Chapter 10
Despite this slight hiccup in its conception, the newly formed company, Marauders Inc, took off at an impressive rate.
Sirius spoke to Griphook and, between the two of them, they located an abandoned warehouse in London, near the docks. It required a bit of fixing up and so Dobby was deployed to sort it out. Warders were also contracted, to increase security and to hide any traces of the magic inside from reaching any surrounding Muggles.
The search for employees was a success as well; in fact, the first was a goblin who had been part of the team of warders, working on the warehouse.
Ripfang had started his career for Gringotts as a curse breaker, working on the ancient ruins in South America, before transferring to the more prestigious area of the Valley of the Kings, in Egypt.
He had later returned to the London branch to work as a warder however, he had recently become disillusioned with the lack of excitement within his current job, and was looking for a new challenge. His experience in all types of ancient artefacts, not to mention his curse breaking abilities, would be invaluable and Harry was happy to have him aboard.
The next employee found was a twenty-something Muggleborn witch called Jess. She had fallen victim to the rampant prejudice within the magical world, as she had been rejected several times by the ministry.
This was despite the fact that Jess knew very well, that they had hired several of her Pureblood classmates, after she had applied. Worse than that, every one of them had much poorer grades than her.
She also had the distinction of being the only student in the last fifty years who had taken the History of Magic NEWT and achieved an O grade on it. She loved books with a passion but was very knowledgeable about all different types of antiques and historical items, so this would be incredibly useful and anything she didn't know, she would happily look up.
The final member of the team was another Muggleborn called Steve. While Jess had taken the legitimate route after leaving Hogwarts, Steve had taken a slightly different path.
Griphook claimed that he was a 'salesman' and was very good at what he did. He had this uncanny ability to make anyone believe that they honestly and truthfully had to have whatever it was that Steve was selling, and to eke out the best possible price for any item.
Harry still didn't really know what it was Steve had spent his career after Hogwarts selling, but he got the impression that it was very rarely an item that actually belonged to Steve, or to the people he was selling it for. Harry was initially leery of trusting Steve, but Griphook insisted that his oath would prevent Steve from acting in a way that wouldn't benefit Harry and that was good enough for Harry.
Over the course of a week, Dobby transported all the items from the Room of Requirement to the refurbished warehouse, and set it in some semblance of order for the trio working there.
Every so often one of them would call Harry with an update on their progress. Jess was quickly banned from giving these updates, as she tended to get very distracted by whatever item she had just been working on and completely forget about everything else. Her enthusiasm was good though, and made a useful counterpoint to the cold businesslike manner of Ripfang and the mercenary practicality of Steve.
Between them, Harry was confident that the unlikely trio would make sure that everything that could be saved, would be, everything that they might want to keep, would be kept and everything else would be sold for the absolute best price.
Now that Harry was excused having to clear the Room of Requirement, he had plenty more opportunity to work on the Potions Analyser Program. He was making good progress on forming the basic outline for the database, with the appropriate parameters inputted; it was just a case of linking this to the actual analysis portion that he was struggling with.
He hadn't actually put in any of the ingredients information yet, as he was relying on the other members of the development team for that. He probably could do it, but it made sense to play to the strengths of everyone involved, now that they were included.
The headache the program was causing was minimal in comparison to that which a certain Hufflepuff witch was creating.
Susan Bones had taken to spending a lot of time with Harry, sitting with him at mealtimes at the Gryffindor table and next to him in the classes Gryffindor shared with Hufflepuff. This wasn't entirely a new thing, nor was it what was confusing Harry though, no what made no sense was that whenever he would say anything remotely funny Susan would laugh.
Now Harry had no illusions, he knew that, on occasion, he may say something funny, but not that funny. In fact, some of the things she laughed at, even he didn't think were amusing.
She had often sat with him before, but never with this amount of regularity or quite as closely. He did briefly consider phoning Sirius, to ask him what on earth was going on but he quickly rejected that notion, as Sirius would either mock him mercilessly or confuse matters even more, perhaps even a combination of the two if Harry was particularly lucky.
He considered asking Rach, but she had enough problems of her own at the moment, as she was arguing regularly with her current boyfriend. Julie was out as well because she would likely tell Sirius and that would be worse than telling Sirius himself.
