… - …

Chapter Twenty-Three

Ethan

July 2016 (Six months since Dean's arm was replaced)

Two weeks later, Dobby walked into the kitchen and said, "The elves have something for you, Harry Potter. Please come outside. They all walked out and all of the elves were standing outside. Dobby and Winky's littlest wobbled up to him and handed him a poster sized card, saying, "This is for you, Harry Potter."

The young elfling handed Harry a card and in a voice that Emma could have sworn had come from a three year-old Hermione, his sister said, "You're supposed to open it." Ed did an elf face palm to try to keep from laughing at their antics,

Harry opened it. On the outside, the card read Happy Birthday. It had a picture of what looked like a run down building with Santa Fey style construction.

Inside, a paper fell out. Harry glanced at it briefly. It read Property Deed.

The card had been signed by all 2,200 elves – either their name, or a hand drawn smile from those too young to write in English.

Winky said, "Dobby, Ed and I found the vortex in Fresno. It's located under this building. It was an abandoned convent."

Speechless, Harry handed the card and deed to Hermione and spent the next two hours hugging and thanking every one of the elves individually.

While he was doing that, Emma asked Winky, "Were you able to locate the Vortex in Salem?"

Winky replied, "Yes. Harry Potter should ask to rent the basement of the Blegan building at the Wizard school."

Hermione added, "That's a great idea, Winky. Thank you." She gave her elven friend a great hug.

… - …

Harry's request at the school was immediately approved, though he was asked a dozen times if he wouldn't rather have a nice office on the third floor with a window. He was given the use of half of the basement, for one dollar a year. Within ten minutes of signing the agreement, the space had been cleaned out and a conference table and eight chairs had been set up. Officially he used the space to meet with students and present them with a Firestick. He had a short speech prepared that he used.

"You're starting at the bottom floor with respect to learning cast magic, but you've just been handed a chance to learn it. Study hard and practice. Practice as often as you can. Practice to improve your results. With practice, your technique will improve, just the same as with physical exercise. As you continue to practice, your magic will eventually get stronger and spells will come easier to you.

"Finally, my last piece of advice today is to remove the word can't from your vocabulary. Come see me once a year, and I'll top off your Firestick. Good luck."

… - …

Officially the newly acquired Fresno buildings were a meeting room, storage and staging area for the California Waterworks. Within the bricked walls, the elves had stacked enough sections of Harry's 48 inch pipe to add credibility to the cover story.

They also used it to store prop equipment for the Roadmaster Group. There were usually a half-dozen Bobcat loaders, smaller dumptrucks and several small steam rollers along with a few trucks and hauler trailers that Dobby and Ed had received in trades. Had someone gone in and had a look, or peered onto the yard from one of the taller office buildings nearby, nothing would have seemed out of place. The company name was familiar to the neighbors, who enjoyed having greener gardens and lawns. No one paid any attention to the racks of garden rakes that were stored in one of the smaller buildings. While a casual visitor may have guessed that there were a hundred on the racks, in fact there were a thousand.

One of the buildings with a cellar had been warded to the hilt. No one paid attention to it as the old building had been warded with notice-me-not charms. Inside were 5,000 pounds of cobalt rods charging. Once charged, they would be stored upstairs and another batch charged and stored until Harry had an extra set charged for each of the water plants.

After the Fresno facility had been gifted, his awareness spiked that his access to the other three could vanish without notice.

Dobby and Ed were essentially doing the same with the storage box in the large closet in Harry's office at Salem. Thousands of 36 inch lengths 1/8th in cobalt rod had been purchased and were being charged. By the end of the year, Harry estimated that he had several year's supply of charged Firestick core.

Over time, Harry had learned that all vortexes weren't of equal size or strength. The Vortex at Sonoma was easily twice as strong as any of the other three due how close the vortex was to the surface and the number of ley lines involved. While there didn't seem to be a difference in the number of Julens that a given size cobalt rod could absorb, there were significant differences in the number of pounds of cobalt that could be charged at a single time.

… - …

The elves had never mentioned it.

Emma was the first to notice. Years back, at the fifth-year celebration of Potter Waterworks (another BBQ at the girls request) they had taken sets of photos for each group. When the photos had been developed (Dan was still using film cameras at the time) Emma compared the most recent ones with the photos taken after the Kuwait project.

