"When I said I wanted to help be part of the rebuilding I think I failed to grasp just how much rebuilding there would actually be," Harry complained as he held a large stone column in place for the dwarf masons to seal it in place.
He may have been a dragon but he'd been holding up this massive, solid stone column for hours, and it was beginning to make his shoulders ache.
"Just a little longer," the lead mason assured.
Harry sighed and resigned himself to continue to hold the column for another hour at least. He'd learned over the last few months of repair that a dwarf's idea of a little longer and his own vastly differed.
It had been several months since the battle for Erebor had ended. The first week had been a series of celebrations. There was a celebration for those who had given their lives in the battle. They had a celebration for their victory over the orcs. The dwarves had celebrated returning to their home. The Men had celebrated their return to Dale. There had been a celebration for Thorin's coronation and crowning as King Under the Mountain. There had been a celebration for Bard being crowned as the King of Dale. A troll had unfortunately (fortunately) crushed the Master of Laketown during the battle leaving Bard as the unchallenged leader of his people.
Even if the Master had lived the former residents of Laketown probably wouldn't have accepted the Master as their leader. Not with the way he had treated them, and stolen from them. He'd moved them all to Dale without any guarantee of their safety once he'd discovered that the dwarves had gotten into the mountain in hopes of stealing the gold right out from under the dwarves' feet. But the Master was gone, and Bard was a much better leader to his people.
It was needless to say that there had been a lot of celebrations as there had been quite a lot to celebrate, and everyone had quite deserved to celebrate all they had gained. The only ones who hadn't joined in the festivities had been the elves who had departed even before the orc corpses had stopped burning.
Their leaving had at least made Thorin and Smaug happy. It was unfortunate that the relationship between the dwarves and the elves hadn't been mended. Gandalf especially was perturbed by the continued animosity as he believed there would come a time when they would need to join together once more to fight a great threat.
Harry knew this because the Gray wizard had pulled him aside before he had departed Erebor for the Shire with Bilbo. The two of them had discussed more in depth what had happened to Harry, and the danger that Harry could possibly still be in. Gandalf worried that Harry may still have some sort of connection to Sauron.
Harry wasn't exactly thrilled to learn that he may have a connection to yet another Dark Lord but for now he had been reassured with the fact that Lady Galadriel had defeated Sauron. The Dark Lord had been vanished back to the void, and it would take him a long time before he could gather enough strength before he was capable of returning to Arda. In that time Gandalf swore to help Harry search for a solution to protect himself from Sauron's control.
Though it wasn't said out loud both of them knew it was imperative to make sure there wasn't a way for Sauron to control him because the Dark Lord would return. There was no doubt for either of them that Sauron would eventually claw his way back to Arda as long as the One Ring survived, and if they couldn't destroy the Ring then they must prepare for his eventual return as much as possible. If Sauron had control of Harry he would be able to control Smaug, and with two winged firedrakes on his side Sauron would be able to sweep a devastating path of destruction throughout Middle Earth.
The conversation with Gandalf had shaken Harry to his core, and for a moment he had almost considered trying to find a way back to Earth. But he couldn't leave, not now. Harry missed his friends but Middle Earth had become his home too, and they needed him. After all he'd promised Lord Elrond that he would help protect it if ever the need arose, and Harry planned on honoring that promise. It seemed that Middle Earth would need the help with Sauron's inevitable return. Harry planned on being here to keep that promise.
"All right then Harry, you can let go," the dwarf mason called.
With a great sigh of relief Harry released the column and settled back onto all fours.
"I think Prince Fili may need you down in the eastern forge," a dwarf worker informed him, approaching him without any hesitation.
"Thank you, I'll head down there," Harry nodded his head towards the workers who all nodded their thanks back.
The past couple of months had certainly seen all of the dwarves come a long way to accepting Harry's and even Smaug's presence in the mountain. Of course most of the dwarves had personally seen Harry and Smaug fighting for them during the battle. Their willingness to come to their aid had gone a long way in gaining the dwarves' trust.
It also helped that the royal family so clearly trusted them.
Thorin never came out, and said that he forgave Harry but he treated Harry just as he had back in the Blue Mountains no matter what form he happened to be in at the time. The unspoken forgiveness was all that Harry could have asked for. The other dwarves in the Company likewise didn't treat Harry any differently than when they had thought him just an injured human boy.
Harry moved through the halls of Erebor smiling to himself to see just how much progress the dwarves had made in only three months. It was a hive of activity everywhere. Dwarves were hard at work repairing and rebuilding every inch of the once great mountain kingdom. More dwarves were arriving every day, and every dwarf that arrived was another worker determined to see their home restored to its former glory.
The City of Dale was likewise under construction. The trade agreement that had been set up between the dwarves and Men provided the once lake men with the proper funds to see their city rebuilt, and the dwarves with needed food and other resources.
Dis, once she had arrived, had been the one to see that trade agreement started. She had been key in calming Thorin's temper, and getting him to see that they needed the food, and other resources that Dale would be able to provide for him. It had been wonderful to see the dwarf woman again, and she had been just as happy to see all of them as well. It was also magnificent to see her boss around Smaug and Thorin alike.
Harry turned a corner only to see his father stalking towards him, his steps thundering against the stone.
"There you are. I want us to go hunting together. All of this banging and clanging is interfering with my sleep so I might as well go eat something," Smaug drawled as he approached Harry.
