AN: I own nothing except my own ideas, which are admittedly unique. (some would call them weird.)

AN: Special thanks to everyone who voted in the polls, sent me PMs, and/or reviewed. I learned much from the poll and there were some surprises, for me anyway. The top five did not include some I thought would be a given and did include some I thought had no chance. For those concerned the Potion Princess might be selected, I think we are safe on that count. J I have decided to make Luna an exception to my "lesser of the two" rule for blood status. Luna will be pureblood. So, this chapter will examine some of the candidates from the poll and give a last chance for voting in the poll.
The poll will officially close as the seventh month dies.

Chapter 15

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice, Part 2

Turning back to the chalk board, Draco began lining out all candidates under six years old.

Before he could begin lecturing again, Harry interrupted, "I thought we said no kids? Six years old is still five years younger than me. Even eight year olds are three years younger. That is WAY too young!"

Draco smirked, "You said you want to have children within ten years. In ten years, you will be twenty-one. To have the child before the ten-year mark you have to start at the nine-year mark or sooner. When you are twenty, today's eight year old girl will be a seventeen year old witch, which is old enough for your needs. In fact, today's seven year old girl will be a sixteen year old witch, again old enough. Yes, the names are young. So are you! You have not even hit puberty yet. Which is actually a good thing: You can think about your choices rationally, without the haze of 'oooo she is pretty' clouding your decisions."

Harry sighed as he stood and stretched. Looking around the dusty classroom, clearly unused for many years if the cobwebs in the corners were any indication, he realized he was hungry and they had missed breakfast.

"Draco, what are we going to do about breakfast? Are we skipping?" Going without meals was common for Harry, so he only asked to know what to expect.

"Hmmphf, now that you mention it, I could eat a bite. Dobby!"

Dobby appeared before Draco, cowering in his tea towel, asking "Yes, Young Master?"

"Bring us some breakfast. Coffee, tea, orange juice, toast, bacon, and some assorted fruits."

"Yes Young Master," Dobby disappeared immediately.

Food began appearing on the teacher's desk and within seconds it was host to a full breakfast.

"Orange juice?" Harry asked.

With a shrug, Draco replied, "The only reason to drink pumpkin juice is Tradition. Most of us never drink it again after we leave school. I prefer orange juice."

With a full plate and a cup of coffee, Harry sighed, "Ok, let's continue."

Smiling, holding toast in one hand and his juice in the other, Draco began gesturing at the board with his toast as he commented.

"Even removing the six and under candidates, we still have many to choose from."

Harry interrupted, "You lined out the younger candidates, but some are marked with a gold star. What is that about?"

"The gold asterisk indicates the candidate is currently under a betrothal contract. Before you ask, there are many ways to negate a betrothal contract, depending on the families involved. If the 'bride' is disfigured, for example. Or if the 'groom' undergoes a life event which would render him sterile. Or if the 'groom' dies. Any of these could potentially, even probably, negate the betrothal contract."

Harry nods, "But why are they on the list of candidates?"

Draco's mischievous grin does nothing to comfort Harry as he says, "Oh, you never know when something might happen. It is good to keep the options available."

Frowning Harry asked, "You aren't planning to 'arrange' for 'something' to happen, are you?"

Draco laughed, "Of course not! Not yet anyway." Laughing harder at Harry's worried expression, "Don't worry. I only gave you three examples. By far the most common and easiest is to simply buy the contract. Completely legal!"

Turning back to the board, Draco continued, "Let's look at some of the witches closer to your age. Here," waving his toast at a name, "Astoria Greengrass, she is nine, so when you are twenty she will be eighteen, legal even by muggle standards, although you will be married long before twenty. Astoria is a Greengrass, giving you a direct link to the Sacred Twenty-Eight. That link can be leveraged against anyone not in that group. She is rather pretty and has the proper poise and bearing to be your wife."

