… - …

Chapter Thirteen

Recognition

July 31, 1997

Day Twenty-Eight.

Two hours before Rashad was scheduled to arrive, Harry had an epiphany.

Noise.

It came down to noise.

Once the pumps, the maze of pipes, and other meters were put in place, the jobsite would no longer be the peaceful (if hot) sanctuary that it had been. The pumps would be running 24/7.

Transfiguring the water in the future wouldn't be sitting under a canopy, sitting on a comfortable camping chair with a chilled bottle of Orange Crush. While they could block out some of the sound, the ambient noise of all of the machinery would be painful for the elves. On top of that were the secrecy complications due to all of Rashad's people puttering around. Even sleeping would be a challenge.

If they absolutely had to, they could work 9 – 9 evenings and hopefully there would be fewer people bothering them.

They didn't want to push the water to the treatment plant.

They wanted the water pulled out of the lakes and have almost all of the pumps and machinery located at the treatment facility. The only equipment that they wanted located at the job site would be a pump that could push or pull water from/to lake 1 and the other lakes. That would allow them to handle partials when they arrived.

Rashad didn't know the intimate details of magic. If he told him that the witches, wizards and elves needed comparative silence to perform their magic, Rashad would accept him at his word. The elves could set up three personal tents as well as the dining tent and take them down for a very reasonable fee and everyone would be happy.

That would just leave the regular crew of guards, who hadn't bothered them after the first few days of watching them work.

Harry had a quick conversation with Ted and concluded it just as Rashad entered the job site.

A ten minute site tour with Rashad eased most of Harry's doubts. It had been Rashad's plan all along to pull the water from the lakes rather than to push it. As such, his vision of a limited amount of on-site machinery was very much in line with Harry's. Rashad asked about the feasibility of making a 6th and 7th lake in the future to accommodate the water needs of the outlying areas. His planning horizon was about a year out. He was highly amenable with Harry's suggestion of every-other-week refills. He suggested that in the near term, it would be likely that two lakes will need refilling one time and three the next.

He also said, "It would be our preference that your tents come down for the time that you're not on-site. I hope that's not too much of an inconvenience?"

Harry replied, "That wouldn't be a problem at all."

"Very good."

Harry asked, "Can you telephone me a week before you would like the first refills?"

Rashad replied, "That would be perfect. I look forward to seeing you again. Thank you again for your assistance. May fortune smile on you."

"And also with you."

"I'll have cars for you tomorrow morning at nine to take you and your party to Customs."

"Thank you."

After Rashad left, Ted commented, "It would be hard to envision that meeting going any better. Is there enough space for the other two lakes?"

Harry replied, "At least two. There's room on the other side of lake 2 and possibly enough for two others on the other side of lake 4. I'll ask Winky how far down the bedrock is."

… - …

Harry looked at his spreadsheet again. The construction agreement had been for 1,000,000G per lake to be paid when the lake had been filled. Harry and the elves split the gross proceeds. Harry paid the crew from his end. They split half of Harry's half – 250,000G per lake, As such each of the ten crew members would receive 100,000G for their work constructing the four lakes. ($1 Million) He called Barchoke with his instructions and asked Little D to go to Gringotts for a quick pickup.

At the farewell dinner, Harry handed Dobby and each of the crew members their new Gringotts vault keys. He hadn't mentioned the amounts.

It didn't take long for the question of refills to come up. Harry hadn't taken his second bite yet when Katie asked, "What's next?"

Harry smiled and replied "Three things. First, since the lakes were completed three weeks earlier than what I'd originally promised, I'd like to invite you to Salem for the weekend for BBQ. You're all invited to bring your parents, or a guest if you'd like. We will be discussing business at least a part of the time. Emma and Dan have something for each of you.

