Chapter 29
“A filled sceptre for the two properties and trade permits for the nine of us?” He summarised.
“Yes.” Gorbadoc seemed uncertain.
“And what of our… halfway house?”
“The buildings have to be deemed safe, but other than that?” Gorbadoc shrugged. “It’s up to you, what you do with them. I do suggest that, if you’re going to provide accommodation for dwarves and men in addition to hobbits, that you have someone familiar with their building practises before you open, but that is your concern.”
~~~
June 16th 2920
Six days.
Six days was all it took for Harry and Orgulas to travel back to the East-West Road, inspect the farm from one end to the other, inspect the riverfront land that Harry had also been offered, as well as two other properties that could be joined to the others to make one larger estate, all on the same side of the road. Each property had to be inspected and a price negotiated. By the time they left the road and headed back towards Brandy Hall, Harry had outlaid sixteen filled sceptres and one empty one, for just over one thousand acres of land. Eight-hundred-fifty crowns, which was just over fifty-six ounces of gold. Or three and a half pounds…
Three-and-a-half pounds of gold…
For one-thousand acres.
One-thousand acres that Harry and his family would use to build homes on. One thousand acres, to forge new lives on.
Letting Golly settle back to a walk as they entered the Party Field, Harry sighed in relief. They had a home. Finally…
“Ah, you’re back, then?” Fred muttered as he carted firewood, using a small hand-wagon, from the edges of the forest that lay to the north of the Field, to their camp on the southern edge of the Field.
“Yes, Gred, I’m back.” Harry huffed and shook his head in amusement.
“Well?” Fred asked, studying Harry’s body language, but not coming up with anything.
“Yeah, good.” Harry nodded. “Better than I expected. Call the others together and I’ll give them a summary and abridged inventory.”
“…ooh…” Fred cooed. “Listen to you, using grown up words.”
“Thank Hermione for that.” Harry laughed.
“Thanks be to Hermione…” Fred repeated the phrase that was so often said, by one of them.
“Give me five minutes to see to Golly and I’ll be there.” Harry said.
“Holy hell…” James whispered, his eyes just as wide as everyone else’s.
“A thousand acres?!” Lavender gasped.
“One thousand and thirty-seven.” Harry corrected.
“Oh, yes,” Tonks muttered, “mustn’t forget the thirty-seven acres. Like thirty-seven compares up against a thousand…”
“Well, given that, that thirty-seven acres is pretty much right in the middle of the lot and it’s where I expect to build the halfway house’s main buildings?” Harry snapped. “No, don’t forget the thirty-seven acres.”
“Enough!” Sirius spoke in a loud voice, silencing them both. “We have a home. There’s enough land that everyone can have a piece for themselves.” He paused and blinked. “Harry? What if someone wants to buy a small piece, just enough for a house for themselves?”
“I spoke to Orgulas about that.” Harry replied. “We need to plot out the land and the boundaries. For the whole place and for each plot that we plan to sell.”
“Oh, hell…” Sirius muttered. “That’s going to take ages.”
“No, not really.” Harry objected. “We can use the Map Maker’s charms for that. Working out exactly where the best locations are for each building. We’d have to alter the charms a bit, get them to lay some sort of visual marker on the actual ground, where we mark on the scale layout. We can work that out, once we get back there. But before we can do that, we need to go to Tuckborough and see the Thain. If we can’t get trade permits for the Shire, that’s going to change our plans for the halfway house… And we need a better name than ‘the halfway house’, so have a think about it.” Everyone nodded. “Great. Now, what’s happened here?”
“Not much.” James answered. “Bilbo sent a letter to his Grandfather asking for an appointment for us, but suggested that the reply be sent to his parents’ place in Hobbiton, as that would be easier than trying to catch us on the road.”
“I can understand that.” Harry nodded.
“It should get there about the same time that we do. Also, seeing as we don’t know when we’ll get that appointment, he suggested that to get to Tuckborough, we go back up to the East-West Road and head from there to Hobbiton. We can camp on the west side of the hill that his parents’ place is built into.” James continued.
