The Core Wars

by old-crow

New problems arise on the evening of the third task. This tale is a Great Wandout Challenge story. Effectively it is as if Unexpected Consequences had been like playing a role play game at the novice level. The Core War tale has a far harder set of challenges. While not a sequel, this story assumes that you've read Unintended Consequences.

3. August

Chapter Three

August

Tuesday August 1 – five weeks since the wandout

Dobby's defense could always be that Harry's instructions weren't as crisp as an old-line pure blood like Lucius may have given. Harry might have assumed that We need some of these trees. Please go and see if you can find any, meant call me if you see one. We'll go over there and see if we can buy it. Dobby heard, We need these, go get a bunch.

So it was that the next morning when Harry, Dan and Hermione walked in the new shop, the store room was ¾ full of tree trunks. He said, "Great work, you two. Thank you both. How much do we owe?"

When Dobby and Winky replied that everything was taken care of, Harry must have assumed that it was. Besides, they had a million other things to work on and think about.

Keep in mind that for Dobby, who had spent several decades getting beaten, kicked, burned and generally abused, to hear Great work and Thank you were the best things that could happen to him. The same could be said for Winky, who had literally been thrown away a year earlier. Thus, they both decided that they'd been given artistic license when it came to acquisitions. Dobby took an absolute delight in finding things that Harry Potter needed.

… - ...

Wednesday August 2

Whatever Harry had as a mental image relating to what Diagon Alley would be like, little more than a month into the Wandout, the reality was five times worse. Storefront windows were shattered; a few were boarded over. If Diagon was bad, the side streets were utterly miserable. Several of the apothecaries and the greengrocer on Merlin Way were burned out shells of buildings. Only the shops nearest the Leaky Cauldron, or those in direct sight of the Gringotts guards were untouched.

It was easy to spot the difference between the muggleborn and the purebloods. The muggleborn were wearing clean clothing and had recently bathed.. The purebloods smelled of excell perfume or worse and their clothing looked grimy.

Hermione held Harry's hand and she leaned into him as they walked along the twisted alleyway in the early morning. Barchoke was waiting for him when they entered Gringotts. Harry signed a few papers and was handed the keys. He introduced himself to the guards – Redeye, Blackeye, Sharpeye and Blindeye. Harry shook hands with each and said, "Thank you for working with us. We appreciate your help." They nodded in appreciation of his words.

… - ...

Thursday August 3

Harry used his new gold portkey watch to get back to Hagrid's home. He told his friend, "If we trim every Hippogriff and Thestral, we'll have enough for 12,000 wands."

Hagrid replied, "Half's better than none. Them old houses all use charms for heat and plumbing. With one wand in the family, they can keep everything going. Look at the Weasleys; if they couldn't fix the charms on their house, it could come down in a few weeks."

Harry asked, "You're not that mad at me, are you?" He knew how protective his large friend was of the various inhabitants of the forest.

"No. not at all. Let's go round em up, trim 'em and get you back to London. I'll keep looking for interesting stuff for yer. Thanks for the umbrella."

Harry winked and replied, "Thanks, Hagrid."

When they were done, they'd trimmed thestral hair for 5,400 wands and hippogriff hair for 7,200 wands. Hagrid also gave Harry another pillow case of interesting stuff. Hippogriff feathers, loose unicorn hairs of different lengths and a quart of magical honey were among the treasures found. Harry thanked Hagrid again, then he and Dobby brought the items back to the Wand Shop. When it came to wand cores, Harry preferred to think of his glass as being half-full even if the facts didn't support his optimism.

… - …

Friday August 4

Minister Fudge came out to tour the new building and hopefully find a way of making up some of the lost income that had originated from his missing associates. The brick building was impressive with the gleaming mithril tooling in their racks above the workbenches. The goblins had taken the photographs and specifications that Daryl had sent and procured or manufactured everything that had been on the list. With the additional items that they'd purchased the evening before such as buckets for glue, shellac, brushes, micrometers and the like, they were ready to begin.

Harry hadn't yet put away either of the bags of core material that Hagrid had given him and had them stowed away in a closet. On the advice of Sirius and Remus, Harry had invited Ted Tonks to come over as well. After the tour, they sat down at the oak dining room table that served as their conference room. Harry began, "Obviously we borrowed a lot of money to get this far. The mithril tooling was pretty expensive and security was a key design element in the building." He looked at Fudge, Diggory and Connor Fudge, the minister's nephew, who had jumped at the chance to help Amos find unicorn hair.

Fudge stated, "The sale price will be 150 galleons with a third of the gold going for the procurement of the unicorn tail and a third going to pay..."

Ted interrupted, "Minister, how does the ministry hold standing in the business arrangement? The ministry doesn't own the land known as the forbidden forest. I've seen the deed."

Fudge blustered, "We're providing a service..." Actually he was offering to provide a service and was hoping to charge an outrageous fee for it.

Ted had expected something like this and earlier in the day had coached Harry on what to say, and how to say things in negotiations. Harry observed, "Minister, "We've gotten off on the wrong foot. Let's back up a bit. The going international price for a fitted wand these days ranges between 2,500 and 5,000 galleons. Hermione and I think that's far too much for Brits to pay. That said, we borrowed a serious amount of gold to get the business going. The wandmaster's lessons were ridiculously expensive. We have a major investment to recover." No one was arguing that point.

Harry continued, "We propose a selling price for the wands that's way below the international price point – 500 galleons. Here's the documentation on that. 250G needs to go towards paying down the loans. 150 needs to cover our other incurred expenses. We propose that the ministry be compensated 100G each for a full length unicorn tail piece that Mr. Diggory and the helpers provide us. That's double what you mentioned a few minutes ago but it will be hard work, collecting the tail hairs on a timely basis."

Ted could see the gleam in the minister's eyes as Harry continued. "It would be easier if we met to settle up once a week based on what Mr. Diggory and his team delivers. We'll be collecting most of our sales in coin. You wouldn't mind if we paid in cash, would you?"

"No. I, Er, we could manage. That would be fine. Good idea, lad."

"OK. We might have some non-unicorn hair wands that you wouldn't need a finders fee for but it's our intent that Mr. Diggory and his team delivers so much unicorn hair that we'll be working extra hours just to keep up. Could that work for you, Minister?"

"Yes, yes. That would be fine." The gleam in his eyes was almost blinding.

"Good. Mr. Tonks drew up the agreement. We should probably sign, or everyone could. Which would be better?"

"You and I will be fine." He didn't want a dozen copies of the agreement floating around. He signed and Harry did as well.

Harry asked, "Mr. Diggory, when do you expect to start deliveries? There are about 150 hairs per unicorn. We'd like ten bundles of 100 a week to stay on schedule."

Amos looked pleadingly at Fudge, who only was thinking of bags of coins going into his pocket. Fudge said, "You shouldn't have a problem; you've been in the department for fifteen years. You must have plenty of experience with unicorns. Let's meet Friday mornings at 8 to settle up."

Harry said, "Thank you, Minister. I knew I could count on you."

Cornelius clearly had visions of yet another new vacation place in his eyes. Apparently he thought that there was a near-endless supply of unicorns in the forest. Harry concluded, "Thank you all. Thank you, Mr. Diggory. Conner, it was nice to meet you. I'll be looking forward to seeing you all on Friday. We'll do our best to get a wand for everyone. Minister, is there any sort of roll out plan that you'd like us to follow for the wands?"

Fudge looked at his notes and said, "The Wizengamot members will be able to buy one for themselves and up to two others."

Harry nodded while Hermione wrote it down. "The ministry workers will be able to buy one for themselves and one other, if they wish."

Harry nodded encouragingly.

Fudge continued, "After that, whoever wants to buy one."

Harry nodded but Hermione asked, "What about the students?"

Harry was expecting him to hem and haw but he gave a firm reply. "Get the businesses back open; the students can wait."

Harry nodded and said, "We expect to have a soft open a week from next Thursday, August 17 at 9 am. We'll be looking for the Wizengamot members and their guests that day and the Ministry people and their guests on Friday August 18. The Grand Opening will be Monday August 28. You should make an announcement in the paper. Thank you all for coming. Mr. Diggory, we'll see you on Friday August 11 at 8 am."

The Minister and his party left a minute later and after the doors were closed, Hermione demanded, "What exactly are you up to and why did you give into his demands and his ridiculous roll-out plan?"

She was going to continue but Ted said, "Please hear him out."

Harry said, "OK, first the hundred gallon finder's fee only applies to unicorn strand where Mr. Diggory supplies the full length tail hair. If you use it in six wands, we still only pay a hundred galleons. Mr. Fudge must think that there are a zillion unicorns in the forest. Hagrid told me that the unicorns have some sort of arrangement with the giant spiders where they walk into the spider territory when they feel threatened. No one in their right mind would bother them there." She nodded but didn't say anything. She still wasn't happy.

"Second, the finder fee doesn't apply to thestral or hippogriff hair, though we should make it right with Hagrid, as they're his animals. I'd rather send Fudge 100G each on ten percent of the wands than 50G on every one that we make." She did agree with him on that. "My guess is that he came up with some scheme to pocket the money; otherwise he would have simply imposed the 3 percent sales tax. If we can hire out the core collection work, I think we'll be better off. Fudge was always going to find a way to get some gold from us. I'd rather get something in return than have him invent some bogus tax where we'd end up paying the same amount and get nothing back in return.

