Summer of the year 1992 was a lot worse that Harry had expected.
From the moment he arrived at Privet Drive, his uncle had locked all of his magical stuff in his old cupboard under the stairs before locking Hedwig in her cage. It had annoyed him to no end because Harry had bought his own copy of The Noble Art of Broomstick Enchant in g and a few third-year books on Runes, Arithmancy and Charms books before the school year ended and now, they were inaccessible. Because of that, Harry had no way of modifying and upgrading the Potter Mark I program for the Mark II. He could have continued from memory (He had almost learned the book by heart by that point.) but the Dursleys had also started giving him impossibly long lists of chores which left little free time to Harry. With Hedwig locked in her cage, he couldn't send letters to his friends either, which complicated the development process he had thought of with Hermione.
Letters were another problem. He hadn't received a single one from anyone all summer. Harry knew something was amiss because he knew that neither Ron nor Hermione would have forgotten about him. Both had seemed excited to write to him this summer, Ron because he wanted him to hang out at his home, the Burrow and Hermione because of her interest in helping him out program the Potter Mark II. He didn't know what was going on which was annoying him further.
Thankfully, today was his birthday which meant that there was only one month left before he would go back to Hogwarts. Harry would wait, even if he didn't like it.
Many things had happened in the last few days. First, Harry discovered that a House-Elf named Dobby had been intercepting all of his mail. Harry had seen in the stack multiple letters sent by Hermione, including smaller packages which Harry assumed where the various improvements of the Potter Mark I rune sequence she had worked on. It made him furious at Dobby that the House-Elf had stolen his letters as not only had he not been able to review her work but he hadn't even been able to help her.
Second thing that happened was that the blasted House-Elf used magic in Privet Drive, putting him in a lot of trouble with both the Dursleys and Ministry. If he believed that his summer was miserable, it was nothing compared to being locked 24/7 in his bedroom with absolutely nothing to do. The Dursleys would also feed him even less than usual. Harry didn't know what would kill him first: starvation or boredom.
After three days locked in his room, Harry was rescued from Privet Drive by his friend Ron Weasley and his twin brothers Fred and George. Harry and the Weasleys had managed to escape in-extremis after almost forgetting Hedwig.
For the recently escaped "prisoner" of Privet Drive, the Burrow felt like heaven on Earth. The first thing Harry did when he arrived (after helping Ron and the twins deal with their punishment) was to send a letter to Hermione explaining everything that had happened in the previous days. He also told her that he would begin working on the Potter Mark II right away and to send him whatever work she had done. After watching Hedwig fly away with the letter in her talons, Harry took the Potter Mark I and walked down the stairs.
"Hey, Ron." said Harry to his best mate. "I'm going to fly. Want to join in?"
"Of course!" answered Ron cheerfully. "I'm always down for flying."
"You can use my Nimbus 2000 if you want. I want to test the Mark I further." said Harry.
"Thanks, Harry." Ron said. Harry exited the house by the back door and walked down toward the orchard. It was the only place at the Burrow where they were allowed to fly as the orchard was surrounded by high trees that would block the view from muggles.
When Harry arrived, he found that Fred and George were already there, practicing their Beaters moves with a bludger. One of the twins noticed him and said "Hey! It's little Harry!"
"I'm not little!" said Harry automatically. Fred and George laughed.
"Sure, you aren't. Totally not the reason why Mum make you eat three times your weight in food every meal." teased Fred.
Harry rolled his eyes. He climbed on the Mark I and took off.
"What's that broom?" asked George.
"That's no Nimbus 2000..."
"Unless..."
"...Harry decided to use magic to hide his broom!"
"Ah, sneaky little bugger! Want people to think it's a cheap broom instead of an expensive Nimbus 2000!"
"Rather a good idea, if I do say so myself. Who would want to steal a broom like that?"
"Not me, that's for sure."
"Maybe we should do the same for ours!"
"Really? Why?"
