Chapter 19
Three more miles up the road, they stopped on the edges of a large-ish village, not quite the size of Hogsmeade but not far from it. A quick visit to the town hall and an inquiry about markets, got them information that would become vital to them in the future. Markets in Dunland, the South Downs, the Shire and Breelands, weren’t like in the south. Up here, markets were twice weekly, Tuesday and Saturday, and the next day was Saturday.
~~~
May 14th 2920
Red Bank, the village was called, although none of them figured that out until they were leaving.
Red Bank’s market was a busy place, there must have been anything up to a hundred stallholders plying their wares. Most were Men, but a few elves and dwarves were there. Hearing people say the word ‘elf’ confused Harry, every time he heard the word, he expected to look over and see Dobby and in all honesty? Dobby looked more like a middle-earth goblin than he did like a middle-earth elf.
He'd wondered what had happened to Dobby? Had he been… transported, was that the right word(?)… to middle-earth? But no matter what he did or how he phrased the directive, no ‘Point-Me’ had located Dobby or any other Hogwarts students. This lead Harry to believe that he, Fred, Lavender and Colin were the only ones from Hogwarts that were in middle-earth.
But then he would see the tiny Whomping Willows and wonder. How were the magical plants here? Were they transported to middle-earth? Or had they come from middle-earth? Or were they native to neither place? He didn’t know and he wasn't sure that he’d ever find out.
They had a reasonably profitable day. Not the greatest, but certainly not the worst. What it did do was introduce Harry and his friends to more dwarves. There was a cloth merchant, a spice merchant and a tinsmith. All from the Blue Mountains and all warned Harry that life in the Mountains was hard, far harder than that of an itinerant trader. As long as they had access to materials, they were better off to stay in the lowlands, in the towns of Men and Hobbits.
It wasn’t really that much of a surprise to Harry, but the warning was. He talked to Fred and Lavender about it, while Colin said that he was happy to go wherever Harry chose. They felt that the decision was something that needed further discussion and that wouldn’t happen while they had open market stalls.
They left Red Bank early in the afternoon, planning to get a couple more miles behind them, before they stopped for the night. But the afternoon was glorious and they just kept going until the sun was almost touching the horizon. The little dip in the landscape that they chose, was no different to the one before it. A crest, a dip, a creek and lush grass. But that was where they were stopping for the night.
~~~
May 15th 2920
Another day travelling through pretty countryside and picturesque villages.
It felt slightly surreal.
They knew that this was where they were going to live their lives but they still felt out of touch with the world around them. The villages were pretty but none of them had any desire to stay in them.
Something was pulling them north and it wasn’t just Harry’s theoretical plan of contacting, either the Thain or Thorin Oakenshield. Since Harry had first found Fred, the subject had been raised almost every day, but they were no closer to having an answer than Harry had been, when he’d first opened his eyes, above the beach at Dol Amroth.
The gently undulating land was at times a challenge for the ponies, but swapping them over at lunch, meant that none of them were strained. In fact, the feed wagon ponies seemed to relish the hills and while none of the other ponies perked up when a hill rose, none of them hesitated to push up to a hill’s crest, either.
They stopped that night just outside a village that had the rather wizarding name of Ryley-Whist-Appleton. It was enough to make Harry cast a Point-me to any magical within twenty miles, that wasn’t he, Fred, Lavender, Colin or Teddy, and he wasn’t sure whether he was disappointed or not, that his wand didn’t so much as twitch on his palm.
~~~
May 16th 2920
With Ryley-Whist-Appleton lost behind a hill, the Gryffindors continued north. They might not have been in a hurry to go north, but they weren’t exactly dawdling, either. They’d talked it over at breakfast, yet again, and while they still couldn’t work out what was drawing them north, it matched up with their current plans, so they were ignoring it.
Tharbad was two or three days away and they had decided that they would stay there, either in the city, if it had livery yards or just outside the walls, if it didn’t. Other dwarven traders had told them that dwarves were welcome in Tharbad, that they could stay as long as they liked, there were no treaties that limited the time they stayed in any one place. However, if they planned to set up a stall, even for one day, they would need to register with the city’s Trade-Master and pay the fee, usually it was ten florins a day or a sovereign for three days.
They topped up their grain supplies, both pony grain and for their kitchen, in Box Creek, along with raiding a clump of berry bushes that grew outside of town. Spying a huge swath of strawberries that cloaked the edges of a bank above the creek, they spent a few minutes filling a basket with the sweet red fruit.
