Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

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
- 224
- 225
- 226
[Note: “x-x” = speech & ‘x-x’ = thoughts & *x-x* = telepathy & #x-x# = Parseltongue]
(The torturers tortured; sexually, of course)
~~~INCARCERATION~~~
Draco and Harry left Meadow Cottage; whose occupants were busy making the new resident welcome. They strolled down the roman road holding hands and feeling fairly chuffed about Caius’ immediate integration. Harry noticed a strip of newly turned earth alongside the road and remarked that he thought it was too early to be ploughing. Whilst passing through the bridge under the bypass, they stopped for a snog. After a couple of minutes; they heard some derisive laughter and clapping. The two goblinesses were standing there watching and giggling, one holding a pick and the other with a spade in her hands.
“I hope you found our demonstration instructive?” Draco narked.
“We’ve used it for the same purpose too,” confirmed a smiling Jocasta.
“You’re quite a way from the railway for amorous adventures.”
“We’re building a new one. Before you get your knickers in a twist. It’s not Harco Trust money, it’s out of the Quarry Trust’s coffers.”
Draco adjusted his trouser waistline looking puzzled: “I thought I was neat, despite where Harry’s hands had strayed?”
The two goblinesses fell about laughing.
Harry giggled: “It’s not physical, Dray. It’s a muggle saying meaning not to get worried.”
Draco chuffed: “Alright! Tell us about the new line, please?”
“The surface of the old roman road is not up to the traffic we are putting on it. It won’t disintegrate immediately, but we should conserve it, if at all possible. Thus, an idea of building a narrow-gauge railway alongside it was envisaged. The eventual aim is to go as far as Somerford, but Meadow cottages are the first goal. The building team want to bring building materials for cottage repairs and erecting the new glasshouses because, at the moment, only one cottage is really habitable. Those loads would make ruts the road for definite. You already know of the magical exhaustion caused by excessive use of ‘mobili’ based charms, so thaumic transport was also deemed undesirable, thus a reasonable alternative was needed. You’d be surprised how many disused mines and quarries there are around in these hills. Most of them are in years-old liquidation so the receivers are quite pleased to dispose of the lines at a reasonable cost.”
Draco nodded: “I suppose we’ll be using waste stone blocks from the quarry to act as sleepers.”
“Quite so. Blaise has a couple of Sicilian elves who can make glass panes, and the quarry can provide the silica and most of the other chemicals. Those processes will be confined to the quarry, where we hold a licence for smelting. As it’s a similar process and the resultant glass for the new greenhouses can be transported by rail.”
Harry smiled knowingly: “I imagine the ride to Somerford would also be available to the tourists.”
“That hadn’t escaped our deliberations either,” agreed Jocasta, with a grin, “Or transporting church goers. The traction engine is okay, but it is a bit on the heavy side for the ancient paviours. Whilst it was horses and carts, chariots or marching men that was okay. That weight was what the builders intended; modern traction is heavier.”
“Got the idea, thanks. Hmm … Why the muggle tools?”
“What these?” Timothea chuckled: “We’re working where the muggles on the bypass might see us, so ours are englamoured staffs. Doing it the muggle way would take weeks, the thaumic way reduces that to the equivalent number of days.”
“Fine! So, the ploughed strip is in preparation for the ballast, is it?”
“We’ll remove the topsoil first. That’ll go into the new glasshouses for the beds. After consolidation the track-bed waterproofing will be followed by the ballast. Come out of your love-nest and see what’s happening on the village side. That soil has been piled up, ready for transportation on the railway once it’s finished. Each stage can be seen, from the hollowed-out base to the embedded track. It’s been done like that so that each batch of students can work through the whole sequence. There’s an amount of friendly rivalry between the gangs, to see who can lay the best length.” Jocasta giggled: “No doubt we’ll have to sort out the joins afterwards, but that’s a small job.”
The rest of the walk was more like a tour of inspection. Draco adopted his best patrician attitude, asking questions and commending the trainees’ efforts. Quite soon Harry was playing an equivalent part. What pleased them most was the multiracial make-up of each gang; including the good-natured banter. They admired the new bridge over the Pastures Beck, telling the goblinesses and the nearby students the story of Oddball’s rescue at the same time. At Oak Farm, after throwing off a short siding, the track left the side of the road and went diagonally across the fields to form a triangular junction with the main line. Here Jocasta explained further:
“The line ahead is more for passenger use going to and from church. The other faces the quarry. Of course, the original line makes the base of the triangle; Griswold thinks he may use this triangle to turn rakes of skips if the wheel treads show excessive wear on one side.”