In both cases, the elves centered around Emma like a bee hive. She had thought that the elves were a bit taller. Dobby and Ed definitely were. She hadn't said anything at the time.

…

Now at what was the fifteenth anniversary celebration/reunion, she was careful to have the same photo taken again; this time using Dan's new Nikon DSLR at the five megapixel setting.

The next day, she carefully examined the images. Dobby and the older elves were growing about one inch a year! The younger elves who'd been born here seemed to be growing the fastest.

She brought the subject up to Dan. He observed, "They all seem to be growing except for a few of the oldest elves, who didn't seem to have grown at all. They all seem healthier than when we first met them."

She agreed and asked, "What do you make of it?"

He pointed out, "The obvious, but entirely circumstantial answer would seem to be the constant exposure to the cobalt. Maybe they're getting fed properly now, so to speak. Maybe they were on their version of a starvation diet."

Emma nodded, "That makes sense. Maybe they also thrive living outdoors in a large group, as opposed to living individually in someone's coat closet. Regardless, I'm happy for them."

… - …

At Hermione's request, Harry built himself a pair of unicorn hair Firesticks. He didn't want to add an additional day to their Tuesday/Thursday limb replacement routine but he was willing to try four procedures a day as opposed to doing one in the morning and one in the afternoon, as they had been. They'd been doing limb replacements for six months now.

… - ...

Alastor Moody was the third leg that Harry replaced; the first person who he knew personally.

When he came in for his pre-operative visit, Hermione asked, "How long has it been since you lost your leg?"

"A few years less than you've been alive. I lost it trying to save Frank and Alice Longbottom when the Lestranges attacked them."

Hermione nodded. Upon examination, he'd lost his leg about five inches above the knee. She gave him a strengthening potion and asked that he take it everyday until he returned in two weeks for the procedure. After he left, she conferred with her partner, Laura.

This would be the first leg that Laura would be assisting with. Harry and Hermione had several long discussions regarding sharing the secret with anyone. They'd brought her in with a ten-year non-disclosure agreement and offered to pay her half-again as much as the Salem Institute would have. She was allowed to work there part time as well, if she wished, but she preferred working with the Potters, and was more than happy with the salary.

Laura asked, "Are you going to connect the main artery and vein?"

Hermione replied, "We didn't do anything extra aside from the cut and the attach on the other two. Over time, they became real legs. I think the more likely issue is that it will take Alastor some time to get used to it and he'll probably need some help with walking."

Laura asked, "Do you know him personally?"

"Yes. He worked with Harry in the Middle East for years. He still comes over for dinner sometimes. He'll probably have better feeling in his new foot than his original, with all of those calluses from those nasty boots that he wears.. Maybe Dobby can find him a pair of walking shoes to use instead. He'll just have to find a different place for his backup flask and wands.

Laura asked, "That massive walking stick aside, how does he get around now?"

Hermione smiled and replied, "He apparates anywhere farther than 50 feet."

Ed and Dobby heard their name called and they both popped in, each carrying impossibly tall stacks of shoe boxes in a dozen different sizes. Ed said, "These are for Hermione's patients."

Hermione replied, "Thank you both."

… - …

Two weeks later

No one would call Harry's part in the limb replacement program insignificant, but his specific activity was brief. The healers spent an hour prepping the patient, measuring, numbing and the like before stunning them. Laura made the cut where Hermione had marked.

Ninety was not young, even for a wizard. Moody had been without a left leg for over thirty years. Both Hermione and Laura had doubts that two weeks of strengthening potion would bring the same strength back to his left leg that it once had.

When the cut had been made, Harry began his part. He conjured the foot, the same size as Moody's right. When he was satisfied with that, he added the ankle and lower leg. He made certain that the lower leg was the exact same length as Moody's right, then added the knee, then finally the upper leg.

He levitated the leg next to the right for final comparison at what seemed to Hermione as a painfully slow pace. In reality, Harry had been at his task for just over a minute. Finally he levitated the replacement in place and attached it. Then he gave his wand another twist and the toes, muttered, "Give life, give magic," and ankle began moving. When Harry was satisfied, he left the room.

