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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
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[Note: “x-x” = speech & ‘x-x’ = thoughts & *x-x* = telepathy & #x-x# Parseltongue]
~~~ CONNECTION ~~~
It was the weekend before Harry and Grandpa Turpin bought Simon’s owl. They had called in on Monday afternoon, but stocks were short.
“Besides which, the young wizard should see if both he and the owl are compatible,” the shop-witch reminded them.
They called back at the weekend.
Harry would have chosen another white one like Erwin and his predecessor, Hedwig. However Simon was taken by a golden coloured owl.
“That one has a very long pedigree, my dear; Athena had one of her ancestors as her pet. She’ll give you long and faithful service. On no account must you offer to give her away. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Ma’am, I will look after her properly, won’t I, Athena?”
The owl hooted and snuggled up to Simon’s ear.
“Now you have named her; that cannot be changed either. Now … How about a cage, and some owl treats …”
Harry paid for the owl and its accoutrements. Later on, after Simon had ported back to the academy, Grandpa Turpin insisted on repaying the seer in muggle money.
~~~ TRUST MEETING ~~~
By the following weekend but one, Ysabel House was full and Tom was grumbling because he was sending mages away to muggle hotels.
His observations were reported a couple of weeks later during the trust meeting being held at Number Twelve, in the Solar, as usual.
“I think Tom only gets one and a half per cent from them,” Bertie remarked acidly.
Draco chuckled knowingly: “Obviously a good businessman. Still, we’d rather have visiting mages staying in a magical environment, wouldn’t we? But I am beginning to feel that apparating people in and out is becoming a little wearying.”
“I agree, but now we have village wards at the Square, I’m against watering them down,” said Astoria.
“What we need is the kind of entrance we have at Godric’s Hollow; like the one near the station. Then all reasonable mages and muggles can enter.”
“If we made an entrance across the road near the changing signpost; wouldn’t the electrics in a muggle car mess the gate up?”
“Probably not, Godric’s Hollow residents can drive their cars through, can’t they.”
“Yes … However, the ward team still have a problem about sealing these wards,” reported Astoria: “They’re going to re-check their findings.
“What about the muggles’ families and visitors?”
“Henry did a survey, all the muggles have magical connections and are grateful for the extra protection. The residents use the Underground entry in Abercrombie Lane or walk from the bus-stop round the corner. So they’ll tell their friends how to find the way in. As far as the mages are concerned, they have modified medallions and will hand-guide any relatives etcetera, or side-along them in. Naturally, magical malcontents will be excluded, but the team are now excluding muggles with burglary or mayhem on their minds.”
“How does Mundungus fit in?”
“He doesn’t – Once he gets out of prison – If he’s reformed he might get past – If he isn’t then he’ll stay outside.”
“Seems a bit hard on an old member of the Order.”
“No Harry, it isn’t. He was responsible for getting Mad-eye killed, and he caused us a lot of extra bother because he stole that locket and sold it to Toad-bow. He only has himself to blame.”
“You sounded just like Herms then, Tor.”
“I was quoting from her, Harry. Perhaps you remember being soft on Mundungus when Gringotts sued him for having all those stolen and doubtful items in his vault.”
“But it’s our Christian duty to forgive, Astoria.”
“It’s also our Christian duty to protect those weaker than ourselves. Otherwise why do we put up wards?”
“I remember John saying something about forgiveness not being a soft option. That was when I was fairly new in the Dumbledorians,” observed Draco: “We won’t know of Dung’s contrition until he proves contrite once he leaves his incarceration. However I have learned that contrition has to come before absolution. That won’t be for some time yet. Let’s get back to the original discussion which was about guests and entrances … Hmm?”
“I’ve been talking to Tom,” started Bertie: “He reckons we could at least double the present intake of guests before the supply ran out. He’s already sent another six couples to a muggle hotel. Gallus is chasing up the owners of Number Eleven who seem to be some sort of muggle consortium. That’s why he’s said he might be late.”
“I was talking to some of the new guests,” said Astoria: “They were commencing a European tour and wondered if we could recommend any hotels. Two of the places they mentioned were Vienna and Venice, although I’m not sure if they were aware of the difference. One of the matrons was talking about listening to Strauss from a gondola. Aunt Narcissa knows of a good hotel in Paris so I passed their address on but that’s all. I was wondering if …”
“… The Grunrasenhof is big enough and there’s that muggle hotel next-door; much the same size. We ought to run the idea across Grandmamma first.”