"Better yet: Why not?"
"Ah...! you got me!"
"SHUT UP!" yelled Ron, who had arrived about the same time as the twins had begun their antics. Harry was just laughing on his broom. "That's no Nimbus 2000, that's a Potter Mark I!" said Ron.
"A..."
"...What?"
Harry and Ron looked rather proud that they had managed to startle the twins. "It's a broom I enchanted a few months ago while we were still at Hogwarts." said Harry.
"Wow."
"Brilliant!"
"Fantastic!"
"Ingenious!"
"Amazing!"
"But then..."
"Why weren't we told?"
Ron glared at his brothers. "If I remember correctly, you weren't exactly talking to Harry after he, Hermione and Neville lost a hundred-and-fifty points!" he snapped.
The twins looked sheepish. "Sorry about that." they said at the same time to Harry.
"That's fine." shrugged Harry before he began flying. He wasn't exactly angry at them because they were far from the only ones who acted that way and the twins had mostly just ignored him which was a lot better than how some others had treated him like. In fact, the only one close to Harry who hadn't avoided him (apart from Ron and Hermione) was Oliver Wood but, then again, Oliver didn't really care about anything other than Quidditch. Oliver had been the only one apart from Ron and Hermione who Harry had told about the Mark I. He hadn't really been surprised when Oliver had been ecstatic when he found out that Harry could enchant brooms. Oliver had tested the broom himself and had suggested a lot of improvements. It had begun with small and logical improvements but, at the end, Oliver had ended up describing his dream broomstick. Harry wasn't even sure Oliver had noticed his shift, to his amusement. In the end, the enthusiastic Oliver Wood had ended up leaving him with a promise to make a broom better than the Nimbus 2000 for everyone in the Gryffindor Quidditch team.
Harry did a few laps around with the Potter Mark I. He found out that the broom was handling worse than he remembered. At first, he feared that the enchantments hadn't lasted but after checking the broom carefully, Harry realised his mistake. The broom hadn't changed one bit. What was different was the perception of the broom he had given himself when he first flew it. He had been so enthusiastic, happy and proud of the broom when he first flew it that he had looked at the handling with rose-tinted glasses. Now, Harry could look at it from a more objective and unbiased point of view and found out many flaws in the design of the Mark I.
Going back inside (leaving Ron and the twins behind), Harry went to Ron's room and took out his books and his copy of the Potter Mark I program sheet. It only took a few minutes to notice many improvements that could be done and problems he had missed when he first wrote the program. For once, he was glad that the Dursleys had hidden away his magical things as it allowed him to distance himself from the rune sequences which, again, helped remove the rose-tinted glasses and showed various flaws. Harry took out a big sheet of parchment and began writing his first version of the program sheet of the Potter Mark II...
Harry spent a lot of his free time while at the Burrow working on the Mark II. Hermione had quickly answered his letter and had been happy to send him her own improvements. After looking at them carefully, Harry agreed that most of them could be implemented and sent his own improvements to Hermione so that she could check them and see if both of their works were compatible.
Meanwhile, Harry started studying his Runes, Charms and Arithmancy books. He quickly dropped Arithmancy when he realised that the subject would be next to useless for broom enchanting (Harry believed that Arithmancy was used in the creation of Charms and was disappointed to learn that the subject was more akin to Divination than anything else.)
Harry flew the Mark I various times that summer. During those sessions, he would try to find the limits of the broom. Harry wanted to know what held priority for the improvements of the Mark II. In the end, Harry found out that the top speed of the Mark I was 30hm/h (~18mph) which could be achieved six seconds, an average of 5km/h increase every second. The Mark I was also slow while turning and would have some difficulty sticking in the corners. While doing a lap of the paddock, the broom's speed would average 19km/s (~12mph).
Harry decided that the priority for the Mark II would be to improve the handling. Harry wanted the broom to be able to reach the 30km/h and more while turning. He also wanted to improve the top speed and acceleration, but that wasn't the priority for the Mark II.
