Chapter 58
“Crookshanks?!” She squawked. Crookshanks meowed in reply and resumed his purring.
“Found him a week or so after we left Minas Tirith.” Harry said. “He’s been with me ever since. Seemed to know that I was the closest he was going to get to being with you.”
“Oh, Crookshanks…” Hermione’s eyes glistened and she buried her face in his fur. “I never thought I would see him again. No-one seemed to know what happened to him after the Burrow was burnt down.”
“I think like the rest of us, he died on Earth and woke up here in middle-earth.”
Hermione blinked while she thought about that. “Does that mean we’re likely to face DeathEaters, again?”
“I hope not.” Harry nearly begged.
~~~
November 15th 2925
“You said you did… Point-Me’s?” Hermione asked.
“We did.” Harry nodded. “But not everyone showed up that way. Or at least, they only showed up if we got the conditions right.”
“So… try a Point-Me for… active DeathEat- No.” She cut herself off. “Not active DeathEaters but genuine DeathEaters or those loyal to Riddle.”
Harry blinked. “You said his name.”
“Of course, I said his name, Harry. I won’t use his chosen pseudonym, he doesn’t deserve that amount of consideration from me.” The sneer on her face was better than anything that either Malfoy male could produce.
“Okay….” Harry grimaced.
“Never mind, Harry.” Hermione shook her head. “You’re still the most powerful wizard we have, so you get to cast the charm.”
“Yes, Hermione.” Harry blinked as he automatically replied, already pulling out his wand.
Ten minutes later and Hermione was smiling. “Marvellous. Snape is still the only past or present follower of Riddle, in Middle-Earth.” She sighed in relief. “Lovely…”
“The only way that would have missed anyone, was if they were under anti-detection wards, like Moody was.”
“If that’s the case, then we can only hope that they didn’t get brought here.” Hermione replied.
“We’ve been here five years, Mione.” Harry said. “I think if they were going to turn up to cause trouble, they already would have. Let’s face it, most of Riddle’s people, barring Snape or Pettigrew, had little to no patience.”
“And the only reason Pettigrew was patient, was that he was so scared of being caught by Dumbledore or the Ministry.” Hermione nodded. “But here, there’s no Ministry and he’d have no idea that Dumbledore was here, either.”
“Not unless he saw him.” Harry countered. “But there’s also the wand issue to take into consideration. No-one but me had wands and I only had them because you’d put them in my mokeskin pouch. Not even Moody had a wand, even if he did have a couple of personal ward-stones.”
“And DeathEaters are more about offensive magic than defensive.” Hermione nodded.
“Yep.” Harry agreed.
“So, the likelihood that a number of them are out there is… slim.”
“Very slim.” Harry nodded. “Maybe one or two of them might have thought about personal wards, but most of them were killed in battle, so the probability of them have personal wards on them, is even slimmer.”
“Oh, good…” Hermione sighed.
“Yep.”
Hermione frowned. “Harry? I don’t remember seeing Sirius at the party list night. Why not?”
“Dorcas is pregnant and Sirius is the one feeling it.” Harry chuckled.
“Oh?”
“Yep. Morning sickness, sore back, odd cravings, the lot.”
“Oh, my…” Hermione bit her lip to smother her giggles.
“Yep.” Harry grinned. “He’s staying home, until the baby’s born. He’s terrified that he’s going to experience the delivery too. He’s begged mum on a number of occasions to make him a batch of Draught of Living Death for the delivery. But she's kind of ignoring him.”
Hermione gave up on biting her lip and just leant against Harry and giggled, her eyes bright and her cheeks flushed.
Harry ducked his head and pressed his lips to one red cheek, before whispering in her ear. “Want to go and say hello?”
“Harry!” It was too much for Hermione and she began to laugh, flopping back in her seat, she let her hand rest on Crookshanks’ back, but made no effort to stop herself laughing.
“Is that a… yes? Or a, no?”
Fifteen minutes saw them emerge from Harry’s house. Now that she’d had a chance to see the cottages around town, Hermione realised that Harry’s house wasn’t really a cottage, it was much larger. But by the same gauge, it wasn’t big enough to be a manor, so she labelled it a ‘house’ in her mind.
They crossed the road, pausing to pet Golly and give him a treat each.
