Cross your fingers folks, the test message seems to have worked, I still can’t post directly to the blog as it loses all formatting and line breaks.
Drinking down the last of his juice, Harry noticed Mr. Ollivander and his grandson approach, "Guys company."
Looking up to see who Harry was talking about Ar'Ron finished his conversation with Chan-san about tomorrow night’s dinner with the goblin governors. "One final thing Chan-san before we are interrupted for afternoon lessons, get with Narcissa, she has an office on the fourth floor on the family side of the castle, she is working on the guest list for the debut ball of the Twelve. The ball will be a dinner affair and is August first, get back to me as soon as possible with tentative staffing requirements," Ar'Ron smiled at the master chef. Looking over his shoulder Ar'Ron saw that the young man walking next
to Ollivander was carrying a length of wood and several jars.
Walking a few steps away Ar'Ron conjured up three tables set into a u shape with seats behind them, he then conjured a fourth a few steps to the right and summoned several boxes of high quality focusing crystal and gems. "If everyone will come on over and take a seat, only one per table if you are crafting a stave please," Ar'Ron told the group as he set things out on the table.
The last to sit was Harry, while setting his stave down next to the feather that left him with a sore butt; his stave glowed briefly for a second before the feather was pulled into the stave.
Looking at Harry's expression Ar'Ron let out a little chuckle before glancing over at the wand maker who was taking out parchment and quill and ink, "Mr. Ollivander I see your grandson has decided to craft himself a stave."
"Oh yes, this is too good an opportunity to pass up,” Ollivander then introduced everyone in turn to David, “I would like to introduce you all to my grandson David.".
Ar'Ron then started off the lesson with a grin, "Ok as everyone just witnessed Harry's stave just accepted another core element rather easily. So the first two steps Harry already knows. I assume David that you know how to focus on your Magical core?" Ar'Ron turned to look at the newcomer.
"Yes Sir, that is one of the first things Grandfather taught to me after graduation. I have spent the last three years re-learning what should have been taught in school," David answered with a frown.
"Alright, first step is for David and Draco,” Ar’Ron moved over to stand in the corner between the two, “I want both of you to pick up your wood piece and step back from the table a few steps then while holding the wood in your dominant hand, I want you to reach for your magical core. When you have found it I want you to step inside your core and give one good up and down shake to the hand holding your stave piece, this will lengthen the wood to the right length to match you."
Ar'Ron watched as Draco quickly dropped into his magical core by the way he softly glowed and gave one good shake to the three foot dragon oak length, and it quickly extended to become six feet and a little over two inches in diameter. Ar'Ron arched an eyebrow as Draco sat back down still firmly seated in his magical core, and watched the two wand core ingredients glow and flow out of the containers into the stave. He then watched as Draco's soft glow disappeared and he slumped down next to Remus before looking over at David, he noticed the lad had beads of sweat glistening on his forehead and he had yet to drop into his core.
Stepping over to where he was standing, Ar'Ron started to coach the lad in a gently soothing voice, "Relax, you don't want to force your way to your core, it should be like a welcoming stroll when you reach your core instead of fighting your way in, just lay your hand on it and welcome it as part of yourself, when you feel totally relaxed just step into your core. Don't fight to get in; it should be more of the welcoming embrace of an old friend as you melt into your core."
Finally relaxing David was able to reach his core and step inside, with a tired shake of his length of ash wood, it quickly lengthened to five and a half feet and two inches around.
Ar'Ron seeing David go into his core by the tell tale glow quickly brought over the two jars of core material not knowing how long the young man could stay in his core before he tired and fell out. After the core material was joined to the stave David stumbled in exhaustion and Ar'Ron caught him before he fell forward, guiding him back to his seat at the table. "David is that the first time you have actually entered you magical core?"
"Yes, it was so hard, until I focused on what you where telling me I just could not access my core, is it always that exhausting?" David wiped the sweat out of his eyes as he looked up.
"No, I think your problem was that once you found your core, not knowing how to access it you tried to overpower or take control by force, Which as you have learned you can never do," Ar'Ron answered as he looked at the tired young man.
"I felt a little dizzy after my stave absorbed the cores, but it quickly passed, one thing I noticed though while standing in my magical core I noticed it felt stronger and looked a little bigger and brighter too,” Draco commented after Ar’Ron moved back to the center of the space between the tables.
"Exactly," Ar'Ron said enthusiastically, "The biggest factor in why wizards today are nowhere near as powerful as they used to be, including being able to do magic without a wand, is for the very reason that they are not taught to merge with their magical core.
The longer you spend in your core the easier it is to stay there, and the more magic you do while in your core the stronger you become. After a certain point the magical core will grow until it is impossible to do anything else but be merged at all times.
