Home Sweet Home

Winterfell -289 AC

Harry smiled as he rode his horse through Wintertown. When the smallfolk first started to notice him, there were cheers and shouts from those few. By the time he was midway through the small town, most of the residents crowded around him shouting their greetings and praises. Harry was popular among the people of Wintertown before he went South and destroyed an Ironborn army.

"Welcome back Lord Stark!"

"You showed those squids not to mess with the North!"

"It's good to have you back my Lord!"

Now they really seemed to love him. Harry just smiled and waved at them, happy to have to the love of his people. When he rode past a group of children he gave one of his guards a bag of copper coins to give them. The children were quick to scramble their way to the guard and wait to be given a few coins each.

He rode up to the main gate of Winterfell and through it without slowing at all. Sparing the guards at the gate, a nod and receiving enthusiastic greetings in return. He rode into the courtyard and saw his family waiting to greet him.

He got off his horse and handed the reins to a stable boy. While he was doing that, his guards were dismounting their own horses and were going to Ser Rodrick to report in after so long away.

Lady Catelyn was waiting at the front, standing with a regal and composed face as always. She kept her face blank upon spotting Hadrian. This didn't surprise him. They had never been very close and their relationship only got further strained due to him sending the Septa away and allowing Jon all the same privileges as Robb.

What did surprise him though, was that she was pregnant. He could tell that she was pretty far into her pregnancy. Probably around seven or so moons. Hadrian hoped his uncle would be back in time for the birth. Harry made a promise to himself, to at least try and mend their relationship slightly. For all her faults, she was the mother of his cousins.

Next to her, holding her hand stood Robb. His cousin had grown since he last saw him, but as Harry spotted him shaking with barely suppressed excitement he realised he hasn't changed at all in his time away.

Holding Catelyn's other hand was Sansa. The little girl stood there shyly holding her mother's hand, looking at all the people in the courtyard with childlike curiosity. Harry wasn't sure if Sansa would remember him properly. She was still a young girl and Harry left when she was even younger.

He couldn't see Jon, but Harry didn't really expect to. Catelyn had never been able to let go of her dislike of him and Harry knew she would take whatever opportunities she could to take to teach him what she believes his place is. Harry never liked that fact but he had given up on trying to change her behaviour a long time ago and those times caused fights with his uncle. He managed to limit her actions towards Jon as nothing more than complaints and petty glares. Now that she has had the run of Winterfell for a while though, he would see what she did with her power and the freedom to use it.

As he approached the group Catelyn curtsied. "Lord Hadrian, welcome back to Winterfell."

Robb broke from his mother's grasp and rushed to hug him with a cry. "Harry!"

Harry braced himself and caught his cousin, laughing and giving the boy a tight hug back. "Ha Ha Ha. It's good to see you too Robb."

Then the boy started rambling. "Harry you're back! You were gone for so long! What did you see? Where did you go? Did you bring me anything? Where's uncle Benjen?"

"Robb." Lady Stark spoke sternly but not unkindly. "Hadrian just arrived home. Give him a chance to settle and rest before speaking of his journey."

Robb pouted. "Yes mother. "

Harry just laughed and ruffled his hair before moving on to Sansa. He crouched to come closer to her level and gave her a smile. "Hello Sansa. You've gotten big since I last saw you."

She looked at her mother, receiving a nod, before she looked back at Harry and smiled softly. "Hewwo."

He gave her head a few small pats before he stood up and spoke to the courtyard. "Thank you all for the heartfelt greetings. It is appreciated." He said with a smile. "Alas, the journey has been long and I have missed my bed. I will be retiring early tonight to rest."

Then he turned and addressed his family. "Come lets go speak in my solar."

Then he addressed Maester Luwin who was standing a little way behind Catelyn. "Maester Luwin, I will summon you to my solar later to inform me of all that has been happening in the South. "

"Of course, my lord." Luwin bowed.

Harry told a servant to bring some food and drinks to his solar and to inform Jon to meet him there before he started walking followed closely by his family.

