...
Soon, the students left Hogwarts for the summer.
On the platform, Ron slipped away with the Weasleys after a brief goodbye to his friends. Harry and Hermione promised to see him within a couple days. If Ron's grip on Hermione's waist during their goodbye hug was a little too tight before he pulled away, Harry pretended not to notice for the sake of his two painfully slow friends.
Hermione had told her parents that she was staying with the Weasleys but she'd be coming to see them on the weekends. Their practice was terribly busy, school having just let out, and they were fine with that.
"Dumbledore's going to be in a state when he finds out you're gone," Hermione muttered as they maneuvered their way through the muggle portion of King's Cross.
Harry was doing his level best to avoid the Dursleys, of course.
"Let him rot."
"Harry," she said scoldingly.
"Let him rot in hell," Harry corrected.
"Much better," she said, satisfied.
Ever since Hermione had found out that the Dursleys had abused Harry and Dumbledore had known about it, her attitude towards the man had changed completely. Not outwardly, of course, but in private her friends were shocked by her vitriol.
"I don't really care what the old codger thinks anyways," Harry waved off. "We need to get to Gringotts — they told me they'd be happy to see me at the earliest convenience."
"Like they'll be happy to see anyone," she muttered.
The unfriendly little creatures had slighted her by refusing to answer many of her inquiries about their species, culture, social customs, and mating habits. Granted, the last question had been taking it a bit too far…
"Do you have the books with you?" Harry asked. "In case they contest my right to claim the lines? Can't they do that?"
"They can but they won't — the goblins are good at their job, they know it's all proper."
"And you've preordered the proper rings and amulets for everyone?"
"All you have to do is pay by direct deposit and they'll be shipped to us by morning. Then I'll make a few minor adjustments for the portkey locations, finish making the last journals, and we can begin the rest of our plans."
"Thanks, Hermione."
"Of course. We need to get you to the optician as well."
"I heard someone talking about magical contact lenses," he said. "I'd like to look into getting those."
"Yes I did some research into them as well. They're expensive but I think the advantages are well worth it."
"You won't hear me complain," he said as he pushed his glasses up.
"Let's get going then. Taxi!" she called out.
…
The goblins were, indeed, happy to see Harry. He was now easily one of their wealthiest clients.
As both Lord Potter and Lord Black, Harry now had almost more money than he knew what to do with. A letter from Sirius with a copy of Bellatrix Black's betrothal contract to the LeStrange had brought a huge smile to his face as well.
"First, I'd like to begin the process of seizing the LeStrange vaults."
"We have contract violations here, here, and here," Hermione said as she pointed to various lines of the contract. "The most severe being the maligning of the good reputation of House Black and its daughter."
"I see," the goblin said as he pursued it. "We will check the original and, should it also confirm these clauses have been violated, we will begin seizing their assets."
"Excellent," Harry grinned.
"We'll have to thank Sirius," Hermione said. "This should deprive Voldemort's cause of a good chunk of gold too."
"The second thing I'd like is a complete overhaul of the security on evert vault. Every old key needs to be recalled and any accesses or allowances granted will need to be revoked or reviewed," he said. "While you're in there, you can see to removing every goblin made item that rightfully belongs to Gringotts. The same can be done for the LeStrange vault once it's in my possession."
After Harry had finished shocking the bankers, Hermione had gotten to business. After the literal hoard of treasure he'd just retuned to them, they were far more cooperative than usual.
As per Harry's instructions, five different companies were set up under various names. They made plans to purchase twenty different muggle safe houses over the next couple of months.
They'd buy five or so at a time under the names of those companies, all of them scattered around the UK. All of them were innocuous, simple affairs that wouldn't attract any attention. They'd make good safe houses.
Then, Hermione surprised him by pushing a real estate listing across the table to the new Potter-Black estate manager, Riptuck.
"You want to purchase this, Lord Potter?" Riptuck clarified.
"I do?" Harry asked as he peered at the listing then looked at Hermione incredulously. "You want to buy an entire bloody island?"
"Yes," she said simply.
Harry looked between her and the listing for a moment before rubbing his hand over his face.
"But…an entire island?" he said. "It's bloody huge, Hermione. And it's not even tropical."
"You already own one of those."
"And what's wrong with it then?" he asked. "I do not see how an island in the Outer Hebrides is better than one in the Bahamas…"
"We don't want to run afoul of any local governments with what we plan to do," Hermione explained. "The rights that come with your lordships aren't always global; if we stay close enough to home but still on privately owned land, you retain most of that power."
"But I wanted to stay there this summer," he said. "There's nowhere to stay."
"There are some ruins, actually, of an old castle dating back to the twelfth century and Gringotts does offer building services at times," Riptuck interjected. "But it would take a number of months to make them habitable."
"See, we could rebuild the castle," Hermione said. She was already looking at the library; it was huge and had a lot of potential with a northward exposure that wouldn't expose the books to too much sunlight.
"I mean I guess…" Harry trailed off. "But that still leaves us to figure out where to stay this summer."