Turning back to Harry, "Your wife must be able to mingle with the political and social elite without giving offense. Ideally, she will be a second set of eyes and ears, gathering information from the distaff side of society, which you would not normally be privy to. Placing your House solidly among the elite Houses will increase the safety of all affiliated with your House."

Gesturing to the board with his crust of toast, "Astoria has a sister, Daphne, who is in our year. Again, easy on the eyes, properly trained in etiquette and the social graces, intelligent, and Slytherin. Thus, she is cunning and ambitious. An excellent combination for your wife."

"Also in our year and in Hufflepuff, Susan Bones. She is Heiress to the Bones family and is 'undesirable' for many traditional Houses due to a muggleborn maternal grandfather. However, her children will be considered pure, assuming she marries a pureblood."

"Wait a minute," Harry interrupted once again, "I am not Pureblood. My mother was muggleborn. So, by the standards you are advocating, NONE of these families will allow me to marry their daughters."

Draco just smiled and quirked an eyebrow, waiting.

"Which you already know. That you are continuing this 'pick your wife thing' indicates you have a way around that…," with a shrug, Harry admitted, "Sorry, I don't see it."

Nodding, Draco replies, "And I would have been surprised if you did, as it requires information you probably don't have. So, let's detour from picking your wife to explain why you are desirable to a pureblood as a husband. First, you are the Head of a Most Ancient and Noble family. That alone is enough to warrant a betrothal to a non-heir/ress. Second, you are a Potter. Your family name carries a lot of value, in and of itself. The Potters were a well-established House before the foundations for Hogwarts was laid. Third, the history of your House makes it even more desirable. It is impressive, by anyone's standards. Fourth, you are insanely rich. Enough money makes almost anything possible! Fifth, "

Harry shook his head rapidly, "No, I am not insanely rich. I am not even wealthy. I live in a middle class house in a middle class neighborhood. My relatives are always complaining about how much it costs to feed me. We are NOT rich, by any definition you would use."

"Harry, your 'relatives' are scum. No one would begrudge feeding a child, especially their own nephew. As to your money… well… seems it is time to have another impromptu history lesson."

Pushing food away from a corner of the desk, Draco began to lecture, "Harry, what is the most powerful force in the world?"

"Magic?" Harry guessed.

"No."

"Gravity?"

"Nope."

Taking a minute to consider, Harry finally guessed again, "Love?"

Harry was unprepared for Draco's reaction as he fell to the floor in a fetal position… laughing. Laughing so hard he could barely breathe.

"I will take that for a 'no'," Harry muttered.

Waiting for Draco to recover and resume the lesson, Harry grabbed some orange slices before sitting once more.

Draco, having mostly recovered, resumed his seat and continued, "No. It is definitely not Love. The most powerful force on this planet is… Compound Interest."

Noticing the blank look, Draco explained, "You know what a loan is, right?" Draco continued after see Harry nod, "Well the way you get people to loan you money is to agree to pay them back PLUS interest. Interest is a percentage of the money you borrow. So, if I agreed to loan you a thousand galleons at 1% interest, then you would repay one thousand and ten galleons. Understand?"

Harry nodded, "That makes sense."

"So the cost of borrowing a thousand galleons would be ten galleons. However, loans are rarely made in such a manner. Instead we have 'simple interest' and 'compound interest'. Simple interest is based on the principle ONLY. If instead of the previous example, I loaned you a thousand galleons at one percent simple interest per year. So if you take a year to repay me, you repay one thousand and ten galleons. If you take two years to repay me, you have to repay one thousand and twenty galleons. Simple interest is ONLY taken as a percentage of the original loan amount, in this case, one thousand galleons. You take the original loan amount, called the 'principle amount', and multiple it by the interest rate, multiplied by the number of interest terms; years, months, whatever, then you get the final amount you have to repay."

