Chapter 41
“Thank you, Harry.” Gina nodded. “I’m Gina and my husband is Matthew. The girls are Alice and Heather.”
Before either of them could continue, Lily walked in. “Gina? Your husband is alright. Mostly bruises, bar the broken leg and the head injury. I’ve given him the relevant potions and he’s resting quietly, James is with him to make sure he doesn’t sleep, yet. Once he’s been awake for another hour, we’ll bring him in here.”
“Oh, gods…” Gina whispered. “Thank you, Lily, thank you.”
“No worries.” Lily waved her off. “How did you come to be here?” Lily glanced at Harry.
“We were just about to find out, mum.” Harry replied and looked at Gina with raised eyebrows. “Care to explain?”
~~~
October 20th 2920
“I was two years ahead of Lily and James, at Hogwarts.” Gina said. “I tutored her and a few others, in History of Magic and Runes, until I graduated.” She took a deep breath. “My grandmother was American, so after graduating, I went to America for college, as they’re the only ones that have magical colleges. I started dating Christopher in college, we got engaged a year later. Then he came home one Sunday evening, having spent the weekend with his father. Hunting he said. But he was so excited, they’d been hunting witches. I’d thought he was a muggle but he wasn’t, he was a pureblood, and his hunting trips were to hunt down muggleborns or first-gens, as the Americans call us. They hunt and trap them, strip them of their magic and release them. I hadn’t realised how he felt or what he was doing until it was almost too late. He went for a shower and I tried to leave.” She shuddered. “Only to find that he’d put up anti-apparition wards. I summoned and packed my clothes, then shrunk my bags, while he was in the shower, then I went through the basement and out a ventilation window, that was partially boarded over. And ran.”
“Did you call the Aurors?” Harry asked.
“I tried to report him, but they said that unless they could catch him in the act, there was little they could do.” Gina sneered. “They didn’t seem to care.” She shrugged. “So, I did what any kid does, when they’re upset, I called my dad. He brought me home and I worked for him for a few years, but one of the companies that he dealt with on a regular basis, had employed Chris, and that was going to force me to face him, sooner or later. I didn’t want that. So, one of my brothers suggested I take over the management of the family estate. My father was the Baron Grinstead and the family seat was in Kent. I started working in the office there, but ended up spending more time in the fields with the sheep, than in the manor. I handed the estate back to my brother, Markham, and began working with the shepherds, not so much with the sheep but with their wool. Experimenting with dyeing and spinning the fleece. I met Matthew through that, he’d been working with a shearer that we used, as a dogsbody. We kept in touch and eventually, he came back. He’s been working as a shepherd for us, ever since. We ended up marrying, three years later, bit of a surprise to find that he’s magical, too, but a nice one. It amused a few of the family, that I, whose surname was Matthews would marry someone that’s given name is Matthew, but it never worried me. That was 1990. Alice was born in 1992 and Heather in 1994. Then the Tri-wizard tournament happened. I was there, with Matt, we heard what you said. About You-Know-Who being back. I told dad and he stared to help muggleborns and their families escape. There weren’t many that took the offer, but a few did.”
“That would be Mr Matthews from Stelling Minnis?” Colin asked. “We were on his list, then Voldy took over the Ministry and it was too late to run.”
“Yes, that’s dad.” Gina nodded. “Then in June he was killed. A drunk ran into him, head-on. Both were killed, instantly. My eldest brother Bradford took over the business and in the process of the audits, one of the investigators found evidence that Chris was looking for me. When Brad spoke to him, he went on about witches and how evil we were and that when he found me, he’d have me treated to ‘remove’ the ‘infection’. Brad played along, but wasn’t pleased. He sent me to Gringotts, how he even knew about them, I don’t know. The initial idea was for Gringotts to give us new identities and for us to move to Australia.”
“Australia seems to be the go-to for hiding places, for magicals running away.” Harry muttered, thinking about Hermione sending her parents there.
