Chapter 53
As for the library?
Between Lily, Luna, Gideon and myself, we’ve managed to recreate some rudimentary library trunks. Rudimentary, because we’ve no real idea what we’re doing, but so far what we’ve made works. It’s a bit cumbersome, but it does the job. Thankfully, we can shrink it, but only for a minute and a half, so when we’re ready to send it through to you, I suggest that we plan ahead and both be ready.
We have to shrink it, get it in the box and notify you. You have to get it out and place it where you want it to be, before the shrinking charm wears off. All inside of 90 seconds.
But there’s the chance that Ken Towler may be coming with Hermione, if so, we might be lucky. He was going to apprentice under a magical trunk and bag maker.
Fingers crossed.
Fred
ToSwd
~~~
August 28th 2925
Cauldron ~ Magpie (sent 4.52pm, Aug 28th 2925)
Mr Weasley.
Open the box, immediately.
Cauldron ~ Magpie (sent 4.53pm, Aug 28th 2925)
Mr Weasley.
Open the box.
Cauldron ~ Magpie (sent 4.54pm, Aug 28th 2925)
Weasley.
Open the box!
Cauldron ~ Magpie (sent 4.55pm, Aug 28th 2925)
Weasley!
Open!
The!
Blasted!
BOX!
Cauldron ~ Magpie (sent 4.56pm, Aug 28th 2925)
OPEN THE BLASTED BOX, YOU INSUFFERABLE GRYFFINDOR!
The flashing light that designated a message from Snape had arrived, dragged Fred from his accounts ledger, only to find that Snape hadn’t sent just one message, but a series of them.
“Oh, boy.” Fred read the messages and darted over to the shelf that housed the link boxes. He pulled the box down and opened it, seeing a pretty statuette of a golden snitch on a nest of fine porcelain twigs with alabaster eggs peeking out of her filigreed feathers.
Magpie~ Cauldron (sent 4.57pm, Aug 28th 2925)
Enough with the insults, Professor.
I opened it as soon as I saw you’d sent a message.
Cauldron ~ Magpie (sent 5.01pm, Aug 28th 2925)
Thank you, Mr Weasley,
I found this poor thing, almost frozen solid, huddled up in a crack in the wall, near my greenhouse. Imagine my surprise to find she was brooding on a nest of eggs.
I have no idea how she came to be here and cannot locate any others.
I have no experience in handling birds and would suggest that Miss Lovegood or Miss Johnson take responsibility for the creature.
Do Not, I repeat, DO NOT allow Potter or Black near it. It is NOT a snitch. It is a living, breathing creature. And while I recall, that you said Potter is the only one of you capable of transfiguring a canary into a snidget, he failed CoMC, abysmally. Black was better, but still, it was only Lily’s tutoring that got him through it. Don’t inflict them on the poor thing.
I’ve used a basic transfig charm on her and her nest, it shall only last a half hour. I do hope that allows you enough time, to make an enclosure suitable to house her?
And yes, I recall Mr Towler mentioning his apprenticeship. I can wait until you know whether he’s coming, but I would ask for a selection of smaller books, items that will fit in the boxes. Muggle or magical, I’m not concerned.
My thanks and let me know how the beastie gets on, would you?
Severus
MoP.
Fred gently lifted the statuette clear of the box and laid the it on his work table, before leaving the shop, heading for the lumber yard at a sprint.
“Fred?” Harry called, as the redhead sprinted passed his shop.
“Gimme five.” Fred yelled back and kept running. He skidded to a stop in front of Hamlin Forester. “Hey. Got any birch or apple wood? Finer the better. And I’m on a deadline, got to get this done in the next five minutes.”
Hamlin just blinked and nodded. “This way.” He wasted no time in leading Fred to a pile of thin pieces of timber. “From left to right. Apple, ash, birch, chestnut, elm, fir, maple, mulberry, oak, pear, pine, spruce, walnut, willow, Whomping Willow and yew.”
“You’ve got Whomping Willow? How’d you get that?” Fred asked, distracted from flicking through the birch canes.
“Mr Neville brought it in.” Hamlin answered.
“Right.” Fred nodded. “I’ll take two dozen canes of birch and half your Whomping Willow canes. And do you have any larger pieces of Whomping Willow?”
“I do.” Hamlin nodded. “Just a few though.”
“I’ll take them, too.” Fred replied. “But can I come an collect the large stuff later? I’ve got a magical bird that needs a suitable cage and needs it rightnow.”
