Chapter 10: Chapter 10
"You've skipped your lunch." Aunt Barbrey chided gently as she came and stood behind him "And a Lord like you shouldn't get yourself dirty like this. Leave the tasks of gardening to the servants."
He felt a hint of annoyance rise at her telling him what he should do or not do but he clamped on that bit of negative emotion and went back to planting the Weirwood sapling. It would likely grow up to be a normal Weirwood tree with no connection to the Old gods instead of the Heart tree that he wanted. But he'll solve that bit of hurdle in the future.
For now, he was just enjoying himself by doing some simple gardening.
It always fascinated him how he had gained a hobby from something that he was forced to do as a child by Aunt Petunia. Cooking had also become one of his habits nowadays and he was very good at it too.
But his new Aunt, Lady Barbara Dustin of course hated it when he partook in such 'lowly' activities that were better left for the servants.
And in a sense, she was right too.
Because unlike his position as an Head Auror in his past life, this time he was a lord. Someone who had to take responsibility for hundreds of thousands of people in his lands.
And unlike Roose Bolton, who only thought of the people as fodder for his own amusement, he was actually going to take care of them and make sure that they receive a better future.
For that, he needed more power. And one way of getting more power was to grow some more Heart trees and increase the ambient magic in the surroundings as a result. Even though he had only met with failure put till this point.
Of course, his aunt didn't understand it and was adamant in making sure that he only does things that a proper lord should do and not waste his time on things like gardening.
If only she knew.
But still, it was the first time someone had shown familial care for him and he was going to make sure that nobody can ever harm his aunt.
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Domeric looked at the new Marauder's Map of Dreadfort attached to the wall of his bedroom and let out a smile.
After he had finished his NEWTs, he had studied the Marauder's map created by his father and his friends. It took time him a whole month to decipher the whole map and find out what kind of runes and charms were used to create such an amazing artifact.
After studying it, he had created one of the Ministry without anyone knowing. Except that this map not only showed the name and location of a person but also it's intent toward him.
That single additional charm was something that helped him root out many enemies and spies in the organization over the years, something that he was always grateful for.
And now, he had created one for Dreadfort as well.
It was not surprising to him that Dreadfort was in fact, smaller than Hogwarts in terms of size even though Hogwarts had so few inhabitants living in it.
With the help of this map, he'll have an easier time rooting out any spies that try to enter his domain.
But now that he was finished with this task, it was finally time to go and do something that he had been avoiding up till this point.
He had to go and swear fealty to his liege lord, and the thought alone annoyed him to no end.
The fact that he would have to kneel and bow in front of man he didn't even knew and swear his allegiance irritated him to no end. It was not his nature to bow down to anyone to get what he wanted. Not after he was freed from the clutches of the Dursleys who had treated him like a servant.
But if he wanted to remain the lord of Dreadfort and modernize the place then he'll have to swear an oath to this Lord Stark and bend his knee. The oaths were not magical and could be broken without consequence but then people would think that his words didn't hold any weight. So the whole thing was a bit annoying.
He was sure that he'll have a powerful enough base to contest with the whole Northern kingdom within 5 years and the whole 7 kingdoms within 10 years if he decided to introduce gunpowder and firearms. But he was not sure about doing that as introducing firearms could have a lot of disadvantages if someone stole the formula and started manufacturing firearms on their own.
He let out a sigh and went out to the courtyard where his aunt and a few of her guards as well as the Bolton guards were waiting for him patiently.
He gave them a nod and climbed on top of Black. The direwolf was slightly smaller than the other horses but it was far more intimidating that any of them.
"Let's go." He said and held onto the velvety soft fur of the direwolf as it started moving forward.
He had already cast half a dozen spells to make the journey on top of the Direwolf more comfortable but he knew that the week long ride to Winterfell would annoy him to no end.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Fortunate_Soul
Fortunate_Soul A new lord swearing flealty to their overlord when they first take their lordship is a common practice. One that I think would be applied in Westeros as well.
But since Harry is someone from the modern world and has a slight problem with the adult authority figures, he hates it that he would have to kneel down and swear fealty to a man he doesn't even know.
True, Lord Stark is a good and honorable man but he doesn't know that. For all hew know, Lord Stark could be like Lord Bolton who flays people in secret in his dungeons. And he doens't like the idea of swearing fealty to someone like that.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
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