Disclaimer: Don't own Harry Potter, Sorry.
AN: Ah, finally finished this. Well I hope you guys enjoy because my Semestral Examinations are coming up and I wont be able to write for a few weeks or so.
Chapter 20: Continuing the Business and the Monacan Casino
Harry's Mind…
The sand plains which had long covered these areas had been replaced by gentle sloping meadows of grass, newly grown. In the midst of the plants lay a single castle carved out of Mithril. Its walls and towers were strong and sturdy ensuring that any invaders would be hard pressed to breach the place. Stone figurines stood defiantly upon the battlements, ready to fight to the last for the place.
A single tower loomed over the entire area at the center. Inside of it were the most precious memories a person could have, their childhood. Mounted upon the tower was a single large mirror capable of reflecting enough light to burn a person.
Harry and his mentor sat upon the cliff admiring the defenses. "Well done, well done. Let's see how long you'll last this time." Myer said. With a wave of his hand, a shadow emerged out of the sand and charged at the fort. Blazing arrows lit alight and fired by the stone figurines passed through it uselessly while the center tower tried to banish the shadow with light the shadow.
The shadow began to gain speed before climbing up the walls at the blink of the eye. Suddenly it morphed into a huge Minotaur and hacked away at the Stone guards with its huge Cleaving Axe furiously. It made quick work of the guards.
The shadow changed form again and turned into a dragon. A blast of dark fire blasted away the center tower easily. Changed into its original form and encountered no resistance in entering the tower once again, masterfully locating the Memory pool signifying the end of the Occlumency exercise.
"One minute and five seconds, longest time you've held out." Myer said.
"No fair, how am I supposed to beat that blasted shadow morphing thing?" Harry asked, annoyed that his efforts had failed…again.
"You will figure it out in time. But do not worry for only a few Master Legillimenses know of the technique. Meanwhile, the best you can hope to do is to delay it. Begin reinforcing your Core Defense and start laying ground for the next layer. Be... creative with your defenses. We will meet again in three weeks time to see if you have any later developments." The place blurred into nothing ness and Harry broke out of his meditative state.
He stood up from the floor he usually sat upon to enter his meditative stance, the book beside him. He practiced his Occlumency Shields everyday in the morning. He carefully placed the book in his trunk. He checked his wristwatch only to find out it was barely 5:00 AM. He headed out to the kitchen to cook his breakfast as he had done so for years. It was so natural to him.
He skillfully poached the eggs and toasted some bread before placing tea bags into the cups filled with hot water. He sat down and slathered the jam onto his piece of toast when, as if on cue, Alex came in wearing his finest formal robes. "Morning Alex. What's with the robes?" Harry asked curiously, reaching for his copy of the Daily Prophet folded on the dining table, preordered and accepted by the House Elves of the mansion.
"Morning to you too Harry. And the reason I am wearing these robes is because of my attendance in the Goblin-Monacan held Casino, the Golden Fortune. I am to play in the exclusive and premiere Royale Sands Chamber. Alchemist Flamel will be meeting me there."
"And your excuse to mother and father for this is what?" Harry asked, skimming lightly through the Daily Prophet.
"No secrets. Father knows perfectly of what I'm doing. He has no objections and claims it is training in social engagements. Mother was indifferent and Katy didn't even know there were Goblin run casinos." Alex said, biting a piece of his poached egg.
"As expected, I suppose. She's not yet that aware, at least not to our level."
"So anything new in the Prophet?" Alex asked, checking his pocket watch for the time. Normally, he'd bring his wristwatch, but occasions like these were very old fashioned. A Tempus Charm to reveal the time was considered as something for the commoners as they called the poor and middle class. High class and arrogant, the exact kind of people Heirs were taught to deal with.
"Death Eaters are moving against the Northern Irish Defensive Force. Pushed back the Aurors a fair distance too. They have captured three towns to date, another two are on the brink of capture and about a dozen are under heavy siege. All magical areas in Northern Ireland are under attack in one form or another. So far, the Ministry has began rushing in Reinforcements and enacted Rescue Operations.
Two hundred Civilians dead from the latest count, most being Militias or Civil Guards. Number of Death Eaters still unknown. And it seems highly probable Dumbledore's going to reform the mythical Order of the Phoenix, from what I gathered between Father and his friends' whispered conversations. Thank God for the Weasley twins Extendable Ears. I knew they'd be useful eventually. And how are you going to go to Monaco by the way?"
