Chapter Text
Chapter 23
Harry was rather distracted while the next few new residents arrived, though he wasn’t sure what was bugging him. He did have a lot on his mind, with a mile-long to-do list that was filled with urgent tasks, so perhaps it was simply that.
The arrival of Mildred Fletcher shook Harry out of whatever was keeping his mind occupied. Mildred was a short woman in her late fifties, with curly brown hair streaked with grey, who was accompanied by her son Frank, a fairly newly infected werewolf who was in his twenties.
“Is there a post office?” Mildred asked while Frank read through all the paperwork. “It’s just that our screech owl Dumpy died just last month. She was an old gal, such a lovely bird. We haven’t gotten around to getting a new owl yet, but I do send weekly letters to my sister in Oakmoore on Wye, and she’ll get awfully worried if I stopped corresponding with her all of a sudden.”
Harry blinked a few times to process that sudden stream of information. “I’ll make a post office, that’s no problem. But if your sister is magical, wouldn’t it be easier for her to move here?”
Mildred gave Harry a sad little smile. “My sister’s magical, yes, but she’s married to a muggle, a very nice man, Herbert Nieves. My sister lives mostly as a muggle, to be honest, she prefers that, and she’s very active with the Oakmoore on Wye Woman’s Institute, she’d never leave that behind.”
“Alright!” Harry said quickly, to cut her off. Mildred seemed like a lovely lady but Harry’s ears were practically ringing at that point. “Post office it is!”
“I’d like to try farming,” Frank Fletcher replied when Remus asked him what he’d like to do. “My muggle grandfather was a farmer, and I always enjoyed spending my childhood holidays there, riding on the tractor with him.”
“We need farmers desperately,” Harry said, giving Frank an encouraging smile. “I can lease you for free, say 100 acres to grow wheat, to start with. You can work the land and after the harvest you have to pay 20 percent of any earnings back to Magica.”
Frank gave Harry a thoughtful nod. “Yeah, that seems like something I could do.”
“I’m glad to hear that.” And Harry was very glad to hear that because while people could easily grow a lot of fruit and vegetables themselves around their homes, crops like wheat and other grains could really only be grown on a much larger scale to make it worthwhile.
Remus sent the new residents to Chestnut Drive, to occupy the last available house there after Frank signed the lease for the agricultural land.
The last new resident for that day was a young man in his late twenties with short blond hair and bright blue eyes. “Billy Malone,” he said in a thick Irish accent. “I’m not a werewolf, but me mate Shaun is, and he told me to move here.” Billy gave Harry a cheeky wink. “I’m a muggleborn and openly gay, and as it turns out lots of the conservative folk in magical Britain don’t like to hire people like me. I’ve been bartending in muggle pubs in Kilkenny since finishing Hogwarts.”
“You are more than welcome here,” Remus assured him with a warm smile, handing over the necessary paperwork.
“Is there a bank here or something?” Billy asked once he’d read and signed the contracts. “I’d like to get a loan to open a pub. Shaun said anyone could open a business here, and that you didn’t have a pub yet.”
“We don’t have a bank yet,” Harry said, as he looked Billy over a time or two. He was a good-looking young man, more cute than handsome, and he kept offering Harry rather suggestive looks. “But I’m more than willing to offer you a small, interest-free loan to get you started in your business.”
“Would you?” Billy’s grin was almost blinding. “I’ve got some savings, but buying inventory for a pub will be costly. Sign me up for a commercial building then.”
“The storefronts have space for a flat above them,” Harry pointed out. “If you choose to live there instead of in a separate house, I’ll give you the storefront on a housing contract. That way you won’t have to pay rent.”
Billy agreed at once. “Deal. Can you show me what property it is exactly, mate?” This was all said with the kind of look Harry had seen hundreds of times before.
“I’d be more than happy to,” Harry said, ignoring Remus’ quiet chuckle. Remus was far too observant for his own good. “This way.”
“No,” V cawed while he gave Billy a fierce glare. “No.”
“Fuck off,” Harry grumbled while he led Billy across town square to a large storefront that stood empty still. “If you don’t want to watch, then wait outside.”
V flapped his wings, hitting Harry repeatedly against the side of his head.
