The Spellcrafters

Chapter One, Heading for Home.

"Summers are so short in Greenland," thought Alexandra Croft. She and her husband Maximilian had been stationed here for so long, and were only able to enjoy the weather in late spring and summer.

The fall months were too unpredictable due to freak storms that could pop up as if by magic. The winter didn't bear mentioning, as it was so cold, you couldn't venture outside. Moreover, while the calendar winter might only last until the end of March, in reality out here, it took at least another month and a half for spring to fully break through.

Summer was another story, then they would take long walks in the huge ancient forests that surrounded their compound. They would picnic in the meadow near the stream that provided them with the perfect animal observatory. Their spot was on a little mound, giving them a perfect overview of the embankment on the other side. The embankment was visited by a variety of animals that came there to drink, allowing the couple to observe, see their natural behaviour and have ample time to see predators coming.

Alex enjoyed these moments of peace and togetherness with her husband immensely. These were the only times she felt she had her husband totally to herself. When they were working, work always came first, something Alex understood, but didn't have to like.

After looking at his watch, Max said, "Honey, it's almost two o' clock. We really should get back to work."

Alex sighed. "Alright, alright, I'm getting up already."

Alex got up, still watching the Demiguise she had been observing. Startled by her sudden movement, it turned invisible and Alex heard it running into the thick of the underbrush. They were such beautiful animals, such a blessing to watch if you got the chance.

Alex and Max calmly walked back to the summer entrance of the compound. They put on their protective clothing, dragon hide gloves and a dragon hide lab coat, as some of the experiments they were running couldn't be attempted safely without the necessary precautions. Max had learned this the hard way a few years back when an experimental potion of his decided to explode. Fortunately, Alex was a skilled healer or Max might never have regained the use of his right arm.

Alex thought back over the years as she looked over at Max. It was hard to believe they would be celebrating their twentieth anniversary soon. Of course, for fifteen of those years they had been here, working for the Ministry. She smiled to herself; they would be going home soon, with all the knowledge they had gained here. After handing it over to Albus Dumbledore and the Ministry, their contract would be fulfilled and they could retire as Unspeakables. Maybe even have children and that was a thought that brought a smile on her face.

Alex and Max had built the compound they were living in, because the location needed to be kept a secret. Alex remembered living in a very comfortable wizarding tent, while she and Max were cutting down trees with a little spell of their own invention, to make room for their very elaborate building design. Alex wanted most of the base to be underground because winters were absolutely horrid in Greenland, while Max wanted a lot of windows to let as much light in as possible. They compromised and half of the compound had been built above ground serving as their summer dwelling, while in the winters they could retreat to their cosy subterranean apartments.

In both sections, laboratories and testing ranges took up a lot of the space. But the Crofts did not lack in the better things in life. They had added a great range of luxuries, gorgeous bathrooms, several beautiful bedrooms, well-equipped kitchens and comfortable living rooms adjoined by an extensive library. The library was the only thing both sections shared and was built in two stories, so it could double as the linking corridor between the summer and winter house. The winter entrance to the house was a secret passageway that led a few hundred yards into the woods, since it doubled as an emergency exit. After completing the build, Max had done some extensive and excellent spellcasting making the compound unplottable.

Over the years, Alex had sometimes regretted becoming an Unspeakable like her husband and moving way out into the middle of nowhere. Then she would remember the work they were doing was too important. Soon their contract with the Ministry of Magic would end and they would be able to return to the world. Return to walking down to the corner market, to visiting friends and most important to her, having children. Alex wanted children so much, but when she agreed to conducting research cut off from the world for fifteen years, Alex had shelved her plans for having children for the good of the community.

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All was quiet at house n° four Privet Drive. All within were fast asleep. All? No, in one of the bedrooms, one could still see light; a boy with messy, raven black hair lay on his bed with books spread out around him. Harry was waiting for Hedwig, his pet owl,to return so he could close the window. Hedwig was not allowed to leave her cage at all, Uncle Vernon 's orders. Therefore, when Harry came home at the beginning of summer Uncle Vernon had padlocked her cage. Harry couldn't stand seeing Hedwig locked up like that so every night he would pick the padlock and let her out for a few hours. During that time, Harry did his homework. This arrangement caused Harry the least amount of trouble, because he would not be able to do any of his schoolwork during the day anyway.

