Sipala's Wards

Emillios Sipala walked into his father's study. They had finally received the last statement they needed from the warders they had been in contact with. From what he had seen so far, Lord Black seemed to be the only one who had proven that he could do what they were asking for. He was also the only one who had provided additional ward lists and a time estimate per ward.

Lord Sipala looked them all over. "Your recommendation?" he asked his son.

"Master Black," Emillios said. "He is the only one who has given a timeline for us to work with. He also showed me similar work that he has already done. I know his age speaks against him, but he is also the only one of them whose demands were centred on the possibility of bringing his family, as well as ways to keep them safe."

"Please share your memory," Lord Sipala said as he brought the family pensive out. He went into the memory and studied the young man his son had met. It was interesting to see the mix between goblin and noble mannerism in him. Though, Sipala was fairly certain the man was not a Black by blood. He wasn't sure why he assumed that, but there was something in the way he moved. Not that it was important. He could see why Emillios liked him. He was almost painfully to the point. He looked at his son. "What is the downside of choosing him?" he asked. There had to be something. He refused to believe any of these candidates were perfect.

"We run the risk of him not finishing because he wants to be home for his sons as they attend school," Emillios said. "I'm sure that is something we can discuss with him, though. He certainly seems reasonable enough."

Lord Sipala nodded slowly. Time was a small price to pay for good wards. "Can he make sure the wards will hold if he needs to leave them?" he asked.

"From his report, it looks like he can make the wards in sections that he then interweaves once they are done," Emillios said.

"You are convinced this is the best choice?" Lord Sipala asked his son.

"Yes, father, I am," Emillios said.

"Then I want him here in person as soon as possible," Lord Sipala said. "We can discuss exactly how we will handle everything then."

Emillios left his father's study and headed down to his own so he could write the necessary letter. He sent it off and hopes for quick handling.

…

Harry reached out as an owl flew in through the window. It landed on his arm and he took the letter it held. "Thank you, you may rest as needed. I will respond with my raven," he said. He opened the letter slowly. Teddy's birthday had been the day before, so he felt slightly drained, though, Lyra had been an amazing help in both setting things up and cleaning it all away.

Harry shook his head. Ten years since the War. He knew Luna wanted to release something for the anniversary. She had been speaking with all of them for whatever special edition of the Quibbler she was working on.

Harry tapped the letter against the table. Looked like he would be gone most of the following day. He penned a reply and sent it back. He would be there.

Emillios smiled as the Stormraven appeared with Master Black's response. He was available the very next day, that was perfect. He went to let his father know.

…

The following day dawned rather bleak. Draco watched his fiancé put on his Master robes. He placed a hand over his shield. His iron had arrived a few days ago. It still surprised him that Harry was willing to get marked with his Mastery Insignia. "Good luck today and say hello to Blaise if you see him," he said before kissing him.

"Thank you. I will, and I love you. Have a nice day," Harry said before he and Gienah teleported out of there.

They landed outside the wards by what seemed like a guard station. Harry looked around as he walked up to the station. A stoic man in his late fifties looked up at Harry as he approached. "Name?" he asked.

"Hydrus Black," Harry responded.

"Wand?"

"I am a Mage, I don't use one," Harry said, while hoping that would not be an issue.

The man looked up at him for a moment before shaking his head and turning to pick something up. "This will record magic usage while you are here," he said as he handed Harry a slap on wristband.

Harry put it on. It wasn't like he was there to do magic anyway.

"Walk up to the wards. The head of security will meet you on the other side."

"Thank you," Harry said as he walked through. This part of the wards were obviously newer. He could tell in the way they felt. A sturdy man with broad shoulders and a no nonsense look on his face was walking across the lawn towards Harry. He held his hand out. "I am Head of Security, you may call me Tony," he said as he shook Harry's hand.

"Master Warder Hydrus Black, but Harry works just fine," Harry responded.

Tony smiled. "Sounds good to me. You okay with side-along? Lord Sipala does not allow for guests to apparate within his wards," he said.

