And here's the forty fourth chapter of "A Year Too Soon"! Enjoy!

* Review Response:
Thundramon, mwinter1, Shadowdog11, sykartracer, KnowPein, Sparky She-Demon, DarkRavie, FicTIuNFaN, orion0905, The Shadows Mistress, TheGreatBubbaJ, Luiz4200, Dragonstar125, magitech, Wyrtha, griffin blackwood, AiyaKnight, Blue Luver5000, Uday Sra, Shadow (guest), tsun, 00 (guest), mizzrazz72, Greatazuredragon, Ep (guest), Alphros, solarsailor55, thank you for your reviews, folks!
Clavyus, since I assume that Nagini hasn't become a horcrux at this point yet, the only one remaining is the Slytherin's locket.
JohnMonty, thus far I have no reason to kill Dumbledore off, though the man is very old and might die of natural causes in a not-so-distant future.
yanon1999, blame JKR for that one. And for prices in the Magical world being all over the place as well. Not much I can do about that - not at this point in the story at least.
Urgazhi, not much at the moment. But something unexpectedly-useful might be hiding somewhere in those old chests, who knows...
nkh1, when it's more or less rebuilt, no earlier than the next summer.
udm17, Majerus, the Triwizard Tournament won't be there for yet another year. It is only being negotiated upon right now. Meanwhile, I have other thing in mind to keep Harry occupied throughout the coming academic year.

* AN: Great thanks to my friend Skelekitty as well as to Majerus for their help in polishing this chapter.

Happy New Year, everyone, and belated Merry Christmas!

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own "Harry Potter" franchise. No profit is being made. Same goes for any books, video games, anime or manga I may or may not use for ideas.

"speaking"
"parseltongue"
'thinking'
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A Year Too Soon
Chapter XLIV: Another Summer Gone

The next morning, Harry got a letter from Hogwarts with the list of the things he would need for the upcoming academic year. A quick scan of the said list revealed that whoever their new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor was going to be, they'd at least use a proper textbook and not something irrational like a set of adventure novels. Whether or not they will teach well was another question, but the young Potter allowed himself to be hopeful.

The textbook for Care for Magical Creatures, on the other hand... After seeing its title, Harry no longer had any doubts that the subject would be taught by Hagrid. Who else in the world would think that 'The Monster Book of Monsters' was a good textbook? At least, Professor Kettleburn made sure that the man knew how to teach the class and wouldn't do something dangerous and thoughtless like showing an XXXX creature to his students on the very first day. Probably. At least Harry hoped so.

Anyway, now that he - and his friends - had the list of things they needed to buy, it was the time to coordinate their shopping in Diagon Alley. He might also be able to show them a bit of Muggle London as well, like he had promised Flora and Hestia back when he tried to teach them about the non-Magical world. With that in mind, he began writing letters to his friends. Well, except for Blaise seeing how the dark-skinned boy was still traveling abroad and won't be back until just a few days before the school year starts.

And while Hedwig was off delivering those letters, Harry continued his search for an architect willing to design the new Potter manor. He wasn't having much luck thus far. It was rather frustrating, but not really unexpected given the results of his investigation into the state of architectural businesses in Magical Britain: with barely any demand for their services, the people had simply taken other jobs in order to feed themselves and their families. Still, not everything was hopeless for the green-eyed teen. While he didn't have solid leads yet, he managed to find a couple of wizarding houses that had been built or remodeled in the fifties. With any luck, the owners of these houses would be able to direct him to the architects who had designed them.

Unfortunately, his attempts to find the identities of the people living in those houses were to no avail. Which was kind-of a problem as the owl post, being what it is, required the recipient's name rather than their address for a successful delivery. And since the houses were Magical and hidden behind various wards, normal, non-Magical, mail couldn't be delivered there either. While definitely an inconvenience, it was hardly an insurmountable obstacle. After all, he could just travel there and ask these people directly.

