***Previously***
"You're only siding with him because he helped you." She frowned at him.
"He has helped me and tons of other people." George admitted, "But that isn't why I'm siding with him. I'm siding with him because unlike you he is my real friend and a real brother."
***Next Chapter***
George heard Ron yell something at him but he ignored it and left. He apperated to the shop to make sure it was going alright before he left again. This time he took the floo to Harry's house. He located Daphne sitting at the table.
"Where's Harry?" he asked.
"He'll be down in a few minutes." She tilted her head at him, "What's wrong?"
"Herms is at it again." He grumbled as he took a seat.
"Breakfast?" she offered.
"Already ate at the Burrow." He shook his head, "She's wants to break up Harry's company calling it a mopoly or something."
"Monopoly?" Harry asked as he entered.
"That was the word." He turned towards his friend, "She wants to break up your company."
"She can try all she wants." Harry laughed, "We made sure the company would stand up to muggle and magicals laws in the major countries. For instance as a muggle Potter Enterprises can't hold all the pieces to a specific industry. However Potter Enterprises only distributes potion ingredients and has a few labs. The Snake Farm as well Weasley's is not owned by the company but by me personally. And I'm silent partner which means I don't dabble in the day to day running so it can't be said that I am monopolizing all the parts of the joke world. I also don't own parts of the companies for most of my ingredient producers. So I am not a monopoly for the potions ingredients part either. I may be the biggest name in distribution but I'm not the only name and I'm not trying to get rid of my competition."
"So she won't get anywhere." Daphne confirmed.
"Good." George sighed in relief, "I'm not going to tell her so you may get some inquiries."
"Let them come." Harry smiled, "My company is based in France not Britain. So if Britain changes the laws so my business can't run there I'll just close my sections that are there and move them to France too."
"That's a nice little threat." George grinned.
"Not a threat. It's a promise." Harry sobered but the effect was destroyed when he yawned widely.
"Late night?" he asked.
"Couldn't sleep so I went for a run." Harry yawned again.
"You need to be more careful." Daphne shook the morning paper at him, "The Night Stalker made an appearance last night at the French Ministry when he dropped off several dark wizards. He stopped them from breaking into someone's home. It doesn't say who."
"Tell her Harry I want to see her face." George bounced in his chair.
"Tell me what exactly." Daphne turned a glare on Harry.
"George!" Harry tried to ignore the woman glaring at him, "What are you trying to do?"
"Trying to hook you up." George grinned.
"We are friends." Harry reiterated for the thousandth time.
"And you tell all your secrets to your friends." George pointed out.
"Harry." Daphne's face had softened, "Tell me so I can help if needed."
"I don't need help with it exactly." Harry rubbed the back of his neck and glared at George again for good measure, "It's just very important that this not get out."
"You don't trust me with your secret?" she asked letting hurt seep into her voice.
"I trust you fine, I didn't want to endanger you by telling you." He took a deep breath and then changed into his night stalker form and look in her eyes, "I am the Night Stalker and it could be dangerous for you if anyone found out you know who the Night Stalker is."
"Oh wow." Daphne was sure that if she hadn't been sitting she would be on the floor, "Wow."
"She is so articulate." George snickered, "I see why you hired her Harry."
"This is your fault." Harry grumbled when he changed back. He turned to Daphne and asked, "Are you mad at me for not telling you?"
"No, I understand." She stated, "But it is good to know now so I can cover for you if necessary. Whose house were they trying to break into?"
"They were looking for us but didn't have any idea where the house is." Harry stated, "They were about four miles south of here checking houses as they moved south. We weren't in any danger of being found."
"But?" she pushed.
"If they found us they were going to kill you and make it look like I did it." He frowned, "I stayed for the interrogation since they had mentioned your name when I was stalking them. You need to be very careful."
"Were you planning on telling me this?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes but I had arranged the French ministry to send an auror to tell us about the attempt." Harry looked at his watch, "They should be here about nine thirty, act surprised."
"That's my cue to leave." George stood and moved to the floo, "I don't want to be around when the aurors arrive. I may not be able to hide my mad scientist laugh and they'd arrest me on suspicion."
When he arrived at the shop he was met with Angelina's evil smile, "Whatever it is I didn't do it." He proclaimed.
"No I did." She replied with an even wider grin.
"Now that sounds fun, what did you do?" he kissed her on the cheek as they made their way to the sofa to talk.
"Lee and I were brainstorming about wheezes when Ron and Hermy came into the store." She frowned at the girls name, "They were looking for you, something about he is your brother not Harry. But I didn't really listen to them. We just told them you had left for an ingredient supplier inquiry. They didn't realize that meant Harry."
"Aren't they just the brightest lumos out there?" George asked sarcastically.
"Anyway after she left Lee said we need to find a prank for her. So after a bit more brain storming I said, wouldn't it be great if we gave her a wheeze that would make any attempt at a magical job fail. She can get the job but she'll never do well." She finished with a maniacal grin.
"So if she wanted to be a magical solicitor she would lose every case." George grinned, "Brilliant."
"But the sad part is we don't know how." She calmed considerably.
