Pack!

               Chapter Twenty-Five

               As they left the last pet store they’d decimated for supplies, Harry had an absolutely horrific thought, causing him to blanch so white that Sirius thought he was having some sort of episode. “What? Harry, what is it, what do you need?” he frantically asked.

               “Chocolate,” came the faint answer. Sirius searched himself, coming up empty. “I don’t have any, Harry, wait here, let me go find some, I think there was a corner shop back there.” He swung around to run across the street when Harry stopped him, saying, “No, not for me you numpty, did anybody think to get a supply?”

               “Oh shit,” Sirius said, going pale himself. “Doesn’t matter if they did, there is never, ever enough. Okay, let’s think this through, we could buy out every store nearby, and believe me we will, but we need to be able to make more. How do we make more? Oh gods, we’re screwed.”

               “Okay, think. Let’s just take a moment and think. What do we know about chocolate. Or just candy in general?” That triggered a moment of inspiration. “Loynds,” Harry said, remembering a school field trip from his time with the Dursleys. The field trip had been to a candy making factory and the trip had been sponsored by Loynds, their guide waxing enthusiastic about how certain candies had required custom machinery to be built by Loynds and many of the machines built by Loynds they were seeing in action were made right here in England, in their Loynds factory. The early Loynds machines had often gone on to become industry standards, and Loynds was very proud of their work. He went on and on about how designing new machinery for different items was such a challenge and kept the Loynds engineers on their toes, hence his recollection of the name after all this time. Harry guessed that at least some of their machinery would be pertinent to the manufacturing process of chocolate, if not, well, they’d have to do things the hard way.

               As anyone with an ounce of Dursley knowledge would have expected, Dudley had been escorted from the tour by Security for all the predictable reasons and Petunia was notified. Somehow they’d still managed to find a way to blame Harry. But back to the point at hand, “We’re going to Loynds, and we’re going to buy one of every machine they have. We’ll have to figure out how what they’re for and how to charm them to run later. Second, we’re going to find someone selling chocolate making supplies and buy all we can get our hands on. But one thing I know we’ll need that we’re not going to find without expert help: Patronus message to Neville Longbottom, Help us Neville Longbottom, you’re our only hope! Find us cocoa plants. Find us ALL the cocoa plants. Oh, and tea and coffee plants while you’re at it, unless you completely beat us to the punch. Now that I think about it, I fully expect you to have already covered tea, being the somnambulist without it in the morning person that you are, but I do coffee.” he added. He turned back to Sirius, “Figure out how to get us to Blackpool, Sirius, we gotta go!”

               Sirius flew them back to Hogwarts, then tried the Blackpool auror only floo terminus, one of the designated auror response points he remembered from this days with the Corps. Fortunately, it was still active and in working order. From there, they rugged it like a bat out of hell to the Loynds offices, where they collared the first salesman they could find, waved a credit card in his face with instructions to sell them everything they had in their warehouse, and to please take them there right away so they could pack their new equipment. And if they had lots of manuals, that would be very helpful, please and thank you. Bit of a time crunch, spit-spot if you please.

               Leaving a much wealthier and entirely bewildered company behind them and having been advised that Cocoa Hub in Melton Mowbray would be their best option for bulk supplies, Harry and Sirius were in deep discussions on how to get there. Sirius thought there might be a floo point in Birmingham, and maybe one in Nottingham, but had no idea of the floo address for either. His auror days were long behind him and he’d been lucky to remember Blackpool, likely only because it was one of his regular check in points. “Wait a minute,” Harry said. “What was the Blackpool floo address again?”

               “Blackpool Auror M55”, Sirius replied. “What are you thinking?”

               “Well, doesn’t the M55 highway run right into Blackpool? What highway runs near Nottingham or Birmingham?”

               Sirius did his best to recollect the information but was only partially successful. “Not sure about Nottingham, I don’t remember that part of the country at all, but I’m pretty sure the M6 runs to Birmingham. Doesn’t it?”