Harry was enrolled at Hogwarts, the best wizardry school in the world. His Aunt and Uncle didn't want to have anything to do with what they called the "freaks" that used magic. Even using the words 'Hogwarts', 'magic', 'spell' or 'wizard' would send his Aunt and Uncle reeling about how abnormal Harry was, and how he would never amount to anything.

So same as Hedwig's cage his Uncle had locked his trunk with all his schoolbooks and everything else in the cupboard under the stairs as soon as they arrived back to Privet Drive. On top of that, his Aunt and Uncle had decided that if he would be busy all day he wouldn't have as much time to do any of his funny business. To keep him out of trouble, they had signed him up to do summer work with a landscaping company.

At two in the morning Hedwig flew in and settled in her cage.

Harry walked over to her and stroked her gently, "Did you have a good hunt girl?"

Hedwig nipped him affectionately.

Harry then closed the cage and reattached the lock his Uncle had fashioned. "Sorry girl, I'll let you out again tomorrow."

Harry put his books, the parchment and the quill he was using to write, into a secret storage space he had found a few years earlier under some loose floorboards.

"Yes, almost done with my Potions assignment, tomorrow I'll have to get my Transfigurations books out of the cupboard." Harry was used to his Uncle locking his books away in the cupboard under the stairs so it didn't really matter anymore, especially since the Weasley twins had given him a crash course in picking locks.

Harry said good night to Hedwig and, after switching off the lights, pulled the sheets over him. He didn't really want to sleep because he would inevitably wake as soon as he started dreaming. Harry had nightmares. Always the same one; Sirius falling backwards into the veil, and Harry unable to get to him; the nightmares had started as soon as they returned from the Department of Mysteries, about five weeks ago. However, tired, as Harry was he wasn't able to fend off sleep for very long and he soon fell asleep.

Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon had signed Harry up to work during the holidays with a landscaping company that operated out of Little Whinging. Not that Harry got paid for the work, heavens no, his Aunt and Uncle received his wages directly into their own account.

They had said, "This way you can pay us back for all the costs you rack up."

Harry hadn't even reacted to that because it wouldn't make a difference, it might even make the situation worse. For the past three weeks Harry had got up at seven in the morning and had a small breakfast (since Dudley, his cousin, was still on a diet). After which he would walk down to the corner of his street where he would be picked up by the company mini-van. This would take the crew wherever they would work that day.

Harry really did not mind the work, it was outside and the sun was shining. The people he worked with were nice and treated him like a normal person. He was away from his Aunt and Uncle's incessant ravings; his cousin and his delinquent friends were miles away. In addition, Harry had found out that if he was really tired there was a small chance he could sleep all night without nightmares.

Seven o'clock in the morning, Harry's alarm clock went off. Still half-asleep Harry took a swing at the noisy machine, knocking it off his nightstand, effectively shutting it up. He put a T-shirt and a pair of jeans on, which now fit a bit better because he had grown over the last few weeks and because of the hard work his chest and other muscles had grown bigger as well.

He went down the stairs to get some breakfast and at quarter to eight, he made sure he was at the corner of the street by running the mile or so to get there. When Harry got into the van, the Foreman briefed the crew on what they were going to be doing over the next three days. They were going to a castle in the area to redo a formal garden and to maintain the other gardens, which for Harry meant hauling a wheelbarrow, up through the garden and down to the compost heap a lot.

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"Max will you come to bed already...." Alex called out after waking up at five in the morning and finding out her husband wasn't beside her.

"No." the answer came floating back. This so surprised her she got out of bed and put on a dressing gown to go see what was enthralling her husband so.

When she walked into the lab she saw the Demiguise from yesterday sitting on the corner of the kitchen table, peacefully eating slices of apple Max was feeding it. Alex was stumped. No Demiguise had ever come willingly to humans.

"Max, what did you do?"

"I honestly don't know," he replied, "I was making some herbal tea, slicing myself an apple and I must have left the door to the meadow open because next thing I knew it was sitting there eating my apple slices. It even takes them out of my hand."

Alex tried to remember all she knew about Demiguises, which wasn't all that much because wizardkind didn't really know much about the species at all. She knew it was a terribly difficult animal to find, because if startled they would turn invisible. For that capability, their long silky pelt was used to make Invisibility Cloaks.

They were also rumoured to be impossible to keep. From what she could remember, once a Demiguise was caught, the animal would die very soon. Accepted lore was that freedom was imperative in their survival. This also helped explain the scarceness and expensive nature of invisibility cloaks. Three Demiguises had to be caught and killed, for one invisibility cloak. The only thing Alex knew for sure was that Demiguises where very powerful magical creatures with a lot of powers still to be discovered. Maybe this animal presented a chance. It would be a windfall of luck to find out more about the species.