With those new goals in mind, Harry worked on the Mark II program. Near the end of the summer, Harry ended up with a program that would be a good base for the final version, once his and Hermione's improvements were merged together. Proud of himself, he stowed the program sheet and broomstick in his trunk as he prepared to go back to Hogwarts.
It wasn't until after his first Herbology class before Harry could speak to Hermione about the Mark II. The day before, Harry and Ron had been unable to take the Hogwarts Express and had come to Hogwarts in Mr. Weasley's flying car. Hermione hadn't been pleased with her two friends and hadn't talked much to them until the following morning, when Ron received a Howler from his mother Mrs. Weasley. While the Howler had been embarrassing and made Harry feel horrible, it had done one good thing: Hermione was talking to them again. She seemed to believe that they had been punished enough and was perfectly friendly again. Of course, by that point, it was time to go to Herbology and Harry wasn't about to make Hermione angry at him again by stopping her from going to class or worse; interrupting her during it just to talk about broomsticks. So, Harry waited and after Herbology was over. Harry finally managed to talk to Hermione.
"Hermione? When do you want to compare our versions of the Mark II?" he asked.
Hermione looked startled for a moment. Harry was amused. He suspected she had forgotten about it with all the excitement of the last few days. "Oh, right." she said. "What about after diner?"
Harry nodded. "That's fine by me."
That evening, Harry went to his trunk and grabbed his latest program sheet, which he had named "MKII Version 0.6" and walked back down to the common room before meeting with Hermione, who had done the same. Together, they compared their own versions.
One thing that became clear quite quickly was that Harry and Hermione had not focused on the same aspects of the broom. In a way, their versions reflected how they felt about flying. Harry, who felt like flying was as natural as if he was a bird, had prioritised improvements on the top speed and manoeuvrability. Hermione, who didn't really like flying and was terrified of heights, had focused on safety features and stability. The result was that Harry's version of the Mark II was faster but, overall, it was less safe than the Mark I while Hermione's was a lot more safe but slightly slower because of its safety charms.
"Well, at least our work should be compatible." commentated Harry after they had checked both versions.
"You better keep the safety charms I added in." said Hermione sharply. "I'm not flying an unsafe broom."
Harry grinned. "Don't worry, Hermione. I'll let them in. Anyway, our next step will be to merge both versions together."
"We can do that, when we are free of homework. You know what it means, Harry?"
"Do I have to go get the Herbology homework?" he asked timidly. Hermione grinned. Harry sighed in resignation.
The development of the Mark II slowly but surely progressed as Harry and Hermione merged their runes sequences together. Unfortunately, their work too the backseat as things changed in the castle. On Halloween, Harry and his friends had found a message written in red paint on the wall, accompanied by a petrified Mrs. Norris. That message, announcing the return of the Heir of Slytherin and the opening of the Chamber of Secrets put fear in the students. The students became suspicious about Harry from the start because he was one of the ones who found the message.
Things became worse when someone was petrified. Harry, who had been stuck in the Hospital Wing at the time, heard all about Colin Creevey's petrification. Unfortunately, the students also heard and they seemed to have conveniently forgotten that Harry had been in the Hospital Wing at the time, having the bones in one of his arms regrown thanks to Gilderoy Lockhart.
As if things weren't bad enough, Harry accidently revealed himself to be a parselmouth in front of everyone during the first and only session of the Duelling Club. The result was that anyone not close to Harry believed him to be the Heir of Slytherin. Harry couldn't help but scoff at that idea. Sure, on first glance, it seemed that Harry was the one running around, petrifying people but, if people had thought about it for a few seconds rather than jump at the first conclusion, they would have realised that there was no way Harry could be the Heir of Slytherin. First, Harry was in the Hospital Wing when Colin had been petrified and Harry wasn't in any state to open a dangerous chamber. Second, if Harry truly was the Heir of Slytherin, why had he revealed to everyone that he was a parselmouth? Slytherins were known to be cunning. Revealing your special ability while everyone was already suspecting you was just plain stupid.