"No problem we'll figure it out." He grinned, "Now come on I'll treat you to lunch at the Leaky."
"It's nine thirty." She giggled at him.
"Fine I'll treat you to a pumpkin juice and since I don't have any we'll go to the leaky." He stood and pulled her along. They left the store and met Kingsley as he left the bank, "Top of the morning Minister."
"Morning George." They shook hands, "How's business?"
"Booming." He grinned as a small explosion came from an upper window.
"I see." He looked up at the window that was billowing smoke, "Is there a problem?"
"No, why do you ask?" George asked with an innocent face, "I do have a bit of a warning to pass on to you."
Kingsley raised an eyebrow while Angelina tried to pull back from him. He patted her hand in a calming gesture as Kingsley asked, "Warning?"
"This morning Herms was going on about Harry having a monopoly and that it was illegal. She's set to change the wizarding laws to make it illegal." He grinned, "However, Harry's business is not based in England and if it were illegal here for him to run his business pieces that are here he'd just pull them out."
"So you're warning me to not cross Harry?" he asked with an odd look on his face.
"No I'm warning you about Herms." George replied waving his hand, "I'm also telling you what Harry said he'd have to do if she succeeded. But he made sure his business is legal in muggle and magical areas so he wouldn't have to do it unless the law was pointed only at him."
"If it came to it would you pull out your shop?" Kingsley asked.
"No I wouldn't have to." George grinned, "Potter Enterprises doesn't own part of WWW. Harry does, but he has no say in the day to day operations. He only started his company so that he could help me get all my ingredients."
"I hear he bought out the quibbler." Kingsley changed the subject.
"Luna didn't want to run a newspaper she just wants to research. Her dad can't do the traveling so much anymore and she shouldn't go alone. So Harry bought it and made a division called the Quibbler that searches for the unknown."
"You're kidding." Kingsley shook his head, "Who is he going to get to head the department?"
"He's still working on that part." George snickered, "He has a dozen or so who have applied to be researchers. Daphne is doing the back ground checks and finding a way to make sure they're working and not just spending his money goofing off like I do."
"It pays to get in on the ground floor before they start investigating people." Angelina added with a smirk.
Kingsley roared with laughter and caused a number of people to turn their head to look at the trio. He had calmed down by the time they reached the Leaky Cauldron. As soon as they were in the door Kingsley was face to face with Hermione.
"Minister, I want to know if there are laws against monopolies in the wizarding world?" she asked.
"No and I don't see the need for any as we are still trying to gain our feet so to speak." He was glad for George's warning however he noticed that George and Angelina had disappeared quickly when they had spotted the girl.
"But Harry has the market all sewn up and no one can get a business without him." She smirked thinking she had a victory.
"It is a blessing that he is there for us like this." Kingsley shut her down, "Without his help we would be in far worse shape than we are. In fact it was only with an infusion of cash that Tom was able to save the Leaky."
"That's right." Tom barged into the conversation, "I'm so glad he did too. Them death eaters nearly drank me out of business. Kept saying they didn't need to pay or I'd regret it. I woulda had to close my doors long ago without his help. He's letting me buy him out a little at a time. No interest to pay and in a few years I'll have it back to meself."
"But…" she began but a hand closed over her mouth.
"It was nice seeing you Kingsley." Ron smiled as he put his hand over her mouth, "We've got to go so we'll see you later."
Suddenly George was back and he laughed and slapped the man on the back, "My warning came not a moment too soon."
"They best not come back in here talking bad about Harry." Tom grumbled and indicated the way the two left, "I'll be askin them to leave before they get another word out."
"Call the aurors if they give you any trouble." Kingsley suggested then added, "And give me a list of names of those that threatened you. We'll make sure they pay you back. I'll also add your name onto the list of those seeking retribution."
"That's fine but don't cut someone one out that they really hurt." Tom went back to his bartending, "Harry helped me out so I'm doing ok."
"I think Harry has helped out a lot of people." Kingsley agreed.
"Did he tell you about the charity he has decided to start?" George gained more attention than he realized. Most of the patrons had stopped talking when Hermione began her anti-Harry campaign a few minutes before. Several had begun to go back to their own conversations but when George spoke you could have heard a pin drop, "He's going to start searching muggle orphanages and pull out any magicals."
"What is he going to do with them?" Kingsley asked.
"He said he'll start a magical orphanage and placement program." George shrugged, "He'd like to prevent the next Voldemort."
"Is he solely funding it?" Kingsley asked.
"For now just to get it started up." George offered, "So far he has mum and Mrs. Greengrass on board to be co-directors. I'm sure fund raising efforts will begin as soon as they have it ironed out."
"That's quite a pair of ladies." KIngsley agreed, "I'd hate to get on the bad side of either one. But both would be rather terrifying."
"Are there any orphans from the war?" Angelina asked concerned.
"Plenty but the ones we knew about were placed in homes already." Kingsley frowned, "Still we are missing so many families and we have no idea if they went into hiding or if they were killed fully or in part. I don't have the staff to cover the search in a plausible manner the aurors are still putting down small groups of snatchers."
"I thought we already caught all the old supporters." George lifted an eyebrow at the minister.