"I can't, I have to go help Fili where he's overseeing the rebuilding of one of the eastern forges," Harry explained.
"Are you still helping the dwarves?" Smaug demanded.
"Yes, you could help too you know. It would all probably go faster," Harry reminded him.
"I said I would help as long as Oakenshield paid me," Smaug drawled.
"And I told you there was no chance of you receiving payment, slug," Thorin growled appearing around a corner.
The dwarf king wasn't wearing any of his new finery. He was dressed in work clothes just as the other dwarves were. Thorin was working just as hard, if not harder to see the restoration of Erebor. Harry was fairly certain he didn't sleep enough, and spent long days working on repairs but at least he wasn't affected by the gold sickness.
"I told you to stop calling me, slug," Smaug growled.
Harry sighed. He was no longer worried that the two of them would kill each other, and he was fairly certain they got into these arguments more out of habit than any actual malice now.
"I'll stop calling you slug when you start calling me king," Thorin challenged.
"And I told you that I would never refer to you as king as you are not and never will be myking," Smaug argued.
"You're in my mountain, and as I am now King Under the Mountain that makes me your king," Thorin spat back.
Harry rolled his eyes, and continued his way down the hallway, leaving the pair to their bickering.
On his way to Fili he passed Ori working diligently on compiling the story of their journey to reclaim the mountain. Dori, Bifur, and Bofur were working with a team on repairing a staircase. Dwalin was berating Nori for trying to slip out of his work shift. Balin, Gloin, and Oin were attempting to compile a list of all of the necessary supplies and resources that there were going be needed and what their cost would be. And Bombur was in the kitchen.
The members of the Company had all survived and were thriving here in Erebor. That included his friends. Fili and Kili were now, officially, princes. Fili was the heir to the throne of Erebor, and he'd really stepped up. He'd been overseeing all sorts of projects, and was working hard at cooling tempers when the inevitable fights cropped up. Kili too had stepped up. He'd matured quite a bit after the journey and battle. He was still a lovable prankster of course but no one could accuse him of being a child anymore.
"Harry! Glad you could make it," Kili greeted him with a bright smile as he entered the east forge.
"Of course. How are things going down here?" Harry asked, looking around the large forge. It had massive stone repositories filled with solid gold that had probably been sitting in there since Smaug first attacked.
"Not bad. We just needed your help with starting up the forges. We need to get the gold out of them that way we can check for damage, and see what needs to be fixed," Kili explained.
Harry nodded his understanding, and followed Kili further into the forge. He caught sight of Fili working besides some of the other dwarves to move some rubble. The blonde haired dwarf prince smiled and waved when he caught sight of Harry.
Kili lead Harry to one of the forges and after clearing the area Harry let loose a powerful breath of flame into the bottom of the forge. Instantly the forge came to life. The dwarves all around them cheered at the sight, and Harry quickly repeated the process with the other forgers. Soon all of the pools of gold had liquefied, and the dwarves would be able to begin the process of crafting what they needed.
Harry was on his way back to the quarters he shared with Smaug. The only warning he received was a slight electric current to the air. A blast of raw power slammed into his chest, and shoved him back a few paces.
When he lifted his head there in front of him were four people he thought he'd never see again. Sirius, Remus, Ron, and Hermione were standing in the center of the blast radius looking more than a little disoriented.
"That was worse than a port key," Ron grumbled.
"Travelling between worlds does that to you," Harry agreed as he approached his friends. His heart was racing, and excitement surged through his spine.
Instantly four pairs of eyes snapped to him.
"Harry?" Remus murmured, his eyes raking over his form.
"It's me," he agreed.
"You got bigger, mate," Ron's eyes widened.
"A lot bigger," Sirius grinned.
Harry quickly returned to his human form, and threw on some clothes he kept with him so that he could properly embrace his friends.
"I can't believe you found me," he murmured as he hugged each of them tightly.
"We'll always find you. We missed you, Pup," Sirius clutched him tightly.
"I missed you, too," Harry whispered.
Harry brought them into a nearby empty room, and together they sat and had a long conversation. Harry told them all about his time in Middle Earth, and the adventures he had gone on. Hermione told him about the spell she had found in the Black Family Library, which allowed them to travel between worlds. The information was a bit of a relief. It meant that he didn't have to make a hard a decision. He could stay in Middle Earth while still paying the occasional visit to his friends.
He told them as much, and of course they tried to change his mind. Only Sirius agreed with his decision.
"I'll even stay here with you," Sirius stated.
"You will?" Harry was a bit shocked.
As was Remus spluttered in shock.
"Why not? This place seems like an interesting place to be," Sirius flashed a roguish grin.
"Wait to see you the rest of it," Harry laughed. "But I won't say no. It'd be nice to have another wizard around."
The others agreed to stay in Middle Earth for a little while. Harry took them on tour of the mountain and finally introduced them to Smaug. After they got over his intimidating presence they were quick to start asking questions. The dwarves trickled in here and there to meet the wizards from another world. Harry was just happy to finally have his family all in one place.
When Harry was a little boy living in a cupboard under the stairs he certainly never thought he'd end up finding happiness in another world. Seeing Hermione grilling Ori about dwarvish history and books, Sirius laughing with Fili and Kili, Ron eating alongside Bombur and Bofur, and Remus having a polite conversation with Thorin Harry knew he wouldn't have it any other way.
"Is everything all right, my drakeling?" Smaug nuzzled against him.
"Everything is exactly the way it should be," Harry nuzzled him back.