The moment Harry entered the narrow, shadowy alley a thick wave of dark magic washed over him, almost like a warm welcome.
“Wow,” Harry breathed as he followed Voldemort inside the alley. Voldemort glanced over his shoulder with a quirked eyebrow, so Harry said in a whisper, “The magic here is so… heady. We need this in Magica.”
Voldemort chuckled. “Convince enough people here to move to our island and you will have it.”
As they progressed through the narrow street with its dark walls and blackened shop windows and cobblestones beneath their feet, Harry sent out his powers to see what sort of souls lived in a wonderful place like this. Almost at once he found a dual soul of a werewolf just up ahead, tucked away in a small alcove. Harry pushed past Voldemort and stepped inside the alcove to see a middle-aged man sitting on the ground, dark hair unwashed, pale face grimy. The werewolf gave Harry a glare in clear warning, but Harry wasn’t so easily intimidated and he crouched down to speak to the man on his level.
“You don’t have to live like this,” Harry said, getting straight to the point. “There is an island where you can move right now, where you’ll get a home and Wolfsbane potion so you’ll have a peaceful shift tonight.”
The man snorted and shook his head in disbelief. “Yeah, I heard those rumours. That’s just a trap. There will be Aurors waiting and they’ll chuck you into Azkaban and throw away the key.”
Harry pursed his lips briefly, not having anticipated this kind of response. Then again, with the amount of anti-werewolf laws the ministry had been passing for years, perhaps he shouldn’t be surprised some would believe it was a trap instead of a real magical island where werewolves could live and run free.
“Do I look like an Auror?” Harry asked with a crooked grin, briefly spreading his arms. “I’m Harry Potter, and I made Magica with my own two hands. Tonight the werewolves there will run together in the wilds, as they should be able to do every full moon.” Harry bent his head a little to look the man in the eyes. “Where will you be tonight?”
The man blinked and stared at Harry with his mouth slightly opened. “Are you really Harry Potter?”
Harry nodded slowly and pointed at his forehead where a very faint scar was still visible. It used to be red and much more pronounced but after the Figures created V, the scar had healed and was now barely visible anymore. Most of the time Harry even forgot he had it.
“Live free, live free,” V cawed while clapping his beak at the man. “Be wolf, be wolf.”
“Hah,” the man said with a harsh laugh. “I’ll be wolf in The White Wyvern tonight. They rent out their reinforced cellar to all the local werewolves for a few sickles each every full moon.”
Getting out his wand, Harry picked up a random rock and charmed it into a portkey. Then he handed it to the man. “This is a portkey to town square in Spellbridge that will activate in an hour. You’ll find Remus Lupin in Town Hall, he’ll give you Wolfsbane potion and assign you your own home.”
“What’s the catch?” the man asked, staring at the rock in his hands as though it might explode at any moment. “There’s got to be a catch.”
Harry relaxed his shields a little and let some of his powers out in a way others could sense it. The man’s eyes widened at once as he looked up at Harry. “I’m a necromancer,” Harry whispered. “The British ministry would see me executed right away, so I made my own country where all magic is legal. That’s it.”
The man nodded slowly, staring at the rock in his hands again, but now with more curiosity than fear. “I’m Sebastian Parkinson, oldest son of a prominent pureblood family, not that this did me any good once I got infected. My parents disowned me and they’ll leave everything to my sister and brother when they die. Look at me now, living in the dirt.”
“It doesn’t have to be like this,” Harry said, wanting so badly for this man to believe him because he knew just moving to Magica could turn his man’s life around. “I can sense more werewolves in the alley, seven if I’m correct. Do you know who they are?”
“Yeah, I know them,” Sebastian said, narrowing his eyes again in suspicion.
“Take them along. You’re all welcome in Magica,” Harry said in as convincing a tone as he could muster. “Talk to them and have them all touch the portkey. I swear you won’t regret it.”
Sebastian nodded and went back to staring at the rock. “I’ll have a chat with them.”
“All right.” Harry got up again, realizing there wasn’t much more he could say to Sebastian now. The man needed to make up his own mind. “I sincerely hope I’ll see you in Magica later today.”
And with that Harry turned around to see Voldemort leaning against a wall, arms crossed, waiting patiently until Harry was done with his first recruitment of the day.
“We’ll head to the pub first,” Voldemort suggested once they started walking again. “We can get the word out about Magica there.”