Hermione quickly awakened Moody, as Laura loosened the tourniquet. She kept eyeing the attachment with concern, as if she somehow thought it might come loose and fall off.

It didn't.

"Alastor, can you hear me?" asked Hermione. "Good. Wiggle your toes please. Again, Good. Now try your ankle. Again. Good. Please bend your knee a bit. Good. Straighten your leg and let's try it with your new leg this time. OK. OK."

After fifteen minutes of that, Laura helped him get dressed and had him put on his new walking shoes.

Moody asked, "What's wrong with my boots?"

Laura replied, "Nothing sir, except you only brought one. We'll go with these walking shoes for the day. OK?"

Moody grumbled, "Fine."

She knelt down to put them on for him; intentionally giving him something of an eyefulto cheer his spirits, then asked, "Feeling better now, sir?"

Moody replied, "Yes. Thank you."

She and Hermione floated him to the oval walking bars track. Hermione said, "Hold onto the rails and let's try a few steps."

The first one was the toughest. Moody was suddenly glad that he'd heeded the persistent healer's advice and taken the strengthening solution every day as she'd directed. Surprisingly, the first step felt like his good leg was going to buckle.

It didn't.

He did it. The other leg – his new leg seemed to work fine. Step, step, step. The first fifty steps around the track felt like forever, but he'd done it.

Hermione handed him a bottle of Orange Crush and said, "Please drink this."

Moody looked at the familiar bottle and grumbled, "Not you, too."

She replied, "Humor me, then walk twice around the track. Then you can go to Rosmerta's daughter's place and complain all day. Harry told me he'd be there today. He'll buy you lunch."

Moody finished the bottle, put it down and with great effort stood up. He said, "Let's get going then. I didn't get breakfast; I'm starving."

Two laps later, Laura offered to help him to the door and walked with him to the pub as he used his old walking stick to steady himself. She helped him up the two steps, opened the door for him and said, "Have a good day, sir."

"You too, Lass. Thank you both."

...

Harry saw him, stood, waved him over and said, "Moody. Good to see you. Let me buy you lunch." Like all of the patients beginning with Dean, no one knew the exact nature of Harry's involvement.

It was a good day for both men.

… - …

While Mad Eye and Harry were having a long lunch, Laura and Hermione were eating their sandwich and cottage cheese in the office. Laura exclaimed, "Holy Hannah, Hermione! That was healing on a whole new level. How did he do that?"

Hermione gave a smirk and replied, "Magic. Really, really focused visualization, conjuring magic and a serious amount of power."

Hermione looked her new partner in the eye and stated, "I guarantee you, you'll be doing just that in a year or two. You have a great eye for detail. You'll just need a different Firestick."

"What kind of power are you talking about?"

"I'd estimate that he expended 50 – 65 thousand Julens this morning."

Laura gasped at the implication. Many witches or wizards wouldn't expend that much magic in 3 months. She'd witnessed him do it in 3 minutes! The only thing she could ask was, "How?"

"He just does." Hermione didn't mention that he'd expended similar numbers for weeks at a time when he'd been constructing the lakes and more recently the equipment for the water plants.

"Laura asked, "What's next?"

We have a hand this afternoon at 3. They're simpler. There's less of a time crush. On the flip side, getting a perfect skin tone match is critical. Men never look at their feet; people glance at their hands a thousand times a day. It was a lot easier running the clinic with Laura here than just the two of them as it had been in the beginning.

… - …

By nightfall, Moody was walking almost normally. He was still taking deliberate steps, but he was holding his walking stick out of habit, not as a crutch. As he was getting ready for bed, he was amazed that the new leg felt warm. He was expecting it to be cold, like a piece of metal.

As he went to sleep, Alastor Moody counted himself a lucky man.

… - ...

Harry and Hermione weren't personal friends with Ethan Stone. Harry had first met the lad when he was eleven; several years before he'd hired Dana. Ethan was a double amputee from a tragic car accident. He'd opted to sit in a wheel chair rather than struggle with a pair of prosthetics and crutches.

Ethan's legs had been amputated about three inches above his knees when he'd been nine. On top of that, he was a low mage. At age eleven, he could spark a 9 Julens test stick.