"I'll be going via international portkey courtesy of the Goblins and the Ministry. Besides, when did you do business with the twins?" Alex asked.
"Once or twice during the beginning of the school year. It cost me a fair bit of gold to make sure that I got the latest of their working prototypes." Harry said.
"That could be useful in the future." Alex noted, sipping his tea. "Well, I better get to the Golden Fortune. It wouldn't do to be late." With that, Alex walked out to the boundary of the wards before disappearing with a flash, a clear signification of the portkey's activation.
Harry finished his breakfast and read the relatively important Prophet articles before calling Hedwig to flash him to Diagon Alley. This was going to be a busy day with many headaches, trying to finalize the last part of the new business. Harry just hoped Chamlore had the Pain Kit ready.
The Golden Fortune, Principality of Monaco, France…
The magical city was very much different from its muggle city-state counterpart. The Franco-Monegasque Treaty of 1861 between its muggle counterparts never happened in the magical community. Instead, Monaco was changed into Gringotts main Headquarters in Europe instead of the traditional Capital city. With massive Goblin presence came some side-effects. The Goblins became extremely powerful in the area sort of like the HSBC in Hong Kong when it was still under British rule.
So, Gringotts used this apparent influence and power to the best of their advantage. They opened up businesses, more often than not, casinos and other gambling facilities, Metal Crafter Workshops and the likes; Goblin Culture and traditions at its finest with a twist of contemporary technique, used for profit and other more special things…to the Goblins of course. In a way, the city of Monaco had been dominated by the Goblins. So it was with no surprise that prejudice against Goblins in France was slightly less compared to the rest of the world with few exceptions.
Alex reappeared in the Golden Fortune's exclusive Portkey Zone, the only place in the very large casino one could get in via Portkey. And the only way to get those special kind of portkeys was by Intentional Creation of a Elder Goblin Crafter with direct approval from the Council of the Seven Clan Masters. A Goblin nonchalantly led him through a maze of table filled with Wizards and witches obviously trying their luck against the Dealer Goblin, obviously with little luck. Still, every once in a while, people won against them, attracting more people to come and seek their fortune behind the marble walls of the Golden Fortune.
It was a vicious circle, completely and totally controlled by the Goblins to the best of their capabilities. Devious. Absolutely devious.
After navigating their way through what seemed to be an endless amount of tables with all manner of Wizarding and Muggle games being played on it, Alex finally reached the ornate Mithril Doors which made sure nothing could get in or out without Goblin approval. Inside were about a hundred other people with a few Goblins or so.
He sat at the Table named Quicksilver and showed his tokens, exchanged metal chips impervious to any magic as representation for large amounts of gold, or so they were told. Each of these tokens were worth roughly ten thousand galleons. They could be divided using the wand to become more tokens of lesser value, all added up to be equal to the token divided. Alex had about a hundred of these tokens with him at the moments.
There were five other players with him. First was the Dealer Goblin himself, who played for the casino, next was Lord Maurice Orjevon, a lesser member of the Compteguid, the French version of the Wizengamot, following him was Lord Mathias Zalton, also a lesser member of the Wizengamot. Then there was Ferdinand Roentshcmidt, a German muggleborn who monopolized the industry of Wand Material Distribution and Harvesting in Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic.
And last but not the least was Goblin Senior Zartog from Italy. Zartog was the most successful Goblin Entrepreneur in the World. He made an independent business from Gringotts that specialized in collecting and finding Artifacts and Ancient Magical Locations and Secrets. He became extremely wealthy with his expeditions and was awarded the title Honorary Senior by Gringotts International.
"Welcome Scion Potter to the Quicksilver Table. The game is Poker Straight, one pot only." The vague details served only to tell what game and variation of said game was being played. No rules, no directions, no guide. You either figure it out yourself or lose all your money. It was a good thing most of everyone in the room had researched on the game beforehand.
The Dealer dealed out five cards to each of them in succession, all cards were faced down. Alex picked up his set and scanned through them passively, thinking of the best possible ranking it could yield. Suddenly a wide grin spread across his face, one that bothered the other players causing them to fold their bets in the next betting sequence after Alex went all in. The Goblin Dealer pushed the tokens in the center towards him and started to deal out the next round of cards. It's always fun to mess with their minds. Good thing I read about those muggle books involving Psychological Warfare and Poker.
Chamlore's Office, Gringotts: London Branch, England…
Harry took a sip of Butterbeer as he listened to the very shortened and simplified version of what had happened and what went wrong with the whole business operation. "…The Ministry was apparently scared we'd turn London into the next Monaco and denied us a Permit because no client name was attached. It looks like you'll have to blow your cover to start up the Deli."