She looked at the Demiguise. Was there anything different about it? It had a cute floppy ear, and its colour was a deep amber, or at least now it was. Yesterday when she had seen it, it had been a light silvery grey. What exactly did the colour mean? Oh, wait! Not all the colour seemed to have changed: a small star shaped patch on its chest seemed to remain the same colour. The patch was in the purest white Alex had ever seen.

"Max, do you think it would be a good idea if I took a picture of this?" Alex asked.

"Of course!" Max cried, "Why didn't I didn't think of that myself. The camera is in the living room on the bottom shelf of the cabinet."

Alex quickly got the camera from the living room and was relieved it contained a fresh roll of film. She was even more relieved when she walked back into the lab and the Demiguise was still there. Alex began taking pictures, the first one at an angle so everyone could see that Max was feeding the animal. Thankfully, Wizarding cameras didn't need flashbulbs or the photograph would have probably frightened it invisible! She took another one of just the Demiguise, clearly capturing the distinctive mark on his chest and the cute floppy ear.

Then the Demiguise did something even more unexpected. It jumped and came up to Alex. It pulled the camera away from her and began investigating it, turning it over, looking at it from every angle possible before setting it down on the table. Its intelligence and excellent use of its front paws surprised Alex. It could use them as well as humans could use their hands, opposable thumb and everything.

Then the Demiguise did something that surprised Alex and Max even more. With a look around, it walked into the hallway and turned at the door to the Potions lab. Where it walked over to the fireplace and settled on the hearthrug, turning around a few times and lying down, after which it fell asleep. Alex took one more picture of this peaceful scene and then persuaded her husband to follow the Demiguises good example and come to bed.

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After a long day at work, Harry came back to n° four Privet Drive. He had never called the place home, and most likely never would. Harry considered a home a place where people loved you no matter what. At Privet Drive, no one loved Harry except Hedwig, on the contrary, he was despised by all other human beings within, his Aunt, Uncle and cousin loathed him, and his Uncle's sister tried to deride him as much as possible every visit she made.

Harry went up to his room to get a fresh set of clothes so he could shower and change. When he got there, he found a very irritated Hedwig and a very excited Pig fluttering about. Harry saw a letter attached to the little owl's leg. Harry caught Pig before the twittering sound alerted his Uncle to unauthorised communications. Harry thought about Mrs. Weasleys promise to have him come over for at least a part of his holidays. Harry hurried over to his desk and opened the letter.

Dear Harry,

How are you doing mate, everyone is all right over here. Ginny's ankle healed up fine and we're enjoying our holidays playing Quidditch in the orchard behind the house. Bill and Charlie are home as well so we can play three on three.

And whatever those brainthingies were and did, it doesn't seem to affect me very much. I know I was a bit off (yes, yes a bit much even) when we just got back from the Department of Mysteries but all that shows now are a bit of scars on my arms and the Healers at St. Mungo's said they'll fade in time.

Fred and George's shop is doing great, even better than great. They already had to hire two employees to help them run the stores ... yes stores, they opened a second one in Hogsmeade two weeks ago and they can barely keep up their stocks. People simply love their stuff.

Last Sunday Percy even came crawling back hoping to be forgiven. Bill and Charlie yelled at him for hours. I've never learned so many swearwords in one day. I'll make sure to teach them to you some day. But, after a day of being ostracised Mum and Dad considered it to be enough. They forgave him and reminded the rest of us that even though Percy may have made his mistakes, he was still family. And that we (Bill and Charlie) should lay off him. Well maybe in a year or so after he has suffered enough we will.

Harry the real reason for writing is that Mum asked Professor Dumbledore if you could come stay with us and he said it was all right on one condition. We would all have to stay at Grimmauld place because too many people know where the Burrow is. Write back if you are allowed to come and even if you are not we'll come and get you on Friday no matter what.

Cheers Ron.

Ps. Hermione will also be there.

Harry cheered up immediately, two more days and no more Dursleys for a year. The day could not possibly get any better. Harry took a shower, changed and went downstairs for dinner.

When everyone's plates were empty Harry asked, "Uncle Vernon, can I go stay with the Weasleys for the rest of the summer?"

Uncle Vernon grunted and said, "Those red-haired people again?"

"Yes, Sir," Harry said, "If it is all right, they will come pick me up on Friday."

