Dear Daphne,
I got a very strange letter today from one Andromeda Tonks. The letter was a contract for a 5 bedroom apartment in Park Lane overlooking Hyde Park. The letter says that this deal was made between the Potter and Greengrass heir on the 21st of October 1994. The contract also states that the flat is worth 1,000,000 Galleons but the purchase price is agreed for 750,000 Galleons.
As head of house I have used my power to cancel this deal between the two families. We are not in need of any property right now and neither are we looking to invest in muggle London. The next time you make a please do inform your family if not consult. I do not want to know that you have made some ridiculous purchase no matter how profitable the venture may be.
Your Loving Father,
Daniel Greengrass.
That was the letter I got on the 30th of October during lunch. My day was going splendidly till that letter arrived. I had finished my homework for the weekend and was planning to spend my day with Tracy till the other schools arrive but looks like those plans will have to wait. First I need to find one Harry Potter and freeze him naked and put him for display in the great hall.
How dare he pull a fast one on me. No one pulls a fast one in the ice queen in Slytherin. We had a deal and he sends my father the details so that he can worm out of it. How dare he. I swear to Merlin I am going to humiliate him in front of the whole school for this stunt.
"Astoria" I called out from my table.
"Just a minute Daphne" She answered me and stated to hurry what ever she was doing. True to her word she was sitting next to me in a minutes time. "So dear sister of mine. What seems to have caused your blood to boil this time."
"Daphne's angry." Tracy said a little surprised . "How can you tell Astoria? She seems normal to me. The same old stoic icy look. Not even a hint of frustration can be seen in her face"
"Oh that's an easy answer is very easy if you know where to look." Astoria answered, which is not helping with my temper right now. I need to get to find Potter and torture him not listen to Astoria's wise racks.
"Astoria where is he?" I demanded.
"Who are you talking about Daphne? I know a lot of hes" There she goes with her witty quips again and I really don't have time for her games.
"You know your best buddy Harry Potter."
"Harry should be at the quidditch pitch right now. Some of the guys are playing a pick up game seeing as there is no Quidditch this year, the pitch is free for all. He said that they were playing a magical version of football with 11 players on each team with only beaters and chasers…" she was starting of with her explanation about the game but I didn't care. I just stood up from my table and made my way to the quidditch pitch.
"Hey Daphne, wait up." Tracey called out
"Yah, I want to know what Harry did too." Astoria continued following Tracy. The two of them were trying to catch up but I am was not going to slow down from them. All I had in my mind was getting my hand on Potter.
When we reached the top of the stands I cast a sonorous charm and screamed "POTTER. GET YOUR ASS OVER HEAR." For a few seconds everyone in the pitch just froze and looked at me as if I was some strange being or something. I mean honestly haven't these guys ever seen a girl angry before.
"Potter's so dead." I overheard Tracy whisper to Astoria. I just chose to ignore there.
Potter on the other hand seemed to be a lot cooler then the others on the field. He just flew over to me on his stupid firebolt with his casual smug smile plastered on his face.
"Hey Daphne, How have you been?" He asked as dismounted from his broom to the stands. As he did that I cast a silencing charm over us so that no one could overhear our conversation.
"Oh I was having a great time till this letter came along form my father."
"So he got the contract then?"
"Yes he got the contract."
"That's great, now as soon as you transfer the money I can hand you over the keys to the apartment."
"What do you mean transfer the money. I thought we had a deal. You set me up with a safe house and I would go to the movie with you."
"You took her to the movies?" Astoria shouted. "But you promised me first Harry."
"Shut up Astoria. You can have your argument with Potter after I am done with him. So Potter explain why I have to transfer the money." I had completely in my Ice Queen mode. No this was not between friends anymore, this was pure business between the heirs of two houses and both of us understood it. He seemed to have dawned the mask of Heir Potter-Black too.
"Well heiress Greengrass, I can not just hand you over such an expensive apartment so that I can convince you to come to the movies with me. That's just too sweet a bargain for you while I get only 3 hours of your company."
"I thought we had a deal here Heir Potter where you will take care of the initial expenses while I take care of maintenance and other expenses after the purchase."
"And that is what I did. I took care of the initial expense and even paid for the lawyers that would be involved in the deal."
"So why is my father getting a contract for a payment of 750,000 Galleons and not the keys of the house."
"Ah! I see where the problem is. Heiress Greengrass are you aware of the procedure of how a house is purchased?"
"I, what? Yes I know how property is purchased, we sign a contract, make the payment and hand over the keys. What has this got to do with our problem."
"But Mrs. Greengrass you are forgetting the most important part of making the payment. You see when any real state is purchased, its payment is made through a loan for which the purchasing party provides a part of the payment after the initial signing and the rest of the money is paid with interest in agreed intervals over a period of time. This is done in such a manner because many people will be hard pressed to provide such hard coins no matter how rich they may be."
"You tricked me," I exclaimed.
"No, I did not trick you as you so elegantly put it. I did what you asked me to. I found you a place in muggle London that I can sell to you where you do not need to pay the initial expenses of the lawyers, the other charges to the government and what not for the transfer of property and the upfront payment required to make the payment. I was generous enough to skip deduct 25% of the actual cost as upfront payment. The standard rate is somewhere between 10-15%. All you need to do is pay the rest of the 75% interest free over a period of time which by the way is not included in the initial cost. So I repeat myself again Ms. Greengrass I did not trick you. I satisfied all the conditions that you presented to me all that is remaining is to sign the contract."
"I… I … … " Yah he defiantly had left me speechless. How could I have overseen such an obvious trick. Oh I want to strangle him right now but I cant help but awe at such a simple plan.
"Alright Potter, I give you this one but you still owe me for the apartment." Its hard to accept defeat but sometimes its better to retreat than to face more casualties.
"I do not understand heiress Greengrass, why do I still owe you?"
"You still owe me because the deal did not go through. My father has decided as the head of house that this deal will not go through. So instead you owe me one."
"But heiress Greengrass I did upheld my end of the bargain. Its not my fault your father cancelled the deal."
"You owe me for the risk I put myself into when I agree to be an accomplice in your plan and I still have not received a reward for that risk. I promise it wont be as far fetched or as simple as last time where you just wormed your way out of the payment. I'll just hold on to your debt for now. I'll cash it in some time later when I need it."
"No heiress Greengrass I do not owe you anything as I believe this is a payment for the disastrous evening that we had last Friday. I'll send you a contract for another house that would be more reasonable to both your father and I. I will not back of from the deal as you did have a risk and I did enjoy our time. But that time was not worth a million galleon apartment."
And with that heir Potter flew away in his stupid firebolt while I was left comprehending what just happened.
A/N: Hey guys. guess this will be the last update for the month and after which I will be taking a little break (maybe a week). I need to sort out the story too. Thanks for the review. Its really helping and improving my writing experience. Hope you can wait a while for the next update.
For those curious I am planning the Halloween, Tri-wizard tournament first task, how Harry and Daphne will become friends after the above chapter and the christmas dinner.