Don't Panic Chapter 27: Wands and Workmanship

Last Time: ... Owen took a breath and cleared his mind. “I... whatever... yes, I am indeed the owner, but you’d be wrong in calling it a warehouse” Owen said grimly “I’m the owner of a burnt shell. Nothing more” 

“Ah, perfect. Yes, yes that’s the one” Sirius said, now smiling like he’d nailed a deal. 

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Chapter 27:  Wands and Workmanship

Over the following weeks, Sirius and Dobby worked to repair and build their newly purchased warehouse. Although, it was fair to say, there was much more ‘rebuilding’ than ‘repairing’ involved in the project, as so little remained of the original structure. 

The task took far longer than Sirius would have liked, even with magic. The need to order materials and subsequent wait for delivery tended to be the primary hold-up. Magic was not a solver of all problems, and they had to acquire wood and stone other minutiae to reshape and transfigure where the fire had completely destroyed sections. 

Nonetheless their magic allowed the duo to accomplish feats that would have taken a large team of fifty or more labourers. And where this repair took them a few weeks, such a rebuild would take many moons if not a year for a medieval building crew. 

Together, they levitated colossal beams that would have required the strength of twenty men, and floated around piles of stones to then be transfigured into perfectly fitting blocks as though carved by an expert mason. These would have been tedious to lift one by one and shift on carts.  

In all this, Sirius was so thankful for his wand. He shivered at the thought of Harry not having come through the veil. Living without his wand was rough. He’d done it in Azkaban, and he’d done it again in the North, he refused to be caught out a third time. These days, he carried spare wands with him at all times, just in case.  

He’d even tried duel wielding to speed up some of this construction, but Dobby forbade him from practicing after losing concentration on his second wand and nearly crushing the poor elf with a pile of stone blocks. 

Putting that thought aside he returned to cutting and re-forming some recently delivered logs.  

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Thankfully, not all was lost from the original structure. The massive Iron Wood support beams, were charred but not completely destroyed. For any muggle they’d be a write-off, but with magic, they were able to save the critical materials. Even if it took quite a bit of work.  

It took a few days regularly re-applying repair charms to the beams in order to get them back to working order. The charms had to be cast between other jobs to let the spell settle and become permanent before re-applying. Over time the huge beams regained their strength at least enough that they could be used again. 

Sirius was very thankful they could be saved, as having to buy new beams that large and strong would have taken more time and effort than he was willing to think about. It wasn’t just about the cost. If that was the issue, Sirius wouldn’t worry. It was the rarity of the materials. 

These were massive Ironwood structural beams. A type of wood that was rare enough on its own, and had to be imported from the lands of the Forresters nearer the west coast. Nothing else would hold up a roof as large as the one in this warehouse ... when it had a roof again, that is. 

They could always apply strengthening runes to wood of lesser quality, in a pinch. But that would take time and effort they didn’t want to spend. They really were primarily limited by the fact that there were only two wizards on the entire continent. Maybe the planet. Two wizards... and their elf, could only do so much. 

So their magic really pulled through for them here. 

Where chunks of the repaired beams were entirely missing, they used transfiguration to shape new parts from newly purchased base materials. This was the main reason the needed to wait for various purchases. You couldn’t fix what wasn’t there. Not even magic was that effective. You could conjure it, but conjurations were temporary. 

This type of permanent transfiguration was a common tool for wizards that would make any muggle jealous. Traditional forms of transfiguration, just like conjuration, were temporary, because they involved the changing of one material into another.  

The longevity of this change would depend on how much magic was pumped into the spell. Inevitably the transfiguration would lose its magic and revert to the original. It’s the main reason transfiguration of liquids or food was a massive taboo amongst wizards. It could be incredibly dangerous if it lost its magic after being ingested. 

This however was different. They were merely reshaping the material while retaining its total volume and mass. Sirius would use a log set aside for this purpose, transfigure a section off the log, and reform it like putty or clay to fit perfectly into the unrepairable gaps in the beam he was fixing.  

Since the material had been reshaped but not fundamentally changed, there would be no magical or physical reason for the repaired sections to revert to another state after the magic faded. This made transfiguration an efficient building technique for wizards when raw materials were readily available. 

Their ability to meld materials together with this method also allowed for far greater structural strength. Making two wood beams act as though it had always been one log meant they could suspend a far larger ceiling, foregoing the usual column supports.  

Trees only grew so tall after-all, and this natural limit prevented a single cut beam from reaching across the full width of the structure. It was also extortionately expensive to purchase only the longest logs, since they were set aside to be shipped off to the shipbuilders in Braavos, who would pay handsomely for a suitable tall log to form a mast or to lay down as the primary keel beam.  