Harry sat behind his desk in the main solar of Winterfell, listening with a faint smile as his cousin Robb rambled on about what he and Jon did in the time that he has been away. "- and then Jon and I ran away before he could see us. " He said with a big smile before pouting. "Mother found out though. She punished us. "

Lady Catelyn gave her son a look. "You know it's wrong to put horse dung in peoples shoes Robb. "

Harry smiled as Robb looked at his lap and muttered to himself. "But he was mean."

Sansa didn't really understand the conversation, but she laughed brightly at the look on Robbs face from her place on Catelyn's lap.

Jon himself was sitting on Robbs other side, so that Robb was between him and Lady Catelyn. He was being quiet which wasn't a surprise with the presence of Catelyn, but anyone could see the small smile he had on his face as he listened to the rest of them speak.

They had been sitting together for well over an hour already. At first, the solar was filled with endless questions from the boys about the war. About the battles he fought and how he won them. Harry told the boys some details of his encounters with the Ironborn. Giving them only the general facts about where he fought them and how and why he beat them as easily as he did. He tried to turn his story into more of a lesson for the boys. Trying to teach them the strategies he used while leaving out the more….brutal details. He doubted the boys would really learn anything he was trying to teach them though, they were too young. That didn't mean Harry wouldn't take whatever opportunities he could, to impart what he believed were important lessons on to them.

The next portion of their talk was about all the places he had been to. Harry spent a good amount of time describing Moat Cailin, Greywater Watch, Sea Dragon Point and Bear Island to the boys. He spoke about what he did at those places, leaving any details that might involve magic out of his telling. He would wait until they were older to let them in on that secret.

Then Harry told them about Benjen. He informed them of his betrothal to Dacey Mormont, how his castle was coming along and about where he was now. When the two boys learned that Benjen would be sailing a great distance and seeing much of the world they were in awe. Lady Catelyn had a sour look on her face when they spoke of Sea Dragon Point and Benjens castle though. He guessed she was upset about Benjen getting Sea Dragon Point, when in her mind it should go to Ned. Or to one of her children. She never said anything though, so Harry was content to let it be for now. Hopefully when his uncle Ned got back, he would explain things to her in a way that helps her let go of her bitterness about the situation.

The rest of their time was taken up by Robb. He seemed determined to inform Harry about everything and what everyone in Winterfell had been doing in his absence. He was still a young boy though. He told story after story about the last few moons. Going on countless tangents, mispronouncing words and losing his place more than once. Harry just sat and listened with a smile on his face, happy to be home.

Harry smiled at the prank Robb pulled on one of the guards. While Lady Catelyn seemed determined to wipe all mischievousness out of her son, Harry couldn't help but encourage a little. After all, he was the son of a Marauder in his last life. "As long as you had a good reason." He said with a smile.

Robb perked up from where he was sulking into his lap. His mood instantly turning around. "Yeah, he called Jon a bastard and was mean to him."

Catelyns mouth was a thin line. "He is a bastard Robb. You cannot do such things. It is inappropriate for a son of a noble House. People talk Robb. You will look immature to the rest of the North. "

Robb looked down. "Okay."

Harry could see that Jon was even more upset. He just stared at his lap sullenly.

Harry wanted to scream at the woman. He was still a child, he was supposed to be immature. He wanted to tell the woman to let Robb have his fun before he grows up and is forced to take responsibility and lead. Jon was a child, she didn't have to constantly put him down.

Instead he took a deep breath. Robb was her son and as much as Harry may love him, he has little right to tell Catelyn how to raise him. Especially as she is by all means, a good mother. She may have many flaws, but she loves her children above all else and that was something Harry respected about her. That didn't mean he would do nothing in regards to Jon though.

After calming down he decided to ask Robb a question. "Which guard was this Robb?"

Robb shrugged. "He was by the gate." Then he looked at me. "Will you punish him?"

