Shield

Harry was smiling as he made his way back to Gringotts. He had spent Christmas and New Year's with Andromeda and Teddy, and he felt great. Tomorrow he would be back to learning from his Master, and he felt good about that too. He headed up towards the bank with hurried steps.

Hermione stepped out of the bank. Her bushy hair moved about her and she looked tired. She caught sight of him and her eyes widened. "Harry!" she said. She rushed up to him and grabbed him. "Harry, you are okay," she said. "You need to tell me what happened. What is going on? What did the goblins do to you?"

Harry removed her hands from his arms carefully before pushing her back gently. He couldn't answer her. It hurt to turn away from her, but he had agreed to act this way when he had taken his position. He walked up towards the two guards outside the bank, and they bowed their heads to him. He felt Hermione grab at him, and he tried to move out of the way, but a family walked out of the bank, and he had to move back.

"Look at me, Harry," Hermione said angrily. He shook her hand off and headed into the bank. He moved quickly towards the doors that would take him towards the more private area of the bank. He nodded to the goblins by the door and walked through. He knew Hermione would be stopped by those guards. He wished he could explain things to her, but that was not how this worked, and there was nothing he could do about that.

"Bad confrontation?" Ragnok asked as he walked into his master's home.

"An old friend who was insistent," Harry said. "The guards saw the whole thing. They can attest to the fact that I did not utter a word."

"It hurt you to not say anything?" Ragnok said. He hadn't assumed Harry had failed in keeping his word, but he could see that Harry was feeling defensive.

"I… are people allowed to know what my position is?" Harry asked. "I know I can't tell them, but Andromeda pointed out that she will be approached by journalists at some point. What does she tell them?"

"I will write her and let her know," Ragnok said. "Essentially, she will be saying that anything pertaining to you is a matter of the Nation, and she is not allowed to speak of it. She is allowed to see you because the Nation considers her grandson as family of yours. She will not be telling them the exact circumstances of our agreement."

"And I should never talk of it," Harry said.

"Once you have your mastery, you may say that your actions led to you being given a chance to gain your Mastery," Ragnok said. "But you will not be speaking of our internal matters with anyone but family."

Harry nodded. "That leads me to another question, sir," he said.

"Ask away," Ragnok said.

"Am I allowed to speak to other humans who are part of the Nation?" Harry asked.

Ragnok met his eyes steadily. That was a good question, and he was glad Harry was asking it. "Yes, but they have to be full members," he said.

"Full… how do I tell?" Harry asked.

"The shield on your shoulder is a mark of the Nation. You bear that as an emblem showing that you have been chosen. Half your shield now contains my mark, telling the Nation that I am your master and also will be considered your father in the eyes of the Nation. You shield itself shows that you are a human let into the Nation. Mine shows what family I am from. The upper half is the mark of the Master or other trade. The lower half is where your own mark goes once you have earned your full rights, something you will only do once you have gained your Mastery."

"And that is what you mean by full member," Harry said. "So I can speak to humans with a full shield. Is there anything else I need to know about them?"

"A blackened shield on a human means someone given the opportunity who later squandered it," Ragnok said. "You shouldn't talk to them at all. Ever."

"I take it you have to do something pretty stupid to end up with a black shield," Harry said. "And that similar offences might lead to worse punishments for a goblin."

Ragnok nodded slowly. "Yes," he confirmed. "You, doing such a thing would be detrimental to relations between goblins and humans. Please behave." While Harry was right about the rest of his assumption, he wasn't inclined to let him know that was the case.

Harry closed his eyes. Of course there would be more pressure on him than other people. At least this time he was pretty sure it was because of how powerful he was rather than his birth name. "Thank you for answering my questions, Master." He paused for a moment as he ordered his thoughts. "Oh, Andromeda pointed out that I don't have a licence to apparate and that might become problematic," he said.

"We shall see what we can do about that," Ragnok said. "You need to be able to move around properly. I'm unsure if human appparition is the way to go for you, though. It seems unstable when you do it. Let me, see if I can find you another mage who might be able to teach a better way for you."