“I have done, subject to certain art safeguards, she’s all for it: ‘Put some life into the old place,’ was her comment, plus something like: it was the trust’s responsibility now. I keep relieving her for some of the weekly concerts, because her energy levels are beginning to wane.”
“How does running an hotel fit in with us being an educational trust?”
“No problems in historic cities, especially if we offer a guide service, like Henry and Mr Dobson have already done here. Lots of museums and cultural activities going on as well; all very educational,” put in Francis.
“Side-along apparating mages is going to become a big burden once we start. And there’s no way we can open up the portal system to all and sundry,” observed Draco: “It’s already a problem here. What we need is another entrance in Diagon Alley, like the Ministry and St.Mungos opened a few years ago.”
“Technically they were re-openings of older entrances, Draco,” Astoria observed: “But your point is valid. Subject to wards being present the mages living here should be able to walk through. Our guests would have the same right too. As it is, most magical visitors know of the existence of Diagon Alley, even if they are unable to find it at first. Just as we know of Abenobashi in Osaka, Mallmerlin in New York, or Cheminsorcière in Paris, but we would need a mage to show us where they were.”
“Mother says that the entrance to the French hotel is in Cheminsorcière although it is actually an old chateau close to Fontainebleau.”
“That’s where Gringotts comes into its own, Seers. We have a branch in all those places plus many of the other capitals, national and provincial. The one in Venice is in the same street, Magocalle; that the Palazzo’s foot entrance opens on to. We regularly redirect visitors to suitable accommodation; it’s one of our services to our clients. However, Italy is especially short in magical hotels since the last pogrom of the Fascists. To have an hotel next-door-but-one would be almost ideal.”
“If we do go into hotels, different people would need to be in charge. Our visitor mages are astute people. If say, Astoria, greeted everyone at each hotel, they’d soon put together the idea that we had a secret communication system. Besides which we’d be tying ourselves down to specific locations: we’d be out of the Auror frying-pan and into the hotel fire, so to speak.”
“I wonder …”
“You wonder, what, Harry?”
“Um … No it wouldn’t work we’d need four hotels not three.”
“Stop being obtuse … tell us … I can feel you brain ticking over.”
“Well … the Smiling ones … Um … they want new jobs … Um … Each new pair in charge of an hotel … maybe give recitals in each once a week / fortnight / whatever … Um?”
“Two of their fiancées come from hotel owning families … It’s got possibilities …”
The floo flared and Gallus appeared: “Sorry I’m late, but we’ve got a contact about Number Thirteen. We’re to see them this afternoon and they’ll show us around.”
He received a résumé of the proceedings whilst they paused for coffee.
After the break the conversation went on to cover more mundane matters, covering administration costs, food production etc. After which the meeting adjourned for lunch.
~~~ SURPRISE ~~~
At two-thirty prompt the committee members walked to the closed hotel next door. What surprised them were Wilfred and some of the Chapel congregation waiting to meet them.
“Hello Wilfred, come to have a look round?”
“No, come to show some people round.”
“Oh …! You must be the owners, therefore.”
“To our shame, yes,” replied Mr Turpin junior: “The whole debacle was very embarrassing at the time and still has repercussions. It started in the early Victorian period when railways were just starting. We owned quite a bit of land behind the church, it was intended for burials although we never used it.”
“Do I suppose the railway company wanted to buy it?”
“Yes, Mrs Malfoy, quite correct. Our Chapter of the time was reluctant to sell. The authorities went as far to start applying for a compulsory purchase order before our Chapter decided to negotiate. We had a much larger congregation at the time, so a deal was struck to exchange a house in the Square for the required land, plus a small amount of money. The Chapter had in mind Number Nineteen, close to the church, which was for sale just then. The idea being that the pastor would have the house and the assistant the chapel flat. However the railway company bought a canal side house – it was much cheaper, being adjacent to the busy canal wharf at the time. I suspect also that no-one wanted to buy a house numbered thirteen. The church cannot afford to be seen as superstitious so they could see no way of refusing.”
D:*I cannot see why muggles count thirteen as being unlucky. In Arithmancy it is the bounteous number. A gratuitous addition the expected dozen.*
“Now that side is very pleasant with the trees and the quiet waterway,” added Ginevra: “As we know from looking through our upper windows.”