"Second, logistically, we're being driven to M-Customs tomorrow. Your watches will easily take you to M-Customs in London. You'll have to recharge them when we get there. You may want to stop in at Gringotts. If you want to pick up anyone to bring them to Salem, please meet at Gringotts in the Silver Conference room. I have an hour of business there and you may have some yourself. Hermione and I will portkey any guests from Gringotts.

"Finally, as for the refills, they'll be adding a set of large pipes to drain the lake water to the treatment station then into the main distribution system for use in people's taps. The timing for that is four to six weeks.

"At the same time, they'll be adding a separate set of pipes to move water from one lake to another. The water will be drawn from lakes four and five. I'm sure that they'll rotate where they take the water from so it never sits too long. Of importance to us is that the main pumps will be at the treatment station, not the lake site. They're loud and always on.

"Katie to your question, Rashad wants us to do refills every two weeks to start with. Who would be interested?"

Dean asked, "How would that work?"

"Mid-moon. I didn't want us flying about during a full moon."

George asked, "How much water are they going to use in two weeks?"

Harry replied, "It's a bit of a guess, but two to three lakes would be reasonable. It will be easier for us to bill by the lake, so I'm thinking two lakes one visit and three the next."

Harry added, "It's likely that he's going to want two more lakes built in the next six to twelve months."

Fred asked, "So are all of us coming out for a long weekend twice a month?"

Angelina said, "Harry, please go outside and have a bottle of Orange Crush for five minutes or so."

He did.

When he came back in, Professor McGonagall announced, "The consensus was that having half of us come one time and half the next wouldn't be the best strategy to start with. We all want to come; at least for the first handful of times or so. We'd leave at three pm, London time on Friday and expect to have completed our tasks by Monday morning. Are you planning on being here?"

"I can, at least for now."

"In that case, we'll probably be done a few minutes earlier." Everyone laughed. They were fully aware of his contributions. She continued, "There will always be someone who has a scheduling conflict. Together, we should be able to, how do the Yanks say it, knock this out in 36 – 48 hours. You have school five hours longer than the others, so you shouldn't be later than that. You can do the vault transfers based upon who was there that weekend. Surely you didn't think we were wanting to go out in pairs or three at a time, did you?"

"Er..."

"Besides, it will give me the opportunity to help Misters Weasley on their transfiguration. They never put much effort into it in the past and frankly, it's abysmal."

"Hear, hear," said Fred (or George) "We prefer to think of it as mediocre. Besides. who else would teach Dean to fly properly. Harry, you weren't thinking of taking up the task, were you?"

"Er..."

Angelina asked, "Can you store the tents and have them brought out? We all don't have bloody 4 car garages, you know."

Dean asked, "Dr. Granger, we'd like steaks and BBQ biscuit."

Katie added, "Chicken and veggie kabobs too, if you wouldn't mind?"

McGonagall asked, "Mr. Potter, you are taking notes, aren't you?"

They all laughed and Katie clarified, "Anything will be great."

Ernie asked, "So who else could we put these in for?"

Harry replied, "I've talked with a MACUSA guy about this. He came out to see my pond. He told me to call him after we did this job. My sense is this – the people who've had a previous condition of crappy water will be fantastic prospects. A situation where one guy is there who can actually make a decision would be an outstanding prospect. We can't go in front of a fifteen person town council and tell them that we can magically transform water. We can't make a sale to someone whose mindset is that good water should be almost free, or in a location where we couldn't operate safely. I feel better than I did about transporting water a few hundred miles. That said, I think we could do more work in the Middle East, or possibly a developer in the Southwest States somewhere."

Dan muttered, "Sam Kinison."

Ignoring the reference, Harry summarized, "That said, "I expect we'll get another serious inquiry from another country around here."

Seeing the nods of approval, he added, "We'll leave after breakfast tomorrow. Dobby and his friends will take down the tents and bring them over to Chesterfield. Hannah, be sure to invite your parents, Susan and her Aunt. Hermione and I will portkey people back and forth. Ted, please invite Andromeda. Professor, feel free to invite anyone from the Hogwarts staff. The rest of you are welcome to invite your parents for the weekend." He gave George a meaningful look. "We can easily put up everyone for the weekend. Thank you all again."
… - …

After they arrived at Chesterfield, Katie pulled Ernie aside and asked, "Did you do any business in Gringotts?"

