Chapter 3
“I just…” She sighed. “I’m sorry, Harry.” She gave him a sad smile.
“What do you have to be sorry for?”
“For this.”
Harry barely had a chance to lift his head before Hermione stepped forward and shoved him hard, backwards into the veil.
With Teddy still in his arms.
He felt the Veil grab at him and watched as the Veil chamber was swallowed in darkness, unable to move, unable to let Teddy go, unable to clutch the infant closer.
~~~
Seconds that seemed like minutes past and suddenly Harry was surrounded by a bright white light, not all that dissimilar to what he’d experienced when Voldemort had killed him. He heard a female voice gasp in surprise before humming in amusement, then the light faded.
When he felt air moving around him, Harry opened his eyes and gasped in shock, he was falling. His eyes widened and he instinctively tried to cast a stopping spell.
“Arresto Momentum!” He nearly yelled the spell.
He was incredibly surprised when it worked and he halted just a foot above the ground, Teddy secure in his arms, he rolled to his back and let the spell dissipate, grunting as he landed on a dusty slope. He sat up looked around, automatically adjusting Teddy in his arm. As he did so the piece of parchment that was tucked into the baby’s overalls pocket caught Harry’s eye.
It had Harry’s name on it.
Harry pulled the parchment out and unfolded it, noticing as he did that Teddy was still sleeping.
Harry
If you’re reading this then my plan worked and you have Teddy with you.
Yes, it was deliberate.
Kingsley told us last night that the ministry weren’t going to repeal the creature laws. What that means is that per the Ministry anti-werewolf laws, as the offspring of a known werewolf, Teddy will be euthanised. Thankfully, the laws don’t come into effect until the new Minister is sworn in and that won’t happen until after your sentence is carried out.
That gave Andromeda, Kingsley and I the chance to try and save Teddy. We spoke to the goblins and while they wanted to help, under the current treaty there was little they could do. However, little is better than nothing at all.
Check your mokeskin pouch, Aurors Robards and Williams are sympathetic and are prepared to look the other way, so I‘m going to add a couple of things to your pouch.
In the pocket of your invisibility cloak, you will find two wand holsters, one holds your holly wand and the other holds the Elder wand.
I was worried about Ron summoning the pieces of the Elder Wand, as I had heard him talking with Arthur about doing just that, so I asked Neville to try and get it first. Both he and I were surprised to find it in one piece, especially as I watched you snap it in half and throw it in two different directions. Once we had the Wand, Luna suggested telling it what we were trying to do, before Neville used it. Neville and I were surprised that the Wand emitted a humming noise before warming in Neville’s hand, Luna said the Wand wanted to help us help its chosen wizard.
We really had no other options, so Neville did the summoning and the Stone’s in the Cloak’s pocket, too.
It was then that Ollivander turned up, he suggested that we use the Wand to repair your holly wand and gave us a pair of holsters for them. Don’t ask me how he did it, but somehow Ollivander convinced the Elder Wand that it would be better to be stored in the leg holster and kept for emergencies and leave your holly wand for day-to-day use. He also gave us a wand storage box that has all the wands from the lost wand room on the third floor, the one just opposite the DADA classroom. It also has all the wands of those lost at Hogwarts and even some of those lost during the war.
We were going to put money in, but Kingsley warned us not to, apparently it would show up on the Ministry’s scans. But that doesn’t mean I wasn’t able to slip a couple of things in.
Goblin magic doesn’t show up on the Ministry scans, so I did my best to convince the goblins to help. Money was out, but we did put in other things.
The ‘shampoo and conditioners’ aren’t actually shampoo or conditioner. Once you finite the charms, they are memory phials. They contain what Kingsley and the goblins call training memories. I don’t know what they are exactly, nor do I know how to use them, but apparently the instructions are on each phial and Kingsley says you won’t have any trouble working it out. I did ask that one be occlumency and legilimency and that a second be enough childcare, for you to know what you’re doing when caring for Teddy.