"As for the distribution priorities, with the exception of his forgetting about St. Mungos, I personally agree with him. It's important to get the businesses and the jobs going again. The school can open a month or three late. Parents aren't going to be able to afford to send their kids to Hogwarts if they're not working."

Ted asked, "Hermione, what else do you want to ask about?"

"Why are we charging so much?"

"Harry has about eight million pounds of debt to pay off. As he pointed out, there's a very limited amount of core."

Harry said, "I was able to collect core for about 12,000 wands from Hagrid yesterday by doing a complete trim on the thestrals and hippogriffs. They weren't happy about it. There's 30,000 Brits to make wands for. If Diggory manages to find every unicorn that's out there and enough people buy the pencil wands, we'll be OK. If he doesn't deliver, we're going to be seriously short. My concern is that a bunch of foreigners start knocking on our doors. Most wizards don't even have, let alone carry, proper identification. When we come to work in the mornings, there's going to be 500 or a 1,000 people standing in line in the English rain. There are going to be fights and line jumpers. Redeye and the other guards are going to be earning their pay. I just hope that Hagrid can find us another sack of interesting stuff from time to time. I'd bet my firebolt, if I still had it, that Hagrid is going to find more stuff for us to use than whatever the team that Mr. Diggory comes up with manages to find."

… - …

Sunday August 6

Hermione and Emma went to visit Emma's dad, Ben. Harry and Dan stayed behind with the stated purpose of doing some yard work. Harry had come to appreciate having a responsible father figure to talk to and do things with. Dan asked, "How do you feel about the shop?"

Harry replied, "We know the basics of putting together wands that people will be able to use. I'm OK with that part. I don't know the first thing about running a business."

Dan had been waiting for this conversation to take place. A generation ago, he'd had it with Emma's father, who had successfully run a dental practice since before the war. He pointed out, "There are different facets to every business but at the heart of it, there are similarities. You have to acquire the customer. You have to have a good or service to sell that people want to buy. You have to collect the money. You have to do the paperwork.

"The service business that I've been in kind of does these things in a different order. I had to acquire the customers first then perform the service. Here, we'll have to make the wands first, price them, then perform the service of matching the right wand for that customer. On the surface, collecting the money will be pretty routine. People will pay for their wand, either before or after they get their wand. If they're all priced the same, before would be best. Perhaps we could get one of the guards to collect the money for us.

"In our case, the business activities are – acquiring the materials, choosing combinations of core and wood to make, assembling the wands, having a wide enough selection to accommodate most customers and pricing the wands appropriately." Harry nodded in agreement.

Dan continued, "Ragnok and Barchoke had the building built and fitted up to the specifications that Daryl provided and they provided financing for you. In most start-up businesses, there are a million things that could go wrong in these areas alone. Together they estimated the expected sales volume and put together a facility to accommodate it. If it were way too big or way too small, it wouldn't meet our long-term needs, or cost too much money.

"As for pricing, we have a product that a segment of the population absolutely needs. At the moment, we don't have any competition. That said, if the Wandcrafter in France opens a shop next Tuesday and sells their wands at a price way below ours, the sales environment would quickly change. For most products, there are some people who would essentially pay anything. There are more people who would pay a fair price and some at the bottom who'd only pay a relatively low price.

"In our case, we have a product that's in demand. What we'll need to understand will be the costs and the competition. Most products have a development cost. There are also fixed costs – in this case the facility and tooling. In this situation, you're the sole owner. You have a lender and employees but essentially it's your shop. I hope that you make billions and as employees, we do well along with you."

Harry replied, "I hope so too."

Dan continued, "That said, maintaining a ready supply of wood and magical core material is going to be an ongoing challenge. I think you should have a conversation with Hagrid and agree on how much he wants in order to provide them. In the future, you can look into acquiring a secondary source of core material but we have enough to get started with.

"As for pricing, my recommendation would be to completely toss Ollivander's model out the window and forget about it entirely. It was too low and he had a 2,000 year legacy supply to draw from. We don't. I expect that our competitors are going to start selling their wands for serious money – three to five thousand galleons each. As Daryl mentioned, they're working with a far smaller and less diverse core supply that we are. For the most part, their old forests were smashed during the war. That said, it will be a lot easier to start with a higher price and come down over time, if needed than the other way around.

"As for Hagrid, my suggestion would be to offer him something based on what you sell. For sake of discussion, five to ten galleons per wand. From what you've told me, he'd never accept anything more.

"Beyond that, personally, I like the idea that you'd mentioned of running the business on a share basis. Currently there are five of us. Add three other shares to cover the costs of running the business and owner. If we take in 800 galleons, each share would receive 100 galleons. If you bring in more people, the number of shares can get adjusted accordingly."

Harry agreed and later that afternoon explained the plan to the others. Dobby and Winky wanted one share between them and Hagrid. Harry wanted them to have two and pay Hagrid. Finally, they compromised and split two shares between the three of them.

… - ...

Monday August 7

Amos Diggory at least had an idea of what there was in the forest. There was no way that he was going in there alone. Fudge had volunteered his nephew, the lunch room crew – Jim Tuttle, Jim Nibbs, Jim Paulson and Jim Mikelson, as well as Senior Auror Dale Dawlish to assist in the effort. Professionally, Amos and Hagrid were oil and water with their respective viewpoints about the forest, so Amos and crew met up at the Three Broomsticks, on the west edge of the forest..

Dawlish had armed himself with what appeared to be an old cavalry sabre. Tuttle had a similar idea. Conner Fudge was more style than substance. He was wearing a brass musketeer helmet and had an enchanted lasso that his father had acquired in some long-told adventure. Paulson had gone the practical route. His mum was a dog groomer and he actually thought to bring a scissors and a bag. Mickleson had brought a short bow and a quiver with a dozen arrows. Finally there was Amos. His son, Cedric had been bitten by one of the giant spiders. He knew that they lurked in the forest. He brought a six-foot pole ax, very similar to the halberds that many of the Gringotts guards carried. Unspoken was the reality that the Gringotts guards actually practiced with theirs on a weekly basis, whereas Diggory's had spots of rust on his. Finally, he had a compass.

As the group left the Three Broomsticks, the party of seven was a sight to be seen. All Rosmerta could think of was the old ditty, A hunting we will go, a hunting we will go...

Dawlish said, "Remember – capture only. We're not trying to kill any of the unicorns." They hadn't gone 200 paces, not even far enough to get to the shrieking shack, when they spotted their prey – two unicorns.

Paulson reached into his bag, pulled out a handful of sliced apples and slowly walked up to the unicorns as the others slowly surrounded them. The unicorns seemed eager to enjoy the slices. By the time Amos had given each of them a second handful, Paulson had completed his work. He patted the animals a few times and they walked off.

Amos said, "Good work, Paulson. Brilliant." Then the rain came back and they decided to knock off work for the rest of the day. Dawlish sheathed his sabre and they went back to the pub. Amos bought the first round.

Connor floo called his uncle and reported success on their first outing. Cornelius remarked, "Excellent work. Carry on, lads."

… - …

Friday August 11

Friday came and Amos and Cornelius met Harry at the Wand Shop. Amos had previously counted the hairs and carefully placed a ribbon around them in bundles of 25. He said, "We did our work." The way he was strutting around the room, one would think that he'd just won an Olympic gold medal.

Harry gave a genuine smile and said, "Very good, Mr. Diggory." He counted the bundles, "25, 50, 75, 100, 125, 150, 175, 200, 225, 250, 275, 300, 304 full-length strands."

He opened the chest that was behind him and began pulling out bags of 1,000 coins, 10, 20, 30. He then opened one of the other bags in the large chest and expertly counted out 400 coins.

Finally, the moment that he'd been waiting for came. Harry still was rubbed wrong over Diggory's comments about getting beat by Cedric when he'd been attacked by dementors during his third year quidditch match. He looked up, made eye contact and asked, "Where are the rest? You found these on Monday. This is enough for about one day of wandcrafting."

As Fudge was standing there, more or less wondering the same thing, Amos couldn't simply bluster his way past the question. Harry said, "Seriously, Mr. Diggory, this is about how many that we'll need every day. It's a great start and I'm sure you'll have way more next week." Harry closed the lid on the trunk and thought that he saw a tear in Fudge's eye as the goblins carried it back to the bank with so many bags of the gold coins still inside.

Amos muttered, "Well, we'll be back at it again tomorrow and..." Harry didn't comment that it was only 8:15am. They'd hardly put in a long day.

Fudge said, "Keep at it, Diggory." He collected the bags and placed them in his weightless, bottomless bag and remarked, "I'm sure there'll be more next Friday. Harry, we'll be by on Thursday. I'll see you then." He left and went to the bank. Amos' gold medal mood had diminished to that of the kid who got the crumpled participant certificate.