“He’s lovely, Harry.”
“Golly’s a sweetie.” Harry nodded. “I’ll be sad to see him go.”
“Go?”
“He’s over twenty years old.” Harry stroked the stallion’s silky nose, smiling as the stud lipped at his hand, small golden ears flicking back and forth.
Hermione looked at Harry, sadly. “Oh, Harry…” She rubbed above Golly’s eyes and sighed as the stallion’s lips trembled in pleasure.
“I’m not going to have him for much longer, Mione.” Harry whispered back. “My beautiful Golly. He won’t last much longer, maybe another few years, with no work.”
“Likes his work, does he?”
“Loves it.” Harry laughed sadly. “Gets all offended when I take one of the mares out and not him. Unless I pull out the shop cart, then he’s like, ‘nah, you can have that, girls, I’ll see you when you get home’. And proceeds to ignore me, until I put whatever mare I take, back in her paddock.”
Hermione snorted. “Only you, Harry. Only you would have a jealous horse.”
“Pony. I have ponies, Mione, not horses.”
“Oh excuse me… Ponies.” She snorted, again.
“Come on, Sirius and Dorcas’ place is down the back here.” Harry led Hermione past a gate that opened into a narrow driveway and into the paddock that currently housed three large, very fat cows. “These ladies are on the injured list and due to calf, sometime in the next week. That’s why Dorcas has them, here. Not that she can do much with them, being nearly six months pregnant, herself. But she can call on Pandora, if there’s a problem.”
Down the paddock, near the creek, the house was long and narrow and faced east and west. Harry looked down at Jax, as he raised a hand to knock on what appeared to be a frequently used door, if the hooks of coats that Hermione could see through the window panels that framed the door, were anything to go by.
“Hey, Harry, come on in, Pads is in the bathroom.” The coffee-skinned woman with wild curls greeted them. “Now, who’s this?” She looked from Jax to Hermione and back.
“This is Hermione.” Was all that Harry said.
“Hermione?” Dorcas blinked. “Really? Hermione actually exists? Really?”
“Of course, Hermione actually exists, Dorcas.” Harry frowned.
“I mean… I knew she existed but… you know… It’s Hermione, Harry.” The woman looked a cross between awed and stunned. “I just never thought… Hermione…”
“Harry? Care to explain?” Hermione’s voice was calm and quiet.
“Uh…”
“Merlin, I hate this.” Sirius muttered as he staggered into the kitchen. “I am not going through this again, ‘Cas. Next time you decide you want kids, I’m having Snape make me a dose of Living Death, the first time I have your morning sickness.” He barely glanced up, as he made a fresh pot of tea. “Hey, pup, Hermione.” He put the kettle on the hob and turned back to refill the water jug, only to drop it in the sink. “Hermione?” He spun around to face the younger couple.
“Hey, Sirius.”
“Hello, Sirius.” Harry and Hermione both spoke at the same time, but only Hermione continued. “What’s this I hear about animagi lessons?”
“Oh, shite…” Sirius groaned. “That was just to shut him up, Hermione. He kept on and on about how he hoped you were coming, then would correct himself and say something about you going to get your parents and of course you wouldn’t leave them a second time.”
“Well, it is Harry we’re talking about.” Hermione replied. “He always doubts how important he is to people.”
“Oh, that is so true.” Dorcas nodded.
“Yes… back to you.” Hermione focused on Dorcas. “What did you mean by ‘it’s Hermione’, with that level of emphasis?”
“Oh, shite…” Harry stepped back, he had a fair idea of how Hermione was going to react to what Dorcas was going to say.
“It’s just… you’re Hermione.” Dorcas repeated. “Without you, Harry wouldn’t have had Teddy. Or his wand. Or the library trunk. Or the wand box. Without your input he wouldn’t have known about the LAD spell. Or that he could alter a Point-Me. Or about the HIPS charm. You were the one to suggest that he work at the carriage stable, during the summer. You were the one to go to Gringotts for help. Without you, they wouldn’t have provided him with training memories. For that matter without you, Gringotts wouldn’t have got involved in sending people here. And he certainly wouldn’t have known anything about Middle-Earth.”
“Oh, dear God…” Hermione huffed before she turned to face her new husband. “Harry!” Her eyes narrowed and her hair wand flicked at him.