“Yes.” Gina agreed. “It’s so far away and so large… and the population so scattered, that hiding isn’t hard. We packed everything I thought we might need. Books, equipment, animals, plants, everything. Australia might as well have been another world for all I knew about it. So, Matt and I planned for the worst. And a damn good thing we did.”
“Why?” Lily asked.
“We got to Gringotts and found that Chris was only a few minutes behind us. The only reason he’d not caught us, was that Gringotts were keeping him occupied with forms and parchmentwork. Gringotts’ curse-breakers said that Chris had tied a location charm to my blood, he’d always be able to track me, with it. And short of destroying the item that he was using to house the charm, it couldn’t be blocked. We were devastated. Then the goblins said that there might be a way out, but that it would be permanent. No coming back. No contact with England. I contacted Brad and he said that Chris wasn’t going to stop, not if he was going to those lengths to track me. He encouraged us to take the goblins' offer.”
“Gringotts don’t often volunteer things.” Sirius said from the hospital room’s door. “Matthews.” He nodded to the black-haired witch.
“Black.” She nodded back. “No, they don’t. It only took a few minutes, for Matt and I to decide to accept, then they bustled us into the depths of the bank and into a massive ritual room. They wrote on us with what looked like unicorn blood, then told us to join hands and not let go. The next thing I knew, was the wind. It was whistling through the pillars and it was bitingly cold. It made the torches flare, then go out and the chamber filled with smoke, then there was a loud crackling sound, like plastic bags crunching. Then suddenly(?)… everything went silent and when the smoke cleared, we were faced with a… a… a portal, I suppose you’d call it. But it wasn’t smooth or even, it was jagged and ripped, like someone had grabbed hold of the air and torn a hole in it, on the other side was a pretty valley, lush with grass.”
“Forlindon.” Harry stated.
“If that’s where you found, then yes.” Gina nodded. “But we didn’t know that, at the time. We thought it was the goblin version of a wizard-space. When the wind picked up again, it literally pushed us through the portal and unfortunately, we weren’t on ground level. We were about six feet above the grass, Matt grabbed us and we all landed on him.”
“Ah, that would be why he had bruising over most of his back…” Lily nodded.
“I’d guess so.” Gina agreed. “Do you know where we landed? The goblins never said.”
“You’re in middle-earth, Gina.” Harry said quietly. “Less than five mile from here, is the Brandywine River.”
“What?” Gina blinked in surprise.
“This is Buckland.” Harry said. “Middle-earth. Tolkien. Hobbit. Lord of the Rings. That middle-earth.”
“But that’s…” Gina fell silent as she thought about that. “That’s…” She frowned. “That would be why the goblins changed all our money for gold and gems, I guess.” Then she blinked and gasped. “Oh Lord have mercy…”
“Gina?” Harry asked.
“They knew.” Gina answered. “They knew, the goblins knew. Way back, when I was in fourth year, dad and I went in, we wanted to open a vault in my name, to cover… anything I wanted to buy in the magical world. The vault they gave me, had two books already in it. The Hobbit and an omnibus version of Lord of the Rings.” She shook her head. “I kept them, read them, time and time again. It wasn’t until I pulled them out last year, and Matt feeling like he had to read them, too, that I wondered if they were charmed. Both books had compulsion charms on them, anyone that gets within four feet of them, feels the need to read them, at least once a year.”
Harry’s eyebrows had risen and his jaw began to slacken, as Gina talked.
“Well…” He finally said. “I guess that’s why they helped Hermione send things with me and Teddy.”
“I’d guess so.” Lily nodded, slowly, she was just as surprised.
Gina was nodding, too. “I’d also guess that’s why they suggested to dad that he encourage me to do martial arts, including stick-fighting and knife throwing. They even encouraged me to do Tai Chi and yoga.”
“Yep. I’d say so.” Harry nodded. “They did tell me that they knew where I was going, when I entered the Veil.”
“What can we do about that?” Gina asked. “Can we get back, or send a message back?”
