Chapter 2: Gathering Supplies

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It's short, because I'm in a lot of pain.

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They woke up the next morning and started the day with a hearty breakfast. Sirius set the dishes to wash again, and Harry was once again impressed. He really needed to learn that spell. After the dishes were done, they decided to leave the house. They went to the next-door neighbor's house and emptied the cupboards and put it in the non-detectable expanded bag. They made sure to get the refrigerator and the freezer too. Making sure to get all the food that was in the house. It took them the better part of a half an hour.

It creeped Harry out because the neighbors were there, and they were dead. Like the Dursleys, they were wrapped up like they had the flu and were huddled in front of their TV set. This time, Harry left them alone and just raided their kitchen.

"Is this what we're going to find in every house?" he asked Sirius, gesturing to the dead people.

"Probably," said the dogman grimacing. He didn't like the sight either. It was gruesome.

"It's really creepy," said Harry and it really was. They were just sitting there, like they would get up any minute and go about their lives.

"This is what the virus did," said Sirius, trying to be pragmatic. "It just killed without cause."

"Still…" the teen said shuddering.

"Hopefully, we'll find somebody alive," said Sirius, going to the front door. They were done here. There was nothing left to do.

"I thought you didn't want to find anybody," said Harry, following hot on his heels. He didn't want to see this family anymore. He remembered them. They were not nice to him when they were alive. The kid was one of the ones that picked on him when he was younger and just ignored him as a teenager.

Sirius went to the next house and tried the door. It was locked so he used the unlocking charm and opened the door. They went inside and found no one there, thank Merlin. "I thought about it last night, and I decided that you were right. We need to find some people alive if we're going to survive as a human race," his godfather said. They went to the kitchen and started putting the food in the backpack.

"Well, I'm glad you agree with me," said Harry, using his wand to guide the stuff from the pantry into the sack. Sirius was putting a stasis on the cold food, so he got the non-perishables. They worked in silence for a while.

After they were done, Sirius said, "Come on, let's get to the next house. I want to get as many done as possible before we get to Grimmauld Place." He then moved to the door and went to the next house.

"I hope most of my neighbors went to their relatives for the holidays," Harry mused, wishing that most of the houses were empty like this one.

With that, they went from house to house and raided the kitchens but left everything else alone. All they really wanted was food. They lucked out and over half of them were empty. The ones that weren't were like the Dursleys', the families were sat in front of the TV. It was bizarre. It was as if it were prearranged. Some of the occupants were in their beds, but they didn't go to the bedrooms, so they never saw them.

"Hey, Sirius," said Harry, when they were in their tenth house, "do you think we should try and appropriate a farm?" It was a thought that had just come to him. Even with all the food they were getting, it was going to run out eventually. And they weren't going to be able to get more. A renewable food source was going to be needed. Didn't Hogwarts grow its own food? He'd have to ask.

"Do you know anything about farming?" was the comeback question.

"No, now that I think about it," was the sheepish answer.

"Well, it is a sound idea. However, neither one of us know anything about taking care of animals, so it would be a negligent point," Sirius pointed out as he put some frozen food in his backpack. He looked at his godson with pride. He hadn't thought about that, and it was a good idea. "Until we find somebody who could take care of animals, we would just mess things up. Do you know anything about tending crops?" he asked, looking at the city boy and smiling to take the bite out of the question.

"I see your point," said Harry, despondent. He was so sure it was a good idea, but now that he thought about it, he'd just mess it up. He was envisioning dead crops and animals everywhere.

"I'll tell you what, do you know a house elf?" Sirius asked, knowing that the house elves would be able to tend to a farm. Well, some of them would.

"I do know one, but I don't know if he's alive," Harry said, getting excited.

"Why don't you call him and see if he is?" was the suggestion.

"Dobby."

They waited a few seconds and in popped a small house elf. He was dressed in some toddlers' clothes of the colorful variety. There were trains on the trousers that were chugging along the cuffs. "Harry Potter, sir, is alive," said the small house elf as he latched onto Harry's leg.

"Dobby, it is great to see you," Harry said, hugging the elf back. "I'm so happy you're alive."

"Dobby is being very happy to see you too, sir," Dobby said, standing back and bouncing on his spindly feet.