Catelyn interjected. "That might not be wise my lord. He didn't really do anything wrong and got humiliated. The other guards might not like it."

Harry stared at the woman. If she was going to try and manipulate him, she needed better arguments than that. The guards are loyal to House Stark, he doubts most would give a damn about a new guard getting punished. It might cause some resentment from the guard in question but Harry really didn't care about that. If the man was going around disrespecting his family then he didn't want him as a guard in the first place.

Harry took a moment to think about how to put his thoughts into words without causing an argument. "It doesn't matter if Jon is a bastard. He has Stark blood in his veins and that is what matters in the North." He said giving her a level look. It wasn't entirely true as there were plenty in the North who would disrespect Jon because of his bastard status. That would change though. "I will not have anyone disrespect our blood, especially here at the heart of our power."

She didn't look happy but knew she couldn't argue against him, so she nodded with pursed lips. Harry resisted the urge to sigh.

Jon looked a bit happier at least.

Sansa started making a fuss saying she wanted the bathroom. Honestly Harry was surprised that she stayed still for this long. Weren't babies supposed to be difficult at her age?

Catelyn stood. "If you would excuse us my lord?"

He waved her off.

She turned to Robb. "Come Robb. It is time for your bath."

Robb immediately started whining but Catelyn was adamant. Before long a sulking Robb was pulled away by his mother with Jon and Hadrian laughing silently at him. Once they had left he turned to Jon. "How was she?"

Jon stopped laughing immediately. His mouth slamming shut and his back straightening up. "Who?."

Harry just gave him a flat look. "Come Jon. I can read you like a book, there's no point in lying to me."

Jon just deflated and stayed quiet for a few moments. "She left me alone most times. "

He didn't elaborate on those times that Catelyn didn't leave him alone. Harry frowned he would have to do some investigating. For now he just nodded at Jon. "Very well. I won't push you. "

Jon stood. "May I also leave?"

Harry decided to give him space and gave his assent. "Please tell Maester Luwin to come see me."

A he was walking towards the door Harry called out to him. "Jon." He turned back to look at Harry. "You may not have the name, but you are a Stark. More of one than Catelyn will ever be."

Jon brightened up considerably when he left.

Harry took the time alone to just relax and stare into the fire. A few minutes later the guard on the door knocked and announced Maester Luwins presence.

"Enter." Harry called.

Maester Luwin walked into the office. Holding a few scrolls and books. "It is good to have you back my lord."

Harry smiled at him. "It is good to be back Maester." Harry might not trust the Order of Maesters or the Citadel in general, but he does trust Luwin. He proved his trustworthiness when he didn't release the new farming practices to the Citadel until Harry gave him permission. Harry also spied on him for a while using the ravens and Luwin had proven to be loyal.

He gestured to one of the empty chairs in front of his desk. "Please take a seat."

He quickly did so while laying all he was carrying on the table. Harry took a sip of water before he began the conversation. "So, fill me in Maester. What have I missed?"

Luwin cleared his throat. "I am sure you are aware by now that the war is over my lord. You probably don't know the finer details. The war went almost exactly as you predicted it to. The Ironborn attacked the Arbour first instead of Lannisport though. While the Ironborn lost some ships I can only assume the Reach Lords never took your warning seriously. The Arbour lost almost all their ships and suffered some heavy raids. The Ironborn never managed to penetrate their castle though so the Redwyns are alive and well. After that there was some more raiding on the mainland of the Reach and the Shield Islands before the Ironborn gathered to attack Lannisport. The result was the decimation of most of the Ironborn fleet and much of the Lannister fleet due to a trap by Tywin. Once the Kig gathered the army at Lannisport they sailed for the Iron Islands and quickly overwhelmed Balon Greyjoys forces. Balon lost his head shortly after."

Harry smiled. "Excellent. It is good to know that the Ironborn weren't able to cause too much chaos." It was also nice to know that the Reach and Westerlands lost much of their fleet. It gives the North a chance to catch up or perhaps even pull ahead in that area.