As a result, most warehouses were limited in one dimension, either length or width. Or they needed intrusive support walls on the interior. Their warehouse would instead be one massive open space over three floors, with no supports to interrupt the interior. It was maybe unnecessary, but it was better, and easy to achieve so Sirius just ran with it.  Their warehouse would be far easier to use, and the managers of said warehouse could more freely alter the interior at-will.  

They also built special dry rooms to act as granaries in the upper floor, making sure to cast mild preservation charms into the structure itself, and taking note to have harry install preservation wards when he got a chance. Doubling up on charms and wards together was always a good idea. It served to reinforce the magic and ensure it stuck. This simple magic was deceptively valuable in the current era. Grain imported by the sea was almost always affected by damp related spoilage.  

Up to 20% of the grain or other food stuffs were expected to be lost to the damp as a matter of normal operations. Even the warehouses were affected by damp being on the waterfront. These dry spaces would both protect the foods after unloading, and to some extent, dry out some of the grain on the edge of being lost to damp.  

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Before they had begun their work, Sirius had placed a carefully modified Notice-Me-Not charm on the warehouse and dock. This enchantment would ensure that any observer would have only a vague memory of a large worker crew labouring on the repairs, completely oblivious to the magical nature and accelerated speed of the restoration process.  

This wasn’t as effective as a ward of the same type, as Sirius had to re-apply the spells twice a day, but they did the job well. The eyes of those in the vicinity tended to slide off the construction zone.  

Sirius was pleased to overhear the confused argument between two sailors on how long this re-construction had been underway, one insisting that it had been going on for over a year, the other quite sure it was just three or so moons into the project. Of course, that didn’t mesh with the fact that the Warehouse had been trashed just two weeks prior according to Owen. 

For structures of great importance this technique would struggle, with even the muggle mind rebelling over the incongruity. For unimportant matters like a local warehouse, however, people just didn’t care enough to truly fight the confusion.  

The effect was similar to that described by scholars who speak of the histories they study being biased because the victor writes the history books. It’s tough to re-write big events to your liking, but small events can easily be tweaked. 

As the days went by, the once burnt-out warehouse transformed, taking on a new and vibrant whitewashed appearance to match the richer look of the Manderly and Royal Fleet warehouses next-door. Wood cranes for lifting goods to the upper floor were built from scratch and levitated into position along the front wall, just as you’d see in medieval warehouses from their own world. 

Dobby even hung two large banners on the front, dropping all the way from the roof to the floor. These held the Peverell heraldic sigil, simply being the triangle, circle, and line of the Deathly Hallows all in silver, sitting against a deep and rich purple background. 

The Peverell arms would traditionally be represented in black and white, but Sirius had suggested purple. He pointed out that purple cloth was a sign of wealth and power in the medieval era. In Ancient Rome, purple cloth was so expensive, it was usually only used by the emperor himself.  

 The ingredients for purple dyes were prohibitively expensive, being made from the crushed shells of many thousands of rare sea snails. It was hugely labour intensive to produce enough dye for even a small piece of cloth. 

For Harry and Sirius, this was a show of wealth they could easily replicate. After all, a quick colour changing charm cost nothing.  

So why not make a statement. Sirius easily pointed out that such a simple show of wealth would be a great boon for their merchant endeavours. Customers were more likely to trust obviously successful merchants. He also noted that the richer and more powerful people thought they were, the less likely people were to bother them. It was a win-win. 

In the end, Harry had agreed with the colour change, though he was admittedly paying more attention to his books at the time. Sirius was sure he got the gist of it. 

In agreeing, Harry had simply commented that it would be best to shift away from the colour Black, if only to separate themselves from the ‘Black Brothers’ of the Nights Watch. 

Sirius would also adopt this colour scheme for the renewed Black family coat of arms. This was traditionally three black ravens on a white background. He had no need to stick to tradition in this new world though, and he took quite some pleasure in re-designing the whole thing.  

The new Black family heraldry reflected the silhouette of a Grim in dark purple, on a silver background, or a sable background if you were using heraldic terms. And boy did Sirius hate how much he knew of heraldic design, thanks largely to the dull Black family tutors of his pre-Hogwarts youth.  

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Sirius and Dobby stood before their impressively sturdy structure. Sirius was thankful that they’d had the shell of the prior structure to base the design on, since he’d heard both Lily and Harry comment on occasion that wizards had an unrealistic grasp of design and physics when it came to building.  

Sirius wasn’t entirely sure he agreed with that attitude, wizards were just naturally more creative, but he was certain that Harry would have been displeased if he’d taken inspiration from the Weasley cottage design. 

