Styncon Garden

**Styncon Garden** is the home of the Potter family in the Everyone Lives AU. It is James Potter's inheritance from his parents, who inherited it from their parents, and so on. It has been in the family since it was owned by Linfried of Stinchcombe, an ancestor to the Potter family.

## Features

The estate is located in Cotswolds, outside the town of Stinchcombe.

### Grounds

The estate, as a whole is around 16,000 acres (with Cotswold being about 1.5 million acres). There's a walkway that is about 3-4 miles from the main house to the property line of the estate. The wall outlining the property has fallen into disrepair over the years. James has often said he would like to make a practice Quidditch pitch on the grounds.

There is a very deep pond on the grounds. Henry and Dolly Potter (Harry's great-grandparents) once hid several family heirlooms in this pond to avoid the heirlooms going to their cousins' side of the family, Charlus and Dorea Potter. Gillyweed grows on the edges of this pond. The Potters and their friends have had many picnics on the shores of this lake.

The Potter family made their fortune on specialty potions and the estate has many plants that grow and are still in use. There is at least one grove with citrus fruits and coffee plants and a second grove where James and Lily grow poisonous plants (primarily wolfsbane for Remus's potions). On the west side of the estate, the Potter family grows roses along the pathway.

### House

The dining room, kitchen, and entryway are all connected down a long hallway. The rooms are lit by enchanted gas lamps as electricity does not function properly at the estate, because of the magical properties that can interfere with it. There is on single master bedroom on the ground floor. On the second floor there are multiple rooms, including Harry's bedroom, and various guests rooms. The structure has an attic which stored multiple heirlooms and trinkets collected or created by the family over the years, including a shrieking mirror and clothing and fabric designed by Lavinia Potter, Harry Potter's great-great grandmother. When Remus had to go through a full moon without his Wolfsbane Potion, the Potters emptied out the attic to make a room for Remus to stay there with Sirius (in dog form) to go through his werewolf period without risk of injuring innocent people.

Being a magical house, there are many magical features and items, such as drawers that only open when it rains, a clock that rings at 3:33 and 8:17 (7:77), and an alarm on the fourth step of the stairway.

### Portraits

Iolanthe Potter, granddaughter of Ignotus Peverell, is seen wearing a purple robe with glittering stars in it. She is said to look like James. Dorea Potter is also seen in an 18th century style frame, wearing red and gold corset and robes. Harry notes that she resembles Sirius. However, on the mantle over the fireplace have more modern pictures that only play their immediate action over and over, and do not interact or speak with the viewer.

### House-Elfs

Officially, all house-elves the Potters owned were freed by Euphemia Potter, some time before Harry was born. Despite that, two house-elves. Mellie and Picksie, willingly stays and have cared for the Potter family and the Potter estate for generations, working alongside Potters in every era to care for the grounds and the house. In 1980, James forcibly removed them from the estate when he and his wife, Lily, and their son, Harry, went into hiding. They have since returned in 1995, after the Second Wizarding War had begun.

## Trivia

* In canon, according to J.K. Rowling, had James and Lily lived, they would raise Harry at Godric's Hollow. The entire home of Styncon Garden was the creation of AidanChase, as they felt that it made little sense for the Potters to stay at Godric's Hollow
* As a little homage to the canon series, the master bedroom, where James and Lily sleep is behind the staircase to the upstairs.

## References

1. ↑ Harry Potter Everyone Lives AU: Order of the Phoenix Chapter 8: The Hearing
2. ↑ Harry Potter Everyone Lives AU: The Prisoner of Azkaban Chapter 1: Owl Post
3. ↑ Harry Potter Everyone Lives AU: The Goblet of Fire Chapter 11: Aboard the Hogwarts Express