The only silver lining in all of this was that, just like the previous year, it allowed Harry to work on the Potter Mark II without fearing to be discovered. With everyone trying to avoid him, he didn't need to fear the discovery of the Mark II, something Harry still wanted to keep relatively secret for the moment.
Harry had only told a few others about the original Mark I. Apart from Hermione, Ron and the twins, only the rest of the Quidditch team knew about it. They knew he was working on a second version but not anything else about it.
Harry and Hermione decided to enchant their first version of the Mark II on the first day of the Holidays, which would then be tested by Ron and Harry. With nearly every student gone from the castle, the trio had been able to appropriate the common room for themselves. The twins observed Harry and Hermione working with interest. Unbeknownst to the others, the Weasleys also had interest in enchanting, except their interest was in prank products instead of flying broomsticks.
Harry had nicked another old broom from Filch. He and Hermione were currently writing tiny runes in ink on the handle of the broom, just above the twigs. Hermione had suggested they write the runes with ink using small brushes rather than engrave it as it would not be permanent, making it easier to remove/change the runes in case they wanted to upgrade it. The duo would dry the ink with their wand after every rune. It was a long process but it was necessary.
Harry was currently writing the upgraded user interface charm while Hermione was writing one of the many safety features, she had added to the Mark II programming. They had already been at it for two hours. Thankfully, after finishing their current rune sequences, they would be done.
Ten minute later, Hermione dropped her brush on the table and grinned. Harry followed suite two minutes after her.
"Are we done?" she asked.
Harry grabbed a magnifying glass he had bought in Diagon Alley during the summer and checked the whole program. "I don't see any problems." he said after a few minutes. "I think it's done!"
"What are we waiting for, then?" asked Ron excitingly. "Let's go try it!"
"Let me just grab the Mark I first." said Harry. "I want us to fly the Mark I first so that we can have a better idea of what had been improved properly and what hasn't."
Harry walked back to his and Ron's dorm and grabbed the old Mark I from his trunk before walking back to the others. As he looked at the Mark I and the Mark II, which was in Ron's hands, he realised a problem. Both looked very similar and Harry could not tell the difference at first.
"Oh dear." he said. "We need something to differentiate them."
"We can paint the handle, if you want!" offered Fred, taking out his wand and pointing it at the broom.
"Wait!" yelled Hermione. "Don't paint over the ink! You will ruin all of our work!"
"I wasn't going to, I swear!" said Fred. "I'll just paint the first half of the shaft in black. It won't come close to the runes."
"That's fine." said Harry with a nod. Ron extended his hand and gave his brother the Mark II. Taking out his wand, Fred muttered a spell and a thin layer of paint began spraying from his wand. True to his word, Fred only painted the first half of the handle, which was now matte black.
"Wow. That's brilliant!" said Harry as Ron too back the new broom.
"Where did the paint come from?" asked Hermione.
"From our dorm. We have multiple type of paints we use." answered George for his twin.
"Use them for what?" she asked.
The twins only smiled. "You and Harry aren't the only ones creating and enchanting objects." said Fred with a wink before he and George went back to their dorm.
"Well... let's go, then."
Harry, Hermione and Ron arrived at the Quidditch pitch with the Mark I and Mark II. Ron extended his arm, wanting to pass the Mark II to Harry but he only shrugged him off.
"I reckon someone who hasn't worked on it should test it first." said Harry. "Your perspective will be more fresh and less biased."
"If I didn't know better, I would say you are just afraid to be bucked off by the broom and want someone else to use it first." grinned Ron. Harry snorted.
"It's not funny!" said Hermione. "Harry almost died like that last year!"
"Calm down, Hermione." said Ron, raising his hands in surrender. "I wasn't being serious." Hermione only huffed.