“Bag End?” Harry asked then frowned. “His parents are both still alive, right?”
“Yes, they are.” Lily answered. “I did some hunting through the books that your Hermione sent and from what I can gather, Bungo dies in about six years and Belladonna, eight years later.”
“Not soon, then.” Harry smiled.
“No, not soon.” Lily agreed.
“Good.” Harry looked over to Fred and Lavender. “Are we all set to travel or do we want a few days of downtime?”
“Harry, we’ve had a nearly a week of downtime, while you and Orgulas went checking out properties.” Lavender huffed. “We’re fine to travel, but what about you… and Golly?”
“Golly’s had four days off, followed by a light day to get back here.” Harry answered. “I’ll check him over, again and get mum to do her age-check charm, but he should be fine in the sulky. Switching him out with Dancer or Delilah at lunch, will lighten the load even further.”
“Oh, that reminds me.” Colin spoke up. “Harry?”
“Yes, Colin?”
“Um…” The boy hesitated. “We, um… we pulled Storm and BlackJack out of stasis.”
Harry tilted his head as he thought about that. “Okay... Why?”
“Well… according to Tonks, we could only leave them transfigured and in stasis for twenty-eight days, that would be the twenty-third and we aren’t going to be off the road by then. So, we talked about it and decided that as none of the hobbits have paid any attention to the ponies, we could pull them out, early, and get a head start on treating them, give them a few days of good feed and boosters before we were back on the road.”
“Huh.” Harry grunted. “Sounds fair. Does Storm have shoes? I can’t remember.”
“He does.” Colin answered. “We’ve paired him up with Rover, seeing as he’s our only gelding. And thankfully, none of the mares are in season, just yet.”
“And BlackJack?”
“No shoes, but he’s quite well mannered.” Colin answered. “I think the only reason he was behaving so badly, was the man that had him. Here, he seems calm and fine with any of us, although he’s taken a liking to Lavender. He likes her hair and will spend hours following her around, just so he can lean on her and rub his head against her shoulder.”
“Lavender?” Harry looked at the blonde girl. “Are you alright with him doing that?”
“Oh, yes.” The girl nodded. “He’s a sweety. Very gentle and happy to just stand there for hours, if I’m busy.”
“Okay, then.” Harry agreed. “Who’s riding where?”
“Dora and I will be in our wagon.” Remus said.
“I’ll be in mine.” Fred added.
“Lils and I can go anywhere you want us.” James offered.
“I can drive either Lavender and my wagon or the feed wagon.” Colin said.
“I think I can drive Harry’s wagon.” Sirius said.
“And I can go anywhere, too.” Lavender offered. “But you need to drive the sulky and take Bilbo with you.”
“Someone’s going to have to drive Rover, if you’ve paired him up with Storm.” Harry warned. “I hope you’ve hit him with distraction charms, if he’s still in as rough a condition as he was in Tharbad, him servicing a mare now, could be bad for him.”
“We did.” Lily answered. “Not exactly a distraction charm, more of a scent… obscuring… charm, he can see them but as far as his sense of smell can tell, all of them are geldings or mares already in foal. Not just our mares, but any that we come across, too. I’d suggest doing the same to Golly.”
“Yes, please, mum.” Harry nodded. “How’s he to handle? Have you put him in harness?”
“He’s fine.” Colin said. “Very calm and nicely mannered. Well trained.”
Harry nodded to himself. “Alright. Remus, you drive your wagon. Fred, you drive yours. Colin, you drive yours and Lavender’s. Sirius, you get my wagon, yell if you have any issues. Dad, you get the feed wagon. If Sirius has any issues, we can tie of the feed wagon to the back of Lavender and Colin’s and you can take over from Sirius and he can double up with you or Colin. Lavender, you get to drive mum and dad’s cart with either Rover or Storm pulling and BlackJack tied to the opposite side of Rover, to Storm. I’ll drive the sulky with Golly, Dancer or Delilah hitched to it. Sound fair?”
