Chapter 25: The calm before the Storm

The next couple of days were somewhat busy. The introduction of the Quidditch broadcasts changed the landscape of magical society. For Ronald and Charlie, there was a surprise visit by the English Quidditch Coach as he negotiated aggressively for Ronald to be given time off, to attend practice. He insisted that the English had not won a World Cup, and he was hoping to start with a fresh team of youngsters and retire the older players – he was hoping for all of the talent to come from Hogwarts.

"Very well, Mr Brich. I was only concerned about the boy's education?"

"I understand, but he doesn't seem to be lacking there. Diggory's boy told me he can shield. Do you have any idea how much Ministry workers cannot shield? And I understand that he helps the teachers with demonstrations. I say if he can earn enough money to be independent, he can always finish his education later. Headmaster, Ronald had a narrow developmental period where we can utilise his growth spurt…."

"Albus, let the boy off. England should be represented at the World cup! Mr Birch, you want any child from any house at all? I will make it happen." Minerva explained, as the Quidditch fanatic.

Minerva then stared at Albus, and he nodded.

There were polite conversations among all of the Quidditch players who were told to assemble in an unused classroom. Mr Birch explained that they were looking to select students to train for the World Cup. They would be monitored via the broadcasts, and they expected to see professional playing. Many of the Slytherins gulped, as they realised that broadcasting the Quidditch matches would force them to play fair. Any underhanded tactics could force the entire of magical England to look bad. And that could bring shame to their family, as titles were displayed. Some of the snakes walked out, as it seemed that international scrutiny was too much pressure for them.

Two days later, Ronald, Cedric, Perkins and even some of the Ravenclaws found themselves assaulted by many letters during the morning breakfast. Some of them were local, but many of them were written in French. Some were filled with broken English, as it seemed that not many of the senders were too competent at the language. Cedric and Davies had gotten a lot of pictures. There were a lot of giggles from the residents of the flat, as Ronald tried to reply to some of the letters. Daphne then demanded that Ronald paid her five galleons an hour every other day to help him reply to his fanmail.

Soon enough, Daphne became known for speaking French, around Hogwarts.

"You can speak French?" Draco Malfoy asked.

"Yes. Enough to get by. Tracey knows a bit too. I have two lovely French friends. The deal was I teach them English, and they would teach me French. As much as you don't like trio, all of them can speak a little French. Perhaps not very proficient, but they can speak well enough" Daphne replied.

"All of them?" asked Nott.

"Correct. I make forty galleons an hour, answering French fanmail. I have eight customers right now. That includes Ronald Weasley too."

"Why would you answer the bloodtraitor's fanmail? That is unbecoming!" Pansy barked.

"Being a Slytherin is playing your cards right. I made an easy four hundred gallons recently. I could probably buy my year two booklist almost by myself. And perhaps I might be able to help many Slytherin gals and guys to nab a marriage contract with a foreign Witch or Wizard?"

Now the common room was silent and some of the older neutral boys were muttering among themselves.

"I expect Gryffindors and even our housemates to get offers and fan mail, by the time year two arrives. The broadcasts are going to change magical society. And guess who will have a thriving business here? Not my fault Pansy that you have been useless towards earning points and you don't have a single worthwhile skill or hobby. No, coming after me is not a hobby."

Pansy's face was now like a bullfrog. Daphne and Tracey were the Slytherin frontline witches, after all.

"Oi Greengrass, if I get mail from French birds, I will pay you to help me with that! Don't listen to the haters, we want to reply to French birds!" A random boy commented, as there was a set of hooting and shouts of approval. Daphne smiled and opened her hands in a "see what I mean" expression, before walking to her dorm. She transported to the flat, to continue her practice and studies.


After listening to the rumours, Harry and Hermione offered replays of the match after speaking to Ludo Bagman through Lorna. The product stock began to disappear as Snakebite Luxuries and Viper Vanities offerings were sold out. The entire stock of Stormbolts, Rudras and Morrigans was going fast, as foreign demand for the broom increased. Harry considered that he would have to hold up on his research, to meet demand. And that was with Cyrus, Reginald and Arthur running everything else.

"Hermione, we have labour problems again. I think I will have to completely automate everything. We might have to shut down for a bit." the green-eyed boy suggested.

"We have to eliminate physical labour. Perhaps we can put out a message that we have to suspend operations for a month as we work to restock?" Hermione wondered.

"To rebuild the manufacturing lines we will need maybe eight weeks. Two months to focus on this problem alone. I am planning for hiccups, in case we run into any. And we will have to use the entire of the Manor now. Thank the Lord, that Glaucon went big on everything."

"Well, we better put out a message?" Hermione suggested.


That evening, the users of the dataslates were surprised by the message that had arrived:

Urgent Notice:

Afternoon to our customers!

The Guild has been swamped with so many orders, that we will have to suspend operations for at least two months. We cannot meet the demand for new products like other places - many of our methods are family secrets and personal inventions. We will have to rework our crafting methods. We will continue to expand the book collections and broadcast Quidditch matches, but we will not be introducing any new products until the middle of the year. The I.C.W board is interested in showing Quidditch leagues from all over the world. The English and Irish league has been confirmed for broadcast, but many other countries are expressing interest.

For the four of us, it has been many sleepless nights, indeed. We can assure you that we were born to a womb, and we only have eight hands between all of us.

We understand that many will not be able to obtain our products when the stock depletes. We do understand that you will be upset. We are hoping that those who did not spend their gold yet, can perhaps get better value for their money later in the year. As we bring new products to the forefront, we are hoping to offer discounts where you can get the new item for a small cost if you bring the old one for recycling. When you manufacture products by the thousands, you must consider your responsibility to Mother Earth – it is from her that all Magic flows.

Trust us to keep busy and to work towards serving you better! We thank you for your support, as we bring the products that matter to you!

Regards,

The Artificing Guild.


The Slytherins considered this good news – Draco was popular once again, with the little snippets of information that had been leaked to his father.

Albus Dumbledore and Madam Maxine were earning decent sums of money. Both schools had earned eight thousand galleons. Many people continued to request replays and watch the matches at a delayed time. Suddenly there was mass excitement, as the Hogwarts students were looking forward to the Beauxbaton matches. Lorna began to reach out to Muggleborn wizards who were the right fit for the business, as the Black business portfolio began to function like a private corporation. P.B.I and G.B.P operated like two departments, as they handed different specialisations. Fudge and Ludo gave approvals on everything, as they understood that what they wanted was a two or three per cent commission on global World cup Quidditch broadcasts.

Very soon the product listings were empty, and the suggestion comments from the initial tablets were utilised. Many of the mundane born magicals suggested features like instant messaging and other existing standards that were present in technology. Hermione began to chip away at RuneOs as she taught Daphne computer programming and runes on many evenings. Daphne and Hermione began to share a close relationship as they worked away at implementing virtualisation, Protean based encryption schemes and all sorts of unusual improvements that made everything secure. Bill occasionally consulted on many evenings as they developed devices to crack anti-apparition wards. Harry and Hermione had discussed firmware updates – as long as the embedded runes were present in the device, they could always refresh the master rune plate at home, and the 'software update' would be available.