Uncle Vernon grunted again. Harry took that as a yes and hurried upstairs to write an answer to Ron.

Dear Ron,

Thanks for writing it is lovely to know that all of you are all right especially after that episode at the Department of Mysteries. I'm all right, I guess. I have been working very hard for the last few weeks. My Aunt and Uncle signed me up to work for a landscaping company (I'm basically a glorified gardener) so they could earn something for me being around.

I asked and they were fine with me staying with you guys for the rest of the summer so you can come get me next Friday. Preferably in the evening because that way I can finish work and get packed without too many problems. See you soon Ron.

Harry.

Harry attached the letter to Pig's leg and threw him out the window.

After finishing work on Friday, Harry told the Foreman that he would not be back the following week since he would be staying with friends in another part of the country for the rest of the holidays. Harry had packed everything in his trunk the evening before, making sure he didn't leave anything in his room for Dudley to mess with.

So at a little before eight in the evening Harry was ready in the Dursleys living room waiting for the Weasleys to arrive. Harry hoped that they would use an acceptable means of transportation for the Dursleys, because that made the noise level more bearable in the Dursley house.

Eight o'clock, the doorbell rang and Dudley opened the front door, he was expecting some of his friends to come over. Instead, he found four red headed boys on the doorstep. Dudley ran upstairs screaming, with one hand on his bum and the other partially covering his mouth, very sensible really considering Dudley's experience with wizards.

Harry walked into the hallway and said, "Hi Ron, hi Fred, George, Percy, your dad not coming?"

"No." said Fred, "You'll have to make do with the four of us." and winked at Harry.

Harry then pointed out his trunk, which was immediately grabbed by the twins.

"Goodbye Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia." said Harry.

"Mumble de mumble." could be heard coming from the living room.

So Harry could be seen leaving Privet Drive n° four together with four red headed boys, two of which were carrying a large trunk and a third was carrying a beautiful snowy owl in a large cage. Ron had by now told Harry they would be travelling by Knight Bus. A few houses removed from the Dursley house Harry extended his wand arm and they all waited for the Knight Bus to appear before them.

A few minutes later the bus appeared. While the twins were loading Harry's trunk onto the bus Mad-eye Moody turned up and from behind him out of the bushes popped up Tonks, sporting bright green hair and a nice khaki outfit.

"Wotcher, Harry," she said.

"Hiya, Tonks," he replied.

Apparently Professor Dumbledore had kept up his surveillance on Harry.

Mad-eye told the conductor, "Seven to Grimmauld Street."

"Seventy-seven Sickles, please," said a very impressed Stan Shunpike, the conductor. He was thinking to himself, 'Oh my, oh my, Harry Potter and Mad-Eye Moody on my shift at the same time. I can't wait to tell my mom.'

Harry remembered the name of the excited young man from his last trip on the Knight Bus; and said, "Hi, Stan," while he was getting on the bus.

Moody paid the bus fare and rushed the boys upstairs. Since it wasn't dark yet the bus's interior looked like someone had haphazardly rearranged his living room, there were groups of plush armchairs all over the place, set around small coffee tables. When Harry, who had expected a décor of mismatched four poster beds, asked where the armchairs came from. Moody explained that the Knight Bus only supported beds when it was actually dark outside and therefor time to go to sleep. Harry and the Weasleys took seats on the second story of the bus in the front.

Harry deliberately didn't look outside once the bus took off, it wasn't really an uplifting sight to see houses, and trees and entire apartment buildings jump aside when the Knight bus raced past. Instead, he Ron, Fred and George played some games of exploding snap. Tonks, Percy and Moody were looking around, spying for anyone who might cause any harm. Percy was most likely trying to redeem himself for letting down his family the year before.

An hour and a half after getting on the bus they finally arrived on Grimmauld Street. Harry looked out the window and saw the familiar sights welcoming him. Once off the Knight bus the small group quickly walked to the square and especially to n° twelve.

The first thought that raced through Harry's head was 'Home' closely followed by an almost desolate 'Sirius'. Moody hurried them through the front door and down to the kitchen where a glowing Mrs. Weasley gave Harry a huge hug.

"Oh Harry, its so good to see you dear, we were so sorry we couldn't get you away from those Dursleys any sooner but until last week Dumbledore would not hear of it. At least now you'll have a nice birthday," she said.

Harry hadn't even thought about it but the day after tomorrow, Sunday would be his Sixteenth birthday.

Chapter Two, Sweet Sixteen.