And then, with any luck, he'd finally have the contact of an architect he could ask to design the new Potter manor.

After several days of passing letters back and forth, the Slytherin clique finally settled on a date for their Hogwarts shopping trip that was acceptable with everyone. In the end, they had decided to meet in 'Leaky Cauldron' at ten in the morning on August 14th.

Harry, naturally, was the first person to show up at the meeting spot on that day. He was staying at 'Leaky Cauldron' the whole summer after all. The next one to arrive at about quarter to ten was Tracey Davis. That surprised the green-eyed wizard a little as he had expected her to turn up a little bit later and together with the Greengrasses rather than on her own.

They did some small talk, mostly trying to guess who their Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor would be this year, and what they would be like, before the next members of their clique arrived. And this time, it really were the Greengrass sisters, accompanied by their mother. And Harry immediately noted that Daphne had chosen to wear a set of robes that could easily pass for a simple if rather stylish deep-blue dress rather than something that blatantly screamed 'Magical'. She obviously wanted to join him, Flora and Hestia on their little excursion into the Muggle world. Giving her a subtle nod, the Harry greeted the newly-arrived trio of witches:

"Good morning, Lady Greengrass, Daphne, Astoria." The green-eyed wizard said. "I hope you're doing well this fine morning?" The older woman gave him a nod before replying:

"Greetings, Heir Potter." She said. "And thank you, we are doing well. I hope you're doing well yourself."

"Indeed, Lady Greengrass, thank you." He replied with a nod of his own. Then he turned his attention to the youngest of the Greengrass sisters. "Are you looking forward to shopping for Hogwarts, Astoria?" He asked then. The young witch nodded eagerly.

"Of course!" Before she could say anything else, though, the pub's floo came to life and a moment later Flora stepped out of the green flames. A couple of seconds later, she was joined by her sister, Hestia. Much like Daphne, Carrow twins had dressed up in a way that wouldn't make them stand out too much in the non-Magical world. In particular, they were wearing matching white blouses and long flowing gray skirts.

"Good morning, Lady Greengrass, everyone." Flora and Hestia addressed, spurring an exchange of greetings. And while Harry would've enjoyed getting more than a chaste kiss on his cheek from his girlfriends, he certainly could understand their reluctance for showing much physical affection in such a public place.

"Are we all ready to go?" Lady Greengrass asked once the greetings were out of the way. She received a round of nods from the teens in response. "Alright then." And with that she let the group into the backyard of 'Leaky Cauldron' where the entrance to the Diagon Alley was located.

Their first stop in the alley was, of course, Gringotts. The goblin-run bank was quite busy this morning and there was a line of people in front of every teller, so retrieving gold from the vaults took some time. By some chance, Harry was the first one to return to the lobby and while he waited for the others he exchanged some of his Galleons for Pound so that he and the girls could actually buy something on their 'excursion' into non-Magical London.

Once everyone returned from the vaults, Lady Greengrass asked which shops they wanted to visit first, and 'Scribbulus Writing Instruments' won almost unanimously.

After restocking on parchment rolls, quills and inks, the group briefly stopped by 'Potage's Cauldron Shop' to get Astoria a cauldron before going to 'Slug & Jiggers Apothecary' for the Potions ingredients. Then it was the time to hit the bookstore.

As they entered 'Flourish and Blotts', they immediately noticed that there now was a large iron cage filled with several dozen copies of 'The Monster Book of Monsters' in the corner of the shop. The said books were behaving like little beasts, constantly fighting among themselves and otherwise causing as much ruckus as they possibly could, pausing only when the harassed manager jabbed at them with a knobbly walking stick. The said manager also looked like he was about to cry when he was informed that he'll have to get four of those damned monster books out of the cage - Harry already had a copy courtesy of Hagrid, along with some basic instructions on how to handle the strange book.