Harry saw the charm land on a sleeping Jax and surround him in a white shield. “Oh, crap…”
“Harry James Potter! Exactly what did you tell these people?!”
Fifteen minutes later, Dorcas was sitting at the kitchen table, her elbows on the table, her chin on her hands, just staring at Hermione, as she continued to tear strips off of Harry, verbally.
Sirius was on the floor, having collapsed against the wall, before sliding down it, laughing behind Dorcas’ silencing charm.
The kitchen windows were lined with faces, all watching Hermione. Weasleys, Prewetts, Creeveys and Potters were all clearly visible, beside a smattering of faces unknown to Hermione.
“-but could you just stand back and watch?!” Hermione ranted. “No! Of course, you couldn’t! You had to get involved, didn’t you? You used the twins’ pranks in the Ministry!”
Harry, by now, knew Hermione well enough to know that behind her explosion was fear. Fear for Ron, fear for her family, fear for her friends and ranking up there with the worst of her fears, was her fear for him. He slipped Jax’s carrier over his head and eased it over the front of a chair, letting Jax’s slight weight be held by the chair’s specifically designed bracings. Then he carefully and slowly stepped towards Hermione, making sure that he didn’t startle her, he didn’t want her to punch him, like she’d punched Draco, in third year.
Once he was close enough, his hands lifted slowly, reaching forward until they slid over her arms and around behind her. Then it was a case of easing her forward and closing his arms around her. He wasn't surprised, when her arms automatically came up to clutch at his back.
“Oh, Harry…” She drew in a shuddering breath before her composure shattered and she began to cry.
“It’s okay, Mione, it’s okay.” He whispered into her hair. “You’re fine, you’re safe. I’m fine, I’m safe. We’re together. Everything okay…” He kept up a litany of reassuring words, until finally, she lifted her head. “Better now?” He asked, wiping the tears away from her eyes
“Yes, Harry.” She whispered back.
“Good.” Harry grinned. “Think you can tell your audience to bugger off, then?” He nodded towards the windows.
She blinked and raised her head enough to look over his shoulder. “Oh, bloody hell!” Her eyes narrowed again and she jerked herself out of Harry’s arms to stalk over to the door, smirking when eyes widened and people scrambled to get away from the cottage. She flung the door open and stood on the doorstep, her hands on her hips as she glared at those running across Dorcas’ paddock. “And you lot are no better!” She yelled. “Run while you can. I’ll be having words with some of you, soon enough!” She stomped back into the kitchen and into Harry’s arms. “Bloody idiots, all they managed to do was bring themselves to my attention.”
“I know.” Harry grinned. “But you can leave off of Fred and George. I’ve already given them Molly’s lecture. And given Colin his, too.”
“Oh, good.” Hermione grinned back. “Three less for me to worry about.”
“Uh, Harry?” Dorcas called quietly. “The baby is fretting.”
“Oops.” Harry grimaced. “Can you drop the silencing shield, please?” He asked Hermione.
Hermione nodded and flicked her wand at Jax and the misty white, translucent shield collapsed and Jax’s whimpering emerged.
“Hey, little one.” Harry scooped up the boy and let the child rest on his chest, before he turned to Sirius. “So…”
“Oh, crap…” Sirius moaned as he clutched at his ribs. “My ribs hurt…”
“What a shame.” Harry replied in a flat voice.
“Oh, come on, pup.” Sirius grinned, even as his hands tried to ease the cramps that his laughter had created. “That was hilarious.”
“I’m glad you think so.” Harry smirked.
“What?” Sirius blinked at Harry’s expression and his own face went wary. “Oh, no. What now?”
Harry turned a now-quiet Jax around to face Sirius. “Meet Jax. Your grand-god-pup. And you already know my wife, Hermione.”
Sirius’ eyes went wide and he looked from Harry to Hermione and back. “What the hell?! Already?! You only arrived yesterday!”
~~~
In the East, Marchwarden Haldir listened to Celeborn’s briefing and nodded. “Shall I leave with the dawn, or immediately, my Lord?”
“How long will it take you to prepare for such a journey?” Celeborn replied.
“An hour if I’m travelling by foot, an hour-an-a-half if by horseback, two hours if travelling by cart.” Haldir answered.