Hogwarts became quiet, although Fred and George continued to sell the contraband. Classes continued like usual, but Ronald was sometimes missing. However, he did not seem to suffer as his grades continued to sometimes surpass Neville. The rumour from other students began to circulate. Ronald was next in line to be the Quidditch keeper for England's world cup team. Draco had almost fainted when he had heard this, and the group at the apartment enacted the entire affair multiple times, to humour themselves.

Harry and Hermione had gotten a short tour of Beauxbatons, as they (under the helmets) explained the unique arrangements for the Quidditch matches. Beauxbatons had six years of magical education and their Quidditch matches were split among three houses. There were a total of four matches that were played as the under and over fourteen categories allowed Bellefeuille, Ombrelune, and Papillonlisse to field two teams each, in a senior and junior division. The pair had sent theatre sized screens for Hogwarts and Beauxbatons, as it allowed students to watch matches in the common room on a Saturday. Sirius and Remus made appearances under illusions, as they did the installation in the various common rooms at both magical schools. Even the French and English Ministry of Magic had installed screens in some of the buildings.

Albus was out of action it seemed – as he schemed by himself, he began to wonder if the Guild could be trusted. He continued to make false inroads into the I.C.W contracts and he sometimes visited the kitchen to have dinner with McGonagall, Flitwick and Slughorn. He was surprised to meet Augusta and Amba Singh, the mother of the legendary Master Healer. He had even tried legilimency on Amba, Augusta and Molly, but he concluded that they were not any the wiser. Somebody was networking the lighter families together – perhaps they planned to fight the Dark Lord?

Severus Snape continued to remain clueless. And worse, he seemed to be quite jaded. He often complained that Wizarding society was being changed by outsiders and he did not approve of the Quidditch broadcasts.

"Severus, the earnings from the Quidditch matches have been fantastic. We earned approximately twenty thousand galleons, as the last two Beauxbatons matches earned us six thousand galleons each. Our recent match contributed eight thousand galleons. And we will earn more by the end of the term. It is possible when the war approaches, that the Order of the Phoenix will be properly funded."

"And what if the Guild chooses to side with the Dark Lord?" Severus asked.

"That will affect their business. If they are not sympathetic to his aims, they can merely move to another country. If England does not wish to buy their products then it is of no issue. They can sell to the whole of Europe. And who will get left behind? This is becoming less likely of a possibility.

The other issue is that either the Guild or the Strom-Lord seems to be investing and networking light-sided families. Imagine my surprise to see Augusta, Molly and the mother of Master Healer Ms Singh running the same kitchen? And Luna Lovegood is being facilitated an apprenticeship with Master Painter Clementine Delacour. The same faceless company is also manufacturing Neville Longbottom's hot sauce next door. And all of these businesses sell to Wizards and Muggles at the same time. No Severus, the Dark Lord will not be able to fight the economic might of whoever is working in the background. As soon as they start broadcasting Quidditch worldwide, it will not matter."

Snape was silent and was fuming.

"This is the power of international business. Even the purebloods would complain if they had to drop the dataslates and use books. And the collection is continuing to expand. We have access to spells in other languages. The French love our Transfiguration textbook. I think a well written Potions textbook would sell thousands of copies, internationally. This is something you should do?" Albus suggested.

"I will not consort with those who have put designs upon us. I can tell that whoever it is, they would prefer if our culture was like the muggle world!" Severus complained.

"Correct Snape. I understand you too well. You are still a Death Eater, you only changed your mind because my mother was killed. I am going to beat the living snot out of you!" Harry whispered that evening.


By the time the end of March had arrived, the Chudley Cannons were already playing matches, and Douglas along with Charlie Weasley became the new Quidditch Superstars. The pair built had built new brooms for the league, with Lorna acting as a middle woman. The adjustable module allowed players to dial in their settings, and there was no need to finetune a broom at the manufacturing time. Players could often switch to different profiles for different needs, during the match. Now the Cannons were demolishing the competition. Neville and Ronald were sitting on one hundred and fifty thousand galleons easily. At the price of three galleons per match, a lot of people had no problem paying. And those who could not afford were always welcome to watch on somebody's dataslate. The I.C.W Quidditch board were only too happy to earn an additional two hundred and thirty thousand galleons, and out of their self-interests, they were pushing for more people to get on board with getting the data slates, internationally. Thousands of brooms were being produced automatically, and they were running a basic version of RuneOs.

Daphne became an avid reader as she read about Operating System Design and Computer Science, every day. Now, she even sat in at lab sessions as she became the third brain in the operation. This pleased her, as she began to work directly with Harry. Now she shared laughs as she understood that mundanes were no different from wizards.

Daphne Greengrass was no longer the Ice Queen. Now, she was the Coffee Queen.

All Daphne thought about was algorithms, middleware, concurrent processing and monolithic kernel designs. She began to use the ADA programming language, as she worked backwards with Hermione to implement similar features into RuneOs. While the Operating system was far from done or polished, the features being offered were lightyears beyond its time. The features began to filter out into the assembly line and even the Thunderbolt-1 flight systems as other artefacts were reworked. Daphne became a night owl who slept four and a half hours every day and her eyes began to sport slight rings. Even House Slytherin became aware that Daphne Greengrass was studying very hard. She looked happy, content and bright-eyed, even though she seemed to be very tired.

And now people knew – Daphne Greengrass had found great satisfaction in what she did.

"Hey Greengrass, what is up with you? You look like shite, but you seem…..really happy?" Blaise asked.

"Oh, I am preparing for the Runes and Arithmancy Owl. I have been accommodated based on being gifted. Yes, I am happy, but the extra work is tiring. I am pushing hard."

The common room became silent gradually, and now everyone was staring.

"Seriously?" asked Draco.

"Sure. I have talent in those particular fields. If anyone in the common room wants help. I can tutor for a fee. I do not do assignments for anyone. I have enough already…"

"That is quite admirable, that you study magic seriously. We have to preserve the old ways and great minds do this for us, " Nott commented, as he hoped to sneak in a compliment.

"Thank you, Theodore - someone has to represent House Slytherin. Let us say you never know if people will want to use my talents in the future. It will open opportunities when the right people arrive. Professor Quirrell had asked me about my proficiency, and I had told him the same thing….."

"And what is Tracey doing? Being your number two, as usual?" asked Pansy Parkinson.

