Pack!

Chapter Three

               Watching Remus Pack! his office, Harry had been fascinated, asking about the spell as the professor's belongings faded out of sight and what looked like a small dust cloud settled into Remus' open trunk, clearing to reveal a neatly packed trunk that closed and locked, then Remus shrunk and tucked it into an inside pocket. Remus said that he'd found the spell in an old book he'd acquired secondhand from Scribbulus during a Hogsmeade weekend while he was still in school. The book was a reference manual for spell inventors and had the Pack! notations handwritten in the margin, with some odd arithmancy doodles and little else. The book had been damaged, so Scribbulus had put it in their free/sale bin when it came in with a shipment of luxury quills purchased from an estate. Remus had shown it to his friends and from what he and the other Marauders had been able to work out, the spell identified anything belonging to the magical signature of the caster that was within range of the spell and moved it to any open trunk near the caster that could hold the items. A bit of experimenting with it, because Remus would always be an unrepentant swot, showed that if two varying sized trunks were open, the items would fill from the smallest to the largest. Remus theorized that was so there was room for the filled trunks to be shrunk and placed in the remaining trunk.

               What Remus hadn't known about the spell was the actual area of effect as opposed to the area of effect he observed. He was under the mistaken understanding the area was limited to the usual; a spell generated a specific spell radius, or if left undefined, to the radius defined by the input energy. He didn’t realize during his practice sessions and all usage of the spell since, all “his” items were in a dorm room and he had afterwards been living in one room apartments, so the scope of this particular spell … was more. In actuality, the spell inventor had been a lazy sod who wanted to pack up an entire household without work. He'd set its limits to the footprint of the building it was cast inside. Due to an arithmancy glitch the inventor had never fully tracked down or solved, the spell would completely fail to activate if you were outside, or if you had an exterior door or window open.

               Now, when Harry emulated what he remembered, expecting all the items in his vault to start fading, he was surprised and concerned when moments passed with nothing seeming to happen. Had he gotten the spell wrong? He thought he saw a bit of wavering, but there was no quick fade and dust cloud. Except that when he looked at the trunks, he did see the expected dust clouds. Lots of little ones, and first one, then two, of the trucks closed and locked, with additional activity resulting in twelve closed trunks, and a partially filled thirteenth. He started shrinking trunks and stacking them into the thirteenth, moving on to a fourteenth and fifteenth. Once the fifteenth trunk was closed, he cast a featherlight and tether spell on it so it wouldn’t be able to get too far away, then towed it back to the door. He wasn't aware that as the head of the Potter family, there were multiple vaults. He certainly wasn't aware that he'd been deeded numerous other vaults through the death of Voldemort. Death Eaters pledged all they were and all they would be to Voldemort, little realizing that included everything they owned, and their acceptance of the unknowingly binding legal agreement was authenticated by willingly taking the mark.

               Voldemort had died intestate, and The goblins, upon review of his family tree, found Harry Potter to be the closest living relative, coming down through the Peverell line. And Harry was the sole inheritor of all of it. But there were other small inheritances from here and there; he would have been very sad to know about the monies that were left to him for his perceived services in the death of Voldemort, or sometimes a person was the last of their family and had no one else. Those left to him via inheritance had been left unchanged, he would have been required to front up to Gringotts to make any alterations to the vault arrangements in person. Since he didn't know about the bequests, Dumbledore having redirected his mail since infancy, no changes had taken place other than Gringotts' mandatory addition of his name to the access list; an owner could not be denied access to their vaults. As it stood, he had 26 other vaults of varying sizes, further out in the caverns from his own, that had emptied into the trunks, with his current vault fading last. Harry knew none of this, he simply assumed that the vault he was in held more than was immediately visible, and thought the theory proven when the vault cleared and he could see a second chamber he'd not known was there. Changing his mind, he shrunk the remaining trunk and pocketed it.

               He'd burned through a precious fifteen minutes in the vault and he was starting to feel the effects of the last couple hours. Adrenaline fueled panic was giving way to reasoned thought, but also a resultant energy deficit. They left the vault, leaving the door open, and turned over his key to the driver. Returning to the entrance area, they were hustled to the floo reserved for outbound traffic. He could see all the inbound floos were dropping in people who looked dazed and frightened, a few clutching heartbreakingly small bags, or tightly hugging toddlers and with young children gripping their robes. They were being herded in various directions, following some sort of plan. Remus He took a pinch of powder from the offered floo jar, and threw it, asking for The Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade, and sheparding himself and Harry though.