One of the students came to ask the goblinesses some advice so the seers wished them goodbye; walking through the village to the cottage. When they arrived, there was a message waiting for them from Hubert.
Harry read it: ‘Georgas Grooly will see you tomorrow at eleven o’clock. He is not too happy about coming up to the surface for a long time and suggests Waystation Ø, which is situated beneath Myddlegarth Hall.’
“That’s easy,” remarked Draco: “It’s Henry Finch-Fletchley’s place.”
“Fine! I’ll daffodil Hubert and say that we’ll be there.”
~~~ MEETING ~~~
Dressed in their smart clothes, Draco and Harry arrived early and had coffee with Margery; going down to the Waystation in good time. At five-to-eleven they felt the breeze issuing from the main tunnel. So, by the appointed hour Georgas had exited the phaeton and was shaking hands and greeting them formally. They went into the waystation waiting area, where another coffee was waiting for them.
“I understand that you might have a solution to the Bole contract, Seers.” Georgas sipped his coffee thoughtfully.
“We gather that they made a blood contract with your clan about imprisoning another goblin.”
“Yes … Here it is for your perusal.”
“Thank you!” Draco took it and Harry looked over his shoulder.
D:*All in order, but a bit harsh.*
Harry put on a quizzical expression: “It seems to be in order, Sir. I hope I’m not too impertinent. You see, I was brought up by muggles. So, I don’t always understand all the nuances of thaumic contracts. The default clause requiring a replacement person if the price wasn’t paid, does seem a little harsh. Perhaps you could explain, please?”
Georgas grinned: “I agree it was harsh. That’s why the repayment was high. I knew Lucian Bole would gain much from the transaction if he was successful. I was rather hoping he would default so we could have him confined,” Georgas grinned ruefully: “But the Wizengamot got him first.”
“That I can understand, but why the life-for-a-life clause?”
“I’ve heard of your reputation for fairness. A life for a life is scrupulously fair, surely?”
“You have a point, but I suspect you had other motives too … Um … revenge, maybe?” Harry guessed.
“Ah! I see you are well informed. Very well … Let me see … It goes back a year before the Battle of Hogwarts. During the time when you were destroying Horcruxes. Voldemort and his death-eaters forced their way into Gringotts.” Georgas chuffed: “That was before you raided the place. A young member of our clan was conducting business there and, unable to defend himself properly, was seized as a hostage in an effort to force concessions out of the governors. Some of the concessions were granted but the hostage was not returned. We remonstrated with them but were told, in no uncertain terms, that low caste magicals were of little import, and that the hostage was being held to ensure our continued compliance.”
“Yes, I heard about that during the trials,” remarked Harry: “It was feared that he was dead, but there were counter-claims that he had escaped. As neither side could prove the allegations, either by producing the person or the body, it was left in abeyance.”
“Something that, from the clan’s point of view, was unsatisfactory. To give them the credit, the few remaining aurors did carry out a search of the known graves and other likely places; but could find nothing. We bided our time and continued to search. There were a multitude of places where bodies could be hidden, and we eventually found two goblin carcases one of which could have been him. Problem was that they had been tortured sexually and were so disfigured that identification was nigh on impossible. Painstakingly, all the missing goblins were accounted for and it eventually became obvious that one of the two corpses was the hostage from our clan. By that time all the trials had been long finished and the perpetrators punished. The trail went cold, but at least we had foreclosure and reburied the body with due ceremony in the clan’s plot.”
“Our late condolences, for what they’re worth. There were quite a few disappeared mages, too. At least you could be fairly certain what had happened.”
“Thank you. Yes, I know all of us were in the same position. It was a year after the battle trials ended; when those doubtful vaults were being investigated, under the new legislation, that some personal items turned up belonging to the dead clan member. They were in the Borgin and Burke vault in a marked pack marked ‘Bl. pledge’. As you may remember that shop caught fire not long after the battle and all its records were lost. The proprietors, when questioned, really had little idea what had been loaned on the items, or who had made it. Quite rightly, they argued that the clan member could have pawned them. They agreed that the label suggested a member of any family whose surname began with ‘B’, and suggested that many of their clients came in under glamours, especially in the anxious period during Voldemort’s reign.”
“No proof positive, would be the auror reaction. I’m sorry that we were not more helpful.”
