Pack!

               Chapter Seventeen

               The alarm went off at 5:30, jerking Harry from sleep and setting his nerves jangling. He dragged himself to the loo, trying to wake himself up and calm himself down at the same time. It wasn’t going well, but he managed to dress himself and get back out to the main room, where he collapsed into his chair and leaned back, closing his eyes. A gentle hand carding through his hair had him opening one eye, then two, as Sirius walked around him, hopping up to sit on his desk.

               Sirius’ slate grey eyes looked intently into his. “We’ll get through this, pup. It may all be a mess right now, but this is the adventure you’ve always wanted to have. Don’t focus so hard on the details that you forget to be amazed at what we’re doing, yeah?”

               Harry offered up a slight smile as he took in his godfather’s words. “You’re right. You’re absolutely right. Thanks, Padfoot.” He reached over to take his hand, giving it a squeeze before hauling himself to his feet. He circulated around the room, briefly talking to small groups, waiting for the room to fill. Once he thought most everyone was gathered up, he hopped back up on his desk, casting a Sonorus.

               “Okay, so, this is it. The main group of refugees will be sending their final groups through the portal this morning, and it will likely be closing about 2 PM today. Last chance to change your mind, no hard feelings if you feel you have to make the switch, we want you to follow your heart and not feel obligated. This is our final push on supplies for the new community, and essentially our last chance to acquire supplies. There are priorities that are must do tasks, and Remus will get those sorted first. Once we have those covered, runs will be assigned for the not quite essential items. Bear in mind that if Remus sends you out, you’re shopping for the community. You’re free to acquire personal supplies along the way, but use your own funds for those and make sure to tag the trunks to keep your things separate. If you have a business and need to float a loan for supplies, we can do that and for right now I’ll act as your bankroll. Dobby, where are you? If you need a loan, see Dobby. Dobby, you’re cleared to access my trunks and use any funds available, so long as Remus is in the loop on using the muggle funds; community supplies have priority with that. That said our current muggle funds are substantial, so I’m not overly concerned we’ll run low, even under numerous loans. Dobby, please keep a simple record of who and how much, we’ll sort out paperwork later. For loans made here, they’ll be at no interest, feel free to take advantage of that. On the other side, we’ll likely revert to a more conventional sort of process.

               “As previously discussed, we think we have until about three PM before concern ramps up into high alert. That does NOT mean we have no worries at all. Remus is monitoring a tracking charm in Calais, and one in Dover. When those trigger, we need to act. We have several rules I’d like to place for today in regards to people moving around.

               “Item One, if you’re in a group sent out by Remus or Seamus, you do not leave that group for more than a few minutes at a time. One person will be in charge of that group, and what they say goes. That person will ensure they register themselves and their group with Linmy before heading out anywhere. You’re to stay in Patronus range, and be able to get back to Hogwarts within an hour. I’d highly recommend you plan to return to Hogwarts as soon as possible and no later than 3 PM. If things change prior to 3 PM, we’ll send out an alert to anyone still running errands, but you have to be on Linmy’s list to get a warning. Once the Calais warning goes off, anyone leaving Hogwarts for any reason needs to be able to return within 10 minutes, as that’s the amount of time we have once the Dover warning goes. At the ten minute mark from the Dover warning, we’re raising the wards. Those wards aren’t coming back down, so make very, very sure you stay in range.

               “Item Two: I’d like a half dozen volunteers to set themselves up to work with Linmy. Your job will be to send out Patronii to those outside Hogwarts in the event we need to recall people quickly. We’ll keep you in chocolate. Can I get at least one volunteer right now? Charlie Weasley, thank you. For those of you out and about, if you need to report in to Remus or the group in general for any reason, send a Patronus to Charlie.

               “Item Three: Anyone who still needs to Pack! belongings or buildings, or needs to acquire personal business supplies, same rules. If you’re on your own, make sure you let Linmy know where you’re going, roughly. If you’re in a group, ensure the group leader touches base with Linmy and roughly where you’ll be. Once you get back to Hogwarts, Remus or Seamus may tap you for community based errands. Anyone currently available for tasking that is able to drive and with access to a vehicle, please front up to Seamus, you’re going to be in high demand today.

               “Item Four: Today is England, Scotland, and if you use extreme caution, Ireland only. When the Calais alarm goes it’s too late if you’re on the continent proper, there is no prior warning we can give you. We can’t stop you from going where you want, but we can’t help you if you’re in an area that’s under an active runestone grid. Don’t take the risk.