"Only apparition or all forms of instant magical travel?" Harry asked. "If the wards only prevent apparation, that is a major oversight. Though I don't mind you bringing me along."

Tony wasn't sure if the wards prevented more than apparation, so he couldn't answer that question. He grabbed Harry and brought him to just outside his Lord's study before knocking on the door. They entered and Lord Sipala looked up from his desk.

"Welcome to Luce del Sol or Sipala Estate, Lord Black," Lord Sipala said. "You are one of the warders I have chosen to speak too personally. The wards here are unique in many ways, and I need to know you are certain you can work on them."

"May I have a look?" Harry asked.

Lord Sipala did not smile, but he did note the fact that this warder asked before looking at the wards. So it wasn't just him that felt it was rude that some had forgone asking first then. "You may," he said.

Harry's eyes glowed with power as he looked around at the wards surrounding the Estate. He couldn't give a detailed description from where he was, but he could see where the wards intersected and had been expanded upon. Some of those connections were straining and definitely needed help to keep together. He certainly could do that. It was not something that should be a problem for him. Not with the way he warded. He left magesight again and met the eyes of the Lord before him. Lord Sipala was a formidable man. It was visible in his stance even when seated that he was a dueller. This was not a man you messed with, meaning that he would be a good ally to have. "I can aid these wards, whether you want me to simply support them or add to them. If you prefer, I also do not mind if your son wishes to oversee my work. It is not the first time I work that way, though last time the one who observed was not a warder already."

Lord Sipala was both surprised and pleased to hear this. A warder who was willing to work with his family was worth a lot in his eyes. "It bothers me that you cannot start working until June," he said.

Harry nodded and looked at the raven on his shoulder. "What do you think, Gienah? Would it be draining for us to come here every day?" he asked, knowing that his stormraven helped him when he teleported this far. He waited for a bit as Gienah conveyed her response to him. "I think so too," he said. "I can start working on the wards at the start of May if it is acceptable that I work only four days a week. I will need Wednesdays off to have the reserves to go back and forth as well as work the wards. The only reason I can't start right away is because I'm working on the tail end of another project right now. I will be done within the next week or so, but I will be using a lot of my reserves to make that happen, so I can't start until May."

Lord Sipala nodded slowly. "Your estimate states that base wards are required for the rest of your wards," he said. "I would like you to go with Antonio and make an estimate of how long it would take you to lay these wards," he said.

Harry nodded. "Certainly," he said. "Do I leave the information with Tony?" He didn't mind either way.

"Yes," Lord Sipala said. "I will be in touch."

"Of course," Harry said. "I hope to hear from you." He followed Tony out of the office and down a corridor. The two of them moved around the wards for the next almost two hours before Harry handed Tony an estimate of how long it would take him. Judging from the size and complexity of the wards, it would take him at least all of May just to lay the base weave. He returned home after that, and Tony went back to Lord Sipala.

"What do you think, Antonio?" Lord Sipala asked.

"Well, let's start with the fact that we don't need to leave for him to work," Tony said. "Our presence apparently doesn't matter at all, and the wards will still be up. I asked him if he needs to take over the wards, and he says he needs master access, but he doesn't need to be fully handed the wards, so both you and I could still be connected as he works. He is polite, he has a sense of humour, and he is respectful. I will take him over the last one in a heartbeat, even if his work will take longer."

"How long?" Lord Sipala asked.

"Twenty days for the base," Tony said.

"According to his rates, that is two thousand galleons for the base weave that he can then add things into," Lord Sipala said.

"It will take that long because he will go over each ring of the wards separately and make sure they don't fall apart," Tony said. "He was quite concerned with a few places, but said it shouldn't be a problem, it might just take more time."

Lord Sipala nodded slowly. "He will take longer, but he will be cheaper than the previous two I have spoken with."

"He is working alone rather than bringing apprentices. To me, that feels safer for the household as a whole, and he is okay with Emillios joining him," Tony said. "I'd say that unless the last one is a genius, we should go with Warder Black."