“Of course, Mr Fred.” Hamlin nodded. “Just let me write that up and you can initial for the canes.” He pulled a notebook from a pocket and quickly scribbled in it, before handing it to Fred. The redhead checked the few lines and nodded, quickly jotting his initials beside them. “Thankee, Mr Fred. I’ll put up the larger pieces for you to collect later.”
“Thanks.” Fred gave the hobbit a smile and with a flick of his wand gathered up the canes of wood, shrank them and shoved them into his pocket. Then he was running again. Back at his shop, he saw Harry waiting for him, studying the statuette.
“Snape?” Harry asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Snape.” Fred replied, nodding as he laid his purchases on the floor of his shop and unshrank them. “Gotta put together a cage for the snidget and her hatchlings. Charlie said that they’ll try and return to wherever they came from, if they’re not kept in cages. Snape found this one, nearly frozen, in a crack in a wall. If she’s not in a cage, she’ll abandon her nest and try to return to that wall.”
“Right.” Harry nodded. “I’ll leave you to it, then.” He left the works shop and Fred turned his attention back to the timber on his floor.
“Do I go magical or muggle?” He mused, before huffing. “Better go magical, after all snidgets are magical critters.”
Magpie~ Cauldron (sent 6.42pm, Aug 28th 2925)
Professor
The snidget is doing okay. I made her a cage out of Whomping Willow canes. That stuff is wicked to work with. I’m going to have to get some more. Anyway, little ʛalleon (Angelina decided to name her) flew around the cage for a minute or two, then quickly settled back on her nest. Thanks be to Hermione (and Charlie), that we have a fair idea of how to care for snidgets and were able to provide her with the food she needed. She SHOULD be fat and round, but keeping her nest warm obviously took a toll on her. We’ll be keeping the food up to her and if her interest in it, so far, is any indication, she should recover.
Hopefully.
Thanks for the warning, Angie won the coin toss and is going to care for her, much to Luna’s disappointment.
I’ll keep you posted.
Fred
ToSwd
~~~
October 3rd 2925
“How’re you doing with the housing situation, Harry, Alicia?” Isengar asked at the town meeting.
“Good.” Harry nodded, then sighed and stood up, when Alicia kicked him in the leg. “We’ve got homes for most of the incoming people built.” The magicals and Isengar had sat down and decided that the ‘public story’ for the incoming magicals would be a daring escape from an area that was coming more and more under the control of people that wanted to prosecute and imprison those that fought against an enemy that their local authorities refused to admit existed, even though it was publicly known and accepted. Nothing anyone said was going have the authorities admit that such an enemy existed, it was bad for business.
“Do we know how many are coming?” Jonah asked. This was the first time that details were being given, beyond the knowledge that they were coming.
“Sixty plus.” Harry sighed. “But how many ‘plus’ means? We don’t know. Initial estimates were five to ten, but we’ve sat down and examined Hermione’s message and…? We know for certain that she was meeting with two people, but we don’t know how many family members they have. Then there was Professor McGonagall. She was meeting with some youngsters and their families. How many? Don’t know.” He grimaced.
“So, it could be…?”Sigi frowned. “What? Another twenty or thirty? Or more?”
“Yeah…” Harry sighed. “The good news is that most of those we know about, have trades or crafts that can start work pretty much instantly.”
“That’s something then.” Harden grunted. “But the extras? You don’t anything about them?”
“No.” Harry shook his head, then paused. “No, that’s not quite right. We do know that Ken Towler was talking about an apprenticeship to make magical bags and luggage. Whether he went ahead with that, we don’t know. Grant Rockman, we know nothing about, not what his trade is, not whether he’s married, got children. Nothing. As for the rest? We know that a lot of them will be children, in the ten to fifteen age bracket, and young adults, in the twenty to twenty-five age bracket. We don’t know if they’ll have family with them, or not. And if they do, we don’t know anything about the families. Sorry.” He held his hands out in a helpless gesture. “When Hermione sent me the details, she and McGonagall were still in negotiations with them. However… We plan to put them in the Quad, at first. Only those that we already know about and have been planning for, will be housed in homes around the village. Most of those will be on West Hill, but a few will be up in the North Creek area.”
“And you won’t really be able to do much in the way of building, until the ground thaws…” Isengar sighed.
“No.” Harry shook his head. “But we’ve gone ahead and built a few extra homes on both the Hill and North Creek. We figure that people might not be too concerned about having a limited choice of floorplans. Not if it gets them into a home, immediately.”