               “Item Five: I’m planning on Pack!ing up Diagon Alley at two-thirty this afternoon, which will cut off those floos so plan your travel accordingly. For now, any plans to/from Diagon should be to use the Leaky Cauldron’s floo only, not Gringotts. If an alert is sent out prior to 3 PM, I’ll start Pack!ing those buildings immediately, but will ensure you have at least thirty minutes from time of alert if before I Pack! the Leaky, in case you need to floo in to or out of Diagon. After that, you’ll need to look at apparition or any other options you have at hand.

               “Item Six: We’re not professionals at running escape plans or how to start a new settlement and what’s going to be needed. We’ve done and are doing our best, but there will be things we’ve missed. Use your own judgement if you think it’s warranted and don’t be scared to send a Patronus asking if we need something you think might not have been covered.”

               Harry looked over the room, solemnly. “Again, last chance for supplies. Go.” And with that he hopped down from his desk, snagging Sirius by an elbow. “You’re with me today, Padfoot. We’ve got some errands to run in addition to our assigned task, and you’re about as perfect for that as can be.” Sirius raised a brow in inquiry as he allowed himself to be led. Harry towed him over to where he’d last seen Oliver Wood, finding him him in the midst of his Puddlemere teammates.

               “Hey Ollie, your family raises Devon Rubys, yeah? Is there any chance they left part of their herds behind, or maybe you know where we can buy a bunch? Me’n Sirius here are going livestock hunting; horses, sheep, cows, and chickens, among anything else we find.”

               Oliver thought for a moment. “My parents moved to the city a few years back, so no luck there, but we have a muggle branch of the family we stayed in touch with, pretty sure we could acquire at least some of their stock. I’m all packed up, I can go with you today, if you want? I can get us to the right places for the sheep and cows, at any rate. Chickens are pretty much everywhere in the farm communities, no hardship to acquire.” Harry smiled gratefully at his captain. “Thanks, Ollie, I will definitely take you up on that. I have four portable stables and barns, let’s go take a look at them so we know what we have to work with.”

               The three of them made their way to a blank section of wall where Harry placed his four trunks, each door a reasonable six feet high and two feet wide. Harry fiddled with the lock a moment, trying to figure out how to open it when he was nudged aside by a laughing Ollie. “It’s clear you’ve never been on a farm in your life, Harry. Stowe and Packers are the premier construction company for magical barns, everybody uses them, even for permanent installations.” He expertly lifted and twisted the latch, letting the large door swing open, the door having resized to a dumbfounding ten by ten once the latch was released. They walked in, the scent of new wood coming crisp and clean to their noses. The barn was the length of an American football field, and had fifteen very large stalls on each side, with an overhead loft accessed by a sturdy looking set of stairs. Each stall had a pushplate marked “stasis” on an end post. An firm push by Ollie on the plate had it lighting up with a red “ON” below the word, and a faint humming vibration that was more felt than heard. Pushing it again turned the field off and Ollie nodded in satisfaction. “Horse barn. With stalls this size, it’s meant for winged animals, but could easily be used for draft horses, and if you wanted to double up two to a stall, you could get away with it for a bit, although not permanently. I know a family that raises Belgians, if you’re looking for working horses, you couldn’t do better.”

               Harry said, “You’re the expert in this field, Ollie. I’d have likely bought a bunch that looked pretty but were completely unsuitable, so thanks, yeah?”

               Ollie gave an embarrassed shrug. “No problem, Harry. I was feeling a bit useless this morning, so I’m glad to be able to contribute something even if it is just family connections and childhood skills.”

               “No knocking the skills, Ollie. Past or present, we’re going to find a use for everyone’s knowledge at some point, and here’s your moment to shake the dust off a few memories.” As they spoke, they’d exited the barn, closing the door behind them which then reset to it’s original size. A quick peek in the second door showed an identical layout, while the third and fourth were set up as cattle barns. Ollie said each cattle barn could hold about 150 cows if you held the whole barn in stasis. For regular use, each would do for fifty cows. They were going to need a herd of about fifty to start with, Ollie thought, but also said it was faster to scale down than up. He suggested loading one barn full, to include a dozen grown bulls or young males to keep the stock diverse, and putting that barn in full stasis, then using the other for sheep and chickens, with any other other animals they acquire d. The horse barns could be utilized similarly. Ollie thought they’d need at least the one barn of thirty draft horses if they planned on horse power being used to it’s fullest extent, five stallions and twenty-five mares would give them enough breeding stock to increase their herd size should they need to. If they wanted to double up horses in the stalls, they could, but Ollie warned them that they would absolutely need to acquire several hundred tons of good quality feed for both the cattle and the horses. Cattle could supplement by grazing, but the horses wouldn’t be cheap to maintain once they took them out of stasis, and draft horses required calories, about 25,000 per day for a working animal. Once on the other side, raising pole barns or the like for shelter would be easy enough until permanent plans were made.

