Chapter 6

Harry awoke from one of the most restful sleeps he could ever remember having and blinked his eyes as he looked around the room he was staying in. For a few seconds he wondered where he was, he then recalled all that he had done yesterday and nodded. He got up and first off drank the potion, shuddering slightly at the taste. He went and showered then ate breakfast downstairs. Looking at his watch he noticed that it was now 8:15 so he made his way to Madam Malkins. Once he entered the shop he asked Mrs. Malkin "are my clothes ready ma'am?"

"Sure are." The witch reached behind the counter and handed over two bags filled with clothing and handed them over, "here you go sweety."

"Thank you." Harry took the bags and went back to the Leaky Cauldron and got dressed in the new clothes, then deposited the rest into his new trunk. He then grabbed his bag and made his way to Flourish and Bott's and asked the man behind the counter "do you have any books on penmanship, or writing exercises? I am also looking for a daily planner."

"Sure do. Go to aisle 6 and about halfway down there should be several books there about writing, penmanship and care of quills, as for the daily planner; there are several types located in the first aisle."

Harry made his way to the aforementioned aisle and looked at the selection. Grabbing four books he made his way to the counter and put them on the counter. He then went to the first aisle and looked at the selection. Grabbing a standard daily planner as well as one that described all of the moon phases as well as Astrological movements he went back to the front counter and put them down on the books on writing he took the stack to the man.

"2 galleons 5 knuts for the lot."

Harry paid and then made his way back to his room. He grabbed the trunk he got with Hagrid and took it with him to Gringott's. Once there he once again made his way to Vault 22 and deposited the trunk there. Making his way back to his room he opened the trunk and brought out the portkey. He then shrunk the trunk and looking around he made sure he wasn't forgetting anything. Assured that he wasn't missing anything he mentally called out 'Hedwig where are you? I am about to leave by portkey to my ancestral manor.'

'I'm on my way master. I'll be there shortly.'

Harry walked out into Diagon Alley and waited there for about three minutes until he saw Hedwig making her way to him. She landed on his shoulder and grasped on tightly. Harry took out the portkey and saw a button on the side of the base of the statue and pressed it. He instantly felt the jerk behind of his navel and was transported into the strange realm that a portkey travels through. It stopped after fifteen seconds and Harry promptly landed on his butt with Hedwig landing on his chest after letting off a squawk of indignation. Harry sat up and got to his feet while saying 'sorry Hedwig. I have yet to learn how to land when I use these things.'

'You could have mentioned that before you left! I could have been squished!'

'Sorry Hedwig. Now that I know where we are I can apparate here at anytime. According to my research if I were cradling you in my arms when I apparate then you should be transported with me without any problems. The travel can be a little uncomfortable like being squeezed through a tube really, but we won't have to use a portkey again. Alright?'

'That sounds ok master, but I'll want to see how it goes first.'

'No problem there as I need to practice apparating anyway to bring my noise level down. Right now whenever I apparate I create a loud sound.' Harry looked around and saw that he was standing in front of a huge gate that was twenty feet tall at the highest point. The sides of the gate flowed down to meet the fifteen feet tall wall, made out of polished black basalt that seemingly drank the light; that stretched out of sight in both directions. The front of the gate had a depression made into a hand with words scripted on top. The words read Beware all who enter here for if you are not of the blood of the shapers of the earth than you shall be cast out and sent to the lands of the ice. Harry swallowed nervously and put his hand into the depression and spoke the words that the Goddess gave him. "Fi Harri Iago Chrochenydd arddel 'm berchenogaeth chan hon castella." Harry felt a imposing and ancient feeling presence examine him then withdraw as the gates opened; revealing a dirt path about five paces wide, that went off into the distance toward a hill, with a truly ancient forest on both sides.

Harry made his way down the path and as he went he noticed that the path seemingly repaired itself behind him as he could see no sign that he had passed through behind him. After he walked about ten minutes he finally topped a hill and saw his new home. It was a castle! True it was about half the size of Hogwarts, but still. He saw that there were greenhouses on the side and the property stretched off into the distance until it was lost in the haze. He walked up to the front of the castle doors that looked like they were made out of Ironwood. He put his hand on the door to open them when he suddenly heard a masculine voice boom out "who comes before me?"

Harry looked at the castle and replied "Harry James Potter Head of the Ancient and Noble House of the Potters."

"I bid thee welcome to these halls milord. For too long have I been empty of inhabitants."

"You're the castle?"

"Indeed, your ancestors called me Gwarcheidwad chan Chof which means Guardian of Memory in their native tongue. Do you perhaps speak this tongue milord? You would know it as Welsh."

"I am afraid that I do not. I shall have to rectify my mistake as soon as possible. Now I have some questions about the property. Could you answer them, or is there anyone I should speak to?"

