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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
- 184
- 185
- 186
[Note: “x-x” = speech & ‘x-x’ = thoughts & *x-x* = telepathy & #x-x# Parseltongue]
~~~ LONG ISLAND ~~~
After lunch Harry and Teddy set off to explore Long Island; their only attire being sunhats and trainers. They commenced a slow widdershins circuit. Circuit was probably a misnomer, because the island was shaped like a pregnant banana. They peered into rock pools, tried to name the various seabirds, even trying to tag some of the plants from Teddy’s Herbology lessons. There was one point where the wards almost touched the rock and Harry had Teddy feeling the magic. Within five minutes the boy could discern the wards. He used the attributes inherited from his mother and allowed the ward-magic to change his skin colour. The band of wards showed like a circular bruise on his forearm. That demonstration fired Teddy’s imagination, and he saw himself becoming a useful member of the ward team. Harry did not disabuse him, knowing that at that age Teddy would no doubt have many other enthusiasms before he left Hogwarts.
Having reached the southernmost tip of the island Teddy decided he wanted to climb up to the pinnacle. They were both sweating profusely when they reached the top because it had been quite a steep scramble. There was a cooling breeze there which helped to readjust their body temperatures whilst they peered all around at muggle boats and other islands.
Long Island had two such rock outcrops, so a precarious ridge walk took them halfway back to the boat, but some eighty feet higher.
“Uncle; why is that patch of ground a different shade of green?” Teddy pointed downwards.
“I think it looks like a marsh; can you see the bog-cotton.”
“Let’s go down, there’ll maybe be frogs. Yes … I know to be careful – no need to tell me.”
They inspected the marsh; it was very wet, but only contained freshwater insects. What did intrigue them was that on the seaward side, the bog was contained in a low earthen bund a couple of feet high.
“I think it must be manmade, Teddy. I don’t see how this could have been formed naturally.”
Teddy ran to the northern end: “This is where the stream starts. Why doesn’t it flow straight down the steepest bit?”
They poked around in the scrub and eventually decided that the stream’s course had been diverted into a leat. All the work had been very carefully lined by smooth rock but in the course of things had become choked by water loving plants. The leat’s course took them slowly down across the hillside towards the boat until they came to what appeared to be another very overgrown pond some twenty feet above the beach and on the edge of a sheer precipice. Further investigation proved that this was of the same careful construction as the leat. From its shoreward side a little trickling waterfall led down to where Draco had made the sand-pool on the beach.
Harry studied the precipice, it was vertical, and he thought that in some places he could see tool marks: “See those marks there, Teddy. I’m almost sure they were made by a pickaxe.”
“Let’s go down and see.”
There was a sort of path along the edge that took them down. Now Harry was sure that this was man-made. The square-ish quarry in the rocks was disguised beneath bushes and briars and they surmised that the original stone had been quarried from here to build the jetty. There was rubble and weeds on the floor, but it appeared to be level. Between the edge of the platform and the beach was a tangle of wild roses hiding them from the rest of the family.
“Are those beam-holes up there, Uncle?”
“Um … Quite possibly … right height for an upper floor … Well … They’d have to duck under the beams, maybe … There’s another possible set almost at the top of the cliff, look.”
“Nice place for a house, beach, water supply and everything. I bet those roses were part of their garden. Could we resurrect it?”
“Some clearance work, but it would be a new build.”
“I’m going to tell the others,” Teddy ran off before Harry could stop him.
Ten minutes had the family standing on the rock hewn plateau, being shown beam-holes and pickaxe marks by an enthusiastic twelve-year-old.
*It has some merits, Harry,* sent Draco: *I like being just the family together.*
*We’re going to need somewhere for the children to have safe holidays for the next decade,* suggested Astoria.
*I have my broomstick on board, five minutes would have me at Wisteria’s.*
*Okay Ginny, go and ask, I have a tape measure in my pack Teddy can help me do a survey.* Draco called Teddy and together they went to the sloop and obtained the measure and some parchment.
Meanwhile, Harry supervised two splashing four-year-olds and his daughter whilst Astoria swam with James.