"Compound interest is decidedly more powerful. Instead of calculating the interest each interest term based on the principle loan amount, you calculate it by ADDING the unpaid interest to the principle and THEN take the interest of the total of the principle plus unpaid interest. So, to make the numbers a bit easier, if I loan you one hundred galleons at ten percent interest per year, and you did not have to repay a single knut for forty years, at which time you would repay the entire amount in one lump sum… in forty years you would owe me 4,526 galleons, less a few knuts."

Harry's eyes grew wide at the implications.

Smiling broadly, Draco responded, "I see you have the scent. Allow me to add a few more hints to the trail. Wizards live a LONG time. In general, we don't NEED to spend much money. So, with proper management, time, and principle, most old families are very wealthy. Most Traditional Houses live on a fraction of the INTEREST on their principle, rolling the rest into the principle to accumulate even more interest, thus always staying ahead of inflation." Waving his hand at Harry's imminent interruption, "There are many types of inflation and ways to counter or control them. It is beyond the scope of what we want to discuss today."

"Why are the Weasleys poor then? They are an old family," Harry interjected.

"Yes, why are they poor. That leads into my next topic. How to lose your wealth. Nothing I have said about interest is a secret. Nearly everyone is aware of it, even the Weasleys. But remember I said we don't NEED to spend much money. I didn't say we couldn't spend it anyway. In general, the most expensive thing any House can do is support a War. It is insanely expensive. Houses are bankrupted and driven to extinction by funding one side against another. No matter how much you give them, 'your side' will always want 'more'."

Drawing himself into a regal pose, as a general addressing his backers, "We could have easily defeated the enemy by now, if we had more funding."

Chuckling mirthlessly, "But this is almost never the case. If one side gets an influx of funding, the other side uses that very influx to convince its backers the war will be lost immediately without matching funds. Thus begins a race to the bottom, as both sides empty their vaults to help 'their side' win. Truth is, even the most draconian rule would never cost the Houses as much as they are spending to avoid it."

"THAT is how House Weasley lost its wealth, financing wars over the last two hundred years. Yes, it is Noble to fight for what you believe in, to fund what you believe in, but when have you paid enough? In the fight against The Dark Lord, your House paid in blood. It cost you your grandparents, on both sides, and both your parents, and as we have discovered today, years of abuse upon its Heir. Your debt to the 'greater good', if you ever had one, has been paid in full."

"So, how are you insanely wealthy?" Malfoy waited.

Nodding, Harry responded, "Exactly, how do we have any money? Surely if my parents fought Voldemort, they also would have emptied their vaults to support the fight."

Nodding, while tapping his finger on his chin, a serious expression upon his face, Draco responded, "Yes, yes, that does seem likely, doesn't it?"

Smiling, Draco continued, "But that leaves out one rather significant point. Your paternal grandfather was a financial genius. He understood money; how to acquire and how to lose it. His will made it impossible to empty the vaults for any reason. In fact, because he feared your father, his son, had "his head up Albus Dumbledore's ass" (his words, not mine!) his will only allowed one half of the yearly interest to be spent by your parents, with the rest being rolled back into principle. Apparently, it was his hope the war would end before his son died and thus the Potter vaults would be safe when you became Head. He was mistaken."

Harry nodded sadly as he considered all the war had cost his House.

"However, remember I said your grandfather was a genius? Well, he was also insane. Not in a 'permanent resident of the long-term care at St. Mungo's' insane, but insane in the genius way of insanity. He saw things no one would ever think of as 'obvious'. And THAT is why you are now insanely wealthy."

Pausing to wet his parched throat, Draco waited for any questions. Harry did not disappoint.

"What did he do?" Harry asked with a frown.

Grinning somewhat manically, Draco answered with a laugh, "Something no other Pureblood would have ever considered. Upon his death, his will gave control of the Potter accounts to 'the goblin family or clan who can obtain the most aggressive growth. That family is to receive 25% of said growth as compensation for their efforts.'"