“In a way it was. At least we knew who to suspect, but we were covert. You may not know but Lucian is partial to tippling. One night about a year ago, he became boastfully drunk. That was an ideal time for our agent to lace his drink with Veritaserum and pump him for information. Eventually he boasted that he had got away with killing two inferior beings. The location he mentioned was fairly close to the original graves, so now we had a reasonable idea of who committed the crime. However, one person’s word against another needs corroboration and we obviously couldn’t admit to the authorities the illegal use of the truth potion. Now we were fairly certain; imagine our surprise when he approached us with his little fine-avoidance scam. Not that we let him know of our clan affiliation. It took some manoeuvring, but he eventually signed the contract in his own blood. Now we want him or his family to pay. It looks as though his foolish signing has put one of his family in peril seeing that Azkaban has him.”
“Say we deliver one of his family to you. What do you intend to do to them?”
“Not kill them, Oh no! What would be ideal, was for Bole Senior to see his family member enslaved and to understand how his malevolent actions had placed innocent relations in danger. And that his kindred would serve a lifelong sentence.”
“We have a couple of his family members incarcerated at the moment," confirmed Draco: "However they are not innocent by a long chalk. Like your identification, it might be hard to prove, but we’re fairly certain. The same as their uncle they’ve been indulging in sexual torture, but not disfigurement. We could prosecute but it would be extremely messy and bring Hogwarts’ reputation into question. You are probably aware that certain private rites of passage occur during puberty. Those happen in Hogwarts just as they do in the goblin mines. They really do not harm the participants and are more like sexual pranks. These two Boles took it a bit further to satisfy their own perverted appetites. Bringing their victims to testify in court will only cause a big fuss.”
“I’m with you,” Georgas chuckled: “We messed around, too, when we were in the mining school.”
“I understand the bwca or kobolds became involved.”
“As I said before, you’re extremely well informed. You mentioned two Boles?”
“We understood you might claim restitution for a lost kobold.”
“The point was discussed. Had it been a Bole that we were negotiating with, we might have pressed the suit, in order to give way and seem compassionate. Does the kobold wish to return?”
“We think he would rather not. I don’t think he had the stomach to be a harsh jailer.”
“I agree with you. Some of them are not cut out for that kind of life. Would he be well looked after?”
“It’s a bit early to make a final judgement, but the indications are that he’s satisfied. You may not be aware, but he helped us sexually to sort out some other youngsters. He seems to have fallen for one, too.”
“His supervisor advised me of his compassionate nature. That was one reason he was assigned to Ganymede Griphook. Is it he that Knob has fallen for? That captor/captive connexion has been well documented. If so, I would be wary of encouraging it.”
“It’s not Ganymede, no. It’s another young man who was briefly a captive. That’s one reason why we cannot yet say that Knob is content. It may be a brief liaison. If he wants to return to the mines later, we’ll not stand in his way. I suspect however, that he’ll probably become attached to Gabriellus Gratian, the mining professor, not in romantic way, but as some form of tutor.”
“I had heard that Gabby was with you in your multi-racial establishment. A kobold would be another addition, wouldn’t he?”
“I hope you are not imputing political motives,” Harry bristled slightly: “Knob came of his own accord. We get the feeling he was afraid of the repercussions if he lost a prisoner.”
“There is that,” Georgas continued blandly: “The kobold prison régime is somewhat unforgiving. Not that I think Knob fitted in. We occasionally have them. We try and find them a safe place elsewhere in Magicdom. Kobolds usually don’t have the thaumic capacity that goblins and mages do. Not that they’re squibs.” Georgas looked worriedly at Harry: “Oh dear … That’s sounds a bit racial, doesn’t it? It wasn’t intended that way.”
D:*Probably how Father got our kobold.*
Harry smiled gently: “Knob has already told us. However, Hermione, the College Principal, thinks that, like the centaurs and satyrs, he may manifest his magic differently. Probably more physical than cerebral, or even sexual. So, with his willing agreement, they’re going to conduct some experiments. She often quotes the elves’ heightened ward-piercing and apparitional skills as an example. Um … We still have a problem … that of the other Bole cousin.”
Georgas grinned: “Oh! I think we might be able to take him off your hands, if you like. After all, we were claiming for a lost kobold.”
Draco grinned back: “That would be most kind. How would you like them both delivered? Wrapped or unwrapped.”
“Packaging is such a waste of money, wouldn’t you say? I like to see the goods before I buy. Where do you envisage the delivery taking place?”