"We do." His frowned deepened, "It's just a new trend in the criminal element. They are copying what the snatchers did so we just left the name."
"Can I tell Harry that your people will call his people and get a thing between the people to help the little people?" George changed the subject back.
"I'll tell him myself." Kingsley grinned and waved at them as he walked towards the floo, "We have a lunch meeting today."
"Well pretty lady I believe I promised you pumpkin juice." George turned Angelina toward the bar neither noticed the people who began to talk about Harry's newest project.
Saturday morning as usual George showed up at Harry's place. He was accosted as soon as he was in the door, "Do you know that we have already received donations totaling four thousand galleons for a charity that hasn't even gotten a name yet?"
"Sorry Daph." He waved her off.
"Don't sorry me." She glared at him, "Now you have to help with the name and you are on the board of directors with our mothers."
"I don't have time." He tried to tell her.
"What possessed you to talk about it in the middle of the Leaky Cauldron anyway?" she huffed.
"I was there, Kingsley was there we talked." He shrugged, "It wasn't a secret and you needed the free publicly. I can give it a name no problem."
"I want a good name George not anything stupid." She warned him.
"Fine, is it just in Britain or a worldwide charity?" he asked.
"Worldwide." She offered.
"Fine then call it Magical Children World Wide." He said, "There a nice boring name for you."
"Actually that's not bad." Harry agreed from the doorway shadow where George hadn't seen him, "It's named. You're still on the Board of Directors."
"Can I appoint Angelina in my stead?" he asked.
"After it's set up and running smoothly." Harry grinned, "You have to help in the set up."
"Fine, fine." He waved him off, "I slipped Percy the cold potion in his morning tea."
"Excellent." Harry and Daphne exclaimed together.
"We need to decide which cough drop to give him, I was thinking maintenance or archives?" he asked.
"Secretary Pool should be first since it's the one with the least security." Daphne suggested, "Then maintenance, archives, games and then your dad."
"I would think the games department wouldn't need any security." Harry tilted his head in confusion.
"They have the copies of all the contracts that the players sign." George pointed out, "That's financial records, medical history and addresses. Not something they want out."
"Point." Harry agreed.
"How often are you going to prank Percy?" Daphne asked.
"I don't know." George contemplated, "I had thought of doing them all this summer but I'm thinking that may not be best."
"In order to keep it above suspicion I would do it just often enough that he stays on probation." She offered, "He just got off his last one a few months ago."
"Kingsley said he doesn't increase the probation time." Harry offered, "It's always two months and after five instances of probation you're fired."
"I think we can draw this out over several years." George shrugged, "I want it to be a long, slow, painful process."
"Wait if its five instances and he already had one you can only have four more." Daphne pointed out, "You've got five planned, you need to drop one."
"We can drop sports then." George shrugged, "It has the most sensitive data."
"Change in subject." Harry pulled a letter out of his pocket, "Just what happened between you and Ron that he felt he needed to write this?"
Quirking an eyebrow he took the letter and read the rather comical rant. He started laughing within the first five seconds of starting to read. It took him a full twenty minutes before he could calm enough to explain between snickers, "That was when Hermy was talking about monopolies. I got a little aggravated at her spouting crap and I told her I support you because you are a real friend and a real brother."
"Well he didn't like that much." Daphne shook her head.
"Yea well he should have thought about that before agreeing with Percy to kill me off." George shrugged in a nonchalant way but both Harry and Daphne could tell he was anything but calm.
Harry realized this called for a tactical change of subject, "I contacted Seamus about an orphanage for me."
"He knows of a place?" George asked skeptically.
"No, but he's now looking for a place or space to put one." Daphne explained, "We already have one possible site we just want to have a couple to choose from."
"Where is the first one?" he asked.
"Potterhall." Harry stated, "But it's in bad shape so I'm hoping we can find something a little closer to ready to be lived in. He's starting with a list of my properties to see if anything is plausible. Then Kingsley is offering a list of buildings that death eaters used to own. Some of them are big ancestral homes."
"You mean we could put an orphanage in Malfoy Manor?" George's grin was threatening to take over his face.
"No." Harry disagreed, "Draco is going to get the chance to get it back. I'm talking ones that have no family left like Lestrange. But I'm thinking those type of places won't be good for little kids so I'm hoping we find something else."
"You think?" George shook his head and grinned.
"Percy what were you thinking." George walked downstairs a few days later to find his parents yelling at the third oldest son, "You just got off probation and now you're back on it. What did you even need from the Secretary Pool?"
"I don't know." He was looking at his feet and scuffing a toe in the carpet.
"You do realize that you only have three more chances before you lose your job?" Arthur threw up his hands in exasperation when no answer came from his son.
"Want me to check for imperious curse?" George offered.
"If I was cursed you would be my first suspect." Percy growled.
"Percy!" Molly screeched, "How dare you accuse your brother. He would not do anything to hurt you."
"I would never truly hurt a brother." George agreed.
"See." Molly huffed but both Arthur and Percy knew that George didn't consider Percy a brother any longer, "Now apologize to him."
"I'm sorry George." Percy didn't sound the least bit sorry.