Cair Paravel

The train ride went by relatively quickly, a lot faster than the ride to Hogwarts would have been. Stops were made at practically every village, even those that didn’t have a station, for children to get off and be collected by their new families. Harry spent that time talking to the Pevensie children, getting to know them better and vice versa, as he was to temporarily pretend to be their sibling. He discovered that it was August 1st, 1940, and so had an entire month to wait before he’d be able to find Riddle at Hogwarts- he would be in his first year, Harry was sure. That was fine with him, it gave him time to plan, and relax for a while since there wasn’t any rush. He’d already defeated him once, he could definitely wait a while to do it again. Hopefully this time will be so much easier. He thinks the hardest part would be the fact that Voldemort is currently a child, and in no way the powerful maniac he’d been the last time they’d crossed Wands.. 

He told them he attended a boarding school up in Scotland, and was only back in London because they’d temporarily repurposed it to aid in the war effort, and the army didn’t want to hang around a bunch of school children all day everyday, so they’d all been sent home. That seemed believable to the siblings, at least. Edmund had asked a lot of questions about the school- what did it look like? A really big castle. Was it an all boys school? No, there were girls there too. What was it like? It had a massive library, we were all split into four dorms, Two were in towers, two in the dungeons- yes, actual dungeons. 

Honestly, explaining his school in a way that wouldn’t raise suspicion to muggle children in the 40s was a lot harder than he thought it would be, and definitely took the crown for the longest conversation the five of them had. He touched briefly on his parents- they’d died when he was a baby, but had paid for and reserved his spot at the school the moment he was born. Peter and Susan seemed to think this meant he was rich, which he was, but he doubted he’d be able to access any of his vaults in this day and age. Not without first confirming that there were no other heirs currently running around still living, though he highly doubted there was. 

In return, Lucy told her all about her school and her friends, Susan about her favourite books, Peter about their childhood and what their mother is like, and Edmund about his favourite sweets. All in all, Harry learnt quite a bit about the four siblings by the time the train came to a stop in the middle of nowhere, and an elderly lady was opening the door to their compartment. 

“Pevensie children? This is your stop, gather your things.” The woman told them, not moving from the door. Harry didn’t have anything to gather, but Lucy and Susan did. Seeing Lucy struggle to fold her blanket, Harry took it from her and folded it over his arm while Susan made sure her book was secured in her bag. 

Once they were all ready, they followed the woman to the nearest door. Since there was no platform, and Harry was the oldest, he climbed down first before helping the other children out. Peter jumped, and needed no help. Susan sat on the floor and shuffled off, though she still took his hand to steady herself. Edmund copied Peter and jumped off, just barely managing to steady himself without falling when he landed. As for Lucy, Harry picked her up and sat her on his hip to save her little legs incase they had to walk a while. 

All safely off the train, the woman bid them goodbye and pointed them down the lane where they were told their new guardian would be waiting for them. Harry thought that was a bit irresponsible, to leave a group of children to find their own way in the middle of buttfuck nowhere. Harry was glad he was capable of defending them all should they be attacked for any reason. 

They stepped away from the train as it started moving again, and shared a look of exasperation. “Right then, I suppose we better get walking then.” Harry sighed, and picked up Lucy’s luggage with the arm not preoccupied with holding the child. 

“Yeah. I would have thought they’d at least have come to pick us up at the track,” Susan huffed, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. 

“Maybe they’re old and couldn’t walk this far or something?” Edmund suggested, shrugging his shoulders. 

“Let’s just go,” Peter grumbled, “we can walk and talk, Lucy is exhausted,” gesturing to the girl in Harry’s arms. He started walking, and the rest of them followed. 

“I’m not tired,” Lucy huffed, though she made no attempt to get out of Harry’s hold and instead rested her head on his shoulder. “I’m just taking advantage of having someone willing to carry me, since you don’t do it anymore,” 

“That’s because you’re not a small child anymore, Lucy,” Peter retorted, rolling his eyes, “you’re old enough to be walking on your own.” 

“Well, I’m more than happy to carry her whenever she wants. She has little legs!” Harry argued playfully, tickling Lucy’s side, who erupted in laughter and kicked at him until he put her down. 

Harry laughed as he let her go, watching as Lucy darted forward and jogged further down the lane. It was nice how carefree she could be, despite the situation they were in. Harry thought that if he were in their place, being evacuated with no idea of if his mother would survive the bombings, he’d be out of his mind with worry and grief. He thought Susan and Peter were holding it together well in that regard, as being older they probably had a much better idea of what was happening. Lucy and Edmund seemed a little too young to really understand it all. 