Apple trees that were dotted with late season fruit, shielded their campsite from a heavy rainstorm, that evening. Harry, Colin and Fred spent a frantic ten minutes, tying sheets of canvass to the underside of trees to give the ponies some shelter from the deluge. Watching Crookshanks stalk back into camp, bedraggled and dripping water as he went, had Harry biting his lip. Hard.
“Would you like me to dry you?” He asked the ginger tom, only to be given a flat glare, back. “Right.” Harry nodded and drew his wand. “Tergeo.” He watched as water siphoned up in a spiral above the now-dry kneezle, and flicked his wand to send the water outside to join the rain.
~~~
May 17th 2920
The storm kept them under the apples for a second night. No-one was surprised when neither Hedwig or Crookshanks made any effort to leave the shelter of Harry's wagon.
Harry spent his time, transferring the stories that he'd recorded for Teddy, from loose sheets of parchment to the pages of a book, saddened that this would be the closest that Teddy would get to his parents. It was only at mealtimes that the others emerged from their wagons, so Harry had no idea what they'd done to pass the time.
Towards evening, the stormclouds began to break and after a meal of warm and hearty pies, the group decided that they would move out, come morning. They still had a long way to go, to reach Bree.
~~~
May 18th 2920
The wind was chilly and Harry kept Teddy carefully bundled up, the last thing he needed was to have the boy come down with the flu or a cold. After listening to the baby grizzle for ten minutes, Harry had scooped him into his arms and tucked a woollen cloak around the pair of them.
Within an hour of heading out they had stopped at a series of farms that had ‘produce for sale’ signs hanging on a gate and restocked the larder in the rear of Harry wagon, with new season’s fruit and vegetables. Hedwig had brought them a pair of rabbits that were skinned and dropped into the meat’s stasis box. Then they’d found a trio of apricot trees that were flush with early season fruit and quickly filled a bucket, Harry already planning a rhubarb and apricot crumble.
And perhaps, that was why he nearly overlooked the face he saw in a farmhouse’s window, as they passed by, just after lunch. Only to blink and take a second look. No, he wasn’t imagining things.
Bollocks…
“Onyx, Ebony, ease right.” He called and guided them to the far side of the road, before swinging them hard to the left. “Come left.”
The other three wagons followed him into the farmstead’s yard and one-by-one they pulled to a stop, behind him.
“Ah, Harry, mate?” Fred asked as he slipped alongside Harry’s wagon. “I didn’t see a sign.”
“Fred, take Teddy behind the wagons and cast a reverse silencing spell on the two of you, please. I’ll send Colin to you, when it’s time to lift it.” Harry’s voice was calm, hard and just a little cold.
“Uh… Okay…” Fred’s eyes went wide and he carefully took a sleeping Teddy from the dark-haired dwarf and retreated to the far side of the wagons.
Harry saw a familiar lanky male walking across a nearby field, but ignored the male in favour of the person in the farmhouse. He waited until he saw Fred cast the spell, before turning to Lavender and Colin. “You might want to block your ears, for this.” They exchanged surprised looks and did as he suggested, just as he touched his wand to his throat and spoke. “Sonorus.” Once he felt the magic surround him, he opened his mouth again. “Nymphadora Cassiopeia Bellatrix Tonks-Lupin!Get your purple-headed ass out here!... Now!” Harry’s demand drew gasps from Lavender and Colin and a squawk from the house. It also made the male in the field, start running.
As the male in the field reached the fence, it was clear that while he still had the long lanky build that Harry was so familiar with, the height was gone, he’d been scaled down to dwarf size, too. A crash from the house had the male glance that way, but his focus was on getting into the farmyard.
“Who are you?” He gasped out, as he held a knife at the ready, but it was also clear that he wasn’t experienced with blades, he was holding it like he would a wand.
“Oh, for Merlin’s sake…” Harry snarled. “Who the bloody hell... do you think I am?” He huffed and held up his wand, making the male’s eyes widen and take a step back. “I solemnly swear that I, Harry James Potter, am up to no good.” He glared at the male. “And that you... are Remus John bloody Lupin, and I should smack you and your wife upside the bloody head. What were you thinking!? You have a son, you idiot. I’d already lost Sirius and then you… argh!” He felt like screaming.
“Harry…?” Remus’ legs wouldn’t hold him and he slumped to the ground, just as Tonks burst from the house.
