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Harco Empire	By : Toddy Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 34430 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or films. I do not make any money from the writing of this story, just enjoyment.

Chapter List
- 174
- 175
- 176
[Note: “x-x” = speech & ‘x-x’ = thoughts & *x-x* = telepathy & #x-x# Parseltongue]
WATERWAY
After a breakfast of ham and various alpine cheeses Harry called a general conference. The ward investigators had returned and were not looking happy.
“Some of those dark wards are blood magic and we don’t fancy deliberately killing someone in order to make the remedy,” Draco reported.
“You don’t necessarily have to kill a person, you know.”
“I’m sorry, Imelda, I don’t quite get your meaning.”
“You’re a townie, Draco. Where do you think the ham that you ate came from? We rustics are used to killing animals for food. I know you’re not a vegetarian because you took a chicken salad with you, yesterday and ate ham this morning.”
“Oh … So, are you saying that we might substitute animal blood?”
“It depends, but it is possible. Things have to be very drastic to murder someone to create a blood-bane.”
“The only blood-banes we have come across before were the Horcruxes that Voldie hid parts of his soul in.”
“Yes Harry, that was what I meant by drastic. If a couple of drops of human blood can be added to the animal blood; that is usually quite sufficient.”
“Oh yes … I remember now … When Pettigrew resurrected Voldie, he only used a couple of drops of my blood and I’m sure there was much more than that in the cauldron before then; even if his hand was in there also.”
“So, we have a possible solution to making the bane-breaker; however, we do not have a solution as to how we get inside to the nub-hub that holds the wards together. That is obviously somewhere inside the protected area.”
“Dig!”
“What do you mean, dig, Probes?”
“Some of the dome rests on the ground anchored to earth-thaums, so if we carefully dig underneath it, we should be able to get inside. Your race seems to forget that underground is a goblin’s forté.” Probert smiled broadly, diffusing any hint of ire from his listeners.
“Well done, Probes.” Draco gave the goblin the thumbs up: “As you said, we ground-walkers forget mother earth. Embroider your theory further, it has great possibilities.”
“There are stories about tunnels being built to undermine the castle’s foundations. Plus, some about the inmates escaping as well when they were besieged,” put in Imelda.
“Any idea who was inside and who outside?”
“Not really, the war ebbed and flowed, so, probably either side at one time or another.”
“What we need is a plan of the place at that time.”
“Some of us need to go to the Imperial War Museum in London, others to the Musée de l’Armée at les Invalids in Paris,” suggested Zacharias.
“Our French is reasonable, so Draco and I will go to Paris,” suggested Astoria: “Perhaps Zac and Juicy could cover the London end?”
“Why not me?” asked Ronald, who had taken a day here because Lee and George had gone back to the shop.
“You, wading through reams of paper and piles of books, Ron? Have you suddenly grown to like that kind of research?” Harry chuckled.
“Okay Harry, I get it – perhaps I won’t after all.”
“Justin’s a good choice because he has an uncle who works there. That’s why I suggested it to begin with. You okay with that, Justin?”
“Of course, Harry; just up my street, so to speak. Sue, do you mind Sweetheart?”
“No Darling, I’ll miss you, but you’ll be back in a couple of days.”
Justin gave Susan a big hug and an even bigger wet kiss: “C’mon Zac; let’s get to it.”
“I think we’ll sweet-talk the Bulstrodes into letting us stay in their apartment,” said Astoria.
Both pairs disappeared through the portal.
“Probes, is there any way you can survey the ground to see if anything is hidden?”
“Yes, Harry, but we’ll have to be careful about using too much magic near the castle.”
“I think it’s time for Arnetz and I to do some serious delousing of the flocks, don’t you? We’d have to travel round to each flock wherever it was grazing, wouldn’t we? Mind you it will take a few days to complete,” Imelda grinned at the goblin.
“We’re not moving until we know all that we can; we have time, Imelda. Are you happy with that, Godson?”
“Yes, Godfather. Thank you.”
~~~ RESEARCH ~~~
It took over a week before all the research was completed. Harry returned to the Ministry to confer with Kingsley and help his sergeants with some of the problems that had occurred elsewhere. Justin and his uncle took time to find the relevant diagrams from the peninsular war, they had to wade through so many of Wellington’s dispatches. Draco returned to his laboratory meanwhile whilst this was going on leaving Astoria in Paris. Astoria and Justin compared the plans, suggesting to the goblin trio the best places to survey and then that careful probing took a few days as well.
May Day was celebrated at the Hacienda for a change. It had been preceded by the Blakes charming a few more cabinet pairs for the WWW shop. The shop’s proprietors were taking it in turn to be at the Hacienda in case their help was needed.