“Night comes fast in the winter.” Celeborn said. “Prepare for a dawn leaving and for the Valar’s sake, take that blasted horse with you.”
“Certainly, my Lord.” Haldir nodded and ignored the sidewise smirk that Galadriel barely smothered before Celeborn saw it. “My Tittamin does so enjoy winter outings.” He almost succeeded in smothering his own sarcasm.
“I don’t care whether he enjoys it or not.” Celeborn retorted. “I’ll not have a horse handler injured because that brute is sulking, due to you having left him behind. You go, so he goes. If you and he wish it, Rendarion may travel with you.”
“Yes, my Lord.” Haldir nodded again. “We’ll be gone by first light. With the weather the way it is, I expect that it will take us a week, at least, to reach the East-West Road.”
“If you must cross the Anduin, do so after the Ninglor.” Galadriel advised. “Not before. The river narrows sharply north of the Ninglor and if there’s a cold snap, you may be fortunate to have it freeze solid enough to bear your horses’ weight. If you’ve not crossed by the White Isle, you may find it best, not to cross at all. I’ve spoken with Thranduil and Elrond. Thranduil is sending one of his sons and a captain of his guard, to meet you. Elrond will have a patrol meet you at the western foot of the mountains. I shall warn Thranduil, so that he may inform his people, of your travelling companion.” She let a subtle smile show.
“Yes, my Lady.” Haldir nodded and took a step backwards before spinning on his heel and leaving the platform. Once on ground level he headed for the tree that held the home that he shared with his husband.
“You’re back early.” Rendarion commented, as Haldir entered through the arched doorway.
“I am.” The blonde agreed. “I was called to an audience with our Lord and Lady.”
“And what do they require of you?” Rendarion tilted his raven-haired head and looked at Haldir.
“Galadriel Sees a ripple of magic in the West but it is so faint that she cannot pinpoint its location.” Haldir answered. “As such, Celeborn wishes me to find it and determine its origin and the threat it bears to the current peace.”
Rendarion blinked and focused more on Haldir than the salad he’d been preparing. “She can’t locate it?”
“Not precisely enough, to know what is causing it, no.”
“And when are you to leave?”
“By dawn.” Haldir replied. “Lord Celeborn is insistent that I take Tittamin with me.”
“Of course he did.” Rendarion smothered his snort.
“It seems that he’s worried about some useless handler being injured.”
“I can imagine.”
“I don’t understand.” Haldir sighed. “Tittamin wouldn’t hurt anyone.”
“When you’re around, no.” Rendarion agreed. “But when you’re not around, his temper can be… volatile… and the handlers don’t have time to deal with a volatile horse, certainly not one of his training.”
“Then they shouldn’t be handling him.” Haldir pouted.
“Oh, I agree.” Rendarion consoled. “I’m just stating the reasoning behind Celeborn’s… request.”
“Oh…” Haldir let his pout fade. “Celeborn did say that if you wished, you could come with me…” He added, hopefully.
“Well of course, I’m coming with you.” Rendarion replied. “I assumed that any order that sends you away from our woods, includes me.”
“You’ll bring Aparuivë?” Haldir enjoyed riding alongside his husband and the chestnut was one of only few horses that could stay with Tittamin at a gallop.
“Of course.” Rendarion nodded. “First light, you said?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll see to equipment and food for us, you see to equipment and food for the horses.”
“We’ll need a pack horse, won’t we?”
“For a winter journey? Yes.” Rendarion nodded, his mind already making lists.
“I’ll see if the horse handlers will let us take Nórima or Nahtar.”
“It’d be good training for them.” Rendarion agreed. “And as only you and I seem to have little trouble handling them, leaving them for any length of time, could easily result in injuries to handlers.”
“Yes,” Haldir smirked, “it could.”
~~~
November 16th 2925
By the time the sun rose, Haldir and Rendarion were well away from the trees that were home to the elven settlement of Lothlorien. Both he and his husband rode their own horse and led a second horse, that held most of their travelling supplies.
“It was nice of Brandil to let us bring both Nórima and Nahtar with us.”
Haldir smirked. “I simply repeated your comment and Brandil couldn’t agree fast enough.”
Rendarion threw his head back and laughed, his joy filling the air around them.