What he needed, was someone who could translate the strange actions into something he could understand. Then the answer came to him, it was so simple he couldn't believe he hadn't thought of it earlier. Daphne was also a teenage girl, surely she would be able to interpret the madness perpetrated by a member of her own species.
The opportunity to speak to her came when they were doing some especially difficult Transfiguration homework, in a tucked away corner of the lab, away from the bickering Founders portraits.
For some reason, Harry was incredibly nervous and didn't know how to bring up the topic. He was saved by Daphne outright demanding to know what it was that was wrong with him.
He explained the situation with Susan, as best he could, before leaning back and looking at her expectantly.
She didn't say anything immediately and so he said "well?" impatiently.
"It sounds to me like she likes you."
"What?"
Daphne rolled her eyes, "she likes you, finds you attractive, maybe thinks you're boyfriend material."
"Oh."
"Oh? That's all you have to say for yourself?"
Harry shrugged, "I don't know, it's not really something I've thought much about."
Daphne hesitated slightly, "well, do you like her?" It came out in a rush, like pulling a plaster off quickly.
Harry shrugged again, "don't know. How do you know if you like someone?"
"I'm not completely sure, but I would imagine that you want to be with them all the time, feel happier when they are around, feel swooping feelings in your stomach around them." She blushed lightly but Harry wasn't watching her, he was staring at the wall blankly.
"But that's how I feel about you" he mumbled, before his eyes snapped to Daphne to see if it had been quiet enough to escape notice.
Judging by her wide eyed expression, it hadn't escaped her sharp hearing. "Do you mean it? Do you really mean it?"
Harry rubbed the back of his head uncomfortably, "well yeah, I mean look at you, you're beautiful. Not just that though, you're smart, witty, great to talk to" he trailed off. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything. I didn't mean to, it just came out."
"Harry, shut up and kiss me you fool."
Mouth hanging wide open, he took a deep breath to steady his jangling nerves. Harry summoned every ounce of his Gryffindor courage and leaned towards Daphne.
She met him half way and they kissed. Her lips were like nothing he had imagined before, they were soft, velvety almost, and they tasted slightly of the perfume she always wore, the scent he associated as uniquely Daphne.
It was only a light chaste kiss but as Harry began to pull away he felt a jolt run through his body. It was not an unpleasant feeling but it certainly was a surprise. It was followed by a warmth rushing through every cell of his body; it reminded him of the first time he held his wand. He leaned back to see if Daphne had felt it too and he hadn't imagined it.
She looked as confused as Harry felt, "what was that?" she asked.
"I don't know, is it supposed to happen?"
"I don't think so, was certainly odd though. Come here and let's see if it happens again." She had a mischievous glint in her eye, that Harry wasn't sure he had spotted before but he obligingly leaned in again.
This time, this kiss was slightly deeper and lingered a touch more, as both became more comfortable. There was no jolt this time but there was a pleasant warmth, almost like the remembrance of the hot sun beating down, or sitting in front of a warm fire on a winters evening.
Reluctantly, Harry pulled back, "much as I would like to carry on, maybe we should find out if that warmth thing was normal?"
Daphne pouted a little, but resumed her seat. "Who do you want to ask?"
Harry pondered this, 'did he want to ask Sirius and risk confusing information and a whole heap of mocking? Hmm no probably not. How about a teacher? No that's a stupid idea. Well what about the Founders portraits? Likely still get mocked there but at least the information would likely be accurate. Yes that's the best course of action.'
"Ask the Founders they will probably know and they will be discrete about it."
Daphne nodded, agreeing with his logic, so they stood up and entered the main part of the lab, where the portraits were now set up. Said portraits were currently in the middle of another argument about something or other, frankly Harry didn't want to know what.
"Um guys, I was wondering if you could help me with something?"
Always the more helpful of the four, Helga turned to him. "What is it dear?"
"Yes dear, what is it?" Salazar asked mockingly before quieting at a formidable glare from Helga.
Suddenly with all four staring at him, asking the Founders for help seemed like a very poor idea to Harry but he couldn't back down now.