~~~
June 17th 2920
This time, they pushed a little harder and made it all the way back to the East-West Road and across the Brandywine River, before they stopped for the night. Their camp was three miles west of the river, in a field that butted up to the pretty little smial that was home to Sigi’s parents. Hildibrand and his wife, Tansy, welcomed them with open arms and Harry smiled to see Sigi appear beside Colin and stay with the blonde dwarf while they saw to tending the ponies.
“Well, lads…” Hildibrand shook his head. “You’ve about thirty miles to get to Bag End and Bilbo knows where the Old Road is, that goes from the Three Farthing Stone to the Stock-Tuckborough Road. It’s only about twelve miles to reach Tuckborough, but you’ve got a bit of hilly road, that way. The other option is west to Waymeet, south to Whitwell and then back east through Tookbank to Tuckborough, but it’s at least twice the distance and still have much the same distance on the hill roads from Tookbank to Tuckborough.”
“Sounds like we’re taking the Old Road.” Harry said.
“Shortest option from Hobbiton.” Hildibrand nodded. “The road from Stock might have been shorter, but it’s mostly hill road, at least three-quarters of it. The Old Road is your quickest option and the easiest on your ponies.”
“Yep, we’re taking the Old Road.” Fred nodded.
“Two days to Bag End and another one to Tuckborough and we’ve no idea, yet, when the Thain wants to meet with us.” Harry sighed. “I’m so over travelling, I’ve been on the road since mid-March.”
“Have you come far?” It wasn’t often that Hildibrand got to talk to outsiders, they tended to stick to themselves.
Harry frowned. “Almost a thousand miles…” He huffed. “Might even be more.” He hummed as he thought and counted the distances off, in his mind. “No, by the time we get back to the Brandywine, it’ll definitely be more.”
“A thousand miles…” Hildibrand shook his head in disbelief. The idea that anyone would travel that far, was just beyond his comprehension.
“I’m ready to stop.” Harry agreed.
“Well, young dwarf, I think I can understand that.” Home was an important place to a hobbit.
“Boys!” Tansy called. “Dinner’s ready, come and eat.”
After a dinner of cold sliced meats, salads, rolls and fresh fruit, the nine ex-Hogwarts magicals settled themselves in a circle around a stool that held a teapot. The subject of discussion was the halfway house.
“So, ideas on names?” Harry asked.
“England?” James asked.
“London?” Tonks offered.
“Hogsmeade?” Lavender put her penny’s worth in.
“Gryffindor?” Colin asked.
“Nope.” Sirius shook his head. “Hogwarts.”
“Not what I meant.” Harry snorted. “And no, not Hogwarts. I’m going with Thorin to Erebor. And I’m thinking about staying there.” He was met with silence. “That being the case, I thought Hogwarts would be a fine name for the castle that I’m going to build there.” He saw the carefully blank faces and shook his head, again. “You’re all welcome to come too. I’m thinking a magical settlement between a pair of the mountain’s arms, either to the south or the east.”
“Oh, that’s different, then.” Lavender slumped in relief. “I’m coming.”
“Me, too.” Colin and Fred spoke at the same time.
“I think it fairly safe to assume, that if Harry’s going to Erebor, we’re all going to Erebor.” Remus said bluntly.
“Yes.” James, Lily and Sirius all nodded.
“Okay.” Harry ducked his head and took a couple of calming breaths. “About the farm? The… village(?)… that Gorbadoc seems to think we’re building?”
“Good practice for once we get to Erebor.” Sirius offered. “Building a magical settlement from scratch is not going to be easy, pup.”
“No, it’s not.” Harry nodded. “And yeah, this could be good practice. But we can think about Erebor, later. Right now, we need to concentrate on the farm. I think we need to decide on what it is. Is it an inn, a tavern, a roadhouse or a lodge?”