"I would appreciate that very much, Master," Harry said. He hadn't even considered that there were different ways to transport. Though it made sense. House-elves did not apparate. "What do house-elves have?" he asked.

The grin that spread across Ragnok's face would have been terrifying if Harry didn't know him. "They have wells," he said. "Not as big one as you mind you and that isn't just because of body size because a bigger human doesn't necessarily have more magic."

"Their wells are partially sealed, aren't they?" Harry said.

Ragnok nodded. "Correct," he said. "And it will remain that way because they are sealed for a reason." He gave Harry a stern look.

Harry sighed. "Well, unless you need me for anything right now, Master, I am going to work through the book of basic wards you gave me," he said.

"Good, you do that, and we can work on it tomorrow," Ragnok said. "I want to get you started." He wanted to see how Harry warded because each warder's technique was unique. He needed to know more before he could start guiding Harry. Warding was more about providing aid and a stable environment than teaching specific formulas.

Harry sat down with his book and looked through the runes they had applied for the base shield ward. It was a ward that wasn't used for anything but training. It wasn't very powerful, but it would show that he could lay wards. He wouldn't test without his master, but he would make his own rune array because he didn't like the ones they had picked.

Ragnok sat down with his apprentice and watched as he laid the appropriate runes for a base ward. He nodded. "Go ahead," he said.

Harry reached in to activate the runes and build the ward. His brow furrowed, and he moved back after a good ten minutes of nothing happening. He tried again three times before he folded his arms across his chest. "Can you do it, please Master. Just so I can see what it looks like?" he asked.

Ragnok reached out and activated the runes, wove the ward and anchored it. There was nothing wrong with Harry's runes. Then he watched his apprentice note the ward down, much like he had done Grimmauld Place and his quarters. He haded the notes to his master.

"Well, this is a problem," Ragnok said. "You don't see wards the way I do. When we look at the same ward, we see them differently. I'm not entirely sure how to help with that." He studied what his apprentice had done. It was like he was seeing all the magic beyond the first layer. He worked with the first layer, and Harry seemed to be working several layers deep. He wasn't sure how else to explain it.

"You think I can do this, Master?" Harry asked.

"Oh, yes, I do," Ragnok said. "You are showing a lot of promise. We should need to figure out how you weave."

"Can I try something," Harry asked.

Ragnok nodded slowly. If his apprentice already had an idea, that was good. "Go ahead," he said as he took the ward down and cleared the workspace. He watched as Harry drew the new runes. He liked how precise he had become with that. It was good. How the runes looked was one of those things other Masters would see and comment on. That Harry's runes were already neat was just a bonus for him.

Harry closed his eyes for a moment and looped the runes together as he started weaving. Ragnok watched him work. This was different, and it was messy, but that was something Harry could get better at with time. For now, he just wanted to know if it would work and how it would look to him when it was done.

Harry lowered his hands and anchored the ward. He tilted his head to the side. He was not happy, but it was a ward. There had to be a better way to do it.

"I know what you are thinking, and those are good thoughts," Ragnok said. "Let me look at this for a while before you try again, though." This weave looked different to him. He looked at Harry's notes. It looked more like the notes he made. "So this is interesting," he said. He removed the ward from the table. "Try again. Do the same ward, but try to limit your outflow."

Harry nodded. He laid the runes and drew a deep breath. He connected to the first runes and started the weave. He needed to pull it tighter. How did he do that without straining it? He wasn't sure. He laid the ward again. It was still too messy.

"Better," Ragnok said. "Not as much unnecessary magic and it looks more collected. Still, this is not how we do this."

"I need to figure out how to make it even tighter without straining it," Harry said. "I don't know how, but at least now we know I can lay wards."

"I would like to see you work on already existing wards too. We'll head over to your house tomorrow and see if you can't fix some of the issues there," Ragnok said.

"Already?" Harry asked

"I see no point in waiting," Ragnok said. "When an apprentice of mine shows the kind of natural talent you do, I push forward. I don't hold you back. It might lead to fireworks, but generally it is the better way of doing it."