"Well, you see, the thing is, me and Daphne kissed."
"Finally" interrupted Rowena.
"Say what?" Harry was utterly bemused.
"You two have been dancing around each other for weeks, that we have seen and I don't doubt that you had been for months before that. What brought this rather surprising moment of clarity for the pair of you?"
"Um I was actually asking her for help about a different girl"
All four burst into laughter, Godric had almost fallen over he was laughing so hard.
Rowena looked at him with a half smile playing on her lips, "only you, Harry, could go to a girl, asking for advice about another girl and end up kissing the first."
"I'm not even sure if that's an insult or not" Harry grumbled before shooting a light glare at a conspicuously silent Daphne. "That's not the point. The point is that when we kissed we both felt a weird jolt thing."
Suddenly the Founders were serious, Rowena fixing them with a gimlet eye. "Describe it" she commanded.
"It was kind of like how it felt when I first held my wand." Daphne nodded in agreement with Harry's description.
Rowena smiled, something had obviously been confirmed to her, "congratulations."
"Um why are you congratulating us?" Harry asked. He couldn't help but feel a hint of nervousness as he awaited her answer.
"Magic itself has blessed your union, you should be very proud, it is an extremely rare gift."
"What, like a soul bond?" Daphne blurted out, breaking her silence. "I thought they were only in stories?"
"Of course not, don't be a fool. Magic cannot suddenly join your soul with another's, just from one measly kiss. Oh stop scowling Harry, you're a teenager; trust me, it wasn't that good a kiss. You will get better, but not yet.
"No, what it means, is that the magic in each of you, is highly compatible with the other. It is rare in the sense that you two have found each other, however every single person has at least one person out there, who they are compatible with.
Normally, however, these two people never meet and those that do, have often gotten married soon after. This leads to the stories about so called soul bonds, resulting in unbreakable marriage between the two.
"It is perfectly possible, that there may be several other witches or wizards out there, for each of you. This gift does not guarantee that you are absolutely perfect for each other, and that you will spend the rest of your life together, just that it is far more likely that you will be happy together, than it is for a normal couple."
"Hang on Rowena, you said that either of us could be compatible with another witch or wizard but I only like girls. I'm not gay." He blushed, embarrassed about the topic.
Rowena shrugged, "so? I never said you were. You may not like other males but that makes absolutely no difference to what your magic is compatible with. Magic is genderless. That's probably another reason why such blessings are rare."
"That makes sense. Is there anything else we should know about the link?" Harry asked.
Rowena thought about it briefly before replying, "Not really. Just remember that, while the link is rare and makes you more compatible, it is not the be all and end all. Do not allow it to dominate your lives, allow your relationship to develop naturally."
Both teenagers nodded at the advice, before Harry decided to change the direction of the conversation. "While we are here, has there been any progress with the ritual design for Voldemort's Horcruxes, Godric, Salazar?"
Salazar looked to Godric to answer, who dutifully did so. "There has been a bit of a stumbling block I'm afraid. While we have almost worked out how to invoke the links between each of the separate soul pieces, we are a long way from being able to destroy them.
"It would be helpful if we knew the exact number we were looking for, but as that is impossible, we are making do with the information we have. I am hopeful that we will have a completed ritual, ready to perform, before you leave the castle at the end of the school year."
"That's good to know, at least we are making progress. Daphne, now that small interruption has been cleared up, how about we continue on from where we left off?"
The reactions to Harry and Daphne beginning to date were remarkably similar to the Founder's, disconcertingly so. Had everyone seen that they liked each other apart from themselves?
Blaise certainly thought so and it was hard to tell Tracey's view, as she appeared only able to communicate by squeals, much to Blaise's chagrin. The others that Harry spoke to regularly, seemed pleased for him and congratulated them on finally opening their eyes to see what was clear for everyone else.
The Weasley twins took it one stage further, of course, and began referring to the couple as 'Milord and Milady' along with deep and over elaborate bows. They threatened to begin curtseying but a glare from Daphne made them stick to bowing.
Even Harry, with his pretty poor appreciation of the emotions behind people's actions, could tell that Susan was slightly hurt by the turn of events. However, after a day or so of moping, she suddenly brightened and came over and congratulated the two of them. Harry wasn't sure how to act around her so he asked Daphne and was told to just act normally.