“Real mature, V,” Harry whispered while giving his companion a shove, almost pushing him right off his shoulder.
“Dumb man, dumb man,” V cawed loudly in Billy’s direction before finally flying off Harry’s shoulder and landing on one of the nearby buildings so he could glare at Harry with narrowed eyes.
“Sorry about that,” Harry said with an apologetic smile while he preceded Billy into the empty store. “This is the largest store I’ve got available.”
“Aye, this will be perfect,” Billy said as he walked across the empty space.
“It needs work, obviously.” Harry stood against one of the side walls, glancing around the empty space. “I can introduce you to Erika and Claire, who know where to find cheap timber offcuts to transfigure into bar furniture.”
“I am good at transfiguration,” Billy said as he approached Harry with a tilt of his head, letting his eyes roam across Harry’s body. “I’m good at other things, too.”
“I thought you might be,” Harry agreed with a chuckle. “Why don’t you get on your knees and show me?”
“That would be my pleasure, mate.” And without pause, Billy dropped to his knees in front of Harry, opened Harry’s linen trouser, took his hardening cock out and sucked it into his mouth.
Harry leaned his head back against the wall, one hand sliding through Billy’s hair. It had been far too long since Harry had enjoyed sex of any kind, so when the opportunity presented itself, Harry wasn’t going to deny himself this simple pleasure. Harry enjoyed fucking women, had fucked plenty in his long life, but he really appreciated the uncomplicated way men could have sex with each other just for the sake of exchanging orgasms without it needing to mean anything more than that.
Billy was good at sucking cock, and Harry stared down at him with a smile, but as he watched Billy’s head bob up and down, something struck him as off about the whole situation. The blowjob was fine, Billy got him off just fine, but it still lacked something. Harry squeezed his eyes shut after he came down Billy’s throat.
“You like that?” Billy asked, licking his lips as he stood up again.
“Yeah, come here.” And without wasting any time, Harry reached for Billy’s trousers, yanked them open and gave Billy a quick hand-job. It didn’t take long for Billy to come.
“Ta, mate,” Billy said as he put himself back to rights.
“Yeah, you too,” Harry said, offering Billy a quick smile. “I’ll be in the library for the rest of the morning, if you have any questions.”
“Sure. See you later.” Billy went back to admiring the empty space where his pub was going to be while Harry strolled out the door.
V flew down to land on Harry’s shoulder at once while giving him a frankly disgusted look. “Dumb dick, dumb dick.”
Harry briefly closed his eyes and shook his head. V had always been a temperamental companion, prone to bouts of sudden jealousy, but he’d never actually insulted Harry’s penis before. “I’ve got needs, V.”
“Dumb dick.”
“Fine, my dick is dumb,” Harry said with a chuckle. “It’s also been expertly sucked, which it needed, I assure you.”
“Dumb dick.”
Harry wasn’t lying, though. His cock had needed a bit of attention, more than Harry’s own hand could provide. But while having his cock sucked had cleared Harry’s mind a little, there was still a lingering feeling of distraction that Harry studiously chose to ignore. He had a library to get ready.
The library was the tallest building in town square with three stories. Town Hall only had two, just like all the other buildings. The outer walls were finished but the inside was still utterly bare, so Harry got to work on creating inner walls, ceilings, and staircases. He installed public bathrooms on each floor, and a private area for the staff to take breaks. Then he transfigured the bare stone floors into soft grey carpets, giving the whole building a more welcoming look. He added light fixtures that he inscribed with simple runes that could be turned on and off with a single tap of a wand. Lastly he transfigured the simple, solid wooden front door in much more attractive double doors with large glass panels in them, and above it he inscribed ‘SPELLBRIDGE PUBLIC LIBRARY’ right into the white stone.
That would do for now. Regulus could take over from here, put a reception desk wherever he wanted, get the shelving in and start filling the whole building with books.
Harry apparated home for a quick lunch of a few sandwiches and two cups of tea, and then he went back to town square for yet another job that needed doing. Harry selected one of the smaller empty storefronts and inscribed ‘SPELLBRIDGE POST OFFICE’ in the stone before he went inside to create the necessary furniture. Harry transfigured a large stone counter that ran across most of the length of the store. He turned the top of it into a smooth wooden board. He added wooden benches along the other side, where people could sit, with small side tables where they could write if needed. Behind the counter, Harry added a few wooden perches along the length of the store, where owls could sit. In the back he created a few large, square window that opened easily and would allow owls in and out quickly without having to fly through the visitor part of the store.