When they camped that night, it was under edges of a small woodland, mostly made up of birch and maple trees, surrounding a massive old oak tree. With a small stream only a few yards away, the pair were quick to set up camp, hanging canvas water ‘barrels’ from branches, for the horses and laying rocks in a circle for a cooking fire, for themselves.
“That storm is likely to hit us, either overnight or early in the morning.” Rendarion looked to the north, eyeing the dark clouds smudging the horizon.
“Hopefully, it’s overnight and it’s blown itself out by morning.” Haldir replied.
“Best set up a shelter for the horses, the last thing we need is to lose one.”
“I’ll work on that, you see to a meal?”
“I’ll get the stew cooking, then come give you a hand.” Rendarion nodded.
~~~
“How are you doing this?” Harry asked Alice. “Eldest to youngest? Most severely affected? Or something else?”
“We’ve broken the incoming down into three groups.” Hermione replied. “Those needing de-aging, those wanting de-aging and those not needing or wanting it.”
Alice consulted her clipboard before answering. “Group Three will be assessed by Katie, just the basics to give us a baseline for future treatment and to record their magical signatures in case of splinching or something like that. Although, Gringotts did send along copies of any records they could get their hands on.” She shrugged. “Then she’ll work on Group Two, assessments and getting them to state why they want de-aging. Once we’re done with Group One, we’ll move on to a more thorough assessment of them.”
“Group One is more important.” Hermione added. “Most of them were injured in some form or another, during the war. Some are worse off than others, according to Gringotts. So, we plan to do them by severity.”
“Professor McGonagall was one of the worst, but as we’ve already treated her, we can place her on the ‘treatment completed’ list. But that still leaves us with eight people in Group One and nine in Group Two.” Alice explained.
“Seventeen people?” Harry asked. “Seventeen people that are bad enough off to need or want permanent de-aging?”
“Oops. Make that four groups.” Alice corrected. “Eight in Group One. Seven in Group Two and two that are hoping to only do temporary de-aging, not permanent.”
“Okay.” Harry nodded and stroked a hand down Jax’s back. “Fifteen permanent and two temporary. Out of one-hundred-ten. That’s not too bad.”
“It might be less.” Hermione reminded him. “It’ll depend on whether those that want de-aging can provide a valid reason, or if it’s just that… a want.”
“True.” Harry nodded. “So, would you be breaking confidentiality, if you told me their names?”
“No, we already have their consent for that.” Hermione replied.
Alice checked her notes again. “Of those in Group One, Nigel Wolpert, Eliza Tarren, Natalie McDonald, Marla Tanker and Erin Westin are marked as urgent, as was Minerva McGonagall. Mason Lodger, Laura Pincher and Graham Simpson are marked as requiring permanent de-aging treatment, but not being anywhere near as urgently, or severely, as the others.”
“Group Two,” Hermione went on, “is Kellah Lindstrom, Meredith Owens, Jennifer Channing, Daniel Holmes, Juliana Pinley, Nancy Drummer and Amber Lynch. While the temporaries are Tina Mimples and Emily Fraser.”
Harry nodded as he processed the names, placing faces on most of them. “So, when are you starting?”
Alice looked at Hermione, before answering. “Nigel and Eliza will be in, this afternoon. Tomorrow morning will be Natalie and Marla, then after lunch will Erin and Mason. From there, we’ll do two each morning and afternoon, until we’ve seen them all. Then we’ll extend that until we’ve seen all of the incoming. We really need to get baselines for everyone, especially the children. Changing from human to dwarf is sure to cause a few upsets along the way.”
“I suppose so.” Harry shrugged. “It just felt normal, to me.”
“Yes, Harry, but there’s nothing ‘normal’ about you.” Hermione huffed.
“True.” Harry nodded, then looked at Alice. “Do you need Hermione or I, here for this?”
“No, Lily and Minerva are going to assist in the treatments and keep everyone calm.” Alice replied.
“In that case, we’re going to head home.” Harry said. “Jax needs a feed and a nap in a proper cradle and I’m sure that Hermione wants to check out my library. And I need to do some paperwork.”
“You should probably check in with Isengar, too.” Alice suggested.