"Well...," said Harry. "Take the Mark I and do a few laps and manoeuvres before trying the Mark II for the first time." Ron nodded and took the Mark I. Slowly, he took off.
Ron began by climbing in the air, getting some altitude. Then, he accelerated downward.
"What is he doing!?" shrieked Hermione. "The Mark I is barely manoeuvrable!" Harry gave a small nod, agreeing with her. Thankfully, Ron pulled up more than early and levelled himself a few feet away from the ground. Ron then did a few zigzags and some Quidditch manoeuvres before going back to Harry and Hermione and landing.
"Handle just like I remember." said Ron as he gave the Mark I to Harry. Harry dropped the broom with the black handle on the ground and said "Hermione and I added a new functionality in. Just like with the other brooms, you can now order it to go "Up!", just like in our first flying lesson."
"Well, let's try it, then." said Ron. Putting the palm of his hand over the broom, he called "Up!". The broom flew in his hand. Ron grinned.
"Seems like this functionality works." grinned Hermione as she took out a small paper notepad and a pen.
"Well, try it, then." said Harry. Ron grinned as he climbed on it. All three of them noticed that the broom had taken off a lot faster.
"Let's test the acceleration first!" said Harry. "Give a push forward!" Ron nodded and started accelerating.
"It looks like the acceleration is about twice as fast." commented Harry as Hermione began writing. "TRY TO REACH THE TOP SPEED, NOW!" he yelled.
"WHAT?" asked Ron.
"TRY REACHING THE TOP SPEED!" repeated Harry.
"Can you not scream at each other?" grumbled Hermione as she made a wave of the hand to tell Ron to come closer.
"We really need a megaphone." said Harry as Ron reached them. "Or some type of radio communication. That's what test drivers and pilots use when they are testing cars and planes prototypes."
"That's not a bad idea." said Hermione. "We could try to come up with something like that too."
Ron stopped in front of them, hovering only a few inches from the ground. "What were you yelling, mate?" he asked.
"I was telling you to try to reach the top speed." answered Harry.
"Oh!"
"While you are here," said Hermione. "How quick would you say the acceleration was?"
"It appeared to be about twice as fast. I think Harry said the Mark I had an increase of 5km/h every second? That would make the Mark II around 10 km/h of acceleration per second."
"Thank you." said Hermione as she wrote what Ron said. "You can go back in the sky now. Like Harry said, try to reach the full speed of the broom."
The tests continued like that for nearly two hours, testing everything and taking note of all they needed to know. In the end, the trio called the testing session a success. Harry and Hermione then took a turn each on the broom. Harry had a lot of fun flying it around while Hermione mostly flew slowly. She was happy though as she landed, saying that the brooms were a lot safer than the ones used for the flying lessons.
"Hey, that's a good idea!" said Ron suddenly.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, your brooms are a lot better than those used by Madam Hooch! Why not make new brooms for the firsties to fly?"
Harry and Hermione looked at each other. "That's not a bad idea." said Harry.
"I would certainly feel better if I had used a Mark II when I learned flying instead of the other brooms." said Hermione.
"The problem is that we don't have the time to enchant thirty broomsticks for the flying lessons."
"We could ask to meet with Madam Hooch and Professor McGonagall." said Hermione.
"Good idea." said Harry. "Now that I think of it, why don't we sell them the Mark II schematics?"
Both Ron and Hermione looked surprised at Harry's suggestion. "Really?" asked Ron.
"Well yes! I mean, we spent months working on this! We could sell the rights for this version of the program for them for a price, which we would divide in three between us." Ron immediately began protesting. Harry rolled his eyes. "Ron, you just spent two hours testing the broom from top to bottom. I think you deserve a part of the money and, honestly, I personally don't need it."
"I agree with Harry. If we sell it, you should have a third of the profits. You deserve it." affirmed Hermione.