Ted had stopped by a few minutes earlier to ensure that there were no problems. The contract language had been very specific – 100G per usable full-length strand that was delivered. If Harry managed to get one wand core out of it or six, the finder reward was the same. Ted said, "I'll be right back."

Harry opened another bottle of Orange Crush. Dan said, "I see you weren't surprised." They walked back to the store room where Winky was sorting the various hairs that had been brought in during the week.

Harry replied, "Based on what I'd been told, they went out for an hour on Monday, found these two and somehow managed to get close enough to trim the tail hairs. According to Hagrid, there are only fifty or so in the forest. My uncle used to take Dudley to one of those pay-to-fish ponds. There's only fifty fish in the pond. Dudley would catch the same two fish over and over and tell the world that he'd caught ten fish. I hope they find different ones next time. Diggory needs to understand that finding them is his job now and put some work into it rather than thinking of it as a weekly afternoon outing with the lads."

Dan said, "Winky made sandpaper this morning. I made four pails of the light blond shellac. Dobby's got a bunch of blocks made and split. Which style do you want to start with first?"

"Let's make 200 of the 12 inch unicorn oak rods and the 7 inch oak pencils."

They went to work. Dobby measured and cut the 18 inch pieces of the unicorn tail hair, so they would get an 11 ½ inch piece and a 6 ½ inch piece to make a 12 and a 7 inch wand from each. Harry did the indents while Dan glued the two halves of the blocks together. When the first blocks were dry, they would add the sanding and finishing steps. When they left for the day, there was another set of blocks drying in the glue tables. It was a good start. Redeye locked the door and they went home for the evening.

… - …

Harry had gifted Remus and Sirius Stainless Steel Portkey watches. As a result, they became frequent visitors. Sirius asked what they could do to help.

Harry insisted that the actual manufacturing of the wands be done per the ICW rules. From the point that the block was split until the shellac was dried, it was wandcrafting. Sirius, who was a world class rule bender pointed out, "There are a world of things that Remus and I can help with. Someone has to buy the Orange Crush and fill the refrigerator. Someone has to make the glue, the sandpaper and the shellac. Someone has to count the material and keep the books. We just want to help. We won't be a bother. We can use the portkey watches and portkey directly in and out. We just want to help." The wanted man was practically pleading.

Hermione pointed out, "You drive a hard bargain, Mr. Black but you two are hired." She stuck her tongue out at the two and smiled.

Sirius amused them with the stories of his youth. There was the birthday party for Narcissa when she was 11. They had unicorn races for her and her friends.

Hermione asked, "Where did they keep the unicorns?"

"Walburga had a hunting lodge somewhere in Wales."

"You should check the family holdings."

Harry asked, "Who is your Account Manager?"

"Steeljaw. He's a pain in the arse to deal with but he's excellent with investments. I'll check with him the next time I go there."

… - ...

The shop had five sets of tooling and six work benches. The sixth was set up to be a paint booth. It had extra ventilation and the table top had hundreds of holes that could be used to hold wands while they were drying. Hermione had modified it by transfiguring an extra shelf that could be used to hold an extra set of wands. Additionally she had made four additional glue tables. Harry admitted that each new table was better than the previous ones. She decided not to test the limits of the duration of her transfigurations and replaced them on Sundays.

… - ...

Monday August 14

Diggory and crew had heard Fudge's message. On Monday they went out again. Paulson remembered to bring a bag of sliced apples. Within ten minutes, they found another two unicorns.

Nibb fed them the apple slices while Paulson did his work at the other end. The unicorns seemed happy with the exchange. They went to the pub for lunch.

… - …

Thursday August 17

Harry examined and counted everything before they begin fitting wands.

Unicorn (12 inch) oak 25 in stock, Unicorn (12) beech 25

Unicorn (7) oak 200, Unicorn, (7) beech 200

Hippogriff (12) elm 100, Hippogriff (12) pine 100

Thestral (12) elm 100 Thestral (12) pine 100

Dragon (12) oak 25, Dragon (12) elm 25

Phoenix feather (12) yew 5, Phoenix feather (12) holly 5

In total they had just over 900 wands. It would be interesting to see how many they had at the end of the weekend. They would need actual experience to determine which wands were actually selling as a percentage. They would adjust the quantity of wands that they held in stock, as he didn't want to have to make a given core/wood/length combination more than once a week. There clearly would be some efficiencies in larger batches. Sirius took on the role of production scheduler and Remus took on the responsibility of inventory control.

… - ...

It was no surprise when they opened that Thursday at nine that Fudge was the first one in line, followed by his wife and nephew, Connor.

Redeye took the money, Winky handed them a wand and they were directed to sit at either Dan's, Hermione's or Harry's sales table to verify the selection. Dan had Mrs. Fudge and in an encouraging voice suggested, "Give your new wand a wave."

She did and was delighted. "Thank you." She noticed that Cornelius and Connor were finishing up at Harry and Hermione's table respectively.

Amos, Cedric and his girlfriend, Cho were next. Harry must have overheard him state, "I found the wand core for these," a dozen times. They walked out with a hippogriff, thestral and pencil wand respectively. Harry chuckled at the thought.

Slughorn, his son and grandson were next. They all were fitted with thestral wands. Barnabas Cuffe, his pressman and new reporter were next followed by the Gamps then Croaker.

Ogden, his sister and Cormac McLaggen were next. Ogden said, "I'd like to get wands for my employees as well. You use a lot of 180 proof alcohol in your work. I'll trade you four 100 gallon barrels for 40 wands."

Harry immediately replied, "Deal. Have them stop by Monday at 1 pm."

"Smart lad."

Oliver Wood and his parents arrived as the Ogden party was being shown the door. Harry visited for a few minutes with Oliver, who mentioned that he'd be playing with Puddlemere in the fall.

"We'll come out and see a game. Good luck this year."

"Thanks, Harry." Neither one mentioned that there were no broomsticks and Oliver was more likely to be playing dodge ball than keeper.

Sturgis Podmore, the Oddpicks, Dodderidge, the Singers, and Doge arrived and were fitted. Harry mentally checked the list. The Abbotts, Bones, Lovegoods and Macmillans were invited for Saturday, along with the Longbottoms, Fred and George, their girlfriends and Katie Bell. Regulus Moonshine, his daughter and desk attendant Eric Munch were the last ones served.

They were done by 11 and went back to sanding and brushing on shellac. Dobby had been busy slicing ½ inch blocks.

… - …

When the alcohol barrels arrived, Dan pointed out. "That was an excellent trade. He sent you something that didn't cost him too much but was valuable to you for something that didn't cost you much but was valuable to him."

Harry agreed. Everyone was happy.

… - …

The floo system was an ingenious public transport system. Once the overall system was up and functioning, it took very little magical energy to keep the infastructure aspect up and running. Instead, the user powered the system when they used it by tossing in a generous pinch of propellant, commonly known as floo powder.

It was theoretically possible to have an under-powered trip; meaning that the user would walk in, toss an amount insufficient to travel the desired distance and mass. When the system was up and operating normally, one of the ministry floo operators would be notified of the exception and immediately take corrective action; usually a few wand taps and a warning letter. The unfortunate traveler may be spinning around for 10-15 seconds before being rescued, resulting in a significant loss of pride, without any real harm being done.

So it was that seven weeks after the Great Wandout, the floo system was still operational but there was no support available in the event of a mishap or address maintenance. Cyrus Greengrass tossed in an underpowered pinch to get from London to his home in Wales and walked into the floo.

He spun

and spun

and spun.

The operator at the ministry saw the exception error but without her wand, was entirely unable to help him. It was estimated that Greengrass spun uncontrollably for three hours before being spit out at Dumbledore's dive bar. Needless to say, the remains of his body had all but been destroyed in the spin, Most of the bones in his body had been broken several times. It was the first British floo system death in 27 years.

… - ...

Just after dinner, Harry floo called Poppy and asked, "Can I come over to see you for a few minutes?"

"Of course. My floo is open." A moment later, Harry walked through the fireplace opening. She asked, "How may I help you, Mr. Potter?"

Harry asked, "Can you quietly have 50 – 75 staff people come over from St. Mungo's Saturday morning to the new building in Diagon Alley in front of Gringotts?"

"What's this about?"

"Hermione and I, along with a few others went abroad to wandcrafting school last month. We earned our ICW journeyman wandcrafting licenses. We sold and fitted wands for the Wizengamot this morning with wands that we'd made. We don't officially open until Monday August 28. When we do, the lines are going to be insane. Have half come at 7:00 am, the other half at 7:30. No more than 75 total."

"You're not kidding, are you?"

"No. What was your old wand made of?"

"Oak and unicorn hair."

"Try these two. See which you like better." He handed her an oak pencil wand and a twelve inch version. He said, "Hold the pencil one like a chopstick. They're fantastic for detail work."

"Oh my, oh my. I love it."

"It's yours. My treat."

"I couldn't possibly..."

"Of course you can. Friends don't keep score. No more than 75. Keep it quiet, if you can."

"How much are they?"

"All the wands are 500G. Minister Fudge held a meeting where the price was agreed to and set."

"Oh my... I'll tell her. Thank you, Mr. Potter. I owe you one."

