Disclaimer: Where does he get all those wonderful toys?

A Meeting with Uncle Geoffrey

Phil found Harry meeting with his business associates regarding their plan to screw Harry's polo buddy out of large quantities of money.

"Charlie is coming here later today," Phil announced.

"Oh?" Harry looked up.

"He's bringing Hermione's Uncle Jim and someone else from the office," Phil continued. "I've also spoken with Holland & Holland and they tell me that they'd be delighted to have Ron over at our convenience."

"Tomorrow work for you?" Harry asked.

"Perfectly," Phil agreed.

Harry jotted down a quick note and handed it to George. "Pass that on to Ron please, just asking him to drop by tomorrow. Tell him to contact me immediately if he's already got something planned so I can reschedule."

"No problem, Harry," George agreed.

"We'll see that he gets it," Fred agreed.

"Good." Harry grinned. "Let's talk strategy. Goal is to bilk as much money out of our friend Charlie as possible without alienating him so we can bilk him again in the future. Keeping in mind the fact that no plan survives first contact with the enemy, here's what I was thinking we should do is . . . "

IIIIIIIIII

Anne motioned for Amelia to take a seat as they walked into her office. Much as she might wish otherwise, there were scores of men in the world that wished to do harm to her and her loved ones. It was time to see what she could do about that.

"I'm told that Dumbledore has decided to be a problem," Anne said, starting the meeting and setting the initial tone.

"He refuses to allow private security to enter the school and I'm unable to assign Aurors without causing trouble with the Minister," Amelia agreed.

"Have you spoken with Augusta Longbottom?" Anne asked.

"No," Amelia admitted. "But I should have since she's on the Board of Governors and likely to be sympathetic to our position."

"Do you mind if I arrange a meeting for the three of us?"

"Please do," Amelia replied.

Anne made a note in her memo book. "Do you happen to know what the foundation of Dumbledore's objections are?"

"He says that if he allows one student to have private security, he has to allow all of them to," Amelia sighed. "Considering the fact that a number of students are the children of known or suspected Death Eaters . . ."

"Yes, I see," Anne sighed. "Would it help to have the non-magical government apply pressure? If so, that can easily be arranged."

"Not with the Dumbledore situation, could possibly help with our troubles with the Ministry," Amelia said after a moment of thought. "Something else to discuss when we meet with Augusta."

IIIIIIIIII

Tonks was trying to find her way around the massive Granger Manor when she was accosted by a frowning maid.

"There you are," the woman huffed. "We've been looking all over for you."

"Been a bit lost," Tonks admitted. "What's up?"

"Mr. Thomas wanted to introduce you and Ms. Jane and the team you're taking to Hogwarts," the maid replied.

"Who's Ms. Jane?" Tonks asked as she followed the maid down the hall. "Not the same one from the club?"

"No. This one is your new boss," the Maid replied. "She's in personal charge of Ms. Hermione's safety."

IIIIIIIIII

Harry was waiting at the door for his guests when they arrived for the meeting about the twins' inventions.

"Harry," Charlie said with a grin. "Brought a new face with me. Meet my good friend Geoffrey Boothroyd." He waved to a short grey haired gentleman.

"Hermione calls me Uncle Geoffrey," the man said, holding out his hand. "Please call me Geoffrey, a pleasure, Mr. Potter."

"The pleasure is mine, Geoffrey, please call me Harry," he replied. "When would you gentlemen like to see our little demonstration?"

"As soon as we get a chance to raid Phil's humidor and liquor cabinet for the good stuff," Charlie replied.

"Jokes on you, my wastrel brother in law's already cleaned me out," Phil replied.

"Meaning you hid the good stuff so well that even James couldn't find it," Geoffrey interpreted. "No mean feat."

"The chairs have been set up behind the stables and refreshments have been arranged, sir," the butler announced.

"Thank you," Phil said. "Harry, it's your show. Lead the way."

IIIIIIIIII

Tonks' grin was so wide it threatened to split her face when she walked into the meeting room and saw how many familiar faces it contained. Many of which, she'd never expected to see again. Four were housemates that had graduated within a year of her own, five were former colleagues, and two were cousins on her father's side of the family. The last was someone special.

"Flint you worthless bitch, I thought you'd been run out of the magical world?" Tonks squealed, pulling the other woman into a hug. "I was afraid I'd never see you again."

"Thought it prudent to avoid my family after shaming them with my marriage to a muggleborn," the woman replied.

"You got married and didn't invite me?"