               Harry staggered out, gearing up for another run, when he saw Rosmerta look their way. Remus quickly stepped behind the bar to talk to her and laid out the issue, emphasizing the deadline. He told her he and Harry were going to Hogwarts to see if they’d be able to open her up to refugees, and filled her in on the tentative plans, such as they were. If she could act as a bit of a holding area, and wait to send anyone up to Hogwarts when they let her know it was open and ready? He advised her to gather supplies and pack up as well, but if she could stay for at least a day or so, to keep her floo open and provide a familiar face to the incoming, he was sure many would appreciate it. She agreed, looking pale and shaken, and immediately set her floo to "open". An open floo would allow travel without powder, as the purpose of the powder was to magically "knock" on the recipient's door. If it was a business, that door would then allow travel through within its posted hours, if it was a residence, it would require that the homeowner respond and either allow or deny the connection.

               It was normally a twenty-minute stroll from Hogsmeade to Hogwarts, and Harry and Remus ran it in ten, having stalled only a moment to send another Patronus message to Sirius, hearts sinking to see it fizzle yet again. Crap, he probably wasn't in England; Harry knew he had the power to send a Patronus to London from Scotland, so wherever Sirius was, it wasn't nearby. They’d just have to keep trying. When they arrived, the outer gates were locked. Looking at Remus, he asked, “Any thoughts?”

               Remus said, “I know she can respond to various people, but I’ve never heard her described as sentient. Since we’ve no way to know how she’s normally reached out to, let’s try asking. You try reaching her emotionally, you’re stronger than I am, magically. I’ll try verbally.”

               Harry placed both hands on the outer curtain wall and pushed with all the emotion he'd been holding inside, begging for Hogwarts' attention. He knew there was something there, he’d felt… something, sometimes, when he’d been walking down corridors. Faint brushes of… something for which there weren’t words he knew, something indescribable. He reached out to her with the same feeling from before, he neededneededneeded her, and he soon felt that odd glancing touch as the gates creaked open. He helped open them fully, Remus verbally (please let it be that simple) asking the castle to please leave them open for now. He looked back and could see a couple of what he hoped were Patronus flashes sparking up from Hogsmeade. Didn't matter, he needed to get his arse in gear. He wasn't running as fast as he had been earlier, both he and Remus were tired, but he was still moving faster than a jog when he hit the castle entrance, sliding through the front door that was slowly opening. There was a flash from a side room, so he slid to a stop, touching down a hand to use in pushing off in the new direction. He thanked fortune he was wearing his trainers and not his leather soled school oxfords, which would have afforded no traction whatever on the slate floor. Remus followed more slowly, breathing deeply.

               The flash proved to be Fawkes and seeing him hovering with the Sorting Hat was a moment of deja vu. Harry jammed The Hat on his head and burst into a babble of thought. The Hat sorted through the relevant memories, horrified at the inbound devastation. Speaking mind to mind with Harry, he told Harry that while the castle isn't exactly sentient in a way Harry would understand, she was able to communicate with both Fawkes and the Hat. Harry asked the Hat to warn Hogwarts of what was coming, he’d be helping Remus with what tasks they thought they could get moving immediately; he'd make sure they identified a planning group as quickly as possible. Currently, Remus, himself, the Hat, and Goblin Eltiebs were to be given full access to all information as part of the planning group, anyone else was to be sidetracked to something else, please. They were going to need to be prepared to house an extraordinary number of beings, every single person they could retrieve from Magical England, and if they weren't too late, from anywhere else they could manage. There were about six thousand wizards in magical Britain, but if they were successful in pulling in those from other countries as well as other magical races, he had no idea what the final tally of refugees would be. He passed the Hat to Remus and watched as Remus’ eyes unfocused as they spoke. There was a small twitch beneath one eye as one or more unpleasant thoughts were reviewed.

               Harry knew he wasn't the sort of person that was going to automatically pass along difficult tasks to an adult, just because they were an adult. The problem was he didn't know many trustworthy adults who thought had the ability or desire to move quickly. Or would trust that he wasn't being hysterical, which to him had automatically ruled out going to the ministry with his story. While he certainly didn't think he had the skills that were needed, he thought between himself and Remus, who he knew had at least some of the right skillset, they could create a breathing space between getting the word out, get people moving, set up a go to spot and the end goal of get everyone away. Given the needed breathing room, that would be the time to pull in the experts that he and Remus were assuredly not. He chuffed a breathy laugh, he’d never thought his habit of spending summers in the local library to escape Dudley would have such a payoff, but it appeared his love of adventure stories was going to have a very unexpected side benefit. His second year was spent mostly thinking “What would Horatio Hornblower do?”, remembrance of which still made him grin. Getting back to the matter at hand, he knew there was no way he and Remus were going to be able to keep track of everything, he was good at making lists and Remus was good at plans, but with no time to waste, they couldn't keep on task and manage the resulting information at the same time. They were going to need the most organized person on the planet to get here right now. Fuckityfuckfuck, who… Percy. They needed Percy. He didn't know him well enough to expect an instant response without questions being asked, so he sent a Patronus message to the twins asking them to please for the love of all, drop what they were doing, find Percy and get him to Hogwarts, he'll explain when they arrived, but they need to move.