               “Worth giving it a shot. Try Birmingham Auror M6, it’ll either work or not. Let’s hope it does,” he said grimly. They had chocolate on the line, and they were already pushing the limits of the one hour travel limitation. Without being able to get into that one hour range, they’d have to forego the supplies. They couldn’t go back to Hogwarts having failed on this, they’d be eternally shamed. Even worse, in a couple years, when they ran out of chocolate, they’d be cursed at in the streets.

               To the unending relief of both, it worked. Merlin bless the one wizard out of thousands who’d been both the logical sort and in charge of naming the auror floo points, a rarer combination was scarcely to be found.

               Once in Birmingham and seated on their high speed rug with Harry casting a constant point me, they found the warehouse. Just in time, too, they were moments from closing the offices for the day. The volume of the bulk supplies wanted was enough to have the salesman staying to cover the transaction with a joyful smile. Harry handed him his credit card and told him to carry on until it registered a zero balance and then keep going until Harry ran out of cash, at which he laid out his remaining muggle funds.

               When asked how he wanted to arrange for shipment, Harry didn’t hesitate. “I’m going to shrink it and levitate it into my trunk, please direct me to whatever point in the warehouse it would be best to work from.” Sirius just sighed and cast a mild confundus at the man, who directed Harry to the loading dock.

               Harry pulled out his remaining three Dorea Black trunks, knowing they were going to get the workout of their lives, and hoping Remus had been right about her talent for charms. Fortunately for he and Sirius, the stock room portion of the company ran 24/7, and the warehouse personnel were already starting to shift pallets, moving them towards Harry. Once the wall of supplies was deep enough to camouflage him somewhat, he started shrinking and moving the skids to his trunk, asking Sirius for a minute’s help once he had the first layer down. “Some of this stuff is fragile, and I don’t have time to do heaviest on the bottom. Do you know any anti-crush spells, Sirius? Or something I can layer in to stop compression?”

               Sirius grinned, saying “It’s clear you’ve never had to help a friend move, yeah?” Then telling Harry to watch, he slowly cast “Bubbleficio Immobulus”, zigzagging his wand across the bottom layer, causing a sheet of unpoppable and unmovable bubble wrap to appear. He returned to the office to hand over more cash when needed.

               Harry continued on, clearing one side enough for the forklifts to refill, then shifting to the other, the process apparently working well enough that no one questioned him on how the supplies were getting moved out. Harry was just filling the third layer of the first trunk when the credit card ran dry, and was about halfway through the top layer when the cash was also done. Sirius came back to help full time at that point, starting on a second trunk while Harry moved on to the third. By the time the forklifts stopped their deliveries, nearly half the massive warehouse was empty, and they had one completely and two mostly filled trunks to show for it. They’d acquire d both cacao and cocoa butter, salt, sugar, milk powder, cacao beans, cacao liquor, lecithin, vanilla and vanilla beans, milk solids, milk fat, and a number of fruit purees and flavored liquors. Probably the most valuable acquisition was a set of Master Chocolatier reference books, covering the basic to the esoteric between their eight volumes worth of pages. Harry bought five.

               As they’d finished loading their trunks, they were surprised to see the forklifts still in constant motion, bringing forward fresh stock to fill the empty racks. He overheard one of the drivers grumbling about never having had a chance to get his ass out of his fork truck all damn day and thank god he was off tomorrow because sure as little green apples all this sitting was giving him hemorrhoids.

               They’d been staying in close contact with Hogwarts, increasing their check-ins to every half hour. Having something to do, especially something as imperative as making possible long term chocolate independence, kept them from dwelling on the fact that the Calais warning had yet to go, but the ticking of the warning clock in their heads was a constant presence and getting very loud.

               They were completely out of muggle funds, the time was showing as six PM, and neither had any further ideas on what more they could pick up. In truth, Harry’s brain had packed it in about an hour ago. He was just done, completely tapped out. He didn’t want to have to think about any more things that might set off another emergency run to save something. Which is not to say he wouldn’t run to save something, he just couldn’t think of what else needed saving, and didn’t want to rock his boat of peaceful non-thought.

               “Hogwarts?” he asked Sirius, sounding as suddenly drained as he felt.