A:*That proves it’s propitious.*
“It was very commercial and noisy in those days. But to continue; after the Second World War our church’s finances would not run to an assistant, even if we could have found one. So the Chapter decided to lease the house. The second lessee saw the possibility of making it into a private hotel, but only on the condition of a longer lease. Having found no other takers the Chapter granted this and the owner set about the conversion. All went well for the next few years until the owner died and his widow sold the remaining lease onwards. The new lessees appeared reasonable enough, and the genteel front in the Square was preserved to start with. What we had not realised was that they had re-opened the door on to the wharf, and the less desirable but more lucrative patrons were entering that way. Inevitably, their disreputable clientele eventually filtered into the Square itself.”
H:*Perhaps that is the other entrance the ward team were talking about.*
A:*I doubt it, Harry; most of the houses in that row have doors in their walls onto what was the wharf. The Dobsons have a boat moored there and so does Henry.*
G:*That’s the way our rubbish bins are now emptied.*
“What made you aware of their shady dealings?”
“A number of police raids and it being closed. Luckily for us there was a lot of fuss in the press about the royals at the time, although one inside headline did appear: ‘Church runs Brothel’ was its purport. Naturally we were horrified, but our legal people advised us to keep a low profile and not to sue. They were right … Little came of the news. However the then minister decided he should have known and resigned. It has taken us years of locums before we were able to appoint a new minister.”
“Before you ask,” put in Wilfred: “I was aware of the situation before I came, but I found that the Spirit’s promptings overruled any personal misgivings I might have had.”
“Has the old lease expired, then?”
“No, but we retrieved it. At the trial of the owners the judge said that we were unwilling partners and, because there was an amount of money owed to us from the bankrupts, ordered that the lease be relinquished. Since then the Chapter has been divided as to what to do; needing a two thirds majority in order to sell or buy property.”
“So what caused the Chapter to change its mind?”
“Urgent repairs to our church’s roof, plus the fact that you are a charitable trust; thus arousing less suspicion about motives.”
“That gives us an excellent reason for beating down the price,” observed Bertie.
“As one set of Christians talking to another set of Christians, we had to be open.”
That stirred Harry’s conscience: “And as Christians we will offer a fair price.” That earned him a scowl from Gallus, and internal commendations from his fellow seers.
The slightly awkward silence that followed was broken by Astoria suggesting that they went inside.
Number Thirteen had a slightly different layout, thus enabling four rooms per floor. Number twelve, in contrast had the library and beneath it the ballroom plus two slightly larger rooms per floor. Both houses’ bedrooms were en suite; those in Number Eleven all contained double beds. Upon closer inspection the party found that, despite the dust, the underlying fabric seemed to be in reasonable shape.
“I thought we’d be looking around a tawdry bawdy house, but this seems to be more of a maison de rendezvous;” remarked Draco: “Most of the rooms, although quite dirty seem to be decorated tastefully.”
“All in different styles as well,” added Astoria: “That will give our guests a choice of environment.”
“The kitchens will need a refurbishment.”
“We’d only need one kitchen for both houses; the one we have is slightly bigger than the one here. It would be more central too. The front cellars could become an extension to the dining room, plus eyed-windows looking out onto the patio.”
Mr Turpin looked puzzled.
“Oh … Imagine a large TV screen, made up to look like a window, with its feeding camera looking out into the walled garden.”
Upstairs on the ground floor, they sat in what had been the reception lounge and came to an agreement about a fair price; one that the seers could easily afford out of their second inheritance of Miss Maud’s money. Francis and the Chapter’s lawyer departed to draw up the necessary legal documents, and Gallus went with them to make the money transfer.
The next couple of weeks were spent sorting out the new premises and thoroughly cleaning them. The Corps of elves now had a small, Seamus and Dean trained, alteration squad. They removed some adjoining walls to make the dining areas larger. The reception lounges above were also connected in a like manner. And a ground floor corridor made into the rooms of Number Thirteen. The team then set about re-equipping the kitchen to a joint plan that Finkelpuff and Winky had made. Once that was in operation the old kitchen was made into a party dining room. The rooms on the upstairs garden floor were made into a managerial apartment with a marital double bedroom and two other smaller bedrooms for subsequent children.