He was also rewarded with a kiss on the cheek, he wasn't sure why though and when he asked, Daphne just chuckled and replied, "for being you." This cleared up nothing but Harry decided it wasn't worth worrying about, frankly there were other things occupying his mind at the moment.
Very little actually changed, in the dynamic between Harry and Daphne, now that they were officially dating. Harry began to understand why everyone had thought they were blind for not seeing it, as the only real change was that they often held hands and occasionally kissed.
The Hogwarts community was also surprisingly tolerant of a relationship, between its most famous Gryffindor and a Slytherin. Perhaps Harry's work at reaching out to people in different houses was starting to overcome decades of barriers. All things considered, Harry was the happiest he had been in memory, topping even the excellent Christmas he had.
Ravenclaw played Slytherin in the first Quidditch match of the New Year and the Ravens narrowly defeated the Snakes, thanks to an excellent catch by Cho Chang, from right under Malfoy's nose.
However, the majority of the school had only watched this with half an eye, as they were eagerly awaiting the match between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. Frankly, nobody expected anything other than an absolute blowout in favour of Gryffindor, not even the Hufflepuff team.
After Transfiguration, on a surprisingly crisp late February morning, McGonagall asked Harry to stay back briefly.
"What is it Professor?" Harry asked curiously.
"In our meeting over Christmas, you bought up certain concerns over the Headmaster's behaviour, inconsistencies you might say. I just thought you ought to know, that I have been keeping an eye on him, and I have to conclude that you are absolutely correct. More so, I believe he is becoming more erratic.
"He called me to his office the other day but when I got there, he didn't seem to know why I was there. Oh he tried to hide it, but I could see through his bluster. In fact, last week he sent me a note saying he wanted to remove a specific clause from the Hogwart's Charter. A clause that he worked long and hard to get added, not six months ago."
Harry frowned, "it doesn't make sense Professor. There seems to be no discernable pattern, no end game to his actions. What is he aiming towards? What does he hope to gain?"
"I don't know, I wish I did but I just can't work him out anymore. I'm sorry I can't be more help."
Harry waved her apologies off, "it's ok Professor, its good information to know, even if I don't really understand it."
Daphne didn't understand it either, when he updated her later that evening, but he could tell she was running it through that fabulous mind of hers, looking at every single angle.
While he may not be able to spot something, if there was any hint of an end game he had faith that Daphne would pick it up. With Daphne keeping the Dumbledore situation in hand, Harry redoubled his efforts to finish off the potions program.
It took him several days of near constant effort over a weekend, but finally he pronounced it 'done'. All that was needed, was for the others to input all their Arithmatic data about the ingredients and potion creation processes.
This too was completed in shifts, once Harry sat everyone down and explained exactly what they had to do. He found it interesting that, despite being purebloods, with no experience of technology prior to him introducing it to them; they managed to pick it up very quickly.
Slowly but surely, they added all the necessary data. It was no mean feat to include every ingredient, not to mention the different methods of preparing each one. It was deadly tedious work, even if it was necessary.
So much so, that Harry found himself thankful, for the first time, for the fanaticism of Wood when it came to Quidditch. The Gryffindor Hufflepuff game was drawing near and, despite being overwhelming favourites, Wood would not allow any of them to even contemplate becoming complacent.
The four or five times a week practices gave Harry a much welcomed excuse not to spend his free time incessantly typing, although he couldn't get out of it completely, unfortunately.
It was the day before Harry's Quidditch match, that Daphne sent Dobby to collect Harry to announce that the last bit of data had been entered. Harry excitedly threw down his half finished Herbology essay and prepared himself for Dobby to pop him down to the workshop. Everyone else was already there and there was a palpable air of excitement in the room.
"It's all done then?" Harry asked.
Blaise nodded and gestured towards the empty seat in front of the computer. "Well get on with it then" he said, hiding a grin.
Harry flashed a crooked smile and took the offered seat. "What potion shall we test first then?" he enquired to the room.
As usual, Tracey was first off the mark, "try something simple like the Boil Cure potion that we made in first year."