~~~ SATURDAY 3^RD MAY ~~~
Many of the tunnels had collapsed ages ago and they were seriously considering making new ones.
“Water!”
“Water, Ron; what do you mean?”
"Castles had to have a supply of water, usually a well, Draco. Yesterday Probes said the aquifers round here were the wrong shape to support a well. Tor also said that the Romans had built a castle there in their days. Therefore, they must have some way of getting water in this dry place. How about if someone made a tunnel from a stream; the Romans were good at that sort of thing weren’t they? Think of the aqueduct near Nîmes that we visited on our honeymoons; it had tunnels in its supply chain didn’t it? So maybe there’s one round here somewhere.”
"It’s certainly worth a try, Draco. We’re not getting anywhere with the peninsular war ideas,” said Probert.
“That curved dotted line on the map, which we didn’t know what it was. Could that be one, d’you think?” suggested Zacharias.
“Do you mean the one we thought might be a trajectory for cannon balls?”
“Possibly! Let’s get the maps out again and see if we can extrapolate the line as far as a watercourse.”
They pored over the maps arguing the pros and cons of likely sources and the exact curvature of the line. Arnetz had come in to talk with Imelda about planning the herd delousing and, when he asked, the mappers explained what they were doing.
“Hmm … that line crosses a dry valley there. At least it’s dry lower down, we always assumed that its water disappeared into a sink hole just about where your line crosses the valley. Maybe that’s your solution. There are quite a few sink-holes around so we don’t give them much credence. Quite often the water bubbles up somewhere else later. Like the one into Imelda’s pool that feeds the stream down to my place and then disappears again.”
It was late on Saturday when this revelation was made so they waited until Sunday.
~~~ SUNDAY 4^TH MAY ~~~
After attending mass at Saint Spyridon’s; Arnetz led the group over the hills. They tramped in the opposite direction to the castle, using various animal tracks. It took some searching to find out where the water went, because there was a thicket surrounding the hole into which it flowed. Ganymede, being the heaviest, became the anchor man. Selwyn, the lightest, was slowly lowered down inside, with Probert keeping the line free of snags.
“Enough, Gay!” came up from the depths, so Ganymede stopped paying out.
The line waggled as Selwyn explored. Then came: “Gay, pull me up. Please.”
Once on top Selwyn explained: “We can put the ropes away, Gay. The Romans built steps around the hole. C’mon, all we need to do is some vegetation removal,” said the explorer, shaking the unwanted water from his legs.
“Perhaps we should put off the exploration until Monday?” suggested Arnetz.
They agreed that there was not enough time left and set about returning via the mountain tracks. It was dusk when they arrived back at Imelda’s cottage.
~~~ MONDAY 5^TH MAY ~~~
After breakfast the party set out, walking so that no undue magical activity might be noted by the ones on the hill. Arriving at the tunnel mouth by mid-morning; brushwood clearance was the first task.
“Try to leave the leaf canopy undisturbed, so we don’t have their spies finding out what we’re doing,” suggested Probert
They carefully removed only the branches that would impede a person using the steps; plus, a little judicious pruning of the under-canopy to allow some light to reach the bottom of the hole. There were lots of dead snags strewn around, so the cleared debris was camouflaged by insinuating the cuttings among those snags. Then the small party crept cautiously downwards into a pool of clear water.
It was a sink hole. However, it had been widened at the top and a hollowed-out ledge cut into its side. All the water from the rivulet fell into a pool in the hollow and then overflowed over the edge into the subterranean depths. In the rock surrounding the ledge there was a six-foot-high semi-circular archway through which some of the water flowed. Using the light from fire-staffs and wands the party could see the build-up of lime-scale on the smooth floor of the ensuing tunnel, although the sides were not as heavily encrusted as in the Pont du Gard. There was just enough room for most of them to walk upright without catching their heads.
In whispers they conversed, fully aware that tunnel acoustics carrying sounds for long distances.
“It’s obviously a Roman tunnel, by the style of architecture and it seems to point in the correct direction; allowing for the curvature, that is.”
“Should we go on? It’s at least a couple of miles before we should reach the castle.”
“We should explore it to make sure it is going there,” said Ganymede: “We’ve brought our survey equipment with us; it’s of muggle origin and uses no magic, so it won’t betray us in that way.”
“Perhaps a preliminary sortie; just to make sure that it goes where we think it goes … Mmm?”
Nods of assent.