Their next task, however, would take a bit more creativity. 

“Dobby can swim!” Dobby piped up, after some time of quiet contemplation, “but Dobby can’t breathe in water” he finished, before returning to quiet contemplation. 

Sirius merely nodded, equally stuck on how to proceed. Amongst the many conversations he overheard was a common complaint from the captains of the Manderly and Royal Fleet captains in the nearby docks. They were all grumbling quietly about the shallower waters in recent years. 

Silt buildup over the centuries in the harbour was always going to be a problem, and dredging was no simple matter for the medieval world. It could be done, but with extreme effort and expense. 

In the last decade this had apparently been exacerbated by a few major winter storms, followed by strong floods from the subsequent spring melt-water flowing out of the White Knife river system and caught by the sea walls. 

This was only a problem for the larger ships, usually the warships manned by either Manderly or Royal sailors. Though this would definitely be a problem if Harry followed through with introducing the ships he’d shown him from various helpfully drawn history books in the Earth section of their library. 

“Oh well,” Sirius sighed in resignation, “looks like gillyweed it is.” He noted the slight grimace on Dobby’s face matched his own. 

Neither of them were particularly pleased with this option. GIllyweed had an obnoxious flavour that stuck with you for days. Sirius recalled the marauders experimenting with it back in the day, alas, it made all their drinks taste oddly slimy for a week at least. But it was better than the alternative. 

How the organisers of the Triwizard Tournament let teenagers go down under the lake with nothing but a bubble head charm was beyond him. The charm was a neat trick, but one small bump and the whole thing would pop like ... well like a bubble. 

It really wasn’t the best solution for someone who was looking to undertake any sort of vigorous activity underwater. 

“Dobby will get it from the greenhouse,” the helpful house elf said as he plodded away. Still far too happy of a lilt in his step in Sirius’s personal opinion. 

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Sirius took a deep breath, rolling his shoulders as he stared at the dark water lapping against the stone quay. 

“I hate this already,” he muttered. Dobby, in contrast, was practically vibrating with excitement beside him. 

“Dobby is ready, Master Sirius!” the elf chirped, already clutching a few sprigs of gillyweed. 

Sirius sighed knowing it was simply in Dobby’s nature to be excited by extra work. He was starting to wish he hadn’t overheard those sailors, but at least this would be easier to sort out now, as opposed to sorting it out when one of their ships inevitably beached on the shallower sea floor.  

Sirius breathed in the salty air, girded himself for the bracing cold water and took the offered plant, shoving it into his mouth and chewing.  

The slimy texture was as unpleasant as ever, and within seconds, his skin prickled as gills flared open along his neck. His fingers stretched slightly, webbing forming between them. 

Before the changes finished, Dobby dove in. Sirius followed, albeit with far less enthusiasm. 

The water was cold but surprisingly clear near the surface. Sirius cast a strong warming charm on both of them, one that focused on internal body heat to counteract the icy water. Thank Merlin for that spell, without it they’d be hypothermic in seconds. 

As they descended, the water became annoyingly murky, a swirling mass of silt and debris shifting along the harbor floor. Sirius swam down, casting Lumos with a flick of his wand to light the way. 

“Alright, let’s get this over with,” he muttered, though the words came out as a series of odd gurgles. He sighed, realising they’d struggle to communicate underwater. He’d not thought of that. Even his annoyed sigh was un-satisfying, coming out as a series of bubbles. 

Dobby had already gotten to work, weaving his small hands in complex motions as he performed an array of charms that seemed to be clearing the water. 

“Right,” Sirius told himself, “no point grumbling.” With that thought he joined Dobby, first temporarily solidifying the sea floor and then casting a series of directed depulsos, sending waves of force to push loose silt and debris outward. If he’d not hardened the floor, he’d just be pulling up more silt with each wave. Instead, he was succeeding at clearing the floating silt deeper into the harbour, leaving clean water to rush in. This gave the duo a far clearer view of what they were working with.   

Sirius moved to the cleared sea floor and drew his wand in a slow, circular motion. “Gougeo,” he incanted, directing a concentrated force to carve the drawn circle into the sediment below. This was a mistake, the ground beneath him dislodged and crumbled, bursting up at him in a dense cloud which left him awkwardly coughing and spluttering to get the silt from his mouth and gills.  

Coughing with gills was a supremely unpleasant experience. While he continued to splutter and convulse in the water Dobby calmly swam over and shifted the detritus with more ventus and depulso charms. 

“Dobby will cut; Sirius will shift” the small house elf said helpfully. 