Ron was blushing bright red. "I only flew it." he muttered.
"Just accept it." grinned Harry. "You're getting a third of whatever price we can sell it for. Just call it your first pay check as the Potter Broom Company 's Lead Test Flyer."
"Potter Broom Company?" asked Hermione.
Harry shrugged. "It just came to me. I should probably trademark it this summer, now that I think of it. That and the brooms themselves, names and programs included. Speaking of which..." Looking at Hermione, he asked "What name should we give it? I don't want the brooms to just go by the names 'Mark' then it's number."
"What about naming the brooms after birds?" suggested Ron.
"That's not a bad idea!" exclaimed Harry with enthusiasm. "What bird could we name the broom after, then? I mean, the broom is a learning broom. It's not fast but it's safe. It shouldn't be named after something intimidating so we should name it after a small, peaceful bird."
"What about the Robin?" suggested Hermione.
"I agree." said Ron. "That's sounds brilliant."
"'The Potter Robin'... nah." he muttered. "The... ' PMK-2 Robin' ! Yes, that's more like it!"
"PMK-2?" asked Hermione.
"It's for Potter Mark II and it sounds better than just having my last name in front of it. It also makes the full name sound similar to how fighter jets are named." he grinned.
"Boys." muttered Hermione with a roll of the eyes.
"Shall we go to McGonagall, then?" asked Ron.
Hermione knocked on the door of Professor McGonagall's office. Harry and Ron had gone and dropped the Mark I back into their dorm while Hermione had grabbed the parchment scroll with the rune sequence used on the Robin in hers. They had met back in the common room before they walked toward the Deputy Headmistress' office.
"Enter!" called Professor McGonagall from inside. Hermione opened the door and led her two friends inside. "Miss Granger, Mister Potter, Mister Weasley, what can I do for you?" asked the Professor. "And may I ask why you have one of Filch's brooms in your hand, Mister Weasley?"
"That's why we are here, Professor." said Hermione. Professor McGonagall raised an eyebrow. "We have an idea."
"I'm listening." said McGonagall.
"Well, last year, Harry began designing his own flying broomstick." started Hermione.
"Really?" asked the Professor with interest. "Is that the broom?" she asked, looking at the Robin in Ron's hand.
"No, that's the second version." answered Harry. "I managed to make my first broom, the Potter Mark I, near the end of the school year and Ron and I tested it. Hermione wanted to help me with the enchantments, for academic purposes, of course ," he added with a grin. Hermione blushed "So, this year, we build this." Harry pointed at the broom. "We call it the PMK-2 Robin, although, before today, it was simply known as the Potter Mark II."
"While I was flying the broom, I realised it was a lot safer and more comfortable than the brooms we used when Madam Hooch was teaching us how to fly. The reaction times are faster too. They are about as fast and manoeuvrable as the school brooms otherwise." said Hermione.
"Our original idea was for Harry and Hermione to enchant brooms for the flying lessons..." said Ron before he was interrupted.
"But you won't have time for your homework." said McGonagall.
"As I pointed out." said Harry. "So, we got an idea to fix this. Our idea is... well... we want to sell the rights of the rune sequences of the Mark II to Hogwarts." he finished. Professor McGonagall raised both eyebrows and Harry looked away, his face pink in embarrassment.
"You realise that I can't just accept your offer without testing the broom?" she asked.
"Of course!" said Hermione. "We thought Madam Hooch and a few first years could fly the broom and give their unbiased opinion. We don't have to tell them we made it. You could just say that it's a broom you are considering buying for the flying lessons and are looking for opinions!"
"That's not a bad idea." said McGonagall. After a few, excruciating minutes of silence, she spoke again. "Alright." she said, making all three students sigh in relief. "We can tell Madam Hooch to test your broom today and once the holidays are over, we can have a few students test it too."
"Thank you, Professor." grinned Harry.
"Well, shall we go, then?" asked their Head of House with a smile.