"Ask her, and if she wants to tell, she will? Oh don't worry Pansy she is busy enough," Daphne replied, as she remembered the last practice session that she had attended. Their little band was far heavier than the Weird Sisters. Neville was now the harsh vocals, and Ronald's voice had become very baritone with his exercise regime and his Quidditch practice. Luna had taken well to playing the keyboard. Fred and George operated the sound system, as their "sound engineers." They were going to be the next big thing. Daphne loved their cover songs, as she found them relatable.

"Is that Muggle Coffee that you are drinking, in that weird cup?" Draco asked.

"Yes?" Daphne answered, casually.

"Greengrass, why would you do that? That is disgusting!" Draco complained.

"Perhaps. The issue is that Magical England does not have any domestic coffee or tea producers. And the biggest tea brand in England is Tetley, which is what they sell in Diagon alley. And that brand is owned by an Indian multinational company called Tata Consumer Products, which is headquartered in Kolkata. And yes, it is a muggle company…."

"You are lying!" Pansy exclaimed.

"Speak to Madam Puddifoot. Magicals do not manufacture any of the things we consume. The ice cream flavours in the custard are also from Muggle supermarkets. Muggle innovation provides us wizards, with options. I say good on them. They can work hard, and I will purchase what I like. Aren't the muggles supposed to do the hard work? Most pureblood families that own House Elves, are not aware that they generally do their shopping at muggle supermarkets. Ask your House Elves to show you the canned goods. Diagon Alley doesn't even have a market. Where do you think your luxury comes from you raging idiots?"

The common room was silent, and some of them began to panic.

"It is not my fault that you are not caught up on international business and finance. Not my fault that you are ignorant. Out of sight, out of mind, I guess?" Daphne replied as she rubbed the knowledge into their faces. Daphne understood manufacturing after working with Harry and Hermione, and to the rest in the common room it seemed like Greengrass was also a financial whizz.

"Haha! Greengrass, you are a fucking riot! Many of the neutrals always knew these things. Nimbus used to buy wood from my mother's hardware in Sussex. And she was a muggleborn! And all you pureblooded bitches rode 'muggle wood' all day long!" a dark-haired boy yelled from a corner.

"Thank you, good sir! I don't think we can plan for the future effectively if we don't understand the economic players on the chess board. I say as a pureblood, it is important we know where our resources come from? How else will we manage them effectively? Now I am going to get back to doing something useful with my life, while you Pansy can continue to be a stupid little girl…"

There was a pause of absolute terror, as the Slytherins generally hid their contraband purchases from each other. Only the cigars and the booze were openly displayed. Suddenly there were many guilty faces, as they began to wonder if their luxury items were….muggle products? Maybe it would not be so bad, as long as everyone continued to keep each other's secrets.

Daphne continued with the freight train:

"Look, you have a problem with muggle manufacturing supplying us with most of our goods? Then don't eat food from the Hogwarts table or Hogsmeade. The school benefits from what can be cheaply sourced. I have confirmation that many of our things come from Tesco. But then, from the purchases that have been happening lately….If you live in glass houses, do not throw stones. Somebody might decide to crash into your house with a dragon….."

Pansy gulped, as she realised that Greengrass know about their purchases. Once again, she had intelligence that she could lord over everybody's head. Pansy had even tried to get some other girls to accost Daphne but she had hospitalised the four of them. She was deadly with a wand, and she spent most of her time in her room and was hardly ever outside in the castle.

That was one of the other evenings when Daphne Greengrass laid down the law in the Slytherin common room.


It was the end of April that Daphne saw an alert on her dataslate, one morning. Some of it she expected. But the other new information? She quickly got…pissed.

"Hello to our clients!

We are almost ready to resume offering products. Your dataslates will be offline next week Monday during the nighttime, as we will be sending a new runicware system to the devices. This will allow you to get extra functionality out of your same device.

You asked, and we listened. We brought a new messaging system that will allow you to chat with your friends! Share notes? Plan dates? Conduct your family business? Or launch your own product (Oh, we are hoping you will take on this challenge, we want young people to innovate!)

Whatever you want to do. Stay in contact with your loved ones, most importantly. Family is important, and those who would betray such promises are oath-breakers.

We have been working tirelessly to restock our products. Our new broom is the Typhoon II. Both are set at the price of the Nimbus Stormbolt and Rudra, our main competitors. We have also restocked on data slates, and other Quidditch and domestic items. We are acquiring other textbooks also – all lovingly translated into your language of choice by our hard working associates.

We also felt the plight of our young women. Do you want a good story to take you away to an amazing place? We captured a new author (Ms Lovebird) and we present "The Pureblood Princess Chronicles: Padrian Lottah and Graffy Deenbush" for your reading delight. The book is age locked and only those who are sixteen and older may purchase it, as it is a young adult title. We are hoping other authors will use our platform to promote literature.

Thank you for your support, as we continue to offer access to better educational resources, entertainment, Quidditch and convenience at your fingertips.

By our magic,

The Artificing Guild.


"TRACEY ABIGAIL DAVIS! I am going to kill you!" Daphne screamed as Tracey bolted out of the room. All of the other denizens of the apartment were unceremoniously aroused from their slumber. Soon enough, Tracey was shielding in the duelling area, as Daphne began to put down every kind of spell she had learnt at the obstacle course. The rest of the flatmates were now up, and they looked on as Tracey continued to flick away Daphne's spells which were on par with many fifth years, easily. After she cooled down, Neville began to investigate the sudden anger.

"You guys had a fight? What happened?" Neville asked.

"Oh! Tracey has to explain this one. You are lucky we train together and you can shield pretty good. I am going to get you back on this!" Daphne threatened.

"Tracey?" Neville asked.

"Before we met you, I used to write what I call Haphne fanfiction. The idea was that Daphne Greengrass and Harry Potter were a super-duper power couple. And yes, it was rude, and perverted, and had graphic sex scenes!" Tracey explained as the rest of the people were now clueless.

"Oh dear!" Neville replied as the rest of the jaws dropped in the apartment.

"Hey! The story was nice. Daphne the pureblooded princess in Slytherin falls in love with the Gryffindor golden boy Harry Potter. And her parents don't approve. And they have to sneak around their housemates….and they have fights when they cant go out on dates….Their friend groups hate each other….society doesn't allow them to be together, although they love each other….and worse they have existing marriage contracts."

"That is very sweet I think if true love survives all of that!" Luna giggled, as she held Neville's hand.

"Yes! So I used to just write. And then I decided to send it to Harry and Hemione last Christmas!"

"Tracey, are you mad? What did Harry say?" Neville asked.

"Harry? He loved it, even though he knew it was a joke about him and Daphne! He even gave it to Hermione and they agreed to make the story extra controversial. Harry was now a half-blood who was muggle raised, and Daphne's parents were pureblood supremacists. Hermione edited it, gave me constructive feedback and helped with my plot. We even got a publishing house to look at it, and we got it translated into many different languages!"

"Wait, is that the book in the message this morning?" Ronald asked.