Harry nodded and tapped away at the keyboard briefly, before hitting enter. A small progress bar appeared on screen along with the word 'Analysing'. They waited impatiently, watching the bar creep towards 100% before it flashed once and a small menu appeared offering three options.
First was 'most efficient brew', second was 'most effective brew' and finally was 'cheapest brew'. He clicked 'most effective' and a recipe appeared on screen. He looked to Tracey to see her reaction to the recipe and was rewarded with a gasp followed by feverish murmuring.
"No porcupine quills…stabilises without the need for a base…anti clockwise after the initial simmering."
Ever the practical one, Blaise looked towards the end to see the cost per litre. He blinked once and looked again to make sure he hadn't imagined it. "Bloody hell, 74 Galleons a litre for 100% effectiveness."
This pulled everyone up short, the normal brew would cost around 2 Sickles, at most, for the same volume. Tracey pursed her lips thoughtfully.
"It's the Moonglow petal" Neville said, "it's an extremely rare plant from the Congo jungle. A whole flower would easily cost 500 Galleons."
In response Harry clicked the 'cheapest brew' option. The recipe changed slightly leading to a cost of 3 Knuts per litre but an effectiveness of only 68%. Not a bad score by any means but not as impressive as 100%. Harry then tried 'most efficient' this came out at 4 Sickles per litre but had a rating of 94%.
This led to an evening of playing with the sliders and many different recipes to see the differences. Tracey couldn't contain herself and had set a cauldron up to begin testing some of the recipes, to make sure they worked in reality as opposed to just on a screen. It was midnight before Harry begged off, to get some sleep before the game tomorrow, leaving the others to their playing.
The predicted blowout over Hufflepuff came to fruition in resounding fashion. Rumours of a professional scout drove Wood to new heights of keeping. Despite a fairly impressive Chaser trio for Hufflepuff, Wood refused to let a single goal in.
Harry privately believed that Wood simply needed to glare at the approaching Quaffle for it to decide not to trouble his hoops, let alone save it. Cedric Diggory, the Hufflepuff Seeker, had obviously attempted to practise joining in with the Chaser plays, as Harry had done against Slytherin, but he didn't have the same knack that Harry had so it fell a little flat.
Deciding to push his Firebolt to its absolute limit for its maiden match, Harry led poor Cedric on a breakneck tour of the field in a series of feints and dives. In fact, Harry was having so much fun that he almost forgot about actually looking for the Snitch. So much so, that it was only blind luck that the little golden ball popped up in front of him as the Gryffindor Chasers took the score just past 700. Laughing in delight, he whipped a hand out in a flash and snared the tricky little ball to bring the game to a slightly anticlimactic end.
The ensuing party lasted long into the night in the Gryffindor Common Room, with dancing and an impressive amount of contraband alcohol that had been smuggled in. The twins tried to get Harry to take, what they thought would be, his first shot of firewhiskey.
However, they had not counted on the fact that Harry had spent almost a month with potentially the most lackadaisical guardian about these matters, Sirius. He had already experienced his first shot or two of firewhiskey and would no longer be surprised by its potency.
So, with a wink, he took the proffered shot, downed it and held it out for another one showing no effects at all. Harry had never seen both twins gobsmacked before but he was treated to the sight now, until he was dragged away to dance by Katie.
Despite his vehement protests, he spent most of the night dancing with the various girls he knew in the tower, only escaping late on. Harry thoroughly enjoyed the party, although he did wish that Daphne could have been there as well.
He met up with his girlfriend the next day in the Great Hall, after a lazy Sunday morning breakfast. He swept her into his arms and planted a kiss on her lips, causing her to lean into him and giggle slightly.
"So Daph, what do you want to do today?"
"I don't know Harry, how about a walk around the lake?"
He quickly agreed and they left, hand in hand. They spent most of the journey until they were half way around the lake in companionable silence, enjoying the early spring sunshine and the signs of new life surrounding them.
They came to a stop under their favourite tree and, by unspoken agreement, sat down, Harry leaning against the gnarled trunk and Daphne leaning against him with his arms wrapped around her.