The box of cards is actually a library. The goblins transfigured each book into an individual playing card and then a box for each deck but the outer box is a library trunk that will hold all the books once you reverse the transfiguration. Thank heavens that the Wizengamot members are all wizarding raised, they have no idea how many cards, or decks of cards, are in a pack of muggle cards. That means that I was able to get you 1368 books in a trunk. 1344 (56 cards/deck) + 24 (boxes) = 1368 books + 1 (outer box) as the trunk. Not as many as I would have liked but more than I expected, so I’m ok with that.
Don’t reverse the charms on the cards until you have somewhere to store the trunk as it can’t be shrunk, not once it’s a trunk, again.
The marbles aren’t marbles, either. And again, the Wizengamot have no idea how many marbles should be in the bag. The small marbles are gems, cut gems of a similar size to the marbles they look like. The larger marbles are a mix of items, mostly jewellery that belonged to your parents.
The sewing kit is also not a sewing kit but I don’t know what it actually is. It and the other four memories are provided by the goblins, that was the cost of their help.
Now about Teddy.
He’s in a charmed sleep. He’ll sleep for approximately three hours, or that’s what it normally does, we don’t know how that will react with the Veil and how it transports you to wherever you are. Andromeda doesn’t recommend waking him using a rennervate, as reversing a medical sleeping charm can give babies a headache and make them cranky and you don’t need that.
Under Teddy’s jumper but outside his shirt, you will find a pouch much the same as my beaded bag. Inside it are three trunks. One contains clothing for him, from his present size to approximately two years old. One contains tins of formula, bottles, nappies, pilcher-pants and all the things needed to care for him for the next year or so. The third trunk contains everything Andromeda and Kingsley could find that belonged to you, your parents, Sirius, Remus and a lot of Tonks’ stuff, too. On top of them is a canvass stachel-like nappy bag, it has one of Remus’ robes, Tonks’ coat and a sling/harness to carry Teddy in. Andromeda suggests wearing either the coat or the robe when he looks close to waking, he’ll associate the smell with the comfort of his parents. It will make accepting you, much easier. Also in that bag are some nappies, a couple of change of clothes for Teddy, a bottle, a small tin of formula and a bunny-rug. Just enough to last you for the first couple of days, after that you will need to access the trunks.
Be careful using magic, Harry, you don’t know where you might end up. Start with a tempus et locus to find out where you are. Then do a Point Me scan for any magicals and if need be, use distances. If there’s no magicals nearby, you can get away with doing more, but only if you use muggle notice-me-nots. If you aren’t in a town, the mapmaker's charm could be handy, too.
The other charm that you might find really handy is the Lost, Abandoned and Discarded spell-chain. One part locates the items, the second hides them from sight, both from muggles and magicals and the third summons them to you. If you can, use the reverse banishing summons instead of an Accio.
I really hope you’re right about the Veil. The idea that it might kill you is
I don’t like it.
I hope things go well. I really do.
I love you, Harry, you are my family in all but name.
Take care of yourself and love Teddy.
All my love
H
P.S. The finite password for the transfigured stuff is the phrase used to open the map.
Harry let his head rest against Teddy’s cheek, before he took a deep breath and re-read the letter.
“Right.” He muttered. “First. Wands.” He gently lay Teddy down on his lap and slid his mokeskin pouch over his head. It required both hands to undo the drawstrings that were tied in a knot, then he stretched open the pouch’s mouth and took another deep breath. “Here’s hoping that Hermione actually had put the wands in and hadn’t been stopped before she got the chance.”
His fingers met the softy, silky fabric that made up his invisibility cloak and he eased it from the pouch, but not before he’d looked around him to check that no-one was within sight. Opening the cloak, he felt firmness on one side and dug his hand into the fabric until he had hold of something that felt decidedly not fabric. Pulling the two pieces of leather from the cloak took only a few seconds and was quickly followed by Harry sliding them into place. One on his leg and one on his right wrist. The cloak was shoved back into the pouch and it was slipped back over his head.
Now properly armed, Harry was ready to follow Hermione’s other suggestions.
