Chapter Four
Chapter Four
Percy automatically deferred to the Headmaster and Doxie shot Harry and Remus a sideways look, it looked to Harry like she was trying to say she was sorry. He looked back and gave her a small nod. He knew she was a bound Hogwarts elf, and had no choice but to obey the holder of the bond. He and Remus were suddenly left feeling like they’d been drenched with cold water. Harry, in particular, felt gobsmacked at having been virtually shoved out of the way. He stood there like a statue, not quite believing what he'd just heard. "But Professor..." he began. Remus laid a hand on his arm, shaking his head with a warning look. Harry stopped, but he wasn’t pleased about it, not at all.
"Dear boy, there is no time for unnecessary conversation," Dumbledore said in an authoritarian tone, and with a hard look in his eyes. "You should go locate your friends and ensure you're ready for the Grand Escape. Remus, do run along to keep an eye on him, please." Dumbledore spoke as if he were aware of every bit of information regarding the situation, which Harry knew couldn't possibly be the case. It was crystal clear he had no intention of keeping Remus or himself involved, not even to allow a proper hand over of their nascent ideas and current tasks. If this wasn't a repeat of every moment in his life that Dumbledore had ever had a say in, and nearly all of those were moments the headmaster should never have been allowed to have a say in, he didn't know what was. It would appear that Dumbledore was determined to cement himself as the Leader of this event.
Harry wavered in place for a moment, then Remus put an arm over his shoulder, turning him and they walked out of the room, both wondering where to go. If he were treading water in the middle of the ocean without a boat anywhere in sight, he imagined it might feel like this. It’s not like he wanted to be in charge. He would have been grateful to have a responsible adult to hand things over to. But he wanted it to be a responsible adult he had faith in, and what he got was … Dumbledore. Who Harry most certainly didn’t have faith, trust or confidence in. Harry knew his relationships with adults weren’t the best, and those he’d have unhesitatingly gone to with a problem were minimal. He could count only a few he knew, or even knew of, and all fit on the fingers of one hand with a few left over. But there were some, and he realistically knew there were probably many that could have stepped in, reviewed what was in progress, asked a whole bunch of questions, working with Harry to keep what balls he’d gotten right juggling in the air, while tossing some balls to the others with the experience to handle them most efficiently. Harry had a bad feeling he wasn’t going to like what was coming, but when did he ever, when it involved Dumbledore?
Remus hummed. “There’s an abandoned classroom on the fourth floor we used for Marauder planning, I’m sure we can head there for some thinking time.”
Harry’s head came up, “Oh! No, Remus, seventh floor, Room of Requirement. I was going to offer it up as a possibility for a ritual space but bugger that. We’re taking it over. Follow me”. Having nominated the Room of Requirement, he led the way to the seventh floor, asking Remus to stand clear for a moment while he paced back and forth in the hallway, contemplating Barnabas the Barmy as he did. He didn't know what he needed, he didn't know what he was going to do. Well, Harry might not know, but he'd entirely forgotten he was still wearing the Sorting Hat, and the Hat had ideas.
The door to the room swung wide, Harry turning in alarm. "In." was all the Hat said, reminding Harry of his presence. He and Remus filed, in, Remus looking around in amazed curiosity.
The room contained what looked like an wonderfully comfortable living room set: two sofas and two wingback chairs with side tables, centered around a coffee table atop a handsome rug.
"All right, Mr. Potter, Professor Lupin, we’re on our own for the moment. You haven't had three moments together for yourself as yet, so you're going to take them now. Things will be clearer when you're not running on anger and adrenaline. After you've had time to recover a bit, we'll talk about what you want and see where that leads us. Lie down on those sofas and close your eyes. Try to relax and not think for a bit. I need to have a conversation with Hogwarts."
Harry didn't have the wherewithal to argue. He wasn’t sure why Remus fell in without further comment, but perhaps he felt the same. He genuinely did need a bit of time to reconcile himself to the new order. Harry gratefully sank onto the couch, setting the hat on the end table. He toed off his trainers and slid himself flat, throwing an arm over his eyes. He drifted off to the soft hum of the Hat talking to Hogwarts.