"Andromeda taught me a few ways to fix the foundations, I might need to do that before we mess with the wards," Harry said.

Ragnok felt like complaining. He wouldn't do it, of course. He wasn't a child, but still they were close to something that could be very interesting, and he wanted to keep moving forward, not wait. He would wait now, though, for Harry to take care of his home so they didn't blow it up.

…

"So, how are things going?" Andromeda asked a few days later.

"I'm exhausting my reserves on cleaning Grimmauld," Harry said softly as he bounced Teddy on his leg. "Kreacher sends me back here before I can mess up too much, though. At least I don't have that much left. There are a good deal of other things I need to deal with, but the walls and foundations are whole again."

Teddy climbed up higher on Harry and babbled with him. Harry laughed. "Hey Teddy. I'm not meant to be crawled on like that." He grabbed the boy and placed him down on the floor.

"At least you feel like you are getting things done. That is good," Andromeda said as he moved down to the floor next to Teddy.

"Yeah, I would like to either fix the place or get myself somewhere else, though. I can't say I like the location much," Harry said.

"There is an estate you might like more. It's called Blackbird, but you won't get access to that one until you take up the Lordship," Andromeda said. "I remember enjoying the few stays I had there, though."

Harry smiled. "Sounds like a project I can play around with then. So I'll fix Grimmauld for now so I have somewhere to live, I guess. Then I can deal with Blackbird once I have my Mastery," he said. He laid down on the floor and picked Teddy up before tossing him into the air. Giggles escaped the boy and he called for more.

Andromeda watched them for a while. She was glad to see Harry this happy. A part of her worried he would sacrifice living his own life for Teddy, but the way he spoke didn't sound like that would be a problem.

"Have you considered what you want to work with yet?" Harry asked, interrupting her thoughts some time later.

Andromeda sighed. She honestly wasn't sure what she wanted to do. She didn't want a job that would take her away from Teddy. So she needed to be able to adjust the times. "I have, but I don't know… I want to be able to pick him up when school is out, so it needs to be something I can just drop."

"That sounds like something in the magical world to me," Harry said. "How are you with potions?"

Andromeda looked down at him. That wasn't a bad thought. She could do mail order potions. She tapped her knee. She would have to think about that. "That is a decent suggestion," she said. "I'll consider it."

Harry gave her a beaming smile.

When Andromeda left that day, she checked in with the local apothecary if they had a potioneer on staff or not. It would seem like they did. She bought some simple potions and brought them home with her.

Once she had put Teddy to bed, she looked the potions over. She wasn't overly impressed. She certainly could do better than this. Now the question was how did she promote herself?

…

Ragnok looked around Grimmauld Place. Harry and his house-elf had improved the place quite drastically the past few weeks. The drawing room was clean and neat, much more to the standard Harry kept in his quarters. That was something Ragnok often found commendable in his apprentices. Someone who kept the space around them orderly was always better. Unlike human Masters, though, goblin Master seldom used their apprentices for housework. Still, he had made sure certain apprentices had learnt how to care for themselves and the space around them under his firm hand.

It wasn't just humans who dotted on their children. That happened among goblins too.

Ragnok sat down in the centre of the room and looked around as Harry walked in. Runes were placed around the room. It was a simple ward to keep the house from getting infested again. He watched his apprentice weave the ward into place with the already existing ward slowly. He also noticed when Harry realised a simpler and better way of weaving for himself. The weave became neater and clearer. It still wasn't what Harry wanted it to be, but he needed to figure out what he was after before he could do anything about it.

Ragnok nodded as he watched the ward change. "When you have perfected this, you will make beautiful wards," he said. "You need to figure out how to lay your weave, though."

Harry looked at the ward. He wasn't happy with it. It would do what it was supposed to, but he didn't like the way it looked. "I don't even know where to go looking," he said. "I don't like it, but I'm unsure how to fix it."

"You will figure something out," Ragnok said.

…

April rolled around and with it came spring and Teddy's birthday. Harry was standing in a store filled with toys. He walked around looked at things. He had picked a big box of Duplo bricks for Teddy already. He paused by a bracelet making kit and looked at it. He checked the back. It was for girls, but he didn't really care about that, it was the act of tying things he was after. He grabbed the box and headed for the counter.

