Harry woke slowly, confused as to why he had woke. Then he heard the faint knocking. He leapt to his feet, slipping out of his sleeping bag and hurrying from his room and down two sets of stairs. He slid to a stop in front of the door and popped it open to find three men and a woman standing outside.
"Can I help you?" he asked.
"We're the warders you hired." The tallest man said cheerfully.
Harry frowned.
"I had not known Griphook had replied to my note."
"Oh!" the man blinked. "I forgot. Here."
He turned to the last of the men, shorter then all the rest, and Harry found Hedwig resting on his shoulder. She flapped over to Harry who untied the message from her leg.
The warders shall see you early morning. They are able to be trusted to a limited degree.
Griphook
Harry twitched but opened the door wider.
"Please come in, and excuse my attire."
He was dressed in some black pyjamas. At least they were just plain and not at all embarrassing.
"Nice gardens." The third guys said.
"Thank you." Harry smiled pleasantly.
With garden supplies things had gone much faster. He'd dug up all the old weeds and upturned all the dirt, mixing in some fertilizer. Then he'd planted all the already-sprouting-flowers he'd bought. He'd even gone back for more. The front garden was filled and flourishing. The back yard he'd planted seeds for flowers and converted one of the large center gardens into a vegetable garden. He'd mixed carrot seeds, turnip seeds, beet seeds, and other vegetables amongst the flower gardens.
Harry sheepishly smiled at the four when they saw the empty house.
"I apologize for the lack of seats. I just moved in yesterday and haven't gone to get my furniture yet."
It's fine." The only woman said gruffly. "What wards did you want up? The goblin Griphook gave us just a standard list. Anti-fire, anti-termite, and anti-pest wards. He also said you needed wards to keep muggle electricity and appliances working. He also suggested you get wards around all the windows so that should you perform magic it will look like regular stuff to the muggles outside."
"Could you do that last one on my greenhouse also, along with the Anti-fire one."
"Yup." The woman nodded pulling a pad of paper and pencil out.
She scribbled it down while the three men glanced around, leaving the conversation to her.
"Can I have wards around the place that stop me from being tracked?"
"Yup. We can do that. We can add ones that also strip off tracking charms as you enter too. Same for other people and owls."
"Perfect. What do you have in way of security wards?"
"Griphook said you wouldn't need those." She said.
"What? Why?"
She looked up at him and blinked.
"Cause he said you have a rare type of blood ward around the place."
"I thought that would be destroyed when I left my Aunt's house."
"You don't know anything about wards do you kid?"
"No." he admitted.
"Well blood wards are the strongest wards you can make as they tie in with blood obviously. The strongest type is created when someone tied very closely, sibling or parent or child, sacrifice their life and magic for the recipient. They have to do it of free will though and at the moment when the one it's targeting is in danger. They also have to be fully aware of what they're doing as some of it takes spells beforehand and preparation such as runes in the area and spells cast around the recipient. When the sacrifice dies, their magic, blood, and life force mix together in a very complex ward. If the recipient is a child like you were they have to stay with someone who shares their blood to allow the blood ward to settle and anchor. When they officially become an adult, recognized by magic, such as coming of age, the blood ward untangles from the other blood relative who helped keep it anchored until the child was able to fully anchor it themselves. Then wherever they consider home, the blood wards settle. You've accepted this place as your home and so the blood wards that are tied to your life, blood, and magic recognize this place as your home. They've already almost fully settled around the property."
Harry stared in shock. He'd always expected that when he came of age the blood wards would shatter, that's why he would have been free to leave his aunts. But no, it wasn't that they would shatter, it was that they would newly settle around where he considered home. 'But magic has to recognize my adult status.' He frowned. Then he glanced to the Potter ring. Of course.
And what do blood wards do exactly?" He asked suspiciously.
"Well most protect an area from intruders intending harm, not letting them past a certain point. The stronger ones will even hide the place from people wishing it harm. No intruder will be able to cast harmful spells in the house either. The level of blood ward you have though, with your mother's sacrifice and preparation, has never been recorded. We know it has happened in the past, but just too far back to have accurate records. The preparation this ward takes and the knowledge that they will die is usually too tricky to plan."
Harry nodded to himself slowly. Then he started to think, pushing the blood ward from his mind.
"Are there wards that can tell me who has entered my property?"
"Yup. Some can even tell you if they have magic."
"I want that one."
"You'll need somewhere for the wards magic to focus to tell you who has entered, like some spelled parchment."
"Fine. Are there also wards I can use that stop portkey and apparation?"
"Yup. You may want one area in the house that is free of those, only large enough for one or two people to stand in as an escape route."
"I'll circle an area. And are there wards I can get to lock the place down, say I don't want anyone getting out or in?"
"Yup."