Upon receiving his NEWTs, Dana had hired him to work at the Sunshine County water treatment plant when several of the existing workers had transferred to a different plant. He was an excellent worker.

Unlike the lakes, where he still actively worked, Harry didn't personally know the plant workers in California. His involvement focused on site selection, development and construction of the mechanical equipment, as well as getting the newly refurbished buildings up and running. After that, he'd handed the plants off to Dana to run the staff and money.

Now eleven years after gifting Ethan a Firestick, Harry and Hermione were in the position to change his life again.

When he came into Hermione's clinic, her medical partner, Laura took all of his basic information. Hermione came in with the test wands and asked Ethan to levitate a five pound brick with the various test sticks. He'd managed to lift the brick with the stick set to activate with 22 Julens of force. Hermione left the room while Laura asked some additional questions.

"If you hadn't had the accident, how tall do you think you'd be?"

"Five feet ten inches."

"How tall would you like to be?"

"Six feet."

"What shoe size would you like?"

"Size eleven with a D width."

The banter continued for ten minutes. Meanwhile, in the clinic office, Harry and Hermione were discussing options.

She pointed out, "He can cast a 22 Julens spell; he could have the usual prosthetic."

Harry pointed out, "Say Moody's leg requires 20 Julens of energy to stay healthy and remain fixed in place; at least until it adapts to him..."

Hermione cut him off. "If it truly is a living replacement as opposed to a prosthetic, over time, it shouldn't require any magical energy to remain fixed. Our sample size is too small to know for certain."

Harry replied, "The safe long-term bet would be to make him the cobalt bone prosthetic, as opposed to the living flesh hands and limbs that we've made for the others. If there's a long-term magical drain, and if it's high enough, we could unintentionally make him a squib, or a very low mage. He'd lose his job at the plant."

"You'd just find him a different set of duties." She wanted to convince him, rather than pull rank.

…

Meanwhile, Laura ran across a complication; Ethan was allergic to the blood replenishing potion. In the event that he started bleeding badly, they'd have to use an IV, with normal blood plasma.

…

Back in the office, Harry summarized, "The surest option would be to give him two cobalt core legs. The upside is that he'd be walking much sooner and absolutely could keep his current job. The downside would be the eventual need to recharge the cobalt."

Hermione countered, "It wouldn't be a true, living leg. A cobalt bone core wouldn't be able to make new red blood cells."

Harry hadn't thought of that and admitted. "I'm the technician, you're the healer. It's your decision."

She replied, "We're going to remeasure his magic, make him one living leg and remeasure him in a week. If he becomes California Waterwork's first Administrator, so be it. Put him on a 30 day sick leave if you have to. I'm all but certain that his score will go up a bit within a week.

"Harry, either you believe in the living limb idea, or you don't. We aren't going to know the extent that your living tissue truly is living until someone who has one passes on and the limb could be dissected.

"Absent the blood replenishing potion, he'll be low about a quart of whole blood. Studies have shown that our magic is in our blood. As his red blood cell count will drop due to dilution, I expect that his Julens score will drop immediately after receiving his new leg. When his body has replaced these red blood cells and when his new leg starts contributing to that process. I expect that his Julens number will rise to at least 25 compared to the 22 where it is right now.

"Ethan's been in that chair more than half of his life; another few weeks isn't the end of the world. My question to you is, are you in a state of mind to do this today, or do you want him to come back next week?" She rarely goaded him, but felt the need in this case.

He replied, "I can do it."

"OK. I'm going to go in, explain what's going to happen, and set up an IV for him. You be ready in a half hour. Get your head in the game and make him the best leg ever. Which one are you doing today?"

"His right."

"I love you."

25 minutes later, Ethan was all prepped with an IV set up. The tourniquet was in place, ready to be tightened and the lengths were marked out. Laura cast, "Stupefy."

Hermione made the cut, then Harry got to work. They had the lines marked on the table. Harry created the foot, checked the size, then the ankle, shin, and the knee were made. He carefully sized the upper leg and skin tone, then attached the leg. Finally he declared, "Give life. Give magic."

Harry flicked his wand again. The toes wiggled. Pleased with his work but exhausted, he left the room.

Laura cast, "Ennervate."