"I was going to. I ended up meeting my Account Manager first."

She asked, "Does everyone have an Account Manager? I never had a vault there before this."

He replied, "No. Usually only the big shots have one. My parents don't have one."

"Mine either. I didn't know if it was all vault holders, or what." She leaned in and whispered, "How much did you get?"

"100,000G. I about fainted."

"Me too. I've never seen that much money before in my entire life. I can't believe it."

...

Fifty feet over, Emma smiled and said, "Hello Susan. It's nice to see you again. Hi. You must be Susan's Aunt. I'm Emma Granger, Hermione's mum."

Amelia replied, "Amelia Bones. It's nice to meet you. Thank you for inviting us."

Emma said, "Susan, Harry and Hermione wanted to catch up and ask about what you signed up for Fall Term. They're over by the grill."

Amelia asked, "Where were they? Susan told me that Harry and some others left early. Auror Tonks was tight lipped about the circumstances when she requested a leave of absence."

Emma replied, "They went on one of Harry's adventures. They spent a month in Kuwait. I'm certain that they'll talk about it after dinner."

Ted swept in as Harry and Hermione took Susan by the hand to show her something. He admitted, "Unfortunately, Susan's not getting invited to join in with them was my idea."

Amelia asked, "Whatever for?"

He admitted, "I didn't think any of us would want to find out how your political adversaries would spin the news that your sixteen year-old niece spent a month in a tent in a labor camp in Kuwait and came home with 100,000G. Now that Harry has an established business, I'm certain that she'll receive an invitation in the future."

Amelia could see his point. She asked. "What exactly did they do?"

"In short, they provided clean drinking water to two million residents of Kuwait City."

Silence. She blinked several times in shock.

"Two million... How?"

"I expect that will be the presentation after dinner. Come walk with me."

After five minutes, she said, "What a beautiful lake."

"Harry made it."

She blinked several times and asked, "He what?"

"With a bit of a nudge from Emma, he dreamed up the idea. He dug the hole, put in a watertight liner, sealed it, filled it up with sea water and removed the salt from the water. This was his laboratory experiment. He and the others built a handful of full-size lakes in the desert."

"God in Heaven, that's amazing."

"It is. Let's go eat."

… - …

The crew hadn't eaten badly in Kuwait. The food was simple but filling and loaded with calories, but it wasn't Dan's BBQ. Harry and the lads demolished the strip steaks, then each went back for several BBQ brisket sandwiches, with their choice of sauces, along with several ears of sweet corn and a handful of potato chips. Later he slowed down and had one more brisket sandwich. He and the others had expended so much energy in Kuwait. While there, they'd never stopped eating, yet they were constantly hungry.

Hermione would have said that they were burning 8,000 calories a day; Emma would have pegged it at 10,000.

Finally Dan called everyone in to the large entertainment room in the home. It was cozy but everyone had found a seat. When he went, he'd originally taken slides and had set up his projector. He started out saying, "Kuwait is a small but very important country in the Middle East. While they have an abundance of oil, they have faced a chronic shortage of clean drinking water for the last 50 years.

"Nine months ago, "Harry met a contact from the MACUSA, who had heard about his lake. Like everyone who has seen it, he was quite impressed. A few well-placed telephone calls and a fantastic presentation later, Harry and a hundred of his powerful friends, who happen to be elves, went to Kuwait and made the first of five lakes. He designed it to minimize evaporation – a significant consideration if you're making a lake out in the desert.

"Nearly six months passed before Harry receive a call to construct another four. He asked ten people, along with 200 of his elf friends to assist him in an effort that would rival the construction of Hogwarts castle." There was a bit of incredulous muttering among the parents.