               “Hogwarts.” Sirius replied, sounding just as worn. He’d earlier shifted both puppies into a single charmed pocket and had been been slipping them treats now and again as the last few hours went by. They were currently sleeping, curled up together, and Sirius envied them. He’d have loved to shift to his Grim form and join them, although maybe outside of his pocket, but with the situation being what it was, best they get on their way.

               They made their way to the Birmingham floo at a much more leisurely pace, and stepped into Hogwarts foyer for what they hoped was the last time under such stressful conditions. Harry stopped to ask Somley if there’d been any new arrivals coming through in the last couple of hours, and received a negative answer. Harry hoped that meant they’d managed to reach everyone they possibly could. Thanking the elf, he and Sirius headed back to the seventh floor, this time entering a less frenzied space. There were still a few open doors for broom traffic, and still mountains of luggage and such in every available space, although they’d gotten more numerous and taller while they were out.

               Circling past several piles, he saw Remus and his group. They’d given up the table, and moved to several couches or easy chairs, as well as a couple of opaque bubbles being present. Remus was wedged into a corner of his sofa, the long, slow blinks showing he’d pretty much run out of gas as well. With a head tilt to the bubbles and a eyebrow, Mrs. Waters answered the silent question. “The Queen required a bit of rest, as did Mr. Ogden. We’ve no more ideas and felt it best to wind down what’s currently in progress. Sirius asked the room for another couch if they could fit it in to the space, and he and Harry sagged onto it when it appeared. “Harry and I are tapped out on cash, so if anybody does think of anything else critical, anyone still having funds will need to be nominated or we’ll need to use gold for it.” He absently reached into a pocket, pulling out one of the puppies and handed it to Remus. He tipped his head back and closed his eyes, to all appearances dropping straight off to sleep.

               Harry leaned over to the end table to talk to Hat. “Hey Hat. Don’t know if we took the time to say thank you, but sincerely, thank you for all you’ve done to assist. We’ll definitely talk more later, because I’m thinking you’d make a great advisor, but we’ll make sure you can pursue whatever path you like.” Hat turned a slightly muddier brown, and Harry wondered if that might have been a blush, but Hat didn’t otherwise respond. “Would you mind asking Hogwarts how the exodus will work? I’m guessing we can’t be inside if Remus is going to Pack! Hogwarts, and how does it work for Hogwarts to open some sort of portal if we have to Pack! her up before we get everyone through?”

               The Hat sounded as tired as everyone else when he answered. “Hogwarts will be able to open the portal given ten minutes of notice. If someone would be kind enough to stack a series of rocks into a rough door frame or archway, she’ll anchor the portal there, tying the magic into the wards so that once the wards die, so does the portal. Everyone will need to exit Hogwarts, and she can then be Pack!ed at any time. You have somewhere between 350 and 400 people who are going, it is anticipated to take a minimum half an hour of steady traffic to move everyone through. I should have thought about this or mentioned it sooner, you have my apologies. It would be recommended to get the doorway built soonest. I’m advised that it takes surprising little to power the portal, so getting that in place sooner rather than later is also advised, although I’d also recommend placing a watch on it once active, we wouldn’t want an adventurous child to tumble through on his own.”

               “All right, I’ll get the arch slash door built.” He dragged himself back upright, asking the room for a stepladder. Climbing up until he could see over at least a few of the piles, he spotted the Patil twins sitting in a group with their parents. Walking over to them, he asked for their assistance. “Padma, I need to go build an archway outside, could you please help me? And Parvati, I’m going to need a rota of volunteers. Hogwarts is going to anchor our outbound portal to the arch, but we want someone keeping an eye on it once it’s active so we don’t have anyone going through accidentally. I don’t think it’s going to be much longer, so maybe five or six people in half hour watches? If you could find me those volunteers, I’d really appreciate it.” The twins eagerly jumped to help, relieved to be doing something active, they’d not been called on to assist with much today and it was nice to feel like they were contributing more than just moving a few boxes here and there.