“We’ll do that on our way out.” Harry said. “I need to schedule meetings with those that have their own businesses, starting in the morning.”
“Better you than me.” Alice grinned and shooed them out of her office.
~~~
November 17th 2925
“It’s travelling slowly.” Haldir nodded to the storm.
“I’m surprised it hasn’t reached us, yet.” Rendarion replied.
“At the rate it’s travelling, we could get another ten miles before we meet it.”
“Yes, quite probably.”
The pair finished packing up their camp, saddled their horses and harnessed up the packhorses, before mounting and setting out. The air was still and the clouds overhead meant that the glare from the snow was minor enough to ignore. All-in-all, the travelling was easy.
Or it would have been, if the threat of the storm hadn’t been hanging over them.
Their estimates of the speed of the storm were off, it wasn’t until nearly midday that the wind began to pick up and even then, it was sluggish.
“Time to camp?” Rendarion asked, around mid-afternoon.
“That clump of trees?” Haldir nodded and pointed to the east and the copse of pine trees, that lay within sight of the Anduin.
“Hopefully, it’s big enough to provide shelter for the horses.” Rendarion added.
Fortunately, the copse turned out to be a little larger than first expected and to have a small clearing in the middle, so all it took to make a shelter for the horses, was weaving the branches together to make a covered area. Haldir knew the storm was going to be bad, when he saw the four horses huddling together for comfort.
“Do we have enough wood to keep a fire going?” Haldir asked as he tied off the last knot on the horses enclosure.
“Hopefully.” Rendarion replied. “There’s plenty of fallen wood. I’ve moved it all under cover, but it will depend on how long the storm lasts.”
“The horses are huddling.” Haldir said quietly, as he gathered up an armload of small branches.
“Oh, wonderful…” Rendarion sighed. “Drop that over there and help me with these stones. I think we can make a covered firepit with them.”
“Get them up high enough and we can always lay green branches across them.” Haldir said.
“I found a largish piece of slate to use as a cover for it.” Rendarion corrected.
“Slate? Out here?” They were many miles from the mountains.
“The dwarves of Erebor used to transport slate from their quarries, down the River Celduin to the East-West Road, from there? Some went west and some were brought down the Anduin by barge. I’d say that this piece was left from one of those trips.”
“Oh, yes, I’d forgotten.”
“It’s only been a hundred-fifty years, how could you forget?” Rendarion shook his head.
“It’s dwarves, what do you expect?” Haldir huffed.
“Oh get over it.” Rendarion chided. “Narvi did offer to make you a sword, you were the one to annoy Celebrimbor enough for him to convince Narvi to change his mind. It’s your own fault. But I heard that one of the latest Durin princes has earnt himself a Grand Mastery in blade-smithing. If you got over your pride, you might be able to commission a sword from him.”
“… ooh…” Haldir made an interested sound, but before he could continue, the wind picked up. “Let’s get that slate on your stone fireplace, we need to get that fire going before the storm hits fully.”
~~~
Harry slid Jax into the hanging cradle and then flopped down into an armchair next to it.
“All done, Harry?” Hermione handed him a bowl of thick stew. “Beef stew. Lavender cooked.”
“Ta.” Harry sighed. “And no, nowhere near done.” He ate a few mouthfuls of the tasty meal, before he continued. “We’ve spoken to Bill, Ollivander, Simon Blithely and Oliver. Bill and Fleur are going to work with Edward Fischer, he’s a picture framer, to enchant them so that Dean’s paintings will be magical, like the ones at Hogwarts. Simon’s happy with one of the little artisan shops, near Lavender and Colin’s. Ollivander’s taking one of them, too. Oliver’s decided that we need some sort of public transport, between here, Hobbiton, Brandyhall, Tuckborough and Bree. Something like a stagecoach, or a horse-drawn version of the knight-bus.”
“It could be good for those with families there, those with young children, or those that are pregnant.” Hermione agreed.
“So Isengar said. We told him to work up a business plan.” Harry picked at a little more of his meal, before speaking again. “Tomorrow we’ll see Penny, Charlie, the Abercrombie’s and the Weiss’. It’s going to take a few days to work our way through everyone.” He raised his head and mock-glared at his wife. “And thanks for bringing me so many people.”
“You’re welcome, Harry.” She said with a smirk.
~~~