“Maybe we should print brochures,” Harry said, only half-kidding. It could be rather tough to convince strangers that a magical utopia actually existed, let alone that they should move there sight unseen.
Voldemort snorted and shook his head. “What an excellent idea. Someone leaves it lying around or throws it away in a public place and before we’re ready the whole world will know about it.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Harry sighed. “For now word-of-mouth is still the best method of recruitment.”
Voldemort glanced at Harry and his face softened a little. “We can barely keep up with all the new residents as it is, Harry. Just be patient, and we’ll give everyone a new home soon enough.”
That was the thing, wasn’t it? Harry was just impatient and he hated seeing people down on their luck because of something they had no control over and because other people were a bunch of prejudiced bastards. Still, Voldemort had a good point. They would get everyone to Magica eventually.
“Here we are,” Voldemort said as they stopped in front of a pub with black windows and a wooden sigh above the door that said The White Wyvern. They entered into a dark vestibule with another solid door that led into the pub itself, which was cast in shadows with only a few candles burning around the room.
“Good morning,” the pubkeeper said from where he stood behind the counter. “What can I get you fine gentlemen?”
“Two beers,” Voldemort said as he walked towards the counter.
Harry meant to follow him but he stopped dead in his tracks the moment he cast out his powers around the mostly empty pub. There in the corner around a round table sat about six reanimated dead bodies. It was the most peculiar thing and Harry gazed at them with wide eyes. Their bodies were definitely dead and some external magic was definitely animating them, but at the same time they had souls.
All six of the corpses, four men and two women, looked up and stared right back at Harry as their mouths slowly dropped open.
“They’re vampires,” Voldemort whispered into his ear, pressing a full pint of beer into his hand.
Harry automatically took a healthy gulp and then decided to go talk to the corpses. What amazing creatures they were, truly. Meanwhile, Voldemort rolled his eyes and went back to explain who they were and why they were there to the barkeep, who was probably the best source of recruitment for all the people living around Knockturn Alley.
“Hi there,” Harry said as he reached the table of vampires. He might have just sounded a little besotted but he didn’t care. Seeing reanimated bodies with souls and a full consciousness was simply astonishing to someone in his profession.
“You’re a necromancer,” the female vampire closest to him said, and funnily enough, she sounded just as besotted as Harry had done. “We haven’t seen one of you in a long time.”
“Who are you?” the man opposite him asked.
“Harry Potter.”
“You are not Harry Potter,” the woman said with a surprised laugh. “Harry Potter is not a necromancer!”
Harry shrugged. “I’m afraid he is. He is also looking for residents for his brand-new country Magica. You get free housing. Interested?”
“What?” the woman said, now looking as though she’d just heard the funniest joke ever.
And so Harry gave a nice little presentation on Magica, why he’d made it and what their goals were and after five minutes he had six vampires ready to move to Magica at once and proclaim Harry their eternal leader.
“You just need to arrange blood for us,” the woman, who was named Daniella, said with a pointed look. “We’ve got a squib named Harris Firth who buys bags of blood from muggle hospitals under the table who provides us now.”
“Invite Harris to move to Magica as well,” Harry said easily. “We welcome squibs, too.”
“This is real, right?” Emir said, while Gianluca, Shiv and Kianna looked equally torn between elation and fear. “You’re not messing with us, are you, mate?”
“It’s real, I promise,” Harry said with a solemn nod. “You can start your own business, we provide interest-free loans for that, too.”
“Mate, mate!” Gianluca said as he almost bounced right out of his chair in sheer enthusiasm. “I used to be a chef, before I got turned. I’d love to open a little restaurant.”
“We don’t have one yet,” Harry said, happy his new residents were so eager to start a business. “You can start a restaurant that only opens after dark, naturally, and call it midnight dining. I’ll be your first customer.”
“You’ll be cooking,” Montell said with a huge grin while he pointed a finger at Gianluca. “But you’ll be needing us to run that restaurant. Man the bar, serve the tables.”
“We can all start this restaurant together,” Shiv said while Daniella threw her arm around his shoulders and pressed a loud kiss to his cheek. “We’d be right proper business people!”
“We’d be happy to have you,” Harry said while drinking the last of his beer. “Write Remus Lupin, he’ll get you a portkey. I can make some subterranean houses for you, that have plenty of rooms below ground so you can safely move around during the day.