They talked mostly of inconsequential things, until Harry began fishing for compliments.
"And what did you think of my spectacular Quidditch performance yesterday?" he said with a grin.
Daphne rolled her eyes, "oh it was fantastic of course, but it was a little bit difficult to keep up with."
"What do you mean?" Harry asked interestedly as, despite playing the game, it was rare that he watched it from a fans perspective. Even the school games, he mostly just watched the Seekers and ignored the rest.
"There's so much going on at once. Say, for example, you're off in one of your crazy dives over one side of the pitch but on the other the Chasers are doing some intricate passing move and in the middle the Beaters could be whacking a bludger. It's very difficult to keep up with it all at the same time."
"Sounds like they need replays."
"What? What's a replay?"
"In Muggle sports that are on TV, if something interesting happens they show it again, sometimes at a slower speed. Actually…hold on a second." His face twisted into an expression of deep thought, one that Daphne knew was pointless to interrupt.
After several minutes of obviously deep thought from her boyfriend, with his lips moving soundlessly, Daphne lost patience and elbowed him in the ribs.
"Ow, what was that for?"
"For ignoring your girlfriend. Now what set your mind off?"
He took a deep breath, marshalling his thoughts. "Well, first I was thinking about whether it would be difficult to make a wizarding version of television. In itself, that shouldn't be too difficult, just a case of building the sets and modifying the signal that the Wizarding Wireless Network sends out, so that it sends pictures instead of just sound.
"Then that got me thinking of what would be shown on there. In the Muggle world, sports are a huge industry. Hundreds of millions of people sat down to watch the last World Cup Final for football. Some club teams have an annual turnover of hundreds of millions of Galleons so I was wondering how that would translate to Quidditch. I'll be honest, despite playing the game, I know hardly anything about the leagues around the world."
"The British and Irish League is the oldest and most prestigious in the world, I know that much. However, the standard is actually not that high, as is evidenced by the England team being rubbish, they might not even qualify for the World Cup this summer.
"The Irish are pretty good though, they might actually have a shot at winning the Cup. The problem is that the British teams only allow British players to play for them. The owners are all old Pureblood families that believe in the Pureblood supremacy malarkey and by their estimation foreigners are only slightly above Muggleborns."
Harry's eyes positively lit up at this. "So what would happen if someone, say the last remaining heir to an old Pureblood family, wanted to buy one of these teams and would allow the best foreign players from all over the world to play for them? How would the Quidditch fans take this?"
"I think the fans would love it, they want to see the very best players play for their team. The British players would hate it because they would no longer be able to coast by and receive adulation while playing poorly, however the foreign players would love it. The reputation of the British League is so high, pretty much every player around the world would chew their arm off to get to play in the League, but they know they would never be allowed to. But Harry, what's the point? Sure, it would be fun to own a team but it would be a colossal waste of money."
"Ah but that's where you're wrong my dear Daphne, all you need is a large range of merchandise and a worldwide presence. That, combined with winning a lot, equals a huge amount of profit. Come on, we need to talk to some experts."
"These two? These are the experts?" Daphne looked sceptically at the wrestling pair of Seamus and Dean, rolling around on the floor pummelling each other.
"Trust me. Oi you two, quit cuddling, I need to talk to you."
Seamus looked up and Dean took the opportunity to land a solid punch to the Irish boy's ribs. Dean stood up while Seamus was led on the floor wheezing.
"What do you need to talk to us for Harry?" Dean asked.
"Yeah what for?" said Seamus as he stood up and promptly stamped on Dean's foot, while rubbing his ribs.
"Will you two stop fighting for one minute" Daphne glared at the pair of them, promising real pain if they didn't.
Seamus and Dean snapped into identical poses of attention and saluted "Sir, Yes Sir."
Harry merely rolled his eyes, knowing the two best friends were almost as difficult as the twins to control. "I want to speak to you both because between the two of you, you know pretty much everything about Quidditch and Football. Daphne informs me that the British League won't allow foreign players to play for their teams, is this about right?"
Seamus nodded, "yeah the owners hate foreigners, won't let 'em near the League."
"Interesting, now Quidditch has transfers I assume? How much is the most expensive player sold?"