“True…” Isengar nodded, slowly.
“Either way…” Harry shrugged. “We’re done building until the thaws.”
~~~
October 8th 2925
Magpie~ Cauldron (sent 5.25pm, Oct 8th 2925)
Professor
Thought you might like an update on the snidget. Her eggs have hatched.
Not all of them, though. Out of the nine eggs, seven hatched.
ʛalleon and her little §ickles (the hatchlings) are doing well, eating like Ron, but with better manners. Once the §ickles are fledging, we’ll transfer them to a larger cage, or maybe an aviary. For the moment, they’re in the heated greenhouse.
Do you want some new books? Alicia’s sending a list of available titles through to you, via the link boxes.
We’ve had a bumper crop of Alihotsy. Want any?
Lily’s been working on processing it into essential oils and also distilling the juices from it. Apparently, if it’s mixed with elder-blossom nectar and sprayed around a hospital room, it’s an air freshener, a disinfectant and an anti-depressant. Who knew?
I knew about the anti-depressant bit, but not the disinfectant bit.
Anyway, let me know if you want any.
Fred
ToSwrd
~~~
October 27th 2925
“Who’s going to the drop-off point, Harry?” James asked.
“Huh.” Harry grunted. “Hadn’t thought about that, yet. Still working on making sure that we have enough portkeys for everyone.”
“How many do you have?” Lily asked.
“So far?” Harry asked back. “I’ve had Sirius, Tonks, Remus and Fred making portkeys, but they can only do one per day. We’ve got enough to transport one-hundred-four people, as of last night. With plans to make enough for one-hundred-fifty. They’re single-use and all go to the Quad, so any we don’t use can just be kept for later.”
“And do you think that will be enough?”
“Fingers crossed.” Harry shrugged. “Otherwise we’ll have to borrow some of the residents’ ‘keys, but that would deposit whoever has to use them, at the hospital, instead of the quad.”
“Might not be a bad idea to have Tonks and the lads make a few to hospital.” James suggested. “Matt and Gina’s arrival had them in mid-air.”
“Yeah, I was thinking about that, possibility.” Harry grimaced. “And Luna suggested that if the portal is above ground, that Neville and I conjure stairs or a ramp, from the portal to the ground.”
“It would depend on how high above ground it was…” James frowned. “But that would work, I’d still have a few medi-keys, just the same. Who knows? Someone might get injured in the crush, trying to get through the portal. We don’t know how big it will be and how many people can get through it, at the same time. Or how much of a hurry people will be in to get through the portal.”
“True…” Harry nodded. “I’ll talk to Tonks and Fred. I wouldn’t trust Sirius to make a medi-key, not with Dorcas being pregnant, he’s the one that’s all flustered and scatterbrained, not her.”
“He was like that when your mother told us she was pregnant.” James laughed. “Went on a right rant about us not consulting him and how he wasn’t ready to be a father, yet.”
“I can imagine it.” Harry laughed.
“But back to who’s going to the drop-off?” James tapped his finger on the table and the list of people coming.
“At this point?” Harry grimaced again. “Me, Neville, Luna, Lee and Alicia, definitely. Maybe George, Dean and Gina. I want to keep any of you ‘dead’ people back here. Don’t want anyone to panic and start a riot.”
“Better leave George here, then.” James replied. “Weren’t two of his brothers coming?”
“Oh, crap. Yeah.” Harry bared his teeth in dislike. “Yeah, that could be bad.”
~~~
November 7th 2925
“Are we ready?” Harry repeated Isengar’s question. “I think we are.” He stood in front of the gathered residents of the Pond. “We’ve got homes built, some with furniture, some without. The top floor of the Quad is furnished. We’ve placed McGonagall at one end of the south wing and Kingsley at the other, with the student rooms between them. Family suites are along the East and West wings. The East wing has two bedrooms, one bathrooms and a sitting room. The suites in the West Wing have three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a sitting room. The North Wing is split into single bedroom apartments.”
“The hospital’s pharmacy is fully stocked and I’ve asked Edris, Katie, Angelina, Lavender and Lily to be on call, to assess the incoming.” Alice stood beside Harry. “We hope no-one’s injured in transit, but we’ll be ready, just in case.”
“All the homes have a grocery pack.” Sigi stood on Harry’s other side. “Just like we put together over winter. Nothing too elaborate, though. We don’t know if anyone’s got an allergies.”