"He continued, "Before we get into the details, perhaps a small demonstration would be appropriate. Dean, could you go out and make one section for us?"

"OK, Dr. Granger." He walked outside and Dan turned up the lights and invited everyone to follow along. Outside was a pile of sand that Dobby had placed for the demonstration. Little D handed Dean his staff. Dean held it out and began his well practiced work. Ten minutes later, a 20 x 10 x 6 foot perfectly edged granite block stood in place of the sand.

Everyone applauded.

While they were all outside, Dan decided to take a group picture. With most of the elves standing in front of Emma and the crew members off to the other side, everyone gathered in a group. Dan invited all of the guests to stand by Emma and a handful of photos were taken, Dan had his camera on a tripod and used the timer function. After a second handful of attempts, he was satisfied that a few would be good.

After everyone had examined the granite block for a few minutes, Dan led them all back inside. He began the slide show, beginning with the elves marking off the spot for the hole. The crew immediately recognized it as lake 5 but it didn't matter for his presentation. For the first dozen slides, it looked like an elven show. Then there was a slide of the crew flying down into the hole. Dan pointed out that it was 100 feet down to the now smooth bedrock that would serve as the bottom of the lake.

"The lines that you see will become the sides of the lake. Harry set the four corner stones in perfect alignment. Then the crew got to work."

There were slides of Dean, Cedric, Nym, Hannah and Ernie Macmillan making row after row of the blocks. For the most part, they were hovering on their broomsticks while wielding their staffs." Dan continued, "Then Professor McGonagall, or Harry went to each block and cast a permanent enchantment seal on them."

The photos of Harry or Professor McGonagall holding onto their broomstick with one hand while casting was quite impressive. They all were. Poppy Pomfrey, who was sitting by Flitwick and Sprout whispered, "I had no idea that she was so powerful."

Flitwick asked, "Dr. Granger, how many of those granite sections are there in this lake?"

"There are two thousand and eight hundred sections – identical to the one you saw outside in each of the five lakes."

Dan continued, "Next, an extra thick sheet of roll vinyl was spread across the lake bottom and sides to eliminate seepage. It's held in place by a permanent sticking charm and sealed with a permanent seal.

"To protect the sheet vinyl, a two inch thick layer of cement was put on." There were photos of Fred, George, Katie and Angelina applying cement. Dan added, "After the cement cured, the real fun began."

There were photos of each of the flyers summoning their water clouds from one of the practice sessions.

Katie's mother asked, "Dr. Granger, how large are the clouds of water?"

"On average, I'm told that they're each the size of Hogwarts castle. They're about 300 feet tall." He showed them the map of the paths that they taken to get from the summoning point two miles out to sea and the job site.

Filius asked, "How far was was the trip with the water?"

"As they flew it, 36 – 46 miles, depending on which route that they took."

Amelia asked, "How did they manage to move all of that water without being seen?"

Harry replied, "The Kuwait officials set up a no-fly zone, so they didn't accidentally run into an airplane or jetliner, but mostly because they were disillusioned and went between 2 and 4 am. As Stan Shunpike once told me, People don't look properly, do they?"

Everyone laughed, but it had been a very serious question.

As the presentation went on, the people had their share of random thoughts.

She should have joined them.

This is so much better than her chasing bad guys around.

That couldn't be her; she's just average.

The Twins helped two million people and I looked for some guy selling shrinking keys.

A double layer – he learned something from me.

Why didn't he pick me?

That's my boy.

Lily and James would be ever so proud.

Maybe they shouldn't work at the ministry.

We'll hang that photo outside the Gryffindor Common Room.

Harry made one of those by himself. Ragnok should be informed.

She'll never come back to the force.

Are those Firebolts?

I hope Hermione puts up a silencing charm.

Elves can do that?

I'm so glad that I was asked to participate.

He's the most powerful wizard that I've met, but he's still a teenager. Does he want to run a multi-million galleon corporation?