"We didn't invite anyone," she corrected. "Steven wanted me to pass on his regrets that he couldn't be here to see you again."

"What's the bastard doing right now?" Tonks asked eagerly.

"Lt. McLain's ship should be docking in Gibraltar where he'll receive orders to get on a plane and come home," Thomas announced as he strode confidently into the room. "I see you have met your new team?"

"Lot's of familiar faces," Tonks replied. "Flint . . . uh, Ms. McLain was a prefect when I was a firsty."

"I was also her field training officer when she became an Auror," the woman said with a grin. "Means I got quite a few embarrassing stories for blackmail if I need 'em."

"It gonna be a problem taking orders from an old subordinate?" Thomas' voice was so calm it was almost emotionless.

"I was a field Auror. Young Tonks handles the Director's security," she grinned. "I'd have a problem giving her orders, not taking them."

The door opened again to admit the Granger family librarian.

"Which one of you is Tonks?" the woman demanded.

"I am," Tonks replied.

"I've read your record but I don't know you," the woman began. "We need to have a long meeting tomorrow."

"Alright," Tonks agreed. "I need to spend some time getting reacquainted with my new team, but I guess I can spare a few hours."

"That's reasonable," the woman conceded. Her eyes flicked around the room once more before she took her leave.

"So, McLain, why don't you start by telling me how soft you've let yourself get since you left the department."

"You can stick with Flint, Tonkey, best avoid any confusion since Steven might be joining us if I can convince him to hang up his uniform," Lt. McLain's wife announced cheerfully.

IIIIIIIIII

Harry suppressed a grin when he noticed the looks on the faces of Charlie and his retinue. He had them hooked, now all that remained was to set it and reel them in.

"So what do you think?" he asked casually.

"We might have some use for some of it," Charlie said, pasting a look of boredom on his face. "What's say you license us the designs for..." He wrote a number on a piece of paper and handed it to Harry. "I think you'll find that more than reasonable."

"It's a good offer," Harry said, glancing at the number. "Only thing I can see wrong with it is the fact that you forgot to add a few zeros onto the end."

"I didn't," Charlie replied.

"I see," Harry laughed. "Phil said you were a joker, I didn't see it till now." He wrote another number on the paper. "I think you'll find this one much more realistic. That does not, of course, include royalties or my own fee."

George glanced over Harry's shoulder and his eyes bulged at the amount.

A frown appeared on Charlie's face when he saw the number and he handed the paper to Geoffrey who bore a look of disinterest on his own.

"Pay up," Hermione's Uncle Jim advised. "Unless you can find another source, he's got the market tied up."

"I shall require your two inventors to make themselves available for consultations. I may further require them to make time for priority custom orders if the situation requires it," Geoffrey stated. "I shall also require you to provide me with a preliminary order of five thousand of each unit for testing purposes," he added firmly. "If you are willing to agree to that, I believe that we may have the beginnings of a deal."

"Can you make five thousand of each?" Harry asked the twins.

"If we can get some help, we can have them ready in two weeks," George said after a moment of thought.

"Call it a month and we'll do our best to beat the deadline," Fred corrected.

"How much help?" Harry demanded.

"Lee and the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team would be a good start," Fred replied.

"Alright. Hire them," Harry agreed. He turned back to his guests. "Does a month delivery time on the first order work for you?"

"I would prefer to have it sooner," Geoffrey replied. "What additional costs would it require to guarantee the two week deadline?"

"A bigger labor pool to draw from," Harry replied. "We'll try, but I'm not willing to make promises I don't know I can keep."

"It will have to do," Geoffrey sighed.

"I think we have a deal," Charlie said with a grin. "Pleasure, Harry."

"Anytime, Charlie."

"You know he'd have gone higher, don't you?" Hermione's Uncle asked.

"I prefer not to bleed him out all at once," Harry explained. "You've heard the story of the goose that laid the golden egg, haven't you?"

"You've spent far too much time around Phil," Charlie laughed.

"Mind if we duck out, Harry?" George asked.

"We really need to get started on this order," Fred agreed.

"Whatever you want," Harry said. "Call me if you have any delays or you even think you might have a delay and I'll see what I can do to fix it."

"We will-"

"-Harry."

IIIIIIIIII

The twins arrived home looking both drained and exuberant just as Molly was setting food on the table for their evening meal.

"What took you boys so long?" she asked, giving them the benefit of doubt.

"There was an emergency at the Ministry that Harry had to deal with before he could meet with our newest customer," George replied. "Nothing Harry wasn't able to handle, but there's only one of him and he had to prioritize."