"Like I said, friends don't keep score." He tossed a pinch of floo powder in the fireplace and disappeared.

She floo called Amanda Crabtree, Head Healer at St. Mungo's and explained the opportunity. After hearing the price, Amanda lamented, "It will be 500G Saturday morning, or 500G in September, standing in the rain for seven hours, or 5,000G if the supply runs low. Saturday sounds a lot better. Thanks for calling. I'll tell a few people."

… - ...

Friday August 18

Friday morning at eight, the guards announced, "Minister Fudge and his party are here."

Amos, Connor and Paulson had come along. There was a bit of cause to celebrate that Friday. Amos introduced Paulson as the man of the hour. Amos held out out his hairs that he'd spent a couple of hours counting and wrapping them the night before.

"50, 100, 150, 200, 250...1,200, 1,225, 1,240."

"With complete sincerity, Harry replied, "Well done, Mr. Diggory. This seems to be working out for you."

Diggory replied, "One of the days we found two, then it rained and yesterday we managed to find the others."

Harry was counting the coin sacks, hoping that he had enough. He'd have to sell more wands before doing business again the next Friday. "Ten thousand, twenty, thirty." As he was counting, Harry asked, "Did you see any of the unicorns that you'd already trimmed?"

As he was counting bags, Amos replied, "Yes, we did. They look a bit different of course."

"I didn't get a chance to talk with him yesterday. How's Cedric?"

"Good, good. He's fully recovered and is enjoying the holiday. I'll tell him that you asked after him."

"Please. He's a good guy. Let's see, there's 100,000, 110,000, 120,000, 124,000." His coin chest was nearly empty but Harry was very pleased to get so much of the truly excellent core. He said, "I hope you bring in just as much next Friday. Thank you all again." It took Fudge a few minutes to shovel all of the coin bags into his weightless, bottomless bag. He left and walked to the bank.

After they left, the wand crew met in the break room. Dan observed, "They really delivered today. Were you surprised?"

Harry admitted, "Frankly, yes. Good on them. We can make a bunch of pencils with this batch. Hermione, "How did Paulson like the tour?"

"He loved it. His mum's a dog groomer and she feeds them dogs treats as she's trimming and brushing them. It turns out that the unicorns are quite partial to apple slices. He told me that one guy feeds them while he does the trimming and they're quite compliant."

"Good on him."

"How much did they bring in?"

"He replied, "1,240 full-length pieces and a handful of broken ones."

"When we're done fitting today, what do you want to make next?"

"Let's make 500 pencils, the seven inch ones."

"OK. The Ministry workers will be here in a few minutes. We'd better get ready for them."

… - …

After meeting with Fudge, they got ready for what was likely to be a big day. In prior discussions, Fudge had led them to believe that Ministry plus one would total 600 wands. By the time Harry backed out the dead members of the so called Tatoo Club who had worked at the ministry, those who only purchased one wand and the ministry employees who were also Wizengamot members, the number would be closer to 400, which was still a huge day for them.

First up was Alastor Gumboil, who was handed a thestral wand by Winky and sent to see Dan. Arthur Weasley was next with a hippogriff wand. He was sent to Hermione, who verified that it was a good fit. Griselda Marchbanks was sent to Harry's table. She quietly mentioned that he could contact her and schedule OWL exams on any, or all subjects of his choosing at any time. They thanked each other as she left. John Dawlish was next and went to Hermione, as did Jim Tuttle, Jim Nibb, Jim Paulson and Jim Mikelson when they arrived during the day. The night guard went to Dan while Moody went to Harry. Reginald Cattermole was helped by Dan while Percy was sent to Hermione. Tonks and Shacklebolt were sent to Harry while Proudfoot went to Dan.

Warden Speirs went to Harry, while Wilkie Twycross went to Hermione. She didn't notice the thoughtful look that he'd given her when she introduced herself. Some of the employees brought spouses but more than half, such as Arthur Weasley hadn't been able to afford both wands at the same time. As the day drew to a close, Eric Munch was the last customer of the day.

When they closed the doors after the last person was helped, Redeye said, "I'll make the deposit - 201,000 galleons."

They sat in the recliners, having waters, ice tea, Orange Crush and a Sam Adams respectively. Dan asked, "What went well today and what could have been better?"

Hermione observed, "Winky, you did a brilliant job with selections. I didn't make any changes." The others nodded in agreement.

Harry agreed, "I didn't either. Dobby you did a great job making certain that Winky didn't run out of anything. Thank you both. Thank you everyone. The Eye brothers did great work too. We need to remember to invite them to meetings, lunches and the like."

Dan observed, "It could be a cultural thing. You already have; implying that it was a standing offer. They saw it as a one-time invitation. We can fix that. We took more in today than we spent; that's always good."

… - …

At the end of the day, Sharpeye asked if he could put up a sign just inside the doorway. Harry replied, "Sure. What's it for?"

Sharpeye explained that Barchoke decided that the bank would offer one-year loans for wands. If the consumer wished it, they filled out the form, signed it with a blood quill and we would accept it for payment. The bank would pay the Wand Shop their money that afternoon, when making the deposit. "We would receive 550G within a year."

Harry observed, "That sounds like a great idea. I expect that a lot of people would use the service."

"That is our hope, Wandcrafter Harry."

Dan heard the exchange and thought that they were charging about the same rates as a credit card company.

… - …

Saturday August 19

On Saturday morning at six, they opened the doors to allow their friends to come in, Florean Fortescue left with a thestral wand, He was pathetically grateful but Harry would never forget the kindness that the ice cream man had shown him the summer before his third year. Harry said, "Friends help friends."

"Thank you again."

Fred and George arrived next. Two hippogriff wands later and they were delighted. Fred asked, "When are you planning on opening?"

"Monday, August 28 at 9 am." He added, "I wouldn't be surprised if people end up waiting in line for a day or two. We're planning on selling 200 wands a day on Monday through Wednesdays. The rest of the week, we'll be making them."

Fred said, "I'd hate to be the 201st person in line that day."

Hermione replied, "It's not in our span of control. I'd give out tickets or wristbands but I really don't want to sponsor professional line-sitters."

Finally Fred asked, "What about Ron?"

Harry replied, "What about him?"

"Well, um..."

"Fred, the last time he said anything to my face, he called me a lying cheat and told me to fuck myself. I borrowed eight million pounds to start this business. If he comes to buy a wand, I'll sell him one. I'm not giving him one for free but I'll sell him one; the same for Ginny. He's not my problem."

"What about when school starts?"

"What about it? I'm not going back."

"I get it." He looked at who was next in line, silently yelped and added, "Thanks Harry. You've got a line to take care of."

Susan and Amelia Bones were next. Susan went to Hermione while Amelia came to Harry's table. She said, "Thank you for inviting us. How is this working for you?"

Harry replied, "Really well now. It won't be so much fun in a few months."

She said, "Keep going."

"Between you and me, there are nowhere near enough raw materials to make a wand for everyone in Britain anytime soon. On top of that, it's all but certain that other countries are going to be making a grab for our existing material and wands. They may do it politely by offering to buy some, or having foreigners wait in the wand line, or less so by stealing it. My point is, these could well be the happy days."

Amelia didn't know the teen well but there was no doubt in her mind that he knew what he was talking about. She asked, "What can I do to help you?"

His answer surprised her. "Three things – let Fudge fail, quietly find a few unicorns and find a way to get Sirius Black a trial. He never had one."

Methodically, she asked for a clarification. "What did you mean about Minister Fudge?"

"If the primary source of ministry revenue – sales tax revenue crumbles because the magical shops aren't selling anything, expenses should have been cut way back. Someone (Ted Tonks) told me that the ministry reserve account has a balance that can cover about a month or two of expenses."

"Keep going." She was aware of the account that he was referring to but Fudge and Finance Director Basil Debit kept track of it.

"When we went to wandmaking class, the master told us that all of Europe is affected. He told us that other countries would almost certainly try to steal wand core. No core, no wands. The witches and wizard in Britain are getting by right now because the floo system is still up and running. The little package of floo powder that I bought read, Made in Italy. They don't have any wands. We can make and fit about 600 wands a week. Amos Diggory, Fudge's nephew and some guy named Paulson are out trying to find unicorn hair. I'll bet you lunch that Fudge got involved so he could pocket the money that we pay him on Fridays."

"I see. Thank you, Mr. Potter. You've been very insightful. I'll also look into Mr. Black's situation."

Susan came over and gushed, "Auntie, look at this." She showed her a pencil wand and the wrist holster."

Amelia commented, "That's a very clever idea. How much do we owe you?"

Harry replied, "Nothing. The wands that we're giving away to our friends today were class projects from wandmaking class. We can't sell them. The wrist holster was three galleons. We bought a bunch of them from Sanfords to give away."

His explanation met her ethics test. She replied, "Thank you. I wish all of you a world of success in your new venture."

The Abbotts - Hannah, Tom and Julie were next. Winky handed Hannah and Julie pencil wands and handed Tom a twelve inch thestral. The parents went to Harry's table, Hannah went to Hermione's. They were each delighted with their wands.

A moment later, Ernie and his parents, John and Gretta Macmillan came in. She walked out with a pencil and the lads got hippogriff wands. The process was amazingly quick. As with the others, they were beyond grateful.