Sirius was a little annoyed that the elf had somehow figured out how to speak completely normally while he was stuck using hand gestures. He simply gave the thumbs up and that was that.  

The elf raised both hands and began channelling a serious amount of magic, the water seemed to boil momentarily around him, and Sirius was pretty sure he was starting to hear a high-pitched hum. He knew Dobby would be powerful, being tied to Harry’s magic as he was, but damn this elf was next-level powerful. His jaw may have dropped a bit just feeling the magic in the water.  

Just as Dobby’s eyes began to glow faintly he released whatever spell he’d been building. The water around him surged outward in a glowing vortex, gouging a massive furrow along the sea floor. 

This furrow was both as deep and as wide as he was tall. and carried a surprising distance along the sea floor before the magic faded. The sheer power of the spell seemed to have vanished about half of the gouged dirt, which was surprising given how annoying it could be to vanish earthy substances. 

 It was apparently against the laws of nature to destroy the land itself, and the natural magics of the land would usually fight against the magics of the offending wizard, or elf in this instance. Nonetheless a good half had vanished, which left the remaining silt and rocky debris floating and ready for Sirius to send toward the harbour mouth.  

Sirius had to admit that Dobby was incredibly efficient. This would probably need to be repeated another fifty times, and might require a few days if Dobby had to rest. But he was chuffed with the massive increase in speed of this project. He was also a little fearful of Dobby’s incredible amount of magical power, but he’d never show it, Dobby was a friend after all.  

It helped that elves had an instinctive grasp of magic that wizards quietly envied. Some of the more traditional wizards chose to ignore this skill, but Sirius was not so blinded. This grasp meant they were often more efficient in their casting and use of magic, allowing a greater result from the same raw amount of magic used. This was usually not an issue since elves didn’t have access to the same amount of magic as wizards, having to rely on their connections with their masters.  

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Harry looked up from his studies for a brief moment. He’d felt some sort of very minor tickle in his magic, like the tiniest amount had been used without his knowing where or how. He shrugged some mysteries weren’t meant to be solved. 

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After two days of intermittent work and rest to recuperate their magic, Sirius was completely over it. To be fair, he was over it before this project even began, but now he was even more over it.  

Sirius surfaced for a moment, treading water and rubbing his face. 

They’d finished gouging the sea floor and were making finishing touches. Primarily trying to move all the silt that hadn’t made it through the harbour entrance. About a third of the detritus had accumulated around the entrance, and needed more directed movement. It was all loose, but it wasn’t like blowing leaves with a leaf blower. Well actually, it was exactly like that, but in water, which meant that much of what you blew away with a directed cast simply came back at you on the slow natural flow of underwater currents.  

“This is awful,” he complained. “It’s like building a sandcastle in the desert. The sand just keeps falling back in.” 

Dobby popped up beside him, grinning. “Dobby is having fun! And look what Dobby found!” The elf proudly held up a barnacle-covered chest, its rusted hinges barely holding it together. 

“Oh? Another chest? Let’s get it open, then.” Sirius replied. 

They’d naturally encountered quite a lot of lost cargo down there, along with two or three sunken chips. There were likely more, from the millennia of use this Harbour had experienced, but those older ones would have deteriorated with age. 

Both Dobby and Sirius apparated to the interior of their warehouse, in which about six other barnacle covered chests sat open. Apparating from water tended to require the wizard to pump more magic to avoid splinching, and this also brough the surrounding water with them, so Sirius’s arrival was matched with a big splash as the water around him dropped to the floor. Dobby dried it up with a click while Sirius paid attention to the new chest. 

This wasn’t a particularly large chest. No more than a hand in height and a bit more than a foot wide. But it was obviously a coin safe of some sort. The duo had become adept at spotting these.  

They’d initially made the mistake of recovering the larger chests, but these proved to be the containers for general trade goods. Most of which were spoiled. No, instead it turned out to be the smaller locked chests that held things of value.  

On reflection, this should have been obvious, but Sirius was self-aware enough to realise that his understanding of wealth might be skewed by the more massive piles and chests of coins from the Black vaults. 

He cast a soft relashio, hoping to force the rusted metal to snap apart. Unfortunately, he’d overestimated the integrity of the wood, and the whole front of the chest collapsed, leaving its contents to spill onto the floor.  

A few hands-full of gold and silver coins spilled out, along with some jewellery and a few trinkets.  

“Neat,” Sirius acknowledged, shoving the coins and jewellery into his enchanted pouch before tossing the chest aside. He didn’t need any more gold, but he’d decided to set all these recent finds aside for use by the company. It’d be a nice startup fund for Owen to work with. 