Arthur carefully did not react at his son's pronouncement. He knew of only one big emergency that had occurred at the Ministry that day. Best keep it from the wife, he decided. The man made a mental note to make some inquiries to find out what the boy's involvement was to better determine if he needed to take any action in the future.

"He netted us a big order after he got done though," Fred added.

"How big?" Molly asked.

"Big enough that we aren't going to be able to do anything but work and eat for the next couple weeks," George said with a grin.

"Gonna need to bring in a lot of help to complete it," Fred added. "But it'll bring in more money than either of us have seen in our lives, even after paying off our expenses and giving Harry his share," he finished excitedly.

"Might be a better idea to reinvest most of it back into the business," Molly said, shocking herself. "What do you think, Arthur?"

"Depends on if this order is a one time thing or if it has a chance of happening again," he replied, dragging his thoughts back to the conversation.

"Shouldn't be just a one time thing, dad," Fred replied.

"Invest a portion of it into the business, save a bit of it, and celebrate with a very small piece of it," Arthur advised.

"I'll let you slack off on studying for a bit so you can do your work, but I expect you two to make up for it later," Molly said sternly.

"No problem-"

"-mum." George turned to his younger brother. "Harry wanted us to deliver this to you." He handed the boy an envelope. "Should say something about meeting with him tomorrow if you can make it. I'd do everything I could to make it if I were you."

"Harry has a way of turning dreams and half-formed plans into reality," Fred agreed. "Do what he tells you to do and you won't regret it."

"Thanks," Ron replied. He opened it and gave the note a quick read. "Won't be here for lunch tomorrow, mum."

"Alright," Molly agreed.

"You say there was an emergency at the Ministry?" Arthur asked. He signaled for both of them to keep quiet.

"Yeah, dad-"

"-don't think we're supposed to talk about it thought."

"Alright," he agreed. "If you can't talk about it, you can't talk about it. I'd have probably heard about it already if it was something dangerous anyway. Tell me more about this order of yours." He risked a quick glance at his wife and was relieved to see that she was engaged in a conversation with his youngest boy.

IIIIIIIIII

Hermione awoke the next morning and was mildly surprised to see Hannah and Susan sharing a bed, she hadn't realized they were that close.

"Susan had a nightmare last night," Hannah explained, noticing the other girl's interest.

"Oh." Hermione nodded. "Wake me up if it happens again and I'll join you . . . um, if you think that would help, Susan."

"Thanks, Hermione," Susan croaked.

"Myself as well," Luna agreed. "We're all friends here." She paused, enjoying the warm feeling the truth of that statement brought. "So I think I speak for Hermione when I say that we'll be willing to do anything to make you feel better."

"You're doing enough," Susan said with a weak smile. "I had a dream last night that Aunty Amelia . . ." her voice caught.

"I'm sure that'll never happen," Luna said firmly. "Not with Harry helping her." It was clear from the blonde's tone that she had absolute faith in the boy-who-lived.

"Yeah," Susan agreed.

The four girls sat in silence for a few moments until Hermione decided to break it.

"Would anyone like breakfast?" Hermione asked. "I could have some brought up if you don't want to get out of bed."

A firm knock on the door interrupted any of the possible responses.

"Yes?" Hermione asked.

The door opened and Amelia walked in, shadowed as always by Tonks.

"They told me you were up and I wanted to stop in before I left," Amelia explained.

"You're going to work after what happened?!" Susan cried out in dismay.

"Someone has to do my job and the danger won't disappear if I quit," Amelia replied.

"It'll get worse," Tonks predicted. "Your Aunt Amelia's possible replacements range from bad to terrible."

"Main thing I wanted to tell you is that Auror Tonks is going to be in charge of your security from now on," Amelia continued.

"What about you?" Susan demanded.

"I'm sicking Mad Eye on her," Tonks chirped. "You thought I was paranoid," she giggled. "I'm taking your new detail, Mad Eye and your old detail get lumped into your Aunt's. There'll be more wands looking after the Director than there ever was in the past."

"More looking after you and your friends too, Susan," Amelia added. "I'm also going to be staying here with the Grangers so we can pool our resources."

"Keep quiet about that if you would, kids," Tonks interrupted. "I'm hoping to use your house to ambush anyone stupid enough to try to attack your Aunt. Got a tentative contract with Harry to booby-trap the hell out of the place."

"Feeling better about this?" Amelia asked gently. "It's still dangerous, nothing in life is truly safe, but this is as safe as we can make it given the circumstances."