"We can come up with a solution for that easily enough," she said. "But if you really don't want to, we can figure something else out."
Harry thought about it for a minute before pulling the listing closer again and going over it one more time. There were pictures at the back that he hadn't seen which raised his interest a little.
"The beach is surprisingly nice for Scotland," he acknowledged as he looked at the picture of white sands and blue water that actually looked a little tropical if you squinted and had a lot of sunlight (which wasn't common in Scotland). "Where's this castle supposed to be?"
Riptuck pointed to an area to the north of the map that seemed rockier and out of the way. It overlooked the large green, hilly area that led down to the beach.
"It would be a nice view," he mused. "How long would the building take?"
"Three to four months, as a rough estimate," he answered. "And we don't paint or furnish anything."
"There would be a lot of space but that's a lot of furniture and things we'd have to provide," Harry fretted for a moment. "But it's not like we need it done immediately."
"We can always build around it or expand in the future too," Hermione pointed out.
"But isn't the space a bit large to ward?"
"Not for Gringotts," Hermione said with a look towards Riptuck who nodded in agreement.
"But the Fidelius?"
Here she looked a little more hesitant.
"It'll be a stretch but I'm pretty confident that we can do it with Ron and Neville," she finally said. "The Fidelius is more difficult if you're hiding something in a well-known or populated place. We shouldn't have that problem with a little-known abandoned island, even if it is large."
"If you're sure?"
She nodded firmly.
"Prepare the paperwork to buy it," Harry said with a sigh as soon as he saw the gleam in her eye. He knew exactly what that meant.
"I'll forward the relevant documents when they're prepared," Riptuck said simply. "Is there anything else Gringotts can do for you today, Lord Potter?"
"For the muggle houses we've purchased today, they each need to be fully stocked with potions and food that keep."
"A safe house network, I presume?"
Harry confirmed the goblins question, knowing he had no reason to distrust his account manager.
"Assigning one house-elf per two houses assures their maintenance," he said. "They can also purchase any necessities."
"Not a bad suggestion," Harry agreed, turning to look at Hermione. "Although now we need house-elves, even if we're only purchasing a few homes at a time."
"Here," the goblin handed them a file. It contained the name, ages, and general condition of house-elves for auction.
"This is how people buy house-elves?" he asked, somewhat disgusted.
"Correct," Riptuck confirmed. "There are currently 21 set to go on auction by the end of the quarter. You can bid on them then or you can buy them now but the starting price at auction is far lower."
"No need," Harry growled. "I want them all. Ten of them can look after the safe houses, ten of them can look after this new castle when it's done, and one of them can look after the Cathedral."
"What- Harry, that is not-"
"You wanted an island and I can't hire human maids, Hermione. We also don't know anyone who can look after a bunch of empty houses full time."
She looked miffed but swallowed her complaints. She'd have a long talk with him about proper house-elf treatment.
"Can we also arrange a heritage test?" Hermione asked.
"Oh, right," Harry agreed.
"We'll need a blood sample."
Harry pricked his finger on the offered needle then placed the required sample in the provided vial.
"How soon will we have the results?" Hermione asked, curious about whether or not he really would be the Gryffindor heir as some of their friends suspected.
"Come back next week," he directed grumpily.
They left the bank that day with wide smiles.
"So, hotel?" Harry double checked.
"There's a good place not far from the Leaky Cauldron."
"I'm glad we're not staying in the Cauldron," Harry muttered, remembering the summer before his third year.
"Definitely not," she said. "It's safer to stay under the radar in the muggle world."
"And more hygienic too."
The way she scrunched up her nose said that she clearly agreed.
…
It took a week for everything to finalize with the bank. In that time, Hermione showed him around muggle London and they looked around Diagon Alley and its side alleys together.
He had never been able to explore before so she took him to some of the most famous places for some sightseeing. They tried lots of new food and she forced him to shop more than he'd ever shopped in his life.
Hermione also went to visit her parents over the weekend, as she'd promised. She vaguely explained the new but unknown danger in the magical world. They accepted that she would be better protected being behind wards for most of the summer and made plans for weekend dinners and a couple movie nights.
They also spoke with Ollivander about the events in the graveyard.
The wandmakers shop was empty when they stepped into it but the magic in the air was alert.
"Mr. Ollivander?" Harry called out.
"Mr. Potter," Ollivander greeted as he stepped out from behind a stack of wand boxes. "And Ms. Granger. "An unexpected surprise so early in the summer."
"Nice to see you again, sir," Harry said.
"Holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches," he said while looking at Harry. After a moment, his piercing blue eyes switched over to Hermione. "Vine and dragon heart string, ten and three-quarter inches. I trust they are both serving you well?"
"Yes sir," Hermione said as she flicked her wand out of her sleeve reflexively.
"And well taken care of, I see. You are still well attuned to each other," he complimented after an appraising look.
"Thank you," she said with the same pleased look she got whenever she earned house points for Gryffindor.
Ollivander's gaze switched back over to Harry with a question swimming in their misty depths.
"That's actually why we're here," Harry answered as he withdrew his wand as well. "If you wouldn't mind answering a few questions in confidence?"