“At present they are incarcerated in Hogsmeade. They would have to be doubly packaged to reach here.”
“How so?”
“Dressed and encapsulated.”
“Not heard of encapsulation before.”
“It’s an auror charm that incarcerates the suspect and inhibits both incoming and outgoing thaums. We use it for taking malcontents through wards that would otherwise reject them.”
“Taking them through your portals would put them on public show. I didn’t think you wanted that. Our nearest end-station to Hogsmeade is at Carn Dubh, about forty magi-leagues south-east from there. Now the muggle coal-mining has stopped it’s very quiet.”
“The encapsulated captive plus an added command normally delivers him to the auror headquarters.” Harry chuckled: “However, I’m sure that Draco and I can alter it to a different destination.”
Draco adopted a wily expression: “Is there any place where two of your enslaved people could be seen publicly? I believe we might be able to apply to interview Lucian Bole about certain irregularities. Maybe even take him to an alleged scene of a crime.”
“I daresay we could have them working on some repairs or excavations in a Gringotts Branch somewhere,” Georgas looked equally devious: “There’s still a lot of work being carried at our Vienna branch. We keep on finding treasures that were hidden during the muggle Nazi occupation. Some of them are of doubtful provenance. My understanding is that certain reinen-blutes were affiliated to the thaumic section of that party. Like the muggle gauleiters they appropriated valuables that were not their own. I believe that there was at least one Bole family member indicted and shot.”
Draco’s Machiavellian instincts were at the fore: “I think we have a working arrangement, Georgas. May we contact you in the next couple of days? After we all have made further enquiries.”
“That seems acceptable. Now let me take you to Carn Dubh.”
~~~ END STATION ~~~
Georgas said he would wait in the phaeton whilst Draco and Harry went up the shaft. They emerged from a log hut next door to a small croft in a dense fir forest.
“Hello Harry, I didn’t know you knew where we lived.”
Harry racked his brains for a few seconds: “Hi, Hilary. We’ve been exploring the phaeton system and come to this northern outpost.”
Hilary nodded to Draco: “I didn’t know that the phaetons were common knowledge.”
Draco grinned: “They aren’t. But, Harry being Harry, he has been entrusted with the knowledge. Therefore I, as his partner, also know.”
“Do you intend staying? Only my father is away for a couple of days and Mother and I were about to leave and join him for the weekend.”
“We were only on a discovery mission. What happens to security when you’re away?”
“We’re fairly isolated, so no one calls, except the laird. He’s with Papa at this conference. There’s nothing worth stealing, if someone came around. Any valuables are hidden behind thaumic locked doors glamoured to look like walls. The shaft top only appears when an attested magical is present. Folk up here are fairly honest anyway.”
D:*We could bring them here and into the shaft without anyone knowing.*
H:*Just what I was thinking!*
They chatted for half an hour or so with Hilary and her mother; afterwards making their farewells and descending to make Saturday arrangements with Georgas.
~~~ TRANSFER ~~~
Following breakfast on Saturday Draco and Harry posted to Hogwarts and then walked to the cottage. Knob was there ensuring the captives had been fed and that they were cleansing themselves and their cages properly. He may not have been too gifted thaumically, but he was quite capable of sending stinging hexes from his truncheon if the two inmates became stroppy.
As the two seers watched the cleansing process.
D [cattily]:*That looks as though it could be used as a dildo,*
H [archly]:*I hope you weren’t thinking of getting one. I much prefer your warm fleshy one to any insensitive model.*
The brunet jumped aside to avoid being splashed.
D:*I wouldn’t deprive myself of the delightful stimulation you provide, thanks. However, I could imagine one stuck inside a prisoner and a modified Rictusempra released. Imagine the continual excitement of his prostate … Gah! I am.”
H:*I can see your bulge expanding. Think of Dumbles undressed instead, or Uncle Severus.*
D:*Got it … Under control … thanks. There were rumours that they were an item, once.*
Draco shuddered as his protrusion subsided.
“You two queers finished ogling our privates, have you?” Verrucous’ rude question interrupted the seers, transfers. “What’re you doing here, anyway?”
“We’ve come to transfer you to your new domicile.”
“I knew the family would get our release.”
“It seems your family has a contract that has to be fulfilled,” replied Draco: “One whose stipulations cannot be avoided.”
“Good. Tell that nasty kobold to give us our clothes, then we can get out of here.”
“Before we leave, we want a piece of him. He’d no right to do what he did to us,” demanded Plautus angrily.