“Nothing.” Harry shook his head. “We’re here and we have no way of knowing exactly what the goblins did to get you here, and while Sirius and I went into the Veil? Mum, dad and everyone else? They all died.”
“Everyone else?” Gina asked. “Who’s here?”
“I arrived on the beach near Dol Amroth.” Harry answered. “I found Fred Weasley in Pelargir. Lavender Brown in Erui Crossing. Colin Creevey in Minas Tirith. Remus and Tonks were just south of Tharbad. Dad, mum and Sirius were just west of Bree. The hobbits brought Cedric Diggory to us. Fabian and Gideon were in the Blue Mountains. That’s all of us that are living in the Willow’s Pond.” Harry ticked each person off on his fingers as he said their names. “In addition to that, we have a few others that we’ve located but haven’t joined us. Severus Snape and Albus Dumbledore are in the Iron Hills and plan to stay there. Pandora Lovegood and three others are south-west of Lond Daer, on the coast of Minhiriath, we've yet to make contact with anything more than a Patronus.”
“Who?” Gina blinked.
“Pandora Lovegood.” Harry answered. “I don’t know her maiden name, sorry, it was never mentioned. She died sometime in 1990, but I don’t know the exact date.” He shrugged. “The other three are from the first war, but we don’t know who they are, yet. All attended Hogwarts, Pandora included, but she was a few years ahead of you, I think... Or maybe she was younger, I don’t know, it never came up, when I talked to her daughter, Luna.”
“Oh, okay. Probably why I don’t know the name.” Gina said.
“More than likely.” Harry agreed. “So? You’re here, now. And unless Gringotts decide to let us in on how they did it, we’re all here to stay.”
“It’s certainly beginning to look like it.” Gina sighed. “This isn’t what I was expecting but… I guess we’ve no other options. Do we know what the date is?”
“October 2920.” Harry answered. “Twenty years before the quest for Erebor.”
“…ugh…” Gina made an ugly wounded sound.
“Pretty much.” Harry snorted. “You said you have animals and equipment? What do you need? Land, yes, but how much? What sort of buildings? How big of a house?”
“Oh, um…?” Gina stammered.
“We’ve plenty of land, how much do you need?” Harry went on.
“Oh… Fifty acres?” Gina grimaced as she spoke.
“Done.” Harry nodded. “Do you want the house on the land or would you prefer to live in town?”
“I… I... I think it might be best to be on the land, I’ve only ever lived within yards of my sheep.” Gina answered.
“We can do that.” Harry grinned. “For the moment, Colin, Fabian and Gideon have cleaned up an empty cottage, for you. Once you and Matt are up and about, we’ll talk about exactly what you need. In the meantime? You concentrate on your family.”
“Thank you, Harry.” Gina grabbed at Harry’s hand and pressed it between hers. “Thank you, all.”
~~~
October 21st 2920
“Okay, Gina?” Harry asked.
“Yes…” Gina whispered, her eyes wide. Watching Harry’s teams erect the massive barn for her sheep, was an eye-opener, but seeing them build a house? From bare ground to a completed, ready to move in, house was something else again.
“Great.” Harry grinned. “Oh, wands? Do you have any?”
“Yes, Matt and I have ours.” Gina nodded. “And going into my bag this morning, for our trunks, I found extra trunks. Ones that I hadn’t packed. One had Alice’s name on it and one had Heather’s name. Both had extended interiors and were crammed with books, pictures of our family, clothes and toys. One trunk had my and Matt’s names on it, and was likewise crammed with goods. One had ‘wands’ on it and inside it was a selection of wands, including Matt’s and mine, but also another dozen or so, each was labelled, some with the girls’ names and some with just numbers, but the note with them, said that they were for our children, those we already had and those still to come. But three trunks had your name on them, Harry. Remind me, to get them out for you.”
“Gringotts…” Harry shook his head. “Oh, we’re calling them Gringotts, not goblins. Goblins in middle-earth are…”
“The bad guys, got it.” Gina nodded, understanding the reason behind it, she’d read Tolkien’s books often enough to know.