Andromeda opened the door when he arrived, and they hid the gift away before Teddy could see it. "He is napping right now," she said. "How have things been?" She hugged him and Harry returned the warm hug.

"I'm doing okay. I'm still trying to figure out how to make my weaving neater," Harry said. "I have something I want to try, though." He brought the box with the bracelets with him to the kitchen table and sat down. He followed the instructions slowly and added a rune to the start bead before he slowly weaved his magic with the treads as he made the bracelet as instructed. Then he sealed the weave with a bead at the end.

Andromeda looked at the bracelet. "Protection?" she asked.

Harry nodded.

"You know, Nymphadora was really into making things like this for a while. I bought quite a few supplies that are still just lying around because she got bored with it," Andromeda said. "I could get the box for you if you keep an eye on Teddy."

"Of course," Harry said. "I would really appreciate it, Andy, thank you." He made the second bracelet as well and worked double wards into that one. The question was if he could make the ward cover a whole person this way by tying it to their magic. These bracelets were too small for him to test on himself, and he wasn't sure the tie in would work with a mana well either way. He wasn't willing to test on Teddy, though, so he would have to ask Andromeda if she was willing to try it.

Meanwhile, Andromeda was going through a box of Nymphadora's old things to get the macramé supplies they had bought for her. She had found an old plushie that had once belonged to her daughter. She had forgotten she had it, but it had been a gift from Ted's mother before the dementia had set in. She brought that as well as the box she had been looking for back downstairs with her. She placed the box down by Harry, and he looked up at her with concern in his eyes before he got up and moved around the table. He didn't say anything, he just hugged her, and Andromeda felt herself accept the comforting gesture as she broke down in tears.

As he stood there comforting Andromeda, Harry realised that she probably hadn't allowed herself to process what had happened properly. With Teddy needing her, she had moved forward. She hadn't been looking back, so going to fetch something that had once been her daughter's had opened wounds she had never looked to heal. He didn't say anything because what did you tell a mother who had lost her only child. What did you tell a woman who had lost her husband? He didn't know. He rubbed circles into her back slowly, hoping his presence could at least help her a little.

"Feeling better?" Harry asked as she moved away from him a short while later.

Andromeda chuckled tearily. "Somewhat," she said. She whipped her eyes. "I needed that. Thank you, Harry." she touched his face gently before she headed to the bathroom so she could clean her face. Harry tidied himself up with magic before sitting down by the table again and grabbing the box. When he opened it he found a book describing a whole hurdle of different knots as well as over fifteen different projects, some of which were quite big.

Harry sat down with it and looked through the book slowly as he picked out thread to make a bracelet with. Andromeda returned with Teddy a while later, and Harry tied the next knot and added a hold rune to it so he could focus on his godson. "I was thinking of heading to a park tomorrow he," he said.

Andromeda nodded. "I have a healer's appointment," she said. "I can come find you after."

Harry looked over at the threads with a thoughtful expression.

"What are you thinking, Harry?" Andromeda asked.

"I'm wondering if I could link three locators through ward bracelets so you can tell where Teddy and I are," Harry said. "The ones I have already made should give a protective shield when needed, but they are made for children and I don't want to test them on Teddy."

"How about we see after dinner," Andromeda said. "For now, you can either cook food or look after Teddy."

Harry chuckled. "Okay," he said. He got up and looked at what they had before he picked things out for a Pasta Alfredo. He hummed as he worked, and Andromeda smiled while she sat with Teddy drawing with crayons. She enjoyed these times when Harry could come by for a few days. "How long can you stay?" she asked. She had made perfectly clear last time he got this opportunity, that she wanted him to stay for as long as he could.

"Ten days, assuming that I work actively on my warding while I'm here," Harry said.

Andromeda looked over at the nest of knots he had placed aside earlier. "If you figure that out, you could always look at the wards here," she said. "You haven't documented them, have you?"

Harry shook his head. "No, I haven't," he said. "It is considered very rude to do without permission."