Harry, Ron and Hermione followed Professor McGonagall as she led them toward Madam Hooch's office, which was on the ground floor. When she arrived, she knocked.
"Enter!" called Hooch from inside. Professor McGonagall and her three lions entered.
"What can I do for you, Minerva?" asked the woman with white hair and amber eyes.
"Three of my students have built a broom they deem better than the ones we currently use in our flying lessons, and are proposing to sell the enchantments to Hogwarts." said McGonagall. Hooch looked surprised.
"Really?" she asked. "That's amazing! I didn't even know it was possible for younger students to enchant their own brooms!" Harry and Hermione blushed. "Well, I shall test it, then. To be honest, Minerva, it's not like they could do worse than what we currently have. Our brooms are shite, as I always said."
"Watch your language in front of the students, Rolanda." sighed McGonagall. It sounded as though it wasn't the first time, she said that.
"Where did the current brooms come from?" asked Harry.
"They were enchanted in the late sixties by the then Ancient Runes teacher, Professor Caricartus Creston." Harry wanted to laugh at the man's first name – which sounded a lot like the word 'caricature' – but realised it probably wasn't a good idea in front of McGonagall. Ron did not have the same though process however and let out a loud snort.
"Yes, I know." sighed McGonagall, to Harry's astonishment. "Professor Creston did not like flying or anything related to it like Quidditch but Professor Dumbledore asked him to enchant broomsticks for the school. Caricartus believed it to be a waste of time so he did the minimum and we got stuck with less than good brooms."
"Why hadn't they been replaced since?" asked Hermione.
Hooch shrugged. "The brooms still work and the school doesn't have the money to pay for thirty brand new brooms at forty to fifty galleons a piece. It was only in the recent years that the enchantments began twiddling, which gives us the less-than-optimal brooms. So, if you truly have a good broom with you, then I'm all for it. Of course, I need to test it first."
Madam Hooch ended-up loving the Robin and told Professor McGonagall that they were way better than the current school brooms. Hermione, like when Ron was testing it, wrote down Hooch's notes on the broom in her notepad.
When the students returned and the classes resumed, McGonagall made a few first years from all Houses test the Robin, without telling them who had enchanted it. All students had called it better than the school brooms and a few had even said it was better than the brooms they had at home, if only slower.
Satisfied with the Robin, McGonagall had brought the idea to Dumbledore. The Headmaster and Deputy-Headmistress were now meeting the Potter Broom Company employees (A.K.A Harry, Ron and Hermione) in the Hospital Wing, where Hermione had been residing since Christmas thanks to drinking Polyjuice with the hair of a cat.
Dumbledore had been pleasantly surprised when McGonagall had told him about the PMK-2 Robin and the Headmaster had immediately wanted to meet the two brilliant students behind its creation. He, just like everyone else in the school, knew that the school brooms were barely adequate enough but, unfortunately, they didn't have the money to buy new brooms. The Potter Broom Company's proposal to sell the design of the Robin for a price, which could then be used to enchant as many brooms as possible, came as a godsend.
"So, this is the broom?" asked Dumbledore, looking at the broom with a half-black shaft which was formerly Filch's. "Truly marvellous." he muttered. "Two second years enchanting a broom by themselves, which is then tested by a third second year. Absolutely marvellous." The trio was now blushing. "Minerva, you told me that these brooms were better than the current ones?"
"Yes, Albus. Everyone who flew this broom said that it was a lot better than those enchanted by Caricartus." said McGonagall. "Some even said it was better than the brooms they had at home!"
"Amazing." he whispered. "Well, I shall trust your judgement." he said. Then, looking back at his three students, he asked "Can I look at the scroll?" which was currently in Hermione's hands.
Neither of the three distrusted Dumbledore nor did they believed he would try to scam them so they had no problems showing their work to Dumbledore. Dumbledore unrolled the scroll and looked at it. He would mutter some compliments from time to time, which made Harry and Hermione blush. Eventually, he rolled the scroll back and asked "How much are you willing to sell it?"