"In confidence?" Ollivander asked, one bushy white eyebrow twitching with intrigue.
"You see, sir, at the end of this year I ran into the brother of this wand," Harry said with a meaningful tap along the length of his holly wand. "And something rather odd occurred."
Ollivander perked up immediately. This time, both of his eyebrows rose.
"The brother of your wand…truly?" he asked.
In lieu of answered, Harry flipped his wand around deftly and handed it to Ollivander handle-first. He had noticed the way the wandmakers eyes kept alighting on it. As expected, it was swiftly pulled from his hand.
The ancient wizard cradled it to his chest for a moment before stroking it in ways that could probably be better glossed over. He raised it up to eye level and held it lengthwise, nose nearly touching it. Tiny whispering noises left his lips though neither of them could truly make out what he was saying. At one point, it looked like he was pretending to wear it like a mustache.
"I see, I see…" Ollivander whispered mysteriously. "This wand has met its brother."
"Yes, sir," Harry said with all the patience of someone who had just said that.
"No, no," he continued. "This wand has met its brother and found it lacking. Tell me, tell me what occurred."
"The Dark Lord returned."
"Yes, dear child, that much was obvious. Some of us folk can still sense when a shadow falls across the land. The wands, tell me about the wands."
Inwardly, Hermione tried to shake off the idea of Ollivander crouched over his wands and calling them 'my precious, preciouses,' and focused on the matter at hand.
"A short and fairly one-sided duel that ended when my reducto and his killing curse collided," Harry explained while Ollivander listened raptly. "There was an explosion of golden light that made a beam between our wands and formed a sort of net around us, like a sphere. But the strangest part were the ghosts of people pouring out of his wand…"
"Shades," Ollivander corrected immediately while locking eyes with Harry as if he felt it was particularly important that Harry understand the distinction. "The spirits of the departed are at rest. What you saw is not their ghosts, merely shades of their psychic impressions from their time of death."
"Right," he nodded. "So those were all the people he killed…I had thought so," he said with a frown before continuing. "There was a ball of golden light between us and I don't know how I knew, but I knew that I needed to push it back towards him. Then I uh, I saw my parents," he swallowed dryly. "Their shades, at least. They told me to hold him off and when I managed to push the light back towards his wand, it kinda backfired on him and all the shades swarmed him. I used the distraction to escape."
Ollivander let out a whoosh of air before handing Harry back his holly wand. He took it immediately, taking comfort in the familiar warmth that rushed through him.
"Priori incantatem," the wandmaker said. "That's the name of the phenomenon that you experienced."
"The reversing spell?" Hermione asked with a puzzle in her brow. "Isn't that the same spell that aurors use to check a wands spell history?"
"They share a name," Ollivander acknowledged. "But the phenomenon is not related to the spell. It occurs between two wands that share a core when wielded by wizards of similar power in a head-to-head confrontation. As you might guess, such specific requirements make the effect somewhat rare."
"So I can never use this wand in a fight against the Dark Lord?"
"You would simply have to take care that your spells don't directly collide again," Ollivander answered.
"Would it be easier to acquire a second wand then?" Hermione asked. Harry had thought about asking but it felt wrong to him.
"If purchasing a second wand were not illegal in the British Isles, then perhaps it would be. However, will that hypothetical second wand work as well as the wand that has chosen and bonded with you?"
"You're saying that I'd be exchanging one handicap for another," Harry summarized.
"That's one way of looking at it. You could also choose to see it as another way of blocking the killing curse," Ollivander said. "It sounds as if the effect saved your life."
"Undoubtedly. I mean I could have dodged that killing curse like the other four, but the value of the distraction that let me escape cannot be understated."
Ollivander blinked owlishly. Hermione restrained the urge to hug her friend.
"So unless I can find a wand that is a better match, which is a difficult task-" Harry began.
"I can personally attest to that," Ollivander said with a small smile.
"Then I'll just have to make sure my aim is good enough to control where my spells go," he completed.
"Or avoid future confrontations with the brother wand," Ollivander suggested. He looked like he already knew that his suggestion wasn't really an option.
"As if I'll ever be so lucky," Harry scoffed.
Once they were finished with their information hunt and their shopping sprees, they packed up their hotel room and shrunk their luggage. While staying in the hotel had been nice and he'd enjoyed doing normal summer vacation things (weird wandmaker aside), he was looking forward to the meeting with Gringotts. He was excited to finalize everything for what would become his new home. He was also curious about the results of the heritage test.
As it turned out, Harry was indeed the heir of Gryffindor.
The 700,000 galleon debt associated with the account explained why some of the previous Potters never took the title. The Gryffindor lord's ring explained why the rest hadn't — it was quite picky. Apparently, one needed a lot of magical potential to support Hogwarts wards but Harry had no problem slipping the bulky gold and ruby thing on.
"This explains why the Hogwarts house-elves are so nice to you," Hermione pointed out.
"And the portraits too," he agreed.
"And the ghosts."
"And why I have better luck than the Weasley twins when it comes to finding secret rooms."