“Who are you?!” She demanded, running to stand in front of Remus.
“Oh, for…” Harry threw his hands up. “How many people know your full bloody name?” The question made her pause and blink.
Remus pulled himself to his feet and shoved Tonks out of his way, to stagger over to Harry. He lifted a shaking hand to the younger dwarf’s face, hesitating before finally cupping his cheeks.
“Harry…” He whispered. “Oh, Harry…” He dragged the dark-haired dwarf into his arms and started to sob. “I’m sorry, oh, Harry, I’m so sorry…”
Harry gathered his father’s friend close against him as he looked at the stunned look on Tonks face.
“Harry…?!” She exclaimed, her hair going from dark brown to almost white, with shock.
“Wotcha, Tonks.” Harry’s voice had softened, how could he be angry at people that were so upset?
“Harry…” Tonk edged forward, only to trip over her kneeling husband’s feet and tumble into the two dwarves and Harry wasted no time in dragging her into the hug.
“Oh, my gosh…” Lavender gasped.
Tonk’s attention went from Harry to Lavender in an instant. “Harry? Who…?”
Remus, too, lifted his head from where he had it buried in Harry’s neck.
“Tonks, meet Lavender and Colin.” Harry waved at the younger pair.
“Ah, okay?” Tonks looked confused.
But not as confused as Remus. “Harry why… How… Why are Lavender Brown and Colin Creevey standing in my farmyard?”
“Yeah… long story, that.” Harry grimaced.
“Harry?” Remus’s voice went all stern-Professor-Lupin-ish. “Why are Lavender Brown and Colin Creevey standing in my farmyard?” He repeated the question.
“Like I said, long story.” Harry held up a hand.
“Shorten it.” Professor Lupin demanded.
“You died, Lavender died, Colin died.” Harry said. “The Minister died. Mordred’s Law came into effect. I was the only Class One Warrant, outstanding. Kingsley took me to the Ministry and I was tried. And convicted. I was given my choice of sentence and I chose the Veil.”
“Sirius?” Remus asked, he knew how much Harry's Godfather meant to him.
“Yeah, I’d found a book in the Black library that said that the Veil wasn’t the Veil of Death but the Veil of Judgement. So I chose the Veil, I hoped that it would send me wherever Sirius was, but I’ve tried Point-Me’s using both Sirius Black and Padfoot, as the directive and neither worked.”
“Point-me’s need a wand, Harry.” Remus said.
“What do you think this is?” Harry held up his holly wand and waved it, showering them in sparkles of red and gold light.
“How…?” Tonks blinked. “Where did you get a wand?”
“It was in my mokeskin bag, along with dad’s invisibility cloak.” Harry answered. “But that’s not all.” He turned to Colin and nodded. “Can you fetch Fred, please?”
“Fred?” Remus’s voice hitched. “Fred Weasley died?”
“Yeah.” Harry nodded. “But that’s not... You named Hermione and I, as godparents to Teddy. She brought him to my… um… I was holding him, when she pushed me into the Veil.”
“What?” Remus understood each of the words but together, they just didn’t make sense in his overloaded mind.
Fred walked around the wagon, Teddy now awake, in his arms.
Tonks’ eyes widened and her legs folded up under her.
“Whoops, steady there, Tonks.” Harry held her upright.
“Teddy…?” Remus asked, not believing his eyes.
“My Teddy…?” Tonks whispered at the same time.
“Yeah, your Teddy.” He handed tonk to Remus and turned to Fred. “Give him here, Fred.”
“Whoa, mate. How the…?” Fred blinked at the two new faces.
“Don’t ask me, I haven’t figured out how you got here, yet.” Harry snorted and took Teddy, holding the babbling boy in front of his parents. “Hey, Teddy-cub? You ready to say hello to mummy and daddy?”
Teddy laughed and waved his arms before reaching for Tonks. She reached back and suddenly, she had an armful of her son. A son, that she and her husband had given up all hope of ever seeing again. She drew him close and rested her cheek against his soft downy hair.
“My baby…” The tears ran down her cheeks.
“Our baby.” Remus corrected.
“Get your own.” Tonks snorted. “This one’s mine.”
“No, you have to share hi-” Remus cut himself off, mid-word. “Did you say that Hermione pushed you into the Veil while you were holding Teddy? Hermione Granger?” It had finally hit him, what Harry had said.
“Yes.” Harry answered.
“Why would she do that?” Remus frowned at Harry.