The trio had all agreed to attempt to sell it for 60 galleons so it came as a shock to both Ron and Hermione when Harry said "100 galleons."
"Deal." said Dumbledore cheerfully.
Harry looked taken aback. "Really?" he asked with shock.
"Of course! You said it was a hundred galleons so we shall pay a hundred galleons." said the headmaster with a knowing smile. "It is, after all, a fair price for a fair work."
"Huh... of course!" said a flustered Harry, extending his hand.
Dumbledore took it a shook it. "Do we have a contract to sign?" he asked.
"Yes, Headmaster." said Hermione, still sounding surprised. Hermione gave another scroll of parchment to Dumbledore. On it was a simple contract that said that Harry, Hermione and Ron would sell the rights to use the rune sequence of the PMK-2 Robin to Hogwarts. The contract did say however that Hogwarts could not modify the sequence without approval of the Potter Broom Company. At McGonagall's questioning glance, Harry quickly explained that they would have no problem allowing them to modify it to their need. They just didn't know if the future Headmasters and Headmistresses would be trustworthy enough to have free reign on the rune sequence. Harry and Hermione were planning on continuing to enchant brooms and build better versions and they didn't want a future Head of Hogwarts to use their work to cause them problems.
For the same reason, they specified on the contract that Hogwarts only had the rights to use the PMK-2 rune sequence, not the rights to it, which would remain with the Potter Broom Company. Again, it was to protect themselves as they didn't want a future Head of Hogwarts to sue them for using the Robin rune sequence as a base for one of their future broom. Both Dumbledore and McGonagall understood that the trio had included this to protect themselves from future, less honourable Headmasters or Headmistresses so they didn't have a problem with it.
Hermione quickly filled in the price of the rune sequence, which the trio had the foresight to leave blank, before all three signed their names at the bottom. Dumbledore and McGonagall both signed their names too. Harry then used his wand to put a bit of his magic in the contract and a small, white light lit up at the end. The contract was accepted by magic. Harry grinned and he and Dumbledore shook hands again.
As the Professors took their leave from the Hospital Wing with the scroll with the rune sequence, the trio celebrated.
"We are 33 galleons richer each!" said Harry with a grin. Ron was jumping around happily.
"Not that I'm complaining but, Harry, why did you ask for 100 galleons? I thought we said 60 galleons." asked Hermione.
Harry gave a sheepish smile. "I thought they would try to negotiate down so I gave a higher price. I didn't expect Dumbledore to accept the initial offer."
"Very Slytherin of you." said Hermione with a grin. "Don't you think it's too much, however?"
"Well, I did think that but in case you didn't notice, Dumbledore had a kind of amused smile when he accepted. It's like he knew what I was doing, and didn't care."
"Always said he was crazy." said Ron with awe. Harry snorted.
"I'll try to register the Potter Broom Company during the Easter holidays. Hopefully, Dumbledore will allow me to leave the school to do this... Anyway. let's take a few weeks of break before we start on the Mark III." said Harry.
A/N: Something I didn't think to explain while writing this chapter is how the contract works. While I said it is accepted by magic, it doesn't become a magical contract (like the one for the Triwizard Tournament). Magic act more like a witness so if the contract is broken, both parties will known instantly who broke it and why, which would allow the wronged party to take action against the other.
So, in this case, if for some reason Madam Hooch, an employee of Hogwarts, made a modification to the rune sequence without the approval of Potter Broom Company, then the contract would be broken and Dumbledore, McGonagall, Harry, Hermione and Ron, as the ones who signed it, would all become aware of it.
Next chapter will be about Harry visiting the Ministry of Magic with Dumbledore for the first time (to register the Potter Broom Company as a real, official company) and feature the final version of the PMK-2 Robin. (The one in the chapter is only a prototype, after all.)