               Once Remus and Hat were finished, Remus plopped the Hat back on Harry’s head. “It’s convenient to have Hat here, and you’re conveniently sized to hold him,” Remus said with a mischievous grin at Harry, the Marauder in him flashing brightly. Harry scowled before smiling back. “I asked the twins to go get Percy Weasley. He has being insanely organized down to an art form, we’re gonna need him.”

               Remus grimaced and agreed.

               *-*-*-*-*-

               To keep everyone in the loop, Harry verbally asked Hat if there were any house elves in the castle, he had no idea if they stayed over the summer. For all he knew, they might have just stuck the castle in stasis and dusted it off the week before the students returned. The hat replied that there was a skeleton staff of twenty elves, the other forty having hired themselves out as temporary workers, and that he should call for Bing.

               "Bing, please, we need your help," Harry called in a slightly too loud voice. The influx was going to begin soon, he knew people would be arriving regardless of asking Rosmerta to hold them off for a bit.

               "What can Summer Staff Head Elf Bing be doing for Harry Potter, sir?" asked an older elf with white muttonchops as he appeared before Harry.

               "Bing, there's an awful situation about to happen in two days, and we're bringing everyone we can to Hogwarts. There are at least a few people on the way now and it's eventually going to be an avalanche of them - we're going to need to find temporary places for them all, think several thousand people at least. It's bad, Bing. For magicals, it's end of the world levels of bad. I've got people tracking down Percy Weasley, he's the best organizer I know, better even than that bitch. In fact, that's her name now. The Bitch. So, the Bitch with planning assistance from the Bastard, is busy causing the end of the magical world, and I don't think we can stop her. Is there an elf network of any kind that you can get a word through to all elves quickly?” Bing indicated there was, but it wasn't necessarily a quick process. "Bugger. Do your best and use any other method you think will work, too. Word has to be passed in every way possible. Please let them know that they're needed at Hogwarts. Could you please tell them as they arrive that The Bitch is in the process of destroying magic, and we have two days, at most three, to escape. The elves need to get their families, both personal and professional, packed up and here to Hogwarts for safety while we figure out our plan. Any elves not currently having a family or tasked with critical duties, it would be very much appreciated if they could please come to Hogwarts and help. Is there a house elf available who is willing to work with Remus and myself as coordinator for the elves and has the authority to assign tasks as they come up?"

               "Bing will take charge of the castle and start working to prepare spaces, Bing will assign Doxie to Professor Lupin and Harry. Doxie is having very, very good memory and is being able to keep track of who is working where and on what." He called Doxie, saying "We is being involved in a situation, and you is to be working with Harry and his Professor Lupin for all elfs tasking. Doxie is to be calling any Hogwarts elf as needed, and not- Hogwarts elves will be reporting to her.” She gave a nervous look at Harry and drew herself up at his nod. "Doxie wills."

               A magpie Patronus whizzed through the door to Harry, George saying he was on his way to the Ministry to retrieve Percy, and that Fred would be at Hogwarts as soon as possible.

               Remus turned to Doxie and said "Hello Doxie. We have limited time, and the list of things we need to do is going to get overwhelming very quickly. Would your elves be able to act as messengers across England and Scotland or is that using too much of their energy?” Doxie thought it would be okay so long as she used the stronger elves and if someone would replenish their energy. "Done", said Harry and began cherry picking his short mental list of the most easily accomplished small tasks that could be carried out while waiting for an additional influx of aid. He and Doxie worked together to get elves to locate extra bedding, and work with Bing in readying at least a few spaces, while designating two elves for reception duties. Remus was writing furiously in his notebook, looking up momentarily when Harry threw out a task, then going back to his notes.

               Harry turned and immediately ducked as something flew through the door and right at him. Straightening back up when the something turned out to be Fred, who jumped off his broom and looked intently at Harry. Harry briefly avoided his eyes, thinking of Ron, and absently noted that Fred was dusted with floo soot he hadn't taken the time to brush off. "What's going on, Harrikins? That message was not a good way to reassure anyone that it's nothing bad."

               "That's because it is bad, Fred. I don't have time for the full brief, but magic is going to die in two days, three tops. Completely and utterly. Start contacting your friends and family, tell them get moving. Gringotts is assisting, so have people get their vaults cleaned out, pack what they can in 24 hours and get their ass to Hogwarts. They might have two days, and there’s a chance for three, but bugger to that, it'll be easier and safer getting around the faster they're on it. If you’ve anyone outside of England you want to contact, they’ve got minimal time to get out, so put them first. The emergency issue of the Prophet will say go to Gringotts but I’m telling you to come to Hogwarts, this is the secondary evacuation point that Gringotts will be moving people to."