Emma handed out the photo albums and several enlargements to the grateful crew. She'd also had 20 extra copies made. She offered one to a grateful Amelia Bones. It had been a powerful ending to a job that they'd all always remember.

… - …

Friday September 12

Six week later, as promised, Susan Bones accompanied the crew. In the weeks since she'd moved back to Salem, Harry had made her a staff, coached her so she could competently ride a Firebolt, cast wide area cleaning charms and cast the water transfiguration spell. He brought her a half day earlier than the others. Lakes one and two were empty and lake three was at 50 feet. Their task was to inspect and clean the two empty water storage facilities while they had the opportunity. Harry asked, "Please work on the bottom like this – back and forth with your staff. Hold it higher up and point it like so. More of a sweeping motion, going side to side than pointing straight down."

"How's that?"

"Good." I'll start on those three walls." He mounted his broomstick and did the same work on the three walls, flying back and forth while she slowly flew back and forth six feet above the floor. They weren't very dirty, so the work went by quickly. When she finished the floor, he called her up for a break. He'd been waiting for her to tire, but she showed a lot of tenacity. When they landed, he noticed that Dobby had set up the dining tent. They walked in and he said, "Help yourself. I'd suggest an Orange Crush and a piece of cake. You'll feel better. Be sure and drink plenty of fluids; it's 116 today."

"It felt cooler at the bottom."

"Probably. You were working on the side that was in the shade."

She asked, "What if I see any cracks in the cement? I haven't; I was just asking."

"If you do, please show me, or ask for Dobby. We could try and repair it, or if necessary, replace the cement. It's really only in place to protect the vinyl liner."

She nodded, and he replied, "Let's get back to work."

They'd finished with lake 1 and were working on the second one when Angelina and the rest of the crew arrived. Harry said, "Keep at it, Susan. I need to meet with the flyers."

Fred had a map out and said, "There will be a fair amount of moonlight tonight and there's not a cloud in the sky. We used to take this route. You and Angelina had your run-in here," he said, pointing to a spot on the map. "What if we went a few miles farther west through here and then made our turn and came in from this direction instead? There aren't as many buildings to the north."

Harry replied, "Let's try it. I'll let the guards know that we'll be coming in from a different direction tonight. How much time would that add?"

"Probably five more minutes. Is Susan going to haul water?"

"No, but she'll fly out with us tonight. Tonks, Cedric, Angelina and Katie will set their loads in lake 1. You, George, Hannah and I will fill lake 2. Did you and Dean do any flying?"

"It's a work in progress." There was little substitute to the seemingly endless hours that the former team members had flown for quidditch practice.

"OK. We'll leave at 2:00 am. Everyone be ready to go at 1:45. Be certain to bring your passport in your pocket and the head coverings for the ladies. We should be back at 3:10. Try to collect your water at 250 feet. George, set yours down after Hannah. I'll go last. Ten minute intervals – no stopping."

… - …

Once they were two miles out to sea, Susan watched as Tonks disillusioned herself and prepared to summon her load of water. Harry pointed out, "Notice that there's a wall of water racing towards her." As soon as it started coming, she took off. "The broomstick can fly faster than the summoned water will, so she can put a bit of distance between it and herself. She'll need that space when she sets it down so it doesn't smash into the side of the lake."

Susan nodded and asked, "Why is Cedric flying a bit higher to pick up his water?"

"His summoning spell is a bit stronger but they're each trying to bring back the same amount of water. There he goes. It's a lot easier to see when people are summoning the water in the moonlight. Unfortunately, it's also a lot easier to be seen by someone else. Notice that Katie keeps the top of her staff pointed slightly upwards at a 20 degree angle or so. She wants to keep her cloud airborne."

"How high do they fly on the way back?"

"1,000 feet. We're going to portkey back so we can watch them set the water down. You go first."

"Activate worksite." She was gone.