"Yes, but I also have a normal mundane book launch too. Different names, slightly different descriptions. Harry and Hermione were very supportive of my dreams to become a romance writer. And they reworked the name to troll the whole of magical England!"

"Harry and Hermione have read an entire wall of books. If they think something is good, it has to be excellent. Daphne, this is not bad, although I understand why you are embarrassed?" Neville replied. Daphne's face was now pink, as she spoke, "Maybe if Pansy and the rest decide to purchase the book, maybe it won't be so bad.

I want to see her read it!"

"Oh Daffy the book is so fucking juicy in the middle, those unimaginative skanks who like lap dancing in the broom cupboard just got a whole new set of ideas, the damn prudes. Lucius Malfoy would get something special tonight, you never know if Narcissa Malfoy can get…inspired."

Now, everyone was laughing, and Neville buzzed Harry.

"Hey Haza P, how many people purchased Tracey's book?"

"About ninety five per cent of all Year six and Year seven students. A lot of purchases from France too. Already eight hundred. They are already sharing pictures of the pages with the younger students. And they don't even know the plot. Maybe the artwork and the summary are helping them fill in the blanks, I don't know?"

"Nice. Daphne was very angry." Ronald replied on the group call.

"Nothing to be angry about, Tracey is a good writer. The Pureblooded bitches who have a light pole stuck up their arse are going to read the book and want their own love story. This is our version of the Disney Princess deal." Harry explained.

Harry then buzzed Daphne, privately.

"Private Greengrass. We heard you are embarrassed?" Harry asked.

"A little?" she replied, rather quietly.

"About what? Skanky bints touching themselves to forbidden ideas? No, I thank you for bearing the indignity of it. This is towards the war effort. Women need romance stories to fill their lives, and time for the Wizarding world to get over Trolls and Hags falling in love."

"Well, I guess that it is important when you put it like that…" Daphne cautiously replied, as the group in the training room scattered. The trio were lazing around, but not paying particular attention to anything.

"As for it being sexually graphic, I have never looked upon you with indecency. And I have always been decent with your family. I hope Tracey makes it extra filthy in the following books. You continue to work on the virtualisation layer with Hermione and we will continue to have a good time, at the workshop. And when you get time, I will help you with the new combat dummy, and give you some personal hand to hand practice?"

"Thanks, Harry" she replied, with a little red on her face. Deep down she wondered if it was such a bad thing for Harry to have 'indecent' eyes for her? But then, she had a pubescent body and she felt like Harry would not be attracted to her. Sadly, he was too disciplined and was worried about other things. Daphne went over to Tracey and hugged the girl and whispered in her ear, "Sorry, I was embarrassed. You know why…."

"You worry too much. You don't think I know? Girl, I am rooting for you. And so is your mother and your father. Everybody at Peverell Manor ships both of you. Just relax and the wedding will happen, I promise," Tracey whispered very softly.

"I hate you, but you are the best friend a girl can ask for," Daphne said aloud.

"Look, let us go to the library and see how many chics are reading the book. If we can put a smile on people's faces, we did something good. How about later this evening, alright? And then we study for our finals?" Tracey suggested.

"Okay. Maybe it is the exam stress for the OWLs, I don't want to fail the Arithmancy and Runes."

"Hey! You got this!" Ronald replied as he patted Daphne's back.


The fivesome did not need a library visit to determine that the book was a smash hit. Even the Slytherin girls were glued to their dataslates. The novel was being read in class, people were not paying attention, and all the girls were giggling everywhere. Pansy who never liked to read anything at all, looked like a crazed looney bin, as she hungrily read from pictures of the book. Some of the pureblooded girls even seemed uncomfortable and beads of sweat were trickling down their foreheads. Others shifted uncomfortably in their seats.

"See, look at these skanks. All the pureblood supremacy they shout about, and some of them are leaking faucets. See Daffy, I made the entire of Wizarding England crumple with my writing!" Tracey laughed.

"I can't believe this. Even the Carrow twins, love this stuff! This book has almost shut down the school?"

"They all want a forbidden love story. And they want some pipe from a plumber….if you know what I mean?" Tracey laughed.

"Maybe you need to write more. I just want to ask Pansy what she is reading about. Some of the guys seemed to be a bit turned on too?" Daphne wondered.

"I am raising the rate of successful hookups in this school, do not disturb my work. I am the love doctor!" Tracey giggled.

"Is that Hagrid coming down here? Yes, that is him?" the mop-haired girl continued.

"Excuse me, ladies!" Hagrid said as he made his way to the trio. Neville was surprised when Hagrid approached him.

"Hello, Hagrid!" Neville answered softly.

"SHHHH! Listen - come an' see me later, I'm not promisin' I'll tell yeh anythin' but I do have sumthin' that I….need help wit…Maybe you can talk to yer special friends?"

Neville stood up and whispered into his ears, "We will be discreet and make sure we are not followed. Anything for you big guy!"

"Knew I cud count' on yer!" Hagrid replied.


Later that night, Neville, Luna and Ronald transported directly to Hagrid's hut with multiple pizzas and a large two litre Coca-Cola in hand. They also set up the drones to monitor the areas, and the Marauder bracelet was set to ping them if anybody left the castle or came within two hundred meters of the hut.

"Hey, big guy! We are here, and we were not followed. We made sure." Neville replied.

"Ah good ta see yer! Come in, come in. Is tha the muggle pizza yer brought fer me?"

"Sure. Make sure you eat most of it tonight, it doesn't stay good for long. We are getting a refrigerator for you, soon enough. So what do you need help with?" Neville asked.

"Mighty thanks fer' the fridge. Well I met this nice chap atder pub. Las' night. I was down in the village havin' a few drinks an' got into a game o' cards with a stranger. I won this egg. Think he was quite glad ter get rid of it, ter be honest."

Hagrid unveiled a pearly white Dragon egg.

"What kind of egg is it?" Ronald asked.

"It is a dragon egg. Fairly sure." Luna replied as her eyes seemed to mist over gently. She continued, "Er Hagrid. I think she is ready to hatch. As I said, I can see things others cannot. I have my gifts."

"I wasn't planning on this. I don't think I shouda' take it yer know?" Hagrid contemplated.

"I think you wanted to help the creature. It could have been born in the wild. Not good, as mummy dragon isn't around." Luna replied.

"No it wouldnta be nice. She wudbe lonley, if yer say itsa she!"

"I can ask our employer who took samples of the Blast Ended Skrewts if they could get it to a Dragon reserve. They are well funded and they transport large shipments regularly. They can afford portkeys." Ronald suggested.

"Would dey be up for helpin'?" Hagrid asked.

"Ronald, Draco is now leaving the castle," Neville explained to the red-headed boy.

"Howdya know that?" Hagrid asked.

"We have two Slytherin friends who we trust. They made some items to give us alerts. Remember the Troll accident? They helped us. Yes, they are neutrals." Neville continued.

