Scouring for Castles

Hullo there. How you doin? I won't keep you long, I promise. Just wanted to give a disclaimer, I don't own anything as much as I wish I did. No, virtually all the characters are completely credited to J.K Rowling. And I would also like to thank you for reading, as this is my first ever fanfiction. Reviews and Favorites and very much appreciated, though not necessary. I just wish for you to enjoy the read.

~Potions Master Severus James

---

Rebirth: Chapter 1: Scouring for Castles:

Harry could feel the light, tingling sensation as his fingertips brushed alongside the cold, stone corridor. Every time he reached one of the wide, tall arched windows, he made a finger man as he did when he was a child, which lollygagged across the windowpane as if it had all the time in the world. Every couple of windows, he would look up at the larger arch in the ceiling to see the variously colored owls nesting in the seven symmetrical gaps. He smiled softly as he saw a large, chestnut brown owl feeding her three children as they chirped hungrily. When he reached the end of the extensive corridor, he stopped at the intersection, turned, and sat cross-legged on the hard, stone floor. His retailer, whom of which was very short and stout, trembled a bit and stared wide-eyed at the spontaneous action. Harry simply gestured with his hands for him to move to the side and continued to analyze the floor of the corridor. It was slightly darker from the walls or the ceiling, most likely dirt that accumulated from years and years of people walking over it. It had cracks here and there, but Harry felt that the cracks gave the castle its timeless feeling, not a sense of instability.

"Um…," His retailer paused, unsure if he should interrupt his potential customer "A-are you l-looking for something in p-p-particular Mr. P-potter?"

Harry looked down the corridor, or maybe he was looking at the air questioningly, as if it had the answer. "Yes," He said in a slightly puzzled tone. "Yes I am looking for something in particular, Mr. Graof."

His retailer fidgeted. "Umm, w-what might that be? S-surely I co-,"

"Oh, no, Mr. Graof. I assure you, it's not something you, or really anyone else for that matter, can give me. It's something that only the castle can give me." He smiled, more so from his own sense of pride from answering the question. He felt his answer was understandable and clear. But Mr. Graof still looked puzzled. "I will notify you with any of my questions or concerns as they come, Mr. Graof." Harry got up from the floor, swept his hands of the dirt and looked down both opposite endings of the intersecting corridor. One end led to what appeared to be an apple orchard. Harry could see in the distance, three greenhouses in a half circle. The other led into a great banquet hall. Harry smiled as cold nostalgia swept through him. It looked so similar, yet he knew in his heart that it would be very different. He sighed almost inaudibly before turning to Mr. Graof.

"Sir, how many floors are there? I do believe we are on the second, correct?"

Mr. Graof's eyebrows furrowed in thought. "I-if you're, ummm, including the d-dungeons, than yes, we're on the s-second floor." Mr. Graof coughed. Whether it was an effort to try to get his stutter together or an attempt to stop the jitters, Harry was unsure. "A-all together the castle comes to be a-approximately e-eight floors. E-excluding the towers. T-they count as an extra floor."

Harry nodded. "And how many towers are there?"

"T-technically there are s-six, o-one at each end of the castle, another in the c-center pl-plaza and a s-smaller one off the s-side of the bigger f-field. T-though that one is a b-bit un-unstable." Harry frowned. "B-b-but I as-assure you, Mr. P-p-potter, we are w-working on the ren-renovations." He said hastily.

Harry nodded once again and walked down the end that led to the banquet hall, Mr. Graof followed a few steps behind. "How many rooms, Mr. Graof?" Harry asked when they reached the center of the hall.

"O-oh…" Mr. Graof seemed stumped and Harry could hear the frantic sound of papers rustling. "T-this castle was m-made a very, very long t-time ago, Mr. P-potter. It has v-various n-nooks and cr-crannies. N-nobody k-knows e-exactly how many t-there are. W-we estimate a-about T-two hundred and t-ten. Twenty five r-rooms on every f-floor e-except t-the eighth."

"How many floors does the eighth have?"