In the past wands were invented as a means of giving very young children a step up, to help them increase their magical core and by the time they had finished puberty or received their magical inheritance their original wands no longer suited them and they needed either a staff or a multi core wand, like the one Remus is having made for him. Most chose multi core wands.
In the past, by the time a wizard or witch had finished their training they stayed in their magical cores at all times, if they were exceptionally strong they learned to hide their glow."
Ollivander was scribbling furiously, not only was he learning important history, the changes brought about would mean a huge increase in his business.
"The past three days I have done nothing but practice being in my core, every free moment I had to myself,” Draco looked thoughtful, “more to make sure that I am still connected to it, but I find for lack of a better word, it very peaceful when I am in my core."
"Which is a good thing;” Ar'Ron smiled as he asked, “tell me Draco how long have you been able to stay inside your core?"
"A little over an hour, which was last night," Draco replied after thinking about it for a moment.
"I will take that into account when I create your study schedule then, so as to not have you do any classes heavy in casting back to back, thus giving you time to catch your breath so to speak," Ar'Ron told the young man sounding very pleased with his accomplishment.
Ollivander having caught up on writing his notes noticed something he needed clarified, "I notice that you have used the word staff and stave are you using them interchangeably?"
"Good question." Ar'Ron told the wand maker turned student as he faced him, "The simple answer is no. What everyone has done so far is build a staff; even after the runes are inscribed on it it’s nothing more than a glorified overlong wand. When we add in the blood and magic to seal the core, it is still a staff, a blood staff mind you, one which no one else is able to use due to the bonding of the staff by blood and magic to the specific user. No what turns a staff into a stave is the bonding of focus gems and or crystals to the staff and the fact that the runes are inscribed with Mithril, this is what turns the stave into an external extension of one’s magical core."
Summoning his battle stave Ar'Ron held it out so that Ollivander could examine it.
"So many runes" Ollivander whispered in awe as he looked up and down the length of the stave.
"Grandfather half of those runes I have never seen before," David told him in shock.
"Curious, it seems so much knowledge was indeed lost. And look at the sheen it looks like the wood itself is some sort of gem," Ollivander was thinking out loud before remembering he was there to learn not gaze. "Sorry for that, I can think things over on my own time."
Nodding his head at Ollivander, Ar'Ron continued, "This next part is where Wizards and Elves part ways in the construction process. Wizards use a wand to direct their magic to carve the runes on the staff; Elves call upon magic itself, as such magic chooses the runic combinations best suited and inscribes them in Mithril onto the stave.”
"Now Mr. Ollivander most likely recognizes this Runic stone, this one is slightly different from the one he is used to using, since this one not only detects the best matching rune combinations to a person’s magic, it can also store the impression to be used later to inscribe the runes," Ar'Ron told the stunned man.
Handing over a small bar of Mithril to Harry, "Mel'Anin you are first since we need to do things differently that the others. I want you to pick up your staff in one hand and hold the Mithril against the wood, then step into your core and concentrate on picturing in your mind your stave transforming while the Mithril flows over the wood, let magic itself direct the completion.”
Ar'Ron waited until Harry had started to glow, indicating he was inside his magical core before he handed Draco and David each one of the stones and a small bar of Mithril, “When you first pick up the stone, it will glow more like pulses as it matches the runic combinations in its matrix with your magical core. After the stone stops pulsing at this point it could be stored for later use to inscribe the runes." Turning back to Harry he told them, "When you hold the stone you need to be standing in your magical core for it to work properly, so go ahead and pick it up when you are ready after reaching your core," Ar'Ron told them focusing on his love.
Draco quickly picked up on the technique, and started to glow as he closed his eyes.
Now standing in front of David and Ollivander, Ar'Ron interrupted the two as they were comparing the stone he had given David to use and one Ollivander had brought with him, "David your turn; place the stone back down and this time when you reach your core remember don't fight your way in just embrace your core and step on in gently."
For the next half hour Ar'Ron answered Ollivander's questions as Harry, Draco and David concentrated on their staves and two of them their runic stones.
David was the first to have his stone stop pulsing. He swayed a little as he opened his eyes and set the rune stone down on the table before flopping back in his chair, "Man that was intensely wicked."
Ollivander picked up the rune stone and placed it on some enchanted parchment he had brought from his workshop, once upon the parchment several pages of runic symbols in clusters appeared on the parchment.
Ar'Ron picked up the runic stone Ollivander brought with him and examined it carefully. “This is very close to the stone I gave your grandson to use. The only thing missing in its construction is the activations runes, someone went to a lot of trouble to erase this knowledge."
Setting the stone down he watched as the old wand maker scanned through the parchment that had the runes for his grandson on it. "Even if I understand all these runes and clusters, it would take me a week to carve them in properly the old way." Ollivander stated as he set the parchment down, “And that assumes that I place the clusters that I do not recognize in the proper places.”
