. Remember – no bringing alcohol back to the country. Please be back by 10 pm Kuwait time."

When they'd left, Harry said, "Thanks. Your good-cop came off far better than my bad-cop would have. Are you going to keep an eye on them?"

Ted nodded and asked, "Are you sure that you don't want to go with?"

"No. They've all seen enough of me. I've a bit of rework left to do in Lake 2."

"OK."

After they left, Harry vanished a 60 x 30 foot section of one of the lake 2 walls. An hour later, he'd finished the job, the elves redid the vinyl and Harry vanished then re-transfigured a handful of granite sections in lake 3. He left six sections undone on level 10. Aside from them, it was ready for the vinyl sheeting and cement.

He was going to vanish the water in lake 1 and inspect it but decided that it would still be there tomorrow. Instead. he spent an hour on the telephone, talking with Hermione.

… - …

Day Ten

At breakfast, Harry commented, "It's good to see that everyone is feeling better today. It's too bad that everyone had a case of 24-hour flu yesterday.

"I drained the water in lake 1 yesterday, and with the Elves' help, did a thorough inspection. I also did a bit of rework in lake 2. I want us to put the vinyl and cement down in lake 3 today.

"Broom crew, I'd like lake 1 refilled tonight, lake 2 filled tomorrow night and lake 3 the night after. Go over your plans and let me know what flight path you're planning on. The salinity test kits are in the supply cabinet. Transfiguration crew, if we work at it, the cement in lake 3 can be in place today by noon."

… - ...

In lake 3, the cement appeared to be sprayed from Harry's staff. He slowly rode his broomstick in a circular motion along the walls starting at the bottom. In the 100 degree heat of the mid-morning, the thin layer of cement appeared to have already set by the time that he returned to his starting place. At Ernie's suggestion, he applied two thin layers and magically melded them together to reduce the curing time. It appeared that the experience acquired in Macmillan's Restorations the previous summer job helping his father in his remodeling business paid off. By noon, the others had finished the floor and smoothed the cement.

When the transfiguration crew was finishing up, Harry and the crew watched the elves re-scrub the sides of lake 1. Aside from not having the stepped incline, it looked as fresh as the other two. Harry was quite pleased with its condition. Minerva walked over and asked, "Why hadn't it been used?"

Harry replied, "It was partially to test the integrity of the construction itself. We also wanted to test the evaporation rate. In the January – May time-frame, the evaporation rate was about an inch a day, largely due to the wind. I expect that to double in June – September then return to the one inch per day rate. Knowing that will give Rashad a better understanding to gauge how much water was supplied compared to how much has been sold."

McGonagall asked, "When will they start using the lakes?"

"A a few weeks after we hand over the five lakes. The pipes to the central system are already in place. They'll install the pumps to the new treatment plant and start the pumps. I expect that the new water will be in people's taps two weeks after that."

"What will happen to the existing water supply?"

"The desalination plant will continue to supply water to the commercial and industrial users as well as all of the outlying areas. Over the next six months, Rashad told me that he'd provide our water to all of the residents, if we're able to keep the lakes full."

She asked, "How many people have signed up to do the refills?"

Harry replied, "Tentatively everyone, officially no one. I'll ask again after people have had the opportunity to do that phase of the job. If Hermione's math is correct, they'll drain one lake every week to ten days. I'd like to send a crew out every two weeks to refill and transfigure the two lakes. Hopefully the job will take 4 or 5 days. I don't know if that's 2, 3, 4, or 5 people. It will depend on who is still interested and able to do the work."

"Do you have intentions to hire additional witches or wizards for this task?"

"Perhaps. Sooner or later, yes. Ideally, I'd like to have people make one trip every six weeks. That implies a crew of three and no more than three lakes to fill. I'd like everyone to try the desalination twice, so I may need to vanish one or two of the lakes and have them refilled while we have the opportunity to do testing. Obviously every team will need at least one flyer."

McGonagall gave a rare smile and observed, "You know how fast you can do it, but have no idea how long it will take for us to do it. Is that correct?"

Harry admitted, "Yes, Professor. I also expect that there will be considerable differences between people. Rashad's paying by the job, not the hour."

"Good point, Mr. Potter."

… - …

Day Eleven

Early that morning, Harry gave his last minute instructions to Fred and George. "You don't need to fill the lake in the first trip. There's time to make three or four trips, if needed. I'll be flying behind you and to your right. I won't say a word unless there's an emergency. Remember, when you get back, pour the water into the lake; don't dump it. The cement around the lakes isn't completely cured yet. No one wants to break anything. If you need to make a second trip, check and see how much you need before picking up a load. If you have a bunch extra, you'll have to fly it back and drop it back into the ocean. It will be easier, when we're doing actual refills, as they'll be a second lake to pour into if needed."