Seamus wracked his brain for a bit, "that would be Aiden Lynch, Irish Seeker, signed for the Tornadoes for 85,000 Galleons last year."
Harry frowned "doesn't sound like much." Daphne and Seamus looked at him aghast but Dean just looked thoughtful.
"It's not, when you consider Ronaldo went to Madrid for £80 million a few years ago" Dean said to looks of utter shock.
Doing a quick conversion in her head, Daphne's mouth dropped open, "that's 16 million Galleons" she exclaimed.
"Bloody hell, you could buy every team in the League and still have plenty of change left over with that."
"So in your professional opinion Seamus, if someone bought an old team in the League and transferred in the best players from around the world, would they win the League and, more importantly, would they be accepted by the fans?"
"The fans would love it and if you could get the players then they would destroy every team in the League at the moment."
"And around the world, how would the fans take it? Would there be a lot of interest in tours and stuff like that?"
"Oh yeah, definitely. If the British teams weren't so far up their own arses, they could make a mint doing a tour or two a year" said Seamus.
Dean looked at Harry shrewdly, "at first I thought you were trying to do an Abramovic and buy success, but that's not it is it? No you're trying to create a wizarding version of Man United or Real Madrid, aren't you?"
Harry smiled "Dean, my friend, you have hit the nail on the head. From what I know of Quidditch teams, they have very little in the way of infrastructure, just think if I could build a set up like United or Madrid with Reserve teams and Youth teams."
Dean's eyes widened now, "they would dominate for decades. Couple of preseason tours to America and the Far East, change of kit every year and the owner would be loaded."
"One final thing Seamus, of the teams in the League, which is the one with the best worldwide reputation? Doesn't matter if they haven't won anything in ages."
"Well Puddlemere is the eldest, formed in 1163 and they probably have the best reputation around the world. They had a lot of success in the 19th Century and some in the 40's but very little since. Actually, thinking about it, they are owned by the Wilkes family and if rumour is to be believed, they would be happy to unload the team. The current Head hates Quidditch by all accounts."
"Perfect" Harry smiled a remarkably feral smile, "now if you will excuse me gentlemen, I need to call my Account Manager. Keep this quiet and I may well have a job for the pair of you, if all goes well."
"Yeah Griphook, that's fine, I'll send Dobby along in a minute to pick up the papers. Oh I have to come myself? Ok, well I'll get Dobby to pop me to Gringotts and I'll sign the papers. Yeah, it's no problem, so long as nobody finds out I can leave Hogwarts. Thanks for getting this all sorted so quickly over the last few days. I'm sure the Wilkes' will be kicking themselves for letting it go so cheaply in a couple years. Ok, see you in a minute."
Harry pressed the hang up button on his phone and spotted Daphne looking at him amusedly. "What?"
"Nothing Harry you go off and have fun, I can't believe you bought Puddlemere for only 200,000 Galleons. Go on, shoo."
"Yes Ma'am" he said playfully and called for Dobby.
A routine trip of an hour later including a few papers to sign and an update for Griphook, Harry returned, the proud owner of Puddlemere United. He decided to leave things as they were for the remainder of the season, which ended in May, and begin to make the ambitious changes over the summer.
He was updating the immensely excited duo of Seamus and Dean over dinner, when they were distracted by the sound of steadily rising voices from the Staff table.
"He left today, I know he did."
"Control yourself Headmaster" McGonagall shouted.
"He is the one that must be controlled; it is for the Greater Good. I cannot allow this attitude to continue." Dumbledore was practically foaming at the mouth, his eyes darting along the Gryffindor table wildly.
"Mr Potter did not leave the school premises, now sit down" McGonagall's Scottish blood was heating up rapidly.
Harry tried to shrink down to avoid the open mouthed stares of about half the school, the other half were firmly fixed on the raging form of the Headmaster.
"I know the little brat did, where are you Harry Potter? Come out, come out wherever you are." By now Dumbledore had drawn his wand.
"Albus Dumbledore, put your wand away this instant!" McGonagall screeched.
"Albus Dumbledore? I am not Albus Dumbledore. I am Gellert Grindelwald!" and, with an insane cackle, he began flinging spells.