###
Ginevra was gone for some time, but she returned in a boat with the McLaggen family and Dean.
“Hi Draco, chickened out of running the Scours Passage have you?” joked Berwyn as they landed.
“No – Just waiting until I have a big enough audience – you two weren’t enough to impress with my excellent navigational skills,” was the tart reply.
“I see that some of the old Malfoy is still allowed to come out to play occasionally,” remarked a smiling Dean.
The company chuckled and went to look at the platform.
“In my grandfather’s younger days, he said an old fisher family lived on the island,” said Wisteria: “But like many of the isles in Victorian times, it became uninhabited. If you want to build on it you may, we can only claim the island we live on, plus Holm and Temple isles, because they’re connected by sand-strands. Anyway, nobody will know because of the occlusion. Teddy, will you please show me the water system you found.”
Wisteria took the boy away whilst the adults had a discussion – the finale was an agreement that the Harco family would build a modest holiday chalet there. The money would come out of the private accounts that each of the four seers held.
After the McLaggens had left, Dean stayed on and the elves took advantage of their permission to board to serve the plaice and boiled potatoes with fresh garden peas, something Teddy and James enthusiastically enjoyed. So did the adults, but they were slightly more decorous. In the evening after the young ones were in bed, Teddy was allowed to sit up with the adults whilst they drew plans on numerous bits of conjured parchment.
Eventually agreement was reached on a minimal plan. The ground floor would have two small double bedrooms at the back plus a small shower room and separate toilet. Above that would be four rooms. Two with tandem single bunks under the highest part of the roof and two with single beds where there was just enough headroom. There would also be space available in the apex for four elf-beds; reached by an elf-stair. The main stairs down would lead to a half landing off which a narrow balcony in the main room would extend on one side, with the steps descending on the other. These would lead into an open veranda type living area with a recessed cooker, plus an area for a dining table and deck chairs. All four seers had learned the basic construction skills, and with Dean’s guidance, felt confident about building their own house.
Dean accepted the offer to sleep under canvas on the opposite bunk to Teddy. He was also questioned, by an inquisitive Teddy, about his friendship with Seamus; but declined to go into the mechanics thereof.
~~~CONSTRUCTION~~~
Early rising, yet again, with courtesy of the enlivened children. Teddy missing once more, but not fishing; he and Dean returned riding the duple broomstick.
“Uncles, we’ve found a large pile of driftwood all tangled up at the north end of the Scours, there are some quite heavy beams among them.”
“Some of them are suitable for the ideas we have in mind,” added Dean: “It looks like the remains of a wreck.”
“Fine … We’ll come and have a look after we’ve eaten.”
Kippers for Harry’s birthday breakfast were a new treat for the young ones, James ate a whole one and then asked for more; something Ginevra decided was not to be, worried in case he was sick. The grizzling was soon forgotten when Astoria produced a birthday cake. As a diversion Harry got James to help him blow out all the candles.
Dean, Draco and Teddy flew off to look at the driftwood. Never mind a few beams, there were some decking planks as well. Because it was low water, the bedrock of the scours was showing above the water, so the trio landed and set about separating the good lumber from the fuel. Draco reckoned that once the tide turned the current would flow southwards. A Wingardium on the wood moved it to the channel side of the rocks, but it was extremely exhausting for the two mages. Teddy had helped but his magic still needed to develop. However, he found rope amongst the debris and, having secured one end around a pinnacle, moored each piece of wood to the next one, eventually having a long string of timbers ready for flotation.
Robbie appeared: “Would you like coffee or fruit juice Masters?”
“You’re a life saver, Robbie. Why are you here?” asked Draco
“Serving our masters as we should, because you gave the other elves permission, we felt that that gave us imprimatur too. What will you be doing with the wood?”
“Floating it down to the shore where the family is.”
“Why?”
“We intend to build a very private family holiday chalet, for relaxing with our children.”
“Oh … I see,” Robbie looked crestfallen.
Draco caught on: “Don’t look so glum; there’ll be elf beds too, but nothing fancy for any of us. There’ll be room for Reagan and Megan as well; we cannot offer our personal elves accommodation without affording our wives the same privilege.”
