Harry Potter: Rise of the Technomancers

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Chapter 34: Countermeasures - Why Death Eaters Should Never Cheat the Tax Office while Harry Potter is Watching

"Harry mate, you won't believe this."

"Hey guys," he said to the two Weasley twins, who were currently having an early lunch in Amelia Bones' dining room. The Bones' mansion had become the unofficial home of the Magitek Corporation in the past several weeks. Since Harry had spent the last several time turner rotations in heavy training with Neville, he really had no time to complete any work, so he chose the last month to return to the UK and to see to the expansion of the other countries as well as the UK take over. Everything had been going pretty much as expected. Surprisingly though, both Shatyourshorts and the Ministry were so busy with internal problems, Voldie with his sheer lack of new recruits and the Ministry having lost about a quarter of their long standing employees thanks to the IWCA and their own corruption; because of that everything was pretty much going smoothly. Which was why Harry was so worried. Every time anything was going right for him, it usually crapped over and died. Case in point: his first year of Hogwarts, his second year of Hogwarts, and the list went on and on. His entire life was a case in point for that particular argument. He did find himself enjoying the comfort of having nothing to do, but still he did miss Fleur and Gabrielle.

Although it had only been less than a month for the two of them, he had not seen them in over seven. They were going to meet on his birthday in a few days, but simple phone calls and text messages just didn't cut it for him. He wanted to see his girls in person, and he had been a little snappier in training than usual thanks to that. But the results of the training were better than he had thought it would be. Neville had made incredible progress both magically as well as mentally. He was really going to shock the teachers when he went back next year. And Harry would be going back with him.

He couldn't believe he was going back on his word to never return to Hogwarts. But he really had to go. One he had to go to face his past. Just as he tried to leave behind the Dursleys and they caused him so many lingering problems, he had tried to leave Hogwarts behind, and it had caused him lingering problems as well. He didn't have closure on his past relationships and he needed that to get on with his life. Both closure as well as retribution against those who betrayed him. He needed those things and he needed them desperately. The Dursleys would be punished, Gabrielle and Fleur both swore on it before he could stop them, but his former friends would feel what Harry Potter's retribution felt like. Then, after he was done, Neville could Judge them for all he cared, all he wanted was revenge for what they did. It was childish, yes, so very unlike his new persona, but it was something from his childhood and he needed to complete that before he could move on. End of story. The second reason why he had to go back was that he really had to scout and recruit with Neville. It was not that he didn't trust Neville. On the contrary, he trusted the boy with his life, it was just that this revolution was his baby, and he had to be there to make sure it went just right.

"So what's new," he said, as he plunked down at the table in front of a huge pile of bangers. Some mash was in a bowl, but Harry, having gotten used to the light French breakfast fare from his time in France, opted for only a light meal of a fruit and some bread. He still indulged sometimes in the hearty English meals, but did not want to suffer the consequences of an upset stomach and the constant taste of oil and gristle in his mouth every time he swallowed.

Fred rolled his eyes and stuffed another forkful of greasy meat into his mouth, "I can't believe you're eating just that Harry," he said.

Harry simply shrugged and heard some noise from in back of him. Turning, he saw Susan putting a few dishes into the sink for a quick soak, then passed her hand over a small metal plate on the counter top. The device was an old wizard made object, enchanted to cause anything within the sink to begin cleaning itself, and Harry watched with an almost boyish fascination as the pots and pans began to clean themselves. He didn't think he would ever get tired of even the simplest of spells.

"Sue," he called, "Nev's up. He's with your aunt up in his room," Harry said as he turned back to his meal.

"Finally!" she said, and quickly left the room. The three boys chuckled to themselves at the idea of Neville Longbottom actually having a girlfriend.

"Anyway," said George, who had finished his meal and was sitting down with a copy of the financial section of the Daily Prophet, the Daily Profit, "Wait till you hear what happened last night, mate."

Finishing up his bagel and sipping his coffee, he'd gotten used to the bitter taste and had actually started enjoying it thanks to the prevalence of the ever omnipresent coffee house chain that will remain nameless, as he listened to yet another of the twins' stories.

"It was covered up really well, so even the Daily Profit doesn't have the info, but last night," said George, "a member of the IWCA questioned Jonathan Fletcher, the former head of the revenue office, after a slight discrepancy on Lucius Malfoy's taxes came up. I suppose he forgot he had to do everything by the book since his pocket monkeys were canned, but from what we heard, he claimed everything as a business expense. And I mean everything; even his wife's feminine hygiene products were claimed. He also didn't claim nearly all of his profits for the year. That was a big no, no, for both the IWCA and the Ministry," George said, chuckling to himself.