Once the textbook shopping was done, the only things left to buy were Astoria's wand and Hogwarts uniform. And knowing that none of the teens would be particularly interested in sitting in the shops and doing essentially nothing while Astoria was getting her wand and robes, Lady Greengrass told them that they could wait at the 'Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream parlor' or in 'Leaky Cauldron' instead.

This wasn't a part of the plan the clique had come up with in order to be allowed into non-Magical London, but this offer worked greatly in their favor there.

"We'll be in 'Leaky Cauldron'." Harry told Lady Greengrass.

"Alright. I'll meet your lot there once we're done." The woman replied. "Try not to get into too much trouble." And with that she and Astoria disappeared towards Madam Malkin's clothes shop.

"Let's go?" Daphne said. Her suggestion received a round of nods and the clique began walking towards 'Leaky Cauldron' and the exit from Diagon Alley.

It didn't take them long to arrive there, and a wizard trying to move an obscenely-large cauldron was about the only obstacle they found on their path. And once they stepped inside the pub, Tracey made a sudden offer:

"Why don't you leave your things with me here while you go exploring?" She said. "I'll after them and if Lady Greengrass comes before you return, I'll try to think up some excuse to placate her."

"Tracey…" Daphne breathed out. After a brief period of silence she continued: "Why? Didn't you say you would've liked to see Muggle London with us?" She asked. "Why suddenly decide to stay back?" The other girl shrugged nonchalantly.

"I've been there before a few times, Daph." She said. "I might be living in the Magical world, but I'm a half-blood and neither my mother nor I have abandoned the mundane side entirely." These words didn't seem to be very reassuring to the Greengrass heiress, though. "Don't worry, it's fine." Tracey added.

"Well… If you're sure…" Daphne finally said after being silent for a few long moments. She received a nod of confirmation in response. This was followed by yet another period silence, broken when Harry spoke up:

"Alright then." He said. "Let me drop my things at my room, and we're good to go."

"Sure." Flora told him. And with that, the green-eyed wizard headed upstairs. He returned not even five minutes later, now free of the books and other stuff he had bought in Diagon Alley.

"Let's go." He said then. Flora, Hestia and Daphne gave him a nod and the four teens headed for the pub's exit leading onto Charrington Cross Road. Having made sure that he got there first, Harry opened the door for the girls, giving them their first glimpse of the non-Magical world. It might have not left the best first impression, though:

"Woah! It's noisy here." Flora complained as sounds of cars driving up and down the street as well as the hum of the crowd assaulted them. Her sister nodded in agreement. And so did Daphne. "Still." She continued. "This place is actually pretty cool. It's so different from Diagon Alley."

"Those are the automobiles you've been telling us about, right, Harry?" Hestia asked then, nodding towards the traffic on the street.

"Yeah." The young Potter replied simply.

"They are quite different from the horseless carriages that we ride between Hogsmeade and Hogwarts." She observed. "And not just because they lack breechings. They are just… look smoother, I guess. Even those with big boxes on the back - what did you call them? - trucks."

"Well…" Harry began. "When they first appeared in the nineteenth century, cars actually looked like carriages and were even called 'horseless carriages' at first. It wasn't until later that people began calling them 'automobiles' or 'cars' instead. And as cars become more advanced over the years, their shapes evolved as well." Here, he made a brief pause before changing the topic: "Why don't we explore the street a little? There are a few shows not too far away from here that, I think, you might find interesting."

"Sure, let's go." The twins said. Daphne, while probably as eager to explore the shops there, decided that some questions needed to be answered first:

"But if we want to buy something here?" She asked. "We don't have Muggle money and I don't think they'll sell us anything for Galleons." That actually was a pretty good question and Flora and Hestia found themselves nodding in agreement with their younger friend.

"I have exchanged some gold into Pounds, so if it isn't something really expensive, I can pay for it." Harry said. "You can give me money back later if you want."

"Alright." The Greengrass heiress said. "Let's go." And with that the four teens hit the shops of Charrington Cross.