Shiv jumped up from his seat and threw his arm around Harry’s shoulder, pulling him close. “This here is our king, I’m telling you. Harry, mate, you give us all of that and we will be in your debt for a long time.”
V, who sat on Harry’s other shoulder, reached around the back of Harry’s head to peck at Shiv’s ear, but the vampire didn’t even seem to notice.
Harry grinned at Shiv, ignoring V’s dramatics as usual. “Invite all your vampire buddies to join us, we’ve got plenty of space.”
Shiv looked like he was getting a little teary eyed and he gave Harry a smacking kiss on his cheek. “Fuck, your magic feels amazing, mate. Are you single?”
V pecked Shiv again, harder this time.
Voldemort was there suddenly, giving Harry an amused smile. “The barkeep, Ruben Lyon, is more than willing to get the word out about Magica. He might also be interested in having his entire pub moved there eventually if enough of his regulars decide to relocate.”
“Sure,” Harry agreed easily, stepping away from Shiv, who immediately gave a disappointed sigh and sat back down again. “I’ll see you lot in Magica soon,” Harry said to the vampires, who all called out their goodbyes.
“Vampires are amazing!” Harry said to an exasperated Voldemort once they stood outside the pub again.
“Only you would say that,” Voldemort said while leading Harry deeper into Knockturn Alley. “Most people look at them as some type of vermin.”
“No,” Harry said, genuinely shocked by that idea. “They’re wonderful. They feel like… coming home, almost.”
“Spoken like a true afficionado of dead bodies,” Voldemort said with a teasing grin while he bumped his elbow against Harry’s side.
“Oh, can we go in here?” Harry asked when they passed a shop named The Slaughterhouse – Furs and Skins. “I need a new fur cloak, and I don’t have time to go hunting by myself these days.” Harry’s beloved fur cloak was burned and singed beyond repair by the dragon, but Harry still wore it, stubborn as he was.
Voldemort gestured at Harry to enter the shop before him, and Harry smiled as he walked inside and saw dozens and dozens of leather skins and all sorts of fur pelts hanging from the wooden ceiling.
“How can we help you fine gentlemen today?” a low, throaty voice came from the shadows behind the counter, and slowly a stooped old woman with a pronounced nose, her face covered in warts, appeared and gave them a squinty-eyed look.
“I need a new fur cloak,” Harry said shrugging off his old cloak and holding it out for her to see.
Another woman stepped out of the shadows, looking a lot like the first one but she was just about an inch taller. “Aye, that one has seen better days. Stood too close to your fireplace?”
“Nah, kidnapped a dragon,” Harry said with a cheeky grin and a wink.
Both women cackled in delight and waved him closer and while they examined his burned cloak Harry asked them who they were.
It turned out they were hags, and sisters, and their names were Midge and Marge.
“We can make you something like this easily enough,” Midge said while folding Harry’s cloak. “Any preferences for the type of fur?”
“Nah,” Harry said as he leaned an elbow on the counter. “Just make sure it’s black. It hides the blood better.”
Midge and Marge cackled again and Harry decided he liked the old biddies. “So why are hags looked down upon by the rest of the wizarding world?” Harry asked, since he was genuinely curious about that.
Midge snorted and shook her head. “They say we eat children.” She pointed between herself and her sister. “We don’t eat children.”
“Often,” Marge added, and they cackled again, with Harry joining in this time.
“Seriously, though,” Midge said after they all caught their breaths. “Centuries ago the wizards didn’t like an all-female magical race that could do magic without a wand, so they made up horrible stories about us to make sure no one would want us around. Eventually they made laws to keep us down.”
Marge shrugged. “We like our meat raw, it’s true, but we don’t eat humans. You all taste funny anyway.” Then she squinted her eyes as she looked at V. “Though your bird looks delicious.”
“Bad hag, no eat!” V screeched, flapping his wings while Marge snickered in response.
“On Magica, you’d be free to live your lives without any restricting laws,” Harry said, now putting both elbows on the counter so he could look the sisters in the eyes. V leaned as far back as he could without falling off Harry’s shoulder.
“What’s Magica?” Midge asked while Marge narrowed her squinty eyes.
“Let me tell you,” Harry said, and he did, and by the time he was done Midge and Marge were exchanging lots of quiet looks with each other.
“Is that where all the werewolves went?” Midge asked as she looked down at Harry over her large nose.
“There’s been a lot of rumours that the ministry was catching werewolves left and right and locking them up,” Marge said, looking like she wasn’t sure what to believe anymore.