Harry grinned evilly: “You won’t need clothes where you’re going. Encapsulo! Encapsulo!”
The two cousins fought against the clinging film that surrounded them to no avail. Once it clouded over, stopping their sight they quietened down a bit.
“We’d be better side-alonging them Draco. I cannot easily find a way of not sending them to the aurors otherwise.”
Draco giggled: “Well … it would need a lot of fast talk to explain to Mac, wouldn’t it? Not even He-who-lived-twice could get away with it.”
Harry grinned: “Exactly!”
Two Mobilicorpus charms had the two prisoners outside and then the squeezing feeling of apparition was alleviated somewhat by side-alonging during their transportation to Carn Dubh. A further Mobilicorpus had them down the shaft and into a phaeton. That form of transport took them to Waystation Ø where they met Georgas.
“Do they know about this form of transport?”
“The encapsulation keeps them ignorant of their whereabouts until we lift it.”
“Good. Let’s take them to our reception area.”
It took a number of different phaeton rides to arrive at the Clans’ reception area where the two captives were Mobilicorpussed through a grilled gate to where a number of well-muscled kobolds stood in menacing postures.
Harry’s: “Finite Incantatem!” had the two naked Boles looking around in alarm.
“Where are we,” demanded Verrucous: “This doesn’t look like the auror reception area.”
“It isn’t! Draco adopted an archly innocent expression: “How come you’re aware what the auror reception area looks like? Do I suppose that you have visited it regularly?”
“Don’t say anything more,” said Plautus, scowling at his cousin.
H:*I don’t remember their names from the records.*
D:*Probably used aliases!*
“Detainees will only speak when given permission,” the sergeant kobold observed fiercely.
“We don’t take orders from inferior beings,” returned Verrucous, equally fiercely.
At the nod of the sergeant two other kobolds grabbed Verrucous and two others grabbed Plautus. The sergeant strode forward purposefully and stood in front of Verrucous.
“That’s where you’re wrong, Detainee!” The sergeant waved his truncheon in front of Verrucous’ nose.
“I’m a mage. You lot cannot touch me, or you’ll be in breach of the Potter Accords.” He looked craftily at our brunet: “Won’t he, Sir Harry?”
“That is assuming that anyone reports it to the aurors," replied Seneschal Potter, haughtily: "I, for one, won’t, and I’m sure my partner is of the same mind.”
“Oh! Then the Bole family patrician will.” He shook himself: “Get off me you low-down curs!”
The sergeant grinned: “You call them sir, understand?”
“I’ll not demean myself.”
“No?” The sergeant stared into Verrucous’ eyes. “You will!”
“I won’t! Argh-h-h-h-h! No-o-o-o-o!”
The sergeant had shoved his truncheon just where Draco had envisaged it earlier. Pain and lasciviousness fought one another in the cousin’s visage, as his boner sprang up and began to leak. Another kobold used his truncheon to occasionally beat the protrusion.
Verrucous howled.
“Please Sir, he didn’t mean it,” pleaded Plautus.
“How do you know?” asked the sergeant as Verrucous started to pump his body in preparation to discharging his pearly cum. The truncheon remained inserted. Borrowing another one; the officer walked over to Plautus: “Your turn next Detainee! Willing or obstructive?”
Plautus looked blank for a minute. Then a look of recognition passed over his face and he turned, bent down, and stuck his arse towards the sergeant. The sergeant beckoned to the kobold whose truncheon he had borrowed and returned the instrument. The kobold was gentler with Plautus than the sergeant had been with Verrucous, but the truncheon still went in.
The sergeant returned to Verrucous and pushed him towards a door in the wall. That Mr Bole had difficulty in walking with the truncheon still inside, and his body still wanting to pump; was very obvious and had the onlookers laughing at him. Plautus followed on, but his kobold had levitated him. Plautus actually looked as though he might be enjoying himself because the other kobolds were not beating his prick. Instead they were playing with it.
That was the last Harry and Draco saw of the two Bole cousins.
“As you saw, the recalcitrant ones are treated harshly,” remarked Georgas: “The amenable ones will have it much easier. Even so they’ll stand no nonsense.”
Harry was feeling sympathetic, but Draco pre-empted him: *They’re receiving the kind of behaviour that they meted out to their victims. We have no sympathy for them; they neither of them showed contrition nor pleaded for mercy. They even terrorised their own relations.*
F:*Don’t disrupt the arrangement now, my son. They deserve it and great good will come from this exchange.*
Harry glanced around and spotted Fawkes disguised as a bat hanging from a beam.