The two ground floor rooms next to the wall of number twelve were the ones most altered. Now the seers no longer wanted to keep the deepest cellars secret the ladder was dismantled and a slype door put in from the cupboard. This was hidden in the front room of Number Thirteen which was now the reception office and the bar was administered from there into the back room. However they found a problem with the wards. Number Twelve’s were very restrictive, like the cottage ones were, but the hotel had village wards.
Probert solved that one quickly: “Put two doors in and treat it as a private portal, thus your door will only be seen by the people who have a right to enter. A glamour of the interior of a cleaning cupboard will fool anyone else.”
There was another problem too from Wilfred: “You know, don’t you, that our church regards imbibing alcohol as harmful to the soul. And now you have installed a bar in the house that was ours.”
“There was one there already, Willy. However I don’t think you’ll find many of our mages drunk, alcohol effects their control over their magical core. Besides, the other three denominations do allow it in moderation. Hmm … What about Saint Paul recommending wine for the stomach’s sake?”
“You have a point, but I’d feel uneasy about going in.”
“There’s no way we would want to force you, Willie. We have two or three reformed alcoholics who dare not touch a drop of drink. When you come to one of our meals just tell the elves and they’ll find you something equivalent to drink. The advantage of the Fluence is that your drink, and theirs, resembles the other alcoholic ones being quaffed.”
“Yes I told Sonny, at dinner.”
“Then you should have no problems in future when you dine with us; the elf-vine will have spread word about your preferences.”
“Thank you.”
~~~ STAFFING ~~~
One Sunday afternoon in mid-September the seers had a joint meeting with the Smiling Ones and their fiancées; at which they agreed the outline of the hotel ideas.
“What we need is a couple to manage the London hotel to start with,” Harry informed them: “Our next aim would be to have the Grunrasenhof’s upper floors converted preferably in time for the Viennese winter season.”
“We’re cognisant of the fact that you want to leave the aurors,” continued Draco: “And wondered if a pair of you would like to take up this offer. Then based on that couple’s experiences, perhaps another couple would like to be in charge in Vienna once the necessary alterations have taken place.”
“We would like to use the Palazzo in Venice, but it’s a bit too small for what we envisage. However we are looking for suitable premises. We would need to find another place to convert. The Fortress came to mind, but it’s situated well away from any tourist places and would need a lot of work to make all of it habitable.”
“Thanks for the offer,” replied Septimus: “The offer sounds interesting. However we’ll need to chat about this. Then if we accept the offer, choose in what order the pairs take it up.”
His statement was backed up by murmurs of approval from his mates and their fiancées.
~~~ TUNNELLING ~~~
The following week the ward team came to see the seers.
Gottfried touched Draco’s St. George: “There is no other conclusion but that the exit is inside the earth. Probert has a suspicion that this might be below the road. He says there is some form of void beneath it.”
“Could it be the sewers?”
“No, we have traced those; this is a larger dry void. Probes and Zach have gone to consult old maps to see if there is some tunnel or other. It has been complicated by the fact that the new St. Pancras International station has been built nearby.”
“So some kind of underground passage, then?”
Gottfried looked excited: “Underground, that’s the name for your U-Bahn, isn’t it. Do you think the railway company made an entrance into the Square? That would explain things easily.”
“Let’s go and talk to the Turpin’s.”
That evening Draco knocked on the door of Number Five and with Gottfried was admitted. They explained the puzzle.
“I still have the Chapter’s minutes for that period; we were returning them to the archives at the weekend.”
Mr Turpin Junior produced some old leather bound tomes and started to search.
“It says here that the company had offered to make an entrance convenient for the residents. That could easily be the circular kiosk in Abercrombie Lane.” Then he looked at the date of the minutes: “No … That was before we had the altercation about them buying the wrong house … Mmm … Trouble is these minutes were never indexed.” An hour later he was still searching. Draco had even tried a search spell, but no other mention could be found.
“Probert says he can use a dowsing spell, like the ones that were used a Cerroverde,” offered Gottfried. That led to a short description of what happened in Spain.
Once it was Dark on the following Saturday evening the dowsing party started their search. One end of the void seemed to cease when it approached the park’s pavilion; having passed underneath half of the central garden. The other end left the Square, underneath the road and a corner of the chapel. It was traceable under its floor and then outside into Abercrombie Lane. The void continued across the street seeming to cease at the wall of the canal.