Luwin nodded and carried on reading. "Tywin Lannister threw a tourney in Lannisport to celebrate the victory. Your uncle and the other Lords are there now."

Harry just nodded. He didn't really care about Lannisters tournament. There were other things he was interested in knowing about. "What of the Greyjoy children?"

Luwin smiled at this. "Ah, your uncle succeeded there My Lord. Asha Greyjoy will be fostered at Winterfell, while Theon will be fostered at Casterly Rock. Kevan Lannister has also been chosen to act as the new Warden of the Isles until Theon Greyjoy comes of age."

Harry laughed at this. It seemed like everything in the south worked out just the way he wanted it to. The Lannisters would have no choice now but to use some of their resources to keep the Iron Islands in line. If he was lucky, they would attempt to deal with the religion of The Drowned God.

Harry knew such an attempt to get rid of that religion would be incredibly difficult. There are many smallfolk on the Iron Islands who are likely to revolt for their religion. He also knows that Tywin Lannister would stamp out any revolts. This will cost the Lannisters resources and hopefully keep them slightly distracted. He doesn't believe the Lannisters will succeed in stamping out the religion. At least not in only a decade. But if they do it can only be a good thing, and if they don't at least a lot of the progress would have been laid to destroy the religion. Progress that Harry could take advantage of if he ever decides to conquer the islands.

After laughing a few moments Harry started to calm down. That's when he noticed the uncomfortable look on the Maesters face. "What's wrong?"

Luwin hesitated slightly before speaking. "Two days ago a raven came from your uncle. The King has betrothed you to his daughter."

Harry gaped at the man. "He never asked my permission though?"

Luwin just looked sadly at him. "He is the King. He doesn't need to."

Hadrians shoulders slumped. "I didn't even know the King had a daughter. Doesn't he only have a son?"

The Maester grimaced slightly. "His daughter, Princess Myrcella Baratheon, was born only a few moons ago my lord."

He just stared at the Maester. "So not only am I being forced into marriage. I am being forced to marry a baby?"

Luwin tried to reassure him. "The marriage will only take place when she is of age My Lord and it is a good match. The best match possible. "

Harry just shook his head. It was his own fault, really. Someone in the South picked up on some of his moves and decided he could be dangerous if left alone. Marriage was a good way to bind Harry to The Crown to make sure he doesn't ever rebel. Harry thinks Tywin Lannister was probably responsible for this move.

Tywin probably noticed Hadrians moves with the Iron Islands. Harry would need to be more careful in the future. He was lucky Tywin decided to retaliate in this manner. That probably won't be the case in the future.

He sighed. "There's nothing for it I guess. I will just have to cross that bridge when I get to it."

Harry decided not to think about that particular problem for now. He had at least a decade to figure out what to do about the marriage.

After rubbing his eyes for a few seconds He sat forwards and spoke. "Let's leave that alone for now. For now, tell me everything I've missed."

Luwin cleared his throat. "Very well my lord." The Maester started shuffling through papers until he found a specific one. Passing it across to Harry to read while he was speaking. "The war never had much of an effect on the North, My Lord. Majority of the troops stayed in the North and most of those who went south were men at arms or otherwise full time soldiers, so there was only a small impact on farming and trade. Over half the farms in the North have switched to the new practices My Lord. While others still need to be taught. The Umbers and Mountain clans are struggling to populate the gift, so much of the fertile land is going unused there but they are slowly moving people there and starting what farms they can. Overall there has been a decent increase in available farming in the last six moons my lord. Right now, a little under half the gold the North used to spend on food a decade ago is still being sent South for that purpose. The rest is staying in the North."

Harry smiled. That was good news. The North would only grow more food and become less dependent on the South. Still, there wasn't much they could do to improve the pace of new farms, that would happen as the Norths population increases. He told as much to the Maester before they moved on to the next thing.

