This story is AU, and begun before DH. While elements of DH and HBP might influence my writing, this story is AU after OotP.

Desperate Measure continued..

Harry walked back to the gates of Hogwarts with the architects and structural engineers. The Americans were discussing sports back home, and Harry let their words float by as he pondered the problem that for some reason he didn't expect – how to get the building through the gate.

Shrinking the building, floating it over the wall, going through the Forbidden Forest had all been discussed. Hermione in fact was going to attempt to shrink a garden shed, and bring it back to do a dry run. She hadn't appreciated his suggestion of an old outhouse, and cuffed him on the shoulder when he said it was multilevel.

"Harry?"

He shook his head a bit, "Yes?"

"John and I need to stake out the site today, no telling whether any of the stumps and roots might be more resistant, with it being a magical forest, " said Steve White, the elder of the two architects.

John Davison the senior engineer added, "Not to mention scanning the area for time capsules and artifacts."

Harry nodded, "There are several species of magical creatures in the Forest, so if you come across a burial ground for the centaurs or something else that might start another war if disturbed, please get me immediately.

White shuddered a bit, "I had a bit of a bad experience bow hunting as a kid. No way I'd anger skilled archers." The other men stared at him a bit, and were disappointed when he didn't continue.

Davison said, "I've worked in the Southwest US and Central America. Some of the "missing" tribes are actually magical, and they warded most of their lands with aggressive traps. Given that some of the nonmagical tribes were rather blood thirsty – even the burial grounds were made lethal to outsiders. Then, we have an added danger of local warlords other admirers of their wards sometimes claiming the ruins. The Drug War the muggles speak of is quite a headache for the Secretary of Magic, and the internationals. Most of our engineers get their feet wet in battle conditions there."

Harry lead them to the area, and was talked through the spells to ensure that excavation on that site wouldn't disrupt any ley-lines or ward anchors. The spells were the same as in the guide he'd read – though his interpretation of the pronunciation was vastly different than what Davison actually spoke, so Harry was quite glad he hadn't practiced the spell. Especially when one of the junior men teased another about a catastrophe in Egypt, with the same pronunciation Harry would have tried.

Closer inspection of the gates by the architects revealed a nearly rusted shut hinging mechanism that allowed quite a bit of the fence from the gate to the woods to fold up – without disturbing the wards. The downside was that it disabled the physical protections to the fencing in that area. Without Harry asking the men swore a vow to keep that information secret.

Harry and White moved to a safe distance and watched the engineers start the excavation. White's apprentice Samuel Johnson was quite a contrast to the military men even from a distance, as the smaller man held a projected image of the structure over the site. Harry could see that the gawkers from the Ministry and the volunteers seemed to be getting little work done that morning, as it seemed a good half of them were just standing by the outer edge of Hogwarts proper, staring at the Americans.

White gestured at the crowd, "Think we should have charged admission?"

Harry snorted, "I think my memos might actually be read by this time tomorrow."

"What do you mean?"

"There are papers that have to be filed with the Ministry in the amendments to the Charter of Hogwarts. The Ministry in return is supposed to pay a portion of the tuition of each student. They are in long-term violation of that agreement, and Headmaster Dumbledore would send the protests and requests for payments quarterly, but being in the Wizengamot had a conflict of interest, and never took aggressive measures. So I revoked the Amendments, pending payment."

White stared at Harry, "Mr. Potter, was this detailed in my contract?"

Harry nodded. "I revoked the Amendments as soon as I learned of them. And in your contract it's stated plainly that all payments and approvals were only to be made by the Headmaster of Hogwarts, me."

White shook his head, "I bet the stupid lawyers never knew what that meant."

Harry laughed, "They did. That's why they helped pull strings to get the American Ministry to provide their engineers, they might have pocket protectors – but they are still military."

"I need to know what this means for myself and my men, Mr. Potter."

Harry plopped down to sit on the grass, "Well, Mr. White, it really means nothing except I will pay the bills, and no one has the right to oppose my decisions regarding construction on the grounds. Hermione and I will deal with the Ministry as we already have been. Frankly, we've not done a thing they really wanted for quite some time, except meet with their employees. The only question is whether they'll ever check to see if we've been doing so legally.

"But I promise I will not leave your men in danger, sir. At the first sign of threat from the Ministry, I'm prepared to move your men behind our wards."

Mr. White shook his head and muttered, "My father always told me to read the fine print." He sat, looking Harry up and down, "I believe we'll expedite the work, and spend our down time in Ireland rather than London."

Harry nodded, "You seemed more at ease than I thought you would be, with the situation. I should have spoken with you personally when you arrived. Hermione is my best friend, but somehow she still has quite some faith in the good of man."

White nodded, and went back to the site. Harry stayed and watched as they went ahead with the preparations for excavation.

Harry was most surprised two hours later, to see Hermione approaching on a flying carpet in the lead of a group of Engineers also on carpets, all levitating what seemed to be a small garden shed. The crowds that had gotten to work earlier resumed their gawking, as Hermione's group levitated the shed between the open gates to a site cleared earlier by the surveying crew, a site four times as large as the "shed" appeared to be.

Harry caught sight of more than a couple Ministry employees break their cover as volunteers to scribble frantically on parchment, and saw a couple of them nearly collide as they rushed to town to get to an owl. With the floos shut down in Hogsmede, there would be sure to be a few splinchings. Few wizards could make long distance apparitions, and those that could were even more rarely paper-pushers at the Ministry, so Harry knew St Mungo's would be busy.

To Harry's surprise, after centering the shed over the cleared site, engineers from the ground added their wands to the mix, engorging the storage building to it's normal size. Gasps from the gawkers, confirmed the awesome sight, as the men on the ground moved to the corners and guided the building down. When the building was down, and Hermione and her crew landed, there was some applause.

The Americans quickly swarmed over the building, but Hermione approached Harry instead. "It works!"

Harry laughed, "Hermione, you're glowing!" Hermione looked down at her hands to check he didn't mean it literally, and Harry laughed some more, and grabbed her into a hug. "Great job."

Hermione stepped back, "They have so many specialized spells for stabilizing the structure! It took more time for them to spell the building than it did to fly it here."

"I wonder if the goblins have started book on this yet."

"Gambling? On what?"

"Whether the Ministry will try to cite you for flying a carpet, or for us moving a structure onto the property first."

Hermione shook her head with a laugh, "Nope, not thinking about them. Come see their spells in work, Harry." And she grabbed his hand and led him back on site.