“Those werewolves are all living safely on Magica, I promise,” Harry said with a reassuring smile. “I just talked to some vampires and they’re all eager to join us, too.”
“Damn,” Midge said with a frown. “They’re some of our best customers.”
“They’ve got a flair for the dramatics, vampires do.” Marge gestured at her own shoulders. “They like to accessorize with lots of fur collars.”
Midge snickered. “Don’t forget the leather trousers. For some reason, they all got to have leather trousers.”
“You’re welcome to move to Magica,” Harry said, looking between the sisters. “If you’re willing to live above your shop you get the store for free.”
Midge’s eyes widened as she quickly glanced at Marge. “That alone makes it worth it for us.”
Marge wrinkled her large nose, several warts protruding from her face even more. “All those proper wizards hating on us and others in the alley, but they sure do like to buy up all the property here and then charge us ridiculous amounts of rent.”
“Just sent Remus Lupin an owl, and he’ll put you on the list and send you a portkey,” Harry said with one last smile. “I’ll come back in a few days for my cloak.”
“We’ll see you then, wizard,” Midge said while Marge waved cheerfully.
Voldemort had once again stood to the side, arms crossed, observing Harry quietly, but he gave no indication this was at all a burden for him. If anything, he seemed very amused by the situation. “You were made to do this,” Voldemort said once they stepped into the alley again.
“What?” Harry asked with a confused frown.
“This.” Voldemort waved his hand around, gesturing at the entire alley. “Talking to all these different races and getting them to trust you.”
“I don’t understand,” Harry said, still frowning as he gave Voldemort a questioning look. “I just talk to these people. They’re no different than you and I.”
Voldemort briefly pointed a finger at him. “That, right there. I suppose it must be easy for you to see everyone here as equal, since you weren’t raised with the usual prejudices inherent to the wizarding world.”
“I suppose,” Harry said, still sounding a little dubiously. “I just don’t see why I should treat any of them any differently.”
“You shouldn’t,” Voldemort said in a soft voice, giving Harry a reassuring smile. “You’re accomplishing something no one has managed to in a long time.”
“What?”
“Reuniting all magical races,” Voldemort whispered and he stepped a little closer. “I am convinced it is essential we do so for when the muggles will discover us, and I have tried to do so for decades and only achieved a fraction of what you managed in an hour here.”
“I just want magical people to have a home they can live their lives in without fear and restrictions,” Harry said honestly, feeling a little overwhelmed by Voldemort’s words.
Voldemort nodded. “And that’s why you’re successful and I failed. I expected far too much in return and got very little. You want nothing in return and people want to give you everything.”
Harry wasn’t sure what to say to that and Voldemort let it rest as well, and they continued their stroll through Knockturn Alley. They visited a few more stores, like Mr Mulpepper’s Apothecary, a potions shop that was very interested in moving to Magica for the same reason Midge and Marge had been, namely the exorbitant rents they were charged by the rich property owners. Harry bought some antique rune carving tools that appealed to him in Ye Olde Curiosity Shop while Voldemort explained Magica to an interested shopkeeper. Finally they visited Borgin and Burkes, where Voldemort had a little chat with a terrified looking Mr Burke while Harry found a few interesting old tombs on curses and poisons that he bought for his own collection.
After Harry tucked all his purchases into his satchel, Voldemort grabbed his shoulder and apparated them to Malfoy Manor where an impatient Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy were waiting for him.
“I have to give you access to my wards,” Lucius said, entire face pinched in obvious distaste.
“If you want me to move your property,” Harry said with a grin, entirely too amused to see two stuck-up people so put out by his demands but being unable to change anything about it. “Also, I’ll be requiring some payment.”
“Name your price,” Lucius said, making it sound like he couldn’t care less how much gold Harry desired.
“I want all the house-elves that are buried on your property,” Harry said, and then cherished the almost outraged looks Lucius and Narcissa gave him.
“Pardon?” Narcissa said, her already pale face paling a bit more. “You want our… dead house-elves?”
“Yep. I’ll dig them up myself. Just tell me where they’re buried.” Harry waited expectantly while Lucius and Narcissa exchanged several pointed looks.
“Very well,” Narcissa said finally with a small sigh. “They are buried behind the Abraxan stables, to the west of the manor house.”
“Thank you,” Harry said with a polite nod which Narcissa studiously ignored.