The walk didn’t last too long, after about 15 minutes they found themselves approaching a horse drawn cart parked outside a single post office, where a middle aged woman sat waiting. She reminded Harry a lot of Professor McGonagal, with the way her hair was tied and her half moon glasses sat perched on her nose. She had a very strict air about her, and Harry doubted she was one to enjoy the presence of children in her home. Hopefully she wasn’t another Petunia. There was no way he’d let the children stay with a woman like that. 

“Excuse me? Are you to take us to the professor's house?” Peter asked, taking a hold of Lucy’s hand the moment she made a move to fuss over the horse. Wise decision. Who knows if his lady would take kindly to that, they wanted to make a decent impression after all. 

The woman looked down her nose at them, and pursed her lips. “Indeed, I am.” Her eyes flickered to them all individually, silently assessing them for a moment. “I assume you are the Pevensie children, then? I was under the impression there was to only be four of you.” 

Peter glared at Susan, Susan glanced at Harry and opened her mouth to speak- 

“There was a last minute change in plans, Madam,” Harry smoothly cut off whatever lie Susan was about to say. He laced his words with a light compulsion to make the woman more agreeable to what he was saying, nothing nefarious, but it was an essential skill he’d learnt on the run when he had no money. It was a lot easier to get places and get food when muggles didn’t care if you paid or not. “You see, I was supposed to be staying at my boarding school in Scotland during the summer months to avoid the raids, but the army needed the building, and I was sent home to our mother just the other day. I promise I won’t cause you any trouble, you’ll hardly even know you have another child staying with you.” 

“Mother was supposed to send you a letter about having Hadrian join us, but I suppose it must have gotten lost in the post somewhere,” Peter added, to the surprise of both him and Susan. He’d been grumbling about having Harry join them the entire time, but Harry was pleased that he was at least willing to go along with the lie. 

The woman frowned for a moment, Harry sent another light compulsion at her, before nodding curtly. “Very well, then. I suppose there is little to do about it now. Get in the cart, we still have a ways to go yet.”

Edmund got in first, followed by Susan, and then Peter. Harry lifted Lucy up and handed her off to her older brother, who set her down on the nearest free spot leaving his hands free for Harry to pass him up all their luggage, before he finally climbed in last. Once settled, the woman- who, Harry noticed, had yet to introduce herself to them- whipped the reins and set the horse moving at a gentle trot. 

Harry let his mind wonder as he observed their surroundings. He wasn’t entirely sure where they were, he hadn’t exactly been paying attention on the train ride as he’d been far too preoccupied with getting to know his temporary siblings, but from what he could tell- there wasn’t a muggle village around here. The post office was likely a waypoint between Manor Houses, which drastically lowered the potential places they could be. There weren’t many places in Britain that did that, and they were hardly on the train for more than three hours- thanks to all the stops they had to make- so they couldn’t be that far away from London. Harry’s best guess would be somewhere near Sudbury. He and Hermione hadn’t hid here while they were on the run, it was far to open and mostly just fields with the odd muggle house or two scattered around, though there were at least several wizarding properties warded to the nines here, and a small wizarding village, so they’d avoided it and stuck to more tree-dense locations. Though, he was pretty sure he had one somewhere around here too, come to think of it. They’d basically avoided anything that could be linked to him, and as he had no idea how far goblin loyalty went, that included avoiding any and all houses that he may have had access to. 

Thinking of Hermione made him wonder what he was going to do if he couldn’t return to his own time when this was all said and done. If he managed to change the future, would he just fade away? Or would he be stuck here, fated to live the rest of his life in time foreign to him, surrounded by people he doesn’t know or have any real connection to?

In this new future, would he ever become friends with Hermione again? Luna? Or Ron? Not that he and Ron were really on speaking terms anymore, not after he abandoned them during the hunt, or after he’d rejected Ginny [again] a day after they’d won the war. He didn’t know, and that worried him. He couldn’t ever imagine his Hogwarts years without either of them by his side, it just wouldn’t be the same. What if the new future-Harry sorted Slytherin? Would that even be an option if he lived a Dursley-free childhood? He didn’t know. 

“Oh! Look! There it is!” The sound of Lucy’s excitement drew Harry from his thoughts. He turned to see what Lucy was pointing at and there, just down the lane, was an old Manor House. It was big, sure, but not as big as Malfoy Manor. Only just. Harry hardly saw that as an issue, however, as next to no one in Britain had a house that big. Pompous twats. 

“It’s massive!” Edmund whispered in awe, it was likely the biggest house any of the four siblings had ever seen. “There is definitely enough room for you, Harry,” the child added, flicking his gaze over to the wizard before focusing back on the house. 