Meanwhile, with Astoria, Megan and Reagan supervising the children, Ginevra and Harry were active, cleaning out a couple of centuries of debris.
“You know, they must have been short people, I can see into the beam holes properly.”
“Maybe we’re walking on top of the collapsed roof or something,” mused Ginevra.
“Oh yes … The barn had a couple of feet of dirt on its floor when Dean and Seamus first opened it up … that’d explain it.”
“I’ve found a large slab of stone, but it’s not very thick.”
“Some of the old houses used to have slab roofs. Shall we clear it off and then try to lift it?”
After a careful Wingardium Leviosa they two seers found a lot of crushed and rotting wood beneath. Carefully they removed the flat slabs, one or two were cracked so they were extra vigilant when transporting these outside and putting them in a separate pile. Harry knew that Dean had a stone repairing charm. It took most of the morning to clear the roofing slabs. On inspection of the debris below Ginevra and Harry surmised that the roof collapse had been cushioned by the wooden furniture splintering. Remembering the fuel pile at the Lodge the two seers made another pile of wrecked furniture for fuel. They were not finished before lunchtime was called.
A quick swim in the sea had the dirt removed and the mages feeling slightly refreshed. Over the meal they swapped tales of what they had found and then had a siesta.
Returning to the Scours as the tide was rising the two mages and Teddy set about floating the lumber down to the beach. To begin with, they launched the first beam into the flow and then each subsequent one in a long string. By the time five were in the water, the tide-drag was enough to start pulling the rest off the submersing rock shelf. The three of them swam to the front and then guided that beam onto the sand; dragging it quickly above the tide mark. Because the channel was wider here there was less current, and they found out that there was a backwash caused by the jetty. If properly guided the rest of the wood floated into it and things became easier to handle. The lumber was kept on the edge of the beach and hauled in on the rising tide. Only when the ebb came did they untie the beams and Wingardium them above the tide line.
Those efforts filled in the afternoon nicely.
###
Harry was deputed to children duty for the afternoon whilst the two female seers continued the clearing up. It was almost like an archaeological dig, because the fisher-folk had abandoned everything. Most of the crockery had been smashed, and most of the cutlery was so badly corroded as to be useless. However, some plates were still useable, but their greatest find was where the intended living area was to be.
Whilst starting to remove the rotted floor covering Astoria gasped: “Ginny come and look at this, I think this house was much older than we thought.”
“Wow, do you think it’s roman?”
“I cannot think of any other period when these patterns of tesserae were in vogue.”
“I don’t think we should uncover it until the heavy building work is finished, do you?”
“No; shall we try to rebuild the fallen pillars instead?”
Ginevra agreed and they set about finding the sections of pillar hidden in the tangle of roses. Thus, by the time all the lumber was stored above the water mark the six front pillars plus two for doorways were already in place.
Dean surveyed the scene: “Thanks for building the pillars, that’ll make our job easier in the morning. But you did it at the expense of the floor clearance.”
“We know, but we think there’s a roman mosaic hidden under the muck.”
Of course, the wet mages had to peek where the mothers had looked. Another swim had them clean and eating lobster-thermidor, caught fresh from the pots that morning. The Mothers hid the shells from the youngest two, but James found the claws and had a gruesome mock battle with Teddy afterwards. During the meal the adult discussion turned to planning and construction.
“There’s a charm for preserving those kinds of floors. It’s in the Manor’s Library, I think.”
“Dean, please don’t tell anyone about our hideout. Obviously, you’ll tell Seamus, but swear him to secrecy. There are times when we want to escape the matriarchs, so we won’t be telling them either.”
Dean smiled understandingly: “Yes I know what you mean. There are moments when we wish the portal to the Fortress hadn’t been made. Seamus’s family can get quite strident sometimes. I’ll go tomorrow afternoon, after we have the beams in place. There’s an old cargo tarpaulin in the flotsam, I think we should spread that first and then put the slabs on top.”
“Could we do what Siobhan did – put sods over that? It would make us almost invisible and add some insulation.”