When that was all done, Harry strolled to Chestnut Drive, where he found Mildred and Frank busily unpacking their furniture and decorating their new home.
“I’ve got the post office ready,” Harry told a beaming Mildred. “Just need to go buy some owls. I’d like you to run the post office.”
“Me?” Mildred clutched a hand to her chest in shock. “Why?”
“You seem like a very lovely lady who’d do a good job of it,” Harry said with an easy smile. “For now, there won’t be much work to do yet, aside from looking after the owls. But as our community grows, so will the number of customers.”
“I could knit while sitting in the post office, I suppose,” Mildred mused as she stared over Harry’s shoulder at nothing at all. “I love knitting and I’d been meaning to start knitting comfy jumpers and vests and socks, and perhaps sell them or trade them.”
“That would work,” Harry agreed quickly. “I’ll pay you for your time, of course.”
Mildred looked like she wanted to protest, but Harry beat her to it. “You’ll be running my business for me, Mildred. So you’ll get paid, end of story.”
“Oh, fine.” Mildred’s cheeks coloured a rosy red but she did seem quite happy with her new job.
And Harry was happy he had his first personal business set up. That was something he’d done in Sildar as well, when he’d first created that community. Harry was more than happy to pour gold into the community as it was developing, but Harry’s big pile of gold wasn’t endless, so Harry had also opened up a few small businesses that eventually became profitable and added some gold back to Harry’s depleted pile. And that was exactly what he hoped would happen with the post office as well. It would take a while for their population to grow, but eventually there would be enough inhabitants that the post office would earn Harry a bit of profit at the end of the day.
Harry quickly apparated to Britain to visit Diagon Alley and the Owl Emporium where he bought five young owls. Two barn owls, two tawny owls and one large eagle owl. That seemed more than enough to start off with. He’d let Mildred name them, as she would be their main caretaker, and if she needed more owls in the future, Harry would buy more, simple as that.
Harry also popped into the Diagon Alley Post Office to see what their prices were like and what other services they offered. They even had a helpful brochure that the kind, elderly gentleman behind the counter offered him, and Harry happily stuck it in his pocket before he went in search of any second-hand bookstore he could find.
While Harry was tempted to just buy the whole collection of books in the first second-hand bookstore he found, he figured that might be a bit much, since Regulus was bringing in large amounts of books, and Harry would soon be copying the entire Hogwarts library. So instead Harry simply bought every book they had on vegetable gardening, farming, raising livestock and all different types of construction and home improvement. There was also a nice selection on magical crafts and trades which he figured would also be helpful for people looking for ways to make a living.
The clerk behind the counter didn’t blink an eye while he rang up Harry’s small mountain of books, for which Harry was more than grateful because he wasn’t in the mood to answer any questions. The longer they could keep Magica a secret, the better. Harry was just glad that Magica had finally been moved to beyond any economical zones and was now officially its own nation that couldn’t be claimed by anyone else.
After dropping the owls off at the post office and the books at the library, Harry went home, already exhausted and the day wasn’t even over.
“Igor, bring me wine!” Harry bellowed as he sank down behind his desk in the library.
“Eurgh!”
Harry pulled several sheets of paper close to go over his many to-do lists while Igor put a bottle of wine at his elbow. Harry quickly poured himself a glass while he crossed off a few items from his list, only to add about a dozen more.
He really needed to get help.
“Rain, rain,” V cawed from his perch while he stared out the window. Harry glanced over his shoulder. It had indeed started raining, and thick drops coated his windows as it poured buckets outside.
“That’s good for the trees, V,” Harry said, leaning back in his chair while he sipped his wine. It felt strange, consuming food and drink without his beard. Before, he’d always been conscious about his beard and moustache, to make sure he didn’t smear foodstuffs all over them, but now he could be as adventurous as he wanted to be when tipping his glass back.
Maybe V did have a point about that beard.
As Harry read over his many lists, he spotted something that would certainly help him with his impossibly busy schedule. Raising the Black family’s dead house-elves as inferi.