               Remus interrupted, "Hat, I know there’s several floos in Hogwarts, can one be opened near the entrance?" In response, a light blinked from a room on the opposite side of the entryway.

               "Address?" Harry asked. "Sanctuary", replied Hat in a grave tone. Harry froze for a heartbeat, then asked the Hat to designate that floo as inbound only, and to please set it to completely open.

               He turned to Doxie, "Message to Gringotts, tell the messenger that Gringotts’ floos are open, Hogwarts is a go, please give us six hours before sending in bulk arrivals, but anyone you need or think is critical for planning can come through at any time. Floo is locked open, address is Sanctuary." Doxie handed the message off to an elf, popped out.

               Remus asked Doxie to have an elf monitor the inbound floo, getting people out of the way for new arrivals, as it could well end up a continuous stream and they didn’t need to start a domino chain of knocking people down when new arrivals swept in.

               "Message to the Daily Prophet, If you haven't started printing yet, please add Hogwarts and The Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade as a floo destination". He included Hogwarts' temporary floo address. Another elf pop sounded.

               Back to Fred, "I’m banking on Hogwarts understanding the danger, and plan to ask Hogwarts' to close the wards the minute we get an indication of trouble, so if people aren't here before that happens, that's it. The wards will under no circumstances reopen." He spun Fred around by the shoulder and pushed. “Go.” Fred asked no questions, just remounted and raced to Rosmerta's floo.

               Remus came up for air, "Doxie, could you please get a message to one of the senior healers at St. Mungo's, or the first healer there that will respond, to please floo to Hogwarts immediately for a quick brief of the situation." He waited as she dispatched an elf. “Also, is there a large empty room we can use on this floor? We need five or six large chalkboards set up, with a couple of tables." Doxie snapped her fingers and gave quick instructions to a pair of elves. She pointed to an arched door frame across the entryway, and they moved into the room that already had one table in place. The first chalkboard popped into place moments thereafter.

               Harry requested a large supply of chalk and erasers and a stack of never out clipboards and quills, all of which were to be replenished as needed.

               Remus gave an apologetic smile, "Doxie, we’re working off the cuff until we can get a group together to take on more detailed planning. I apologize in advance if we wind up being a bit random. Please send an elf to the department of Magical Education and ask for the floo addresses of all magical schools. I know it’s summer vacation, but have that same elf floo call all the schools as quickly as possible, either from there or from here. If any schools respond, send this letter through." He quickly scribbled a few sentences indicating their danger, indicating at best Eurasia and Africa have 24 to 48 hours to get to Hogwarts. Anyone from locations other than that are to grab the person next to them and start a conga line into the floo right now. He gave them the Hogwarts floo address, Rosmerta's, and Gringotts. Copying it a couple dozen times, he handed them to Doxie. "Hat, please open the floo to its widest capacity, multiple outlets if possible. Please open one outbound floo, minimal capacity. We're trying to get everyone in, not out."

               Remus went to the board and wrote at the top "Board #1", then running down the left-hand side he started with #1 - Education, since he was momentarily thinking about schools. They’d reorganize priorities later, but he knew it would need to be addressed, they'd work out particulars down the road. Some would need addressed before they departed to …well, somewhere, he hoped. Others could wait, but he may as well start the list of what issues he could identify for a new settlement.

               Harry let his racing brain dump another problem on him. "Bollocks. Dragons. Sentient animals, other sentient beings. How the hell are we going to make that happen? Doxie, message to Eltiebs at Gringotts. How are you moving your dragons and can we get the reserves in on it?" She dispatched an elf as two popped back in.

               Remus took the thought a step further, "Messenger to the Department for Care and Control of Magical Creatures. Stupid name," he muttered. "Get their list of species contacts if possible, and start sending representatives to the ones that are capable of being communicated with. They'll need to find a way to organize themselves to get here, can we maybe use the Express? Harry add that to your list. We'll give them the best warning we can. Start a list of those species not able to be reached or unable to communicate, we'll task that out later."

               He added to his chalkboard list #2 - Species Coordination and followed on with #3 - Transportation

               Remus scratched his chin, thinking about what may result from his next step. He wasn’t thrilled about it, but there would be issues if he and Harry didn’t bite the bullet. He laid a hand on Harry’s shoulder both in warning and in sympathy. "Message to all Hogwarts teachers. He scribbled a note, showed it to Harry who inserted a line, then made a couple dozen copies, and asked Doxie to have them delivered. "Professors, magical apocalypse inbound, end of all things magical is forty eight hours or less. We’re in the process of setting up Hogwarts as a refugee center. Working on ideas and would appreciate any help that is actually helpful. Will immediately need all professors versed in research with any resources they can grab. We will likely be relying heavily on runes, arithmancy, rituals and the like to find a way out of this. You’re known to every student who has passed through Hogwarts, you’re going to be invaluable in keeping people calm and orderly.”