It was almost seven. Harry politely shooed the others out, saying, "We invited a few others in at seven and need to get ready. Enjoy your new wands." They took the hint and Harry mentioned to Redeye that the others would be paying customers.

Hermione helped the first of the St. Mungo's group. Amanda Crabtree had been handed an oak wand and a pencil with the instructions to try them out with Hermione. Like the others, she selected the pencil for the superior ease of pointing for fine detail work. Winky was handing all of the female healers either oak or beech pencils.

It was going well until Rolf Toftland came in and stated that he wanted a 14 inch willow dragon wand and pushed his way past Winky. Dan explained, "We haven't made any 14 inch wands, and don't have any available supplies of dragon heart and have no intention of making willow wands."

Toftland started arguing, "Don't you know who I am?" Sharpeye and Blackeye had him out the door on his butt in a matter of seconds.

Redeye gave him his coins back and stated, "You will pay the international price for a wand should you choose to return in October. Your other option is to see the wandmaker in France."

Amanda, who was watching in awe of the sales process, decided that she had an employee termination to process. By 7:45, the 60 people that she'd invited had all been by. 59 of them went back to the hospital with new wands. One was handed a box to carry their personal property home.

Harry walked over and explained, "We have a very limited selection of core material and unlike Ollivander, we haven't been in business since 382BC. We don't have 2,000 wands in every possible wood, core and style combination to choose from. There are 30,000 people in line and as far as I'm concerned, that guy can be last."

She pointed out, "I'll let him go today but I know he'll cause trouble."

Harry pointed, out, "It's fine with me if he stays at St. Mungos. He can go to France or Germany to get his wand."

Crabtree replied, "I understand. Thank you for inviting us this morning."

Sharpeye commented, "We gave the unpleasant wizard his coins back. The deposit was 29,500 galleons."

"Thank you, Sharpeye."

Harry and Hermione went back to the break room. Dan asked, "What did we learn in the last few days?"

Hermione replied, "Most women prefer the pencils."

Harry said, "I asked Amelia Bones if she could find us any unicorns." Dobby and Winky gave each other a meaningful glance. He added, "I also mentioned the floo powder issue to her, I expect she's going up and down the alley, looking for some right now."

Dan pointed out, "We have a selection expectation perception issue. We started Thursday with 12 different wood/core combinations. By now, we may be down to 9. I don't see that getting any broader anytime soon. Almost certainly we can fit them with a wand that will work for them but we simply don't have the means to replace Uncle Fester's old 13 7/8th inch amazon teak wand."

Dobby asked, "Harry Potter Sir, can Dobby and Winky be living on Harry Potter's land in Gloucester? We would be liking it there more than living in storeroom."

"Sure."

"Could some of Dobby and Winky's friends stay there too?"

"Yes. Invite whoever you want. Hermione, do you want an Orange Crush?" He felt a bit cheap that he'd never considered where they actually lived.

"No. Thanks."

Dan said, "Let's go home. We'll find Emma and go out for pizza later."

Harry said, "Sounds good. Thank you, everyone."

Hermione rolled her eyes. Her boyfriend would eat pizza every day if he could.

… - …

Sunday August 20

On Sunday, the Daily Propet resumed, in a fashion. Due to a parchment supply chain problem, the normally twelve-page paper came out on a single sheet. Harry decided that he liked the smaller format better and glanced at the headlines.

The Great Wandout

350,000 affected – all of Europe without wands

Several paragraphs followed containing nothing that he didn't already know but wasn't certain that Fudge would appreciate being released. Another article caught his eye.

Wand Shop to Open

Wizengamot and Ministry workers/spouses given preferential treatment

Again, the content of the accompanying brief article was far more factual than he recalled seeing in the past. Perhaps without one of the tattoo club members shading the tone of the piece, they would be far more objective.

He gave the next one his full attention.

Missing

Predominant Traditionalists haven't been seen in weeks

There was no solid information; simply a statement that some unnamed people hadn't been seen in nearly two months.

The last piece made him frown.

Diggory Finds Wand Core for Britain

Leads effort to collect unicorn hair from Forbidden Forest

Harry thought that the piece offered too much specific information that wasn't necessary to give out. With luck, in another six weeks or so, the information would essentially become moot.

Harry put the paper down and went back to making indents in blocks. He'd stopped in at the shop for an hour in an effort to get ahead of Dobby. He was beginning to think that it was a futile task.

… - ...

Fenrir Greyback put the newspaper down about the same time as Harry and gave a great smirk. He and the other Weres living in Britain had been harassed by Diggory and to a greater extent, Umbridge for decades. He'd had a bit of quick fun with her; this was an opportunity to get back at the pompous bigot. The two of them had led the charge to hold the Weres down and make their lives miserable.

Without their wands, the wizards and witches of Britain would be helpless. He could grow his pack and enjoy the happy times.

… - ...

Monday August 21

The Daily Prophet had some new information.

Potter opens Wand Shop

Set to open Monday August 28

Harry hadn't made any statements and incorrectly concluded that Rita was back on the job. In fact, Amos Diggory had been the source for both pieces.

… - ...

Dobby asked, "Can Harry Potter indent these blocks this morning? Dobby would be gluing them during day."

"Sure." Harry went to work, making 1/16th indents on the various blocks as Dobby placed the hairs in the canals and glued the blocks. They worked in comfortable silence. The only thing that Dobby mentioned was that the wards on the Gloucester property had grown weak and asked if he and Winky could place ward stones around to make the property safe again.

Harry thought that was a good idea. Dan joined them, as Hermione and Winky got the sales area ready for the customers coming in later. Harry mentioned to the guards to expect some barrels delivered during the morning.

Sharpeye replied, "We will take care of them when they arrive."

They made wands during the morning until lunch. Ogden had delivered eight fifty-gallon plastic barrels instead of the wooden barrels that Harry had been expecting. Dan pointed out that storing the alcohol in plastic barrels would keep it from turning into whiskey and that the plastic barrels could easily be refilled when they needed to buy more.

They discussed and agreed on their routine. Redeye collected the coins, Winky Looked and selected the best wand. In the case of unicorn, she handed them two and would tell them, "Go to the table and decide which you like best." Most of the time, they selected the pencil wand.

It soon became evident that they either needed more glue tables, or needed to work split shifts. Dobby requested four more tables. Hermione decided to attempt to transfigure them. Harry didn't think that they were as good as the ones that he had bought but wisely didn't say anything.

… - …

When Sirius walked into the break room that morning, he saw Harry writing on the white board.

Unicorn (12) 2,000

Unicorn (7) 13,000

Thestral (12) 5,400

Hippogriff (12) 7,200

Sirius asked, "What have you got here?"

Harry replied, "Based on what we have in hand, this is what I'm thinking as far as what we should make."

Sirius replied, "I like your idea about limiting the wand lengths to twelve inches and the seven inch pencils. Let's say that Diggory never finds another unicorn. Our goal would be to maximize the number of wands with the material that we have. If we swap the 2,000 twelve inch unicorns for the shorter pencil model, we could get an extra 2,000 made. If Diggory finds another twenty unicorns this week, you'll have more material and more options."

Harry nodded in agreement.

"The only basis of comparison people are going to have is Olivander's operation. You don't have a dozen different cores and fifteen different wood combinations to chose from in six different lengths. Everyone can buy a wand but there may not be a wand for everyone's taste. Our making 30,000 wands doesn't mean that all 30,000 people will get their first choice."

Hermione had walked in earlier and listened to the discussion. She thought about it for a moment before saying anything. Her normal inclination would be to state that they needed to be the best wands possible. Under the circumstances, she revised her thinking to state that they needed to be the best wands practical. She was a highly principled teen who avoided second best compromises whenever she could. She said, "I like the idea. We should take the extra wands and open next Saturday for Hogwarts students."

Harry replied, "We could. How many parents would buy their kids wands before they had one themselves? Look at Ernie; his dad has a magical construction business of some sort. He'd been out of work since the Wandout. Without his wand, he couldn't afford to send their kids to school. I hate to admit it but Fudge was right about getting the businesses going again first." He added, "I'm happy to have a student day but it's too early. We should talk with Professor Flitwick and get more information first."

She didn't like the answer but she accepted his reasoning. Compromising sometimes and considering trade-offs were some of the painful lessons of growing up.

… - …

After lunch, Redeye announced,"There is a message for you." He handed Harry a scroll and he looked at it.

Harry,

Me ma has an old unicorn named Jim. He has a few years left. We would like to trade him to you in exchange for ten wands. You could pick him up via portkey. He's a good lad; very gentle. If you're interested, please write back or call me. Here's our telephone number.

Seamus Finnigan

He showed the letter to everyone and asked, "How can we make this work?"

Dobby said, "Winky and I have warded an area on Harry Potter's land where it would be safe to keep him. We have been hoping to be finding other unicorns too, He can be our first. You can have your portkey watch adjusted to take you there." He wrote down the log number on a piece of paper and said, "Give this to Redeye, Harry Potter. He can set your watch to take you there."