Surprisingly enough, he had also turned out to be Lord Ravenborough. The title came with a Wizengamot seat and some sort of historical nature preserve called Socotra Island in Yemen, of all places. There was very little gold but Harry had interesting plans for the title.
As for the Gryffindor debt…well, Harry happily sunk most of the LeStrange fortune into that.
"Now," Riptuck had told them. "The Hufflepuff line died out in the fifties. The Slytherin line died out in the 80's. In accordance with the Hogwarts charter the founding four agreed to bind their families to, you have received Slytherin's share of Hogwarts under right of conquest. You will not receive the vaults."
"I thought the Dark Lord was the Slytherin heir?"
"He died in the 80's."
"But he's back now."
"With an artificial body."
"And Ravenclaw?"
"Ravenclaw's line is lost."
"So there's still a Ravenclaw heir somewhere?"
"Correct."
"What does that mean for me?"
"It means, regardless of the status of the Ravenclaw title, you have considerable boons of allowances related to your title and some degree of control over the castle. There's a book in the vaults."
Harry looked at Hermione, knowing the book would be her deal.
"The property sale is finalized but unwarded — would you like the goblins to begin?"
"Yes please," Harry agreed. "Ward the new island Hermione insisted on. Not like this Socotra Island place, a Ravenborough property with no connection to my name, would have worked."
The girl shot him a look.
"It's still in Yemen, Harry," she pointed out.
"Warding shall commence and be completed within three days," Riptuck declared once Harry had thrown up his hands and conceded defeat. "You'll need to name the island."
"Hermione," he gestured.
"What?"
"You wanted it, you name it."
She glared. "Firewall."
"Firewall?"
"Well, the castle is all red rock and reddish brick." she defended, glaring harder.
"What she said," he directed, deciding not to incite her ire any further.
The goblin filled in a few spaces on some parchment then pulled a scroll towards himself.
"A brief matter to settle; a debt to Gringotts for the sum of 57,840 galleons for 80 enchanted rings and 85,400 galleons for 82 enchanted amulets hand crafted by the Madame herself."
"Who's the Madame?" Harry asked, confused. "And why in the hell are they that expensive? And why's that a debt to Gringotts?"
Hermione smacked his shoulder hard.
"I asked you who I should get to enchant the rings and amulets, carefully explained the expense, and the options, and you said, and I quote, 'the best, of course. Drop my name, if you need to.'"
"You were lecturing, I didn't listen," Harry said before turning to Riptuck.
"Gringotts, on good faith," the words 'good faith' associated with a wizard seemed as foreign on the goblins tongue as they were to Harry's ears. "Bought the debt and collected the merchandise to make it immediately available."
"That was very kind."
"Simply good business," the goblin said. All of the goblin-made treasures that Harry had let the goblins freely reclaim from his vaults were worth far more than that.
"Right," Harry agreed. "Good business. Well, will the rest of the LeStrange vault cover that plus a handling fee for Gringotts?"
Riptuck's eyes gleamed slightly at the thought of a bit of profit.
"That'll be 143,350 with the Gringotts fee added — yes, it will cover the charge."
"There we go then."
"You may pick up the items from the antechamber off the main lobby," he waved off.
…
When the goblins finished warding, Hermione and Harry visited the imposing property by portkey. The first thing they noticed were the practically thrumming wards that had just been set.
"Oh, wow," Harry said once found his footing after the portkey.
"They don't waste a minute."
In front of them, an array of goblins had already begun construction. The ruins they remembered from the picture weren't even recognizable. The salvageable bricks and stones were stacked off to the side and the outline of a wide, L shaped structure was visible.
"By the time they're done, they'll be a huge tower there," Hermione said while pointing to the corner of the L shape. "And two smaller ones at either end."
"It's ruddy huge."
"This is ridiculous," Harry gaped, looking around. "It's much too big."
"I looked over the plans, Harry," she waved off. "We'll just close off the upper floors and towers then only use the greater castle. That leaves us with the main castle and the rest can be unsealed if we end up playing host to anyone."
He just sighed and shrugged.
"That looks like a good place to set up my tent," he said as he looked behind them towards the loch.
A rough, rocky incline led down to a wide grassy area bordered by more rock formations, hills, and steep inclines. The center of it would make the perfect place for him to camp out without being in the way of the construction.
They'd bought a wizarding tent like what the Weasleys had stayed in during the world cup. His was a newer and slightly smaller model with two bedrooms and a working kitchen and bathroom. He'd be able to stay safely under the new wards while living in luxury compared to Privet Drive.
"As soon as we can get Neville and Ron to visit, we can set the Fidelius," Hermione noted with satisfaction.
"You're sure you can do it?"
"This spell is just about pure power and repetition in a ritual circle. With you and Neville as the power and Ron to ground the spell, all I have to do is chant."
…
Hermione had been correct, in some respects.
The Fidelius had required Ron to channel exorbitant amounts of Harry and Neville's own magic and funnel it into the spell. Before that could happen, however, Ron had to exhaust his own magic. All in all, Hermione had to keep the chant going for over thirty minutes and that did require a fair bit of magic on her own part. By the end of it, everyone was exhausted.