H:*Fine!*
Draco added: “We’ll let you know if there’s a possibility of Lucian being accompanied to a crime scene.”
Georgas smiled: “Thank you. If it is too difficult, don’t worry overmuch. No doubt you could convey our completion of contract letter to him and maybe explain which of his relations are subject to its completion.”
“Of course, we would, Goodbye.”
The two seers left after shaking hands and wishing polite adieus. They went via the phaetons to the Waystation † beneath Gringotts, which was nearest. Thence by the carts up to the main concourse where they met Hubert.
“Do I take it that the transaction has been completed successfully?”
“Yes, thank you.”
“Good! I think you have influenced one of the more difficult clans towards supporting the entente cordiale.
F:*Just as I told you!*
“Georgas seemed quite pleased.”
“You have mellowed him, if he allowed you to call him by his given name.”
“Not too mellow. Apart from our formal greetings and departures we avoided names.”
“Even then … …”
“He mentioned something about your Vienna branch discovering Nazi loot.”
“Not from the muggle ones just certain reinen-blutes who were sympathetic. There are also some legitimate documents being unearthed. Where family members can no longer be found we are reading them and applying common-sense solutions if necessary. As you can imagine, it takes a long time to see if any relatives still alive.”
"Yes! That happened when Francis had to prove my descent from the Peverell family and there was another search when Samantha’s other heirs had to be discounted before I became Lord of the Manor.”
“Of course! The revenues of your accounts come from all kinds of interesting sources. If, by any chance, you gain Georgas’ ear, you might reinforce the Limits of Contracts bill I’m sponsoring in the Gynulliad.”
“Of course, we will. Goodbye.”
~~~ WEDDINGS ~~~
A couple of weeks later Ganymede came to see them: "I owe you a debt of gratitude for rescuing me."
"All part of the service, Gandy. Dumbledorians help each other without incurring thaumic debts. Keeping tabs on all our helping activities would be far too complicated."
"Thanks anyway! I'm an envoy for the other two as well. You know we've been seeing some delightful goblinesses. Well, we proposed to them and they accepted. As godfathers we felt you should be the first to know, after our parents."
"Thanks for the information. We had noticed you paying undivided attention to the girls. Do I suppose we have to take part in the wedding ceremonies?"
"Only if you want to."
"Of course, we do. Have you set a date yet?"
"That’s the next job. Do you think John would be offended if we asked Tim to do it? We want a full Nuptial Mass."
"You'll need three priests for that."
"We sort of saw Tim presiding with John and Estéban assisting."
"Don't hurt John's feelings. Why not approach it by suggesting that you were in Tim's ethics classes and got to know him well."
"That's a good idea ... Erm ... There's something else too."
"Go on?"
"It’s about houses ... Erm ... There're the foundations of three old ones opposite the ones on the roman road. Dean and Seamus say they could make them their next project. You may not know it, but in goblin culture our wives take on new personal names. So, you'll have to get used to calling them Selene, Galatea and Penelope. Like our nicknames we'll become, Gal and Gandy, Penny and Probes Sally and Sell."
"What happens to their given names?"
"They become their second names, just as we adopt their family names as our second names. No doubt you've already noticed that our main and family names begin with the same letter. It follows and ages old tradition."
"I can see that, but where do clans come in?"
"They are bigger than families, we all belong to the Gwyddno Clan."
"Is your ultimate head the person who owned the magic hamper?" asked Draco.
"Magic hamper?
"Yes Harry. Put rations for one man in and then it gives you rations for nine more. About the only piece of thaumic provision multiplying ever recorded."
"Did you forget Jesus feeding the five-thousand?"
"But we're mere mortals even if we have the thaumic gene."
"Unfortunately, the old hamper got lost in one of the many battles between mages and goblins. We've digressed. What I wanted to ask is if we could rebuild those cottages. Our families are prepared to put up some of the finance as a wedding present. We’ve got some tents lined up as temporary accommodation meanwhile."
H:*Shall we give the plots as ours?*
D:*Seems like a good idea.*
A:*You get our votes too.*
"How about us giving you the freehold of the plots as part of our wedding present?"
"That's very generous ... Would that include gardens?"
"Of course, the usual rood should be enough, but if you need more?"
"No. Gal, Penny and Sally will be working on the farms most of the time, they've become part of Horrty's team. The gardens will be our responsibility as a relaxation from our normal pursuits."
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