“Definitely,” Peter agreed. He had the same look of awe in his eyes, unable to believe they would be staying in a house as big as this for however long the blitz lasted for. No doubt it would be an adjustment for all of them when they returned to London after staying in a place as big and as luxurious as this for a few months. Harry knew the feeling intimately. The first time he’d returned to Privet Drive after a year at Hogwarts was the worst. 

“It’s smaller than my school,” Harry hummed, earning a snort from Susan. 

“I bet, Mr. I-lived-in-a-castle,” she teased, playfully nudging his shoulder with hers. Harry rolled his eyes and nudged her back. She turned her attention back to the approaching Manor House with a look of excitement. “I bet they have a library here, and it’s massive.”

“All you ever think about is books, Susan. Imagine all the hiding places! And secret passages! We could have so much fun exploring!” Lucy bounced in up and down in her seat, like she’d eaten at least seven jumping jellies. “We could pretend to be kings and queens and this’ll be our castle! Or that fairies live in the garden!” 

Peter rolled his eyes, “Sure, Lucy. We’ll spend all day and night playing pretend and treating this like a holiday, maybe I’ll even learn to do a magic trick or two,” 

Lucy pouted at the obvious sarcasm, folding her arms across her chest and turning away in a huff. “You never want to do what I want to do.” 

“Because I am not a child, Lucy. There are better things to be doing than playing pretend.” Peter said, and Harry thought that was a bit silly. Anyone could play pretend, no matter the age. 

“Yes, you are.” Harry pointed out, lifting a disapproving eyebrow at Peter when he turned to glare at him. Ah, McGonagall would be proud of him right now. “You are still a child. You’re 13, barely even hitting puberty. That is still a child. You can act as mature as you want, but the fact still remains that you are not an adult, and can’t disregard Lucy for her childishness when you are still one yourself. That is hypocritical, and unfair.” 

Lucy turned to look at him, eyes wide and disbelieving like she was surprised someone would stand up for her. That just wouldn’t do. Peter obviously loved her, as did all her siblings, but there was clearly a lack of understanding between them all. He wasn’t surprised, their childhoods likely haven’t been the easiest. Early maturity is sometimes the only way to survive, and sometimes that means forgetting that not everyone was forced to leave their childhood behind earlier than everyone else. Lucy had been protected from that, she still saw hope and happiness everywhere, and it was something to be cherished. If he achieved nothing else while he was staying with them, he wanted to at least make sure that they didn’t push each other away. 

“Well said, Harry.” Susan praised, “I couldn’t have said it better myself. But, Lucy, we can’t play all the time. We have to keep up with our studies, too. Just because we won’t be attending school and it’s the holidays, doesn’t mean we can’t slack in our readings. You and Edmund especially.” 

“Yes, Mother” Edmund grumbled, scowling at the very thought of having to read anything. Susan glared at him for that, and kicked his shin from across the cart. “OW! Susan! Don’t kick me!” The boy whined, pulling his legs up onto the bench and rubbing at his shin. 

“Don’t call me that.” Susan hissed. “Mother is in London, and it’s my responsibility to make sure you two behave and study, as you are supposed to!” 

“Children! Stop that at once! I shall have no arguing or fighting in my home!” The woman- Harry really had to ask her name at some point- turned to glare at them from the front seat once the cart had stopped moving. They had finally arrived, after crossing a moat of all things! Harry privately thought that was a big extreme, even for muggles. “There will be some ground rules that I expect you all to follow, am I understood?” 

“Yes, Miss.” The five of them chorused. Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy looked properly chastised, while Harry smiled pleasantly. Yes, she most definitely reminded him of his old head of house. Maybe they were distantly related? 

“You may address me as Mrs. Macready.” The woman corrected. Harry was somewhat glad to finally put a name to her face, it would save the embarrassment of asking later. “I am the head housekeeper. You are to listen and obey me, as I shan’t have you disturbing the professor. He is a very busy man and his work cannot be interrupted,” oh, lovely, she was much stricter than Minnie ever was. “I expect you all to be on your best behaviour. Manners are to be used at all times. You are not to make any loud noises or run through the halls. You are not to break anything. Breakfast will be served at 8am, dinner at 1pm, and supper at 7pm. Mealtimes are to be adhered to, and will not be skipped. Bedtime is at 9, I expect you all to be in your rooms by then. Break these rules and you shall be punished, follow them and your stay here shall be pleasant. Understand?” 

Those rules seemed pretty self explanatory, except the running and noise one. How anyone expected a group of children not to run around making noise, Harry will never know. It seemed Peter and Susan thought the same thing, with the way they glanced at Lucy at the exact same moment. 

