Chapter 72

3 months later

Harry planted the sapling on the ground and then started drawing runes around it. Runes that would make it grow at a far faster rate than an average plant so that the Weirwood sapling would reach the size of 2-3 storey building in a matter of months instead of the usual decades.

Once he was done with the runes, he took out his new and improved Snakewood wand and cast a few powerful charms on the ground to make it more fertile.

His new wand was made of a special and rare type of wood that was only found in Dorne and whose leaves were said to be so poisonous that they rivalled the venom of some of the most venomous snakes in Dorne.

It was one of the few woods that he found across Westeros and Essos that held a small bit of magic inside them.

The wand he now held had the wood of the Snakewood and Core of a hair of the Children of the Forest. Freely given.

This particular wand was three times as stronger as the Weirwood wands that he still kept in the Bottomless pouch for emergency uses.

The wand was still no where as strong as his Holly-Pheonix wand let alone the Elder wand but he was at least able to cast some more powerful spells with it.

"What are you doing?" the red haired girl of about his age asked from behind him.

He turned around and rolled his eyes at her. "What does it look like I'm doing Ygritte?"

"It looks to me like you're use your stick to do your dark vodoo magic on the little plant. Are you going to turn it into a little rabbit too?" she asked as she sat down and looked curiously at the sapling he had just planted.

"No. That rabbit transfiguration… it was a one time thing. And it's not dark vodoo magic. Where do you even learn such things from?" he asked in exasperation.

The girl shrugged. Not deigning to answer him. "Why are you doing this?" she asked.

"What? Planting the saplings?" he asked. She nodded. "It's a hobby of mine." He said and shrugged.

"What's a hobby?" she asked. "Is it something you can eat."

He opened his mouth to speak but then closed it once again and thought about it as he spoke "A hobby is something you do in your free time for your enjoyment."

"Like fucking?" Ygritte asked and he opened his mouth once again before he closed it and gave her a look.

"Aren't you a bit too young to know about it?" he asked and as he asked that question, he wondered if 'Fucking' counted as a hobby. True it was something that people do in their free time for their enjoyment but there was so much more to the act of having sex than that.

The girl scoffed at him "You lordlings sit in your towers and think that not talking about things makes you so much better than us. How do you think your mother had you. By being fucked by your father. That's how."

Yeaaa… he really didn't need that image in his mind. He doubted that he would be able to think about James and Lily the same way ever again.

"Don't you have to go to school?" he asked and the girl ducked her head and looked away. "Does Karsi knows that you're skipping your classes? Again."

Indeed, one of the few conditions that he had given to the Freefolk before they came to my lands was that they would send their children to the School he had created outside Dreadfort.

Creating a building for it, along with the uniforms, books, providing food and black slates for the students, paying and providing for the teachers were just a few of the things he needed to do in order to start a school in this medieval world.

It was nothing compared to Hogwarts. A place that studied in for 7 years. But it was a start.

And he wanted the Free Folk children as well as the children living in Dreadfort and the surrounding areas to come to School to learn.

And since he was the lord of his lands, his word was the law.

Especially if he himself was providing for the books, uniform and food for the children.

Aunt Barbrey never quite saw the benefit of having a school and 'teaching smallfolk things beyond their station' and considered it a waste of his wealth but this was one of the few things that he didn't budge on.

"It's boring. And a waste of time anyway." Ygritte complained while kicking a stone "It's not like learning how to write a fancy letter is going to fill my stomach at the end of the day."

He looked at her and let out a sigh.

"Since you're here, you might as well come and help me with this instead of being idle." He said as he took out another sapling from inside his Bottomless bag.

"Sure." She shrugged and started taking out the dirt with a shovel.

Well, whatever you might say about the Free Folk, they at least didn't shy away from hard work.

It was probably why he gave them 10,000 cattle and 20,000 sheep, 20,000 goats and 1000 horses to tend to.

The unfortunate fact about them living in the True North was that the land there was always covered with snow so they couldn't plant anything on the earth. Which led to them being totally ignorant about farming.

But what they did have was the experience to tend to the goats and cows that were able to survive in the cold and the knowledge to make clothes and other essentials from the body of those animals.

Which was why instead of giving them free land to farm, he instead provided them with animals, that they could easily look after.

He might have to provide them with some food for now but once they're set up, he would start receiving a steady supply of milk, beef, leather and manure from them.

And for those men among the Free Folk who still wanted to fight and pillage, he conscripted them in his hidden army which has now grown up to 2500 infantry, 1000 archers and 500 cavalry.

The leader of the free folk in his lands, Karsi told him the Free Folk who live in these new lands are content with their lot in life.

He was glad to hear that.

It seems that so far, the risk he'd taken to bring Free Folk within his lands was paying off.

Then he remembered the 2000 something people that he rejected and left behind in Hardhome due to their violent nature and wondered if they'll cause trouble for him down the line.

Even if they did decided to get violent, it was not like they'll be any problem for him as long as the Wall stands between the North and the 'True' North.