Harry brought the paper to Redeye and explained what he wanted. He handed Redeye his watch. Redeye made the adjustment and handed it back. He stated, "When you want to go, state Activate Limerick. You will need to make several trips; one with the unicorn. Hold him gently. You can carry up to five others at a time. Traveling will not hurt the animal. To take him to your family property, state, Activate Gloucester. I recommend that Dobby and Winky be at Gloucester when you bring him, so that they can talk with him and the animal doesn't get frightened, or run off."

"Thank you, Redeye. That's excellent advice." The two nodded at each other.

Dan said, "Let's go home and call him." A few seconds later, they were back in Surrey. Harry called and told her that he'd be there in an hour.

He landed in a picturesque place. Moments later, Dobby and Winky arrived. Seamus and his Ma were there. Beth asked, "Will you really trade us for wands?"

"Yes. If your friends are ready, we can go now." Cousins, aunts and uncles were gathered.

Harry said, "I can portkey five at a time. I'll be right back. He was and within a minute, everyone was at the Wand Shop. Naturally, they wanted the short tour and were quite impressed. Within fifteen minutes, and multiple suggestions regarding the care of Jim, they all had wands that were excellent fits.

They went back to Limerick. Harry had two apples in his bag. Beth smiled and said, "Jim's a good lad, He'll like you." Harry gave him some apple slices as she finished her instructions.

Dobby and Winky were talking with him. Dobby remarked, "Jim is a good fellow. He tells funny stories."

Beth said, "He'll get on fine with these people. Harry, maybe you want one more? Our neighbor has a mare and I'm positive she'd trade him, knowing that she'd go to a good home."

Harry replied, "Sure." Two hours later, he'd gotten everyone home and he was the proud owner of two unicorns. Beth had told him that she'd ask if anyone else in their village would be interested in a trade.

After dinner, Hermione and Emma wanted to go see them. Apples in hand, they met the two remarkable animals. Unicorns Jim and Leanne were happy to meet the two. Emma brought her camera after Hermione mentioned that there was a magical photo processing shop in the alley. They had silver-white hair and a foot long pointed horn. Winky said, "Jim and Leanne are asking if there are any apple trees. Winky and Dobby could be planting some trees if Harry Potter agrees. We could also make a hedge at the edge of Harry Potter's property to keep nosing neighbors from looking in?"

"Yes, that sounds good. Here's a bag of coins if you need anything."

"Dobby will look for other people who might have unicorns if Harry Potter wishes?"

Harry replied, "That would be a great idea. Emma, Hermione; we need to go. We'll see you two tomorrow."

… - …

After they left, Dobby called the other 38 elves who were also living there there and announced, "Harry Potter said that we could plant trees, look for unicorns and make hedgerow. We should find more Downy Birch trees and some apple trees and move them here." The abandoned elves who formerly had been enslaved to Death Eater families got to work. Ward stones were carved, berms were slowly getting raised and thousands of seedlings acquired.

The former Parkinson elves told Dobby that there were two unicorns that little Pansy used to play with when she had been a little witch. Winky's sister, Layla made a portkey and then there were four unicorns living in Gloucester.

… - ...

While Hermione and Emma were visiting Old Jim and Leanne, the forest was receiving some unwelcome visitors.

That afternoon, Fenrir Greyback walked into the big reception room at the Malfoy safe house in Wiltshire. He looked at the group lounging around, reading, playing checkers and drinking. "Hello. Is anyone up for a bit of adventure?" A chance to shove one up the ministry and Diggory's arse? Rub Fudge's nose in it?"

"What are you suggesting Fen?" asked Carol.

Waving the Sunday newspaper piece about Diggory's efforts to collect wand core from the Forbidden Forest, he said, "This."

… - …

Fenrir was the last of the ten members from the pack to walk out of the floo into the safe house at Hogsmeade.

"Here's the plan. Jonas, Geoffery, Brianna, Carol, Stevens, Sally and Ned – you're going to start at the Hogsmeade side of the forest and work your way east. Sarah, Brent and I are going to start at the east end, sneak in without the half giant seeing us and work our way west. We'll meet up in the middle. We'll kill any unicorn that we see. Cut off the tail hair and as much of the horn as you can easily hack off."

He continued, "Stay away from the spiders. I'd rather miss a unicorn here or there than get anyone killed. Use the road flares if you want but don't start the forest on fire. Don't make so much noise that the unicorns get too far ahead of you; we don't want to get into a fight with the Centaurs. We'd be killed before we even saw them. You're fast, agile and have Were senses. Use them. Watch out for all of the downed trees; don't get tripped up."

He concluded, "Our first priorities are, don't get bit by the spiders and don't be seen. Second priorities are to kill as many unicorns as we safely can. Third priorities are collecting the tail hair and horn. Give us thirty minutes to get to the west end, then we'll start."

Sarah spoke up. "Remember people, we want to make this fast. In and out. Let's not do anything stupid. With some luck, no one will know that we were here until it's done and over with days later."

Thirty minutes later, both groups were in position and they started. Armed with their short swords in hand, the larger group literally dashed from Hogsmeade and into the forest. That proved to be the easy part, as there were literally hundreds of downed trees called snags that had been blown over in the last month. They hunted individually. They either went over or around the downed trees. A thrust, a hack, a couple of slices and it was back to searching for the next one. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't.

Two hours after they started, they met up in the middle of the forest. Collectively, they had killed 44 unicorns. Half a dozen got away. Sarah asked, Where's Stevens?" No one had seen him.

Greyback said, "We'll head south to the road, then back to the safe house. Stevens will have to catch up." Greyback had the feeling that he'd never see the lanky Were again. "Run."

… - …

Tuesday August 22

Dan looked at the paper.

Wand Shop supplies St Mungo's

More than half of staff members fitted in extra effort

Dan observed, "I ran the dental clinic for 20 years and never made the newspaper for working a Saturday."

Harry replied, "Enjoy the sun when the sun is shining. The press will turn on us in a blink."

… - ...

Filius could feel him running through the halls long before he could see him. "Hagrid, slow down. What is wrong?"

"Somebody killed the unicorns, Professor. I found five of em dead, near my pumpkin patch. Their tails were cut off and sumbody broke off their horns. I think they've been dead a day or so."

How many did you find?"

"Five by my place."

"Did you see any living ones?"

"No."

"You should owl Mr. Potter. I'll get somebody to do a proper search. Thank you for telling me."

He had a report to make.

… - ...

At 3:30 pm Amos and crew walked out of the Three Broomsticks with the intent of finding a dozen unicorns. Unaware of Hagrid's discovery, Fudge had offered them each a 1,000G bonus if they succeeded. Paulson had his bag of apples. They quickly reached the spot where they had originally seen the first two, saw nothing and kept going. Soon they reached the Shrieking Shack and still saw nothing. As they kept going, Amos carefully watched his compass, directing them to go east. It would be easy for them to get disoriented in the thick forest. They reached a large group of birch trees, a half mile from the Shrieking Shack. Tuttle saw a yearling standing next to his mom, who apparently was resting in the afternoon shade. They were 100 yards away, so they kept going closer. When they were twenty yards away, Tuttle frowned and said, "That's not right."

Amos looked up from his compass and saw that the unicorn that the yearling was standing next to was dead. The trees were fairly thick when they reached the area. Silver blood was everywhere. Tuttle looked around and said, "There's another dead one." He looked some more and saw a third one. The sight caused him to shiver involuntarily. Something was very wrong.

Amos, Dawlish, and Connor felt the jab into their necks at the same time that Paulson and Mikelson tripped over each other trying to run. Tuttle and Nib, ran eastward and encountered a dozen grizzly bear size Acromantula that made short work of them.

The last thing that Dawlish did, was activate his emergency portkey, landing him in the emergency room at St. Mungo's. He died a minute later.

… - ...

Scrimgeour was immediately notified and reported to Amelia. She asked, "What had he been assigned to?"

Rufus replied. "He and the lunchroom crew were on a temporary duty assignment for Minister Fudge. He never told us what they were doing." A minute later, they were outside his office when he happened to walk by. Scrimgeour asked, "What had Dawlish been working on?"

With pride, Fudge replied, "He's been helping Amos and my nephew collect unicorn hair for the Wand Shop. Why?"

Scrimgeour replied, "He just dropped dead in the entrance lobby at St. Mungo's."

Concerned for all of the wrong reasons, Fudge asked, "What was wrong with him?"

"They didn't know yet when I received the message."

"Get someone looking. Check at the Wand Shop."

… - …

An hour earlier, the four magical wandcrafters were at Hogwarts for Operation Basilisk. They reached the gates and Hermione made her way to find Flitwick and Sprout. The staff members were sitting at one of the long tables at the Great Hall. She said, "Good afternoon, Professors. I brought wands for each of you." With those words, she had their undivided attention.

Meanwhile Harry was walking to the second floor girl's bathroom as Dobby and Winky were talking with Nobby, the Head Elf. "We need to help Harry Potter get rid of the big, ugly, poisonous snake." The three-pronged heist should have gone perfectly.

In the Great Hall, Hermione took out a box of 45 assorted wands; the remainder of their class project wands. She intentionally selected Professor Vector first. Without Winky there to instantly make the perfect selection, she asked, "What was your old wand?"