"Oh! Tha is rather handy! Maybe its nice that yer makin friends everywhere!" Hagrid replied.

"Yes. We thought so too! Decent girls. Good people even if they are snakes. Ronald, you want to take care of the chipmunk?"

"Sure. But we need to find out how he is following us. That is concerning. Let me deal with him, and you call our friend. I am leaving now. " Ronald replied. The door of Hagrid's hut creaked open before Ronald closed it. Neville dialled Harry and Hermione after he went outside soon after.

"Hey, can you drop a baby dragon off at a reserve? Hagrid ended up with one. Got one from a random man in a pub."

There was a moment of silence and Hermione seemed to be talking to Ronald. Then she replied to Neville.

"We are checking the location tracker for Quirrellmort from the polymer spray. Press Hagrid for more information. Quirell was at the three broomsticks recently. Harry is listening to the whole conversation, but it seems that Hagrid was there for two hours at least. Just get a confirmation on what Quirrell wanted to know."

"No problem. What about the dragon Mione?" Neville asked.

"I am coming for it, under an illusion. I am showing my dad, and then we will send it off to a reserve."

Some time passed as Hagrid talked to Neville about his encounter with the man. Ronald had returned, to a small dragon that had cracked herself out of the shell, and was watching around rather carefully.

"Well Ronald, she hatched. What did you do to Shirley Temple?"

"I stunned him, and I left him in front of the Hospital wing. He had a telescope on him. He has been monitoring our visits with Hagrid. The sneaky little ponce. Probably looking through a window on the upper floors."

"Hey Hagrid, my friend is coming in five minutes with a broom and she will have a word with you. She is a top-class researcher." Neville explained.

"Oh. Should I start a cuppa?"

"Sure Hagrid?" Neville insisted. Five minutes later, Hermione appeared with her altered face and knocked on Hagrid's door.

"Oi! It's Jeanie!"

Hagrid nodded at Neville and he got the door. Hermione entered and introduced herself as a researcher who worked with the Dragon reserve. She also explained that she had met Ronald and Neville through Mr Padfoot, who was the owner of Molly's kitchen.

"Pleased to meet yer! So what are we doin' ter dis one here?"

"I will take her to the reserve myself. And I will also send you pictures too, as she grows. I think that will put your mind to ease. I have a portkey waiting for me. Precious over here will have a safe trip with me, not to worry Hagrid."

"Thanks! I don't wanna' be caught with her unno?"

"I understand. We have a special type of glass that we use at the reserve for observing hatchlings. It is called one way glass. It is a muggle item but it allows you to see through your window but for others not to see into your side of the room. I do not approve of Draco Malfoy spying on you or my friends. I know for a certainty that Lucius Malfoy was a willing supporter of the Dark Lord. Draco will tell his father your business, and Lucius will come after you."

Hagrid scratched his beard and he nodded.

"Willya change tha glass then, fer me?"

"For free. A gift from me. I appreciate your work, breeding new creatures is beneficial. The shells of the Blast Ended Screwt are being used in a new experimental werewolf potion. If they have value, we might require you to breed them as a potion ingredient."

"So they dead useful for sumtin'?" Hagrid asked.

"Yes. I am doing the testing. As I said, I work with people who are top of their class and I have taken oaths. All I ask of you is to skip out on telling Professor Dumbledore anything tonight about me because my life depends on not breaking my oaths."

"Fair enuff tha me. Thank you for helping wihtha' dragon."

"Alright you three get back to the castle. Make sure you hold those disillusionment spells. My portkey is ready. Hagrid, we will be in touch."

"Night Ms Neumann! You three, back to tha' castle! It is late." Hagrid replied.

The trio were soon back at the apartment, after Hagrid closed his hut and extinguished his candles. Hermione apparated home with the dragon which was sleeping in a basket. Harry who was aware of the pickup, came over and stroked the scales gently while the dragon purred like a cat.

"This is amazing! I am going to get dad!" Hermione yelled. She apparated over to Granger manor and saw her parents playing table tennis in the sports room.

"Hey you! Come and give me a hug," William replied.

"Hello. Remember I used to make jokes about dragons?" Hermione asked.

"Yes?" her mother answered.

"Hagrid ended up with one. Don't ask, long story. Do you want to see an actual baby dragon? It is only the size of a little kitten!"

"Oh hell yes!" William replied.

Suddenly the Grangers had transported over to the Peverell workshop and Harry was already playing fetch with the baby dragon. A ball had slipped off the table, and the dragon had become immediately alert as it chased the item down. The creature loved exercising its hunting instincts.

"Wife, I don't know about you but after putting up with all the unusual things that happen here, this here is worth it! A real dragon!" William replied as he considered himself to be too lucky.

"I can believe it. It is so tiny. And how big do they get sweetie?" Jean asked.

"Quite big! Twenty to thirty metres in length?" Hermione answered as Harry seemed to frown his eyebrows.

"Hermione, I decided to reach out to the dragon. She has an occlumentic presence like Grace!"

"What? Really? Do you think we could teach her to speak?" Hermione asked.

"Nobody has any dragon lore on that. And then, how many people have made spinal interfaces for animals? Maybe we could hook her into one and see what happens? Although she should sense us without any external help. She has a rather large presence. It is ancient and powerful?" Harry explained. William and Jean Granger had already guessed that plans were being made for her to keep the animal. He to a certain extent wanted to see what would happen. Jean Granger was already smiling. Hermione as a child always wanted a pony and apparently, this was the replacement animal.

"Well, I know what we have to do. We are keeping her. Harry, can you make a small spinal interface for her tonight? I reached out, and I can feel her already."

"No problem. I will ask Lorna to find out what they need. Dragon manure is supposed to help with plant fertility. It might be beneficial for the Tofu and Seitan project."

"If we get those things figured out, we could meet her dietary needs without any unnecessary cruelty."

"Only Hermione Granger could conceive of a vegetarian dragon. I cant wait to show the rest of the people. This is going to be dead funny. Get some polymer matrix, and the copper and gold nanowire, let us get started."


By midnight, Hermione was connected to the dragon via a spinal interface, and while the dragon did not understand language, she understood via pictures and sensations that this 'stone-nest' was her home. She didn't need to be scared because the two 'magical-pink-skins-with-no-scales' were going to take care of her. She settled into her basket, after tearing through the 'fur-four-legs-soup'. She considered that she loved when the 'small-fur-four-leg-tiger' licked her scales. There was also a powerful 'lightning-flapper' who lived here and she was spoiled rotten. These 'magical-scale-less-hatchlings' were kind and loving people. She could feel their magic, it was warm and protective. Harry and Hermione began to debate what they had seen in the Dragon's mind.

"She just came out of an egg, how could she have ideas about animals she has never seen?" Harry asked.

"Genetic memory? If we don't keep her and study here, we could never know. And then, I want to ride a dragon?" Hermione laughed.