Shaking his head in faked disbelief, "Your grandfather started a goblin war. Not with wizards, but among themselves. To execute the will properly, that statement had to be made to all the goblins in the world. The chiefs of the various families and clans knew what was going to happen. I wonder if your grandfather knew?" Shrugging, "No matter, Chiefs of groups with no hope of winning, watched from the sidelines. Small families likewise stayed out of it, knowing they would die to no purpose. Since the will stated 'clan or family', singular, alliances were not allowed. When the directors, chiefs, and assorted leaders of the goblins had narrowed the selection to four groups, based on their past performance and current assets and strength, they told the four groups they could enter the pit for the right to control the Potter assets. To encourage the groups to come to a peaceful compromise, they declared the assets of the losing groups would go to the winner. One group declined to continue. The other three groups fought in the pit for two months, hundreds died before a winner was declared."

"That group, and no one will confirm the name of the group, has been controlling the investments of the Potter accounts since your grandfather's death. There are rumors of hostile takeovers, mergers, assassination, blackmail, extortion, basically… if it can be used to increase profits in anyway, this group has and will continue to do it. All to improve your wealth. And how much of that money have you spent in the last ten years? Not a knut. Thus, the power of compound interest, and a goblin clan with no inhibitions on how they make money, have made you… insanely wealthy."

"Do you understand now?" Draco smirked.

Harry looked glassy eyed as he asked, "Is that legal?"

Laughing, "No, it is not legal. Not even a tiny bit. But you know what else it is not?"

Harry shook his head.

"Provable! There is no paper trail to lead to anything illegal. There have been investigations by the Ministry and by the muggle authorities. Nowhere is there even a hint of a trail leading back to you. Personally, I think I may take a page out of your grandfather's playbook and hire a goblin accounting team to do the same for House Malfoy, once I become Head. Of course, I could never tell anyone. The scandal would make me a social pariah. But I would be a rich social pariah, so… it may well be worth the risk."

Harry nodded numbly, in shock at the enormity of the information Draco had provided.

"Do you know what we call the children of squibs?"

Harry sighed, "No, but I am certain it is not nice."

"No, it isn't. We call them squibs. And we call their children squibs, ad nausea. But you know what we DON'T call them?"

Harry shook his head once more.

"Muggles or Muggleborn! And if you don't have a muggle or muggleborn in your genealogy, you are considered a pureblood!"

"So, do you now understand why you are desirable as a husband even with a muggle born mother?" Draco waited for the response.

Harry nodded thoughtfully.

Grinning broadly once more, Draco dropped the next bombshell, "Besides, your mother was not a muggleborn. She was the result of a long line of squibs." Draco smirked.

"WHAT? How can you know that?" Harry exclaimed.

Tutting at him, Draco explained, "Harry, how are purebloods determined? By family genealogies. Your mother was muggleborn. Her parents were muggles. But you know how to tell a squib from a muggle in a genealogy chart? By tracing the squib back to a magical ancestor. I guarantee I can provide a genealogy for your mother that will withstand the most intense scrutiny, proving she is descended from a long line of squibs."

"How can you possibly do that? You can't change who my mother's parents were." Harry snorted.

"True, but I can change the perception of who they were. And since they are dead, they can't be tested. The same goes for their parents and their parents and their parents, etc. Basically, we are going to buy a pureblood heritage for your mother." Draco hopped off the desk, clapping his hands, "So, are we ready to continue looking through the likely Ladies for House Potter?"

Harry placed his head gently on the desktop before moaning, "Yes".

"Excellent! Let's talk about some slightly older Ladies. Let's start with Bellatrix Lestrange nee Black…"

AN: Remember, the poll will close Midnight July 31st.

AN: It was brought to my attention that I did not include a "no pairing" option in my poll. So, whether you have or have not voted, you may PM me saying you want "NO Pairing", if that is your desire and I will count those votes as if they were an included option. Thanks to everyone for reading, fav'ing, following, and reviewing. It is greatly appreciated!