"Dragon."

Hermione had a few of them in the box, selected one and said, "Try this one."

"It's nice." She asked, "What's that one?" pointing to a beech pencil.

Hermione replied, "Unicorn and beechwood in a new size. Give it a try."

"Oh, I like that one."

"It's yours."

Flitwick looked at an oak pencil with interest. He asked, "May I try this one?"

"Go ahead, Professor." It obviously fit him far the better than the twelve inch model.

"Remarkable," observed Flitwick.

… - …

Meanwhile, 75 elves had joined Harry. Fortunately, one had found the light, stairs and ventilation runes then activated them before heading down the seemingly endless steps. After a few minutes, they reached the gigantic shed skin. Winky held it and popped away; bringing it back to the Wand Shop before returning to the tunnel. The elves easily levitated the fallen rock out of the way. Harry wished that he had several days to explore the mythical chamber.

Dobby said, "Harry Potter, go back up the stairs now. Elves will be bringing big, ugly snake up to the hallway then out the front door of the castle. Harry asked one of the elves to open the mouth of the snake. He activated the five minute industrial strength portkey that Barchoke had given him and tossed it into the snake's throat.

… - …

Back in the Great Hall, Hermione only had one fitting to go and didn't want to finish earlier than the agreed time. She stalled by asking, "What's been happening here?"

Filius replied, "We haven't been given the directive to reopen the school. The plans regarding opening the Wand Shop were closely held. The Board of School Governors hasn't met. When will the Wand Shop officially open?"

"Monday August 28." She was fitting a wand for Sprout when they heard a blood curdling scream.

… - ...

The elves had gotten the snake moved outside the bathroom and into the hallway when Argus Filch had the misfortune to walk by. Harry, under his invisibility cloak cast a confundus charm and a mild stunner. The elves immediately levitated the snake a few inches and zoomed it out the front doors of the castle. The snake disappeared a few seconds later. Harry took off his cloak and personally thanked every one of the elves before they filtered back into the castle.

...- …

Back in the castle, the group of professors found the caretaker sitting up groggily looking around. He saw them and yelled, "Snake!"

Hermione suggested, "Perhaps he had a flashback from thinking of a few years ago."

Flitwick winked at her and replied, "Perhaps you are right, Wandcrafter Granger. We all thank you for your generosity and wish the five of you success. Should you see Barchoke, please give him my regards. We'll bring Argus to the hospital wing for a calming drought."

It would be another ten minutes before Hagrid would run in with his horrible news about the unicorns

… - …

When they got home, Harry hugged Hermione and said, "Good work. Did everyone get a good wand?"

"Yes, four pencils and the rest hippogriff. Professor Flitwick seemed to know what we were doing."

"I expect that he frequently communicates with the Gringotts people."

Dan asked, "What parts or pieces are you asking for, or selling?"

Harry replied, "The goblins are getting the meat for doing the processing. Additionally, they had offered to buy the fangs and the skull. I'm keeping the hide, venom and heart."

Dan suggested, "If the processing involves proper storage, I suggest that you hold off on anything other than the meat. The good Lord willing, you'll never get another one. Take some pictures, send them to the guy Daryl recommended and get an offer in hand. In the mean while, make a few wands with the venom, powdered bone and shed skin, so you have an idea of what you possess. If you can, make some world-class armor with the hide. Take the time to consider what you have, what you can do with it and what it's worth."

He added, "You owe a bunch on the business and tooling; I recognize that. You'll get it paid off. Eight million pounds is just a number. You're paying it down, paying the bills and the business is generating cash. That's not bad, considering that we haven't even opened yet."

… - …

Two months into the Wandout, it had become obvious that the ministry, specifically Fudge, didn't have any quick solutions. There were thousands out of work and no government bailout or relief programs available. With the vastly reduced exchange rates, many saw their savings accounts wiped out. Some found work with a nonmagical business. Most lacked the documentation or degrees to get a meaningful position. Shoplifting and smash and grabs became common; especially for those who owned bottomless bags.

… - ...

Katie Bell had a summer job, waiting tables. She more than doubled her wages by trading pounds for galleons at the Leaky Cauldron during her off-hours. Ernie Macmillan did the same thing; exchanging the pounds that his dad made in the remodeling business. Tom the proprietor didn't mind. The buyers and sellers always bought something and everyone was happy.

… - …

Wednesday August 23

Harry frowned as he read the headlines.

Senior Auror Killed

Current assignment unclear

Harry looked at the paper with concern. He knew exactly what was in the forest and why they were there. He wondered why the paper hadn't mentioned the others. The other article didn't make sense unless he knew what had happened.

Fudge: Wand Shop Ready to Open Monday

Plenty of wands to go around

It sounded to Harry like the Minister was panicking. Maybe he was. After thinking about it a bit, Harry decided that he had his business to run and would leave the politicking to Fudge.

… - …

As they were having lunch, Redeye said, "There is a letter for you."

Harry,

Dad told me that you opened a wand making business. Good for you.

The dragon reserve where I am at lost all of our wands and broomsticks. We are in dire straights. We would like to offer you five fully processed dragons in exchange for fifty wands. Without them, the reserve will have to shut down and the livestock will have to be destroyed.

Call me. Here's the number.

Charlie

Hermione asked, "What's a dragon worth?"

Harry asked, "To us, or to resell? I expect that we could sell the meat easily enough."

Dan added, "As for the rest, I think we have the same issue or opportunity as with the snake. I expect that there are people who would want to purchase the various parts and the blood. My recommendation would be to agree to his offer. Figure out what you do and don't want to have dry boxed. Better still, go to the apothecary and ask if they have an interest. That guy who sells the fire whiskey would almost certainly buy the blood. Hermione, go ask that Amanda Crabtree that you helped the other day if she has any interest. Spend an hour doing that, then call the dragon guy back . As for the broomsticks, maybe Devlin can make you a few dozen in exchange for some unicorn strand if the dragons are worth anything."

They did. There was an easy market for everything. Dan suggested, "Offer him up a deal. You want the blood, meat, liver, spleen and GI tract fresh, the hide tanned, bones and claws cleaned, the heart and wings dry boxed. Get a delivery date and ask what date they want us to go out to do the fitting."

Dobby said, "When you are done, Dobby can deliver message. Dobby knows where dragons are being kept."

… - ...

Harry called Devlin on the cell phone that Emma had purchased for each of them.

"Devlin Whitehorn."

"Devlin, this is Harry Potter. Your uncle Daryl gave me a wand to give to you. I'm at the new building in front of Gringotts, if you're available?"

"I am. I'll be right over."

… - …

Two hours later, the two had formed the basis of a real friendship. Harry had told him of Charlie's request and Devlin agreed to help. The only things that he was missing were wood and core material; in other words, he'd managed to collect proper twigs after his broomstick making operation had been trashed by the Wandout. Harry and the elves could supply the rest.

Devlin asked, "What sort of broomsticks did you have in mind?"

"Something fast that would be fairly quick to make. My first broomstick was a Nimbus 2000."

"I saw you on that one in '91. You flew that one for a while until you switched to one of mine. What do you hope to get out of the dealings with the dragon guy? The hearts take forever to process."

Harry replied, "I'm hoping that the wing or bone could be used in wandcrafting. There are 30,000 people in Britain and maybe another 300,000 people in Europe who need wands. From what Daryl told me, there's nowhere near enough core to go around. What have you used to make broomsticks?"

"They used braided kneezle hair for core in the low-end Comets. The Nimbus 2000 that you rode used a 36 inch long unicorn strand. The Firebolt was made from drybox processed powdered ashwinder snake bone."

"Why Ashwinder?"

"It was a magical snake that was large enough to yield a pound of snake bone that wouldn't automatically kill me."

Harry asked, "How about basilisk?"

"Way too dangerous to go after in my book."

Harry observed, "I agree. If you had one, would it work?"

Devlin replied, "Likely."

The teen gave a tiny smile and suggested, "Watch this." He showed the broom master the Chamber fight scene.

When it was done, Devlin remarked, "That was... intense. Are you an adrenalin junkie, or just unlucky in terms of where you spend your afternoons?"

"The later."

The master broomcrafter asked, "Where's it now?"

"The goblins are processing it for me in exchange for the meat. I expect to get the pieces back in a week."

"So you've got 2,000 pounds of snake bone, venom, a heart, other processed organs, hide, fangs and the mother of all monster skulls. What are you going to do with it?"

Harry replied, "Daryl thought I could likely use the bone or venom for wand core. He gave me the name of a guy who would buy any of the pieces for what he said was a fair price."

Devlin remarked, "I'd sell all of the organs minus the heart and the fluids minus the venom. You'll never have another set of fangs the size of sabers. There's no rush to get rid of them." It was the second time that he'd heard that advice.

In the end, Devlin took wood and 26 strands of unicorn hair for 26 Nimbus class broomsticks and promised them in three weeks. Harry told him that he'd give him 26 pounds of the basilisk bone when he got it.