"Well, you have it," Andromeda said. "I trust that you won't do anything here until you are certain you won't cause harm."

Harry bowed his head. "Of course not," he said with a smile. They ate and cleaned up before moving over to the living room, where Harry slowly tied two bracelets together with a couple of runes that should allow them to find each other. He put one on and made sure his own magic wasn't interfering with it before handing the other one to Andromeda. "They have to be charged, so yours is set to charge from you and mine is set to charge from me. I'm thinking I'll make Teddy's charge from either of us so it isn't draining on him. I just want to know that they work first." He got up and headed over to Grimmauld Place before activating his bracelet. He shook his head. Not what he wanted it to do. He returned and held his hand out. "I need other runes," he said.

Andromeda handed the bracelet back and smiled as he started all over again.

When Harry fell into bed that evening, he had finally managed, and it was surprisingly easy once he had figured it out. Now he and Andromeda had one bracelet each. That would be enough for the next day. They would make one for Teddy when he was older and more likely to run away somewhere.

…

The next morning was filled with activity as Andromeda had breakfast as Teddy ate and Harry packed lunch into a basket. Teddy looked between Andromeda and Harry happily. Then Harry put him in the pram and Andromeda kissed his forehead. "I'll come find you and Harry in a little bit. I need to do something else first, okay?" she said.

"Grama come later," Teddy said. "Eddy and Aya go pway in sand."

"That is right. I'll see you soon," Andromeda said. She hugged Harry before heading off, and Harry went down the street towards the nearby park. There were a bunch of older children there and they seemed kind of wild. He had spoken to Ragnok about that. Was he allowed to speak to literal children and Ragnok had told him that; yes, he was allowed as long as the intention only was to speak to the child. He continued walking though. There had to be a better place for him to take Teddy.

When Andromeda caught up with them later, she smiled at the sight of them. Harry was sitting in the sandbox with four children around him. She could see Teddy playing with another little one as the two older ones seemed to be asking Harry a thousand questions. He answered them politely while making sure Teddy had what he needed. She sat down on a bench for now so she could watch them.

"Is he yours?"

Andromeda turned towards the older lady who had walked up next to her to sit down. "The little one is my grandson," Andromeda said as she watched Harry walked over with Teddy to the slide.

"Did something happen to the mother? He seems quite young to be a father."

Andromeda closed her eyes. Why did people feel like they needed to ask questions like this? "My daughter died in the line of duty," she said softly. She wasn't going to comment on Harry's age because sure he had only been seventeen when Teddy was born, and he was seven years younger than her daughter had been, but that was still a smaller gap than between Nymphadora and her husband. She didn't feel like this stranger had any right to all of that information.

The old lady didn't say anything for a long while. "He is good with the children," she said as Harry broke up a fight between what Andromeda now assumed was this woman's grandchildren. "He looks familiar."

That caught Andromeda's attention. "I see," she said. "Harry is a blessing. He is amazing with Teddy."

"He reminds me of this couple who moved into Godric's Hollow. They didn't show their faces much, almost like they were afraid of something. Then their house was destroyed and they were killed. They had a little boy, and I do so wonder what happened to him. Harry over there has green eyes like she did."

"His parents lived in Gordric's Hollow when he was born," Andromeda said softly. "They are buried in the cemetery there." That reminded her that Harry probably hadn't been back there since the war. They should go to honour his parents.

"So it is him," the old lady said. "Poor boy losing his parents like that, I always wondered what happened to their son. We never even got to know if he survived, you see. I remember bringing them a casserole when they moved in. My Fredrick and I would never have missed out on welcoming new neighbours." As she spoke, Harry picked Teddy up and headed back towards the table. He placed Teddy down and picked their basket up so he could bring out wipes to clean the boy off before handing him a chilled smoothie.

"Is that better, Teddy?" Andromeda asked, and Teddy nodded as he drank. She looked up at Harry as he handed her a cup as well. "My companion here used to live in Godric's Hollow," she said. "They lived there when your parents moved in."

Harry looked up at the old lady with wide eyes. Then he smiled sadly at her. It wasn't like he could do much with that information.