*-*-*-*-*-*
Harry slowly opened his eyes and waited for it all to drop back down on him. To his surprise, he didn't really feel much of anything. Shock, or just... overload, he supposed. He could do without the lethargic feeling, though. Sitting up, he hopefully called "Dobby?"
The elf popped into the room. "Harry Potter, sir, Dobby has been waiting for you." For once the elf wasn't overly excited, not even bouncing on his toes. "Dobby understands there is An Issue, and Dobby is here to do his part. Dobby has gathered the free elves, and we is all waiting for directions from Dobby's Harry Potter."
Harry blinked. "Wait, you're not helping Doxie and the planning... well, Dumbledore?" He wasn't sure how he felt about what the answer might be, either way. On the other couch, Remus stirred, blinking and slowly pushing himself to a seated position.
"No, we is not," Dobby said firmly. "We is free elves because we doesn't want to be bound to or working for masters we is not liking. We was taking our time and watching for new families, but now we has decided. If magic is leaving, and if Harry Potter is leaving, we is asking to be bonded to Harry Potter, and we is going to be leaving with Harry Potter." A dozen elves had popped in behind Dobby as he spoke and nodded at the last statement.
Harry considered. On the one hand, he was sure Doxie would have appreciated the help. On the other hand, this was Dobby, and no one had ever said Dobby didn't know his own mind. Remus spoke, his voice still a bit sleep blurred, “Harry, the elves’ assistance would be invaluable. Dobby it is? Dobby, we’d certainly appreciate any help you can provide, but we’d like all of you to be full partners in this enterprise, whatever it is we decide to do.”
Harry agreed wholeheartedly and addressed the situation head on. "Dobby, I'd love to have every one of you with us, but there are two issues, and I'd like you all to consider them carefully before anything final is done. One, I don’t agree with how the house elf bonding agreement as it is written. It's not fair that you are bound to your master without recourse. It's not right that you may only use your magic for the betterment of your master. If you and your friends, and I promise to learn all your names soon, want the bond, you'll have to explain to me why you do, and if you convince me, we're going to reword that shit. Two, I'm not sure what I want to do regarding the evacuation, Remus and I need to talk, and if you want we’ll include you in that discussion to see what options there are. Dumbledore's put himself in charge and we weren’t even allowed to tell him what had already been set in motion. I mean, it's not like me or Remus wanted to be in charge, but Dumbledore hasn't made the greatest of decisions for me in the past, and I'm not letting him make decisions for me now if I can't agree with his goals. Don't answer right now, take a bit of time to think it over, yeah?"
Dobby solemnly nodded at Harry, then turned back to the other elves for a huddled conversation.
Hat suddenly spoke up, "Mister Potter, there is someone outside the Room who is likely to be looking for you. Would you permit him entry?"
"Oh god, yeah. How long was I out for?" He asked when he realized he felt at least somewhat more clearheaded.
"You were resting for forty three minutes, Mister Potter," Hat replied. I would have woken you in the next fifteen minutes, had you not roused on your own."
The door swung open, and Neville Longbottom strode in, a thunderous look on his face. "What the fuck, Potter? Why did Dumbledore take my load of my trunks, which, by the way, weren't plant related, Gran had me bring the first load of luggage from Longbottom Hall when she found me packing up the garden. He then all but patted me on the head and handed me my hat with a "Good job, my boy, do go relax, the rest of us shall take over from here."? If Doxie hadn't handed me a note, I wouldn't have been able to find you, that berk said you'd gone off to be with your family. He does remember you don't have one, right? And you don't have one mostly because of him, which makes him even berkier."
Harry couldn't help it, he snorted a laugh, garnering a reluctant smile from Neville in the process. "Yeah, apparently he's made himself HBIC, and if a decision isn't his, then it hasn't been decided." He internally made his call, "And that makes it a lot easier for me to say wherever he's going, I'm not. Which puts me back at square one, minus a bunch of hours I won't get back, but at least this time it's only what am I going to do, not how to work it all around to help everyone."