“Will all the animals be safe when you move the property?” Lucius asked, still looking a bit pinched. “Aside from the Abraxan, we have a large flock of Bluefaced Malfoy Down sheep, the only ones in the world. Our family has created them centuries ago and has bred them ever since.”
“Excellent,” Harry said while he clapped his hands. “Since you have so much property you’ll be expected to produce food for the community. Keeping sheep certainly counts for that. And all your animals will be fine, don’t worry.”
Lucius was looking entirely putout again and Harry happily ignored him. While Voldemort negotiated with Lucius to buy one of his house-elves, Harry quickly popped over to the Abraxan stables to accept his payment. He dug up seven useable house-elf corpses. Seven! Harry was elated by this rich bounty and happy he was one step closer to his very own house-elf inferi army.
The grounds around Malfoy Manor were huge and quite diverse, Harry was happy to see as he flew slowly around the grounds to add the necessary runes. There was lots of grazing land for the sheep, divided by natural hedgerows which offered habitats for lots of birds and rodents, but there was also plenty of mature woodland which teemed with all sorts of wildlife. All the birds and small critters and microscopic life would only be good for Magica’s growing ecosystem. There were also some ornamental gardens, a large kitchen garden and some nicely landscaped ponds with very large, colourful fish. And there were a whole bunch of white birds that kept fanning out their big tails and which caused V to caw curse words at them.
After almost two and a half hours of intense work, Harry had to property ready to move. He’d already given Slate and Lavender the order that morning to clear enough space on Magica north of Gaunt Mansion, by moving any of the young trees that Harry had planted elsewhere as to not destroy them by plopping many, many tonnes of earth on top of them. Once Harry had the property folded up it didn’t take more than ten minutes to walk it through the portal and position it into its new spot right on the coast above Voldemort’s lands.
“You might want to consider casting an illusion on the empty property,” Voldemort suggested as he gestured at the acres and acres of raw earth that were left behind in Wiltshire. “So as not to alarm the muggles and thereby alerting the ministry to your departure.”
“I’ll do it right away,” Lucius said with a little bow.
“First thing I’m doing this afternoon is finally starting on those paved streets between our properties,” Harry said as he and Voldemort waded through the tall grass back to their own homes.
“Would you like to have lunch at my mansion?” Voldemort asked with an expectant curve of his eyebrows. “We can try out the culinary skills of my new elf.”
“Sure,” Harry said happily, since he was actually starving after their busy morning.
Voldemort’s new elf, a bouncy little thing called Dobby, prepared them a lovely lunch of shepherd’s pie and a blackberry fool for afters, and Harry ate his fill as he chatted about all sorts of interesting subjects with Voldemort.
“I really have to go,” Harry said with some genuine regret once the meal was finished. He really enjoyed spending time with Voldemort, but his to-do-list was three miles long and Harry was determined to shorten it at least a tiny bit that day.
Harry’s first order of business was adding to his house-elf inferi army. Once he stood inside his ritual room, he selected the three freshest corpses to start with that day and had them turned into inferi in no time. He decided to stick to the theme he’d used naming his first house-elves, and he named his new ones Lilac, Plum and Boysenberry. He immediately put them to work. He drew a rough map of Magica, and on it he drew a road that ran from Spellbridge, past Black Manor to Potter Castle and up to Gaunt Mansion and Malfoy Manor. From there Harry looped the road around the whole island, sticking close to the coast in most parts, so it would become a nice scenic route to walk or fly in the future. Then he set his new house-elves to transfiguring a nice road with red brick pavers, wide enough that two carriages could pass each other should anyone ever want to use carriages in the future. He also gave the elves several bags of seeds and nuts and instructed them to plant them beside the road so the whole thing would be lined with many kinds of trees eventually.
While his new elves got to work, Harry quickly apparated to Britain and bought several bags of seed for corn, fodder beets and oats, and handed them to Lavender and Slate with instructions to plough and plant several large fields to grow feed for the pigs.
Harry then took a short tea break in the library where he perused his to-do-list before apparating to town square. He found Remus in Town Hall behind his desk, doing some paperwork while on a different table the Wolfsbane potion was set out in single vial portions.
“Most everyone has already stopped by for a dose already,” Remus said with a welcoming smile.
“Did you receive some new werewolves this morning, from Knockturn Alley?” Harry asked eagerly, wondering what had happened with Sebastian Parkinson.