It was Tonks that put a stop to the debate, with her answer. “The settlement will be called ‘London’ and the roadhouse will be called ‘the House of Potter’. That way, anyone from… Hogwarts… will know instantly, that it’s connected to Harry. We’ll train whoever takes over from us, on how to spot a Hogwarts expat and make sure that they can be sent forward to us.”
“Huh…” Harry grunted. “I hadn’t even thought about that.” He huffed. “But not the House of Potter. The House of Black. Sirius is running it, not me. Lady Longbottom told me that Sirius’ name had been cleared, just an hour before I went into the Veil. They were going to announce it that night and put an article together for the Prophet, for the next edition.”
“The House of Black…” Sirius muttered, his head slowly nodding. “Yeah, I suppose I can do that.”
“Good.” Harry grinned. “What are you going to have? Building-wise?”
“Hmm…” Sirius tilted his head back and studied the stars that glittered above them. “I think if I base it on a hotel, in as much as having a reception area, that everything else opens off of, that would work best. Have a large ‘X’ shape with the reception being the only point of contact between each arm. Ale house, tavern, pub, drinking room, whatever you want to call it, in one arm. The ladies’ tea rooms and public dining rooms in another arm. Hobbit accommodation in a third and dwarven rooms in the fourth.”
“And what about humans or elves?” Lavender asked. “The Tall Folk as Gorbadoc called them?”
“Upstairs, above the tea rooms and dining room.” Sirius shrugged. “Keep them away from those of us that no longer need the extra head-room. Have the dwarven arm built from stone, like Hogwarts, and the hobbit arm built of straw-bale and cobb, keep it as earthen as possible. Maybe lower in the ground or even underground if we can swing it.”
“That sounds fair.” Remus nodded. “Have the rooms shaped and furnished, as close to traditional as we can get, for each race. For the dwarves, lots of stone, tapestries and heavy designs. For the hobbits, softer fabrics, earthen colours, focus more on comfort than appearance. For the Men, we focus on practicality, function, keep the colours and the styles basic. For the elves, we use lots of intricate designs, art nouveau shapes with leaf and tree motifs, plush fabrics. That sort of thing.” He shrugged. “We can fine tune the details, later, once construction is complete and we can see what each suite needs.”
“Probably best.” Sirius agreed. “I’ve been doing some rough drawings, of what I think it should look like, but until I see the lay of the land, I can’t be sure where I’ll want to put each section and its floorplan.”
“Ugh…” Harry grunted. “And that’s not going to happen until we’ve seen the Thain.” He let his head fall forward until it rested in his hands. “Ugh…”
~~~
June 18th 2920
Getting ready to leave Sigi’s parents’ place, that morning, Harry quietly approached Lily and raised the subject of the two new ponies.
“Mum?”
“Yes, sweetheart?” Lily asked in reply, absently packing a blanket into a box.
“How did Storm and BlackJack hold up, yesterday?” Harry glanced at the big grey stallion.
“Not bad, but not as good as I’d hoped.” Lily answered. “I don’t want Storm back in harness, today, it doesn’t fit him right. We need to find a leatherworker or a saddler, and get his harness altered. The rump and tail straps are way too small, he was uncomfortable and twitchy whenever we crested a rise or went downhill.”
“They’re called the breeching and the crupper strap, mum.” Harry shook his head in amusement. “And I can adjust them, at least a little. If they are too small, we can do a focused enlargement spell on them until we get back to the farm… to London.” He paused. “That doesn’t sound right…” He frowned. “Anyway, I can apparate to Bree and hunt up a saddler, for a larger set of straps.”
“Oh, would you?” Lily smiled. “That would be grand, but wait until this afternoon. Maybe after afternoon tea? That way if you can alter his harness, he’ll only be harnessed for a couple of hours.”
“A light day for him?” Harry replied.
“Yes, a light day.” Lily nodded.