Dobby, meanwhile, had his eye on a different treasure from the chest. He held up a vicious looking dagger with rippling black metal and a rusted dragons head handle. 

“Dobby likes this one,” he said, tucking it away in his belt. He’d found a few blades, but all had rusted with age. This one seemed to be as good as new. The handle needed repair but the blade was as sharp as ever. 

Sirius eyed the blade and smirked. “You know, that actually looks valuable. If you stab someone with it, make sure they deserve it.” 

Dobby grinned. “Dobby only stabs bad people, Master Sirius.” That gave Sirius a moment of pause, he had been joking and he sure as Merlin hoped Dobby was as well. He might also keep a closer eye out for mysteriously stabbed people on their travels. 

“But we have a harbor to clear, and we can’t just wish it away Dobby. No more distractions.” 

Dobby huffed but also seemed contemplative. “Isn’t that exactly what we’re doing?” he asked. 

“Huh? What?” Sirius asked. 

 “Nevermind” Dobby shrugged and popped back to the water. 

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They returned to the deeper section of the harbor, where the problem was at its worst. Not just from the recent movement of dirt from their own dredging earthworks but also from the centuries of storms, floods, and shipwrecks that had created a tangle of detritus along the seabed.  

Sirius swam lower, illuminating the area with his wand. It was easy to see why larger ships struggled, the buildup of debris had created uneven depths, with dangerously shallow pockets right where the deeper channels should be. 

By the fourth day, the difference was staggering. Their dock area was now significantly deeper, along with a large chunk of the inner and outer harbour. They’d dredged the entire expanse in which one of their ships would conceivably traverse. Sirius refused to get pulled into this sort of project again, but it was still quite satisfying. 

Where before only smaller ships could safely moor, there was now enough depth for much larger vessels, they’d vastly increased the usefulness of what would become their main headquarters in Westeros.  Owen would be kicking himself for the discount he’d given them. Or maybe he’d be happy with the far greater wealth he’d earn working as their go-to-man. Who knows. 

Sirius dried himself one last time, shaking the water from his hair. “That should do it,” he said, pleased with their progress. “I still hate it, but it’s done.” 

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The once damaged dock was now fully restored as well. The wood strong and sturdy once more.  

Once the repairs had been made, Sirius also took the chance to add a little bit extra to their docks. He may have grumbled at first, for having to traverse all the way down the docks, practically to the edge of the wall, before he found this warehouse. But now he realised just what an advantage they had put here.  

Since their warehouse pretty much nestled up up against the harbour wall, they had the opportunity to make a few extra slots for relatively large ships. Where all other warehouses had space for one large ship directly in front of their structure, or two smaller cogs at a stretch, the lack of neighbours to one side gave Sirius opportunities.  

With Dobby’s help they drove a series of piles into the ground following the sea wall, and built an extension to the dock over the water along the interior wall. This extension didn’t reach too far along the wall, because he didn’t want to strain the incredulity of any observers, but it did stretch far enough to house two more ships of warship size.  

Being directly in front of their warehouse, the title they held conveniently gave ownership of said dock space. Another bonus to this acquisition, since most of those warehouses down by the markets were smaller and held only rights to use the public, or rather Manderly, owned docking spaces. 

Being slightly out of the way helped, apparently. Sirius put it down to his excellent negotiating skills, though Dobby did point out that he’d not even known that he’d purchased the dock space until after signing. To Sirius, that was a mere technicality. 

By the time a full month had passed, their task was complete. The warehouse now stood as a testament to their effort and magical prowess. Frankly the feat would have been impossible without a full building crew, and a year of work, even acquiring and moving supplies would have been a logistical nightmare.  

With some chanting, and a final relieved smile, Sirius brought down the wide area Notice-Me-Not charm, leaving in-place only the minor compulsion to remember a vast work crew working for a full year on the project. This would keep their magic secret, and ensure the Peverell and Black Trading Company wasn’t connected with anything unusual. They would just claim to have purchased the repaired facility.  

They now had a strong base of operations to start from in White Harbour.  

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Chapter 28 Teaser: 

Owen would be lying to himself if he didn’t accept the obvious. These two men were weird, yes, they were wealthy, yes, but more importantly, they were glaringly, obviously magical.  

That was mostly evident in the fact that his warehouse—his burnt shell of a warehouse—was now standing as though brand new. It was also evident in the fact that the warehouse was definitely bigger on the inside. 

... and now, apparently, full of ancient sunken treasure chests which had clearly been recovered from the sea floor fairly recently. Yes, his new employers were definitely a bit different. 

If they were trying to hide these facts, they would have done well not to hire the poor bugger who had owned the place for most of his working life.