"Wrong answer, mate, I'm now your shadow. Where you go, so do I. I won't follow a man who'll fuck over the world to be in power. So, considering it's now you and me," and he glanced over consideringly, “Professor Lupin,” and then to the group of elves, "and maybe a dozen elves, let's start thinking."
Harry gaped. "Just like that? What about your family?"
"Neville sighed. "Harry, my family consists of two people who don't recognize me and never will, a grandmother who to this day thinks I'm one step up from a squib, and the less said about Uncle Algie the better. Grandmother's never looked at me other than to criticize and she would never go against Dumbledore, so, yeah. Family's a bust."
Harry took a couple of deep breaths, and with a hitch in his voice said, "Welcome aboard Team Clueless, brother. I guess family can be anything you want it to be." Harry reached out, and Neville responded with a strong forearm grip, both with suspiciously shiny eyes.
Remus rose and joined their duo into a trio, dropping his hand atop the pile. “I’m in, and so’s Sirius when we find him. Let’s get to work.”
Harry pulled Hat over to the coffee table, putting themselves in a triangle with Harry and Neville on one sofa, Remus on the other, and Hat being the third point. "Alright, what do we want, and what don't we want?" At his request, the room moved a chalkboard into position beside Harry. He stood to start taking notes, placing Board #1 at the top of the slate. Neville pulled out his clipboard to do the same, Remus following suit.
Neville offered up the first points. "We can't stay, so where are we going and how do we get there?
Hat asked, "Other than those currently considering the situation, is this something you wish to inform others of?"
Harry completed the conversational round robin with, "And what will we need to have when we get to where we're going?" He contemplated the notes he'd written on the board for a moment.
Board #1
1. Where
2. How
3. Who
4. What
Remus hadn’t been slow in figuring out what “Room of Requirement” meant on a practical level. He said, "Room, we require a copy of the board in the planning room that was designated as board one. A copy of the board shimmered into place beside his current board. Harry noticed it was smeared as if the original had been in the process of being erased, but was still legible. He didn't need the confirmation of his decision to make his own path, but this certainly cemented his certainty. Remus relabeled the top as Board #2.
Board #2
1. Education
2. Species Coordination
3. Food
4. Communication
5. Shelter
6. Medical
7. Supplies
8. Legal/Justice
9. Infrastructure
10. Security/Defense
11. Land Management
The three of them considered the items. "Seems a bit much for just us, mate," Neville offered. Harry agreed, and said "Yeah, we'll definitely revisit those."
"Could we have another chalkboard, please?" Harry asked the room. When it appeared, he did a rough calculation and added a countdown clock showing 42hours. He moved that board to the side of the room, nobody wanted to look at it all the time, but they would need to be aware.
He took a moment to again try a Patronus to Sirius. When it faded, Neville asked if he knew where Sirius was last, thinking maybe he was just out of range.
“No idea, mate. I've tried a bunch of times, but my Patronus just fizzles. I don't think he's in England and I can't think of a way to get a message to him in time." He added in a small voice, "He might have gone to Black Island". He didn't add that if that were the case, they'd never hear from him. Harry did his best to shake it off, nothing was for sure yet, and he had things that had to be done. Regaining his voice, he asked if Dumbledore had said anything else. If they were going to avoid interacting in the future, it’d be helpful to find out where they were going.
"Well, the Wizengamot members were just arriving-",
Harry nearly screeched. "NO he didn't! Tell me he didn't invite that band of sodding manky plonkers and all their pureblood crap to have a say in what's going to happen? "
"Can't do that Harry. If it makes you feel any worse, Fudge and Umbridge were front and center in the room.”
Harry whispered, "Oh Morganna. She's gonna try to deny anybody not a full blood human the right to go. Fudge is going to allow it, and Dumbledore will just sit there and twinkle, won’t he?