"I don't think I have enough magic left to lift a feather, let alone do any rune work. I am going to start spending every free moment in my core to get used to this new way of doing things," David sighed in defeat.
"Whoa wicked," Draco grinned as he came back to reality, "All those runes flashing by my core, it was really wicked to watch certain ones swirl around and come close enough to touch, though some of them when they got close acted as if they hit some wall and bounced back."
"That is not anything like what I went through I never once saw any runes, just felt like something was tapping me every so often, which left me a little more tired each time it happened." David looked at Draco and had to wonder.
"Not me, I `m more thirsty than tired,” Draco told them as he looked over at Harry who was glowing with power.
"Itsy set up a small table of snacks and drinks over there while you all were occupied," Ar'Ron pointed over behind David towards the small table covered in high protein, high energy snacks.
Harry stirred then came back to reality, "That was incredible."
"How do you feel Mel'Anin?" Ar'Ron asked as he examined Harry critically. Harry's stave was a work of art, with flowing vines onto trees and inlays in the shapes of dragons and phoenix's leading up to the top with a large Archer Eagle wings curled in attack mode.
"Energized" Harry replied, "Really, really energized."
"Let’s get back to work then," Ar'Ron grinned watching Draco and David return to their seats. "If you pick up the runic stone you will notice a small groove on the bottom, you will also notice that there is a rune inscribed in the center of the groove.” Ar'Ron waited until David and Draco picked up the Rune Stone and looked at it. “The small rod of Mithril will fit in this groove nicely, just make sure that the Mithril covers the rune I pointed out in the groove."
Making sure everyone had seated their Mithril properly Ar'Ron told them the steps to follow, "The next part is very simple. You need to levitate your stave, using your magic to slowly rotate it. When that is accomplished pick up the rune stone and touch the Mithril rod to the bottom of the rotating stave. Next channel your magic into the red glowing activation rune; the magic will do the rest."
Ar'Ron watched as Draco followed by Ollivander’s grandson followed the steps he outlined and soon the two staves were spinning in the air with silver mist creeping up the staves from their bases.
Ar'Ron walked around examining each of the staves as they finished, Draco's Stave while not as ornate as Harry’s, the top had expanded to look like a curved in talon. While David' remained a plain ash staff shape with runes inlaid in it.
"Well it seems that David still has some magical maturing to do, at the end you will end up with a blood staff.” Looking at the lad in question Ar'Ron saw the young man’s disappointment, "Don't be discouraged, the more you practice doing magic from within your core the stronger you will be, and it is a simple procedure to upgrade your staff after you mature."
Tracing a Rune in the air, where it glowed briefly so all of them could see it clearly, "This is the blood rune. After cutting your palm place the bleeding cut over this rune and the staff will soak up the appropriate amount and merge it into the core." Tracing another rune, Ar'Ron said. “And this one is for bonding your magic into the staff. After the staff has finished bonding to your blood, you will feel a tingle as the cut is healed. When that happens channel your magic into this rune to charge up the staff and bond your core to it." Ar'Ron moved in front of Draco he continued, "Draco once you start this next step you cannot stop not matter what, not until you finish by bonding the gems and crystals to the stave." Seeing he had Draco's undivided attention Ar'Ron smirked, "I would not be surprised if you passed out from exhaustion. In fact I expect it to happen, so I want you to be prepared if you wake up later in your bed."
"I have a question." David interrupted the explanation, "How do you think I will be affected if I bond to my staff tomorrow?"
Turning so he could face David, Ar'Ron looked thoughtful, "It will leave you tired. Nothing a good night’s rest won't cure so if you bond your staff before going to bed tonight you will be fine by morning."
Ollivander had a thought, "If this is going to leave young Mr. Black so drained he passes out from exhaustion, how is it going to affect the guards when it is their turn to bond their staves?"
"Hmm, all the guards have reached their magical maturity, so I would expect them to be drained; a few might pass out briefly. I would expect that a quick potion or two and they should be fine." Ar'Ron replied as he was setting boxes of gems and crystals in front of Draco and Harry, ‘With Draco and David they have not matured into their magic.”
Facing Draco and Harry with a grin Ar’Ron motioned for them to go one, "When you are ready go ahead and bond with your staves."
They all watched as first Harry and then Draco cut the palm of their wand hand before placing the bleeding hand on the stave, a pulsing glow in rhythm to each young man’s heartbeat quickly encased them.
Soon the blood bonding had finished and both then turned the stave so they could find the Rune Ar’Ron showed them, holding it horizontal over the table placing both hands on the stave once again a glow emanated from the stave as Harry and Draco started to channel their magic into the stave.