“Ah, that’s a long story, that can’t really be shortened.” Harry grimaced. “How about we unharness our ponies and we catch you up, on what’s happened to us and then you catch us up, on what’s happened to you?”
Remus studied Harry closely for a few seconds before nodding sharply. “You can put them in the field behind the woodpile.” He said. “The wagons can go behind the house.”
It took two hours to bring the Lupins up to date with everything that had happened to the four Gryffindors and everything that they had done, since arriving in middle-earth.
“Well, bollocks…” Remus muttered. Tonks didn’t seem capable of speaking.
“Yep.” Harry nodded again. “Now, it’s your turn. What happened to you?”
“Hmph.” Remus snorted. “I was duelling Dolohov.”’
“Ouch.” Fred muttered.
“Pretty much.” Remus nodded. “I was out of condition, spent too long hiding and not enough time training, while Dora was pregnant.” He sighed. “I didn’t last long, just long enough to see Dora facing Rabastan.”
“It was Bella that got her, though.” Fred said. “I saw her go down, just moments before I did.”
"Huh, and here was me thinking it was Rudolphus." Harry grunted.
“I wondered who it was.” Tonks whispered. “Rabastan was in front of me, he didn’t hit me with anything, but I still…”
“Mum got her, though.” Fred said. “Apparently, she went after Ginny and mum took offense at that.”
“Molly took down Bellatrix?” Remus’ eye were wide.
“Yep.” Fred grinned.
“We can talk about that later.” Harry shook his head. “Back to you pair.”
“Dolohov got me with… something, I don’t know what, but everything went black.” Remus started again. “Then there was a woman, I’d never seen her before, she was crying. She spoke to me, I can never remember what we talked about, though. Then she smiled and everything went black again. But it was a different blackness. It was normal night time blackness. I didn’t have my wand, so I hunted around for it, didn't find it, but did find Dora, though. We stayed where we were until daylight and went hunting again, but we still didn’t find our wands.”
“We looked for almost an hour.” Tonks added.
“But before we found them, a local found us.” Remus said. “He assumed that we were refugees from some place in the south, but I’d never heard of it.”
“Was it Harondor?” Harry asked.
“No.” Remus shook his head. “Rowan? Row-Arne? I’m not sure how it’s supposed to be pronounced? People here have odd accents.”
“Rohan?” Harry blinked. “I thought your mum was a muggle?”
“Ah, yes?” Remus said.
“And you haven’t read Lord of the Rings?”
“No, I kept meaning to and- Why? What does that have to do with anything?”
“Broadly speaking, Rohan is the nation between Gondor and the West.” Harry’s answer had both Remus and Tonks nodding. “To the north of it is Lothlorien, Mirkwood and Erebor, to the north-west of it is Dunland, where we are now, and further north again is the Shire.”
“Middle-earth? Really?” Remus' eyes were wide.
“Yep. Harry nodded.
“Oh, dear God…” Remus whispered, the reality of their location was only just beginning to sink in.
“But the man that owns this place, said this was Enedwaith.” Tonks argued.
“Right.” Harry hummed. “I haven’t checked this just recently, but still... I’m fairly certain I’ve got this bit right. North of the East-West Road is Arnor. It’s made up, east to west, of Rhudaur, Arthedain, the Blue Mountains and Forlindon. South of the Road is Eriador. It’s in seven sections, divided up by various rivers. Clockwise from the south is… um… Enedwaith, Minhiriath, Harlindon, The Shire, Cardolan, Eregion and Dunland.”
“Okay…” Remus blinked as he thought about that.
“Right here?” Harry went on as though Remus hadn’t spoken. “West of that road out there, is Enedwaith, but the east of it is Dunland. Most towns are to the east or work on Dunland time and rules.” He pointed to the road at the front of the building.
“Okay…” Remus repeated, now he understood.
“But you haven’t finished, yet.” Harry said.
“Right…” Remus nodded, then shook his head, as though to clear his thoughts. “Tolman assumed we were refugees and we… well, we had nothing more than what we were wearing, so we didn’t correct him. What we did have, was a coin purse each and between us we had a fair few ʛalleons, which as you know are gold. Not pure gold, but even at 9ct, there’s enough gold in in them to be worth a decent sum. We ended up with about ten ounces, roughly, a little over, I think. It got us one-hundred-sixty-five crowns. Enough to buy some clothes and food. Tolman lets us rent this place for a crown a month and we’ve been here for two months… -ish, maybe a few extra days.”