Harry frowned. "I was hoping not to be revealed as of yet since Slivenson's powerbase in the Ministry is big enough to stop this."
"There is a way that we could keep this from reaching his ear. We could…bribe them." The Goblin said.
"That might work but popularity, coercion or fame could make those people talk. And Veritaserum could always be used."
"The Obviarum Counter Potion can easily be used to counter Veritaserum. And the Aurors would be none the wiser. Everything else has been taken care of except the Construction Permit. Everything's good to go and set up. The supplier, the store, the constructors the materials, the goods, as soon as the building is done, we can get it started." Chamlore argued convincingly. Gringotts had been promised a good share of profit if this pushed through and the Goblin in charge in England told him to do anything he could to make sure they got paid.
"Fine, do it. Give the constructors the deadline and promises of a big bonus if they complete before our six week deadline. That would leave us one week to get the place stocked up and ready." Harry said.
"Tell me this Harry, why must you insist on having its Grand Opening One week before the school starts?"
"Because the benefits of that would be far greater and the profit returns would be far bigger. During that week, most of the children will be doing their shopping and make it better known in a less amount of time." A single add on that day would alert even more people about it and they'd be sure to be curious as this has never been seen before by most people. Plus, the muggleborns and half-bloods will appreciate a wizarding establishment that adapted a muggle idea."
Quicksilver Table, Royale Sands
Thirty seven rounds of Poker later found Alex six hundred and two thousand galleons poorer. By now, only Alex, the Dealer, Zartog, and Roentshcmidt were left. Zartog looked at his cards with a feral grin. The Human was going to get thrown out of this game. He was going to win this. The other two had folded long ago and it was only between the two now.
"Tell you what Goblin, I'm willing to bet you the Battle Manuscripts of the Potters in exchange for a certain object."
"Ha…are you so willing to lose your family's heirlooms boy. But very well, I'll hear your request." Alex leaned over to whisper in the Goblin's ear. Zartog's eyes widened at hearing his near silent request.
"You know of the object? Hmm…the trade is of equal value I suppose. Very well then. Let's. Continue."
"Prepare to lose human. Straight Flush." Zartog said triumphantly.
Alex merely smiled at the overconfident Goblin and placed five cards on the table. A King, a Queen, a Jack, and a ten of spades. With each card he showed, the Goblin's eyes widened further, holding his breath, hoping that the last card would not be an Ace of Spades. Unfortunately, luck was not on his side. An Ace of Spades. A Royal Straight Flush.
Zartog slumped back down in defeat. "I win Goblin. As per our agreement Zartog, owl me the object. Good day, Sir Roentshcmidt, Senior Zartog." Alex bowed slightly before leaving the table. Zartog stared at his retreating back. Hahaha…Crafty human. If it weren't for your looks I'd say you were a goblin. I always keep my end of the bargain human. Always. I guess it really is my fault for letting my guard down against them.
Alex smiled to himself. He had succeeded in this task Flamel had set out before him despite the odds. Now, his training began. Hopefully the tome would be useful.
Flashback, One week earlier…
Alexei Victor Potter,
As you have studied some basic forms of Alchemy and just recently, my own personal creation, the Philosopher's Stone, you have sought me out to teach you. Unfortunately, not everything about Alchemy cannot be taught. It must be understood. And to do that most effectively, you must learn by yourself, helped only when needed. This is the reason why there are few Master Alchemists in the world.
To help you in this task, thereby fully redeeming my family's debt to your brother and by extension, you, I have decided to guide you its arts. The fist step is to acquire a certain tome from the Goblin named Zartog. I will meet you in Monaco next week. If you cannot get the book by then or assure solidly that it has been promised to you, I'm afraid you may never be a true alchemists.
Good Luck and God Speed.
Nicholas Flamel
End Flashback
"…To this day, Alexei Victor Potter stands as a legend amongst wizard kind everywhere. He was the brother of Harold James Potter, King of Ionos, and Master of Azkaban himself, all the while guiding his siblings and by extension their friends, and brought up the finest wizards of his generation. From him and his extended students came the best developments of his time and for years to come, they made Great Britain the most powerful country in the world magically, making it once again relive its glory days…"
-excerpt from: Modern Pioneers of the Wizarding World, Chapter III by Andrew Davison, awarded the Nebula Award for Outstanding Magical Literary Achievements (NAOMLA)