Harry had gained interest in the information and had set down his coffee to listen with tightly controlled glee, "And?" he asked excited.

Shooting Harry a grin, he said, "And the IWCA didn't like that he was cheating his taxes. They went down to the file vault and dragged up his old tax forms, and twenty years worth of taxes were reviewed by their representatives over the course of a few hours. It took nearly fifteen of them to sort everything out, but in the end, Malfoy was in really deep, you know what," he finished nearly bursting at the seams.

"So what did they do to him?" he asked the excited twins.

George was laughing as he told him, "He lost nearly all of his businesses overnight. Thanks to no longer having anyone to cover for him after the personnel sweep, the IWCA and the Ministry Tax Office were able to foreclose on all of them to take back the revenue he was dodging. He lost his Butterbeer franchise, both the distribution of the product as well as the brewing rights, he lost control of several of the majority shares in the businesses in Daigon Alley, he lost the partial ownership with the Changs and their Armory, they foreclosed on his shipping company, and they knocked off a huge amount of his foreign revenue, even going as far as alerting the other countries to discrepancies in his taxes. At the moment, the only source of revenue he has is the retail rights to several of the goods as well as distribution contracts for his primary company."

Harry was nearly laughing his head off, but he kept cool, he needed to know everything before he acted, "And what's his financial situation at the moment?"

"Bloodhook was able to sneak us old stick up the arse's records," he said with a slight grimace, "you're right though, it is very easy to procure confidential information from other businesses…anyway," he said shaking himself out of the slump, "it seems that he nearly bankrupted himself paying all the back taxes off, even after the foreclosures on his businesses. He had to use up the last of the funds he stole from you as well as the Longbottom fortune to pay for everything. Right now, he's no richer than my father," he said with a chuckle and a bark of a laugh.

"This is perfect," Harry said, standing up and walking over to the house phone. Picking it up, he dialed Mika's number, "Miks! It's Evan," he said when she picked up and answered.

-Evan! Did you hear about Malfoy?- she asked immediately. Harry grinned, nothing got pass that girl.

"Yeah," he grinned, this was going to be good, "You know that contingency plan we were working on a few weeks ago after Malfoy started to court the company?"

There was a pause and he thought he could actually hear her grin –You are so evil, Evan. That's why I love you!- she shouted and laughed. Harry laughed along with her, -I'll get on it right away.-

Harry was laughing like a mad man as he returned to the table to pickup his coffee.

"What?" the two red heads asked him when they saw his face, "What contingency plan? What are you guys going to do to him?"

Deciding to be nice, he sat down and explained, "Well, although we had suspicions that Malfoy was screwing the tax office, we had no proof. So we put together a plan that would ensure he was screwed within a year, and we would get handsomely paid off for the trouble," he grinned and the two boys leaned forward in interest, "You see, although Malfoy screwed himself royally, he used my money and Neville's money to get himself out of it, and he still has his primary business to fall back on as well as his family estate. It we left things alone, he would be back to power within a year. We knew this, so we looked into his organization to find out if we could obstruct his efforts or damage them somehow in the event that something like this happened. And guess what, we found one. A big one. You see, he has a fail safe system that, in case of a severe depletion of his funds and financial status, he has outlying subsidiary companies controlled under the Malfoy Estate by centuries old debts that will allow him to buy into them as a majority share holder. We discovered these companies and they are doing very well. What he probably intends to do is to foreclose on the businesses and liquidate them for quick cash. Now, we moved to stop him from going further by buying into these companies and snuck some interesting clauses into the contracts. He had some very large holes there and covered them through threats. Now, when he tries to liquidate the company's assents, he'll come into a circumstantial binding clause that will make him very unhappy…" he said, and grinned evilly.

George grinned and Fred was completely lost. He asked, "So what's going to happen?"

"Circumstantial binding clauses are a wizarding invention in the UK," George explained, "They were used to restrict companies and maintain control of over inflation and rogue employees who wished to wrest control of the company from the autocratic Purebloods Estates. It can be entered very easily, if you can bribe influential members of the company, or simply obtaining majority stock through legal routes. Now, although I'm not sure as to what kind of clause he entered," said George who was grinning maniacally, "but if he did what I think he did, then Malfoy's going to be visiting the poor house and maybe spending some balmy nights in Azkaban, much quicker than he originally thought he was."