So exhausted, in fact, that all three boys passed out before Hermione, the secret keeper, could tell them the secret. It had been a mess of confusion when they'd finally woken up inside of Harry's tent.
Once they'd all heard the secret and gotten settled, the rushing began.
"Oh bloody hell," Ron cried, checking the time with his wand. Magic couldn't be detected behind Fidelius, anyways. "Mum expected me back from town twenty minutes ago."
"Hermione."
Hermione, the most proficient with the portkey spell, tapped her wand to a clean hankie Ron offered her. She also handed him four brown paper wrapped packages.
"The portkey is to just behind the orchard," she informed him. "And give one of these to the twins and Ginny. I got all of yours ready first."
"Will do."
"Think you'll make it past Mrs. Weasley?" Harry asked.
"I'll tell mum I fell asleep in the orchard," he waved off. "Feel like I got run over by a herd of hippogriffs anyways."
Ron was pulled away with a dull flash of blue.
"What about you, Nev?" Harry asked, nudging the teenager.
Neville had grown a bit broader as well. Like most of the DA, he was a bit more physically fit than some of their other peers. That didn't make Neville any less exhausted by magical feats; the boy was slumped into the surprisingly comfortable armchair of the tent's main room.
"Huh?" he jerked up. "Oh, my Gran doesn't mind. I told her I was visiting Harry Potter."
Hermione and Harry both stared incredulously.
"You told her the truth?" he squawked.
"Well I told her she mustn't tell anyone," Neville defended. "Said you gave Dumbledore the slip — she loved it. She's not his biggest fan, trust me."
"Wow," Harry said as he shook his head. "Quite the lady, your Gran."
"You don't know the half of it, mate," he snorted.
"Here, Neville," Hermione said, pulling a brown wrapped package to the boy. One side was flat and the other was slightly lumpy.
He opened it and found the journal as well as two small velvet bags. "Wow, these are really nice," he said as he gently pulled the black onyx jewelry from their bags and peered at them closely. "And I can literally feel the magic. Blimey, are these from the Madame?"
"They are," Hermione agreed. "The ring is the only one that could be charmed invisible; the amulet will have to be hidden under the shirt. If it's seen, it's seen."
"Chain's long enough," Neville agreed, immediately pulling the Celtic shield amulet over his head. The thick banded platinum ring adjusted to his size easily.
"If you need to put out a distress signal, tap the stone on the ring to the stone on the amulet." Hermione told him. "The other instructions are on the first page of the journal. Also, those portkeys will work from within Hogwarts so the portkey location has been adjusted to the DA Cathedral."
That was one of the perks of Harry being Lord Gryffindor.
"Right, I'm off then," Neville said after a few more minutes of conversation. He had his Longbottom ring to portkey him home.
After he left, Hermione and Harry began talking to all of the new house-elves. Hermione wanted to make sure they were all content with their new homes and jobs.
"And you're sure you're happy here?"
"Oh yes, Miss," one nodded vigorously.
"Lots and lotsa work to be done for the green goblins, you sees."
Indeed, they did see.
There were dozens of elves popping around the construction site apparently helping the goblins. They had been worried that twenty elves wouldn't have enough work to do since all of the houses were empty and the castle didn't even have walls yet. Apparently, they'd offered to help the goblins and had been quickly welcomed on the site. Apparently, wizards either never thought to offer the help of their house-elves when hiring goblins or they wouldn't allow them to help. The goblins were happy to accept the free help of the other magical beings.
It was rather humbling for Hermione. She tended to associate them with simple household tasks and forgot how powerful they truly were. She felt bad for underestimating them as she watched them levitate giant piles of bricks, rocks, and equipment.
Harry already knew they were quite capable since he vividly remembered Dobby throwing Lucius Malfoy down a set of stairs after a semester of trick-playing and light maiming on Harry himself.
"Well don't forget to take plenty of breaks for food and water," she reminded.
"You have access to money to buy anything you need right?" Harry checked.
"Oh yes, master."
"Yes, yes, kind master."
"And for the goblins too?"
"Theys be doing their own snacks, master."
"Right," he nodded. "Well if you can figure out what they like, you can always offer. I don't mind paying for it, everyone's working so hard."
"Mippy be doing lunches now for everyone!" she cheered. Apparently in her mind, 'you can always offer' actually meant 'you can always feed them three times more than necessary and argue that it's free and saves them money' which will always convince a goblin. Silly master said 'if you can figure out what they like' as if there wasn't already a secret squad of house-elves dedicated to the task.
Once that was done, a few of the elves were given their first official tasks.
"Here's a list for each of you with the names of our friends," Hermione said as she gave each of them a different list. "And here's a stack of contracts."
"We need everyone on that list to sign one of these contracts," Harry explained. "Once they've signed it, a copy will appear. You give them the copy and one of these packages then bring the signed original contract back here."
"You have to be careful only to appear when they're completely alone or only with someone else on the list," Hermione explained. "The Patil or Carrow twins are probably together."