“Good idea, there’s lots of old fishing net, that will hold the sods in place to begin with. The few tear holes won’t make much difference and by the time it has rotted down the grass roots will have entangled and formed a solid mass.”
###
Three youngsters in bed, Harry received his presents form the others. Dean played exploding snap with Teddy whilst the seers had a rubber of bridge before retiring.
~~~ WEDNESDAY ~~~
For a change Teddy was not missing when the family awoke, he and Dean had gone for an early morning swim and were drying themselves off when Draco stuck his head through the hatch. The elves served a fish kedgeree for breakfast, plus all the normal additions.
By coffee break the mages had the main beams smoothed, charmed to the correct length and in position to form the roof. When lifting the beams Teddy, wanting to be helpful, tended to get in the way.
“Teddy?”
“Yes, Uncle Dean?”
“Do you think you could make a start on clearing out the leat for us, please? We are going to need clean water and it will take a day or two for the disturbed soil to wash down into the cistern. Once that is done, we can clean the cistern and start on the plumbing work. Any special plants you could redistribute into the marsh, the more we have there the better the sponge effect will be. That could be your special contribution to the effort.”
“Okay … Uncles … can I try out my wand on them.”
“If you like, do you know the scooping spell?”
“Yes, I’ve watched Uncle Seamus using it to keep the mill-race clear, although I’m not very good at it.”
“Right then … Now you get to use it for real. You’ll probably be expert at it by the time you’ve finished.”
“Ooh … Thanks. I think?”
“Can I help,” asked James, brandishing his play-wand.
James, as with most mages’ children had recently been given a play-wand. By experimentation the seers had found that they could charm these wands with specific spells. They were connected to the budding mages’ latent magic and helped them to learn how to channel the accidental thaums in the same way that Harry had done with the snake at the zoo. Diplomatic Dean had also channelled Teddy’s enthusiasm into something useful and fulfilling. The lesson was repetitive, thus building up James’s skills and would not hurt too much if something went wrong.
Coffee time and two very muddy youngsters went for a swim first. “I’m getting better at it and I’ve cleared about three quarters of the channel. With a bit of luck James and I’ll have only a quarter to do after lunch. Then can we start on the cistern?”
“After you’ve cleared the whole leat, there’s quite a possibility, yes,.” agreed Draco carefully.
Break over; Astoria went with Teddy to see his handiwork, praising the best bits and tactfully suggesting areas that needed a little more work. She included James in the praise as well. A curious Scorpius was with her and, of course, managed to fall into the water. He was soon out of it because of the chill. Astoria then had to explain why the sea was warmer in precepts that Scorpius could understand.
Draco was on child duty until Lunch whilst the other mages inserted the main uprights and minor wall-beams. They fixed the tarpaulin to make a temporary roof making the whole place very dark inside. The outer walls were prefabricated in sections, so that there was an air-gap between the rock face and the building; although they intended that the whole space would be roofed over with the slabs. They even managed to erect the half-floor beams as well.
Shrimp salad for lunch was followed by Astoria’s special magical window making. Each bedroom would have one because the whole of the house was intended to be hidden inside the walls of the vertical sided quarry. Only the front few feet would stick out thus allowing for two side doors at the front of the veranda. Each of the front pillars had two window-eyes fixed on it giving the rooms almost identical views of the beach and the vista beyond. Once the windows were in place there was enough light to finish the internal dividing walls – all vertical planked and double sided, filled with expanded foam from old fenders picked up in the flotsam. Of course, the foam was inflated using their magic as were the timbers. The intention was to keep each room almost soundproof so that antics in bed would not disturb the others. Having the walls and stairs complete meant magical exhaustion for the mages. Teddy was in much the same state, but he had cleaned the leat and the cistern. That last was with Harry’s help [and James’s interference].
Dean had found some plastic pipe in the flotsam and had rigged up a temporary tap roughly where the sink would be. However, he had gone to look for the preservation spell and to buy some copper piping from Grandpops Foley. After the evening meal of fish-pie the youngsters went to bed, the mages played bridge whilst Teddy indulged in some evening fishing to top up their fish stock. Not that anyone was too late to bed anyway.