“And my team is ready to go.” Harry added. “Neville, Luna, Alicia, Lee, Dean and Gina.” He ticked them off in his fingers. “Between them, they believe that they’ve narrowed down the site to a hundred-yard area. We’ll head up, late in the evening of the twelfth and stay in a Ready-Built cottage, that’ll give us a chance to clear an area for people to wait. No portkeys will be issued until everyone has arrived and the portal’s closed again. We have no idea how long the portal can be open for, Hermione didn’t say and Gringotts is primarily a banking concern, so this type of magic is rare. It’s not an everyday occurrence. We’ve got portkeys to the Quad and the hospital ready to go. One-hundred-thirty-plus to the Quad and twenty to the hospital.”
“Will we have enough supplies to last the winter?” An older hobbitess asked.
“Yes, Lady Adelaide, we will.” Isengar assured the seed-raiser. “I’ve spoken with Sigi, Anneg, Stonag and Wilibald. Even with the tithes that we’ve sent to the Rangers, Thorin Oakenshield, Brandyhall and the Great Smials, we’re at little risk.” He paused. “As long as Miss Hermione’s incoming refugees number less than one-hundred-and-fifty, we’ll be fine.”
“And we think it’s more likely to be somewhere around the hundred, maybe a little less.” Harry quickly added. “We have a confirmed sixty and estimate that the unknowns to be about half that. So somewhere around ninety to one-hundred, but it's unlikely to be any more than that.”
“Now that Seamus’ market garden and George’s orchards are up and producing,” Isengar went on, “we’ve far more produce than we did, our first winter here, and I doubt that we’ll be short of much, if anything. Stasis cabinets that can store produce, immediately after harvesting, and keep it as fresh as the day it was picked, for many months, have been a blessing to us all.”
“Indeed.” Harden called out. “Without Master Harry and his people, the dwarves of the Blue Mountains would have had mourn many, these last few winters.”
“As would the hobbits of the Shire.” Sigi added firmly. “Fewer faunts have fallen prey to winter and summer fevers and many of those that had were saved by Healer Alice and our hospital. The communication books and emergency portkeys have saved many lives.”
“We live here, now.” Harry said. “If we can help our neighbours, why shouldn’t we? It’s costs us little more than time and effort, and we’ve gained so much, in exchange. A place to live, work and raise our families.” He looked at those with babies on their laps. “That makes whatever we do, worth it.”
~~~
November 13th 2925
“You’re sure that’s the right spot?” Harry asked Neville.
“Yes, Harry.” Neville answered patiently. They’d had this discussion a dozen times, maybe more.
Harry looked at Neville and sighed. “I already asked that, didn’t I?”
“Yes, Harry.” Neville answered in exactly the same tone, earning himself a flat look from his former dormmate. “Shut up, Harry.” He huffed, ignoring the fact that Harry hadn’t actually spoken.
“Yes, Neville.” Harry might have been smirking, but his voice was as calm and resigned as Neville’s had been.
~~~
November 14th 2925
The sparkling of light in the early morning, before the sun had crested the horizon, was the first warning of the Gringotts portal.
“Showtime, people.” Harry called and without a word, Neville stepped up to Harry’s left and Alicia to his right. Luna, Lee, Dean and Gina were spread out behind them, but still clearly visible.
The portal sparked again, before bursting into the air, some twenty yards from those waiting.
“It’s above ground-level, Harry.” Neville warned.
“Then let’s get conjuring, we can’t have people falling, can we?” Harry replied. “I’ll put the posts into the ground, Neville, you put the frame on top of the posts. Luna, Alicia? Once the frame is up, you two start laying boards on it, six inches wide by two inches thick. Luna from the top, Alicia from the bottom. Then Dean, Lee? You pair do the rails, Dean the left, Lee the right. Gina? I want a few logs for seating off to our left, just transfig will do for that. I want everyone here and the portal closed, before I start sending them through to the Pond.”
“Yes, Harry.” The six all replied at the same time, each of them focusing on the task that Harry had assigned them.
“Uh, Harry?” Neville asked hesitantly. “What if the ramp’s not tall enough?”
“Then I increase the length of the posts and the girls add a few more boards.” Harry answered.
“Right, got it.” Neville nodded.
By the time the ramp had shimmered into being, like some sort of time-lapse film of a ramp under construction, the portal had stabilised and the halls of Gringotts became visible.
“Showtime.” Harry repeated and drew in a deep breath. He could do this… he really could.
The first person he saw, was the woman that taught him respect.