Chills ran up all their backs. While they had no proof, it seemed extremely likely they were going to take the existing wizarding society and transplant it whole, prejudices, and unfair practices alike, discarding the chance to establish new rules and new opportunities. I will not join that travesty, thought Harry, unaware that Neville was echoing him in identical thoughts.
"No." A flat declaration from Remus. "No, I will not allow this."
"Remus, if Fudge and the entire Wizangamot are already here, and very probably at Dumbledore’s invitation, it's a done deal, and you know it. I think it’s safe to say we're definitely not going to wherever they've decided their "there" is. Which puts us back in the situation of needing to figure out how we get out of this, but this time we’re completely on our own; the Unspeakables aren’t going to waste their time helping out a splinter group. We all know we have some massive amounts of research and planning to do, we’re all gonna have to pitch in on that.” Harry had managed to somewhat disassociate from his emotions, and was able to focus on decisions and tasks. Feeling his brain spinning up into gear, he launched himself at the job. “All right, I'm giving us two hours to tackle Board One. First up, where are we going? We know other places exist, the Unspeakables semi- confirmed it when they arrived, saying they knew where we should go. If we’re not using their solution, we need a different place and a different how. Anybody have any ideas? Hat, feel free to chime in."
"Hmm?" the hat responded with an absentminded tone. "My apologies, Mister Potter, Hogwarts has become rather insistent on being included in the conversation. It's taking a bit of concentration to translate her wishes into speech, and I'm not sure I'm fully grasping what she's trying to convey. I believe she's trying to say that she knows of and can direct us to a place, but the place may change depending on our wishes? I'm trying to clarify if she means our wishes will change the selected place before or after we go, or if our wishes will change what place is selected."
Harry asked, "Does it matter, so long as the place is deemed suitable before or as we leave?"
"It might," said Remus. If we don't clarify now, we could wind up in a perfectly suitable place we hate, for any number of reasons. Hat, please ask if it would help her if we summarize what type of a place we would like? If we come up with an outline, could she match us to a place?"
"Yes, you've put your finger right on the issue, young sir. That rather does seem to be the case, the castle is all but purring. " The hat said, glad to have the communication issue resolved so neatly.
Harry asked, "May I request another chalkboard, please?" One slid up beside Board #2, already helpfully labelled Board #4. The room subtly slid itself larger to accommodate the additional needs.
The elves chose that moment to rejoin the group. "Harry Potter, sir," began Dobby, "we is wanting to bond." He held up a hand when Harry began to speak. "We is wanting to bond because house elf magics is being unstable if we is too long free. Our magics is meant to help others, we needs other magics for us, or bad things sometimes happens to elves. Does Harry Potter sir need more convincing?"
"No, no more convincing is needed. I understand. Alright, that takes care of part of it, now there's the wording of the bond. I'd like your group to work out a bond agreement that you're comfortable with, but it has to be fair. You're also to leave yourself a way to release the bond that will be completely at your discretion. You will never again be tied to a master with no way out. Ask the room if you need parchment and ink or anything else that would help, and please consider bonding to Remus or Neville as well. We all have different ways we use and look at magic, the different perspectives may suit different elves better than me" The elves went back to their huddle.
Harry forged on. “Where were we…right, where and how. Oh! Quick question, are we three okay to decide on where we end up for however many beings we take, or do we need additional input? I'm thinking at least The goblins need to be asked, and to have a say, because sure as shit, Fudge is going work and scheme to keep just enough for the banking system and they'll find a way to leave most of them behind. You know what, Hat, can you ask Hogwarts how long it takes to match us up to a location once parameters are set? Maybe this shouldn't be the first thing we work on."
The hat said, "She's indicating it will take some time, but less than one hour."
"Remus, can we bump "where" down the list?" Remus sub-labeled Board #4 as "destination points to consider", and moved the board off to the side. "Hat, does Hogwarts need us to do anything regarding the "how" of getting to the destination?". The hat answered with a negative. "Cool. Remus, can you line out #2? That leaves us with #3, who goes, and #4, what do we need. Add a great big arrow next to #4, pointing it at Board #2, the list of issues that will need to be addressed after we survive the magical implosion."