Still, as exciting as this was, they needed to be mindful of time as it likely wouldn't take too long for Astoria to find a matching wand and be fit into her Hogwarts robes. Thus, three shops and a little over twenty minutes later, they headed back for 'The Leaky Cauldron', the girls carrying small packages with a few things they had purchased.

And just as they were approaching the pub, a plane briefly appeared in their sight before the buildings obscured it [1].

"That was one of those Muggle flying machines - an airplane - right?" Hestia asked then. "Didn't you say that they fly really high up in the air, though? This one didn't appear to be much higher than you can fly on a broomstick."

"There is an airport not too far away from here." Harry replied. "That plane must've been flying so low because it's going to land there."

"I see..."

The short remainder of the walk to 'The Leaky Cauldron' was spent in silence, and upon entering the Magical pub they quickly saw that Lady Greengrass and Astoria were still in Diagon Alley and Tracey was waiting for them alone, surrounded by a number of packages with books, Potions ingredients and other school stuff.

"Did you guys have fun?" The said witch asked them.

"Yes." Daphne replied for all of them.

"It's quite different from Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade." Flora added. "The houses there are much bigger and look very different. There are also a lot more people out there." She made a brief pause, before adding: "And Muggle shops sell many cool things you'll never find anywhere in Diagon Alley." She said while showing the package with her purchases. Tracey's only response was a knowing smirk.

~/ *** \~

If he wasn't currently disguised as a rat, Peter Pettigrew would've let out a tired, annoyed sigh. He had spent weeks looking for any gap in the wards protecting the Crouch manor that he could use to sneak inside. Alas, the wards around the house were quite solid and while Peter managed to identify a few weak points, he possessed neither the knowledge nor skill necessary to exploit those.

This left him with but a single option for the manor infiltration: hide somewhere in the Crouch Sr. things and let the man carry him though the wardline. Ideally, he would remain undetected, but in case the wards got triggered… The rat animagus was confident that with an element of surprise on his side, he'll be able to subdue the old bastard and make him alter the wards so that 'Peter Pettigrew' was a welcomed guest rather than an intruder. Then, he'll Obliviate this dealing from the man's mind in order to preserve the myth that Peter Pettigrew had died to Sirius Black's wand twelve years ago.

Anyway, once he was safely inside the manor, Peter would make contact with Barty Crouch Jr. and together they would think out their next move.

All things considered, it looked like a pretty good plan, except for one small problem: Crouch Sr. appeared to have no social life and never left the manor unless it was for his job as the Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation. And the man always commuted via the floo network. Thus, in order to infiltrate the Crouch manor, Peter will have to infiltrate the Ministry for Magic first.

While not particularly hard, that wasn't exactly easy either - not if he wanted to remain undetected at least. And making sure no one knew he was still alive was kind of crucial for Peter's plans. Still, the rat animagus already had an idea how to do that. In fact, that idea was quite similar to how he planned to infiltrate the Crouch manor in the first place: he'll hitch a ride on an unsuspecting wizard or witch going to the Ministry and then make his way to the Department of International Magical Cooperation. Once there, he'll hide in Crouch Sr.'s things and let the man carry him through the manor's wards.

His mind made, Peter began tracking his way back to London. As a rat, such a journey would take a couple of weeks, but the officially-dead wizard didn't dare apparating or using any other form of Magical travel in fear of being discovered.

~/ *** \~

It was the last week of August when Harry finally made a breakthrough in his search for an architect for the new Potter manor. After some investigating, he managed to ascertain that a couple of Magical houses built in the early fifties had been designed by Mr. Thomas Hall. The man was enjoying his well-earned retirement, but when Harry wrote to him asking whether he would do a project for him, Mr. Hall got interested enough to ask for a face-to-face meeting to discuss it in greater detail.

Thus, today the green-eyed teen opted to have his breakfast much later than usual and then just waited for Mr. Hall to arrive while nursing a cup of tea. And a little past ten in the morning, the old architect finally arrived via the floo. He was a very thin, slightly hunched over elder with a short pointy beard and otherwise almost completely bald head.