“Professor McGonagall, welcome to middle-earth.” He stepped forward and held out a hand to the elderly witch, saddened to see how frail she’d become in the last five and a half years.
“Mr Potter…” While her eyes glistened and her hands shook, her smile was bright and happy. “It’s good to see you.”
“And you, Professor.” Harry smiled back. “Come and sit down. We’re going to wait until everyone’s through before we start sending you back to the Pond.”
“The… Pond…?”
“The Whomping Willow’s Pond.” Harry answered, as he guided Minerva McGonagall across to the rows of benches that Gina had transfigured, from the scraps of timber that they’d brought with them for firewood. “We’ve a nice little village going.” He paused. “Professor? Do you know where you are? I mean… Do you know anything about middle-earth?”
“I didn’t.” McGonagall replied. “Not until Miss Granger, Mr Longbottom, Miss Lovegood and Mr Jordan started this whole venture. But after speaking to Gringotts, Miss Granger was adamant that all those that were interested in join this venture, read the books that she provided. If the… staff of Gringotts hadn’t confirmed it, I wouldn’t have believed it possible.”
“And yet, you came, anyway.” Harry replied, he was vaguely aware of Neville and Lee greeting people as they emerged from the portal, but his attention was solely on the witch in front of him.
“I did.” McGonagall nodded. “My health was… delicate… after Madam Umbridge’s… time… at Hogwarts. Fighting in what is now being called, the Battle for Hogwarts, did me no favours, either. St. Mungo's have declared that my health will never recover.” Harry caught his breath in shock. “However, Gringotts' healers have a rather different opinion on the matter. They believe that I, like a number of students that have decided that there’s nothing for them in England, should be de-aged.”
“Professor?” Harry asked.
“Besides myself, there are at least fifteen young people that have suffered badly enough, to warrant such action, Potter.” McGonagall replied. “Miss Granger has all the details.” She paused and gestured at the bench seat. “I would much rather something a little more upright, if you don’t mind?”
“Of course, Professor.” Harry let his wand fall into his hand and with a spiralling swirl of his wand, transfigured the short length of bench into a wicker-backed bridge chair.
“Thank you, Potter, that’s very nice.” McGonagall gave him a gentle nod and eased herself down into the seat. “Now, I think you have work to do.” She nodded in the direction of the portal and the ramp in front of it.
“Yes, Professor.” Harry smirked as he grinned and after a gentle squeeze to her shoulder, darted over to the ramp. “What’ve we got?” He asked Neville.
“Incoming.” Neville huffed.
Harry looked at Neville and saw an exasperated expression. “Right. Want me to take over?”
“Yes!” Neville nodded sharply.
“Right.” Harry repeated and looked up the ramp, towards the portal. Just in time to see Oliver Wood step through the shimmering-edged portal. “Oliver! Hi, welcome to middle-earth. Ooh, is this your poor wife? Ma'am, you have my deepest sympathies, I lived in the same house as Ollie for a year, I know you’ve been through, come and have a seat, leave him to Alicia. Oh, this is Bennie? He’s not quidditch crazy, like his dad, is he?”
Anna Wood blinked a few times, before laughing. “Unfortunately, yes, I think he’s going to be.”
“Oh, dear…” Harry gave her a clearly faked look of sadness. “I’m so sorry…” He added mournfully.
“Oi!” Oliver smacked at Harry’s shoulder, but Harry gave him a grin and ducked.
“Grab a seat, we’ve more people to come.” Harry said. “We’re not giving out portkeys until the portal closes.”
“Right.” Oliver nodded and wrapped an arm around Anna’s shoulder. “Let’s go over to Professor McGonagall.”
Harry watched them for a few moments before turning back to the portal. “Wotcha, Bill, Fleur. Come on down.” He waved them forward. “Hey, Charlie.”
“Hiya, Harry.” Charlie Weasley waved.
“This your partner, then?” Harry asked, nodding at the tall Slavic looking man standing at the redhead’s back.
“Yep.” Charlie nodded and dragged the taller man around his brother and sister-in-law, and down the ramp. “This is Alec Avram. Alec, this is Harry Potter.”
“Ah, the one who took Hogwarts' seeker record from Charlie.” The slight Romanian accent blurring his words, but only fractionally.
“That would be me.” Harry nodded. The fact that Alec didn’t instantly tag him as the Boy-Who-Lived or the Man-that-Conquered, was enough to have Harry smiling. “Grab a seat, we’re not handing out portkeys until the portal closes.”
“Fair enough.” Charlie nodded and the pair headed for the benches.
