Chapter Four
…..
Three months before the Harvest Festival of Riverrun.
The Godseye, the Isle of faces. Ancient legends and folktales throughout Westeros tell a lot about this place. It is said that here the last of the Green Men dwells, First men whose families made pacts with the enigmatic Children of the Forest in a time when the worship of the Old gods are still prevalent among the neck. It is said that here lies the last of the Weirwood Trees in the South. The Children of the Forest might be gone, but the Greenmen, the descendants of the First Men who made the first pact still maintain the groves.
It is said that those who dare cross the waters and fogs of the Godseye with ill intent on the last remnant of the Old gods disappear. Followers of the Seven for a thousand years had attempted many times to enter this sacred place with the purpose of cutting off the following of the worship of the Old gods down south. None of them ever returned.
As for those however who came with holy purpose. It is said that when they returned from their pilgrimage from the Isle, they are forever changed. They know things that were, things that are and things that will be. Touched by the old gods would be the most common reasoning that would be prevalent on everyone else.
Thus however as the Andal relgion of Faith of the Seven spread, lesser and lesser are the visitors of the Godseye until it is a place to be avoided by most. Only the occasional Northener or Mountain Tribesman tend to visit its foggy shores throughout the decades.
A six year old girl stands on the shore of the Godseye. For anyone looking she might have looked like ten or twelve in appearance, a youth on her way to be a young lady. Behind her at ten guards bearing the familiar livery of House Whent (at the moment until Delianah comes of age), making sure that they are as far as possible from the shores of the foggy lake. Most of them have heard about the legends about what happened to many people that dare tread on these shores. As far as they are concerned this is the farthest that they dare to step foot on, Lord's orders or not.
While her guards are ready to shit themselves in trepidation and nervousness; Delianah is the exact opposite. She almost laughs as she can once more feel magic touching her skin. Back from her world, magic is everywhere on the planet due to the hidden society living among muggles. Here however, there is nothing left of magic residue, only echoes. Here however in the Gods Eye, the magic is still strong. The Children of the Forest might be gone but the touch they left on the Earth coupled with the caretaking of the Green Men are still remembered by the land. Wherever latent magic thrives, it always affects plants and animals; thus the ingredients that might be used for the art of potion making.
Snape sucked as an instructor and as a teacher for potions sabotaging hundreds of graduates that fail his class due to his strictly high standards and abysmal teaching method. Delianah as Harry before had also been desentesized by liking the art thanks to him. However he quickly got the attractiveness of Potion Making once again thanks to Fleur Delacour after she realized his abysmal skills to it. Suffice it to say that it is extremely different when you have a sexy Veela instead of slimy bat as your professor. Plus the rewards at every end of the night is…incentive enough.
"With potions you can bottle fame, brew glory and even put a stopper to death, if you have the patience and the skills for it," Delianah murmurs to herself as her eyes take notice of the plants found at the shoreline of the Godseye. She is extremely pleased as she notices familiar plants that would be used as raw ingredients for the potions she plans to make. She has to admit, she had been worried that the magical plants in this world would be different and thus she would need to experiment and start from scratch. This way though, she can save time and focus on her other projects.
Thirty minutes, that is all that it takes for her to finish harvesting the needed magical plant ingredients with a well-placed and modified cutting charm (you seriously didn't expect her to start pulling plants like dirty muggle did you?) and placing them on the bottomless bag enchanted to preserve the magical plants at her hip. She had prepared it beforehand. No point bringing around a baggage train when you can have one simple one. Lessens the chances of being attacked by robbers or bandit and wasting valuable time. Plus it would raise a lot of questions once people start asking asking "why in the world is she collecting plants in the Godseye?" Speaking of which though…
"I believe it is better if you boys don't remember what you've seen right?" she smiled at the ten man escort from Harrenhal who are huddled among each other terrified after seeing her use magic out in the open. Add the fact that they are at the godseye and their brains are making up their own conspiracy theories inside their heads.
"Nothing personal boys, but a chess mistress does not like her fingers to be seen moving at the board, Obliviate!" with a wave of her hand, ten pairs of eyes roll at their eye sockets as the memory charm takes effect before they thudded on the ground together. When they wake up later, they would be kicking each other for sleeping on the job and leaving the future Lady of Harrenhal defenseless.
Delianah would rather keep the use of her magic in secret. It's not because of the fear mind you, no. Far from it. What's the point of showing off your hand after all if there's no good reason for it? Better hide it and watch the simpletons wrack their brains as they try to piece a puzzle that has all the wrong shapes on each other.
"So, it's true," the sudden words catches Delianah off guard and she nearly Avada Kedavra'd the source of the sound if not for her tripping at her new invention "high heels" (blast this accursed new form!) that she is trying to get used to before the Harvest Festival.
As it is, she ashamedly fell on her butt as she glares at the person, or rather people standing behind her. One look at them and she immediately knew that they are the Green Men, the guardians of the Godseye. She hums to herself though as she eyes them. She expected people wearing swamp rags with seaweed on their hair. What she doesn't expect are people who looks a lot cleaner (even washed hair and combed correctly), and even dressed on what seems to be clean linen robes in green with wooden sandals on their feet. All in all they are far better looking than any small folk or landed knight in this medieval world she has been thrown at.