"Well Mione, life continues to get even unusual. We can send pictures to the group tomorrow. And she looks so content in her basket under the blankets!"

"She wanted to bite, but when she felt my mind, she became like jelly. Grace said that magical animals can send ideas as mental pictures, and she told the dragon that she was welcome to live here because the rent was free and the snacks were infinite? Grace is the worst!"

"Think she might like Fish and Chips?" Harry asked and they laughed into the night. Hermione could feel the little dragon as it seemed to be making a magical link to her, through the interface.

"We will see? Alright, I am going to sleep. Neville said that Quirellmort was trying to get around Fluffy. Hagrid already told him how to calm the doggo. We will keep an eye out for the usual nonsense."


The next morning, Hermione awoke to a small scaly animal that was licking her face. She had decided to stay at Peverell Manor, as they were reworking the armour for their confrontation with Quirellmort. As Hermione yawned, the small dragon crawled into her lap, and she scratched the dragon's chin no differently from Crookshanks. The dragon seemed to enjoy this very much, as Hermione went off to the shower. She was amused to find that the small dragon had decided to guard her while she got changed. When the speedos were slipped on under her other clothes, the small dragon curled up on her shoulder and contented itself.

Hermione and Harry were on a rest day today, and so were the rest of their friends at the apartment. Now they would have to figure out how to integrate the dragon into their lives. Hermione then went to the kitchen to find Harry and Grace already having breakfast. The reptile looked on curiously as Harry fed Grace whatever she wanted. Grace then bent over and gave the dragon a little rub on her head.

Harry then called the elves to the kitchen and explained that Hermione had a new 'friend.' Elves were rarely surprised by anything, but to see Hermione feeding the dragon a sausage was funny. Harry recorded a small video via the data slate, and sent out the message to everybody that was associated with Harry Potter, in England.

"We would like to announce that we have adopted….…a dragon."

Fifteen seconds Priya and Camilla apparated over, to see the small dragon. And the dragon looked at Priya with a lot of reverence. The little reptile seemed to understand that she was a very special person.

"Hari Bol! The both of you are impossible! Where did you get a dragon?" asked Priya.

"Hi Mum, Hi Camilla! You both might as well have breakfast and Hermione can explain this one. She always wanted a pony as a young child, and she decided that she was upgrading to better things." Harry joked.

Priya and Camilla listened to an update on the castle issues, Quirrellmort, and how Hadrid could have lost his job if he had been discovered by Draco.

"What I don't understand is why the little fellow seems to be cosy already. I mean he is eating your chicken strips?" Camilla asked.

"Our new friend is a she. These spinal link devices are handy. Grace learnt language from Harry. It might be possible that the dragon is acquiring subconscious knowledge from Hermione?" Priya explained to Camilla.

"A really powerful wizard like Merlin would not need an interface. He could probably go directly with the mind link. However, we are using the interface to help us along. And while I don't have it on, I can still feel enough of her presence to know what she wants. When we get the interface on a bit later, I will teach her vocabulary." Hermione explained.

"Kindergarten for fire-breathing reptiles then, Hermione?" Priya asked.

"Why not? We are establishing new Dragon lore. Who else can make a mental uplink, and discuss the linguistic implications of a magical animal acquiring language? It might even provide insights into how Parselmouths talk to snakes, since snakes don't have any ears to hear anything. No, magic and linguistics is how this process works."

Suddenly the entire two flats emptied into the kitchen, in their pyjamas. Tipsy fetched the spinal link as Hermione introduced her friends to the dragon. The little creature loved all the attention it received, as it realised that there was a rather large nest that lived here and that they were many other hatchlings from other nests that visited. After everybody tucked into the breakfast and was finished, the group apparated back to the flat to shower and change into their Hogwarts uniforms.


It was the middle of May, as the days passed quickly.

The dragon was growing exponentially. She could fly short distances and she preferred to exercise with Hermione and she attempted to fly longer distances. Now the exercise sessions occurred at either Peverell or Granger manor, as the dragon refused to be separated from Hermione. Harry had even taken the creature for Frédéric to get a laugh. The dragon was almost like a toddler, as she babbled inconsistent phonetics in Hermione's mindscape. She did not give much trouble, nor did she seem to be interested in eating anyone.

She had even fallen asleep on Wiliam's lap one night and William slept on the couch because he did not want to wake her. Grace also enjoyed 'talking' to her, and the dragon liked to watch Harry and Hermione work. Sirius would often turn into Padfoot and chase her around the workshop, and Remus built a tall modified cat tree that she loved. Even Bloodaxe and King Ragnok had met her, and they both laughed at the impossible situation. As the rest of the parents met her, the reptile began to chomp on fast food, and Astoria and Ginny who had completed their Go-Kart took her for regular rides around the manor. Even Alice and Frank had spent time with the creature, as one night Neville apparated home to spend some time with his parents. Luna painted many pictures of her, and the Delacours loved her too. Amba and Ved loved giving her backscratches, and Jean fed her all sorts of cheese, fruits and nuts. Crookshanks enjoyed cleaning her and often slept next to her.

For a fire-breathing reptile, she was loved and spoiled rotten. The entire family had pitched in to give her a home. She understood that she wasn't like other dragons, but she preferred a comfortable life. Besides, Netflix was her favourite thing to do, in her spare time.

She also began to understand from her mother's subconscious thoughts that some great battle had occurred. Her mother's brother had lost his sire and dam, and they were all working towards becoming strong. She also began to see glimpses of the last battle, and her mother was indeed a powerful magical. She could summon water, and her uncle could command thunder. And they enjoyed hunting their prey as they killed the wicked. Some dark wizard would return to full strength, and her mother would fight with everything to protect her nestmates, and her sire and dam. One evening, as they discussed business, the little reptile had bared its fangs and growled when she heard the name Quirrelmort.

"Atta Girl. As soon as you can speak, I will give you a name!" Hermione replied as she hugged the dragon. The little dragon nodded, as she made up her mind. Her mother would provide water, her uncle the thunder, and she would provide fire, fang and claw.

As the next two weeks passed, the product sales died down after the initial craze. The instant messaging had become popular, and the teachers had appreciated the foresight of the guild. The chat was locked during class time, and it only was enabled after classes were finished. Teachers could pay a five-galleon fee and have a teacher suite sent to them, where they could get assignments directly from students. Corrections and grades were also visible, and comments were possible.

"Hermione, we gonna bring Canvas to these apes, and those teachers will love us!" Harry laughed.

Now notes were being shared, and couples could talk to each other. Ronald openly challenged the entire school to win against him in the Chess games. He quickly rose to the top of the school's ranking system. 'A_random_snek' was also the undisputed champion of the port of Galaga, which was one of the many new games that had been recreated on the tablet. Daphne had worked on porting this, and her father and mother were impressed when she dropped home with her cup of coffee and her new shiny laptop.