               Harry had taken the initiative to start writing the next note he knew would need to go out, despite feeling like it was going to be akin to setting a gremlin loose amongst delicate machinery. He showed to Remus who gave it a nod of approval. “Message to Amelia Bones. Madame Bones, magical apocalypse inbound, ETA, heavy emphasis on the “E”, 48 hours for Britain. Remus Lupin and I are in the process of getting Hogwarts set up as a staging area. Gringotts is disseminating information to The Prophet and bank customers, we’ll fill you or your representative in if you want to send someone. Lots of someones with serious skills needs to get working on finding us a way out of this, and while we’ve asked the Hogwarts professors to bring what research materials and expertise they possess, we both know the Unspeakables are the better bet for something quick and dirty. Try, for the love of all, to keep Fudge and all the other useless sycophants out of the way. We could use all the help available in planning and tasking out some of the immediate issues. We’ve got things started, the goblins are working to get people moving, and Remus and I will anticipate and move on what we can, but the amount of people needing to be moved, sheltered, and fed is going to take some concentrated efforts by experienced people.”

               Remus chimed in next with "Message to Bing, We'll need an inventory of all Hogwarts supplies and any produce being grown for the kitchens."

               Back to the board for #3 - Food, and #4 - Communication

               A green robed healer stumbled out from the floo. "Healer Andilet reporting for briefing." His chocolate brown eyes widened in surprise. "Harry Potter!"

               Harry was brusquer than he might otherwise have been; it had taken him a couple of years of listening to people be introduced to him to get there, but by now he was well into annoyance about people feeling the need to blurt out his name. "Yes, yes, it’s fascinating, I do indeed seem to be Harry. Healer Andilet, magic is going to die in an estimated forty eight hours. You need to get your hospital emptied and everyone and all your supplies here to Hogwarts before then. There's a madwoman we're calling The Bitch activating magic draining runestones, and right now she's somewhere in South America laying down her grid for that area. We have no time to or assurance that we even could try to stop her, so we very much need to be somewhere else by the time she gets to England. We're working on that. Get your hospital organized for a bug out, get your patients up and running if you can, in stasis if you can't, and haul yourselves, your families, your friends, and everything else you can lay your hands on to Hogwarts. Gringotts is briefed and is offering all possible assistance for quick vault clearance. We’re going to be putting together a planning committee, so get your life in order and get your green clad arse back here within the next two hours. If that's completely impossible for you, send us someone to take your place who knows how to manage a hospital. Go forth and give orders." Harry shoved him at the newly designated and opened outbound floo, an elf whisking over to set a jar of floo powder nearby.

               He spotted George and Percy on a broom heading their way.

               Back to the board, #5 - Shelter and #6 - Medical

               "Doxie, ask Bing for a list of ready to occupy spaces, that are for singles, families, those with pets, businesses, creatures or beings that aren't bog-standard human. Also, message to the first kitchen elf you can find; set up coffee, tea, water, and whatever other drinks you have, barring alcohol, on a sideboard in the great hall. If possible, and if it won't cause shortages in our ability keep several thousand people fed for up to a week on something that will at least keep them alive, simple sandwiches or the like would be appreciated. Have them place a note that the food situation is under review, please take only that which you need. Wen you have enough elves at hand, get the reception elves self-updating copies of Bing's list; ask the nearest wizard to charm those for you. Start directing people to rooms, get names, and note how many are in what location. Please have the elves stick a small piece of paper or parchment on the incoming's collar, showing what location was assigned, so we know they've been housed. Ask them not to remove it until we have everyone accounted for."

               Just as George and Percy touched down, Harry reached over and grabbed two clipboards and their attached quills that had just appeared on the table beside him. He continued talking to Doxie for a moment, handing off a clipboard with quill to Percy and Remus, then snagging one for himself. “You need something bigger than your notebook, Remus”.

               "Fantastic. Harry, please bring Percy and George up to speed, Percy, you're going to work with Doxie here to review answers to the questions I've been sending off, and dig in if more needs to be worked out. I’m going to hope for an initial meeting of what will, with some luck, be the planning committee in four hours." He paused to throw up a four-hour countdown on the wall. "Ask Doxie to assign you an assistant, Percy, you'll need it. Right now we're working on getting everyone and as much of everything magical as we can to Hogwarts. Feel free to add a note to the board if it's something that is a current problem or will require immediate attention within three days, try to keep those categories broad, we’re going to try to task out those areas to people who can set more people to work on details.”