"Just don't be seen by anyone not on this list," Harry simplified.
"Yes, master."
"Any questions?"
"No, miss," another elf answered, clutching the copies of the contract and list to her chest.
"It might take more than a few days to get to everyone. There's no rush," Harry said. "Make sure to eat and rest, no need to stay up all night. Have lunch with everyone before you start," he added, knowing they would probably be too eager to start their new tasks otherwise.
A few pops marked the elves disappearing, leaving the two friends alone.
"That was easy enough," he said, tilting his head in a so-so way.
"I will say that having their help is very convenient," Hermione admitted. "I still don't think it's right to own slaves."
"They're not slaves, Hermione. It's all about how you treat them," Harry said. "And we'll always treat them like family."
"I'm not worried about your elves, Harry, just all the other ones."
"Give it time," he said. "That's just one form of bigotry that we're going to take on, right?"
"Right," she said. "Now I've got to get to Gringotts to let the other building team in on the secret and probably Riptuck as well, if you're alright with it."
"Yeah, of course," he agreed. "Their employment contracts are ironclad; I'm not worried about them betraying our trust."
"I'll be back later then," she said. "Unless you want to come."
"Nah, I'm going to unpack my trunk if Dobby hasn't already done it."
"See you soon."
Over the next week, signed copies of the contracts were returned with only one small hiccup. A howler arrived from a particularly sharp-tongued Zara Valli that saw them amending their instructions to the elves — they were only to make deliveries when their friends were completely alone and not using the toilet or shower.
Once they had all of the contracts signed and packages distributed, another task was given to a house-elf. Sissy, a young and bashful elf, had been given a slip of parchment with the secret of Firewall island written in Hermione's hand.
The little thing looked like she wanted to faint when she'd been trusted with such an important secret which she diligently guarded and returned to Hermione after sharing it with each student.
"Well that's everyone," Harry said.
"More than fifty contracts," Hermione said as she looked at the stack sitting on the table in Harry's tent. "And there's probably a few more students who'll be interested in joining next year."
"You think so?"
"We're not the only ones who know there's something coming," Hermione said.
"You don't think they all believe the ministry?"
"There's got to be more than just us that know the ministry is full of it."
"We should send these off to Gringotts."
"You stay here," Hermione said as Harry moved to stand up. "I don't want to send them by owl. I'll drop them off before I head to dinner with my parents tonight."
"Alright."
…
Once the contracts were delivered, Gringotts delivered the first bank statements to each of their new customers. This was a surprise to all of them as they hadn't realized they'd now be entitled to private accounts due to their employment contracts.
In addition to that, Harry had, rather morbidly, made sure that every new vault owner had to make a very basic will. For most, they left the contents of the vault and other possessions to their family. Some left it to charities and some left it to Hogwarts.
It was daunting for the students, most of them children, to realize the purpose of the document and really think about why they might need it. At the end of the day, it didn't make a difference though. They were doing what they had to do — for Cedric, for their friends and family, and for their very future.
"Alright, you're packed and ready to go?" Harry asked Hermione, watching as she adjusted Crookshanks' basket and unshrunk her trunk. It needed to look like she'd been in the muggle world, after all. She'd mostly stayed with him since the summer began, occasionally visiting her parents, but now she needed to go to the Weasley's a week earlier than they expected.
"Yep," she confirmed. "You think Dumbledore's gonna figure out you're not at the Dursleys soon?"
"I just got a letter from Sirius; apparently by Friday they'll have a guard rotation on me. They weren't going to tell me but he thought it better that I know."
"And once they see that you're not there, they'll check my house."
"And then your parents will know you haven't been with the Weasleys."
"And then the Weasleys and Dumbledore will know that you haven't been with your parents," Harry finished. "So, bad all around."
"What else did Sirius say?"
"He didn't say much — apparently he wasn't supposed to tell me at all but he didn't want me to spot the watchers and get frightened."
"Right, well," she said, giving him a fierce hug. "You leave this island as little as possible, you hear me?"
"I have a private meeting or two to attend as Lord Ravenborough," he told her. "But otherwise, I'll be here."
"You're going to use that title?" Hermione asked in a voice that clearly demanded to know why she hadn't been privy to those plans.
"Well, it's been dead for nearly a hundred years, right?" Harry asked. "And I already checked with the goblins — they gave me a full alias in the name of Reginald Ravenborough. It won't fool the goblins, of course, but I only need it to pass a few cursory inspections."
"Harry James, what are you up to?"
"You're going to be late," he teased. "Weasleys expect you by floo and there's always a line at the Leaky Cauldron. Be safe, alright?"
"You as well," she said forcefully, giving him a look that clearly said she expected to be brought up to speed and soon.
…
As soon as she got to the Weasleys, both she and Ron carefully but sadly mentioned that Harry hadn't answered any of their letters.
"That poor dear. I can only imagine what he's been going through," Molly Weasley had cried. "We'll make sure to owl him something extra nice for his birthday, won't we Ginny? We'll bake a cake and some treacle and you can write him a nice long letter."