"Okay," Susan agreed.

"Now that everyone is on the same page, you lot have an appointment later today with Ms. Jane," Tonks continued. "She said you could do it before or after lunch."

"What's the appointment about?" Hermione asked.

"Your friends are going to learn the dog pile game and you're going to get a refresher course," Tonks replied.

"She yells 'down.' You drop to the ground and then she jumps on top of you and tickles you," Hermione explained. "Why are we going to do that again?" She rather thought that she'd outgrown it to be honest. Still, she didn't really have the heart to say no if the woman wanted to relive the past. The woman had been a constant presence in her life for her whole life after all. Almost like a second mother.

"I'll let her deal with that question," Tonks said, amused by the girl's obliviousness. She couldn't blame the kid, if you grew up surrounded by security, things like that were normal. It was the rest of the world that was strange. "Questions?" There were none. "Good. Now then, I was outside the door earlier and I heard someone say something about breakfast in bed?"

"Yeah," Hermione agreed. "I figured it might be a good idea this morning."

"It's a good idea every morning," Tonks said, kicking off her shoes. "Budge over." She hopped into bed next to Hermione. "Tell 'em to give me a double serving."

"Alright," Hermione agreed, amused by the older woman's antics. "Does anyone else want two servings?"

"Better not," Tonks advised. "You lot don't live the active life I do, you'll swell up like balloons if you eat as like me."

"As fun as that sounds, I think we'll put that off for now," Hannah said dryly.

"Looks like Auror Tonks has everything in hand," Amelia observed. She walked over to the bed to give her niece a hug. "I'll see you later today, Susan."

"Bye, Aunt Amelia," Susan replied. "I'll miss you."

"I will miss you too," Amelia said, giving her niece one last squeeze. She hoped it wouldn't be her last but she also knew that the possibility was there and wanted to die without regrets if worst came to worst. Damn the war.

IIIIIIIIII

Ron stumbled through the fireplace and onto the thickest softest carpet he'd seen in his life. It was like someone had thrown a giant mattress onto the floor which was, in hindsight at least, the perfect thing to put in front of a fireplace to catch people coming out. He'd have to remember to suggest getting one for home.

"What're you doing here, Ron?" a familiar voice asked.

"Here to meet with Harry. What're you doing here, Bill?" Ron replied.

"Helping set up the wards," Bill said. "I think Harry's having breakfast. I could have someone show you the way."

"Just point me in the right direction. I can find him myself," Ron said.

"No you can't," Bill laughed. "Not in this place."

"What?"

"Ron, I've been coming here for the last couple weeks and I still get lost. Think back to when you first got to Hogwarts."

"Bloody hell," Ron gasped, head swiveling as he processed the sheer size of the room. "There are houses that big? How did Harry get to live in one?"

"It's Hermione's," Bill explained.

"Bloody hell," Ron repeated. "No wonder she can afford so many books."

"Explains a few things," Bill agreed. He reached over and pulled a bell rope. "She doesn't see what the big deal is since her real house in London is much smaller."

"How big is her house in London?"

"Big, but nothing like this place," Bill said. The door opened to admit a smiling servant. "This is my younger brother, Ron. He's here to have a meeting with Harry."

"Follow me, Mr. Ron," the servant ordered.

"Later, Bill," Ron mumbled.

"Later, Ron," Bill replied.

Ron followed the man down a bewildering set of halls to a table where Harry was having breakfast with Hermione's parents.

"Have a seat, Ron," Harry called out. "You know Hermione's parents, don't you?"

"We've met a couple times," Ron agreed.

"Have you had breakfast yet?" Anne asked. "Can we offer you anything?"

"I'm fine," Ron said. "Thank you."

"Shall we get started on business?" Harry asked.

"Sure," Ron agreed.

"The twins have asked me to give you a bit of money to help you get started." Harry held up a hand to stall the coming explosion. "They also told me that they'd like to toss in some of their own, Hermione is also interested in providing a bit of backing." Though in her case it was more to help out a friend and less in hopes of sharing in future profits.

"You don't have to give me any money, Harry," Ron muttered. "If I fail, I'd rather not drag anyone else down with me."

"It's because I think you'll succeed that I'm willing to put up money," Harry laughed. "I'd still help if I thought you might fail, but I wouldn't give you a pence . . . uh, knut."

"Oh."

"As I said in my letter, the two main problems that immediately came to mind when I looked over your business plan yesterday were that you were being charged too much on materials and that you need to improve your skill level. You're good but you could be better."