               Harry started talking to Percy and George about what was happening, interrupting himself when he pulled his trunk from his pocket. "Doxie, I need an elf to take this to whatever room I'm assigned to. There's a crapton of gold in at least one of the trunks. Have an elf on standby to disburse it as needed to those working on the planning committee." Resuming his conversation with Percy and George, "If you have the energy, start sending patronii to everyone you can think of. George, try to get every business on Diagon notified, even if Gringotts has already done so. You're a fallback in case they haven't read their mail yet.” A solemn faced Percy nodded, clutching his clipboard like a life preserver, and color coded the edges of the first dozen pages. George inhaled deeply, then nodded with sadness in his eyes. An elf directed him to the outbound floo, and he walked into it like he was approaching his execution.

               Harry twitched as a small tag with some as yet unread writing on it appeared on his collar and continued on.

               "Doxie, message to Neville Longbottom. Nev, pack your house, clear your vault, grab your parents, friends and family and get all that to Hogwarts ASAP. If you can delegate any of it, I need you here and I'm counting the heartbeats. Floo's open, address is Sanctuary."

               He wrote #7 - Supplies

               The rapid in and out of the house elves sounded like popcorn, and he and Remus were shifting around each other like some ancient courtly dance, with one, then the other, momentarily partnering with Percy, then sliding away to switch places with Doxie.

               A step sideways to add #8 - Legal

               Speaking of the ministry, "Doxie, I need a very visible notice placed anywhere there are expected to be large groups of people."

               Rule One: Don't be a problem. We don't have time for it and we will boot your arse out the door.

Rule Two: If you're asked by anyone at all to help with anything at all in the next three days, suck it up and do it. (See Rule One).

Rule Three: If an elf asks for a magical favor or a recharge, comply without discussion. (See Rule Two, and then Rule One).

               He had a sudden thought. Oh, brilliant, he self-congratulated. "Message to Luna Lovegood. Luna, I know you know what's happening. I need you to take charge of all the creatures that we're otherwise going to miss because we can't communicate with them. Maybe the Scamander family can help, see what you can do."

               He dug mental fingers into his brain, trolling for information. Basic human needs; food, water, shelter. He thought shelter was good for the immediate moment.

               "Message to Bing, what's the castle's water supply and can we start caching as much as possible?" He put a slash after #3 Food and added Water.

               Remus spoke up, “Harry, can you get someone on building supplies? We’ve no idea what we might need, and those are going to be time consuming to acquire.”

               Harry nodded, “On it. Patronus message to Dean Thomas: Dean we need a muggleborn for a mission, and I nominate you. There's a two day deadline before magic dies. Pack up your life and your family, send a Patronus to everyone you can think of, especially muggleborns, to do the same, and get to Hogwarts. If you personally can't be here in 30 minutes, find me a muggleborn who can. Floo's open, address is Sanctuary."

               He had an "oh shit" moment thinking about the muggleborns, and he tugged at Remus’s sleeve. “Muggleborns, Remus. Their families!”

               Remus had his own moment of “oh shit”. "Doxie, message to Gringotts, The Daily Prophet, The Three Broomsticks, and the Leaky Cauldron. Please get the word out as best and as fast as you can that muggle family members are welcome, should they wish to accompany their magical relatives.”

               Harry hauled himself back to the building supplies issue. After a few moments of thought, he said, "Patronus message to anyone in the Hogwarts Express office: if you haven't heard, stick your head out a window and listen to your neighbors. We're going to need the Hogwarts Express on standby. Send your current location to Percy Weasley or House Elf Doxie at Hogwarts, we'll be needing you soon, tasking to be determined. You've got at least an hour to get the conductors and anyone else needed to run the train packed up. We'll need every car you have, including cargo haulers if we don't have time to pack and shrink things. If you can pull all those fully loaded, feel free to add passenger cars. If you have multiple engines, repeat the above. We'll send you the details soon. If you don't hear from someone within the next two hours, ping Percy or Doxie." He was getting a bit lightheaded from the multiple message Patronii. Doxie noticed and had an elf fetch mugs of hot chocolate for both he and Remus, Harry gulped his down despite the burn, Remus in a slightly more mannerly manner.

               They both knew they had to get researchers moving. If there was anything that would render all their efforts for nought, it would be the failure to find a way out. The more time they could spend on the problem, the more likely they could make a solution happen. Harry knew it was highly unlikely they could get to a time turner, it had been Prophet front page news in late June, just before school let out for the summer, that a spell creator had been tinkering with one in the DOM labs, and accidentally caused all the time sands to go inert. Charming new sand required specialized ingredients that hadn't yet arrived, and now probably never would.

               Fighting his impatience to get things done now, and with a sidelong glance at Remus begging forgiveness for the nagging he was about to engage in, Harry sent a follow on message to Professor Vector. "Patronus message to Septima Vector. You're not here yet, and that makes me sad. Put your skates on, Professor, you've got two days to figure out how to get us all out of danger, get yourself to Hogwarts already! Are you gonna let the Unspeakables take all the credit? Oh, and bring your friends. Especially the arithmancy ones. All of them. Bring even the ones you don't like. And your books, all those, too. And if you know a theoretical physicist, fuck the statute, bring ‘em along. Oh, and stick a fork in Professor Babbling to do the same, but even faster, would you? We're gonna build you guys statues if we make it through this."