"Sweet Merlin, I'm glad you're on my side George," Harry said with a laugh, "the employees were so disgruntled at Malfoy and were just waiting for him to liquidate the company, thanks to the whole fuck up with your business, and they jumped at opportunity to protect themselves, even if it came from a relative unknown. We were able to buy in a majority stock share for a few days, and place in the clauses. They indicate that one who is affiliated with the Dark Lord Voldemort or is marked, which Malfoy is, will not be able to touch the assets of the company. Should they try, they will be persecuted to the full extent of the law as well as paying a hefty sum to the remaining stock holders of the company. We did this in all eight of his fall back companies. We expect him to start the liquidation process in a few months, and since it takes tons of capital to do so, he'll begin to waste his family coffers in hopes that he'll be able to make the difference up with the companies' assets. Once-"

"Once he's thoroughly broke," said Fred catching on, "you spring the clause, and you leave him high and dry, both bankrupt as well as a convicted felon. The courts will persecute him, and exact funds from the remainder of his properties, i.e. his remaining business and his Estate. Leaving the Malfoy family in ruin. Brilliant Harry! That's just so evil! I love it!" yelled Fred jumping up and doing a happy dance, "That Death Munching bastard will be in Azkaban and his family will be ruined. No more Malfoys!"

"Mate," said George, who had gotten up and locked arms with his brother, joining him in a little 'no more Malfoys' jig, "You have got to be the most evil good guy I have ever met in my entire life," he said with a laugh and a little dance.

Harry grinned and sipped his coffee, "Thanks mate. I think I'll take that as a compliment."

"We wouldn't have you any other way," they both said to him as they sat down once more.

They eventually came down from their high, and chatted about a few different things. Amelia came in a few minutes later to have breakfast, eyeing Harry with a new found curiosity, probably since Neville told her about his adventures with the time turner, he thought with a rueful grin; and then Neville and Susan came in about an hour later, smelling funny and looking red. The twins commented on it with evil grins, but Harry said nothing and only smiled at his friend's discomfort.

"Hey, I just remembered," said Fred, who was lounging by the window as the others were talking, "Our little brother and our dear little sister showed up at the main store today," he said with a grin.

Harry scoffed and asked, "What did they do?"

George rolled his eyes, "Get this," he said, as he sat up and took a sip of butterbeer, "they started to load their bags up with all the latest and greatest Integrated Wizarding Technologies had to offer…" he paused for great effect, "…And they tried to walk out with it!"

Harry rolled his eyes and nodded in agreement, it was something that he knew Ron was more than capable of, but Neville, Susan, and Amelia were looking at them in stark disbelief. They actually tried to steal from their brothers, right in front of their faces!? Who would do something like that!

"What!?" said Susan, who was looking incredulously at George, "They just picked it up and tried to walk out with it!?"

Fred shrugged, "It's what they do," he said chuckling to himself, "Don't be surprised, they've done much worse in the past."

"I know there's more to the story guys," Harry said, taking a sip of his now bitter cold coffee.

Chuckling, George continued, "As they were trying to leave, I think everyone was a little surprised because none of the shop clerks tried to stop them, they just stared at them with looks of shock, and they were confronted by one of the Magitek Security Guards. You know the one, the kind of round lady that looks like she's dancing when she walks?"

Neville and Susan nodded. They remembered the imposing woman during their first visit to the store months ago and would probably never forget the woman's sharp eyes or strong, almost aggressive, presence.

"So," said George continuing his story, "she, grabs them by the back of their robes, and confiscates all the goods they were trying to make off with-"

"Wait," Harry interrupted, "Where were your parents in all of this?"

Fred chuckled, "They come in later, but at the moment, they were shopping in another store in Diagon Alley. Anyway," he said, taking over his brother's story, "after she grabs them, she drags both of the little thieves back into the interrogation chambers and interrogated them. We saw the Violet Sphere recording, and it was hilarious. The two idiots kept shouting their heads off and yelling about how 'their brothers will have their jobs for this', or some rot such as that. The woman just stared them to silence, then had them locked in the isolation rooms for the rest of the day," Fred grinned at that last thought and George picked up the story.