They spoke about the increases that Winterfell is getting in taxes, what to do with most of that money and where the biggest increases are from. They spoke about the lords all over Westeros, who had children, who was married, who died and who seemed to be looking for marriage alliances. They spoke about some of the projects he had started. Harry was informed of how many ships the Manderlys had built for the new trade fleet. Then he was informed about the cost of building Sea Dragon Point so far and the Maesters future cost predictions. After spending some time trying to figure out how to lower the costs slightly to no avail they moved on to something that Harry was very interested to learn the progress of.

"How has teaching some of the orphans going?" Harry asked.

Luwin sighed. Harry knew he never liked teaching the orphans, the Maester found it to be a waste of time. Unfortunately for Luwin, Harry knew he would need some more educated people to help him improve the North. The long term plan was to make a school, similar to the Citadel but more concerned with advancing technology and humanity and uncovering the secrets of Planetos than politics, like the Citadel seems to be.

After gathering his thoughts the Maester spoke. "It has been going better than I expected it to my lord. As you suggested, I started teaching two of the older children. It took a few moons but once they were good enough at reading and writing, I started teaching them basic numbers. That took longer my lord but they learnt. As per your instructions, I then hired them to teach others from a small building in Wintertown. There is now a little over a dozen children who are learning to read and write. The ones who are interested, will then start learning what they need to know to be tax collectors my lord."

Harry smiled. While not as much progress as he hoped, it was still a decent start. The progress should start to speed up once they get some more people capable of teaching. "Good job Maester. It seems like everything went well in my absence. "

Luwin smiled and nodded. "Yes my lord, things did."

There was just one more thing he wanted to speak about. "How was Catelyn?"

Luwin sighed. "I thought you might ask about that My Lord."

Despite himself, Harry felt a small grin come on his face at Luwins reaction. He lost it a moment later when Luwin continued. "Normally I wouldn't talk about a Lady behind her back but you are the Lord of Winterfell. Catelyn has been…okay my lord. She's bitter about a few things and still has some trouble with adapting to the North but overall, I would say she ran Winterfell well."

Harry frowned. "What exactly is she bitter about?"

The Measter sighed. "Benjen got Sea Dragon Point. Eddard is getting Moat Cailin. I believe she is upset that Benjen is getting what will one day be an important port while Eddard is getting, in her view, a ruin by the swamps. I overheard her praying about it one day while going to see her in her chambers."

Harry sighed. There was nothing he could do to change her mind about Moat Cailin. Hopefully once his plans for the Moat begin, she will start to see the potential in her new home.

"And Jon?" Harry just had to ask.

Luwin grimaced a little. "He was ill for a while. A few days in which he was close to death"

Harrys head shot up and his eyes widened but before he had a chance to say anything the Maester continued. "It was the Spring Sickness my lord. It is common in children and dangerous for them. Now that Jon is past it, he shouldn't catch it again."

Harry breathed a sigh of relief. At least Jon was okay. He was upset about the fact it took so long to hear this news though. He would have to find a way to improve the way messages are sent in the North, to improve communication.

Luwin continued speaking. "Lady Catelyn was surprisingly concerned for his wellbeing during those days. Soon after he got better she carried on ignoring him though."

Harry felt his eyebrows raise. He knew Catelyn was not a cruel woman but perhaps he underestimated her compassion. Or perhaps she had a guilty conscience for how she treated Jon during the time she felt he might not live. Regardless, it doesn't seem as if that compassion persisted.

He decided he would watch her and see if anything changed.

For now he would move on. "Anything else?"

Luwin shook his head. "As I said my lord, she did a decent job of keeping the household organised while you were away and she never had any real power, to enact any changes you may not like. The only thing you might have an issue with, is that she is teaching Sansa and Robb about the Seven and she tried to convince your uncle to bring in another Septon before he left for the war."

Harry sighed and massaged his temples. It looks like it was time to have a long overdue conversation with his aunt.

Criticism is welcome as long as it's constructive.

Next chapter 2 June 2023.

To read ahead of the update schedule: Pat_ (slash) TheLifeandTimes19.