Harry stepped on the gas of the car, sending it shooting forward before roughly slamming on the breaks again. Cadence slammed forward in his seat and gave the almost twelve year old an annoyed glare. "One foot Harry," he reminded. "Oh, right," Harry returned, stepping on the gas again and moving forward a few feet. "Slowly," Cadence said softly as Harry turned the wheel of the jeep and followed the trail through the woods near the estate. Harry laughed as he gained confidence and went through the trails and paths at 32 kmph (20 mph) annoyed at the fact that he couldnt go faster. He jerkily parked next to the first enclosure and stepped out of the car with a bucket of dead mice. From nearby a large beast pranced over to the metal fence in excitement. Harry tossed a few mice into it's tentacled face and watched as the creature jumped up and sucked three down in one swoop. Cadence smiled at Harry's amusement. "This is Gronk," he informed Harry "He is a Sython, two years." Cadence walked over to a wooden box on the outside of the fence and gestured to Harry. "Come, see here," he said lifting the lid "every animal in every site has one of these assigned to them." He lifted a large book from inside the box. "It tells every detail about the animal from its age, sex and species to the last time it ate or defected," Cadence said showing the book to Harry. "It's magically linked to the animal so we don't have to fill out every paper by hand," Harry looked at the picture of the beast in front of them with a soft smile.
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He could certainly get used to this. Cadence placed the book back in the box and turned to Harry. "Come on then, to the next enclosure," he said, throwing another mouse to the strange horse nearby and getting back into the jeep.
Several hours later Harry ran into the stone manor panting harshly. He jogged to the kitchen and took a glass of water. The cold liquid soothed his parched throat as he chugged greedily from the glass before setting it in the sink. He wiped the back of his hand across his mouth and then patted the droplets onto his sweaty tank top. Living on the Scamander Manor was a lot more hard work than he had originally thought it would be, and despite the weakness from his week at the Dursley's, Cadence never hesitated to push Harry to his limits. The young adult took no pity nor allowed any mercy on the child as Harry loaded barrels of hay from the large truck outside into the barn. He didn't allow Harry to rest even when the blisters on the boy's hands popped along the wooden shovel the child used to clear manure from the animals pens. Harry was slowly gaining his strength back and with it the small outline of muscles as the boy worked from sun up til the chores were done, even if it meant he wasn't allowed inside the house until midnight. Inside the kitchen Newt Scamander was spreading mayonnaise across bread and watching Harry with an amused expression. "Almost done with your chores, Harry?" He asked with a small chuckle. Harry panted heavily and leaned against the kitchen sink. "Not hardly," he said between gasps "between clearing the crops and bathing the dogs Cadence is going to have me working until dinner I know it!" Newt smiled and turned back to the meal preparation he had before him. "Well tell the worry wart that I told him lunch will be ready in twenty minutes," Newt said with a smile. Harry smiled back and jumped up to sit on the edge of the sink. Newt grabbed sandwich meat from a bag nearby and began piling it on the bread of two plates with amusement. "How did your visit with the doctor go last week?" Newt said offhandedly "I'm sorry I haven't been around much lately to help out you boys," Harry swallowed hard as he heard the tiredness in his adoptive father's voice. The man had spent most of his time at the ministry of magic handling cases of the care of magical creatures and the abuse some put upon the animals. He spent every waking moment fighting over the rights of creatures who would otherwise be put down or left in Wizard zoos to be gawked at. Harry didn't know much about the business that Newt ran nor how it worked and he could tell by the exhausted and defeated look that Newt had glued onto him that this would be another losing trial. Swallowing hard Harry responded, not mentioning the subject of Newt's absence. "She's a lovely woman, very insightful. She said I was about a stone (for reference 1.5 stones is about 20 pounds) underweight and gave me potions to take from now on to assist with my nutrition and growth. Cadence has been tasked with giving them to me at every meal, but if I may they taste like shite." Newt laughed at that. "Aye," he said with a smile, fixing vest lightly and smiling "I bet it does, you should go finish up your chores before Cadence comes to find you." Harry shivered with the thought of Cadence's rants about how he shouldn't dawdle and hopped down onto the floor. "I suppose you're right," Harry said with a smile "will you be joining us for lunch?" Newt grimaced lightly before completing the two sandwiches and opening a bag of crisps to dump on the two plates. "Afraid not," he said apologetically "lots to do," "Ah well," Harry replied expecting that answer "it's okay, Dad," Newt smiled softly at the response before handing the boy the two plates and pushing him out the back door onto the porch. "Don't forget to bring the plates back when you're done!" He called as Harry ran down the steps and into the fields of carrots and potatoes. "I wont!" Harry said jumping over a squash and almost losing one of the plates. Newt watched with amusement as Harry handed a plate to Cadence and the two boys sat down to eat under the sun.