               By now there was a tiny trickle of people hesitatingly stepping through the door, and a few puffing out of the inbound floo, that were being herded away by house elves.

               Neville suddenly burst out of one at a run, scrambling to a stop in front of Harry. "Heya Harry. Gran's working on the family stuff, what do you need me for?”

               Harry grabbed a clipboard without looking and shoved it at Neville. "You're the plant guy, there is no expert I’m gonna trust more than you on this. Find every magical plant you can and figure out how to pack them up, including what you'll need to grow them on later. Draft anyone available to assist. Seriously, every magical plant you can, Nev. Make very, very sure you have all the wolfsbane potion ingredients, and lots of them. If you need to prioritize beyond that, anything for healing potions is top of the list. If Sprout doesn't show up in the next few hours, include the Hogwarts greenhouses in your stash. Doxie, Neville's going to need a shitload of gold. Neville, tell them when to stop loading your pockets. Send a message to her or Percy if you need more later. If there are commercial greenhouses or plant businesses you know of, get them to pack them up and bring them. If they blow you off, buy the damn business, pack their inventory, and burn the offices out of spite. If the plants need specialized fertilizer, buy it by the container load. If they need seasonal dusting by erumpents, make sure we have erumpents coming. Buy flat packed greenhouses in bulk, and I mean cover Iceland in greenhouses bulk, for later use. Doxie, Neville's going to need trunks from the room of lost things. If there are expanded ones available, use those. Have an elf pull out all the trunks, empty them, and keep them ready to pass out. Send a dozen to Nev to shrink his stuff into, he'll tell you when he needs more. Nev, you've got less than," he paused for a quick mental calculation, "forty five-ish hours, but I'm giving you 30 as your deadline. We can't risk not having you and your supplies. Send questions to Percy or Doxie, we'll check in with you periodically. Go." Neville clutched his clipboard and scrambled back to the floo, one of the elves rebounding him into the outbound grate.

               Remus shot him a slightly wide eyed look, he’d had no idea Harry could be that charismatic and compelling. He’d have to see if it was strictly situational or able to be tapped on demand.

               Harry added #9 to the board - Infrastructure

               He nabbed an incoming wizard by the arm, the abrupt motion knocking Hat off his head. Doxie stepped over to retrieve the hat, waiting for Harry’s attention to be free. "What's your name?" he asked. "I'm Darrin," the man squeaked. "Darrin, I'm Harry. I need you to run an errand in Diagon, can you do that for me?" Darrin quickly agreed, so Harry pulled him over to Doxie and Percy. "Darrin, I need you to go to Stowe & Packers. Doxie, Darrin here is also going to need rather a lot of gold. Darrin, I need you to buy every trunk they have that has a stasis charm applied to the interior. I also need you to ask how fast they can expand and stasis charm more trunks, and have them sent via elf or shove them through the floo attention to me. Tell them we're going to use them for our at least some of our food supplies, so please don't take shortcuts on the charms, not that I believe they would. Percy, once Darrin comes back, take what he has on hand, we'll hand them off to whomever we need to later. Off you go, Darrin, and thank you." He led Darrin to the outbound floo.

               Dean Thomas stuck his head around the door frame, "Heya Harry. Mom's packing us up, what's my job?" Harry swiveled around with a smile, then went to meet Dean, stepping aside from the door so they wouldn’t disrupt any traffic.

               “Dean. Seriously, thank you, mate. You're on supplies, specifically, building supplies. Being muggleborn means you know how to navigate building supply stores. Reach out to the Hogwarts Express office. I've given them a couple hours to get the ball rolling on packing up, but if someone's there, start coordinating a trip that will take you less than 40 hours, and I'm telling you now that that's your outside limit, so you're taking a risk at anything more than 35. Honestly, it’s all a risk right now, so you’re free to say no if you want. Plan for from their current location up to Hogwarts. Starting the minute they close for the night, you're to hit as many B and Q locations as possible, between those two points and in that time frame. Loot the tools and building supplies to the ground, but don't include anything electronic based, if nothing else the wards here would kill it. Doxie, have an elf ferrying gold to Dean, so he can leave it in the store offices. If you could have an elf who's very good with math shadowing him that can quickly tally prices of what Dean's gathering up, we can leave a relatively accurate payment in gold for them. Not the value in galleons, but the value in gold. Which works well for us, as the gold value is a lot more than the coin value."

               Dean frowned at the plan. "Yeah, I can do it, but packing it all up is going to take way too long, I might be able to do two or three, but I'm not sure there's time to do more."