"I'm satisfactory but I need to be great," Ron corrected. "I also need to get faster."

Harry nodded. "After thinking about it, I'm going to add that you probably need a better set of tools." Harry raised a finger as he listed each thing. "Phil has managed to track down a number of possible sources for wood that you'll have to inspect before you decide if any of them will be suitable. Says they're considered high grade in the muggle world but neither of us knows enough to be able to say if they're good enough to carve a broom out of." Harry was more than a bit ashamed to have to admit that last particular bit of information. "If they are, you should be able to cut your expenses by at least sixty percent."

"That'd be great," Ron said brightly. He may not know much about business but he knew enough to know that lower expenses meant higher profits. "Thanks, Harry."

"As for the other two issues, Phil has arranged a tour of a company that works with wood," Harry continued.

"And steel," Phil interjected. "It's a gunmaker, the wood is for the stocks."

"Gonne?" Ron asked.

Phil waved one of the servants forward. The man placed a long leather wrapped case on the table and opened it up to reveal the velvet lined interior.

"Bought this about one year ago," Phil said, carefully lifting a beautifully made double barrel over under shotgun out of its equally well made protective case. "Thought you might want to get a look at the woodwork before we go."

"It's incredible," Ron whispered. A thousand times better than anything he could turn out. "How did they manage to make something so beautiful?"

"I'm hoping that the tour will give you an idea," Phil replied. "If so, we can arrange for you to spend a bit of time there learning the trade."

"That'd be wizard," Ron replied with a grin. "Thank you. Merlin, I don't know how to thank the you for this."

"Anything for one of Hermione's friends," Phil replied. He replaced the gun in its case and handed the case back to the servant. "Be able to get a set of tools or at the very least a lead on where we can get tools during the tour. That done, you can start focusing on your business."

"When do we leave?" Ron asked eagerly.

"After we finish eating," Harry replied.

"Hurry up," Ron demanded with a grin. "We've places to be and got things to do."

"I think I liked you better when you were a lazy unmotivated git," Harry said thoughtfully, regarding his friend the same way he'd regard an insect in his soup.

"I think I liked you better when you were an ignorant well rested buffoon," Ron retorted, chin in the air, looking for all the world like an offended Malfoy.

IIIIIIIIII

Hermione and the other girls emerged a couple hours after lunch and set about searching for their green eyed classmate.

"Where's Harry?" Hermione asked one of the servants.

"Mr. Harry is off with your father and Mr. Ron to take a tour of Holland & Holland, Ms. Hermione," the maid replied.

"And he didn't say goodbye to us first?" Susan sniffed.

"We'll make him pay for that," Hannah promised with a frown. She managed to keep her expression for almost three seconds before dissolving into a fit of giggles with the other girls.

"I guess we could go meet with Ms. Jane now since Harry isn't around," Hermione suggested. "I haven't shown you the library yet, have I? I must apologize for that. It's one of my favorite parts of the house and I normally like to show it first."

IIIIIIIIII

Phil poured himself a glass of orange juice as the driver slowed the car. Traffic was an unpleasant fact of life in London, he pitied the poor buggers that were stuck behind the wheel driving themselves on days like this. In his opinion the only places to experience the true joy of driving were a closed track or perhaps a bit of isolated road. City streets were soul destroying hellscapes.

"Feel free to make yourself something if you'd like," Phil said.

Both boys poured themselves a glass of juice. The confused look on Ron's face when he took the first sip was priceless.

"I've spoken to a contact at Purdey and they'd also be delighted to give a tour," Phil continued. "I have no doubt that the other gunmakers would be just as delighted." They would be if they knew what was good for them anyway.

"How long before we get there?" Ron asked. "I've been in cars before, but they never stopped in the road like this."

"Not everyone has magic to get around traffic," Harry laughed.

"There's such a thing?" Phil asked eagerly. "How much for you to arrange it for my cars? Understand that price is no object."

"Fifty million pounds or your first born," Harry retorted.

"Cheap at half the price," he laughed. "Let's see, you've already got my first born, why don't we say I paid in advance?" Phil suggested. He smiled at the deep blush that appeared on Harry's face. "To answer your question, Ron. It all depends, shouldn't be more than an hour."

"Okay," Ron agreed. "Any advice?"

"Do you have a sample of your work?" Phil asked.

Ron reached into his pocket and pulled out a half completed wooden chain. "It's one of the exercises Madame Hooch suggested," he explained. "Got a couple more little pieces in my pockets that I'm working on."