“Good.” Harry grinned. “You and Matt sort out your animals. What you’re putting where and all that sort of stuff. I need to team up with dad, Remus and Lavender to go find out who’s down south and if they want to come and join us, up here.”
“Good luck?” Gina offered.
Harry laughed. “Thanks, I think I’m going to need it.”
An hour and a half later Harry blinked at where he, James, Remus and Lavender had landed, looking around for any familiar faces, or even an unfamiliar face. But there seemed to only be grass around them.
“Dad, Remus?” Harry asked. “Can you do some scans? Check for people?”
“Harry?” Lavender asked. “Why don’t you just Patronus Mrs Lovegood and ask her, where we need to go?”
Harry, James and Remus all blinked. Was it really that simple?
“Worth a try.” Remus shrugged.
“Expecto patronum.” Harry intoned. “Message to the nearest Hogwarts trained magical that’s not living at Willow’s Pond. Let them know we're here.” He told the stag and it nodded and leapt away.
“Uh… Harry?” James asked. “That wasn’t the Point-me that Remus and Lily came up with.”
“No, but as we know that all four of them are Hogwarts trained, it seemed easier.” Harry answered.
“Ah, okay.” James nodded, then bent down to retie his bootlaces.
“Well, well, well.” A female voice came from nowhere. “If it isn’t the diva.” Harry turned towards where the voice was strongest. He was suddenly faced with a bow and an arrow pointing right at his nose. “That was the diva’s Patronus and you are not the diva. Who are you? Why are you here?”
“Uh, hi…” Harry leant back a little.
“I’m not a diva.” James absently objected, as he struggled with a set of bootlaces.
“Diva!” The bright voice belonged to a dwarrowdam, about the same age as James and Remus. She had light coffee coloured skin and black curls, half of which were pulled back from her face by a sliver hair clasp and the rest was left to lie around her shoulders in wild locks.
“Dorcas…” James moaned. “Don’t call me…” He trailed off. “… Dorcas….?” He straightened up to look at the dwarrowdam.
“Diva?” She grinned.
“Aw, bugger…” James muttered, rising to his feet. “Hello, Dorcas. You remember Remus, right?”
“Mr Prankster Prefect.” She nodded to Remus.
“Miss Constantly-Losing-Her-Quills.” Remus replied.
“So, where’s the Pretty Boy?”
“Pretty Boy?” Harry asked.
“Sirius.” Remus answered, causing Harry and Lavender to blink and laugh.
“Oh, I bet he loved that…” Harry chuckled.
“He did.” Remus and Dorcas both replied.
“Used to get so upset.” James said. “Always wanted to be handsome, not pretty.”
“He was way too pretty to be handsome.” Dorcas argued. “Those eyes and that jaw.”
“Huh…” Harry grunted. “Yeah, fair enough.”
“Harry!” Lavender gasped.
“Hey, he might be my godfather, but I gotta agree with the lady, at Hogwarts, he’d have been too soft in the face to be handsome. Like Nev, in sixth year.”
“Oh…” The blonde girl nodded. “Okay. Yeah, too soft for handsome but just right for pretty. Got it.”
Dorcas nodded. “That’s about right. So? What’s going on?”
“All yours, son.” James nodded to Harry.
“Gee, thanks, dad.” Harry huffed, earning himself a laugh from Lavender and Dorcas. “Right. First? Do you know where we are? As in, what this land is called and where it is?”
“Nope.” Dorcas chirped. “Not a clue. There’s a town to the west called Londaer, which I assumed when I first got here, was London, as it was on a tidal river like London. But as soon as I cast for a compass bearing, I realised it couldn’t possibly be.”
“Why?” James asked curiously.
“The Thames is pretty much east-west as it goes through London, if you ignore the bends,” Dorcas replied, “but the river at Londaer goes north-south. So, not the Thames.”
“Right.” James nodded.
“But that’s it.” Dorcas added. “I thought maybe whatever Voldemort had done had time travelled me. I’m still not sure it didn’t.”