               Harry smiled. "Dean, let me introduce you to one of the greatest spells you've never heard of." Harry moved them outside so as to not actually trigger the spell, and quickly ran over Pack!. He made sure Dean was confident with it, and Harry cautioned Dean to use the spell only after payment had been left and only when the building was completely shut. The spell would then be able to pick up any items that registered as "his". Have the Express load up with a bunch of shipping containers, I know there have to be muggle rail yards nearby. Shrink every empty one you can find and bring them along, use them for storage. You can pay for them if you like, but I guarantee you most will have been sitting in the same spot for years. The yard dogs won't cry much if they disappear. Work with the staff on the Express. Any place you stop, have someone scan for magicals and see if they need a lift. Have anyone else available take every opportunity at every stop to search for magical plants or creatures and gather them up. Try to keep the plants and creatures safe, we're going to need them in the future. Use your judgement in any additional tasking, but your priority is building supplies, you're the only one currently on that. Can do?"

               Dean saluted with a grave "Can do," and turned to start work.

               Harry reentered the foyer, crossing to the meeting room. Doxie walked over to him holding Hat, and he plopped it back on his head. All six chalkboards were now in place. Remus had moved the four, now three, hour countdown clock to the top of one, with an estimated total time remaining underneath it. It was showing 44.33.

               On the third board was a partial list of names for the planning committee. They had ideas of who was wanted, but they needed them to show up first.

               The fourth board was charmed to provide a running tally of those taking shelter within Hogwarts, the number to include all life forms, it changed as he eyed it to 57, ticking upwards steadily.

               The fifth board was labelled research team. There were no names to list as yet. Once assigned, he imagined they'd be bouncing between the planning room and the library.

               The sixth was labelled Ritual Team. Unless they were told to the contrary, Harry thought the Room of Requirement might be a good candidate for establishing a ritual space, but he'd wait to see what the as yet non-existent team thought, there might be a more suitable location. That space would need to be configured and detailed as plans were worked out, so a dedicated team seemed called for.

               He thought for a minute, then as Remus was adding #10 Security/Defense to the first board, he stepped around him to add #11, Land Management. Hopefully the categories were broad enough to encompass a future set of planners and keep them relatively on task within that field.

               Two goblins stepped out of the floo, each one had a silver caduceus pinned to their collar. "We are Toothbreaker and Kinflint. Her Majesty Eltiebs sent us, we are to establish a first aid point and are equipped to do so. Small injuries only, larger issues will be placed in stasis."

               Harry blew out a breath. It was good to be reminded there were allies, and they were working the problem as well. Remus asked, "Doxie, could you please place Toothbreaker and Kinflint in a room central to the largest living spaces, and mark the door with a red cross? Healers, would you prefer to have your living spaces within the aid station, or with other goblins, once they arrive?"

               They held a brief conversation, and as there were only two of them, elected to have their rest area in the aid station. A tag appeared on their collar, with Harry quickly offering the reason so as not to cause anger at being tagged, as if they were children who might get lost and need to be returned. An elf appeared to escort them to their assigned space.

               The floo blew out three people who'd jammed themselves into a single trip. "We're Unspeakables Bode, Croaker, and Monkstanley. We know where to send people, we just need to work out how. Who do we talk to, and where do we set up?"

               Harry almost fell down in relief. Instead, he slumped hard into one of the chairs that the ever efficient Percy had requested. "Oh, thank Merlin." Involuntary tears were starting to rise. To have that burden lifted, to already have half the solution... "Thank Merlin," he repeated, momentarily caught in a loop of reassurance that they could do this. They could.

               A suspiciously shiny eyed Remus wrote their names in on the fifth and sixth chalkboard, the research team and the room team, respectively, then added Unspeakable Bode to board three as part of the planning committee.

               "Unspeakable Bode, for now we’d like you as part of the planning committee; we have a meeting here soon, indicating the clock on the board. You're free to duck back out once you provide a succinct brief. The library is at your disposal if you need it. If you need a runner or runners, either ask Doxie or Percy, or snag the first person you see. All people incoming will be made aware that it doesn't matter who asks what, they're to assist first, they can ask questions later. We've sent messages to -"

               Professor Dumbledore walked out of the floo as calmly as if he'd been out for a Sunday stroll. "Harry, my dear boy. Remus, lovely to see you. I'm so glad to see you have things started, and I'm sure we all appreciate your efforts. However, I think it's best if I take over from here. Hogwarts, please have the head elf report to me. Ah, young Mr. Weasley, please bring me up to speed on where we are in planning, and I’ll decide where to go from there. Thank you again, Harry. Please do to take this time to make whatever arrangements you need for your family. Indeed, I see the Unspeakables are here. Thank you for your prompt arrival, now, let us discuss...."