...

Ethan Stone, age 22 was awake. Everything felt different. He could feel the heal of a foot, his foot resting on the bed. Laura said, "Good afternoon, Ethan. How do you feel?"

"Hi. Different. Great."

She smiled at him and replied, "Wiggle your toes please."

Toes. He had toes – five of them. He had a foot!

"Wiggle your toes please."

He did. This was the first time since he'd been nine.

"Bend your knee please."

He could move his ankle and knee! He felt his knee and upper leg; something that he didn't have an hour ago.

Laura handed him a glass and said, "Drink this please."

He wondered what size his foot was. Hopefully Healer Hermione would make him two that were the same size. In reality, his foot was an identical copy of Harry's right foot. A part of him was disappointed that he hadn't been gifted both legs today and he'd be going home in the chair again, but his spirits soared when Laura told him, "Come back a week from today at the same time. We'll see how you're doing. If everything looks good, you'll receive your left leg the week after that." She smiled at him.

Ethan replied, "Thank you, Healer Laura. Thank you, Healer Hermione."

… - …

Two weeks later

Laura examined the case of measurement firesticks. There were 24 sticks, set to activate when a witch or wizard cast a spell with an equal or greater force that what the stick's minimum setting. The first side contained sticks with settings of 1 through 10 Julens of force. The second side of the case had sticks with settings of 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, along with 30, 35, and 40.

Ethan came in and they smiled at each other. She greeted him, "How are you today?"

"He smiled back and replied, "Great, thanks. Hopefully I'll walk out of here today. If I'm really lucky, you'll have dinner with me tonight?"

She smiled at him. "I'd like that too. Let's see how you're doing." There was no scar, or line marks where his old leg ended and the new one began. His mobility and feeling was excellent. She continued her tests.

…

Ten minutes later, Harry and Hermione were in her office. She announced, "His blood cell count looks good; a bit better than what I expected. He could cast a spell lifting the five pound weight with the 26 Julens stick but couldn't spark the 28 Julens stick."

Harry replied, "So his magic is at least as strong as it was two weeks ago, meaning that either the living leg either doesn't require much magic, or his magic grew enough in the last two weeks to more than compensate for it."

She nodded and replied, "Right. I believe that it was a combination of both factors. There's no reason to wait; I'll have Laura get him prepped."

Harry asked, "Is Dana sitting in the waiting room?"

She replied. "Yes. Maybe we can take her to lunch today. I expect that Ethan would rather do physical therapy with Laura. They do seem rather interested in each other. I'll come collect you in ten minutes."

… - …

Once the go/no-go decision had been made, Harry's task was suddenly clarified. It was far easier to make a match for an existing leg than it had been making one from memory two weeks earlier. Ethan was unconscious when Harry walked in the procedure room. He verbalized the steps for Hermione's and Laura's benefit.

"Conjure the living matter. Start with the foot. Verify that they are the correct one and a size match. Extend above the ankle. Make the lower leg the same length to the bottom of the knee cap. Add the knee and upper leg. Shorten or lengthen the upper leg so you have a size match and are the correct length. Verify that the skin tone is a match. Attach. Give life. Give magic."

The conjuration was beyond tiring. Harry was grateful to leave the procedure room to return to the office, where he had a large piece of pie and two bottles of Orange Crush.

Hermione examined the attachment. It was perfect. Flawless.

…

Harry apparated to the Three Broomsticks, then walked back to Hermione's clinic which was next to his Potter Waterworks building. He walked in the door, saw Dana sitting in the waiting room and greeted her. "It's good to see you. How are you?"

The normally cool, calm, and collected professional admitted, "I've never been so nervous in my life. I..."

"Don't worry. They should be done by now. One of them will be out soon. I'll wait here with you."

Just then, Hermione walked out and said, "Ethan is fine. We're going to start some physical therapy. You two should go for a long lunch, then come back at 3." Dana wiped her eyes and Harry, exercising a week's worth of male empathy, gave her a hug.

They walked to the Windows restaurant, where Harry suggested Italian. Dana didn't object and they were soon seated. The view was fantastic – overlooking St. Mark's Square in Venice, but Dana barely noticed. She asked, "What does the physical therapy entail?"