               “Okay, which is going to be fastest to acquire , cattle or horses?” Harry asked. Ollie was reasonably sure they could acquire the cattle in short order, and as his muggle relations were aware of magic, they could load on the spot. The horses would be a bit more time consuming as they’d want those as unrelated as possible, which might mean visiting several locations. The feed they could obtain either by purchasing smaller lots from local sources or hitting up a hay broker. Ollie would tap his family to see if anyone had connections to a shepherd. The chickens they could acquire from wherever, along with a ready supply of feed. If they wanted pigs, those could also be readily sourced, his family had had a couple of Berkshire’s while he was at home, and he named off a couple of other breeds that he thought would do well for them if they picked any up.

               Sirius had wandered off shortly into Harry and Ollie’s conversation, coming back with a wicked grin and holding a rolled up bundle under his arm. “You kids about ready?”

               “Think so. I need to grab my broom, Ollie, you got yours? And Sirius, sorry about the chafing, but you need to have yours too, just in case.”

               “Nah, pup, I got transportation sorted. Seventh year, James made an illegal flying carpet from a rug we stole from the Gryffindor common room. He left it with Remus when Lily threatened to evict him from the house when she caught him giving baby you rides on it. I blackmailed Remus into giving it up for the cause. Plonker kept trying to deny he still had it, like I don’t know all his tells.” He blew a raspberry in Remus’s general direction. “Fastest thing you ever saw, and a lot easier on the chafing. We might need to huddle up a bit, but it’ll get us from point A to B in jig time.”

               Harry reclaimed his trunk doors, than ran over their plan one more time. “Okay, so cows first, up to one hundred and fifty, chickens up to 100, to be subdivided into smaller flocks later, then sheep if readily available, there’s no reliable estimate for how many as it depends on the breed and the Patil’s are working on sheep as well, so we’ll go with what we find and deal with sizing up later, pigs as we find them, maybe a couple dozen? Horses as we find them, up to sixty, good quality hay and feed as we find it, finalizing at a hay broker if we still need more. We need to move fast, Sirius and I have some locations to hit for a secondary project that I want to leave a couple of hours at least for. You’re welcome to bail on us at that point Ollie, but you’re very welcome if you want to come with. We’re going to be locating magical manor houses that have been left behind and seeing if any of them can be Pack!ed. They’re the most likely places to have magical items and resources still available, so option A is try to Pack! them and sort out the results on the other side. If we can’t, option B is for us to do a quick run through, emphasis on run, looking for anything we can shrink and stow. I’ve got half a dozen empty expanded trunks with me, including four that are really rune heavy. From what I can make out, they’re expanded way beyond the norm, so we should be good, I hope. We’ll use the barn lofts for feed, and jam as much in as they can hold. Any questions at this time?” When he got a shake of the head from both Sirius and Ollie, he asked Ollie where they were going for the cows, and did they need to fly or was there a nearby floo connection?

               Oliver said they could fly faster than most any other option, they needed to head due east to Turriff, about half an hour as the broom flies. With a puckishly sly smile, Ollie confessed he used to fly home during Hogsmeade weekends. “I mean, it was mum’s shepherd’s pie, Harry. How could I not?”

               “I’m sorry you’re leaving your parents behind, Ollie. Hopefully she’s at least give you a copy of the recipe.”

               “Nah, I’d never!” Ollie sounded proper horrified. “And more to the point, she’d never. Give it up, that is. She’s in the room, no doubt ordering me da about to get things just so. Near all of us brought at least some family.”

               “I’m, sorry Ollie, I shouldn’t have assumed, and I’m really glad your parents are coming. Are they listed on the roster as parents or quidditch fanatics?” Harry asked with a knowing smirk.

               Ollie just put Harry in a headlock and told Harry to “Get the dafty door open, we’ve got cows to buy.”