"Go to the library. Take the door on the right side of the foyer. The hallway beyond that door will lead to the ground floor of your library. There is a wizarding portrait inside that will be able to help you. Good day milord."

"Good day Guardian." Harry went inside the castle and was immediately struck by the sight of dust everywhere. Cobwebs were strung from a chandelier to the ceiling. He looked around and made his way to the door Guardian had mentioned. He opened it to a loud squealing of rusty hinges being put to work. He went down the cobweb chocked hallway and opened the door at the end of it. He opened the door and was surprised that there was no sign that any time had passed in here. No dust and no cobwebs. All of the books he could see looked to be in perfect condition. He looked around until he saw a painting that depicted a red haired man dressed in medieval armor laying across a dragon sleeping to his left. He walked up to it and cleared his throat.

The man startled awake and drew his sword in alarm. He looked around and saw Harry standing there. "Well hello there. I am Hywel Potter; and you are?"

"Harry Potter. Lord of the Ancient and Noble House of Potter. Please call me Harry."

"I see, now what can I do for you?"

"You see I don't know if you have noticed, but almost three hundred years have passed since my ancestors last lived here. Guardian of Memory directed me here because I had some questions about the property."

"Three hundred years!? What happened?"

"From what I was told a distant ancestor was killed by a rising Dark Lord in the early 1700's and left behind an infant son. His widow didn't know how to enter the castle or where it was. The baby eventually grew up and passed on a legend of this place that he pieced from his mothers tales of her visits here. Time passed and if not for some unusual circumstances than this place would have disappeared forever."

"What are these unusual circumstances you mentioned lad?"

Harry then launched into his tale. He told of his early life at the Dursley's, the adventure filled years at Hogwarts, his parents death at the hand of Voldemort, patching together his past, the revelation of betrayal and deceit surrounding him at every turn; getting help from the goblins, dying, meeting his death angel, the meeting with the Goddess and God, meeting his parents, planning out his actions and what he had done so far. He finished talking and sat back.

Hywel cleared his throat and thought for a few seconds. He looked at Harry and asked "what did you want to find out about lad?"

Harry looked at his watch and cursed as it was already 8:35. He looked at Hywel and said "I need to know if there are any house elves here. If not I need to know if they can enter the property without any trouble once they are bonded to me. I also need to know if I can apparate from here or if I must get outside the wall before I leave."

"You can leave here by portkey or apparition once you have been connected to the wards." A section of the wall below moved out until it revealed a pulsing red gem. "This is bloodstone lad. You will need to drive your hand down onto it so that it pierces all the way through your hand. It's a final test to make sure that you know the price of safety is always paid for in pain and suffering."

Harry nodded and grabbing all of his available courage slammed his hand down onto the jewel. He stared his hand through the tears of pain leaking from his eyes and saw that the tip of the jewel was sticking up through the middle of the back of his hand. He saw that the blood was being absorbed into the jewel which was glowing brighter and brighter with every passing second until it was blinding in its intensity. After about five minutes his hand was shoved upward. Harry was amazed at the cessation of pain and looked at is hand in awe when he saw that it was healed and there was no scarring or sign it had just been impaled. The shelf containing the jewel slid silently back into the wall and closed with a slight click.

Hywel broke the awe and wonder revealed on Harry's face when he cleared his throat and said "well done kinsman, well done indeed. The wards have fully recharged and you are now keyed into them as well. I can now make the adjustments you specified."

"Thank you for that sir. I have to leave now to go pick up the house elves I mentioned earlier. I shall be back shortly. Good day."

"Good day."

Harry mentally contacted Hedwig and said 'Hedwig I will be going to Samuel Greengrass-Davis and picking up some house elves that will be able to clean the property. Is there anything I can get for you while I'm there?'

'No master; when you come back please direct one of them to clean the owlery as it's filthy right now.'

'Will do so.' Harry then apparated to the Leaky Cauldron and made his way to the law firm. He checked his watch outside the office door and saw that he was two minutes early and sighed in relief.

Opening the door to the lobby he walked in and was immediately hailed by the receptionist say "good morning Lord Potter. Wait here for a few seconds until Mr. Greengrass is available."

Harry nodded and sat down in one of the chairs. Scarcely a minute passed until the door opened and out walked Samuel. Standing up he shook his hand and said "good morning sir."

"Good morning Lord Potter. It is a pleasure to see that you have taken on your Lordship. Come with me to my office and we will be able to talk securely."

Harry followed on the heels of Samuel and sat down in one of the chairs facing the desk He then said "well as I mentioned earlier I went to my ancestral manor today. From what I could tell it is going to be awhile before it will be cleaned. It hasn't been occupied since the 1700's from what I was told. I was able to repower the wards and adjust them so that they will now accept any elf that has been bonded to me entrance."

"Most excellent sir; I talked to my elves and they have picked 25 of their number to come with you. They have one stipulation in that you cannot sell any of them in less than ten years and if they are to be sold that they are sold as a family."