His holly and phoenix feather wand slid easily into his hand and as usual, it filled him with warmth. “Tempus et Locus.” He said quietly, confident in his wand and magic.
5.47am
March 14th 2920.
Drowned Barrel Beach
Dol Amroth Peninsula
Bay of Belfalas, Gondor, Arda.
Harry studied the magic induced writing. Of the location, three words were worrying him.
Dol. Amroth. Gondor.
They were familiar. And not in a good way.
He and Hermione had read and re-read her copies of The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings, many times in the last year. Enough times, that he was familiar with those words.
“Bollocks.” He muttered and smacked his open hand against his forehead, repeatedly. A minute past before Harry dropped his hand and huffed. “Right. Dol Amroth. Great. Just what I need… Right, let’s find out where the nearest wizard is.” He laid his wand on his hand, pointing at himself, and cast the spell, making sure to use the definition that Tolkien had penned. “Ad Illud Istari.” The wand spun on his hand until it pointed just fractionally to the left of directly north. “Right, that could be either Saru… the traitor or wanderer.” At the last moment he stopped himself from saying either wizard’s name. Was there a taboo on the name of any of the local wizards?
“Let’s see how close they are. “Ad Illud Istari within five-hundred miles.” The wand spun and faced the same direction. “Ad Illud Istari within two-hundred-fifty miles.” Again the wand spun and pointed the same way. “Ad Illud Istari within one-hundred miles.” This time the wand stayed pointing at him. “Between one-hundred and two-hundred-fifty miles away. Huh… Let’s try and narrow that down, shall we?” He took a deep breath and cast again. “Ad Illud Istari within two-hundred miles.” The wand didn’t move.
“Okay, now we’re getting somewhere. But how far is two-hundred miles, here. What’s between us? Mountains? Rivers? Or plains?” He closed his hand around the wand and let it settle into a gentle grasp, before pushing the tip of the wand into the ground beside him. “Visio terra two-hundred-fifty miles.”
The ground around his wand-tip shimmered and shifted, blurring as it did. When the blur faded, it left behind a clear patch of sandy dirt that showed an unfamiliar pattern of lines.
“Right, where’s that wizard then? Ostende Istari.” A pebble pushed its way out of the dirt to pinpoint the location. “And I’m where the wand touches. So… There’s a mountain range between him and me.” He slumped in relief. “Ok, that’s good. Yeah, good.” He whispered.
For a few minutes, he sat there on the damp ground, baby Teddy on his lap. But finally, he sighed.
“I can’t go to the wizards.” He muttered. “The traitor still leads them. And that rules out the elves, for the same reason. I wonder how often the wanderer visits that ‘hole in the ground’? If I go there, is he likely to turn up before the party? Or should I just hunt up the leader of the Company? Hmm…” He huffed. “Right now, it doesn’t matter what I decide. I still need to get north of that southern mountain range and west of the central range. I can decide then, but that’s still… Visio terra one-thousand miles.” He studied the altered map. “Yeah, that’s about seven, maybe eight, hundred miles, to Hobbiton, as the hippogriff flies. But…? By road? It’s gotta be… follow the road east past Strider’s place, then back north-west before heading north. Or just west into… I have no idea what and I'd still have to go north. Distance is… bugger… Going east, it’s at least five hundred to the ford, maybe more, and it's gotta be another five-hundred north to Hobbiton. And west(?), it’s about half that, to the ford, but I’d be running blind, the whole way. And there's still the trip north.” He sighed.
“I can’t afford to run blind, not while I have Teddy.” He picked up the little boy and nuzzled against his chubby little cheek. “Gotta play it safe, don’t I, little mate?” He sighed. “That means… east... And it also means lotsa miles. Well, no time like the present to start. Let’s get to the city and I can try out Hermione’s Lost, Abandoned and Discarded spell-chain.”
Harry leant forward in anticipation of getting to his feet, but paused as his hair fell over his face. It fell over his face and down around Teddy, which was a marked difference from the short hair that barely touched his glasses.
“What the…?”