Remus watched in amazement as Harry and Draco bonded to their staves, the magic that was flowing off of the two of them was so intense it could be felt physically.
Some of the gems and crystals in front of Draco started to glow, a large pear shaped ruby floated up from the table and shot into place, in the claw end of Draco's stave, the claws then closed around the gem as if holding it. Other gems joined one another in floating above the table, then as if affected by tremendous heat they all started to turn into liquid and merge together. The magic from the stave pulled at the now liquefied gems and pulled it towards itself, at the moment that Draco had reached the end of his endurance, exhausted and started to drop, the liquefied gems that were now surrounding the stave, in a brilliant flash were sucked into the wood of the stave, completing it.
Harry was also undergoing a similar experience, Emeralds flew into the eye sockets of the Mithril shaped Archer Eagle and the deepest red ruby elongated itself into the shape of a tongue and secured itself into the open mouth of the Eagle. Blue sapphires liquefied and bonded with the Archer Eagle, diamonds and emeralds merged onto the stave. Harry opened his eyes once again and saw the work of art his magic had created. While it had felt warm and inviting the first time he had held his wand, holding the stave, the feeling was more indescribable, holding the stave he felt if his very magic was in his hand.
While Harry was looking in awe at his stave, Draco had slumped down; Remus being closest caught him before he hit the table.
Ar'Ron stepped over to check on Draco, placing his hand against Draco's head then chest he pulled a potion off his belt and handed it to Remus, "He is going to be fine, a little tired when he wakes up in about an hour, but this potion should set him to rights." Ar'Ron then conjured a stretcher and placed Draco on it, placing Draco stave on top of his body.
Ollivander felt that this lesson had truly been an eye opening experience and was thankful to be able to observe it, gathering up his and David's belonging he stood ready for the walk back to his shop. Picking up the runic stone Ar'Ron let them use he tried to hand it over.
"Keep hold of it until you finish building all the staves for the guards, hopefully by that time you will have been able to create your own version to use," Ar'Ron waved off the old wand maker.
"Mr. Ollivander," Harry called out, catching them before they got too far away, "By the time you get up Tuesday morning the shield will have been dropped and you can expect people to be out and about, exploring the city and shops."
Mr. Ollivander and David thanked everyone after re-assuring Remus his wand would be done shortly, and then they started their walk back to the wand shop and their home.
Ar'Ron banished the tables and the group started their walk to the castle and the family wing, guiding the stretcher that Draco was sleeping peacefully on.
Harry lay there in the arms of Ar'Ron, snuggling close, knowing that in a few minutes he had to get up and walk down to Commerce Street and remove the shield gem. As he lay there his mind drifted back to the dinner Sunday night, the dinner had gone extremely well, Chan-son had set up buffet tables along one wall full of the most interesting dishes. Instead of a table with chairs Chan-son had arranged couches set in small groupings to facilitate discussion, he had told him, to his surprise it worked quite well, before Harry's could really start reliving that night, his musings were interrupted.
"You’re up early Mel'Anin," Ar'Ron smiled as he leaned over so he could give a good morning kiss to Harry.
"I have to be up in five minutes to go down and release the shield," Harry murmured, not wanting to get up.
"I expect it will be an interesting day," Ar'Ron sighed, knowing how difficult the wizards were going to be.
Harry continued the conversation as he got out of bed and started to get dressed, "If what I read in Jonathon Potters journal is correct, when I remove the control gem all the shops that have activated their orbs will be magically transported into their new quarters, not sure how the housing part works though.
By this point Ar'Ron was out of bed and getting dressed himself.
"Remus mentioned that he thought about eighty percent of Commerce Street would occupied and around forty percent of the city," Harry rambled on as he slid into his pants. "I was thinking after breakfast I would take a few books and camp out in the Guard command center, at least till I have to meet Ron and Ginny for lunch." Harry told his love as he buttoned his shirt.
”I wonder how many death eaters will be captured when they try to enter the city today," Ar'Ron asked with an evil grin.
"Do you think I can blackmail, I mean convince Remus to handle the press today?" Harry laughed as he looked at Ar’Ron dress.
"You might, though you will probably have to bring out the big guns and hit him with puppy dog eyes," Ar'Ron laughed as he fastened his belt and took a look over towards Harry; he looked so good in Elven dress he thought, "Going for the full affect I see." pointing to the cloak Harry had just fastened on.
With a shrug Harry said, "It will be easier to blend in among the guards this way."
"Plus it looks good on you.” Ar'Ron grinned at him before letting his eyes travel up and down his mates body.
Harry stepped over to where Ar'Ron was standing and pulled him into an embrace and a passionate kiss.
Looking into Harry's eyes Ar’Ron thought much more of this and he would need to rearrange his pants, "How about I find Dobby and have him set up a table on top of the inner wall and we can have breakfast as the sun rises over the city."