"Well daughter, you look good! I heard about your Owl for Runes and Arithmancy. I could not be more proud!" Cyrus exclaimed.

"Thank you. I love what I do. Who ever thought the pureblood princess would love computer programming? Look, I love orderly and conditional things."

"You certainly do. I am surprised Tracey is alive?" her mother joked.

"I changed my mind, I want her to publish more lurid stories. I love seeing Pansy Parkinson read that stuff like she was on mundane narcotics. So much for being the proper pureblood lady of a Great House. I hope Moldy buys a copy for Bellatrix."

"Oh dear. When will the others learn that they have children, not miniature supporters of Moldypants? Don't be too hard on Pansy, she doesn't know anything else. We would not have known anything if we didn't try to get Astoria cured." Ophelia replied.

"No mum I am not taking that explanation as sufficient.

You and dad were always fair and you never had a problem with anyone long before Harry landed in our lives. You were friends with his mother, at a time when it was unpopular to be so. They made their choices, that is all." Daphne explained as she transported out of the room after picking up some projects.

"Well wife, her brain is razor-sharp. And she is regretfully correct. " Cyrus commented, as he scratched his chin.

"Harry and Hermione have definitely rubbed off on her, and she doesn't know it!" Ophelia giggled.


Newspapers hailed the dataslate the "Most important artefact of the last century" as authors, textbook publishers and businesses began to utilise the new communication methods. Suddenly Slug and Jiggers could take rush orders. Other places were preparing packages to cater to the needs of people who wanted to buy in bulk. Businesses were applying to Gringotts and were getting their services listed on the dataslate. Harry had always planned this – now free market capitalism would force the businesses to compete. Albus eventually caught on, as he spoke to his staff members one evening.

"The Guild now has control of the English Magical Market. Their devices facilitate trade, business and entertainment. The darker houses are not aware of this, but now their local laws mean nothing when a person can ask Gringotts to ship them something internationally, via the catalogue. And the Goblins are appreciative of this, as they are getting commissions." Albus reasoned.

"I love those international Potion ingredients! Slug and Jiggers are locating rare things for just knuts!" Horace commented.

"Owls are not being used as regularly. The Owlery has been emptied. Parents are keeping the owls home, and they are only sending them when students want to collect or send something." Minerva replied.

"Amelia Bones has been the happiest person for a long while. Aurors can communicate instantly. Criminals can communicate too, but the Aurors can use other skills to compensate. These items have changed society. And while I am sure while the majority of wealth has been earned by the guild, businesses are booming with the communication." Albus continued.

"The way we mark assignments has been made easier. I almost want to think they are teachers themselves. They have been able to predict things that we need, and things that we didn't know that we needed. The manuals are also clearly done. Groupwork is a breeze, and the suggested activities and pairings are excellent." Sprout expressed, as scratched her head.

"What happened to the Storm-Lord and the Storm-Priestess. It is almost like they disappeared?" asked Horace.

"I am not sure. Did the Guild punish them? Were they killed? Have they migrated? I do not know. But if issues do occur at Hogwarts, they will be here again. The Guild is now an economic powerhouse, and they can field any number of galleons as they please. Let us hope they have no nefarious goals. It has been difficult to get information about them. I have tried every ward and tracking spell that I know. I get the feeling even in these spells, that they are quite talented."

Hermione who was listening to the chat said, "Not my problem that you don't think mathematics is important. Better be prepared for Twofish 256-bit encryption schemes you bunch on monkeys, if you want to break our wards or trace our spells."


House Slytherin seemed a bit brighter, as nobody could demand to see a person's private business on their dataslate. Together with the password system, a lot of covert relationships and pictures were being facilitated. There were even options for disappearing messages, as Harry and Hermione did not want any Wizard or Witch to end up with their naked pictures on display as a form of embarrassment. They had programmed the data slate to only show pictures when only the magical signature of the recipient was present in the environment. Any other functionality was disabled, and any other voices or presences that were detected blanked the picture out. Some of the more deviant boys and girls with mean streaks were disappointed, and Draco began to realise that these features ensured privacy with his father, but also ensured that everyone else had privacy.

The darker Purebloods who never had anything but formal cold relationships with their parents, found themselves only using the features for House business. The others, however, were happy to talk to their parents. As far as everyone was concerned, the messages were private, and there was no reason to investigate further. And what could they investigate? The wand core was sealed in epoxy, the magical batteries were in an empty chamber that was part of the tablet, and the runic arrays were all offsite. Finally, the construction was full of titanium doped polymer. People were too busy playing with the devices, and enjoying the conveniences to ask deeper questions about how they worked, and what were the long term implications of using a technology that someone else owned. And this was exactly what Harry was banking on, as they zoned out most of the irrelevant data and they prioritised what they needed.

The reason for these features in the dataslate was very sinister. Harry now had the magical signatures of all the Hogwarts students. They were committed to a file and tablet locations were integrated into the Marauder's map. The tablet could even be turned on, to spy. Harry and Hermione had decided that being 'Big Brother' as it was called, was useful for the war. Wizards were too stupid to analyze deeper issues and they would gladly use the devices to carry out their business. With some occasional spying, from the pictures that were secretly taken, it did not take long to pin the house locations of every known Death Eater. And more hilariously, Quirellmort seemed to love reading foreign magical textbooks.

"I must say the Guild is brilliant. I will reach out to these individuals and they will serve my purposes for dominating Magical England. If they do not comply, I will hunt them and burn them down, even if their genius will be missed.

Neville Longbottom, you are powerful and talented. Far more talented than myself, when I was your age. Perhaps Harry Potter was weak, and you are the chosen one? We will see. I am immortal, and death bows to me…It is almost time to acquire that which I seek….Perhaps I need to nourish myself….to do what needs to be done."


"Oh my sweet summer child, if you only knew the games being played here," Harry replied as Invictus forwarded the message. He realised that he needed to leave a breadcrumb for Voldemort so that he would not focus on his godbrother.

After speaking to Fleur, many of the French magicals were quite pleased with the devices. The teachers loved the assignment suite, and Beauxbatons was seriously considering the use of parchment only for official declarations. A small student body had petitioned Madam Maxine for an internal magical newspaper which would be delivered to French dataslates, and Hermione and Harry made the adjustments. Europe was still watching the Quidditch Matches, and now international friendship and love letters were in transit. The Beauxbaton Quidditch players got fanmail from Hogwarts, and there were many blushing young people.

Once again the galleons began to roll into Neville and Ronald's bank accounts from the matches, and Percy got his data slate commissions. Luna and Charlie got a nice cut on their uniforms and modules, and the twins were making money on the beater bats.


June had arrived.