"Good morning, Mr. Hall." Harry greeted, getting out of his seat to offer the man his hand.

"Ah, Mr. Potter. It's a pleasure to meet you." He shook the younger wizard's hand. He then shouted for Tom the bartender to bring him some coffee before finally taking a seat at the table. "If I remember your letter correctly, Mr. Potter." He continued. "You want to rebuild the Potter manor and would like me to design it, right?" Harry nodded. "Well… It's been many years since I did anything as an architect, but let's see what I can do for you." There was a pause, before the man continued: "So… What do you want the new manor to be like, Mr. Potter?"

"I, uh... I don't really have a ready picture of what I want in my mind, but..." Harry began. "I guess, I would like it to have two floors, though three would be alright as well." Mr. Hall nodded quietly as he listened to his client's ideas. "It should probably be a bit smaller than the original, but still large enough for a big family plus a few guests. Eight or so bedrooms, I guess." Harry continued. "I would also like it to have a solarium or for the guest room to have lots of big windows. And, either way, the guest room should be big enough to let me host parties. Or maybe it'd be better to make a separate ballroom instead?"

"Anything else?" The old architect asked then.

"Well,.. There is a pond on the grounds that I would like to expand and turn into something like a swimming pool. So, it would be nice if the house had an extra exit with a road leading there." Mr. Hall nodded again.

"Do you happen to have a map of the grounds with you?" He asked then. Just as Tom the bartender brought him his coffee.

"Ah, yeah, one moment." Harry replied before pulling a folded parchment with his hand-drawn 'map' of the Potter estate. "Here. It's not exactly to scale, but should be accurate enough to give you an idea about the place." He said, presenting it to the architect. The man set aside his coffee and, having put on thick rimmed glasses, began studying the drawing.

"I see." Mr. Hall said after a minute or so. "I take it, you would also like the new house to be built over where the old one was - to make use of the existing basement and the wardstone room?" He asked.

"Yeah, that would be the best." Harry replied with a nod.

"Do you have any other wishes? Like the material to build the house of, window shapes, or decorative cladding perhaps?" He asked then.

"Some sturdy wood should be good enough, I think." The young Potter replied with a shrug. "The wards should be able to prevent fires, right? And if it looks good enough, there should be no need for a facing." After a brief pause, he continued: "As for the windows... let's go with standard, rectangular ones." Mr. Hall nodded.

"Anything else?"

"No, nothing that comes to mind right now." Harry replied.

"Alright, then." The old architect said then. "I should have some design drafts of your house ready in a couple of weeks, but you'd be at Hogwarts by then, Mr. Potter. How do I show you the sketches then?"

"There should be a Hogsmeade weekend in early October. We can meet in 'Three Broomsticks' or some other place there." Harry replied.

"That'll work." Mr. Hall agreed. "I'll send you an owl when I'm done with the sketches and we can iron out the details for our next meeting then." Making a short pause during which he finished his cup of coffee, the man continued: "Also, would you terribly mind if I make a copy of that map for myself? It would make my work a bit easier."

"Sure, go ahead." The green-eyed teen said. Nodding, the architect drew his wand and performed a Doubling Charm, creating an exact replica of Harry's map.

"Thank you." He said as he pocketed his wand and the copy of the map he had just created. "I believe this would be all for now." The young Potter nodded as he didn't think he had anything to add. "Alright, I guess I'll be going then. Have a nice day Mr. Potter." He said as he got up from the table.

"Likewise." Harry replied as he shook the man's hand.

[1] Planes arriving at Heathrow from BNN, CHT or LAM navigation points and landing on runways 27R or 27L can be seen twice from Charrington Cross. Once roughly above Holloway at 3500-4000 feet and then roughly above Brixton at about 3000 feet. At least according to EGLL STAR charts that can be found on the internet, not sure if they are entirely accurate for 1990s.

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