Harry broke out into a huge grin, "I’ll meet you there as soon as I remove the control gem." With one last kiss Ar'Ron released his hold on Harry and they walked out of the bedroom together.
After Harry had left the family wing Ar'Ron called for Dobby, a few seconds later an immaculately dressed Impare popped in, "Majesty calls for Dobby."
"You look good Dobby," Ar'Ron told the little Impare' before getting to the reason he called. "Harry and I are going to eat breakfast today out on the inner wall. If you could set up a table for us, make it romantic if you would.” He grinned as Dobby nodded excitedly, “I think a pot of hot tea at first then if you would serve breakfast so we can eat it just as the sun rises over the city."
Dobby got a huge grin on his face and started bouncing up and down on his feet, "Dobby knows just the thing," he said bouncing his head up and down before popping out.
Ar'Ron then walked out of the family wing and down the steps leaving Nature’s Palace and crossing into the castle, walking out to the landing and down the steps he stepped on the transport step and ended up down on the first floor of the castle. Walking silently down the hall and into the great entry hall he noticed Percy putting his belongings behind the desk. "Percy. You are here awfully early.” Ar'Ron smiled as he walked over to where Percy was.
Startled Percy turned around to see the powerful Elf that was with Harry the last week. Not sure who he was dealing with, but remembering how he seemed to be in charge and made him head of the castle information department, he decided to be safe, "Yes Sir, there is an early department heads meeting this morning and I wanted to get here early to prepare."
Seeing the questioning look Percy had Ar'Ron decided to introduce himself properly, letting the glamour drop completely that hid his crown, "I am Ar'Ron, Harry's soul mate and King of the Astarii."
Percy was shocked, Harry had a soul mate, and he was a king of the Elf’s, he wondered if his family knew about this.
"Harry wants to avoid the press as much as possible today, he plans to convince Remus to handle any questions the press might come up with. So get with Remus when he comes down and see what the wants to do." Ar'Ron told Percy breaking him out of his stunned look.
"Yes sir," Percy wrote down the instructions quickly so he would have something to refer to.
Ar'Ron turned to leave, stopping after a few steps he turned his head, "One last thing Percy, if Dumbledore would happen to show up, ask him to wait and send a note up to the guard command center and let Alastor deal with him. Under no circumstances answer any of his questions."
"Yes sir," Percy practically snapped to attention hearing the cold tone of voice.
Ar'Ron continued his walk over to the room that held the transport stone and used it to go to the inner wall.
As Harry walked down the street toward the shopping district he got lost in thought, thinking back to the other morning when he met up with Dargoth for is shopping trip to the goblin shopping district.
Dargoth had taken Harry down into a large cavern with a large river snaking through it; the riverfront is where the shops were located. Good thing Harry was used to all the stares he received when out and about in the Wizarding world, as the goblins in the shopping district were defiantly staring.
Harry looked at the window displays as he passed shops, and for the most part they had counterparts in Diagon Ally. Soon Dargoth stopped in front of a shop that looked like it was a jeweler. "My Prince this is one of the finest jewelry shops in the district, we should be able to find you an appropriate watch in here."
As they entered the shop the goblin behind the counter just stared wide eyed at Harry.
Dargoth approached the shop keeper, "Lord Potter is in need of a watch."
The shopkeeper blinked in surprise and quickly moved to the leftmost counter that was full of watches, "What features would you like in your watch Lord Potter."
"The only thing I am sure I want is for it to tell time like a muggle digital watch and be waterproof, anything else is just extra," Harry replied distracted by all of the watches laid out.
Nodding his head the shopkeeper pulled several trays out of the case. Pointing to the first tray he said, “These are like you require and have the added feature of a dark magic detector built in."
Pointing to the second tray he continued, "These also meet your requirements and have various charms on them like shield charms."
Holding the third tray up, he finished, "Finally his tray Lord Potter, though the watches are on the more expensive side, do what you wish plus have a dark mark detector with mini map showing the location of the person wearing the mark and a permanent port key that will punch through wizard anti-port key wards."
Harry examined the watch, It looked good and was not to flashy, The port key and map function he thought could come in handy, "Dargoth what do you think, do you think this watch would be helpful for the guards?" holding up one of the watches from the third tray as he asked the question.
"My Prince, they could be very useful especially if his majesty would modify the port key function to include a landing spot in the castle," Dargoth replied with a grin.
"Actually there is already a port key arrival room in the castle.” Harry answered as he gazed at the watches, “once someone arrived they would be subject to the wards as soon as they left the room."
"I could add a beacon function that would allow any wearer of this watch to be a beacon point to point port key,” The shopkeeper spoke up.