He replied. "When my friend Alastor Moody received a replacement leg, Hermione and Laura had him walking around a track with support railings after a while. He could use the rails to support his own weight. After some practice, he only used them for balance. He was used to using a walking stick and as far as I know, he still has it." He didn't want to oversell the results, as everyone was different.

As usual, she asked very specific questions. "How many weeks did that take?"

Harry gave a thoughtful look and replied, "If I recall, he was their morning appointment and met me for a late lunch that same day. That doesn't mean that Ethan will..."

"You're kidding. One day? Was that usual?"

He intentionally deflected the question. "I'm not sure. Hermione doesn't ask much about waterplants and I leave the fingers and toes to her and Laura. I'm sure he'll be fine in time. He might want to make use of a walking stick." He reached into his mokeskin bottomless bag and said, "Here. This one is just a stick, not a wizard's staff, or anything."

After a few minutes of silence and eating, he added, "The only other thing that I can think of is that he's sweet on Hermione's assistant, Healer Laura Simmons. She went to school at Salem in the Low Mage program."

Stunned by his words, Dana asked, "How?"

"She uses the healer version of a Firestick. Hermione's known her since she was eleven. She's as smart as they come."

They sat in comfortable silence for a while, watching the people walk in the square. Dana hated the ceiling fan in the restaurant. It blew just hard enough to be annoying. Finally she asked, "If you all live in the States, why do they practice in Scotland?"

Harry replied, "My Potter Waterworks office is here. I also give out the firesticks here every other Saturday morning. Mostly because Hermione didn't want to work under the long shadow of the Salem Institute Healer Center. She'd put in nearly a decade of working late nights and weekends and it would have been another decade before she'd get assigned to afternoons and evenings."

He added, "She left there and worked this out. Now they're trying to call her to come back. Working in Scotland is far less stressful, so we're here three days a week."

He could see that her attention was miles away. Her thoughts drifted off to another place and time. After a few minutes, she said "Ethan's father was responsible for Ethan losing his legs. He was always driving too fast. Apparently he pictured himself as some sort of Formula One driver. One day they crashed. He was killed. Ethan nearly died. I was working legal at MACUSA in New York City... Ethan needed so much help... The Salem School was a Godsend. You gave him hope and purpose..." She drifted off again, lost in thought for ten minutes.

Lunch continued that way for another hour. Harry let Dana do most of the talking. Doing so seemed therapeutic for her. She let go of 14 years of guilt over something that wasn't her fault. Dan would have called it survivor's guilt, except she hadn't even been in the car. He paid for the lunch; wondering how Ethan and the two Healers would make an appearance. He suggested going back to the waiting room.

… - …

They sat together waiting. Ten minutes later, a young couple walked in wearing jeans, t-shirts, leather flight jackets and aviator sunglasses. They exuded sex appeal as they clung together. After a moment, the tall, thin man gave the girl with the loose ponytail a peck on the cheek, took off his sunglasses and said, "Hi, Mom."

Dana looked up, recognized her son and said, "Oh my Lord, oh my Lord. They did it. They did it, you're..."

"Never going to sit in that chair again. Mom, this is Healer Laura Simmons. She and Healer Hermione changed my life this morning."

"Thank you. Oh my Lord, you did it. Thank you."

Harry watched the other three and smiled as Hermione walked in, wearing the same outfit as the others, carrying a matching jacket for Harry.

She nodded at Harry, who mentioned, "After consulting with my two favorite Healers, I should mention, Ethan, you have four weeks of vacation to take, starting today. Hermione reminded me that Paris is nice this time of year. Laura has two weeks, so off you go."

Ethan placed his hand over his heart in thanks and gave a nod to the two Potters. Words simply didn't exist to express his thanks.

… - …

Hermione suggested that they go to Becky's Bagles in Chesterfield the next morning.

A/Ns

Giving people in need arms or legs certainly doesn't change the world, but for that person, their world would truly be changed. Besides, Hermione needs a bit more screen time.

Just thinking about Moody in a pair of out-of-the-box, white New Balance walking shoes puts a smile on my face.

Thank you for reading.

Fairywm has a delightful tale, The Near-Sighted Basilisk that I expect that you'd enjoy.

… - …