"Activate worksite." A moment later, he was too. Tonks and Cedric were standing watching as Angelina set her water down. As they walked over to watch, Angelina announced, "Here come's Katie." Again, she did the helicopter flair move at the end and gracefully set her load of water into the lake. The 94 foot mark was covered.

Susan asked Harry, "I thought you were going to fly water too?"

"The last person needs to know how much is needed, or they'll have to fly the unused water back out to sea." George set his load down and the 76 foot marker was covered. Harry needed enough water to fill 30 feet total. A moment later he disappeared. She was still waiting there a half hour later when he returned and watched as he filled lake 1 then put the remainder in lake 2, filling it.

He said, "Let's pick this up again after breakfast." They all went to their respective tents to get a few hours rest.

… - …

After breakfast, Harry showed her a salinity test kit and said, "This is how we measure the salt content of the water." As expected, lake 1 read 3.5%, ordinary sea water. "What you need to envision is clear drinking water. Hold your staff in a sweeping motion, pointing it at the water and transfigure the sea water into fresh water. Since they're so similar, the transfiguration will be permanent. Then hold your staff like this to circulate the water a bit and repeat. So pick a spot on the lake and do this until you get tired. When you do, go get a bottle of Orange Crush and a snack and do it again."

She asked, "Would it be possible to do the transfiguration while the water is being lowered into the lake?" It seems that doing it this way, we'd be transfiguring a lot of the same water over and over."

Harry replied, "We can try it the next time we're doing a fill. Right now, this is what we have."

Fred, who'd been listening said, "Wait a tick. Tonks, disillusion yourself, go up about 800 feet and summon some water out of lake 1. From that distance, I don't think it will rise more than about 25 feet. We could all give it a blast then you could set it down and try it again."

Admittedly, Nym didn't have the strongest summoning charm. Harry told her, "After you raise the water, we'll all cast transfiguration spells at it, then slowly let it go. Then pick up water from another spot. Try it a dozen times, then we'll have Angelina try it."

"OK."

An hour later, they remeasured the water. The salt content had dropped in half! They took a break and repeated their actions. The water measured .1%. They took another break and worked for an hour. The salt content had dropped to 0.05%

At lunch time, Tonks found Harry and asked, "Can you get someone else to summon the water for lake 2? I feel like a limp noodle."

"Me too," added Angelina."

"I'll do it, volunteered Susan.

"Thanks Susan. Fred and George would be better this time. We'll work on summoning water clouds out in the bay by Salem next week."

By dinnertime, both lakes held fresh water. Katie asked, "Are we packing up and leaving?"

Harry replied, "Let's wait until Sunday after lunch. We'll retest the water tomorrow after breakfast."

McGonagall found Harry later that afternoon and said, "Perhaps you should check the water levels in lake 1 and 2. They both have dropped two feet."

Harry asked, "Evaporation?"

She replied, "In this heat and that much exposure to the dry air, I'm almost certain of it. This appears to be an unintended consequence. I'd suggest using the machinery to move some water from 1 into 2 and having George go pick up a small load tonight. We can transfigure it using Susan's suggestion and pour any excess either back into the ocean or into lake 3."

Harry admitted ,"Good idea. We're still learning how to do this."

In a quieter voice she said, "I discovered the issue with the Twins and the water transfiguration. They were doing it properly, except that they forgot to stir the water in between transfigurations. They were transfiguring the same spot of water over and over."

"Good. That's easy to solve."

George walked up and asked, "Did I hear my name mentioned?"

Harry asked, "Can you go out tonight and pick up a small load. We lost a bit using the new cleansing method and we're four feet low on lake 1. Try and get five feet."

"No problem. What time?"

When Harry announced it to the group, he put the best face on the idea. "We want to try Susan's idea in an actual drop. He'll go out at four and bring back a smaller load. We'll all be in a semi-circle when he ever so gently tops off lake 1. After that, we'll have a good breakfast and go to the customs at 6."