Dargoth faced Harry excited, "My Prince with the beacon feature plus the ones already on the watch, they would be very useful."
"Do you have five of these I can take now?" Harry asked holding up a silver and platinum model.
With a slight bow the shopkeeper said, "Yes Prince."
"Good. Then I will want sixty-five of the gold ones modified with the beacons you just told us about to be delivered to the guard command center as soon as possible," Harry told the shopkeeper stunning him.
Harry arrived outside Ollivander's wand shop and focused on the here and now instead of the past; looking down the street he saw several goblins and dwarves putting finishing touches on their storefronts.
Looking at the open doorway that Ar'Ron made, Harry quickly found the destruction rune in the upper left hand corner, pressing his finger on it he channeled some of his magic into it and watched as the doorway was destroyed and Ollivander's front window was once again whole. Reaching out his hand Harry plucked the control gem off of the doorframe and noticed another destruction rune inscribed on the doorframe, hidden by the gem. Once again he placed his finger on it and channeled some of his magic into it and the shields came down.
Looking off down the street Harry noticed the first pale gray rays of dawn approaching and turned and hurried towards the hidden stairs leading up to the top of the inner wall.
After entering the secret passage inside the long archway, Harry quickly strode up the stairs to the top, and noticed the table all laid out with flowers and candles, at the spot where the center of the arch would be. Ar'Ron was sitting with his chair facing sideways looking out over the city drinking a cup of tea. Walking over to Ar'Ron, Harry leaned over and kissed him in greeting before taking his own chair and turning it to face the city like Ar'Ron's. As soon as he sat down Dobby popped in holding a teacup and a pot of tea, "Harry Potter sirs breakfast be ready in 5 minutes," Dobby said before popping back out.
They sat there in silence enjoying the peace and quiet of the city. Soon the grays of pre-dawn gave way to the reds and yellows as the sun started to rise. Dobby popped back in and set the table with waffles, sausage, bacon and juice. As the two fixed their plates Harry stopped as he caught site of the spires of a castle in the distance, "Hogwarts," he whispered.
Ar'Ron looked up when he heard Harry whisper out Hogwarts, "She looks stunning with the sun rising behind her and she has such a bright future in front of her now."
Harry turned back and finished filling his plate, "Yes she does, even with all the changes that are about to happen."
Unbeknownst to the two eating in comfortable silence on top of the wall, shopkeepers and city residents starting stirring, almost all looked up to the wall as they exited their shops and saw their Lord and another eating at a small table atop the inner wall, occasionally looking out over the city with smiles on their faces.
"So this is where the two of you are hiding out," Remus grinned interrupting their solitude as he walked towards the table.
"Morning Remus," Harry glanced over his shoulder at the approaching figure.
Stopping and staring out across the table towards Hogwarts Castle in the distance Remus whispered out, “It's beautiful isn't it?"
"Yes it is. What brings you down so early?" Ar'Ron looked over the top of his teacup.
"Breakfast," Remus replied, then seeing the arched eyebrow from Harry he further explained, "All of us woke early so that we could watch the sun rise behind Hogwarts. Then Draco noticed the two of you from the tower eating breakfast and we all decided that we would join you."
As Remus finished two tables popped into existence on either side of the arch, and footsteps could be heard as Draco and Narcissa walked to the table. As they sat down multiple pops could be heard as the Impare' and three house elf's joined the group for breakfast.
"Good morning my Lord," Narcissa smiled as she sat down.
"Morning Lord Potter," Draco nodded then he smirked when he saw Harry flinch slightly.
"Good morning family," Harry threw back.
Silence reigned for the next fifteen minutes as everyone ate and watched the goings on. Harry noticed that Commerce Street had gotten very busy as the shop owners and employee's put the finishing touches on their shops.
Setting down his glass Ar'Ron looked over at the Impare' sitting around the table with several of them finishing up notes. Glancing over at the other table he noticed Narcissa also had a stack of parchment near her. "I think this once, we shall hold our breakfast meeting out here, it seems a shame to go inside just for a quick meeting and leave this wonderful view,"
"Tinkly, I see you have a stack of notes. Would you like to go first?" Ar'Ron smiled at him.
Tinkly nodded his head, "Majesty, I have a list of livestock I would like permission to acquire for the farm." He held up his stack of notes and watched as Ar'Ron held out his hand and they appeared in his hand.
Ar'Ron quickly scanned through the notes, noting that several Japanese livestock names were on the list, then looking at the numbers he noticed the numbers seemed low, "Tinkly is this list for breeding stock or just stock for raising for the table?" Ar'Ron asked without looking up from his reading.
"Oh no's just raising stock majesty," Tinkly was quick to answer.