George now realized that the task was more complicated than he had thought when he'd woke up in the morning. He said, "Fred and I will pick up loads that we're comfortable with. We'll drop them five minutes apart. Can someone measure how much each load is?" That would help us with the third or fourth load."

Harry replied, "We'll do it. Fly safe." Everyone was glad that they'd put in depth markings on the side of the walls.

An hour later, Ted could see Fred's red helmet. He'd spotted the lights and was losing altitude. Ted could see what he deemed to be a monsterously large cloud of water rapidly catching up to him as he slowed. He pointed his staff and poured the wall of water into the lake as gracefully as he could. A minute later it had settled and a now visible Harry announced, "26 feet."

Just then, George's striped helmet appeared. He slowed and dropped his water with more of a splash than Fred and landed. Fred announced, "50 feet total. Your load was 24 feet.

Harry said, "OK Lads. Finish the job."

After they'd mounted their broomsticks and left, "Hannah asked, "Why didn't they just portkey 500 feet above the bay? They'd be done by now."

"They hadn't thought of it. I hadn't either. If we found a safe place to portkey to, it would save people almost 30 minutes a load."

When they returned and set their loads down, the water level had reached the 99 foot mark. The flight crews stayed up and talked about it for another hour. Harry checked the salt content and as expected saw a reading of 3.5%. He went to bed.

After breakfast ended, Harry had Fred and George begin transfiguring the water. By noon, they were clearly tired. He checked the salt content again. There was very little improvement. After lunch, he put Dean and Ernie on the task. By dinnertime, they'd clearly made progress. The test kit indicated 2%. He put Tonks and McGonagall on for an hour and a half after dinner. The test kit indicated .05%. The lake was considered clear.

… - …

Day Twelve

Early the next morning, Katie and Angelina made the water run. Before they left, Harry asked them about their plan. Angelina replied, "We don't want to show up the boys and finish in one trip; we're planning on three." They popped away and returned 40 minutes later. Katie guided her water into lake 2 and the 20 foot depth was just covered. Angelina dropped hers in with a bit of a splash. The 42 foot mark was covered. Immediately they popped away. A half hour later, they were back. The 84 foot mark was covered. They both popped off again and only Katie came back carrying water. She carefully poured it into the lake until it was full and flew off with the rest. A half hour later, they used their portkeys to return and promptly went to bed. As was his habit, Harry checked and received a 3.5% salinity reading. He went to bed.

After breakfast Harry put them on water transfiguration duty for the day. At dinnertime, he checked and received a reading of 1.5%.

During the day, Harry asked if anyone else wanted to try a water pickup run. Dean, Hannah, Cedric and Tonks raised their hand. He initially paired Cedric and Hannah to go that evening. After lunch, he pulled Dean aside and asked, "Aside from Hooch's lessons, do you have any real flying experience?"

Dean admitted, "No, but I'd like to learn."

"I'll be happy to teach you, but not in a foreign country; not now. When we get back, I'll get you in the air, I promise."

"Thanks, Harry."

After dinner, he found Tonks, Hannah and Cedric. He said, "Tonks and Hannah, I'll take you two on the first run at two. We'll fly out and back. Cedric, you and I will go out at three." They were all pumped up for their trip.

… - ...

Day Thirteen

After they were in the air and out to sea, Harry had them both practice summoning from different altitudes. Hannah watched Tonks. She started at 100 feet then flew the cloud by Harry and Hannah so they could see it. Every additional hundred feet resulted in a 20% reduction in the size of her summoned watercloud. The two girls switched places with the same results. For the trip back, Harry had them summon the water from 300 feet, so there would be a meaningful amount left for Cedric to pick up.

When they made their way back, Harry led and was careful to avoid any tall buildings. Tonks dropped her load first – literally, There was an almighty splash and Harry honestly hoped that there was no damage to the structure. Hannah was next. She carefully set hers down. In less than a minute, the lake was still again. The highest water mark read 60 feet. Harry didn't immediately say anything.

As Harry and Cedric flew off, Hannah lit into Tonks. "What was that? The winner of the belly flop contest? We'll probably end up draining the lake this afternoon to check for damage after that stunt. You set the water down, you don't drop it from 100 feet. Water may feel squishy but it has a lot of mass."

Tonks admitted, "I should have known better."

"Don't tell me, tell Potter that you'll do a decent job next time."