When the team reported back, the Turpin’s were intrigued by the results.
“That circular part of the pavilion, where we store the bowls; could that have been a spiral staircase?” Mr Turpin Senior asked: “The one in Abercrombie Lane has them. I’ve noticed that their architecture matches. I’ve got the key to our pavilion, could your dowsing work there, young man?”
“It wouldn’t reveal steps,” Probert advised: “But might reveal a circular pit or something like that.”
“Well … No time like the present … Come on.”
Inside the circular room, Probert concentrated, staff in hand: “Yes, there’s definitely a circular pit beneath here.”
“If I remember correctly there’s a manhole cover under this matting. If we move this rack we can fold it back.”
The rack was duly moved and the manhole cover exposed. It was of Victorian ancestry and had the original railway company’s initials on it.”
Draco scourgified some more of the lid: “Only to be opened with the General Manager’s permission,” he read: “Well we can’t get that. That company was swallowed up well before the nineteen-twenty-two amalgamation. Let’s have a look anyway.”
It took a number of freeing charms and an Alohomora to allow a lifting charm to do its work. The muggles were fascinated by this show of practical magic and even more so when the various mages caused balls of light to descend into the stygian depths.
“There are steps there. Just as Mr Turpin suggested,” remarked Gottfried: “I’m going down.
“Wait a minute,” Draco placed a restraining hand on the eager mage’s shoulder: “Let’s blow some fresh air in. If the place has been blocked for ages; the air’s bound to be stale if not deoxygenated.”
The air that emerged smelled of old roots and decaying bodies; so they ventilated the room also. After ten minutes the air began to smell less obnoxious. So cautiously Gottfried entered.
“There’s a passageway at the bottom; it’s tiled with white tiles,” boomed out of the opening; “And it slopes very gently downwards.”
Mr Turpin Junior was next into the manhole followed by Harry and then Draco; the female seers opted to form the rescue party if one were needed. The decay smell’s origins soon became apparent – mummified rats on the floor. The party followed the passage for some way until they came up against a brick wall.
“The mortar’s decayed, could we remove a brick, d’you think?”
“It’s worth a try.” A few scooping spells later they were peering through a hole into a brightly lit but currently untenanted passageway.
“It looks like the passage we use to get to the station,” Remarked the muggle: “Although, if it were built at the same time, it could be another.”
In order to take turns peering through the hole; they leant against the wall. It suddenly wobbled and collapsed with a reverberating crash. The party held their breath.
No-one had come to investigate; so within ten minutes the mages had quickly tidied up the bricks and removed those that were unstable, replacing the hole with an occlusion matching the rest of the tunnel’s walls. Harry and Draco put on Hendy charms and went exploring. They emerged into a deserted subterranean mall with a number of arched openings in it, each labelled with either a road name or an underground line name. Theirs said Abercrombie Lane.
H:*So Mr Turpin’s guess was right.*
D:*Mmm … Look’s like it.”*
H:*That’s useful; do you remember the sign making charm?*
D:*Only the picture ones and I can do the one to hide it from muggle eyes, too.*
H:*Fine, I’ll do the ‘Grimond Place’ ones. You do the arrow and then hide both.*
They made signs at both ends of that tunnel. On the way back they noticed that this passage had small arched recesses in them displaying posters.
D:*We could make our occlusion look like that and put hidden signs up just inside the recess. To a mage it will look like a passage and to a muggle a plain recess.*
H:*Let’s put up a Church service poster for Wilfred’s church. Hopefully no one will paste over it.*
D:*Put it in a pretend glass case … Mmm?*
With Probert’s help they made the occlusion solid enough for the Mr Turpin to lean against it. They then used the ‘Ysabel Blake’ password and the occlusion opened up for twenty-one seconds to allow them inside.
During the following week the Corps arranged to fit up some shielded lights and, borrowing the cloak, managed to connect them to the station’s supply. They also remodelled the pavilion so that the store and the stairs functioned in their intended space – with shelves on the upper-side of the sloping new entrance’s ceiling. They also set up a transfer charm, whereby luggage placed on a painted red square at the bottom of the steps would automatically be transferred to the lobby of the relevant house, when told to. After a couple of weeks’ trial, the occlusion was converted into a password-operated door with a large ‘Residents Only’ sign upon it.
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