~~~ THURSDAY ~~~
Teddy was still asleep when Draco looked out through the hatchway in the morning; however, there were a number of buckets full of his midnight catch.
“We thought you’d like a change,” said Megan, to Draco: “Will egg and sausage be alright?” Then she added quietly: “It would be nice if we could serve the fish at the cottage.”
“Yes thanks, well thought out.”
There was spare time until Dean arrived back, because he wanted to supervise the placing of the roofing slabs, so Ginevra went looking for a soft place to dig the drain for the toilet. To her surprise there was a square of soft earth where the washbasin was going to be. She excavated this carefully and found that the pit went down about eight feet. As the debris came out of the bottom, more seemed to fill in from the sides, which was slightly alarming despite the fact that she could see smooth rock above. She stopped excavating and shared what was happening with Draco.
“It could be a cloaca, the Romans were very keen on drainage, and Gratian has explained their sewage disposal system to me. What we need is someone small enough to go and have a look.”
Pop: “I’ll go,” offered Bobbie: “Before you tell me, yes, I will be careful.” He climbed down with Draco holding a safety rope.
“It’s an arched passageway about three feet high.” Bobbie called up: “There’s not much more rubbish blocking it. It was probably the overspill from when the shaft was filled in. I’ll put it into a bucket if you’d haul it up, please.”
It took twenty-two and a half buckets-full before Bobbie was satisfied that the place was clean. Robbie came to help and, whilst Bobbie explored slowly Robbie, at the bottom of the shaft, held the rope and an Accio charm ready to extricate his mate if a rock-fall occurred.
After a careful half hour Robbie returned: “It comes out where those trees grow. There’s a tangle of briars but I could see through them. I reckon it was their midden. The arching is perfect in places, the rest is solid rock cut to the same profile. Shall I go the other way now?”
“Let us clear the exit from outside first. That’ll give you another escape route, just in case,” suggested Draco.
Quarter of and hour had Draco crawling up the adit and conforming all that Robbie had said. He accompanied the elf further, providing the light. There was more earth blocking that end with a trickle of water emerging, so they returned. Aligning the rope, they worked out above ground, the course of the sloping tunnel underneath. Thus they worked out where the blockage might be, outside. It appeared to be where the cistern overflow waterfall was. Because this reservoir was still filling up from the cleaning efforts there was no water flowing so Draco tried a tentative earth removal spell or two. The result was very much the same as Ginevra’s effort. Because the reservoir was higher than the quarry, the shaft was very much deeper, being more than the height of the house. All the debris appeared to be dead organic matter; something Draco knew would be useful for the cladding of the roof, so it was stockpiled.
The final cleansing was by buckets of sea water whooshed down the drain and a complete damp-kneed inspection. It was then coffee time and Dean had arrived with a much-shrunken package.
“Grandpops had some second-hand washbasins, thrown out when those awkward muggles tarted their houses up. There’s a loo, and a shower tray as well. Do you want them?”
Dean resized his luggage and the seers inspected the items. They were dirty and very slightly scratched but the washbasins only had one place for a tap.
“I wasn’t going to make a hot water system anyway; you’d have to have a fire on all the time to heat it up. We can all do warming charms so that won’t be too much of a chore, will it? I’ve got a small tank for above the shower so you can have a hot one if you want, after you’ve charmed the tank-full, of course.”
Harry called to mind his mate's love of long hot showers: "That’ll ensure we’re economic, won’t it, Draco.”
Said mage stuck his tongue out at Harry.
Astoria had the children for the afternoon, they were using shells, pebbles and seaweed to make sand pictures. Dean, Draco and Harry placed the roof slabs. Ginevra and Teddy painstakingly removed the dirt from the roman mosaic, so that just before dinner Dean could apply the preservative charm. For an hour no-one could see the mosaic as the spell did its work. Not that it mattered because the company ate on the boat.
###
They were just about to go and see the tessellated marvel when Galvin and Berwyn appeared on their broomsticks.
“There’s going to be a bad storm later tonight,” Berwyn warned the seers after the two McLaggens had landed: “Perhaps you should move the Sirius back to our anchorage; it will be less exposed and much safer than here.”
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Harco Empire