Fred asked, "What if the salt level changes?"

Katie said, "Given the little that we're adding, I doubt that the level would change more than a tenth of a percent for the lake."

… - …

At 4:30, George arrived. Everyone transfigured it while it was in the air. George set it down as carefully as he could and Minerva checked the salt level of the now full lake. As expected, it hadn't changed. It still read .05%

At breakfast, Harry asked, "Is everyone planning on being here two weeks from now?"

Everyone replied that they would.

Harry said, "Brilliant. We'll plan on three lakes. Your payments have been deposited in your vaults. Susan, here's your key. Well done, everybody. Dobby and his friends will pick up the tents. Grab anything you need to bring home and we'll leave. I'll go tell the guards."

… - …

An hour later, Susan was back at her home. Since it was very early in the morning, Amelia was there and had woken up with Susie's arrival. Amelia said, "I didn't expect you until after lunch; did something happen?"

She smiled and said, "I suggested that they hold the sea water in the air while transfiguring it into fresh water. It sped up the process by about three hours per lake. We finished a few hours ago and left after breakfast."

"Good for you. Was it hot?"

"Auntie, it was like working in an oven. I think that was part of the reason that they were so happy with my idea; for the most part, it had to be done at night."

Amelia nodded and asked, "What else did you do?"

"When we first arrived, the others weren't there yet. Harry and I inspected the two empty lakes and cleaned the cement a bit. Riding the broomsticks and using my staff, it went pretty quick. We took a break every little while and had a snack, or a bottle of that Orange Crush that he likes.

"The others arrived. They all had their own jobs and they all accepted me. It's the best job ever. We're going back a week from Friday. Look at this. He gave me a vault key. Is it OK if I portkey over to Gringotts?"

Amelia replied. "Certainly. If you don't mind, I'll go too. I have a bit of business of my own. I'll get dressed, if you wouldn't mind making us a cuppa?"

… - …

"13,636 Galleons! I had no idea. No wonder Hannah was so tight lipped. They must be paying a fortune for clean drinking water."

Amelia observed, "They are in the desert. So he also gave you your own Firebolt, Gringotts portkey watch, a two bedroom tent and made you a staff. My goodness." She thought, If he ever goes headhunting in the Auror corp, they'll all defect.

Susan gushed, "The staff is so cool. It feels so different than my wand."

"What's it made of?"

"Oak, unicorn hair and basilisk venom."

"May I try it?"

"Here."

Nothing.

"He told me that only a few of the others could use that combination. He told me that they could transmit a fourth again more power than the unicorn ones. I think that's why we finished cleaning the lakes so quickly."

"Remarkable. When are you leaving for school?"

"After lunch. I miss seeing you every day."

"Me too." They hugged and spent the morning enjoying the wonderful weather together.

… - …

The Welcome Back Conversation wasn't as polite at the Bell residence. Katie's mum, Loni said, "I see you're back early. Did they let you go from your fancy foreign job?"

"No. We finished a few hours early and the lines at customs were short. I have my NEWT exams later this week."

"You have your NEWT exams and didn't think you'd need to be spending the week studying? You'd better get an O in herbology if you expect that we'd take you on in our business."

Katie didn't want to get dragged into another fight. She said, "I'll be over at Hermione's for a while." She grabbed her bottomless bag and left.

… - …

A/Ns

It wasn't a random bout of rudeness.

While Harry didn't specifically state it, Potter Waterworks is getting 100,000G ($1 Million) to refill each lake with fresh water. Potter Waterworks (Harry) keeps 25% of the money and pays for the broomsticks, tents, food and the like. In comparison, Amelia Bones makes 5,000G a month. Arthur makes 550G. The crew members are on their way to becoming wealthy, if they don't choose to go on a serious shopping spree.

I realize that I simplified the definition of freshwater. I did not want to get into parts per million. Those of you who know the exact standard, please just let it go.

Thanks for reading.

… - …