“The 14th of March?” Harry asked, connected the timeframe to a date.
“Yeah…?” Remus turned his answer into a question.
“Figures.” Harry muttered. “That was when I arrived in Dol Amroth.”
“Huh…” Remus grunted.
“So, what now?” Tonks asked.
“Still?” Harry looked at Fred, Lavender and Colin, and each of them nodded, they still felt that pull to go north. “Right. We can stay for a day or two, but we’re heading north.”
“What?” Remus asked.
“Can’t you feel it?” Colin cut in. “Like you’re not quite settled, you need to move, you keep looking at the sky.”
“Like you’ve had just a bit too much Pepper-Up.” Remus nodded.
“Or too much sugar.” Tonks added.
“Yeah.” Colin nodded. “It’s drawing us north. We don’t know why, but…”
“We’re going.” Harry said.
“But… but…” Tonks looked from them to Teddy and back.
“You’re welcome to come with us.” Harry said.
“How?” Tonks said. “We have next to nothing.”
Harry laughed and looked at Lavender and the girl nodded.
“We’ve got you covered.” Harry grinned.
“Yeah?” Tonks looked at him. “How?”
“We’ve been doing a Lost, Abandoned, Discarded Summonings since I hit Dol Amroth.” Harry explained. “Lavender has the stash, she and Colin do the sorting and Fred and I alternate doing the Summoning. We’ve got pretty much everything but the kitchen sink… but I could be wrong, we could have one of them, too.”
“Oh, dear Lord…” Remus sighed.
Tonks just giggled.
“Hush you.” Harry chided, the former Professor. “If we can fit your stuff in my wagon, for now, we’re only a day out of Tharbad, we can look at buying wagon for you, there. In the meantime, I have a box of wands that Ollivander had Hermione send with me.” He blinked suddenly. “Oh, and I have boxes of your stuff. Kingsley and Tonks’ mum sent them for Teddy, I think they wanted him to have something of yours.”
“Wands?” Tonks’ face lit up. “You have spare wands?”
“And then some.” Harry grinned. “I have all the wands from Hogwarts’ Lost Wand Room and some from those that died in the war. I don’t know for sure, but it’s possible that your wands are in there.”
“Oh, Merlin, thank you.” Tonks sighed in relief.
“So, are you coming or not?” Harry asked.
“Excuse us for a moment, Harry.” Remus pulled Tonks to her feet, took Teddy from her arms and passed him to Harry. “We need to have a quick chat, before we make that decision.” He pulled his wife out through the kitchen’s door and into what looked like a vegetable garden.
Fifteen minutes passed before the Professor and the Auror returned to the kitchen, by then Harry had warmed a bottle and was feeding Teddy.
“Well?” He carefully slid the boy into his mother’s arms.
“Yes, Harry we’re coming with you.” Remus answered. “As soon as you help me find a wand, I’ll go over and speak to Tolman. Our rents are due day after tomorrow, so we’ll see what he has to say, we might have to hustle to be out by then.”
“Got it.” Harry said. “Come with me and we’ll get that sorted, then while you talk to the landlord, we can get Tonks sorted.”
Less than an hour passed before Remus appeared at the door.
“Harry?” He leant on the door, huffing for breath. “I need you to come with me. Tolman has a wagon that might work for us, that he’s prepared to sell. But I don’t know enough about what we’re going to need, to know for sure.”
“Coming.” Harry bounced to his feet and followed Remus from the house.
The two trotted across a pair of fields and into another farmyard.
“Mister Tolman?” Remus called.
“In ‘ere.” A male voice answered from a large stone and wood barn.
The two dwarves, as Harry was certain that was what he and Remus now were, entered the barn in search of the voice’s owner.
“A minute and I’ll be down.” The voice was above them, in the loft.
“Of course, Mister Tolman, at your own time, sir.” Remus replied.
It took a few minutes for the Man to descend from the loft, but when he did, he smiled at them both.
“Brought ya friend, then?” Tolman asked.
“Yes, sir.” Remus nodded. “This is Harry. He’s more of an understanding of wagons than I do.”
“Ah.” Tolman nodded, but looked a little unconvinced.
“Harry, son of James, son of Fleamont.” Harry said, giving the Man a shallow bow. “Remus is… a scribe, a scholar. He’s had little to do with wagons and much more to do with parchment and ink.”