And speaking of glasses? Where were his? He’d had no trouble seeing the charm-map or checking out the surrounding area… so…? Did that mean he didn’t need glasses, anymore? He huffed and shook his head. “No glasses. Let’s hope that’s permanent.” He heaved himself to his feet, taking care not to over balance and drop Teddy. “We gotta out of sight, Teddy-bear. I need to know if the Veil changed more than my hair and that means conjuring a mirror.”
Harry held Teddy gently as he walked from the dusty slope, on the edge of some sand dunes, across a grassy space and into the broken brush of a wooded area.
“Ad Illud any muggle within one hundred yards.” Harry said and felt his magic touch his wand but the wand stayed still. “Great, no muggles.” He gave a tired, half-hearted grin. “Creo speculum.” He twirled his wand in the simple circle that enclosed the space he wanted the mirror and raised his wand, giving a sharp flick as the wand-tip reached the height, that he wanted the mirror to be and watched pleased, as the shiny surface formed.
“Well, that’s me.” He said. “With long hair... wow, that’s weird.” He lifted one hand and scuffed it against his chin. “And I need a shave. Other than that? That’s me. Good. But my clothes… Not good. Have to change them but I need to see local clothes first.” He dismissed the mirror and tilted his head in thought. “Non animadverto.” He raised his wand and waved it over he and Teddy and nodded in satisfaction when he felt the wash of warmth, that he associated with his magic.
Then he started to walk in the direction that he remembered was the way to the city.
Stumbling through the dawn-lit woods without a path was tiring, but eventually, the woods stopped and he found himself on the edge of a wide gravel road.
A rather busy road.
With most of the traffic heading vaguely to the east, Harry hoped that the city was that way. He turned and walked alongside a massive wagon, pulled by six huge horses, they would have made Madame Maxime’s Abraxans look small.
He stumbled and retreated to the treeline, when he realised that it wasn’t the horses that were huge, it was he that was small.
This happened when he was watching a young man, that he guessed was much the same height as Ron, walk towards him. Only when the man reached Harry, he was nearly a foot and a half taller than Harry, not the few inches that Harry was expecting. Just behind the man was a smaller being that, if Tolkien's decriptions of weapons and clothing were correct, was probably a dwarf.
A dwarf that was much the same height as Harry.
“Oh, Merlin…” Harry muttered. “I’ve been shrunk!”
Over the next twenty minutes, Harry saw many people, mostly normal human-sized people, but there were enough of the smaller beings that Harry was able to get a clearer picture.
“I’m a dwarf…” He looked down at a still sleeping Teddy. “I’m a dwarf…” He repeated. He was stopped from any further actions by Teddy, the baby wriggled. For the first time, since Hermione slid him into Harry’s arms, he moved. “Oh, boy.” Harry quickly pulled out the pouch that Hermione had mentioned and from it pulled the bag and Remus’ robe. “Ok, that’s way too big, going to have to shrink it a bit.” He let his wand slip into his hand and tapped it against the robe. “Minora.” While he cast, he focused on the robe fitting him and once it shrunk, he shoved his arms through the sleeves and let the smell of his dad’s friend envelope him. He lifted the strap of the bag, slipped it over his shoulder and began to walk, again.
Teddy woke a few minutes later and Harry dug out a ready-filled bottle, warmed it and held it for Teddy to suckle on, as he continued to walk. They reached the city before Teddy had finished the bottle and Harry leant against the city walls as he waited for Teddy to finish his meal. Then it was the slightly complex and stomach-churning experience of changing someone’s nappy.
Harry rested with his back against the city wall and thought.
‘I need money, transport and a history.’ He thought. ‘Money? How do… ooh… Hermione mentioned the Lost, Abandoned and Discard spell-chain. I could do that. But… what do I summon? And didn’t she say to use a reverse banishing summons, instead of an Accio? Why? Huh… maybe ‘cause stuff could be under a collapsed building, or under a floor, forgotten. Hmm… I need to make a few notes. And what about transport and a history? I suppose if I get enough money, I can always buy something for transport. But a history?’ He frowned. ‘I also need to know about the money situation, what coins do they have and what are they worth? Not to mention, do I need Id?’