“And BlackJack?”
“Oh, he’s fine.” Lily laughed. “Spent most of his time dancing and trying to get Rover or Storm to play with him. Wasn’t until mid-morning that he settled down to just walking.”
“What’s he like to handle?” Harry wanted to know. “How does he take having his feet up? And what about grooming?”
“Fine.” Lily answered. “Everything we’ve tried, he’s just accepted. Not the most well-balanced thing, though. When you lift one of his feet, he wobbles a bit. But doesn’t argue or try to object, just not all that stable on three legs. Grooming is fine. He was a little head-shy, when we first brought him out, but within a day or two, of getting soft brushes and sweet treats, he settled down.”
“You think he’d been hit?” Harry frowned.
“Oh definitely.” Lily nodded. “He had significant bruising on his neck, both shoulders and one leg. I was worried that it might have done permanent damage, given the way he was limping.”
“Is it?”
Lily shook her head. “It worried me enough to give him a dose of a temporary de-aging potion, enough to take him back to being a newborn. It flushed out of his system, inside twelve hours, which is a good indicator of how strong he’s going to be, once mature.”
“Oh great…” Harry sighed. “Something to look forward to.”
“If he continues to be as well mannered, as he is now, he won’t be a problem.” Lily countered. “And we have magic, casting a calming charm or a scent obscuration charm can always be done, if he starts to cause trouble.”
“That’s true.” Harry nodded. “Are you ready to head out?”
“I just need a few more minutes.” Lily looked at Harry and decided to casually warn him. “The night before we left the farm we were renting, I cancelled a seventeen-year-old contraceptive charm, sweetheart. It needed to go, if your dad and I are going to give you siblings.”
“Mum…” Harry didn’t know why he was horrified? Was it because he was talking contraceptives with his mother, meaning sex? Or if it because it was a seventeen-year-old charm, she was talking about? Which was worse? Did it really matter? Both were pretty horrible.
“I know, dear…” Lily sighed. “It was awful… it took hours for the prickling to wear off and then the tingles started… I got no sleep that night. None at all…”
“You should have said something, mum.” Harry argued. “We could have stayed there for another day or two.”
“No, Harry.” Lily corrected. “We couldn’t. We needed to get moving. I’ve warned your father, who I dare say, has warned Remus and Sirius and now, I’m warning you. I’ll let you decide how much to tell your friends.”
“Mum?”
“My next monthly visitors are going to be bad.” Lily was quite impressed, when Harry barely blinked.
“How bad, mum?” Harry asked. “One to ten?”
“Probably a twelve.” Lily admitted. “I’d brew up dreamless sleep potion and take it, but that won’t really stop it, I just have to survive the first day.” She frowned. “You’re taking this better than your father did.”
“Mum, I lived in a tent with Hermione for ten months.” Harry snorted. “And for over half of that, it was just her and I. I know far more about girls' issues than I ever thought possible, far more than I ever wanted to know. Hermione’s cycle was twenty-six-and-a-half days, if they hit on a full moon, I think she would have made Moony run for the hills. She certainly didn’t hold back when she punched Malfoy and that was three days after they finished, a couple of days earlier and she’d have torn him to shreds. Literally.”
“Ah.” Lily nodded her understanding. “Some of us are like that. Madam Pomfrey gave me the recipe for a potion that will help… normally… it just won’t help this time.”
“Because of cancelling the charm?”
“Because the charm had been in place for so long.” Lily corrected.
“But you’ll be okay?”
“Yes, dear.” She nodded. “I’ll be fine, I’ll feel horrible and probably won’t want to get out of bed for a day or two, but potions will help with most of it.”
“Okay.” Harry nodded, that was how Hermione handled it, too. Potions, bed and heat pack. Oh. “Mum? Can you make up a bag, about the same size as a text book, and fill it with buckwheat?”
“Of course, dear.” Lily paused. “But why?”