"You're the green men I suppose," Delianah says standing up and dusting off the wisps of grass that clings to her pants (she refuses to wear a dress unless for reasons specific to her). Mentally though she kicks herself. Kingsley would throw his ass at the training regimen for not paying attention to his surroundings.
Normally being confronted by ten strangers in the middle of nowhere on a place infamous for kidnapping would raise red flags for any single woman. Delianah however is no normal person. She is Harry Potter the Great. The moment these ten show any signs of hostility, they would be killed in twelve different ways according to her whim. She will listen to them for now though. It is not everyday you meet people with magic on their blood no matter how diluted.
"We are," the eldest among the small group of ten answers. He looks about a man in the late sixties but showing none the signs of any sickness yet if his ramrod back is any indication. "My apologies for startling you my lady but we felt your power all over the Godseye isle. We have come to see what and who it is that contains so much magic at our borders,"
"You know me?" Delianah simply glares at them.
The Elder chuckles at that. "Your castle can be seen even at the Godseye due to how big it is my lady. We make it a point to know what's going on with the lands closest to us,"
"You mean spying?"
"More like observing my lady," the Elder replies. "Caution is always necessary and only a fool would trust himself safe even if he does not know the happenings of the world around him,"
"Wise words,"
"Thank you my lady," the Elder says with a bow. "I forgot my manners, I am Viktor, the Elder at our village and our representative,"(I used Billy Nighy, Viktor, Lord of Vampires as character representation for the Elder of the Green Men)
"Not a Lord?" Delianah asks truly surprised. She had lived long enough inWesteros to know that every patch of land in this world belong to a Lord of some sort.
"No my lady," Viktor replies with a smirk. "Simply an old man entrusted with a huge responsibility,"
"I see," Delianah raises her chin up befitting her station as she cross her arms. "I doubt however Lord Viktor that you ambush people without reason no matter their importance here at the edge of the Lake of the Godseye. What do you want from me?"
"Astute observation my lady," Viktor grins at her. Delianah personally thinks it looks more akin to a wolf showing its fangs rather than a smile of a man. It is a smile both proud and deadly.
"You're right, I simply do not stop strangers, in fact we do not stop strangers at all unless of course those who comes with a nefarious reason. No my lady. We came here all five of us to check if you are the one that we have been waiting so long as our first ancestor who lived on this Isle had prophesied,"
"Pardon me, your ancestor?"
"Yes," Viktor affirms. "He who established the first Nights Watch and its first Lord Commander. The one who's surname became the surname became the signature of all Black Brothers. The one who made sure that the friendship between the First Men and the Children of the Forest remain strong. The one who was always serious but always laughed. Eyes as dark as the grey clouds of night whose magic was strong like yours. He, who told that one day, someone like him will appear wielding magic as powerful as he did and one that will appear in a time of upheaval and chaos when darkness will once more swallow the world. His command that maintained from generation to generation that we, the last of those who knew magic aid you in their endeavor once you appear. He who was respected above all and brother to Brandon Stark, First of his name, Sirius Black,"
…..
Freddy is a simple carpenter working at Hold's Hamlet, a small homestead of fifteen families that form a small community a little bit away from Harrenhal. His entire life he had lived under the shadow of the enormous ruin of a castle. He is a carpenter like his father and his father before him. Now however with the sudden change of leadership when the new heir of Harrenhal, Lady Delianah Tully arrived, things start to change.
She begins what she call "education" which require every person with a trade to attend the moment she arrived from the Godseye (Creepy place that is, unnatural). For Freddy it is both weird and astonishing. He never fully learned or studied like most of the High Lords. Most of the skills he has he learned by observing his father work. Now here comes these Green Men, tall people, a head above everyone else who have an addiction to wearing Green Robes only acting as teachers.
Freddy of course was wary at first. There are terrifying stories and legends after all about the Godseye and the Green Men that call it home. It doesn't help that the Green Man assigned to their "education" started teaching on what he call "Math" and "Science" and "measurement" plus some other basic stuff about the world around him that he never expected in his life to know.
Two weeks later and here Freddy is supervising a group of men making beams from raw wood barking strict orders. Before he is simply a dumb carpenter with a talent for making and designing small stuff required of him by the Hamlet or sometimes at the castle. With the things he learned though, Freddy nurtured his innate talent to skill making him rise from the simple carpenter he was to the avid designer he is. Unlike some, he had keen eyes, a great imagination and meticulous when it comes to measurement that made him immediately rise through the ranks of being a supervisor.
Surprisingly along the way he realized also has a good head when it comes to supervising thus here is, the impromptu manager of the sixty or so workers carrying stuff and crafting them. Hold's Hamlet is already expanding rapidly. Once there are thirty people here that call it home, now it is more like a thousand. Forest dwellers, small hamlets and other families from nearby lands gathered here as the rumor started that the Lady Delianah Tully discovered a new mine at a hill not far from Hold's Hamlet. With the promise of fair work and good wage, plus safety in the form of numbers, it attracts many small folk obviously. It helps that with the influx of people, more guards are recruited by the Lady's orders to keep the peace.