The truth was Tonks was exhausted. She should have carried half of what she had, but hadn't wanted to be outclassed by the younger teen who was using her basilisk staff. Also, she vowed to look up mass and find out what Abbott was talking about.

Offshore, Harry did the same practice exercises with Cedric and had him take what he thought would be a 30 foot load. Harry picked up a far smaller load that he estimated would top off the lake. When the returned, Cedric set his down with more grace than Tonks but it wasn't great. When Harry put his in the 99 foot marker was covered.

Before breakfast, Ted asked Harry if he could borrow a dozen memory cubes. He had each of the flyers make a one minute memory of their water drop. As breakfast was ending, he told the group, "I have a teaching moment that I think would be worth watching." He started with Nym's. They all flew toward their lake from the same direction. Having seen a dozen water drops by now, it was obvious that Nym was too high and too fast. Her load had the same impact as a dive bomber hitting a flattop. Next he showed George's. Again he was too high, though his forward airspeed was considerably slower. Next he showed Fred's. He had the same airspeed, but was 20 feet lower. Cedric's approach was low, but too fast. Finally he showed Hannah's. She came in lower than the others. The bottom of her cloud was only a dozen feet above the ground. Her airspeed wasn't much slower than Cedric's, except just before dropping her load, she gave a slight upward flair on her broomstick and had she been flying an airplane, would have stalled. Her splash was far and away smaller than the others.

Ted asked her how she'd thought of that and she replied, "I used to watch helicopters at the local airport, they used exactly that maneuver when landing." She added, "For what it's worth, I think we should pick up smaller loads. Carrying two half size loads is a lot less taxing than trying to carry a monster size load; at least for me." The others immediately nodded in agreement.

Nym's dive bomb maneuver was never mentioned again.

As work was continuing on lake 4, Harry decided to spend a few hours planning for the future. Based on what he'd seen, he tentatively decided on three-person water fill teams. His initial thought was two flyers and one person who was strong in transfiguration. The counter argument was that a single person could make 4-6 flights a night if they portkeyed out to the water.

He thought of the individuals. From what he'd seen, Fred and George were pants at transfiguration, Professor McGonagall had no stamina, and Tonks had a questionable level of availability. Unless she either left the Auror force, or went part-time, if such an option existed, that wouldn't change. Hannah, Ernie, and Dean were still students. Cedric, Katie, and Angelina were solid.

He thought back to the previous discussion with Professor McGonagall. He was passively looking for more people.

He had several other things on his mind – the ever-growing piles of sand, the heat, money, the moon and his commitment to finish the project in four weeks. It was time to call Rashad.

After five minutes of pleasantries, Harry got down to his question. "What would you like done with the sand?"

Rashad stated, "I have no use for it."

"We'll get rid of it for you. We're on schedule and will be starting on the excavation of lake 5 tomorrow."

"Excellent. What else is on your mind?"

"Little of consequence. One of the lakes needed to be made deeper than the others. The bedrock on lake 3 was found at 110 feet." He explained their decision to step the blocks for additional strength.

"That was a wise decision. Excellent."

Harry concluded the call, saying, "I will call you again in 10 days. Thank you."

Dobby and Winky had been in the dining room at the time, listening to every word, as usual. Dobby asked, "What does client man want elves to do with sandy piles?"

"He told me that he doesn't want the sand and wanted us to get rid of it."

Dobby had never owned a mountain of sand before. For an elf, that represented serious trading capitol.

A/N – There are no known laws concerning elves and sand. Do not try this at home.

… - …

Day Twenty

Dan had made a conscious effort to document and photograph the construction of lakes 4 and 5. Colin Creevey would have been envious of the effort and the results. He started with the elves' groundbreaking ceremony on lake 5. As it was in elvish, he wasn't certain if it was a prayer, or an announcement about what was for lunch, but he was certain that he was the only human alive to have witnessed one.

Between his unrestricted access and zoom lens, he had taken images of what he hoped were a great blend of individual and group efforts. He took shots of the stakes being placed in the ground, the marker string, the ever growing sand piles and the ever shrinking gravel piles. He concluded with the back-fills and concrete being poured.

He'd taken photos of Harry conjuring the giant cornerstones with his powerful staff. Then there were photos of Cedric, Dean, Nym, Hannah and Ernie on their broomsticks transfiguring or fitting the gigantic granite blocks with their staffs. Harry took him on the back of his Firebolt, so he could get up close shots with great angles.

He took extra photos of Professor McGonagall sealing the transfiguration charms, while hovering on her Firebolt one handed and casting with her nearly five foot staff. Even though Harry had set her up to succeed, her accomplishments were visible and immense.