“Yes, Mrs. Macready,” The five of them agreed to the terms and conditions, and Mrs Macready gestured for them to get off the cart. Harry got down first, being the closest to the edge, followed by; Susan, Edmund, and Lucy [who Harry once again picked up to avoid her jumping down]. Peter passed him all the luggage, before getting down himself. They’d apparently come to a silent agreement to do all the heavy lifting and share the ‘big brother’ responsibilities between them, since they were currently pretending to be related. Something Harry still couldn’t believe had been suggested, let alone agreed to. 

Mrs. Macready led them into the house through large ornate doors, and into the foyer. It was a massive room with red walls covered in paintings, and brown hardwood floors. It looked very Gryffindor, in Harry’s professional opinion. Directly opposite the doors was a grand staircase that split in two, each likely going to a different wing of the manor. The Pevensie siblings were in awe of the place, and they hadn’t even seen the rest of it yet. 

Mrs. Macready didn’t stop and wait for the children to pick their jaws up off the floor, however, and continued on and up the staircase. Harry nudged the four others and got them moving again, before quickly hurrying to catch up with the housekeeper. The others followed him, no doubt realising there would be time for looking around later. 

Macready took the right staircase. It led into a long, wide, hallway with suits of armour stationed just past every other door, and alcoves with statues in them. Very Hogwarts, Harry thought. Maybe the manor used to be owned by a wizard? A Gryffindor, maybe? Who knows. She turned at the end of the hall, took them up a set of five more steps, and down another hallway, and they followed along like lost little ducklings. 

Finally, she came to a stop in a large sitting room with green leather sofas and chairs, a fireplace, and several bookshelves. There were three doors leading off this room. 

“This,” Mrs. Macready announced, gesturing to the room with her lips pressed into a thin line. Harry was beginning to think her face always looked like that. “Is one of our guest wings. These will be your rooms for the duration of your stay. It is not the original rooms you were to stay in, since there is now one more of you than prepared for, but it shall have to do. Those three doors go to your bedrooms. The girls shall share the one furthest to the left. The middle one has two beds, and the last has one. I shall leave it up to you boys to decide who sleeps where. Get yourselves settled, I shall send a maid up to retrieve you when it is time for lunch.” With that, the housekeeper turned on her heels and marched away, leaving the four children and one ‘teen’ to fend for themselves. 

A beat of silence. Two. Three. 

“I’ll room with Edmund.” Peter stated, in a tone that suggested he didn’t want to be argued with. Harry thought that was for the best. He wouldn’t be able to do any magic if he was sharing a room with a muggle, and he’d rather not have to be all sneaky about it when he could just have a room to himself. That, and it was better that Peter and Edmund roomed together since they were actually siblings, and neither of them knew Harry very well at all. 

“No,” Edmund frowned, “you can’t just decide on your own, what if I want to room with Harry? Maybe Harry doesn’t want to sleep on his own.” 

“It’s fine, Ed,” Harry smiled, resting a hand on the boy's shoulder. Since his little cry on the train, Edmund seemed fairly attached to him. It was cute. “I can sleep on my own. You should room with Peter, he is your brother.”

Edmund stared at him for a moment, then sighed and shrugged his shoulders in false nonchalance, “alright then, if you insist.” The boy took his bag and walked off to go explore his new room. Peter followed shortly behind, leaving Harry with the girls. For a few seconds at least, as the second Peter and Edmund had gone for their room Lucy had run to hers and flung the door open, Susan hot on her heels and reprimanding her for her overly-excitable behaviour. 

Opening the door to his temporary room, as he was still under the impression he’d be leaving as soon as term started, Harry stepped inside and closed the door behind him. The room itself wasn’t the biggest, there was room enough for a double bed, a wardrobe, and a desk, but not much else. That was fine, seeing as he didn’t exactly have a lot of belongings to fill it with anyway nor would he. It was plainly decorated, with one wide bay window that overlooked the gardens and provided the room with ample light during the day. 

Harry took his wand from his pocket and set about warding the room with proximity alarms, one to shield and hide it against those with ill-intent towards him, and one to prevent anyone from taking any of his belongs out the room without his permission. Nothing major or deadly, he kept to the basics. Muggle house or not, he didn’t want to take any risks, even if he was entirely anonymous in this time period. He’d long since learned that it was better to be safe than sorry. 

Finally satisfied, he removed his trunk from his pocket and set it in the bottom of the wardrobe. A tap of his wand had it returning to its proper size. Since the Pevensie children had seen him arrive without a trunk, he’d just tell them he found one in his room filled with clothes and decided to wear them while he was here because he didn’t have any with him. They might think it weird for him to wear ‘someone else’s’ clothes, but Harry didn’t really care all that much. He’d spent his entire childhood wearing someone else’s clothes, at least this time he was just lying about the clothes not being his.