Harry put his hand on Dobby's shoulder to hold him still. "Dobby, I have a few questions to ask you," he said, looking him straight in the eye. "Do you know anything about raising farm animals or crops?" he asked, hoping that he did.

Dobby's shoulders drooped. He was disappointed that he didn't know something that his friend wanted him to. "Dobby is not being knowing, sir. But Dobby is knowing other house elves that do know."

"That's great, Dobby. Are they alive?" Harry asked, thinking that this could work.

"Dobby is not being knowing, sir," the elf said, getting happy again that he could be useful, "but Dobby can find out." He started bouncing again. He knew that a lot of the elves died with the virus, but they were hardier than the humans and 50% of them lived. So there was a chance that some of his acquaintances could still be around.

"Would you do that for me, Dobby?" Harry asked, smiling at his exuberant friend.

"Dobby will be doing that right away."

Harry smiled at Dobby and squeezed his shoulder. "That's great, Dobby," he said, and took his hand off his shoulder. "Come back and find me when you can, and we'll go over the logistics."

"Dobby will do that." And with that, Dobby popped away to do what he needed to do.

"OK. So, we've got a plan. Dobby's going to go find out if there's any house elves that can tend to farm, and then we can appropriate one and we'll have farm animals and crops. And the house elves can tend to them while we go about obtaining as much food as we possibly can," Harry said, puffing his chest proudly at a plan well played.

"That was a very smart idea," said Sirius, smiling at his godson. He liked that Dobby elf. He was an excitable one.

"It was your idea," said Harry, smirking at him.

"Which is why I said it was a smart one," said Sirius, giving him his own smirk.

"Okay, wise guy."

"Come on, I want to get as many houses done as we can. Let's go," said Sirius, picking up the much used backpack and starting to the next house. They hadn't found anyone alive yet, but there were a lot of empty houses here. Most of the neighbors must have visited their families for the holidays. Or they were dead in their beds or hiding from them. They didn't know, they just didn't see anyone.

So, the two of them went to as many houses on Privet Drive in the surrounding areas as they could before darkness hit. Over a hundred houses were emptied out and it was grueling work, even with magic.

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It was well after dark by the time they got back to Grimmauld Place, but they had hit many of the houses and the non-detectable expandable bag was well packed. Both of them were very exhausted by the time they got there and were well ready for a very big dinner.

"I wonder if Dobby has time to cook us anything," said Harry as he flopped into a chair in the kitchen. It was dark in the house and without Kreacher there, there was no tea or food cooking. It was still a dark and creepy house, with its peeling wallpaper and dusty interior. The kitchen was the only clean room in the house.

"He hasn't gotten back to you yet, so I'm thinking he's probably busy," said Sirius as he too sat down at the table. He sat the backpack on the table next to him and put his head in his arms and rested. They had worked hard that day and found no one alive. Whether that meant no one was, or they off on vacation, or just hid from them, they didn't know.

"You're right, I probably shouldn't bother him until he gets done with what I gave him to do. I'll cook dinner," said Harry as he looked tiredly at the stove. He looked like he'd rather cut off his middle finger than cook.

Sirius raised his head and patted the backpack. "There's plenty of stuff in here that just needs heating up. Why don't I just pull some of that out and use magic?" To him that was the most logical thing to do.

"That's actually a great idea," said the teenager. It was better than takeout. Just wave a wand and poof, instant meal. He loved magic.

With that Sirius pulled out one of the many preprepared dishes that they had appropriated from one of the many houses and he heated it up and put it on the table and the two of them commenced eating. After they finished eating their mystery casserole and Sirius set the dishes to wash, they went to the study and sat to discuss what they were going to do next.

"Do you know how to do the Patronus charm?" asked Harry as he sipped on a butterbeer. He felt better now that he had a hot meal in him. He was less tired and more relaxed.

"I can't do it," said Sirius sadly. He sipped on his firewhiskey. He hated that he couldn't cast that spell. He loved the Patronus charm. It was a beautiful piece of magic.

That shocked Harry and he asked, "Whyever not?"

"I don't have any happy memories," said Sirius, looking depressed.

"None?" asked Harry, feeling bad for his godfather. He would have thought that he had some good memories from meeting him, or Remus, over the last two years.

"Let me reiterate, since Azkaban, I don't have any happy enough memories," the dogman stated, emphasizing the needed words.