"No worries there as I have no intention to sell any of them."

"Excellent. Before I call them is there any business we need to discuss?"

Harry though for a second and withdrew the planner and read it. He noticed one thing that he forgot to do yesterday and looked up and said "there is one thing sir. I need to assign a member of the Wizengamot to vote as my proxy until I reach the age of 25. What I need you to do is see if you can find the voting records for the Wizengamot members and send them on to me. That way I can peruse them and figure out which one votes closely to how I would do so."

Samuel thoughtfully leaned back in his chair and ran possible schemes to get a copy of the voting records and then slowly nodded as several presented themselves to him. He said "I do believe that I will be able to carry out your request Lord Potter. It may take some time, but it shouldn't take more than two weeks. I'll owl you if I run into any problems."

Harry nodded and said "that should be more than sufficient sir. Thank you."

"Not a problem. Is there anything else you need taken care of?"

"Nope."

"Great, now then I do believe it's time to introduce you to your new house elves, is it not? Darby."

With that being said a house elf appeared in front of them and bowed saying "master called Darby?"

Samuel said "yes I did. This is Harry Potter and is the one I spoke to you of earlier."

Darby turned to look at Harry and his eyes bulged as he said "the great Harry Potter asks for house elves? This is wonderful and will bring much joy to Darby to know that his kin are serving the great Harry Potter."

Harry bemusedly replied "that's great. May I meet the elves that will be working for me please? I would like to bond them and make sure that they know the rules they will be operating under, alright?"

Darby nodded rapidly with his great ears flapping and said "Darby be calling them now. They be coming here shortly." As he was saying this there were multiple pops of elves appearing all of them looking with wonder at the sight of Harry. Darby said to them "the great Harry Potter be asking for help and we be given the chance to work for him! The great Harry Potter be having some rules youse be working under so listen."

Harry cleared his throat and said "my rules are pretty simple. No punishing yourselves if you mess up. For minor stuff I want you to take it up with the elf I'll be appointing as my majordomo. Major mishaps he will tell me and I will decide the level of punishment. Now in the future if anyone in my properties tries to hurt any of you I want you to defend yourself alright? Then tell me about it. Those are the rules I want you to abide by, alright?"

They all nodded in compliance. Harry turned to Samuel and asked "how do I bond with them, sir?"

"Put a slice across your hand and grasp theirs. This will bind the two of you."

Harry nodded and said "alright then. One by one please." Harry then slit his palm and bound the twenty five elves that had appeared in the office. Once he had finished he was healed by Samuel and turned to the elves and asked "who here amongst my elves has the most experience in interacting with wizards?"

One of them stepped forward and said "I being that one master. My name is being Venty."

"Well Venty I would like you to be my majordomo alright? Will you have any problems with the responsibility?"

"No master, I will have no problems."

"Excellent. Do you know how to reach my ancestral property?" Seeing their nods Harry then said "excellent. I suggest that you clean the foyer, the walkway to the library, a place to eat, the kitchens, a bedroom, the owlery and a nearby bathroom for my use first off. After that clean as you see fit unless Venty orders differently, alright? Now if you could all get going except for Venty I would appreciate it." All of the elves popped away except for Venty and Harry turned to Samuel and said "I guess that takes care of that for now."

"I do believe it does. Let me show you the way out." He then led Harry to the entrance and said "good day Lord Potter."

'Good day Mr. Greengrass." Harry then walked back to the Leaky Cauldron leading a curious Venty all the way. Harry asked Tom "could I reserve a private area for thirty minutes or so, please?"

"Five sickles."

Harry paid the money and was shown the way to a small room. Sitting in one of the chairs he waved for Venty to sit. He then asked "I am muggle raised so if I ask something that is offensive please tell me alright?" Seeing Venty nod he then said "I need to know if I should have you set up to be able to access my accounts for purchases such as food and the like. Second I need to know if you could do the shopping for food and perhaps potion supplies as well."

Venty said "house elves be able to show that you are paying for food or any supplies that you order master. We be doing the shopping as we be finding the cheapest ingredients for cooking. We being able to go to farms and with glamours being able to purchase directly from the source as it were. As for shopping for potion supplies Venty suggests that you do so yourself because house elves be cheated when we shop for our masters."

Harry nodded and said "I thought it would be something like that. Now I would like all of you to wear uniforms bearing the Potter crest. For girls it would be a loose skirt at least knee length and a vest. For the males it would be a vest and pants. The crest would be on your upper left chest. The colors would be black for the skirts and pants and a dark blue for the vests. Would this be a problem?"

Venty sat there for about fifteen seconds then shook his head and answered with "no it won't be a problem master. Where would we be getting them though?"

"Do any of you have the ability to tailor? If so I could get some cloth available."

"We can do so master."