“It didn’t.” Harry said.
“What makes you so sure?”
“Sirius went into the Veil in 1996 and me in 1998.” Harry answered. “The rest of you died.”
“…oh…” Dorcas whispered, stunned.
“But you were all killed at different times.” Harry went on.
“I arrived here, early summer.” Dorcas said. “It… Voldemort attacked my parents’ home in February 1981 and came after me a week later but it was summer, when I arrived here.”
“Lils was gutted to hear about your folks.” James said quietly.
“I’d been here for nearly a year, when Alice and Frank turned up. They-”
“Hold up!” Harry said sharply. “Alice and Frank? Alice and Frank Longbottom?”
“Yes…?”
“Okay, that changes things.” Harry muttered. “We assumed that Sirius and I were the odd ones out. That the rest of you died, but Alice and Frank didn’t die. The Lestranges crucio’d them into insensibility, in early November 1981. They’re still technically alive, in St. Mungo's.”
“Oh, Merlin…” Dorcas gasped. “They don’t remember that. The last thing they remember is the property wards coming down.”
“That would have been Crouch jnr.” Harry said. He and Hermione had studied the DeathEaters and their skills during the Horcrux Hunt, extensively.
“Slimy little git.” Dorcas sneered.
Harry grinned. “He got Kissed in 1995.”
“Couldn’t happen to a better person.” Dorcas spat. “Then Pandy turned up a few years ago. I just add a new room to the hut, each time, and they help out with the cows.”
“Cows?” Remus asked.
“Yeah, I got cows, these days.” She pointed to the west. “That’s them. We milk them, make butter and cheese, take it to Londaer a couple times a year and sell it off.”
“Want to come live with us?” Harry asked. “We’ve got a whole village going. Mostly hobbits, but a few dwarves, almost all of us dwarves are magicals.”
“Hobbits?” Dorcas said the word cautiously.
“Hobbits.” Harry nodded. “We’re in middle-earth. The river that goes through Lond Daer… and according to Tolkien’s maps, it’s two words… that’s the Greyflood and it starts way up in the mountains, just north of Rivendell.”
“Rivendell?!” Dorcas screeched.
“Yep.” Harry nodded.
“How did we get here?” The screech seemed to have drained Dorcas of all strength.
“We don’t know.” James shook his head. “Remus and I remember talking to someone, but neither of us remember who it was, or what was said.”
“That’s better than me.” Harry huffed. “They just laughed at me.”
“And you want us to come with you?” Dorcas asked.
“We’d like that, but it’s your choice.” Harry said. “We’ve been looking for magicals for a while, but we keep having to redefine the Point-Me every time, someone joins us.”
“Point-Me’s need a wand.” Dorcas said. “I’m pretty good at wandless, but Point-Me’s need a wand as an indicator.”
Harry just held up his arm and flicked his wrist letting his holly wand slip into his fingers. “We have wands. Lots of wands. Ollivander sent them.”
“Okay, then.” Dorcas nodded, if they had wands, she was going with them, if she didn’t like wherever it was, she could always come back here, once she got a wand. “Let’s go tell the others, that we’re moving. Have you got houses for us? Or tents? Or are we living in straw huts?” She led the way around what looked like a pile of rocks, but was actually the rear of a large stone hut-like structure, that strongly reminded Harry of the reconstructed round-houses that Hermione had dragged he and Ron to look at, during the Hunt.
“You’ll have to share a house for a day or two, until we can build one for you.” Harry said. “But you’ll get your own house, unless you want to live with someone, long term.”
“Give me a moment.” Dorcas held up a hand as she reached the hut’s ‘door’, before she ducked her head and entered the hut. She emerged a few minutes later, closely followed by three people.
“Jimmy!” A small dark haired dwarrowdam leapt at James and knocked him to the ground, she landed on her knees on his chest and beamed down at him. “Jimmy, you little prat, where’s that goddess of yours?”