Ar'Ron concentrated on the area in front of him then with a wave of his hand a 3d representation of the palace and domes floated in the air in front of him. He tapped the farm dome and they watched as it grew larger. They watched on in awe as Ar'Ron drew slopping tunnels leading from the farm dome to four new domes he quickly created. Only Remus had seen this before, but he was still awed by the magic that was involved, Ar’Ron set the 3d representation twirling with a flip of his fingers, so he could see it from all sides. Nodding his head in satisfaction he gave a wave of his and a snap of his fingers and it vanished.
"Tinkly, you will find four new farm domes open for your use tomorrow morning, I approve the list and request that you make sure you buy enough breeding stock so we can raise our own replacements. Get with Dobby later with how many new elves we need to get to be able to work the farms properly, oh and one of the farms is solely Aquaculture, I would think you would need three or four Impare’ for that dome alone." Ar'Ron returned the notes to Tinkly, then held back laughing at his shocked look.
"Might as well do this in departments; Inky I see you also have a list,” Ar'Ron said looking at the other farming Impare'.
"Majesty, I is having list of new seeds and plants Ishy is wanting to grow," Inky told them as Ishy nodded his head up and down vigorously.
"Get them, any seeds slips or trees you need just go ahead and buy what you need," Ar'Ron ordered without looking at the list.
"Dobby it seems you are the last one over there with any notes," Ar'Ron noticed the parchment in the hands of the hyper Impare’.
"Harry Potter Sir," Started Dobby, "We’s asks for swords and lesson with the King of bolts."
Ar'Ron scrunched up his face in confusion as he ran over in his mind what Dobby said before looking over to Harry to see if he knew what Dobby was talking about, Harry mouthed back Kingsley.
Harry thought on the request, he knew Dobby took his vow as his protector very seriously and was quite shocked when he brought back three other elves from Japan that shared his views. "Dobby, you may ask Kingsley to teach the four of you the basics. If you show any promise with practice weapons we will get you swords and I will hire a master of the blade to further your training." Harry told them, seeing the smile of glee on their faces he added one last thing, "If you do this, you will have to give an oath of magic not to take matters into your own hands, I will make sure you know the full oath before you have to make it."
As Harry said this he looked over at Ar'Ron for support since he had no idea what he was getting himself into. Ar'Ron smiled at the lost look Harry gave him, looking back towards the table of Impare', "Anything else any one needs?"
Seeing negative nods from the Impare' Harry and Ar'Ron turned towards Narcissa, Remus and Draco, Harry seeing the stack of parchment next to Narcissa sighed, "Narcissa is it too much to hope that stack of papers is not meant for me?"
"Afraid not my Lord," Narcissa smirked, then continuing on, "I have heard back from the other four members of the Council and they are looking forward to meeting you next week. I also have a copy of the guest list for the ball for you; everyone that was invited has RSVP'D that they are planning to attend."
"How many are coming to the ball?" Harry asked, fearing the answer in the way Narcissa said ball with a twinkle in her eyes. Nope did not trust twinkles at all.
Looking down at her notes to double check, Narcissa told him, "Eight hundred or so at last count."
A look of horror was plastered to Harry's face at hearing the sheer number of people coming to the party. Draco seeing the look on Harry's face could not contain his laughter and held his sides as he laughed.
"It will be alright Mel’Anin; you will not be the center of attention of this gathering as there are four other lords and myself taking up a lot of the attention," Ar'Ron patted the shocked young man on the shoulder.
Shaking his head Harry saw Draco and Remus having a laughing fit over at their table, with an evil smirk he said, "Remus could you and Draco do me a favor this morning?"
"Sure thing Harry what do you need?" Remus asked through his laughter.
Seeing a lot of people start to arrive at the Apparation point for the street looking around in wonder, he stood up from the table, "Not much, I just arranged for you two to handle any inquiries from the press this morning." Harry put his napkin on the empty plate with his own smirk, took two steps backwards and flung himself off of the wall, turning into his Animagus form before he was halfway down and flying back to the castle.
Now it was Ar'Ron's turn to laugh at the expressions on Remus and Draco's faces.
Laughing softly at the antics, Narcissa called Dobby over and handed him the pile of parchment, "Could you put these on Harry's desk for me please?"
Nodding his head Dobby popped out. Soon afterwards all the rest of the Impare' and house elf's popped out to get started on their day.
Standing with the others Ar'Ron waved his hand banishing the tables and chairs and joined them in their walk towards the stairs towards the transport stone.
Albus was sitting at his desk wondering where it had all gone wrong, was it really that hard for the others to see the big picture? Harry had slipped his leash and he needed to get him back under control. Even if the prophecy was no longer valid, Harry had the sheer power to destroy Voldemort and was too dangerous not to be under his control.