He sat there and hummed to himself and Teddy for a few minutes while he made notes on a sheet of paper transfigured from a leaf.
“Okay, Teddy-bear, I need info and the only way I’m going to get that is from a local. And that means I’m going to have to do something that I never thought I’d do. Use magic on a muggle.” He sighed. “Well, let’s see. How am I going to do that? I could Confundus them, or… or I could use the goblins’ training memory to learn occlumency and legilimency and use that. Hmm… decisions, decisions, decisions… No. Let’s stick with a confundus, just yet. I don’t know what’s involved in using the training memories.” He took a deep breath. “So? Confundusand maybe a compulsion to answer my questions to go with it... Who’s it going to be?”
Harry studied the people walking towards the city and weighed them against one another, until he felt that he had a likely victim picked out. Staying seated, he lifted his wand pointed at the old dwarf and cast his spell.
“Confundus. Compulso. Leave the gate and walk over to the patch of gravel in front of the crack in the wall. Sit down with your back to the wall and fiddle with your pack.” Harry knew that only the dwarf he chose would hear him and sure enough the dwarf followed his instructions. Harry also made sure that the compulsion would last until he lifted it and that the dwarf wouldn’t remember anything more than sitting against the wall and re-organising the contents of his pack. And as he was within the extended Notice-Me-Not spell that Harry had cast when he’d sat down, no-one walking past would hear him speaking to Harry, either.
“Tell me about money used here. About what coins or notes there are and their value. About where to exchange money. And what it can buy. If you have money, show it to me.” Harry ordered.
“There are five different coins.” The old dwarf rumbled as he spoke. “Pennies are copper and are the smallest and worth the least. Pennies aren’t used much, they’ll buy you a sweet or a slice of bread but not much more. Ten-pence are worth ten pennies and are twice as wide as a penny. A ten-pence will get you a potato or an onion or a carrot or something small like that. Two ten-pence are worth a silver Florin, it’s only a wee bit bigger than a ten-pence. A Florin will get you a small mug of ale, a mug of hot tea, a bread roll or pie-treat. Sovereigns are small gold coins and worth twenty Florins. One’ll get you a knife, a pack, a shirt, a night in a hostelry with meals. Three will get ya a pair of boots or a cloak. Ten sovereigns will get you a Crown. They’s a larger gold coin wiffen a hole in the middle. Two Crown ‘ll get ya a pony, another one ‘ll get ya a saddle and briddle ter go on it. Three ‘ll get ya a wagon. Twenty-five Crown ‘ll get ya a Sceptre. They’s a pin wiff ends that ya thread Crowns onto. They’s worth twenty-five Crown and they’s hold twenty-five Crown.”
As the dwarf spoke, he opened a coin pouch and scooped out a handful of coins. He showed Harry what each coin looked like, as he explained what it was and what it could buy.
“Right.” Harry nodded. “Got it.” He studied each coin until he was sure that he understood the ranking system, then he looked up at the dwarf. “Are you really a dwarf?”
“Aye” The dwarf nodded. “I’m a Broadbeam of the Blue Mountains.”
“How- Is documentation necessary for travel?” Harry changed the question.
“Nay.”
“How is identification determined?”
“When a dwarf comes o’ age, he get beads.” The old dwarf said. “Beads tell who ya are, where ya from, who ya kin are and what ya can do.”
“Crap…” Harry muttered before frowning. “Only when you come of age? How old is that?”
“Depends on you and yer family.” The dwarf answered. “Dwarves are born like Men and we grow like Men, but only until we are full-grown, then we age slower.”
“How much slower? How old do dwarves get?”
“Dwarves dain't start looking old until they’s over two hun-ed, maybe two hun-ed fifty. Some ‘ll reach three-hun-ed or more, but tha’s rare.” The longer he spoke the easier Harry understood him.
“What do you look for in a bead and how does it tell you anything?” Harry asked.
~~~