“Back home.” James gasped. “She’s pregnant. Can’t apparate. Or portkey.”
The large male dwarf stepped over and picked up the dwarrowdam from James’ chest, his arms around her waist.
“James.”
“Frank.”
“Remus.”
“Frank.”
The three males all spoke calmly, their faces sombre, while James climbed to his feet and Frank released Alice. Then Frank leapt at the two dwarves and the three hit the ground again.
“Boys.” Lavender shook her head. She calmly stepped around them and help out a hand to Alice. “Hi, I’m Lavender Brown, I was in Gryffindor with Neville.”
“Neville?” Frank sat up suddenly. “He…”
“He didn’t die?” Alice asked, eyes wide in surprise.
“No, he didn’t die.” Harry said. “He lived with Lady Longbottom and started Hogwarts in 1991, with Lavender and I.”
“And who are you?” Alice asked.
“Who do I look like?” Harry grinned as James stood up and joined his son, slinging an arm about the younger dwarf’s shoulders.
Alice’s eyes widened, even further. “Harry? Little Harry?”
“What happened?” Frank asked, frowning.
“Let’s sit down and I’ll explain it all, okay?” Harry gestured to the logs in front of the hut, before spying Pandora Lovegood standing slightly to one side. “Oh, and I have something for you.” He said as he crossed to her side. “Luna asked me to pass it along. She said, I'd know when... and she was right.” He leant down slightly and pressed a kiss to her cheek, smiling at the look of astonishment it brought.
“Luna…? My little Luna?” She whispered.
“That’s her.” Harry grinned. “So, let’s start from… hmm… the little I know about that Halloween and what happened after it. Sirius removed me from the cottage and gave me to Hagrid, he was going to go after Pettigrew…”
He talked for nearly two hours, before finishing with, “… so, Gina and her family were in the process of moving into their house, when we left, and Fabian and Gideon offered to clean the cottage for whoever comes back with us. We started by apparating to Tharbad and then it was ten-mile hops, from there.”
“And you want us to come live with you, in your village?” Frank asked.
“We do.” Harry nodded. “If not in the village, then on land we bought for our farms.”
“With our cows?” Dorcas added.
“Yes, please.” Harry nodded, again. “We need a dairy and the culls can be butchered for meat. Most of us are not the biggest fans of goat's milk.”
The four looked at each other and one by one, they nodded.
“Have you all got wands?” Dorcas asked.
“Yep, and we’ll get you wands, as soon as we get home.” Harry answered.
“Then I’ll call the cows in and you can shrink them. We’ll put them in boxes and put the portkey on the box, less strain on us, when we apparate.”
“Yeah, I learnt that the hard way.” Harry grunted. “Portkey for items and livestock, apparition for able-bodied people and medi-keys for the injured or infirm. Although, we’re far enough from home, that portkey is probably a better idea, less chance of someone going off-course.”
“Exactly.” Dorcas nodded. “We’ve enough wandless to pack our things. But shrinking the cows requires wands.”
“Then let’s get started.” Remus replied. “The sooner we do, the sooner we get home.”
Eight people landed in the middle of Golly’s paddock, but the golden stallion just snorted and wandered over to Harry and Lavender for a pat.
“Ooh, pretty.” Alice held out a hand for the stallion to sniff at.
“This is Golly.” Harry summoned a booster/treat from the box that he knew was on the bench in his kitchen. “He’s one of our stallions.”
“One?” Frank asked. “How many have you got?”
“Four.” Harry answered. “Storm is a Draught Cob, they’re built heavy like draught horses, but pony sized. Golly and BlackJack are our Standard-Cobs, they can pull carts and wagons, but they’re not as heavy as the Draughts. Then there’s Sandy, he’s our small pony… uh… our hobbit-sized pony stud.” He corrected his description.
“And how many mares do you have?” Frank asked, then blinked. “Sorry, horse breeding was a Longbottom Lodge specialty. We had Arabians, Thoroughbreds, Shires, Fell ponies and Abraxans. Grandfather even used to have a small flock of hippogriffs. Hmm... I wonder what happened to them…?”