"When mum arrived, they were a little concerned. The two idiots had been missing for nearly four hours and mum thought they had been kidnapped or something, though why they would want to kidnap our siblings is a complete mystery to me," he said with a disgusted face, "anyway, we showed mum and dad around, dad was drooling by the time we were finished, and showed them in the back. We explained what Ron and Ginny had done…then you can guess what happened," he finished with a shrug.

Harry nodded and grinned. Of course he could guess what happened. Molly had probably exploded on the spot, with Mister Weasley trying desperately to hide.

"After that, we sicked mum on the two idiots and they were chewed out for about an hour. Not the longest we've ever seen mum yell, but it was pretty satisfying. We sent them home with their tail between their legs," then George shrugged, "But we decided to buy them a few things, just so mum didn't have to spend the cash. Just the basic sets, nothing fancy," he finished.

Harry sighed and Neville started to chuckle, "I knew they'd try something like that," the once pudgy boy said, to Susan who was still shocked that anyone would do that, especially to their family, "they were making all these promises about new tech to the Gryffs in the DA. Figured they'd try something before the summer was over. Though I still think they're going to be smug when they come back next year, they do still have something to show for all their bravado," he said with a grimace.

"Oh!" exclaimed Harry, with a wide grin, "I forgot to tell you guys. During my chat with Dumbles, I learned some very interesting things about our erstwhile friends," he said with an evil and triumphant look.

Neville sat up straighter, while the twins and Susan looked expectantly at Harry.

"You know how you were telling me about the way the Beaver and her two pet weasels were treating you and the rest of the house? Well, it seems that after McGonagall screwed you," he said with a grimace, "her inadequacies came starkly into the light. You and I," he said to Neville, "were both prime examples of her blatant favoritism and overall imperceptibility when it comes to important matters. So when Dumbles heard Scrimgour brag about fucking you up, he went berserk, trying to find who was responsible. Nev," he said seriously, looking directly into the boy's eyes, "He really did try to help you, even though it was too late to do anything."

The other boy sighed, "I know. It's not him I blame exclusively, it's just..." he looked lost as to what wording to use, and Harry finished his sentence.

"-Everything," he said, with a sad look. Neville just sighed and nodded. Everything seemed to be screwing him over, from people, to even the different situations he was in, but at least his life was starting to look up.

"Anyway," Harry said bringing his story back on track, "Seems Dumbles was a little steamed at her for doing it not once, but twice, once to you, and once to me. Then he brought up the sheer number of complaints from the students about the Beaver and her pet weasels. Three big changes happened after that. The first," he said with a shrug, as if it really didn't matter, "was that McGonagall is no longer Deputy Headmistress nor is she the Head of House for Gryffindor."

Neville scoffed, "Finally. That old shriveled up coot should have been thrown out years ago. It took you nearly dying, and me losing all my family's money to finally get her kicked out. Good riddance," he murmured.

"Yup," he said with a shrug, "McGonagall's gone, and guess who the new head is."

They thought about it a second, then Fred looked up, shocked to silence and said, "No…it can't be."

Grinning, Harry replied, "Bingo," to Fred.

"But they can't put that fraud in the head's position, they just can't!" Fred argued.

Then looks of recognition lit their faces, "Trelawney!?" they shouted in unison.

Harry chuckled at their expressions of shock and anger, "Yup, they stuck Trelawney in the spot. Don't know if that will be better or worse than McGonagall, but really, nothing could be worse than her," Harry reasoned.

Neville grumbled into the table and Susan rubbed his back, trying in vain to comfort him.

"Ok," Harry said, "the second one is much better. You know how King Weasel," he said referring to Ron, the twins sniggered at the new nickname they could torment their brother with, "enjoys his position of power as a prefect right? Well, since there were many times many reports about how he bosses people around and pretty much threatens and bullies his way around Gryffindor, he has summarily lost his position as Prefect, as of next school year," he said with a grin.

The room was silent for a few seconds, and then everyone, even the twins, cheered in absolute relief. It was Neville who vocalized it though, "Holy sweet Merlin. That's the best news I've heard all year!"

Harry chuckled as Fred commented, "Mum's not going to be very happy with that," he said between laughs, "Maybe that will take him down a few pegs."

"Nah," Harry said bursting their bubble, "From what I heard, he's still going to be Quidditch Captain, though I don't know why, and he's still got control of the DA, so I don't think his head will be deflating any time soon," Harry finished with a sigh, "Anyway, even if Ron gets a little break, Hermione really got screwed."