“I did, yes, and thank you for the warning,” Remus said with pointed look. “We still had some homes available for them, thankfully, but we’ve run out again. The construction crew will be kept busy this week, since I have a small mountain of applications for residency to go through.”
“I’ll probably hire some more construction specialists, maybe a few of the Knockturn werewolves if they’re up for it,” Harry mused with a small frown.
“They could certainly all use jobs.”
“We’re also expecting vampires,” Harry said with a huge dose of enthusiasm. Remus merely raised his eyebrows and stared in Harry in mild disbelief. “Not sure how many, but I’m going to start building subterranean homes soon. Oh, and we’re also getting a couple of hags probably.”
Remus briefly closed his eyes, nodded once and then offered Harry an agreeable smile. “Sure. I’ll get them all registered and housed.”
“Thanks, Remus, you’re the best!” Harry gave him a cheerful wave before darting outside again. He decided to stop by Mildred in the Post Office since she always seemed well-informed about everything going on in town.
“Hello, Harry,” Mildred said, knitting away on a sock when Harry entered the post office. Harry noticed a few owls were missing, so that meant that people were using them and the business was slowly taking off. “The public pantry is finished. Erika and Claire placed it just this morning on the corner of Elder Street and Ash Drive.”
“That’s great news,” Harry said with a warm smile, happy to hear people were truly looking out for one another. “I’ll have Violet fill it up with food right away.”
“I also thought it might be a good idea to add a notice board beside the doors of Town Hall,” Mildred said, needles clacking away as she barely looked at her knitting. “Where you can post official announcements, but perhaps also for people to post things for sale or requests for help or something of that nature.”
“That is another excellent idea,” Harry said as he leaned against the doorpost. “I was considering perhaps adding a box where people can put their ideas in for the island. That way they can give us as many suggestions as they want and we can use the ones that would work best for Magica.”
“I believe the people here would like it if their voices could be heard that way,” Mildred said with an agreeable nod. “Don’t get me wrong, Harry dear, you’re doing a wonderful job, but people like to help in their own ways.”
“I’ll get right to it!” And Harry did exactly that. He put two notice boards beside the doors of Town Hall, one for official notices, and one for the public to use, and he put a nice glass door in front of them to protect them from the elements. And he also added an idea box below them, where people could drop off their suggestions. Then he stood in the centre of town square and slowly turned around, taking the whole thing in.
There was quite a bit of life there, now. There was Town Hall, the library, the pub which seemed close to completion, the post office, the small grocery store, the broom shop, and Harry was pleased to see that Louisa Hewitt had started converting one of the empty spaces into a shop that sold soap and beauty products. The sign above the door read Rosemary Crown Handmade Soaps. There was also an empty building reserved as a health clinic.
All of this was wonderful to see but also meant that town square was rapidly filling up, since there were a few businesses Harry knew were currently being run from people’s homes which in the future would also end up with a shop, like Melissa Greengrass’ tailor business.
So it was time to add more commercial spaces, with residential flats above them. Town square was a square, opening up to Walnut Lane to the south, leading to the residential area, but to the north there was only an opening between the buildings. That is where Harry went to work constructing a shopping alley, much like Diagon Alley, with a wide enough path for pedestrians and with shops on both sides. He also added a little side alley halfway up the left side, which could become an alternative Knockturn Alley, just for those who liked to keep things a bit more private when doing business. It might also be a good spot for anyone wanting to earn a living doing sex work. There were no laws forbidding sex work in Magica, as there hadn’t been in Sildar either, but apparently no one in Magica had noticed that yet.
Someone would, eventually, and they might like to set up a separate place to work in a private alley like that.
By the time the sun was setting, Harry had the rough buildings all standing, though the insides could still use some work. But the people who ended up renting them could take care of that as far as Harry was concerned. At the end of the alley he placed a large building that might one day become a Gringotts office, with two unfinished streets leading off both sides away from the alley, but he left the inside of that completely bare, figuring that the goblins would much prefer doing such construction themselves.
Since night was falling and the full moon was rising rapidly, Harry quickly apparated home, right to his castle’s doorstep. On the door he found a note stuck to the wood with a mild sticking charm.
GRAND OPENING OF THE IRISH COCK
THIS SATURDAY AT 8
Well, it seemed the pub was just about ready to go, and Harry wondered if he should ask Voldemort to go with him to have a drink.