“Hit it with high-powered heating charms and use it as a hot pack.” Harry answered. “Hermione swore it made the cramps easier to deal with.”
“Oh,” Lily blinked, “I hadn’t even thought about that, I normally just roll up a towel and cast warming charms on it.”
“Heating charms work better than warming charms. Apparently, they penetrate deeper. And buckwheat holds a heating charm better than fabric. It lasts much longer.”
“Huh…” Lily finished filing the blanket box and shoved it back into Harry’s wagon. “I… I didn’t know that…” She climbed up into the wagon and pushed the box into the front, between the bunk and the barrel cage.
“Give it a try, mum.” Harry shrugged. “You’ve got nothing to lose.”
“True.” Lily agreed and climbed back down out of the wagon. “All done, here. We’re good to go, whenever everyone else is.”
“Great.” Harry grinned. “I’ll try and round them up.”
“It’s worse than herding kittens, I swear.” Lily sighed.
“And I thought the DA were bad…” Harry agreed.
Meeting Belladonna Baggins was slightly sad for Harry and Fred, she reminded them so much of Molly Weasley, that both dwarves were rather emotional. It took Lavender explaining why, to the Baggins matriarch, to alleviate her concerns. She took her cues from Lily and treated both, as those they were her younger but still adult cousins.
Like Hildibrand and Tansy, Belladonna and Bungo insisted that they feed everyone and the entire group ended up sitting under the young oak tree that was growing above and behind the smial. Most of the meal was rolls filled with meats and cheeses, along with bowls of salads and pitchers of cold juice. After the meal, the magicals migrated back to their camp, not at all surprised that Bilbo and Belladonna had joined them, while Bungo had retreated to his library.
Harry, Fred, Colin and Lavender spent the next couple of hours, telling them and the other ‘adults’ the finer details of their journey, right from Harry entering Dol Amroth, but leaving out any mention of magic. He continued his tale until Fred joined in, then another paused as Lavender added her story, followed by meeting Colin in Minas Tirith. Harry was pleased that both hobbits were so enraptured with the story that they missed things, things like the distance between Harry’s arrival and finding Fred. Or how Lavender got to wherever the man from Erui Crossing found her. How Colin got to Minas Tirith and the time difference, between then and Harry’s arrival.
And once Remus and Tonks added their stories, the two hobbits also missed the fact that neither of them gave any details of how they supposedly got from southern Gondor to upper Dunland. Or how they came to be in some farmer’s field.
As the moon rose in the east, the pair finally decided that they’d kept the group talking late enough. Given the yawns that some of them were hiding, that is.
~~~
June 19th 2920
They left Hobbiton with Bilbo and Belladonna riding with them. Bilbo riding with Harry and Belladonna with Lavender, Tonks and Lily, in the feed wagon, the ladies perching themselves wherever they could, mostly on bags of feed.
For a change, Harry wasn’t driving Golly, Sirius had hitched the striking palomino to James' cart and he Remus and James were quietly reminiscing about their time at Hogwarts. This left Harry to drive his own wagon, with Onyx and Ebony pulling it. Colin got to drive Storm in the little sulky, now that Harry had adjusted his harness, it fit properly and no longer rubbed or pulled at him. It also meant that they were short a few drivers, but their ponies were well trained by now, and simply accepted the fact that when Harry’s wagon moved out, all of them moved out.
Heading east to Bywater felt counter-productive, but it was the quickest way to get to Tuckborough, which was fairly close to directly south of Hobbiton, given the fact that they were travelling in wagons. As they passed the Three Farthing Stone, Harry eyed the track that Bilbo pointed out and wondered if it was really worth the effort, the track looked to be wildly overgrown and unused.
Thankfully, that wasn’t really the case. Just a quarter mile along and the track became a road, broad and clear. Bilbo informed Harry, that the apparent overgrowth, was mostly to keep outside travellers on the main roads. Hobbits liked to know that the people using their roads, were supposed to be there, not to have had them accidentally stumble on them.
~~~