“No idea, Neville never mentioned them, he was far more interested in plants than horses.” Harry shrugged. “And we’ve…eight Draught Cobs, twelve Standard-Cobs and five hobbit ponies. Not including the studs. A couple of friends have hobbit ponies. Plus, there’s a couple that are a bit bigger than hobbit ponies, but not big enough to be Cobs.” Harry rocked his head as he counted out ponies in his mind. “Oh, and we’ve two Light-Cobs, both in foal.”
“And don’t forget Jonah or Stonag’s Draughts.” James added.
“And who’s monitoring all that?”
Harry looked at James, who shrugged, then at Remus, who grinned. “I guess, you are.” Harry said. “Welcome to The Whomping Willow’s Pond.”
“Thanks.” Frank grinned. “I don’t suppose you need a midwife or healer, do you? Alice had just graduated from St. Mungo's, when we found out she was pregnant.”
“Oh thank the gods…” Harry slumped where he stood. “We need one, so bad…” His near collapse forced James and Frank to grab for him, before he hit the ground. “Thanks.” He whispered to them. “With mum, Tonks and a couple of hobbits pregnant, a midwife and healer is… Yeah, we need one.”
“Oh, lovely.” Alice grinned. “Just point me in the right direction.”
“And what of us?” Dorcas asked. “You brought us here, what are you going to do with us? It’s not like my cows require attention all the time. Decent fences or wards and they only need to be checked morning and night. Maybe an hour a day of tending injuries and general maintenance. But this far north, I’ll need a big barn to keep them in, over winter.”
“Do you like working with animals?” Harry asked.
“Better than some people.” Dorcas replied.
“Gina has sheep.” Harry said. “They need more monitoring than cows, but not much. But she also has rabbits. For meat and for their fur. They need a fair amount of tending. She and her husband Matt had a couple of hands helping them, back in England.”
“Back in England.” Dorcas said. “But the hands didn’t come with them, did they?”
“Nope.” Harry shook his head.
“Pandy?” Dorcas looked at the ethereal blonde. “Wanna brush bunnies for living?”
“I like bunnies…” Pandora smiled, a very familiar smile, a very Luna-like smile. “They smell better than cows.”
“We can help them out, but I’ll need time for milking and for making butter and cheese.” Dorcas frowned. “If I’m going to provide milk, butter and cheese for an entire village, I’m going to need more cows and that might not give me much time to work with this Gina.”
“We’ll work it out.” Harry shrugged. “We can always bring in more people. Hobbits are hard workers and while they’re a little smaller than us, that doesn’t seem to stop them from getting in and having a go at almost everything.”
“Good to know.” Dorcas nodded. “Maybe put Pandy with the bunnies and I stay with my cows, but give a hand if I’ve any free time?”
“I’ll let you hash that out with Gina.” Harry answered. “Just let us know, at the next town meeting. That’s next Thursday evening.”
“Will do.” Dorcas nodded. “Now, someone get me a wand and show me where to put my cows.”
~~~
November 14th 2920
A tired hobbit wandered in through the gates of the Willow’s Pond, shortly after midday. He walked slowly up the street from the Road, slowing and looking out over the marketplace, before pausing at the collection of signs and the rough map that stood in front of the Pond. He walked around the pond and into the courtyard of the Mayor’s Office.
Here, he pulled the rope that ran up into the Office and rang the bell in Isengar’s office. A few seconds later and the slap-slap of hobbit feet could be heard on the stairs, shortly followed by their owner.
Said owner came to a stumbling halt, when he saw the stranger.
“Hildifons…” He whispered.
“Yes…?” The now-identified stranger answered. “Do I…?” His eyes widened. “Isengar?”
“Hildifons.” The name let a bright smile to grow on Isengar's face. He stepped forward and enveloped his brother in his arms, not at all concerned about the tears running down his face. It was the first time in over thirty years, that the brothers had been together.
~~~