Restoring Glory

The last two days of the school week passed in a blur for the trio. Thankfully, the parent visits had tapered off, and the heirs were able to focus on their tasks to get Hogwarts back on task.

With the help of the students, Neville completely reinvigorated the gardens, fields, orchards, and greenhouses. He also hired on four specialist House Elves found by Gringotts who were placed in charge of tending, harvesting, and preserving their produce, as well as running a composting program between the kitchen and gardens.

Hermione hired on two dozen teachers, filling out their teaching roster nicely. The current teachers had been responsible for welcoming their new colleagues and showing them around the castle. The elves had also created the smaller dormitories, with their attached advisor suite, and both students and teachers moved to their new homes. Abandoned classrooms were also cleaned and repaired by the Elves, and made ready by the new teachers. She still had over a dozen positions to fill, and they hoped that these would be taken care of over the weekend.

Harry had had a very strenuous two days. He and Adelyte had visited Essa, and discovered that she was suffering from a compulsion cast upon her by a previous Heir of Slytherin which had resulted in her hurting and even killing students. Harry quickly reversed the spell, and counseled her through her grief at failing to protect the students. Adelyte, having also known Essa and Slytherin in the past, and having the logic of a snake, was very helpful with that.

Harry had then sent Essa out hunting acromantulas while he and the aurors approached the centaurs. Bearing a copy of the magically sealed contract between Slytherin and the first centaur herd and accompanied by the Sorting Hat speaking for Hogwarts, Harry entered into the verbal battle. Much to Harry's relief, it largely remained a verbal battle, though he did have to banish several members of the herd who refused to obey the treaty. Fortunately, there was a clause in the contract for that, and he merely had to speak the correct phrase, rather than actually fight the malcontents himself.

Once the herd was willing to do their duty again, they teamed up with the aurors to begin cleaning out the forest. Several dark creatures had moved in over the centuries, as the centaurs retreated to their own small territory. Harry wanted the entire forest cleared out, making it safe enough for the students again. As he told the aurors and centaurs, it was never supposed to be the forbidden forest; it was supposed to be the learning and providing forest.

The combined auror and centaur forces estimated that it would take roughly two weeks to completely clean up the forest, even with Essa taking the lead on the acromantula. Part of the problem was that many areas were completely overgrown, sometimes with deadly magical plants, and those needed to be cleared before the creatures hiding behind those hedges could be gotten rid of.

Unfortunately, battling overgrown plants wasn't really a common specialty in the Wizarding world, but when Harry mentioned the idea of a flamethrower to one muggleborn auror, they began to think outside of the box. The Hit Wizard squad was also contracted to help, and Gringotts even offered a goblin half-squad for some of the nastier beasties, which Harry gratefully accepted. He'd gladly pay the extra cost up front to get the long term gain of having an accessible forest again.

While the forest was temporarily turned into a battleground, Harry, accompanied everywhere by Adelyte, began working on game and livestock. He would have to wait a few weeks before introducing game animals into the forest, but he could take care of the lake and fields right now. He learned that most wizarding restaurants relied on the same supplier for their meats and livestock; a farm taken over by Lucius Malfoy during the last war after the tragic death of its owners, and now run with brutal efficiency.

Not wanting any part of that, Harry had reached out to a variety of muggle livestock suppliers, getting part of his herd from each. It would take a little more effort to hide his tracks from the muggles, but it was far preferable in his mind than adding to the ill-gotten Malfoy fortune. He even took some satisfaction in denying the Death Eater the profits from Hogwarts' usual large meat order.

With the help of three House Elves who specialised in medium to large livestock and two with experience in a poultry farm, Harry's first batch of cows, pigs, sheep, ducks and chickens were settled in their new homes. By the end of the week he would have a full complement of goats and geese added, and another handful of Elves to take care of them all. He remembered to carefully apply the silencing charm to the roosters, in case Essa ventured near their pens. He also made a note to get the animal houses warded against the harsh Scottish winters, but that could wait a month or two.

Harry also made several trips into the lake, connecting with the modern tribe of merfolk, who thankfully were still upholding their contract from the founders' days. They also agreed to provide a teacher of mermish and swimming for the students, though as none of them understood English, Harry would be needed to translate for a while.

In the lake, Harry met the giant squid, who was much larger than the squids he had known in the past. Unfortunately, his large size was an abnormality, and had caused the death of his fellow hatchlings. Without another female, he was the last of his kind. Harry promised to look into that in the future, though he didn't think the lake could support two squids of that size. He also agreed to import more fish and other medium-sized creatures, as the food supply in the lake had been running a little low.

Finally, Harry rented a few House Elves who worked maintaining professional Quidditch pitches. After taking them to a few Muggle pitches for examples of he wanted, they worked together to map out the position of the new sport fields. Then, the elves proceeded to make the Football, Rugby, and Cricket fields for the new physical education classes. Harry also requested bids from the goblin for companies to build the stands, locker rooms, and indoor training center, and quickly hired a dwarven based-company, who promised to be done by the end of the next week.

The students were excitedly following these changes, and many seemed to be looking forward to their new classes the coming Monday. Finally, Friday drew to a close, as the three heirs reconvened at dinner. They were all exhausted after the strenuous week; though they had been quite fit in the past, the trio found that their younger bodies wilted before their minds wanted to stop.

And, unlike in the past, where the hard work had been interspersed with periods of fun and rest, in the present there was just too much to do. With classes starting in just two days, there were still plenty of items on Hermione's to do list. And those were just the immediate changes. There were long term projects as well, which they would promptly be starting on once the school year properly began.

Maybe by Yule he'd be able to relax, Harry mused, half-heartedly eating his Shepherd's Pie.