               Telling Linmy he and Padma were heading just outside the castle, they made their way outside, looking for a convenient place to set the gateway. Pulling out his broom and offering a hand to Padma, they flew a short bit until Harry decided that a good spot was near the larch tree he’d met the Durmstrang students at. Rocks were in plentiful supply in the Scottish ground, and with some effort he started levitating them over, with Padma providing a conjured support until he completed enough of the arch to drop the final keystone into. Padma vanished the support, then Harry flew to the top of the arch, dropping down little by little, resting more and more of his weight on it. Bouncing up and down a few times, then stomping across from one side to the other, he decided it was secure. He and Padma flew back in one of the remaining broom entries to the room, meeting Parvati.

               “Portal is a stone archway built next to the larch tree on the eastern side of the castle. Out this broom door and turn right, can’t miss it. If you can get someone in place now, I’ll ask Hogwarts to start her work. Thanks, both of you.” Harry trudged back to the hat and his sofa.

               Sliding down into the seat, he leaned back, resting his head on the sofa back and staring at the ceiling. “Archway is built, eastern side of the castle next to the larch tree. Please tell Hogwarts to have at it. What do you think, should we start moving people outside? I’m thinking we’re looking at something like half an hour to get that done, although in an emergency we could certainly move faster. No need to rush if we do it now. On the other hand, no need to have everyone sit outside through a Scottish night if we’re planning on waiting for the warning and it takes a lot longer than anticipated. Maybe we should just say fuck it and make this happen now regardless of the warning status? Anybody?”

               Remus didn’t seem to have moved a smidgeon since Sirius had handed him a puppy without a word of explanation. The tiny and completely adorable pup had just yawned at the handover and dropped off again, not even opening his eyes. “Charm your pocket, Remus, he seems to be used to it,” Harry offered up.

               Stepan Morozov looked around to see if anyone else was going to offer a suggestion, and finally stepped into the silence. “Yes, we should get people outside, I think. Moving a large group of tired people will not be easy so I would suggest the following: First, send out a general recall letting people know that we will be leaving in no more than four hours and possibly less, they should return to Hogwarts within twenty minutes, unless engaged in something absolutely critical. And they will need to have someone here agree that it’s critical, perhaps you and I could be the deciding party? That will give them time to complete their current action if not their current task. If they’re more than 20 minutes out, they’re to report in with how much time they need. Second, if anyone has a complete list of personnel, we should be accounting for everyone once we get outside. Perhaps an A through D, E through H section, et cetera? Third, establish a beachhead group to go through first to ensure security, and Fourth, establish who is to go through last to ensure nothing is missed.”

               Harry nodded tiredly. “Linmy, are you here?” Linmy didn’t waste time trying to navigate the ravines bounded by luggage, he just popped over. “Hi, Linmy. Could you please head out by the big larch tree to the east of the castle? There’s a portal archway there. At a safe distance, could you please set out four areas, each with a sign. First is A to F. Second is G to L. Third is M to R. Fourth is S to Z. We’re going to be staging people by last name, so if you could please copy your report into four more linked copies and ask four of the other elves to please station themselves one for each area? Once we have most people outside, they’re to account for those people who are present in their area, and notify you of any that are missing. Have Charlie send out a recall to everyone currently out of the castle. It’s not an emergency recall, but let them know we’re getting ready and they need to wrap up what they’re doing. If they feel they need to complete their tasks and it will take more than twenty minutes, they’re to send Stepan Morozov or myself a patronus, and we’ll either agree they should stay or tell them no, they need to come home now. Thanks, Linmy.”

               Pulling out his last of the tiny stasis barns, he called Moppy over. “Hi Moppy, could you please head up to the owlery and ask the owls there how they’d prefer to travel? If they want to fly through the portal as we leave, they can, otherwise they’re welcome to travel in the stasis barn. Hat, are there any other animals in the castle that we need to locate and remove before Pack!ing? And no; rats, mice, and insects don’t count.”

               Moppy took the barn and popped out, and Hat answering no, no other animals, but there was a room in the dungeons that had quite a few beings in it, with Lady Hogwarts’s approval.