"Oh, there really is no mistaking it now," the old lady said. "Your parents were such nice young people. It's such a shame what happened to them, but what happened to you? You weren't there when the police arrived, were you?"

Andromeda looked up and Harry and he shrugged. If she wanted to say something, she could. She looked back to the old lady. "An older friend of the family happened upon the house and brought Harry to his relatives. Sometimes I wish he hadn't considered the relatives were abusive."

"Without speaking to the police. That is strange," the old lady said. Then one of her grandchildren called for her and she had to leave.

"Maybe it is worth it to find her someday," Andromeda said.

Harry nodded slowly. "Maybe," he said. He sat down next to Teddy and helped him with the last of the smoothie. "I don't know if I care that much, to be honest. All of that is in the past, and no amount of talking about it is going to change anything. I don't want to be stuck with questions I couldn't possibly answer."

Andromeda sighed. He had a point. "She assumed Teddy was yours," she said. "I didn't care to correct her."

"He is Remus' son though," Harry said. "Not mine."

Andromeda nodded slowly. She wouldn't push it. She wasn't sure how she felt about the whole thing yet. A part of her felt like Harry would have been a better choice all along. Maybe that was just bias based on the fact that he was great with Teddy now. Either way, it wasn't up to her.

Harry brought Teddy over to the swings and placed him in one. His mind was still going over the new way to bind his magic into the weave, and he was wondering if he could do it to an entire room.

…

Harry looked at the wards at Grimmauld Place. It hadn't worked out. He had tried tying the wards the way he did with the threads as it was all just a big mess he thankfully knew how to sweep away, but he didn't have enough reserves left to continue. The only thing he knew for certain was that he liked the feel of this. It felt like he was doing it right, even if the result was less than satisfactory. So he could do this, he just had to do it on a different layer. Maybe there was too much space? If he was straining the magic, it wouldn't turn out well.

He would try again, and then he would show his Master what he had created. Maybe Ragnok had an idea.

He returned home to Andromeda and Teddy and sat down with his godson to play with him. Four more days before he had to return to his Master's side. He leaned forward. He could use another haircut before heading back. He would ask Andromeda for one later. He smiled as Teddy poked at him with a Duplo stick. "You little mischievous gremlin," he said fondly as he grabbed the little boy and hosted him into the air.

Teddy giggled. "Aya, higher," he said.

Harry got up and swung Teddy around until he was so dizzy he had to sit down.

Andromeda shook her head and sighed. She was glad Harry could do things like that. She hoped he didn't get into his head to bring Teddy into the sky any time soon, though. Even if, Teddy would most likely love it.

"Did you know uncle Sirius gave me a broom when I turned one," Harry told Teddy and Andromeda groaned. "Uncle Sirius was a bit crazy. You should be at least five before using anything like that." He looked over at Andromeda, who had breathed out a sigh of relief. "I think Andy is happy I care more about your safety," he said.

"You could say that," Andromeda said. "Cousin Sirius was maybe not the most stable person, even if he was very loyal and caring in his own way."

Harry chuckled. "He wasn't quite right any more. Not after Azkaban. Not that I know what he was like before that, so it is a little hard to say," he said.

"Wild," Andromeda said. She considered what she knew of him. "He didn't conform to his family's beliefs, and I commended him for daring to be so openly against it. I was quieter until I broke free. More careful."

"But you also told them to stuff it when you decided Ted was right for you," Harry said. "That takes guts." He let Teddy back down on the floor. "We should start some of those lessons on how to be a proper Black," he said.

Andromeda smiled at him. "Be glad that I will be a kinder teacher than my parents," she said.

Harry nodded. He hadn't heard the best things about the Black family, and that got him thinking that being a child of these families had to be rough. It made him wonder how bad it had been for those who attended his own year at Hogwarts. He knew Malfoy had got married some time ago. Way too young in his opinion, and he did wonder if that hadn't been arranged by his parents. He sighed. And this world he was going to enter willingly. Well, he certainly wasn't going to treat Teddy the way so many children before him had been treated.