Dan photographed each of the lakes with their signs, the elven tent city, the dining tent and the like. He carefully packed and labeled the film canisters. Dobby eased his mind by popping the containers back to Chesterfield several times.

Hermione took them to Salem to get developed and printed. She and Emma had enough reprints and enlargements made so that everyone would receive a photo album of their own.

Meanwhile, the fly team was concluding their efforts with the water transfiguration. Sea water was 3.5% salt by volume. Freshwater is considered water with less than 0.1% salt. Since the brine water had contaminated Kuwait's groundwater due to excess pumping, their well water was just over 2% salt. Harry decided that their delivered water would have a salt content of 0.5 percent. (one half of one percent) There was a large supply of testing kits in the supply cabinet, Dan took photos to document the change in salinity.

… - …

Day Twenty-Six

The moon was nearly full when they made their water run to fill lakes 4 and 5. Harry gathered them together to discuss their plan as the entire flyer team was going. "We'll disillusion ourselves and fly out, each grab a manageable size load and fly the long route back at five minute intervals. I'll go last and take back what isn't needed.

"Fred, you go first. When you've poured your load into lake 4, I want you to draw a small amount from lake 1 and top off lakes 2 and 3. That way, they'll be full when we call Rashad over for the hand-off. I'll top off lake 1 and re-transfigure the water.

"We'll leave at two am. The order after Fred is George, then Cedric, then Ernie. Ernie, fill lake four and put any extra in lake 5."

"Tonks, you're after Ernie. Katie, you'll be next then Angelina. I'll go last. Remember your leashes. There's no need for slipups. Flyers, stay out of each other's way and don't get hit by anyone's water cloud."

Angelina asked, "What if the lakes are full when I get here?"

"Fly north a few miles to miss me as I'm coming in then circle back and fly your load back out to sea. Are you comfortable with that, or would you prefer to switch places with Katie?"

"I'll go last. If we leave Katie out there by herself too long, she'd probably get chatted up by some horny dolphin."

They all snorted with their good friends.

On the way out, Harry dropped five extra-bright light sticks at the way points where they made their turns. Dan had asked him to take pictures, as he didn't have many of the flyers in action. Harry had pointed out that he didn't have any extra hands and taking pictures of disillusioned people at night was futile.

Fred was first. From 400 feet up, he pointed his staff and summoned the water, then headed towards shore.

George was next. Five minutes later, Cedric picked up a load and flew off into the night. At 3 am, Ernie summoned his water and flew off, followed by Tonks. Another five minutes later, Katie had left. Harry drifted over to Angelina and said, "Fly safe. I'll see you at the job site." She summoned her water and left.

Harry looked at the lights along the shoreline for a few minutes. Even this late at night, Kuwait City was still brightly lit up. He gave one last look, dove to 200 feet and summoned his load of seawater.

Twenty minutes later, Harry was ready to make the fifth turn when he realized that he was just seconds from crashing into a wall of water. Mass and momentum were working against him as he made a violent dive. The two water clouds crashed into each other.

Harry called, "Accio sea water," and the combined cloud flew towards him. He made the last turn and continued towards the worksite. He slightly overfilled the two new ponds, topped off number 1 and flew the remainder back out to sea.

When he returned, he shouted, "What the hell were you thinking?"

Pushing back, she shouted, "The fifth light wasn't there. I circled around twice looking for it. You almost crashed into my cloud."

"I put the light there myself."

Angelina shouted, "It wasn't there. Get one of your memory cubes and see for yourself."

He did.

It wasn't there.

He took out another cube and found Katie. Examining her memory, the lights were there. He then flew back and from 300 feet, summoned the light. He could see a trash bin open and the light flew into his hand. A dog started barking and a man wearing pajamas walked outside. Harry flew off in silence. When he returned to the camp, everyone was up. Ted asked, "What happened?"

Harry replied, "I dropped some glow lights to mark the turns. One of them disappeared. The homeowner's dog must have started barking when Katie flew over, walked out, seen the light stick, and tossed it into his trash bin. It wasn't there for Angelina and she circled around to look for it. I almost crashed into her watercloud. I'm sorry, Angelina. It never occurred to me that someone would toss the lights away. I thought I was doing everyone a favor."

"You did, Harry. It just didn't work the way we thought it would. I should have kept going; I knew where I was."

She added, "The excitement's over. Everyone back to bed."

Fred asked, "Is that an invitation?"

"No George. Good try."

The real Fred said, "I told you she could tell us apart.

… - ...

Day Twenty-Seven

Ted came back for the day to talk with Harry. They would be handing over the lakes to Rashad tomorrow and possibly move on with the the maintenance phase. Ted asked, "How firm is your agreement with Rashad?"