He got up from his chair to stand at the window trying to come up with a plan that would gain him control over Harry and keep his new guardian in the background, he might even need to arrange a fatal accident for his guardian, it’s not like he hadn't had to do it before. As the sun started to rise he was startled to see a huge castle, one that dwarfed Hogwarts and a city that surrounded it appear with the morning sun.
Turning Albus ran down the steps of his office and past the milling teachers on their way to the great hall for breakfast, ignoring the cries from his staff he continued to run out the front doors of the castle towards the Apparation point down by the front gate.
The staff followed Albus as he ran out the front doors yelling question out as he ran by, trying to find out what the emergency was. Upon going through the front doors they stopped in shock as they took in the vision of the city and castle in the distance.
Minerva whispered, "Stay safe Mr. Potter, I fear you now have two madmen after you." Professor Flitwick and Hagrid were the only two to overhear her, and they exchanged worried glances.
Albus quickly made it to the front gates and past the wards, allowing him to Apparate towards the city in the distance. Apparating in he soon found himself along with others and the main Apparation point for Commerce Street. Looking around he soon noticed the castle further up the street and an archway leading through the wall, walking swiftly past the crowd of people he followed the street up to the castle.
After a forty minute walk, as he tried several times to Apparate closer to the castle without success, he was at the front doors, entering the hall that was larger than the great hall at Hogwarts; a quick scan around he settled on the desk against the wall with the Potter Family Crest on it.
Percy seeing the headmaster walk into the castle took out a piece of parchment and wrote a quick not to the guard commander that Dumbledore was here and dropped it into the urgent basket and smiled quickly when it disappeared before wiping it off his face.
As Dumbledore approached the desk he noticed that Percy Weasley was behind the desk, another one of those damnable Weasley’s this one like the twins had turned down all his advances. "Percy my boy if you would be so kind as to direct me to Harry,” Albus Dumbledore stopped in front of the desk and twinkled in his best grandfatherly way.
Not looking up so he could avoid the headmasters eyes, Percy responded, "Good morning headmaster. I am sorry to say that I cannot direct you as you wish."
Angered Albus slipped his wand out of his robes, if the impudent pup was not going to give him the information he wanted he would rip it out of his mind, "My boy I do not think you know who you are dealing with."
In a cold angry voice Percy spat out, "I know exactly where my loyalties lay Dumbledore and I know exactly what titles and authority you no longer hold. You can only act in your authority as headmaster of Hogwarts; all others have been dissolved with the return of the Twelve." Then looking up but not meeting Dumbledore's eyes, so he could not use Legilmency on him, Percy finished, "so if you are here in the guise of headmaster you should be asking to speak to Harry's guardian NOT Harry. "
"Now listen here you…" Albus started to say aiming his wand towards Percy.
"Albus, what are you doing here?" Alastor stared at Albus as he reached the bottom of the stairs.
Finally he would get some answers he thought as he turned to face Mad-Eye, "Mad-Eye, good you are here. I need you to take me to see Harry..." He stopped when he saw the weird robes Alastor was wearing, "What in Merlin's name are you wearing Mad-Eye.” Albus managed to get out.
"My uniform?" Alastor pointed to his robes, seeing the nod he continued, "This is the uniform of the city guard. And as for your order, you have no right to give me orders, And no I will not take you to Harry."
"No matter what you have heard, Harry is not safe here, we need to get him to a place of safety," Albus's voice got progressively louder as he tried to convince him to do as he wanted.
"Albus you need to leave. Do not come back unless you have legitimate business with one of the departments of the ministry," Alastor growled out feeling the magic Albus was trying to infuse into his words.
"Headmaster Dumbledore, why are you here?" Ar'Ron growled out as he walked down the steps from the second floor banquet room.
Whirling around to face this new voice, Albus was confronted with the same elf that was with Harry in Diagon Ally, "I am here to see Harry and to take him some place safe."
"Even against his will? And the will of his soul mate?" Ar'Ron controlled his anger.
"All that matters is that Harry needs to be someplace where he is safe. Can you not see that I have the best interest of all in keeping Harry safe?" Albus told him, trying to keep the frustration out of his voice
"I will remind you once again that I am Harry's guardian, not you, you have no say in his life outside Hogwarts and very little while he is at Hogwarts either," Ar'Ron reminded him.
"Now see here I will not be talked to in that way," Albus started his rant as he drew up to his full height.
"Enough, be gone from here," Ar'Ron yelled out as he waved his hand causing Dumbledore to disappear.
Percy seeing the flash of light and the headmaster disappear looked up, “Um Sir, where did the headmaster go?"
Chuckling Ar'Ron answered Percy's question, "I banished him to a place he could cool off; the large lake over by the school."
Mad –Eye chuckling is all Percy heard as the two of them walked up the stairs into the guard territory.