"Oh, I understand," said Harry, nodding his understanding. You needed some really good happy memories, and Sirius's time in prison would have put paid to that. "Well, I can do the Patronus charm, but I can't send messages with it. Do you know how to do that, and can you teach me?" he asked, having a plan or two.

"That I can do," said Sirius, knowing the steps on how to do that. He could go over the basics and see if he could talk the teen through it.

And with that, he proceeded to teach Harry how to send a message with the Patronus charm. Harry then sent a message to Hogwarts to the highest ranking teacher there to find out if there was anybody still alive there, to let them know that he was still alive and that he would be coming there within the next couple of days to meet up with them. He just hoped it wasn't Umbridge. That would be a nightmare.

"What did you go and do that for?" Sirius asked, not thinking that had been a good idea.

"I just wanted to let them know that I was still alive," said Harry, his brow scrunching up in confusion. That and if Dumbledore was still alive, he'd message back. He still had hope that the man had made it.

Sirius was shaking his head in the negative. "Yeah, but if it's Umbridge, she'll know where you are."

"What's she going to do? She can't get here," Harry pointed out.

"There is that. But still, she could make your life a living hell," Sirius said, though he wasn't sure how.

"Well, let's just hope that the bitch is dead," Harry said with a great deal of force. He didn't wish a lot of people dead, but that woman was one that he wish to the greatest pits of hell. "And even if she's not, let's hope McGonagall is still alive."

"I don't think even McGonagall could keep her in line," Sirius said, tearing that hope down.

"You know, with only 22% of the population being alive, I don't think you're going to be a sought-after man anymore. And even if you are, there's not going to be much of a government to put you on trial," the teenager said, thinking that Sirius could just walk around free as a bird.

"I'm not sure I want to take that chance," said Sirius, thinking he'd better be a bit more cautious.

"It's something to think about," said Harry, shrugging his shoulder. Then again, this was the magical government he was thinking about. They were sticklers for creating trouble. Fudge would arrest anyone for anything.

"I will think about it," said Sirius, giving his own shrug. "But I'm going to keep my wand on hand." He wasn't going to take any chances. If anyone tried to arrest him, he was going down fighting. He wasn't going back to Azkaban.

"Of course," said Harry, smiling at his godfather. "I wouldn't ask you to put your life on the line. I'll fight to keep you free," he added, making sure the man knew he was on his side.

Just then, Dobby popped back in to let them know what was going on with the other house elves. "Dobby is being doing it, Master Harry," the little guy cried as he came popping in.

"What did you do, Dobby?" Harry asked, warily. Dobby's idea of helping in the past almost got him killed a time or two.

"Dobby is finding elves that is being in charge of a farm. There is being no masters alive, so Dobby is taking charge of the farm for you. There is being many farms that is being vacant, so Dobby is being taking charge of all of them," Dobby stated, looking proud of himself.

That confused the hell out of Harry. How did Dobby do that? He didn't have any money. "How did you do that, Dobby? I mean, you don't have any money to buy these farms. How did you get them?" he asked, taking Dobby by the arms so that he stopped bouncing and paid attention to him.

"Dobby is being using magic," the elf said, like he was speaking to a toddler.

"I don't understand."

"Dobby is being using elf magic. Dobby is being making claim for his master," the little elf said, slowly and clearly.

"I still don't understand, but I'm going to take your word for it, Dobby," Harry said, smiling at the elf. "Do I need to give you money for these farms?" He didn't think money was going to be any good soon, but maybe gold would still hold value. It never seemed to lose it.

"Oh, no, Master Harry, sir, they is being yours. All yours," Dobby reiterated like he was giving him the world, which he might as well have been. Those farms will be invaluable.

"OK, well, I'm leaving you in charge of them. Uh, we're going to need fresh vegetables and meat and eggs and all the things that come from a farm. I plan on starting a community at some point in time, so there's going to be a lot of people to feed," Harry said, explaining to the elf why they needed those farms.

"Dobby is looking forward to that," Dobby said, getting excited about serving Harry Potter's community.

"Well, it looks like things are starting to come together beautifully," said Sirius, marveling at how well that worked, hoping the rest of it went just as well.

"It looks like it. Let's just hope it stays that way," said Harry, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Just then a Patronus came through the wall.