At once, a renewed burst of energy had Harry sitting up straighter. He could turn every dead house-elf he could find into inferi and have them work on his castle’s grounds and build more roads and farm more land. It was a little late now, since it was almost dinnertime and the sun was setting rapidly. Besides, he had promised Voldemort to take him along when he raised the elves, so perhaps this could be a job for the next day.
A loud bang that made the whole castle shake made Harry spill his wine all over his lists. Another bang followed, and another, as though something very large was trying to bring down Harry’s front door.
“Loud beast, loud beast,” V cawed while quickly hopping onto Harry’s shoulder. Even Keket, who’d been napping on her favourite bearskin rug, jumped up and followed Harry to the entrance hall.
Carefully, unsure what he’d find, Harry opened the door.
Rigel the dragon sat on Harry’s lawn, soaking wet, rain pouring off his large wings in streams, head bent while giving Harry a most pitiful look.
“Ah, crap, Rigel, I’m sorry,” Harry said at once while V cackled with laughter on Harry’s shoulder.
“Wet beast, wet beast!”
Rigel hung his head even more, looking as miserable as a dragon could possibly ever look.
Harry thought for a moment before coming up with a good solution. “How about I make you some comfortable, dragon-sized caves in the side of the mountain.”
Rigel raised his head a little, orange eyes widening in a hopeful look.
“We can call that mountain Mount Dragonstone from now on,” Harry said, warming up to the subject. “And it will be your official home from now on.”
Nodding his large head up and down a few times, Rigel raised himself up and flapped his enormous wings, sending puddles of water flying.
“Let me get my cloak.” Harry quickly pulled his still singed cloak on and then stepped outside. “I’ll apparate there.”
Rigel quickly stepped closer to Harry and lowered his upper body.
Harry frowned. “What?”
Shoving his shoulder against Harry carefully, Rigel gave Harry an expectant look.
“Oh. Yeah. Let’s fly, cousin.” Harry climbed on top of the dragon’s wet back, and he quickly scooted forwards when Keket jumped up behind him. V settled right in front of Harry, wings spread a little to help keep his balance. Rigel spread his large wings and hobbled along the slippery meadow while flapping his wings furiously. For a moment it seemed that they might crash when Rigel slipped a little on the wet ground, but he corrected himself in time and the next thing Harry knew they were flying.
And flying on a dragon’s back was very different than flying on a broomstick. Keket roared with excitement, since this was her first time flying, ever, while V was grumbling critique under his breath. And Harry just relaxed and enjoyed the ride, even though the rain was pouring down, soaking him in minutes.
Rigel took his time flying around the whole island, giving Harry the full tour, and even though it was dusk and darkening quickly they still saw plenty below them. The four streets of Spellbridge had houses with lights shining behind their windows, and it gave Harry a very warm feeling that there were people, his people, now living safe and sound in those homes. Voldemort’s home was also lit up, as was Black Manor.
Below them they saw the sheep huddled together while the Scottish Highland coos kept grazing as if barely even noticing the rain. Harry’s precious Shetland ponies seemed rather intimidated by a dragon flying overhead and started galloping across the lush meadows in a mild panic.
And Harry felt a swell of emotions in his chest at seeing his new land, his new country.
His new life.
At once he felt an intense longing for Sildar, for his family and friends there, but at the same time he was also filled with excitement at the idea of developing Magica further.
After a good half hour, Rigel landed on the side of the mountain. Well, it was more like crashing with style, but they all made it out alive without any injuries and that’s what counted. A soaked Harry wasted no time and started transfiguring a whole network of large caves into the side of the mountain. He inscribed runes in the walls to keep the caves at a comfortable temperature year round, and he added lots of transfigured straw to one of the caves in the back so Rigel would have a nice, soft nest to sleep on.
Rigel nodded with approval and settled down in his new home immediately. Harry said his goodbyes and apparated back home, pulling V and Keket with him.
The ride on the dragon had been an immense amount of fun, but it had also chilled him to the bone thanks to the downpour.
“Igor, run me a bath!”
“Eurgh!”