Lord Sipala agreed. Warder Black would take longer to lay his wards. But time and precision from someone who would truly care for their wards was preferred to someone who just wanted to get the job done. This was the Warder the Enclave had sent him, meaning he was more reliable than most human warders. He had to follow Nation laws. "Thank you, Antonio," he said.

Tony bowed and headed out. He hoped Warder Black would be the one to come work on their wards. He certainly seemed the most if not competent than at least enthusiastic.

…

It took another few weeks before Harry was back at Luce del Sol. Lord Sipala had not been impressed by the last warder he had to see and had contacted Harry right after meeting the man. This time, the guard at the gate didn't give Harry a wristband, but Harry did meet with Tony right inside the wards.

"Good you are early," Tony said.

Harry nodded. "I don't drop the boys off on Thursdays," he said.

"You have sons Warder Black?" Tony asked.

"Two and a third child on the way," Harry said.

Tony smiled. "I have two rascals myself," he said. "I guess I can understand why you are a bit reluctant to just stay here to work the wards, then."

"They attend school in the non-magical world," Harry said. "We were hoping to move everyone here once school is out. My fiancé is good friends with Blaise, so they would certainly appreciate it."

Tony chuckled. "Oh, well now that is good news," he said. "How old are the tykes?" he asked.

"Ten and seven," Harry said, and he could see the surprise on Tony's face. He assumed Tony thought he looked too young to have sons that old. He didn't care. They walked their way over to the main house that day, speaking as they did so, until Tony walked a head of Harry. Not that the Warder could no longer see what Tony was saying, he also could not respond. He sighed. He needed to make sure his newest client knew that his request for a translator actually were for him.

Tony looked back at Warder Black. He hadn't responded in a while. "Something the matter?" he asked.

"I'm deaf, and you are speaking with your back turned to me," Harry said as he signed. "How am I supposed to respond when I cannot see you speak."

Tony blinked and turned red in embarasment. He hadn't… at least he hadn't got angry with the man. That was good, since he would have felt like an arse if that was the case. "Does the Lord know?" he asked.

"I asked if there was someone here who would be able to sign, but the request came in connection to my family, so Emillios might have assumed it is a family member of mine who is deaf and not myself. Most of the time it doesn't matter as long as I'm face to face with the person," Harry said with a shrug. "I was planing on telling Lord Sipala now, though. Just so people can be made aware if necessary."

Tony nodded. "That is a good idea. How…?"

"Do I speak?" Harry finished the question. "I can hear my own voice. New words can be hard, and I wouldn't have wanted to learn a new language…" He shrugged. "That doesn't matter as much now that the goblins helped me hear my fiancé. He can always correct me if needed."

Tony shook his head. He wasn't quite sure what to say to any of that. He and seen the shield on Harry's shoulder last time, of course, and he was impressed. It had looked different from any other shield he had seen, and he wondered what the wings meant. It was rude to ask, though. At least he knew that much.

Lord Sipala was sitting outside with his granddaughter drinking tea when Harry and Tony walked up to them. "Ah, here already, that is good. I shall hand control over then," he said.

Harry brought out the contract he and Dumac had set up for this job. "Here is the contract. Please sign it before handing me ward control," he said. He gave the scroll to Lord Sipala before looking at the woman next to him. 'They tell me you sign,' he signed to her.

Isobelle's eyes widened slightly. 'I do, yes,' she signed back. He had spoken only a moment before.

'I am deaf, so if your grandfather wants something right now, I have no idea what he is saying,' Harry signed with a soft smile on his face.

'He is commenting on how well made goblin contracts are,' Isobelle signed back. 'Will you be able to start today?'

"Yes, that will not be a problem," Harry answered.

'Good then I suggest we get started,' Isobelle signed and this time her grandfather saw her. He turned to Harry. "You are deaf?" he asked.

Harry nodded now able to read his lips once more. "That I am, sir," he said. "I did ask Emillios if you had someone on hand who could sign. I seldom come across as deaf in a one on one meeting, so I can understand that he didn't pick up on that fact that I was asking for my own benefit."