End of term exams had been in progress for the past week, and Neville and Ronald had left early. The Charms and Potions exams had been easy. Now, they were heading off to the apartment to make Hot Wings. Everyone else was on their way for a small snack and an evening of their favourite game, Monopoly. Ronald and Neville were walking through the Transfiguration corridor, and saw Draco, as he threatened two girls. He was flanked by Crabbe, Goyle, Pansy and many older Slytherin boys. The two boys immediately recognised the girls – it was Ismelda and Merula.

"Ron, are you seeing this?" Neville asked.

"Definitely. Wait…what are they doing?" Ronald asked.

At least ten wands were pointed at the two witches, and they were crying as one of the older boys reached over and squeezed Ismelda's chest.

"A little dry, but it might get nice in a couple of years!" the boy laughed. Neville pinged the group.

"Draco and his goons are harassing Merula and Ismelda. Anyone else out of the exams?"

Everyone was committed or in the middle of the exam, as the replies came through.

"Percy, one of the guys is grabbing Ismelda's chest. Another is touching Merula's behind. We are going to throw down, as you won't get here in time." Ronald replied as he and Neville took up positions behind two posts.

"Ronald, how about we give them a good fist fight? No, we need to make them bleed." Neville insisted.

"I like the way you think. We can lose some points. No stopping until all of them are a bloody mess. Breaking bones is acceptable. We are using everything that Harry and Hermione thought us." Ronald replied.

Neville looked at the redhead and nodded.


Before the other Slytherins could process anything, the Gryff and the Puff were already executing all the combat holds and grapples that they had practised. Suddenly there was roaring as Neville began with strikes that removed the wands from all of the aggressors. Ronald who was almost as tall as some of the weedy fourth year Slytherins began to use his muscle mass as he channelled his magic. He went for Draco's head, and even Pansy was not spared. The Slytherins tried to fire spells, but there were unfocused and in great pain. It did not help that Harry had drilled the group into dodging. The pair targeted the softer areas and were quite comfortable with going for the crotch, the liver and other vulnerable spots. One of the older boys tried to pin Neville, and he was surprised as he made no apologies about using his thumbs to go for the aggressor's eyes. Ronald had taken even kicked in one of the Slytherin's knees, and he was sure that something was now dislocated. Then he gripped Crabbe's ear as he attempted to tear it out. Both girls looked on as Neville and Ronald tore through five times their number. There was blood, and the boys who were put down on the ground were occasionally stomped on. Ronald now had Draco's head in his hand, as he grabbed his hair and he tossed him into the wall. Neville was now over Stebinns, as he took his shielded knuckles and punched enough of his teeth. A small crowd had gathered, and now many of the other Slytherins were looking on in terror.

"Enough!" Minerva thundered, as the boys stopped. Now there was a small crowd, and Percy had just arrived on the scene. Now there was whispering, as the woman found herself quite disappointed with her star students.

"What is the meaning of this Mr Longbottom and Mr Weasley?" Minerva asked, with her voice biting and sharp. Neville began his explanation, almost casually – like he didn't care about points being subtracted.

"Well, Mr Malfoy and his associates were threatening Ms Merula and Ms Ismelda. He openly allowed his associates to grope both students on their chest and behind in a sexually suggestive manner?"

Now there was whispering, and Ronald continued after cracking his fingers loudly.

"No good Englishman would allow that type of behaviour. And we do have the talent to stun them. We are better with the wands….but we decided that…." Ronald replied as he looked at Neville.

"…..more physical methods would suffice. We did not even draw our wands. Do you want a magical oath on what occurred? We can provide Pensieve memories too. We merely acted like decent young men, and saved these girls further embarrassment?"

Minerva looked torn for a moment.

"That is no excuse! So much violence was not necessary!" Minerva replied, somewhat conflicted about the event. She was happy that Draco and his friends had gotten a beatdown.

"Sorry Professor, we could have done far worse. We went easy on them. Not my fault that they are soft, weak and undisciplined." Neville answered almost as if nothing threatened him.

"I was hoping they would put up a fight. This was disappointing?" Ronald replied.

"Enough! You four follow me to the Headmaster's office, immediately!"

Minerva realised that her star students did not give jackshit about points or opinions. This was about defending the honour of the two young ladies, and they were quite pleased with the outcome. As Minerva trailed in front of the boys, Neville enabled the privacy ward and explained to Harry what had happened.

"Not to worry boys, I will have the parentals waiting to descend on Albus, because you and I know Lucy is already combing that silvery hair!" Harry joked.


Augusta had already been informed. Cyrus was speaking to other neutrals at the time, and had passed the message along to Lord Snyde and Lord Oakwood. Robes were thrown on, and Cyrus had offered for them to apparate to a common meeting place. From there, his elf would apparate both of them directly to Hogwarts. Arthur who was sharing the same office space with Reginald and Cyrus would travel independently via his teleporter. Cryus was now waiting for the other two men to apparate to their favourite spot, and Hoppity was already present with her hood. The two men appeared, and then they shook hands and greeted each other.

"Can your elf manage Cyrus?" Lord Snyde asked.

"Both of you to Hogwarts? Easily. She is very strong. Don't forget, Augusta and Arthur are going to be there. From what I understand, Lucius set up Draco to harass your daughters. Both of them were groped by older boys."

"I am going to kill those little shits! How did you find out so quickly?" Lord Oakwood asked.

"Daphne and Tracey have a lot of friends in other houses. And people are talking via the dataslates, so it wasn't hard to find out. She keeps an eye on the trio as they call them – they are all her friends."

"Thank Hecate for that. Hoppity you ready?"

"Yes, Lord Snyde and Lord Oakwood," she replied as she gripped both of the men's hands and transported them to Hagrid's office, where Augusta and Aurthur were already present.

"Mr Weasly? Dame Longbottom? A pleasure." Lord Snyde greeted the crowd.

"Excellent Gentlemen. Let us get this issue sorted quickly!" Arthur replied, in his formal clothing. He looked like a bank manager in the suit, and with the new ring in his hand, he even seemed intimidating. As the four parents walked into the castle, Augusta recounted the facts, after the neutral Lords questioned her.

"So your Grandson Neville, and Ronald gave ten students a beatdown with their fists?" Lord Snyde asked.

"Sure. My grandson and young Ronald are both fairly adept at martial arts. Both of them take Jujitsu and fencing. I understood that they had considered using their wands, but they wanted to ensure young Draco and his friends would bleed out. Heard they cracked bones were necessary. Arthur, we should raise their allowances?"

"I feel a bit sorry. My son is the only Hufflepuff our family has, but when he decides to do something he is unstoppable. He spent the entire Christmas punching a boxing bag and pushing weights. He has Muggle exercise equipment. I heard that he knocked out some teeth?" Arthur joked.

"I see the value of their training. I think our daughters should join these classes if you are amenable. I guess we both owe the young men congratulations. Our daughters were protected."

"Ah Lord Oakwood, nothing is owed, it is common decency between us all. I think our boys are becoming fine young men?"

"Ah, here we are!" Arthur replied.