Harry heated up a simple bowl of leftover stew, grabbed his bottle of wine, and then sat in the warm water while he ate his dinner as V chattered at him about this thing or that. Afterwards, Harry decided to call it a night and settled into bed, V on his headboard and Keket stretched out beside him. Harry had held back a few books to read before donating them to the library, and he read about the upkeep of magical orchards until his eyes drooped shut.
The next morning, a well-rested Harry strolled over to Voldemort’s mansion for their inferi playdate.
Quirrell answered the door. “May I help you?”
Harry felt strange again at seeing that man sharing a house with Voldemort. “I’m going to raise house-elves from the dead and I thought Voldemort would like to join me.”
Quirrell blinked at Harry a few times before slowly turning around. “Just a moment please.”
Turning his back to the door, Harry waited not so patiently until finally Voldemort appeared.
“I’d love to join you while you –“ Voldemort snapped his mouth shut when Harry turned around.
Harry slowly raised both eyebrows when Voldemort remained mute for a few long moments. Finally Voldemort cleared his throat. “You look…different.”
“Ah, yeah.” Harry ran a hand down his bare chin and throat. “That’s to be expected when losing 20 pounds of hair.”
“Indeed.” Voldemort kept giving Harry strange looks after pulling the door closed behind him. “Let’s do the house-elves…I mean, I will gladly observe how you turn a house-elf into an inferius.”
“Good.” Harry descended the steps towards the elaborate garden while Voldemort hurried after him. “The house-elves are buried near Sirius’ lake, beside a large beech tree.” V took off from Harry’s shoulders, taking this opportunity to stretch his wings and fly along with them high in the sky.
“Have you considered adding paved streets?” Voldemort said once they reached the meadows that were soaking wet from the rain that had poured down for most of the night. “Or at least a decent footpath.”
“Why do you think I’m reanimating the house-elves?” Harry said with a chuckle at Voldemort’s disgruntled remarks. “There is so much to do, still, but the house-elves will be able to do parts of it.”
“I would be happy to help as well, if you let me know what needs doing,” Voldemort offered with a perfectly charming smile.
“You’d plant an orchard for me beside my castle?” Harry asked and then bit his lip to hide a grin at seeing Voldemort’s face scrunch up in distaste.
“Well, perhaps not any menial tasks,” Voldemort said delicately.
“Actually, I do have a job for you,” Harry said, remembering his long, long to-do list. “It’s not needed quite yet, but I would like you to design a schooling system for Magica.”
Voldemort slowed his pace as his expression turned thoughtful. “What sort of schooling system?”
“In Sildar, we had small primary schools in each town, where kids learned their letters and numbers, and a bit of biology and history, some basic runes, that sort of thing. When they turned twelve, they attended the national school for magic, which was a weekday boarding school that allowed them to go home on the weekends. They finished that when they turned 18, and after that they could apprentice themselves to someone if they wanted to specialize in certain subjects. Or they could go and work if they wanted.”
Voldemort nodded along. “That sounds perfectly reasonable. What do you expect me to change about it?”
Harry turned to look at Voldemort as he sighed. “Magica isn’t Sildar, so I’d like for you to make this work with the subjects that are taught here, and the means of transportation we have, and anything else you can think of.”
“I can certainly do that,” Voldemort agreed while he looked Harry in the eyes.
“No hurry, though,” Harry felt compelled to point out.
“I shall take my time.” Voldemort kept looking into Harry’s eyes, his mouth pulling up in a charming smile. “Have you considered my offer again, Harry? I would still love to take you to the Yule Ball.”
Harry groaned and rubbed a hand across his face. “I already said no.”
“That was two days ago.” Voldemort gave a casual shrug. “So your answer might very well have changed.”
Harry wanted very much to tell Voldemort that it really, really hadn’t, but if he was honest with himself, he wouldn’t mind using the Yule Ball to go and rescue a basilisk. He just didn’t feel like parading himself around at a ball for the whole world to see.
Voldemort took Harry’s silence as a refusal because he gave Harry an almost pleading look. “I don’t know how else to save my old friend, Harry. I had hoped my new friend would be happy to help me.”
Oh, that manipulative old snake. Harry ducked his head to hide his grin. Voldemort may think he was being subtle, but he really, really wasn’t. But apparently he had figured out that Harry was the type of guy who would much sooner offer something freely to a friend than give into any bribery attempts. Still, this was something Voldemort obviously wanted very much, so perhaps Harry shouldn’t just offer it up for free.