"The rest of your family?" Lord Sipala asked. "You wanted to bring them. Is there anything we need to know?"

Harry shrugged. "Probably not, unless Draco and Blaise suddenly had a falling out he didn't tell me about." He winked at Isobelle. "Scorpius sends his love, though, he was very loud about it which is a feat for a parselmouth let me tell you."

Lord Sipala untangled what was going on. It was clear that his granddaughter probably knew Lord Black's partner. And at least two of them could speak to snakes. That was good to know, but certainly not concerning. He rose slowly so he could hand over ward control to the young Lord. He felt Lord Black join in the Master hold of the wards. It was such a stark difference to Antonio that he wasn't sure what to think.

Harry moved through the wards swiftly but gently, almost like he was wearing silk gloves. "I thought I should start with the outer wards, but the innermost ones are the oldest, aren't they. They are the ones most likely to be damaged and fail if something were to happen that they can't handle, but they also centre several other wards," he said.

"The outer wards are technically not important in comparison," Lord Sipala agreed. "Those we should switch out if needed."

"I'll see what I can do about that," Harry said. "You will notice when I work, but accessing the wards should not make a difference for me." He tilted his head. "Now to see if there is a lock against teleportation." He disappeared.

As Harry landed, his shook his head. No there was not, and he needed to do something about that. They were completely open to mages just getting right in there. Not a good thing. He activated his magesight and started placing his runes slowly as he walked around the first layer of ward. According to the information he had been given, these wards were nearly four thousand years old. He took a deep breath before he started his weave. He moved through and over the original wards gently as he weaved the old wards into his weave and mended the holes. At times, he had to pause and take his time as he didn't want to ruin what was there already, meaning he had to study the original weave to know how to add in the missing strands. It was slow work and took a lot of concentration.

Lord Sipala walked along his grounds some several hours later. He looked towards the warder and watched him. He couldn't see the magic he was weaving, but he could feel the changes to the wards. The strain was lessening, but the ward was clearly still there.

"Father?"

"Emillios good," Lord Sipala said. "Have a look at our warder down there. He as agreed to let you watch, so there won't be a problem."

Emillios entered magesight and looked down at Harry, swallowing thickly as he did so. There was so much magic. Harry was a mage, that much was clear, and with his well open to the weaving he looked almost like a being of pure light. He watched in amazement as Harry slowly added strings into a tear of the old ward gently and reattached the weave, restoring it to what it had been. From what he could tell, it was a perfect restoration. How? "He isn't just protecting the old ward, he is mending it," he said softly.

Lord Sipala raised an eyebrow. "Keep an eye on him and bring him inside for lunch, son," he said. He would have to bring another warder in to check Lord Black's work later. For now, he would trust his son to let him know if the man did anything to harm the original wards.

"Yes, father," Emillios said as he moved closer to the Ward Master.

Two and a half hours later, Harry's alarm went off, and he slowly anchored what he had been working on and took a step back. He chuckled softly as he saw Emillios Sipala standing nearby studying one of his mends. "Do you have a question?" he asked.

Emillios looked over at him with a startled expression. "Yes," he said. "How did you do this?"

Harry smiled. "Lay a matrix down for this portion of the ward," he said.

Emillios conjured parchment and quill and did exactly as Harry had said. He wasn't sure why though. He looked up every once in a while to see Harry do the same thing. "Now what?" he asked.

Harry walked up to him and looked at his matrix. It was a fairly common way of drawing them. Then he placed his matrix next to Emillios. "I don't see it the way you do," he said as he handed the other warder his sketch.

Emillios stared at Harry's matrix. It was so much more detailed than his that he didn't even quite know what to say. "Father invited you for lunch. We should head over to the house," he said. He needed time to look at this that he didn't have, and even then he wasn't sure he would understand what Warder Black could see.

Harry shook his head and grabbed Emillios by the elbow before teleporting them back to the house. "I really need to do something about that," he muttered.

"What are you talking about?" Emillios asked.