Helped by the others the three goblins set up their equipment and the party set off, trying to be as quiet as possible. To begin with the noise from the falling water in the sink-hole drowned out the swishing of the water around their knees as they walked. Soon the only sound was that swishing; so, they pulled in their pace to match that of the flow of the water. The curvature of the tunnel was disorienting and not continuous, so there were stops whilst the survey crew took sightings and noted down their calculations. This all took time and at one point there was a small refuge which enabled them to step out of the water. There they ate their lunchtime sandwiches and studied the survey results. Feeling content that they were still headed in the correct direction they started off again.
They had been a long time underground, or so it seemed, when another splashing sound in front became apparent accompanied by a slight glistening on the walls.
Probert stopped the party and indicated that they should douse their lights. The group stood for a minute with their eyes closed and, upon opening them, were able to use the muted light to see where they were going. Very cautiously they pushed forward.
“Put the cloak on, Probes,” whispered Selwyn, holding it up.
Probert gave a thumbs-up and the two of them disappeared under the borrowed cloak. The rest of the party stood still. It seemed ages before the explorers returned, but it was probably only about ten minutes.
“It’s okay to go forward,” Selwyn informed them quietly: “The noise is from another short set of waterfalls. Be prepared, however, for a surprise.”
Carefully they walked forward, their eyes slowly becoming accustomed to the daylight again. Imperceptibly another arched opening came into view and, as at the other end; this opening was also hidden by the branches of trees. Like the other sink-hole the water flowed along a short hollowed-out ledge before hiding itself in another archway. They peered out through the latticework of twigs and leaves.
The vista revealed was a verdant coombe. In the rim of the ledge there were notches and each notch had a sluice gate which regulated spouting streams falling into individual basins a few inches below. From each basin a leat carried water out into the orchard-gardens. In amongst the trees were delightful villas and there were beings moving about in the cultivated fields. Transfixed the party looked out at this sub-tropical paradise.
“No wonder that Seignior ogre wanted to occlude the wards.”
“Imelda and I knew nothing of this,” Arnetz informed them: “I reckon the occlusion has been here for ages; not that we’ve ever felt the need to magically investigate the top of the mountain.”
“There was no mention of it in the peninsular war records,” said Justin: “So perhaps the occlusion is of an earlier date.
“No wonder it is called Cerroverde, it truly is a green mountain,” remarked Arnetz.
“Hum … Yes … Isn’t it delightful … Hey! Those beings resemble enslaved goblins working in the fields. Look at that harsh human overseer with the whip.”
“Ooh yes! Bloody satraps, I’ll be glad when we rid the earth of them.”
“We aren’t goblins, we’re dwarves.”
With fire-staffs and wands at the ready the party turned to where the voice sounded.
“No need to attack me, I’m unarmed. I gather from your conversation that we are on the same side.” A tall goblin-like figure appeared from behind a bush, holding his hands out in a peaceful gesture: “It’s a good thing it was me who overheard you and not one of those cursed-ones. Not that they know about this hideout yet. I’m Gaius Gratian; our wards sensed you coming along the water passage, not that Him-up-there knows about the passage or the alarm wards. I had a premonition that you might be coming.”
Ganymede introduced everyone else and they all shook hands. Some explanation took place as to who they were and what they were about, without revealing too many secrets.
“… We need to get at the nub-hub to destroy his wards. Not now, but when we are prepared for an assault.”
“It will be dangerous, but I’m sure we could get you there unseen. I do hope you won’t destroy our protections at the same time, because they contain our mini-climate.”
“Are they in the same nub-hub?”
“I’m afraid so.”
“Is there any way of separating them out,”
“I very much doubt it.”
“How long could your crops last without the ward’s protection?” asked Zacharias.
“Oh … Not thought about that seriously … about a week, I should think.”
“Our party includes three very good ward makers, including Probert here. What do you think about remaking them, Probes?”
“We’d need to study the old ones first, but it should be possible.”
“They’re blood-bonds, you know.”
“Imelda says she has a way of creating those without killing us beings in order to create them. You should come and meet her.”
“Our scarabs were taken away from us, many, many years ago. Long before our grandparents were born, so we’re bound to this place and may not leave under any circumstances.”
“If you had your scarabs given back, would you want to?”
“I’m not sure. The idea sounds nice, but this has been our hidden home for centuries. At least it was until Him-up-there broke in, now we are being bullied into feeding their greedy mouths as well, our ecology cannot sustain it for much longer. Then, maybe, we’ll have to leave. Oh dear!”
“I think we should get Harry and Draco to come and talk to you; they’re our leaders. Then, if we can study your wards, I’m sure we could remake them easily within a week. Where does that other passageway lead to?”
“On its present bearing, Probes, somewhere near Imelda’s croft and it would be much nearer if we could use it to return.”