"I'm sure Harry would like that, mum," the young redhead had answered with a veiled eye roll, well past her Boy-Who-Lived crush. Her mother still thought of her as the same starry-eyed girl she'd used to be but she'd grown out of that quickly after the events of her first year and getting to know Harry. He was still a hero in her eyes but not one she fangirl-idolized based on made-up stories.
"Now, children," Molly directed. "We're going to be staying somewhere else for the rest of the summer. The wards there will be much better. Professor Dumbledore will be coming to talk to everyone tonight."
…
And so, Hermione and all of the Weasleys were moved to Number 12 Grimmauld place.
Via the journal, Hermione had told Harry that they had been moved and were staying with Sirius in a place that they could not name. Helpfully, she'd told him the protections were remarkably similar to those around Firewall Island.
"I know where you're staying," he assured them. "I'm Lord Black — I can think the name of the place but I can't say it."
"Good," Hermione wrote. "Did you see what Daphne added to the research section?"
"Yeah, you think she'll find anything? I'm sure whatever resurrection ritual he used was pretty obscure."
"If anyone could, it's Daphne," Ron pitched in. He, Harry, and Hermione had started their own three-way conversation in the journal. "Dad said the Greengrass family has one of the largest book collections in the country, outside of Hogwarts."
"You could check the Library where you're staying, Hermione," Harry told her.
"How did you know there was a library here?"
"I seem to know a lot about every Black property."
"Doesn't matter anyways," Ron noted. "Our minders locked off all of the dark rooms. Doesn't stop that Fletcher guy from rifling."
Harry thought about that before focusing on the Black ring for a minute.
"I think I adjusted the family wards — as long as it was Sirius who locked the library, and he should be the only one who can, you guys can go in there now. And no items can be taken out of the house if they belong to or were placed there by a Black."
"That'll show him, slimy bastard."
"What's Dumbledore doing having a guy like that around?"
"I imagine he has some seedy connections," Hermione hypothesized.
"So that's what he's doing? Making connections?"
"Seems like he's gathering up his old friends. They try to keep us upstairs when they meet but the twins have been spying a bit with those extendable ears. They've spotted Mad Eye and a couple aurors, plus Professor Lupin."
"So Dumbledore's gathering up his old crowd."
"From what the twins say, we're better organized. They're going to drop some listening devices they've been working on into the kitchen and we'll see how it goes." Hermione finished.
"Alright, you guys get some sleep. I'll keep in contact."
…
Over the next month, lots of things happened.
The largest was a relatively quiet Azkaban breakout. Sirius Black was blamed again but they all knew the real culprit was the Dark Lord. He was on the move to rebuild his power base.
In a way, Harry was doing the same thing. He alternated between meeting with the DA members who could arrange it, tutoring and answering questions through the journal, and training as much as possible.
He also spent a lot of time laughing his ass off about the headmasters supposed 'Order of the Phoenix.'
The group was so disorderly it was painful. They were also very distressed by Harry's disappearance; he'd answered only one letter to say that he'd decided to spend the summer by himself and ignored all others, including the ones sent by his best friends to keep up appearances.
Despite their uselessness when it came to keeping track of him, the Order was able to provide many, many names for the Death Eater portion of the DA journal. A few of the Slytherin DA members were able to add a few more names to the list; many of their manors had been guested in the late hours of the night by shady figures and dark allies.
Still, the summer had, surprisingly, only brought the group closer.
Many of them were meeting amongst themselves and practicing magic in the homes with enough warding to avoid Ministry detection. Some of the halfbloods and muggleborns made arrangements to stay with Hannah Abbott, Ernie Macmillan, Justin Steele, and others. This allowed them to study and practice just as well.
In the Bones household, Susan was eyeing her aunt's visitor with suspicion that turned to surprise when she saw the distinctive ring on his finger; it was a perfect copy of the onyx ring she wore on her own finger.
"Susan, this is Lord Ravenborough," Amelia introduced. "This is my niece, Susan."
"Please, call me Reg," he corrected, smiling. "And I am most pleased to meet you, Ms. Susan."
Susan didn't recognize him until she saw the shifty eyed look and then the wink he shot at her. Harry?
He kinda looked like Harry, if she squinted a bit.
"Then you must call me Amelia," the distinguished woman decided, adjusting her robes. "Please, join me in my study."
Harry followed her dutifully and waved cheekily at Susan who was, at this point, sure it was Harry.
And it was; he'd used a unique blood based glamor that drew from his mother's paternal line to disguise his face. It was more effective than a normal glamor because it acted on features already present in bone structure or genetic makeup. It's subtlety made it that much harder to detect.
Settled in the Bones Manor study, Amelia waited for her house-elf to pour the tea and leave to begin the discussion.
"I will admit I was surprised to receive a request for a meeting, Lord Ravenborough," she said, addressing him by his title despite their exchange moments ago. "I hadn't even known that the Ravenborough seat was active."
"I've only recently claimed it, in fact," he agreed, tilting his head. "Though matters of the Wizengamot aren't what I'm here to discuss, Director Bones."