"She lost her Prefect's status too?" Susan asked with a hint of anticipation. She had always disliked Hermione, much too pushy for her own good. She had been levying for support among the Prefects for the past two years, her head inflating every time McGonagall made a comment that she would make a good Head girl, or something ridiculous like that. There was no way that frizzy haired bookworm would ever be Head Girl, she was much too petty and spiteful to be respected and approached for help.

Harry shrugged, "Seems that she was getting into all sorts of trouble, being reported and all by the students she was bullying, and the fact that Dumbles pretty much had her personality pegged from the start, she was never really in the running for Head girl either. Dumbles literally told me that the only reason why the Weasel and the Beaver were given Prefect status was to help me and give me support. How else could you think that either Ron, who is a bully, or Hermione, who's neurotic and has a superiority complex, could have been chosen as Prefects? If McGonagall had chosen, maybe, but it's the Headmaster that makes the final decisions," he finished.

Everyone who knew Hermione was nodding their heads in agreement and Susan commented, "Well, she is the smartest witch in our class," she said, "But I guess that doesn't matter to the Headmaster does it?"

"No she's not Sue," Harry replied.

Everyone looked at him like he was an idiot. Harry sighed, "If you look at it, she only exudes the personality of an intelligent person. She, herself, is not very smart at all. Her mind is an encyclopedia, a reference book of knowledge. It doesn't take someone all that much effort to memorize something then spit it out like a parrot or an answering machine, and that is exactly what Hermione is."

"I suppose you're right…" noted Susan, "But her grades are the best in the class…at least for the girls," she said with a blush. She had been privy to Harry's grades and had nearly had an epileptic seizure when she found out that dumb below average 'only acceptable' Harry Potter was actually number one in the entirety of Europe for his year. And the fact that he was Evan Magius, not that Amelia knew though, confirmed it for her that she had vastly misjudged Harry Potter since first year.

Harry grinned, "Actually, she came in at third for the girls in Hogwarts, and didn't even place anywhere in the top hundred in Europe. It was Tracey Davis and Padma Patil who were the tops for Hogwarts. None of the girls from Hogwarts placed in the European standings either," he said with a grin.

"Huh…" said Neville in response, "So where did you hear all of this Harry?" he asked suspiciously, "I doubt Dumbledore would have just offered the information to you readily, even if it was information of the Beaver and the Weasels," he said with a touch of interest.

Harry chuckled, "You're right Nev," he said with a grin, "All Dumbles did was tell me about the change and offer me the position...but," he grinned, "you'd be surprised how unprepared some of these Order members are and the kinds of stupid places they poke their noses into," he replied, not really answering the question, but giving them all they needed to crack smug grins.

"Why didn't you take it? With you as prefect, it would've been a lot better for us. You could cow the three idiots, no offense guys," Neville said to the two twins who grinned and shrugged, "and that would've been the end of it."

Harry sighed, "I'm tired of the drama Nev," he said with a shrug, "I don't want to be the center of the strife anymore. I'm going to have to be doing that frequently in the future, and right now, I really don't want to have to fight over something inconsequential as a Prefects' status. Besides, you know I'm set financially," he said with a grin, wary of saying more as Amelia was currently unaware of his double identity, "I don't really need the honors anyway."

The other boy rolled his eyes and grinned, "Any way, let's do something, since Harry's down off his high horse and not running me into the ground, let's go celebrate the end of my training! My treat!" said Neville with a big smile.

"I think you've celebrated enough for the lot of us this morning Nev," Harry said, and shot both he and Susan an evil smile, "And it's still only nine in the morning, mate. A little early to get trashed don't you think?"

Neville shrugged, still blushing from the comment about their 'celebrating', and Harry stood, stretching, "Also, I'm not down from my high horse yet, mate. We've still yet to do our daily run and you're three hours late for that. Come on," Harry finished as he walked out of the room to get his running gear.

Neville groaned loudly and put his arms around Susan, trying to hide in the nape of her neck, as she lovingly ran her fingers over his well defined chest. She giggled to herself and said quietly to her disgruntled boyfriend, "Well, even if it's tough, I can't say I don't like the results…"

AN: Sorry for the late postings. Been really busy lately and haven't gotten around to reviewing my chapters, yet. Hopefully i'll be able to in the comming weeks. Until then, Enjoy

Review please.