Unspoken
by Teddylonglong
Please refer to chapter 1 for my disclaimer and warnings. Thank you.
The following weeks passed uneventfully, before Harry received a letter from Sirius in the middle of October.
Invitation
To the grand opening of
The Paws & Turtle Brooms shop
Hogsmeade Main Street 11
October 31 at 10:00 a.m.
Owners: Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Jamie Smith
Models invented and patents owned by: Unspeakables Paws & Turtle
At the grand opening, the new Paws & Turtle Keeper and Paws & Turtle Chaser brooms will be presented.
Unspeakables Turtle and Paws will be available to answer questions and accept suggestions for a short time.
Harry smirked, as he handed the letter to Hermione, who was sitting next to him, while he pondered his situation.
Since October 31 was a Saturday, the older students were allowed to go to the village; however, Harry knew better than to ask for permission to leave the school, considering that no one at Hogwarts except for Minerva and Artemis as well as Hermione knew about his connection to the inventors of the broomsticks.
"Cool," Hermione breathed with a big smile on her face.
"What is cool?" Neville turned around from where he and Draco were sitting right behind them.
Hermione handed over the letter, and a minute later, Harry heard two simultaneous gasps from behind. He grinned, as he had not expected anything else from his friends, even if they had no clue about the identity of Paws and Turtle.
'Perhaps, we should tell them,' he thought. 'I trust them, and they've sworn us an oath anyway.'
"Too bad that we can't attend the opening. Considering that Harry told us that Snape seems to hate Black and Lupin with a passion, he surely won't allow us to go." Draco sighed, theatrically.
"While we'll be able to go, and I will make sure to attend the opening," Marcus spoke up, "we definitely won't be able to afford such a broom. Considering how inventive and brilliant the Seeker and Double brooms are, they must be really expensive."
"They don't have a Beater broom yet anyway, do they?" Draco's voice was laced with obvious interest.
"No, but considering that they've covered all other positions, it'll probably be the next that's going to come out."
'Perhaps, I could ask Marcus to give me some hints for the Beater broom and try out a possible prototype for me,' Harry thought. As soon as he had finished the Chaser broom, for which Minerva and Sirius had given him valuable advice, he had begun to mull over the Beater position; however, neither he nor anyone else of the extended family had any experience as Beater. 'In return, I could offer him a seventy percent off price voucher for the broom upon its release.'
Right after breakfast, he took Marcus aside. "Please hear me out. It'll only take two minutes."
"Sure." The fifth-year eyed him in apparent surprise.
Harry led the older boy into an empty classroom, casting a series of silencing charms at the door and around the room.
"As you might know or not know, two of the owners of the new broom shop are my godparents. They told me that the developers of the brooms struggle with the new Beater broom, because they don't know anyone who has a lot of experience as a Beater. Would you be willing to support them, means giving them suggestions and hints about the Beater position and its special needs as well as trying out any model they might develop? If you'd be willing to work together with them, they'd surely see to it that you'll receive the broom at a low percentage of its normal price upon its release."
Marcus shook his head in apparent confusion. "This sounds like a big prank, but if you can convince them to work together with me, I'll gladly accept."
Harry nodded in understanding. "Can we meet in our room after curfew tonight? I will tell them to ask Unspeakables Paws and Turtle to come by and meet with you tonight."
Marcus nodded. "All right. I'll be there. Thanks, Harry."
With that, they hurriedly left for their respective classes, and Harry simply popped right in front of the Transfiguration classroom for his first morning class.
HP
'I really have to be careful to not give myself away,' he thought, when he left the suitcase after saying good night to Hermione, knowing that Connie would wait for him wearing her Unspeakable robes.
"Marcus and I are going to have a meeting with Unspeakables Paws and Turtle about the Beater broom," he informed his roommates. "Just so you know why he's going to show up here in a few minutes."
"Are you going to meet them in your suitcase? Wait…" Draco's eyes narrowed. "You once told us that you're an Unspeakable, but you never told us your name."
Harry smirked. "That's for me to know and for you…"
"To guess," Draco interrupted him. "Are you, perhaps, Unspeakable Paws?"
Harry let out a deep sigh. To his relief, Marcus chose that moment to enter the room, saving him from having to respond to his friend.
HP
Unspeakables Paws and Turtle were already waiting for them. 'Okay, that was timed well. I'll have to do that, after our conversation is over then,' Harry realised.
"Hello, I am Unspeakable Paws, and this is Unspeakable Turtle. Lord Black sent us here."
"Good evening, Unspeakable Paws and Unspeakable Turtle. Thank you for coming. I am Harry Potter, and this is Marcus Flint, the Slytherin Quidditch captain and Beater. He offered to assist you with his knowledge about the Beater position."
Paws nodded. He pointed his wand at the nearest wall making an image of what was hopefully going to be the Beater broom at some stage appear. "This is the beginning of our work on the Beater broom, but unfortunately, neither we nor our co-workers have any experience with the Beater position. If you work together with us, which means relaying information about a Beater's special needs and also testing any prototype of our Beater broom, it would be highly appreciated.
Marcus nodded. "Thank you very much for your offer, which I happily accept."
Paws sighed. "Thank you, Mr. Flint. We won't be able to finish the broom on time for the opening of the shop, but I believe that Christmas would be manageable. Do you know when the next Hogsmeade weekend will be?"
Marcus nodded. "On Saturday."
"Can we meet in the shop then? Let's say at ten o'clock in the morning? It is not open, so we can talk in private."
Marcus agreed with the suggested time and place, and Harry inwardly groaned. 'This is too complicated for my liking,' he thought. 'Oh well, if I go in my Unspeakable robes, no one will know that it's me. I'll just have to inform Sirius, Jamie and Remus that we'll meet there.'
Shortly later, they took their leave, and Harry went to bed, readying himself to time slide back to play Unspeakable Paws in the previous conversation.
tbc...?
Thank you so much for the kind reviews for the last chapter. Are you still interested in this story?