"You wish to discuss the aurors?" she asked with a delicately raised brow; his use of her title had clued her in easily.
"More specifically the budget," he agreed. "To begin, I have a series of questions if you wouldn't mind answering them."
"If it's within my abilities," she granted slowly.
"The DMLE budget is one lump sum, correct?"
"Well yes."
"And it comes as an annual amount, correct?"
"Correct."
"And you'll be discussing this next years budget during the upcoming DMLE meeting?"
"As is customary."
Harry pulled a leather portfolio of research he'd done on his own in the Ministry archives. He took a minute to organize them, knowing that she was looking at them as he set them down, before he found the page he wanted.
"So, the fixed costs for the auror department is actually separate from the yearly department stipend. Fixed costs being auror salaries and the like," he began, thinking out loud. "Your annual budget is 35,000 galleons — most of that goes towards fulfilling the Ministry regulations that require you have two sets of dragon-hide armor per one auror. The rest goes towards stocking potions and other gear like auror-grade flash-bangs and the like. On average, you spend 5,000 galleons on that."
"You're well informed on the auror budget, yes."
"That keeps our standing auror force at somewhere just over 100 — the excess in the budget goes towards funding operations and the department expense account."
"We have a current force of 104," she agreed, looking at him from over the rim of her tea cup. "I'd quite like to know why you have such a profound interest, Lord Ravenborough."
"Reg," he corrected. "I'm interested in seeing the auror forces bolstered. I'd like to see you with a standing force of 250 — I know there's people with the qualifications that want the job that you don't have the resources to hire."
"Unless you know of a way to convince the Minister to increase the DMLE budget to somewhere in the range of 60,000 galleons, I'm afraid that'll be quite impossible."
"To clarify, if you were able to to locate these funds, you could hire another 150 people regardless of the Minister's wishes? The ministry would have to pay their salary as long as you don't overrun allotted funds?"
"The Ministry's salary budget can accommodate that, yes. They'd have no reasons or grounds to protest. But I still don't see how that's relevant."
Harry pulled three books from his pocket and opened them to bookmarked pages.
"These are court records that prove the ministry has a history of allowances when it comes to donations to the ministry — one of those being that donator has the indisputable right to donate the money to one specific department and that said money may have no effect on departmental budgets. They also have the right to decide who dictates the spending of that money."
Those nifty little laws had been instituted to help corrupt department heads line their pockets and some of them were still used today. Harry was planning to use them properly and legally, however.
"Are you saying you plan to donate upwards of 60,000 galleons to the DMLE?" she asked in an even tone that concealed her true interest.
The cost of re-securing Azkaban was already a huge drain on her department. Something like this could help quite bit, if she were honest. However, she was hesitant to believe it. Very few families had access to that kind of liquid income and she doubted very seriously that he did.
"No," Harry briefly enjoyed the small flicker of disappointment on her face.
He pushed a certified bank draft that only lacked only one blank — the receiver.
"I'm saying I will donate 150,000 galleons with the provision that it be used to expand and better train the aurors."
Amelia had to set her tea cup down.
"That's," she paused to gather herself. "That is incredibly generous and, as you've pointed out, perfectly legal."
"But?"
"But I would have reservations."
"Such as?"
"What are you expecting from this? I don't accept bribes."
"Pardon me, my lady," Harry said with an appropriate amount of manufactured insult even if he knew it was a question she'd ask. "But If firmly believe that dark times are coming and our auror force is not nearly ready for it."
"Dark times?" she asked suspiciously. "Have you been speaking to Albus Dumbledore?"
"While Dumbledore may be the only one who stands up and shouts that he believes the Dark Lord has returned, he isn't the only one who can tell there's stirring in the darker factions of our society."
"So you believe him?"
"I've been offered no proof or disproof — all I have observed are whispers and they are enough to warrant suspicion."
"A 150,000 galleon bank note is more than suspicion."
"Perhaps it is," he admitted. "Perhaps it's paranoia. But the events of the last war were terrible enough to warrant paranoia."
"I suppose so," she admitted with a nod a moment later.
"Now, I wasn't sure what exactly I needed to write in this bit," Harry said, gesturing to the blank slot. "The goblins said something about 'for explicit use of' and said you could provide the proper title."
"If you're quite sure…"
"I'm quite sure," Harry agreed firmly before tilting his head. "Although…there might be one favor I could ask of you."
Amelia stiffened immediately so he hurried to continue.
"It's my understanding that Hogwarts is having a difficult time finding a professor to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts. If you could, perhaps, lend or encourage an auror or retiree to take the position?" he asked hesitantly. "It is, after all, important for the next generation to be able to defend themselves as best as possible should darkness be on the rise."
Tilting her head, Amelia looked at the check and then back to him. It certainly wasn't a bribe and she could tell that she could deny the request and he'd still sign the check all the same.
But with that much money at her disposal, she could spare an auror for the job. She had one or benched for medical reasons that would probably jump at the chance to avoid paperwork and desk duty.
"I believe that can be arranged."
…