"As far as I know, we'll come back, and for 100,000G refill a lake."

"OK. On a slightly different subject, what could go wrong?"

"First, there's the transport of the water. We could crash into a building, house or jetliner at 75 MPH carrying half of a lake. We could drop a load from 1,000 feet. Those are the two most likely events."

"They'll be covered by disclaimer in any contract that we write. How about with the lakes, or the business of doing the refills?"

"We could have seriously underestimate the per-person usage. I based our estimates on 50 gallons per person per day. That means a lake would last at least a week; probably 10 days. My assumption is that the water will prove popular and he'll want us to refill two lakes every two weeks. On the day that we arrive, there would be three full and two empty lakes."

"What if he stretched it and went every 20 days, or every three weeks?"

Harry replied, "I'd press it so it would be every x weeks, rather than every 20 days, to make scheduling easier."

"What if it were every three weeks, or every four weeks?"

"The money's the same; we're going to charge by the lake. The concerning issues are our ability to deliver on an exception basis and how much of a safety net he wants to maintain. We could all catch some stupid virus and not be able to travel that week. His demand could spike during hot weather or a holiday and the lakes run dry. We don't want to go every week. On the flip side, we don't want to fly on a full or nearly full moon. If we went every other week, I suppose we'd end up flying with half moons.

Ted said, "Keep going. Actually, I have a question, say you were doing three lakes. Would you finish one first, then start the other, or something else?"

"Something else. I'm envisioning a three person team with two of the people capable of flying water from the ocean into the job sites. We can portkey out over the water, pick up a load and make four or five trips. Essentially one flyer would have enough darkness to fill one lake in an evening. So now there's 5,000 acre feet of sea water in each of two lakes. They'd probably all work on one first, then desalinate the other. If there was an immediate need, they could short fill a lake, and desalinate it in a few hours."

Ted asked, "Suppose there was one and a half lakes remaining when you arrived. If you filled the other two first and worked on them, the fourth one would be ready to work one before you were done."

Harry replied, "The short of it is it takes three people, three days to fill and clean one lake. That puts us back to safety net, actual daily consumption, frequency and length of trips, In the very short term, I have ten people with varying raw strength and varying ability. Hannah and Dean don't need full-time jobs yet and Cedric doesn't need to make more than Minister Bones."

"OK. I'll draft a letter of understanding for an open-ended purchase order."

… - …

Harry appreciated Ted, he truly did. That said, he wanted one, actually two other perspectives before he met Rashad. He popped back to Chesterfield. "Hermione, I'm home."

Hug, hug, hug. "Actually, I'm home for an hour. I need your and Emma's advice."

As if on cue, Emma greeted him, "Harry," hug, "What's this that I hear you're home for one hour? Sit down."

He explained the situation and options with Rashad and the refills.

Hermione pointed out, "The water storage facilities that you made are amazing. The process that you have for removing the salt is remarkable. That said, an empty storage container is just a hole in the ground."

Emma took up the conversation. "The value that you're able to offer is better tasting water at a far lower cost than what they're currently receiving. With that in mind, he has no motivation to dictate your delivery schedule. Your pricing model can be explained in ten seconds. He simply doesn't want to run out of water. You two have a common ground, so to speak. I'd suggest stating that you'll start with an every other week model and adjust it up or down, based on what the actual consumption is. You can always take a bit out of one lake and add it into another, so you shouldn't have to worry about partials."

Hermione agreed, "That's the key; a per lake pricing plan. Are we settled?"

"Yes. Thank you both."

Hermione asked, "How many of those 60 minutes do you have left?"

Harry looked at his watch and replied, "38."

"Come upstairs."

"Thanks, Emma. Gotta go."

… - …

Back at camp, if anyone noticed that Harry had gone missing, or came back with a very goofy smile on his face, they didn't say anything.

… - …

A/Ns

Contracts are interesting. Pricing aside, both parties usually are already in agreement over what they expect will occur. It's the detailing of what will take place when the unexpected events happen that make them valuable documents.

The water supply business took a lot of thought and world-building. I hope you enjoyed this version of it as we did. I recognize that there were a dozen other ways to have accomplished his objective. He's 17 and doesn't know all of the answers.

There will be much more of Tom's fine additions in the back half of the tale.

For those of you who ride, watch out for grasshoppers in the Vegas area. Smacking into one of those monsters seriously hurts my face.

Thanks for reading. Thank you for the kind notes. I read them to Hannah as other chapters get drafted in longhand.

cheers

… - …