"There is no protection against alternate forms of instant travel. Only apparation is prohibited without permission. If a mage or two showed up, you have no way of stopping them from going where they want," Harry said. "It is foolish and something I will certainly be doing something about once I reach the other wards."

"I didn't even know mages used another form of travel," Emillios said.

"Apparition is unstable for a mage. Our well doesn't react well to it," Harry said. "I can side-along fine, but apparating on my own really isn't recommended, even if I know how to do it."

Emillios nodded slowly. He wasn't sure what to think at the moment. Warder Black was something else. That was for certain. They reached a gazebo and settled down with the available family. The Sipala's were a big family, the Lord having two daughters and three sons, who all had children of their own. Most of the time they were not home at the same time, though, so there were only a dozen or so people by the dining table.

"Ah, good, Master Warder, what do you think now?" Lord Sipala asked.

"The wards are beautiful, though it is clear they have not had the best care over the years," Harry said calmly.

Lord Sipala looked at him for a moment, wondering if that was a simple statement or something more. "Then I am glad we have someone competent to look them over now," he said.

"Oh, Master Black is much more than just competent," Emillios said. "The way he waves is art."

Isobelle signed for her father, since he was sitting next to Harry. She was smiling softly. 'I wish I could see what he is talking about' she signed.

Harry met her eyes for a moment. 'My memories would hold the weave as I see it,' he signed back. 'I wouldn't mind showing you.'

Isobelle chuckled. 'Grandfather is reprimanding me for not sharing,' she signed. "I'm sorry grandfather. Master Black simply offered me a chance to see the weave."

"Isn't that impossible without magesight?" Lord Sipala asked.

"Not in direct showing. When looking at a memory, that way magical skills show. You still can't understand a different language, just like you wouldn't be able to read the wards, just see them. In direct viewing, I can hear because it is my inner ear that is damaged, and direct viewing connects to the brain."

"I don't think I have ever heard of direct viewing before," Emillos said.

"It is basically reversed Legilimency inviting someone else into your mind," Harry said. "Most people don't feel comfortable doing it, and it takes a tremendous amount of control and focus to do. My fiancé and I are both capable."

Lord Sipala considered his words. Well that was certainly something he wanted to look into before anyone in his family tried it, but he was sure Master Black wouldn't just drag Isobelle off right this second, so he had time. They finished lunch speaking of this and that. Isobelle kept Harry in the conversation, though she often just paraphrased what was going on; Harry didn't mind. He returned home not long after Draco had picked their sons up from school.

"How did it go?" Draco asked as he pulled Harry close.

"It went well. The wards are beautiful, and I'm spending a fair amount of time on restoration work, so this will take a while at least for now," Harry said.

"Is that what they want you to do?" Draco asked.

"I only restore what I can tell for certain, Draco. This is not the first time for me," Harry said. "There is a reason the Enclave sent them my way and nowhere else."

"I don't doubt your skill, love. I know how good you are," Draco said before kissing Harry.

"I met Isobelle today. She seems nice. She would like to see the wards, though, and that got me thinking if there isn't a way I could show them. I could use Memory view, but there are certain risks with that which Lord Sipala might not be overly interested in exploring," Harry said as he looked at his own wards. "I was thinking there must be a way to twist the magic of the wards to show."

Draco snorted. Oh, if anyone could figure that out, it was Harry. "Please don't disappear into the wards," he said.

"I'll look into it on Wednesdays when I'm home," Harry said. "It's not like I'm in a hurry." He hugged Draco closer.

…

Over the following month, Harry placed his wards and restored everything but the outer wards. It was taking him longer than first expected, but Emillios wonder at what he was doing and the care he was taking with their wards as well as the difference that Lord Sipala could feel just through his control meant no one minded that he was taking longer than first agreed.

Once the base wards were placed, Lord Sipala called Harry to his study once more and asked for both maintenance wards and a ward directory, as well as house wards for their home that would then connect to the rest. He would keep this warder employed over the summer and well into Autumn, as long as Harry was okay with that. He wanted the best of the best, and Emillios was still in awe and unable to fully comprehend what Harry was doing, despite him trying his best to explain what was going on.