“Our legends say it goes to a swimming place, not that any of us have ever visited to find out.”
“There’s just about enough time to check it out before it goes dark.”
The rest of the party waited, chatting to Gratian, whilst Selwyn and Ganymede went forward into the new tunnel. An hour later Probert felt their call, indicating that there was a clear, if slightly slippery, passage. On the way down Justin and Probert managed to fall, emerging soaked at the source of the swimming pool’s inlet. Whilst waiting, the other two goblins had cut a narrow zigzag path through the bushes to within a hundred yards of Imelda’s croft. Justin created a bush-glamour as well; thus, hiding the bottom archway completely from any inquisitive eyes.
On reporting back to the others, they told of the dome and how it had completely fooled everyone for ages.
“When we were visiting with the dragons, we heard about some Goblins going missing during the Roman Empire,” said Astoria, wistfully. *Actually, I read about it in the Tabernacle’s library.* “According to the dragons these goblins had special ward-dome making skills. Perhaps these are they.”
“We’ll have to visit them tomorrow so we can ask.”
“Let’s be subtle about it, Harry and see if we can get them to volunteer the information,” Draco tempered.
“That sounds exciting, do let me come with you. Think of it, stronger wards than at the bank.”
“If you come, you will be discreet, won’t you Probes?”
“Of course, Zacharias; I won’t learn anything if I don’t listen first, will I?”
Zacharias and Monach seemed satisfied but Astoria expressed her doubts internally to the other seers.
~~~ TUESDAY 6^TH MAY ~~~
The following day the four Seers went to see the Gaius, Probert was with them. Ginevra pronounced the dwarf safe and slightly silver and Astoria approved of his scent. Gratian led them, in covert stages, to a blind commemorative archway overlooking a square with a bubbling fountain. The nub-hub was also there, leaking a considerable amount of magic. The seers were sure that no-one would notice their careful probes in amongst all that wild thaumaturgy; so, they made an occlusion that would hide them from passers-by. Their checks confirmed their suspicion that the wards were extra strong. On the way back they met some more trustworthy dwarves.
“These are my councillors,” the Gaius explained by way of introduction.
From that the mages assumed that he was the chairman/leader or whatever.
“Your magical signatures don’t appear to be very strong Gratian?”
“I’m not surprised. We are a mixed race of muggles and Goblins – it happened long ago in our extensive history. We think the muggles were republican men who went to ground when the emperors started to rule Rome. The womenfolk were all goblins who had been their slaves and, so our histories tell us, they used their magic to hide this enclave away and become sexually available to the muggles in order to preserve our society. We suppose this watered down our abilities to use magic.”
“That’s not what present genetic theory supports. With your permission we’ll investigate things further once you are free agents again.”
“Thank you. As you say – free agents – and that is what we are here to consider.”
~~~INVESTIGATION ~~~
It took two days to thoroughly investigate all the jumbled blood-bonds before Gratian and the mages were satisfied that they had revealed every one.
Next came a week of study and practice within the safe confines of Hogwarts, with Astoria supplying some of the Tabernacle expertise without revealing the source of her knowledge.
Meanwhile another local couple had been reported as missing.
~~~ THURSDAY 8^TH MAY ~~~
The fateful day arrived.
Field-marshal Chess-player Ronald was in charge. Charlie, Paulus and the Rhysiart family plus some other dragons made up the cavalry, having flown overnight from the sanctuary and been hidden in Arnetz’s shrubby enclave until the following morning. Ginevra was with her brother, as was Ganymede; thus, enabling five other people to be in mental touch with the airborne headquarters. Zacharias went with Probert, Monach and Arnetz to the hidden archway near the nub; being ready to start disabling the blood-bonds on Ronald’s relayed signal.
Selwyn was in charge of part of the army being dampened in the tunnel and the Gaius held a small army nearby who would work with Selwyn.
On the night before, a group of glamoured senior goblins had substituted themselves with the same number of trusted dwarves in readiness to overcome the dark overseers. It was these dwarves plus the councillors who made up Gratian’s army. The dwarfish army carried agricultural hand tools which had been charged magically and attuned to each of the holders.
Leading the cavalry; Harry rode Orcas with Justin, Lee and George aboard. Draco and Astoria were in charge of the two halves of the remaining Dumbledorian army. Dean and Seamus had made a trebuchet and had loaded a number of blood-bond breaking bombs to drop on the centre of the dome and splatter blood-potions where the various wards focussed. Fawkes hovered nearby, ready to tell the artillery when to fire, because the internal and external dismantlers had to work very precisely together.
All was set for Ronald’s command.
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Harco Empire