"T-thirty five." Mr. Graof smiled crookedly, finally showing some pride in his knowledge, At this Harry himself had to smile.

"Thank you, Mr. Graof. And the towers are separate, I presume?"

Mr. Graof nodded firmly.

"Kitchens?"

"O-one large one, th-through these doors." He gestured shakily to the door to the left of the banquet hall.

"Bathrooms?"

"Th-three on each floor, Sir."

Harry chuckled a bit "Two hundred ten rooms, and only twenty four of them are bathrooms? Looks like we might need to change that, don't you think Mr. Graof?"

He laughed nervously, adjusting his collar a bit. "I c-can give you t-the name to an o-outstanding p-p-plumber, Mr. P-p-potter."

"No need, Mr. Graof, I have my own, though thank you for the thought. Hmmm….give me a brief summary of the surrounding areas."

"Errr…" Harry waited as Mr. Graof thought for a moment, composing the summary in his head. " There are one hundred a-acres of f-fields and orchards, two m-medium s-sized ponds, one p-passed the greenhouses y-you s-saw down t-there and the one we s-saw coming up the r-road and t-then the castle, of c-course." He smiled nervously.

Harry smiled and clapped his hands excitedly "That is fantastic, Mr. Graof. Bloody brilliant! Absolutely splendorous. Now, how much do I owe you?"

Mr. Graof's eyes were saucers, his mouth immediately fell to the ground. "S-s-urely y-y-you w-would wa-want t-time t-to th-th-,"

Harry shook his head stubbornly "It's absolutely everything I've been looking for Mr. Graof, and I've been to a lot of castles. I've been searching for a few years, been to all ends of the world in search for something as fine and remote as this, I'll be damned if somebody comes and steals it the next day. No, I shall pay in full today. I can understand if you don't have the paperwork until tomorrow. Do you have a fax machine number? Or perhaps it would be best to send through the post? It's completely up to you."

Mr. Graofs' head was spinning like a table top. He shook it slightly, trying to get his mind cleared. Harry waited patiently as his chunky, trembling fingers rustled through the fairly large stack of papers clipped to his clipboard.

"Th-three billion…and fifty cents, Mr. P-p-potter." He said in a hushed whisper.

Harry laughed. "Three billion and fifty cents? Quite an odd price, if you don't mind me saying. Does that include absolutely everything?"

Mr. Graof nodded slowly. And Harry smiled from ear to ear like Cheshire the Cat. He jumped excited like a teenager and clasped his hands together.

"Brilliant! Bloody brilliant! Ah! Today has been quite a fine day, I think. Wouldn't you agree Mr. Graof? I actually was expecting it to be a lot more." He looked at the air, questioningly but quickly snapped out of it and went through the banquet hall and turned down the corridor from which he had previously come from. His walk had a slight skip to it out of excitement, much like a child. Mr. Graof just stood planted in the banquet hall. He couldn't shake the feeling this was a dream. After all, he'd been trying to sell this property for years, just as his father and his grandfather had and suddenly a young boy, no more than twenty-three at that, comes strolling in and wishes to buy it with no questions asked? Hardly believable. He felt queasy.

Harrys' head appeared at the end of the corridor. "Mr. Graof, are you coming? I don't think I can haul the money all by myself."

Mr. Graof once again, for probably the third or fourth time that day, found his eyes as wide as the full moon and his mouth on the floor and quivering. "Y-y-you're p-p-paying in c-c-c-," He couldn't even bring himself to say the last few words.

"In cash, yes, Mr. Graof. Are my paying methods problematic?" He cocked his head to the side. And with that, poor short and stout Mr. Graof couldn't take it anymore. The shock got the best of him and he fainted on the spot. Harry smirked and chuckled, shaking his head as he walked over to the bigger man. He crouched down, brushed a faded brown hair from Mr. Groafs face and patted him on the head. "That'll do, Muggle. That'll do."

Author's Note

Just reestablishing that JK Rowling owns absolutely everything. I gain no profit or benefits except for the pure happiness of producing fanfiction and allowing people to read it.