Remus said, "All right, moving our focus to #3, with a side helping of #4. We need to find out who's going with us, which will tell us at least some of what kind of things we'll need, and start them working on what area of #4 they're best suited to. For instance Remus Lupin, teacher, at your service. I can help with Education, but at the same time, I'm a werewolf, so there's that. Bye the bye, Doxie passed me a note from a friend I have in one of the packs. She wanted to let me know the werewolves have en masse rejected leaving. They're either convinced or have been convinced that removing the magic will turn them human again. Word had been already passed that they were not to go, and were told that proof had been provided showing they'd survive. You won't find a single wolf who'll go against a direct order from their pack leader, and we've no way to locate any lone wolves, so I suggest we move on. Maybe the right thing to do is spend time arguing with them, but being in a pack means you do not disobey. The end result would be we spent that time for nothing. We're not going to tug anyone loose from the pack, and I don’t know how to locate any lone wolves. I’ll notify any acquaintances I have to send any wolves who’d like to go with us my way if they’re interested, but I think that’s the best we can do. I hope the pack leaders are correct and they'll survive, but it's out of our hands. I'm still planning on locating a copy of the Wolfsbane Potion recipe, and I'll find a supply of the potion from somewhere," he finished with determination.
"Neville Longbottom, at your service, and I'm still your plant guy. Harry, I trust you in any decisions you make regarding where we wind up, but I'm thinking I should still take on the magical plant part of the supplies. And for the record, I'm not giving anything I collect to Dumbledore. He all but told me to go away, so I'm thinking my responsibility to the main group is done. Grandmother has the Longbottom fortune and family elves, as well as access to healers for my parents, so I'm cutting ties. First thing I did when I left Hogwarts earlier was floo call five plant suppliers that I've dealt with before, and they're all getting ready to evacuate, and not one of them wanted to pack and keep the responsibility of their businesses. Your gold bought them, and sorry, it wasn't cheap. I need to go back and gather them up. I’m pretty sure I have a method worked out for safe packing of the plants that won’t harm them, and also won’t take me more time than I have. Of the five suppliers, one caters exclusively to the potion trade, and has a full pharmacopoeia in their greenhouses. I'll have at least one, more likely many, of everything in common potions, most things for less common potions, and a few things for rare potions. Depending on the number of travelers that wind up involved in our "Clueless" group," Harry and Remus grinned at that, "this gives us the bare minimum in healing, anything else will be a bonus. Three businesses are geared more towards garden plants, but that includes market gardens as well, so quite a few of the plants are food related. They also have considerable stocks of seeds, packaged and labeled. The last company was for ornamental plants, but they can be incredibly useful, like glowgrass to plant beside walkways or golden honeybee bushes. That's usually just a pretty color accent for a flower garden, but when given the right conditions it spawns small bee swarms, useful for adding pollinators to your garden. I'd like to get back on the plant hunt, there's a lot more to find, and it's going to be easier now that some of the pressure is lifted. If you find I need to add anything species related, let me know. I’m also working on your cover Iceland in greenhouses request, and right now I have enough for 10% of Iceland, and all the relevant books on space expansion that are used in greenhouse assembly and construction. I’ll keep looking for more, though. Works?"
"Works for me. Remus, anything to add?" Harry said.
"I know hellebore leaves and moonwort are two of the ingredients in the Wolfsbane Potion, if you could check that they're in your greenhouse, I'd appreciate it. I'll let you know the others when I run down a copy of the recipe."
"Will do," said Neville, and with a tip of his hand to a non-existant hat, turned towards the door. "Oh, hey, Room, could you open a door from here to somewhere near the front of the castle? Preferably leading straight outside, if possible? May as well avoid Dumbledore while I can." The room obliged, and Neville stepped from the seventh floor to just outside the front door with wide-eyed appreciation.