Now Hold's Hamlet is changed, there is a sewing shop manned by the group of ladies that did also education now sewing off clean leather clothes of brown and green, there is the brewers, the farmer's hall where the farmers gather to rest and trade stories, there is the guardhouse, the village master's office, the education halls, the bathouses (which is thankfully free in price) connected to an aqueduct personally built by the Green Men, the Miners' recruiting stand, the market stands, the storehouses, and finally, the carpenter's guild house built alongside the builder's guild. All of these (Plus the houses) need new houses and furniture.
Thus Freddy the Carpenter, the once not important person of the Hamlet is now in extremely high demand. Plus the pay is good. Already he is the one hiring carpenters and builders to cope with the influx of work. He is just happy tonight though for receiving the news that after the demand of houses and furniture, there would be another project, a direct message from the Lady demanding each Hamlet to build a palisade wall with a moat on each of them for protection against raiders and bandits.
Sitting now on his own personal office at the Guild drinking beer, Freddy raises his cup at the air.
"For Lady Delianah Tully! Long may she reign!"
Around the lands of Harrenhal, Five different budding town leaders and residents are also raising their glasses in her name.
….
Delianah sits at her own private solar sipping with content the black coffee that is now available in her larder. To say that her trip to the theGodseye is fruitful would be the understatement of the century. She went there expecting at best her finding all the plant ingredients that she might require for the potions that she might need in order to completely strengthen her hold on her territory. Instead however she gained an entire village of magic users who are fanatically loyal to her.
"Wherever you are you magnificent bastard. I want you to know that you are the best godfather ever!" Delianah thinks to herself as she watches below the workers repairing the foundations of Harrenhal quickly doing their work. She has no idea how Sirius knew that she would come in this world, but he knew.
"Must be old blood. Somewhere along the line of old traditional magical families, the gift of Seers can be sometimes present," whatever the reason though, she is grateful.
The Green Men suffice it to say is a massive step up of help for her. She will never admit it but she is never the greatest when it comes to domestic magic and stuff even in her previous life. Harry after all before was a fighter, trained and literally born to vanquish dark wizards. In his late life, majority of his skills lie more on that field. There was no reason after all to learn the intricacies of how to make clothes from scratch, fertilizer to keep crops growing and other things more like that. The modern age had plenty of people doing it, many even specializing in it. So there was never a reason to put enough effort about learning it. Worse, in the magical world, there was magic to rely to which tends to apply shortcuts about the things that muggles need to make life comfortable.
The only reason that Delianah now had even an inkling about many of the mundane stuff that she is applying right now in this world is because of her rather unappealing childhood at Durzkaban. She never knew that she would benefit from being treated like a house-elf for years by her relatives.
"Here's to you, you prejudiced people. May you look at me now from whatever hell you are in and be horrified!" she mentally cackles to herself. The Dursleys after all had been found by Old Voldy's followers and had been strung up like the fat hogs they were.
Now the Green Men takes over much of the mundane stuff. They might not have something as strong as her magic but they were taught by their parents whom were taught by Sirius. Now they are spreading their knowledge about the mundane stuff like building better homes made of concrete, stone and wood instead of straw and mud, cemented streets, pottery, art, agriculture propagation, boat making (which they are excelling at), dress making of a higher quality (instead of the rags that the small folk wore), brewing of Butterbeer and Firewhisky, Vodka and a thousand different other wines(Sirius had left an heirloom of an encyclopedia about it, baking of modern style bread and best of all, plumbing( No more throwing of your own shit finally). Now she expects that by the time the improvements are finished, the lands of Harrenhal would not look like the damned Dark Ages anymore in lifestyle but be more akin to Pre-Renaissance.
What she needs though is more people. Already the spreading of rumors about the soon-to-be-opened-mines are bringing people by the hundreds all over looking for work. She needs more though and she plans to wait a bit before the last part of her short term plan before the Harvest Festival at Riverrun comes. She had assigned Elder Viktor, the chief of the Green Men her personal laboratory she had created before at the Welcome Hall of the Ruined castle to start the production of Nutrition potions laced with loyalty potions keyed to her. No traitors on her ranks, she's adamant about it. In the long run later, no subject of Lady Delianah would utter a word about her no matter how much skin Lord Bolton peel off. The Green Men are the only ones free of this mandatory behind the dark scheme. They already see her as a Messianic figure. It gets no better than that.
She looks at the map of the Riverlands at her wall. Especially however to the three Houses to the North and East of Harrenhal; Houses Roote, Darry, and Wode. She wants their lands and Delianah just has the plan on how to get it without anyone suspecting her.
…
Author's Note: Finally made a decision about the castle of Harrenhal. I read the reviews and I admit that it finally clicked to me how to make something unique both in this HP and GOT crossover fanfic page and at the same time unique also to the other Lords of Westeros.
Also readers; I've got a copy of that old fanfic HPXGOT "Golden Scales on Heaven's Wings" I rather enjoyed that story of a dragon harry. Would you like me to repost it since I can't find it anymore at the current HPX GOT page?