“Hello, Harry.” Fleur’s accent was softer than he remembered, but not by a lot.
“Hey, Fleur.” He gave her a quick hug. “Grab seat, we’ve got a lot more people to come, yet.”
“Oui.” Fluer nodded and linked her arm through Bill’s and dragged him away.
“Harry.” Bill quickly ruffled Harry’s hair as he went past.
It took twenty-five minutes for the stream of people to trickle to an end. The last person through was, of course, Hermione Granger. And Harry was waiting at the base of the ramp to greet her.
“Mione…” He whispered, opening his arms as her first foot hit the ground. He was surprised at the depth of emotion that he felt, at seeing her.
“Harry!” She smiled and leapt at him, her arms going around his shoulders and his automatically going around her waist. “Oh, Harry, I missed you.”
“Same here, Mione.” Harry whispered back, then he grinned where she couldn’t see it. “I’m glad you’re here. You won me animagi lessons off of Padfoot.”
Hermione jerked back, pushing herself out of Harry’s arms, until they were standing eye-to-eye. “Padfoot!?” She squawked.
“Yep.” Harry grinned cheekily. “But that’s gonna have to wait, I gotta go be Mayor for a few minutes.”
“Mayor?” Hermione’s eyes went wide. “You’re a Mayor?”
“Technically… not anymore,” Harry replied, “but I was, and the current Mayor asked me to do the introduction and briefing, before we head back to the village.”
“Village?” Hermione asked.
“You’ll see.” Harry assured her, leading her to a seat near McGonagall. “Let me talk to Gringotts and then I'll do the intro and you’ll see what I mean. Please?” He waited until she huffed and sat down. “Thanks, Mione.” He walked back stood on the base of the ramp, looking up in the portal. “Ho, Gringotts!” He called. “Anything more to come?” He asked when a goblin appeared on the other side of the portal.
“Greetings, Mr Potter.” The goblin gave him a head-and-shoulders bow. “Would you be prepared to take in infants?”
“Infants?” Harry asked.
“Yes,” the goblin answered. “Gringotts employ a number of squibs in our muggle-based businesses, and a many of them have children. Just recently a number of couples have given birth to magical children and some parents are not coping. If things continue as they are, we fear that the children will suffer. We’ve spoken with our employees and while some have been fostered with other staff, three children are in need of new homes. Their parents requested we home away from the the British Wizarding World, so if you won't take them, we'll be forced to send them to either America or Australia.” The goblin held up a hand to halt Harry’s objection. “One child’s mother died in childbirth, and his father is physically impaired. A second’s mother was assaulted by a muggle, the child being the result. And the third’s mother is so anti-magic, that the father approached us to find someone to adopt the child, before she killed the child.”
“And you’re certain that all three are going to be magical?”
“We are.” The goblin nodded. “If they weren’t, we wouldn’t need to find them new homes. And yes, we and their parents know that you taking them, is irreversible.”
“Right, sorry.” Harry nodded. “Yes, we’ll take them.”
“Excellent.” The goblin stepped back and to one side.
Three goblins approached, each pushing a hand-cart that wouldn’t look out of place in Dol Amroth, Pelargir, Tharbad or Bree. Each was loaded with a bassinet and a number of boxes.
“We’ll push them through the portal and slow their progress with ropes, but you’ll need to guide them down the ramp, the portal will not allow us to push the carts through and return. It is one way, only.” The first goblin said, while nodding to the two goblins holding the first cart. “There’s details for each child, family history, medical history, magical history and some possessions, as well as limited finances for their futures. Each child has been de-aged to approximately ten days old and is in an enchanted sleep, they should remain that way for another hour.”
“Got it.” Harry nodded and looked over to Lee and Neville. “Give us hand?” He asked them and both leapt up and trotted over to him.
“What’s going on, Harry?” Neville asked, like most people, he’d not been paying any attention to Harry’s conversation with the goblins.
“We’ve got three babies, incoming.” Harry answered, as he stepped up to guide the first hand-cart. “All three are squib-born magicals and that’s a problem for the parents. Give me a hand and I’ll tell you what I know.” He passed the first cart to Neville, as it reached the ground and turned back to guide the next one.
When all three carts were in front of the ramp, Harry looked back at the goblin.
“That concludes our business, Mr Potter. Thank you for your understanding and assistance.” The goblin bowed and stepped back, and with barely a flicker, the portal collapsed in on itself, leaving Harry standing on a ramp to nowhere.
~~~