Perhaps Harry simply had to take a page out of a Slytherin’s playbook.
“I will go to the Yule Ball with you and help you rescue the basilisk,” Harry said, and quickly held up a finger when Voldemort suddenly looked triumphant. “But it comes at a price.”
Curiously, Voldemort’s triumphant expression didn’t diminish in the slightest. “Name your price.”
Harry stopped walking for a moment so he could give Voldemort his undivided attention. This was too good an opportunity to waste, so Harry figured he’d best ask for something very valuable. “I want you to swear that you will not try to actively or passively introduce your principles of blood-purity in Magica.”
Voldemort’s face became a blank mask almost instantly while his eyes shone with something as they stared at Harry. Something between admiration and fury, it seemed. Harry simply stared impassively back.
“I’m impressed,” Voldemort said after a few minutes of tense silence. “You impress me, Harry.”
“Thanks,” Harry said easily, still completely unmoved by Voldemort’s reaction.
“I need to give this some careful thought,” Voldemort finally said. “I suppose I will give you my answer before the ball.”
“That works for me.”
They continued their walk through the wet meadows, Harry’s trousers soaking through before he dried them with a charm and spelled them to be water resistant temporarily. Voldemort’s trousers appeared to be water resistant to begin with.
“Why do you require an orchard?” Voldemort finally asked, as if he only now remembered that part of an earlier conversation.
“As my part of growing food for the whole country because I own a large amount of land,” Harry explained. “Keeping an orchard is fairly simple, and you can even have people come and pick the fruit themselves in the fall.”
Voldemort frowned, deep in thought. “So that might work for my grounds as well.”
“I’m also going to keep some pigs, breed them and sell piglets,” Harry added and then laughed when Voldemort wrinkled his nose as though he suddenly smelled something foul. “Hey, I love bacon,” Harry added but that did nothing to improve Voldemort’s expression.
“I do believe I shall stick to trees,” Voldemort said with a decisive nod. “That seems more up my alley than livestock.”
“You don’t even want some chickens for eggs?” Harry asked, really curious about Voldemort’s revulsion when it came to farmyard animals.
“I suppose those are acceptable. Quirrell can look after them.”
Harry’s heart skipped a beat and he realized this was his chance to figure out what Quirrell was to Voldemort. “Yeah, I was surprised to see someone moving in with you.”
Voldemort’s eyes crinkled while he glanced at Harry. “Were you?”
Harry gave a very exaggerated shrug. “You never mentioned a… companion.”
“Quirrell is to me what Igor is to you, Harry.” Voldemort sounded thoroughly amused. “But perhaps you have trouble recognizing a servant when they are still living and breathing.”
Harry threw his head back and laughed, inexplicably feeling very relieved. “Yeah, alright, you have me there. I do like my servants dead.”
“Hence the house-elf inferi,” Voldemort agreed with a chuckle.
They reached the lake behind Black Manor and Harry spotted a lone beech tree sitting close to the shore. Once Harry stood under the tree, he crouched down and stuck his hands into the dirt, sending out his powers through the soil, looking for the tell-tale feeling of death. He found three bodies that were usable, that still had at least the bones remain. Without bones, Harry couldn’t work. But any flesh that was missing was easily replaced by magic.
“There’s three,” Harry said as he pulled three tiny wooden boxes out of his satchel, enlarging them with a flick of his wand. Then he used his necromantic powers to raise the bodies from their graves, the dark soil rolling back and pushing the bodies up and up until they lay on top of the ground and Harry levitated them into their respective boxes.
“I keep being surprised by how effortless this all is for you,” Voldemort mused quietly as he stood to the side and watched Harry work, arms crossed casually. “Then again, as you have pointed out, I have been mistaken my whole life as to what a true necromancer is.”
Harry shrunk the boxes again and slid them into his satchel. “From what I’ve seen about necromancy in this world, I doubt there has been a real necromancer alive here for a very long time.”
“Well, that makes perfect sense if you consider that practically every country has banned necromancy on pain of death,” Voldemort said as though talking about he weather. “Very few people even dare to dabble in it, and those like me that have gone further down its dark path lack the guidance from experienced users.”