“Ah, I see.” Tolman nodded. “I had wondered. Neither he nor his wife seemed comfortable with farm work.”
“No, they wouldn’t be.” Harry shook his head. “Tonks dealt with government offices and Remus was a teacher.”
“That does make more sense.” Tolman nodded again, this time with a smile. “And you, lad?”
“I’ve been a teacher and scribe, but mostly I’m a fighter, a… a guardsman(?), I think you would say?”
“So young?” The man’s brows rose sharply.
“I have my Mastery in knife-fighting and my journeymen’s citations for Hand-to-hand fighting, knife throwing, axe throwing, swordsmanship, archery, locksmithing and scribe work.” Harry replied.
“Well, then…” Tolman blinked a few times. “That’s a fine collection of skills, young Master.”
“Plus I can hunt, cook, clean and tend my ponies.” Harry added with a grin.
“Aye, a fine collection of skills.” Tolman nodded. “Here’s hoping you can teach this ’un some common sense.”
“Oh, it’s not common sense he lacks, just common skills.” Harry jabbed Remus with an elbow. “And it’s a work in progress.”
“As you say, young Master.” Tolman replied. “Now, he brought ya to look at me old wagon. Come along and check it over.” The man led them into the rear of the barn and pulled a dusty cloth off of a drab old plains-runner wagon. “I had the wheelwright go over it just last winter, so’s the wheel rims are tight. The running gear was looked at only a few weeks ago, but the body is… rough.”
“Aye, it is.” Harry agreed.
“Can you fix it, Harry?” Remus asked, quietly.
“I think we can, Remus.” Harry nodded. “Between Fred and I, I think we can turn this into a decent wagon for you and Tonks.” For now, he wasn’t mentioning Teddy.
Remus sighed in relief.
“If you’ve extra ponies, you can come and fetch it, or if you prefer, I can bring it over?” Tolman offered.
“Oh, we’ve enough ponies for the moment.” Harry said. “Once we agree on a price, I can fetch a pair over.”
“Ah.” Tolman grunted. “Lupin’s rents are due, day after tomorrow, but there’s no way you can have that wagon repaired in a day and half, not given its condition.” Harry wasn’t so sure about that, not when magic was involved, but he wasn’t going to argue with the man. “So, I was thinking… one crown for the wagon and I’ll add in a week’s rent.”
“Hmm…” Harry mulled that over.
“I’ve a bucket of nails and plenty of timber ya can use to repair that chassis.” Tolman added. “The saw pit is over in Lupin’s yard, for cutting logs to measure. Ya can just leave what ya don’t want in the yard, for the next tenants.”
“For one crown?” Harry asked.
“For one crown.” Tolman confirmed.
“Done deal.” Harry held out a hand and Tolman clasped it and shook seriously. “I’ll fetch a pair of ponies, for the wagon and a dray for the timber.” Then turned to Remus. “Pay the man, Remus.”
“Take your time, young Master, it’s not going anywhere.” Tolman laughed and accepted the coin from Remus.
Another two hours and the barn in Remus’ farmyard looked more like a construction site.
“I hope you know what you’re doing, Harry?” Remus asked.
“Not a clue Remus.” Harry laughed. “I’m just going to copy the framework of Lavender and Colin’s wagon, then make a few changes.”
“Changes?” Remus asked.
“Just minor ones.” Harry assured the ex-Professor. “Mostly in the placement of the wall that divides up the space. I think you guys need a little more room than Lavender. And your storage area can be a little smaller than Colin’s room. More like the storage in my wagon. But leave the bed at the front like Lavender’s and put a hanging cradle for Teddy on one side. That gives you wardrobe space at the rear, bed at the front, Teddy in the middle and storage out back.” While he was speaking, Harry was drawing the floorplan in the dirt of the barn’s floor, marking off spaces as he went.
“Huh…” Remus grunted. “And you think we can do that?”
“We have magic, Remus.” Harry grinned. “We can do just about anything, if we go about it, properly. Fixing this wagon, with the supplies we have? A piece of cake. Leave that to Fred and I. You and Tonks go through the stash with Lavender. Fred and I will see to the wagon.”
Remus’s brows rose and he studied Harry, he wasn’t used to a Harry that was this confident in his skills. “Alright.” He allowed. “But I expect you to keep me in the loop on what you’re doing.”
“Done.” Harry grinned. “Get out of here. We’re going to pull this down to the metal work and replace just about everything, you don’t want to watch that. Trust me.”
~~~