“Until now,” Harry pointed out, placing his hand on Voldemort’s shoulder before apparating them to the doorsteps of his castle. “We’ll use my main ritual room.”
“You don’t need a sacrifice?” Voldemort asked as he followed Harry down the steps to his cellar.
“No, just some of my blood.” Harry pulled one of the boxes out of his satchel and carefully transferred the dried husk of the elf’s body into the centre of the room. Then he walked around the room, activating the runes he needed. Finally he slashed his palm and pressed it down on the correct runes to activate the circle. This time, Harry stepped into the circle and smeared his blood across the elf’s body, before painting a few small runes onto the elf’s head and chest with it. Then he held out his hands and poured his powers into the dead flesh, urging it to expand, to become whole again. This time, though, he didn’t bring life back to any of the organs, as he’d done with the dragon. He simply poured his powers into the elf’s whole body, animating it like a puppet on a string.
The elf sat up, blinking large, pale eyes as it stared straight ahead.
“Your name is Violet,” Harry said, that name popping up in his mind since the elf’s skin looked rather purple. “You are my servant. You shall obey my every command.”
“Eep,” the elf said, still staring ahead.
“Rise, servant!” Harry gave one final push of power and the elf sprang to her feet, finally blinking up at Harry.
“Eep?”
“Go clean the bathroom and all the bedrooms upstairs,” Harry said, knowing that giving an inferius a simple command that they’d easily be able to perform was a necessary way of checking if everything had gone as it should.
“Eep!” And the undead house-elf popped out of there.
“Ha!” Harry said in triumph, happy to see that his gamble had paid off and that a house-elf inferius was still able to perform at least some magic.
Voldemort stood leaning against the back wall, head bent, arms crossed, one hand pinching the bridge of his nose. “It takes me three hours to raise one inferius, and it requires a significant animal sacrifice.” Voldemort looked up at Harry and shook his head in disbelief. “You did it in five minutes with just a bit of your own blood.”
“Watch me do two more,” Harry said with a teasing grin as he pulled out the next box.
“You make me feel like I am eleven years old again,” Voldemort said while Harry got the whole ritual going with the next elf. He sounded a bit frustrated, yet also thoroughly amused. “Like I am a fresh student just walking through the halls of Hogwarts, entirely clueless when it comes to the magic the older children are performing around me.” Voldemort gave Harry an unreadable look, brown eyes shining. “I have not felt this challenged since I was a child.”
“That’s not a bad thing,” Harry offered as he activated the runes again. “To be challenged.”
“No,” Voldemort whispered, tilting his head as he stared at Harry. “It’s not.”
Before long Harry had two more house-elf inferi, which he named Lavender and Slate, also after the colours of their mottled skin. Harry sent them to clean the kitchen and the living room and was happy to see they too both popped away using magic.
Just then V came flying down the steps and into the room to land on Harry’s shoulder. “Mail, mail.”
“I thought you couldn’t be bothered with the post,” Harry said with a teasing smirk at his companion.
“Big mail!” V pecked at Harry’s ear, as though forcing him to pay better attention. “Big, big mail.”
Harry chuckled and waved his hand at V to stop it. “Well, we might as well have some tea in the library while we wait to see if the elves keep it together during their first tasks.”
“Some tea would be welcome,” Voldemort agreed and followed Harry to the library.
“Violet!” Harry called the moment they were seated in two comfortable chairs in front of the fireplace.
Violet popped in existence right in front of Harry. “Eep?”
“Bring us tea and some assorted sandwiches.”
“Eep!” And Violet popped out again.
“Mail, mail!” V flew to Harry’s desk, picked up a thick scroll and then returned and dumped it unceremoniously into Harry’s lap while he settled on Harry’s knee and stared up at him with narrowed eyes. Harry picked up the scroll, examining the wax seal while Violet appeared again and served them both tea.
While Voldemort stirred some milk and sugar into his cup, Harry opened the scroll and read it.
“Huh,” Harry said as he rolled the scroll up again.
Voldemort quirked an eyebrow as he sipped his tea carefully. The taste seemed good enough, because he took a second, bigger sip.
Harry looked at Voldemort with wide eyes. “That was Gringotts telling me I’ve inherited the Black vaults.”