… - …

Thursday August 24

At their 6 am meeting, Ragnok stated, "Wick reported that there were unicorn deaths in the forest. We also received a report that the French wandcrafter unexpectedly started taking orders for unicorn core wands. If the forest was raided, as Wick is suggesting, our prospects for getting commissions from the wandcrafters are seriously diminished. If you tie that in with the unverified reports that the team that had been collecting the unicorn hair for Potter has disappeared, we have two issues – dead unicorns and a dead collection team."

Barchoke replied, "Most likely they ran afoul of the Acromantula."

Ragnok directed, "Contact the centaurs. Tell them that we are going to do a sweep of the forest. We will not harm them or their little ones. We will not harm any of the remaing unicorns or the winged horses that Hagrid keeps. Should they find any living unicorns, send them to Potter's friend, Dobby. Send both of the Brigades."

"When would you like them to arrive at the forest?"

"Four pm today. That should give them enough daylight to sweep the forest. They should plan on killing at least 95 percent of the Acromantula. Should they find the perpetrators, they should make an attempt at capturing them. Should they find any human remains, they should be deposited on the lawn in front of the Hogwarts gates. Send the photographers, bring the healers. It is likely that there will be wounded. Call Dobby before they leave, so he is expecting to receive any living unicorns that we find."

… - …

Within the British goblin nation were 30,000 goblins. There were two security brigades; each one 1,000 goblins strong. They trained on a weekly basis. In goblin society, all of the fighters were male, though all of the females were more than capable of defending themselves.

Finally they were being called out for a real mission.

In separate rooms, each of the brigades were being given their common and specific instructions. Steeljaw, the commander of the black brigade was instructing his group while Leftfoot, the commander of the green brigade was instructing his group. Additionally, one of the operatives, Wick was assigned to safely keep Hagrid from accidentally getting involved, or hurt.

The black brigade would portkey to the west area of the forest, just in from Hogsmeade. They would use enchanted rope portkeys to transport in groups of 100. The green brigade would do the same from the east end. As the forest was two miles wide and four miles long, they would begin at their respective end and work their way to the middle. The black brigade starting form the west would be lined up in a V as such while the green brigade starting from the east would be lined up as such They would work what was referred to as a pincer movement.

Regardless of rank, every goblin knew the objectives. They also understood the constraints – Kill the spiders, collect any living unicorn, not to harm any centaur and as much as possible, don't be seen.

Operative Wick chose a comparatively nonlethal tactic for his part of the mission; he invited Hagrid out to the Three Broomsticks for dinner and a few drinks. As it turns out, 500 galleons can buy a lot of dinner and drinks. The first, second and third rounds for the house were on the diminutive professor.

Hagrid was trying his level best to keep the secrets that he'd been given and asked not to share. The fact that Flitwick was well versed in what Harry was up to along with Hagrid's gallon sized mug wasn't helping. "I've been helping Harry, see. Great man, Potter."

Flitwick attempted to keep a lid on the tale by stating, "Hermione was by with wands that they'd made together. You've been of great assistance to them both. Let's leave it at that. Did I mention that they'd heard from Charlie Weasley?" That guaranteed two hours of easy conversation. "Another round for the house please."

… - …

While the first round was being served, the black brigade had portkeyed in virtually silently. The portkey ropes were left where they were and would be used again for the return trip. The goblins rarely used ranged weapons like bow and arrow. They generally used melee weapons. On the basic side, the entry-level soldiers use a scimitar – a curved short sword. Others with more training used pole weapons – either four foot spears, pole axes, or the more decorative halberds that the door guards used. The spear warriors carried five each. To the warrior, they were skilled with their specific weapons.

The goblins had a healthy respect for the acromantula. They expected thousands of football sized newborns that could easily be skewered with a spear or slashed with the curved blades. In contrast, the grizzly bear sized adults were each contested by a group of 20 fighters that attacked from all directions, stabbing and slashing with great effectiveness. Even then, they proved to be a formidable challenge and too often bit a goblin in revenge. Fortunately, the light armor that they wore blunted most of the bites.

For Lipless, a young goblin of 24, this was his first call to action. He was armed with a basic scimitar and did not yet own any armor that the older goblins frequently wore. His company was in the south edge line of the . He gave a slash and his curved sword had tasted blood. They kept moving to keep their line straight and not allow any of the spiders to escape. Soon after, they were being charged by three garbage can size spiders. Lipless slashed as hard as he could. As he did, his fellow goblin in front of him was about to be bitten. Lipless slashed again, ending the life of the large spider. It was then that he spotted a little unicorn. As previously instructed, he walked up to it, put his hand on the little unicorn's back and activated his emergency portkey. His fight was over.

By the time Flitwick had purchased the third round, both brigades were headed back to their respective portkey ropes. They were back in London by the time that the fourth round had been served. The diminutive professor made Hagrid a portkey to take him directly back to his home.

The final tally had three warriors slightly injured and Dobby received six unicorn yearlings. No centaurs had been hurt. They found the remains of Amos, Connor and the lunch room crew, along with the older remains of what was believed to be nine students based upon their weathered Slytherin robes. There was also an unidentified individual who they surmised had been one of the unicorn attackers. By the time that the spiders had finished with him, it was doubtful that he would ever be identified. They were all left by the main gate.

… - …

Friday August 25

Dan Granger was no fan of monsters. Yet, as Harry's friend, Charlie and dragon reserve Director Bito were showing the two around, he felt like he was watching the wondrous parts of the Jurassic Park film. He saw a hatching take place, then they got down to work. They'd brought 100 wands and went to their task fitting the workers of the camp. With Winky's help, the fittings went very quickly.

Charlie said, "Thank you four. We'll be the rest of the week strengthening the wards.

Harry replied, "Wouldn't it be easier with some broomsticks?" Charlie nodded at the memory of flying rather than walking everywhere in the vast reserve. Harry added, "Let's double the deal. I'll find you lot a few decent broomsticks. You guys give me a fair price on the processed dragons for five years. Can that work?" Charlie nodded. Harry added, "We'll be back in a few weeks and Charlie can give us the rest of the tour."

"Deal."

… - ...

By morning, the photographs of the dead unicorns had been posted up and down the alley. Far too many had seen copies of the photos that had also been delivered to the Daily Prophet and the Quibbler for any sort of ministry recommended suppression of the news. Having read the separate articles from Fudge grabbing credit for managing the unicorn hair harvest and the article from Potter affirming Connor, Amos and Fudge's direct involvement, Fudge was in an indefensible position for not protecting the mythical animals from an easily predictable attack.

He had claimed direct management of the program, publicized his personal involvement, failed to provide any security, caught the ire of some group with a vendetta and lost what could have been described as a national treasure, as well as the surest path to getting replacement wands for thousands of British magicals. The scandal was unlikely to blow over anytime soon.

… - ...

Fudge slammed down the paper.

Unicorns Slaughtered – Wand Production at Risk

Unicorn hair collection team, others found dead in forest

Damnit! He didn't need another problem right now. Eric Munch, the guard reported that there were 200 witches and wizards in the lobby calling for his resignation. It was times like this where he truly missed Dolores, who was quite skilled at clearing a room.

… - ...

Mundungus Fletcher felt something of an obligation to mentor the young people who had so crudely joined the brotherhood of thieves and scoundrels. "Ya got it wrong, son. Ya canna be taken' the floo carrying a stack o' boxes like that. It's classless to have to set them down in the Cauldron and make two trips through the bloody floo. 'esides, it's a waste o' floo powder. Ya need to spend a few galleons n' get yerself one 'o dose bottomless bags from Kelworths. Don't ya go 'n try to lift one from his shop either. He's been a good friend to those in our profession. He knows better, 'n will tan yer hide when he catches you. Here, give me ten quid; I got a spare I can let you have. There, that's better.

"Now when ya do yer smash 'n grab, ya need to 'ave a plan. Ya don't just take the first thing ya see – have a little class. Ya give us a bad name, nicking stuff like that. Go back 'n try again. Have the floo powder in yer hand when ya come in so yer ready and fer Merlin's sake, son, leave a few sickles on the table for ol' Tom.

"There ya go son, give it another go."

… - …

That afternoon, Flitwick went back to visit Harry. It was quite easy as Hogwarts wasn't in session and the Wand Shop didn't sell wands on Thursdays or Fridays. The guards gave a nod of respect as they stepped aside to let him pass. Harry was in the break room writing numbers at the white board using various colored markers. After the usual greetings Filius asked, "What can I do to help you?"

Harry explained the windfall that he'd been handed with Seamus and the unicorns.

Flitwick remarked, "That sounded like an excellent trade."

Harry added, "According to Seamus' mother, Beth, they live a long time. The one that they gave me had been their family pet for 35 years or so. The little boy or girl it was originally purchased for grew up and it became less of a novelty. We've picked up a few that way."

"That's very fortunate. Where are they now, if I might ask?"

"My Grandparents had an 80 acre property in Gloucester. Dobby, Winky and some of their friends live there. They've been taking care of them."

"Excellent. Those trades are an arrangement that you should encourage. On a different subject, were you ever contacted by anyone who might have been responsible for the killings in the Hogwarts forest?"

Harry replied, "No but I've never heard of another use for unicorn tail hair aside from wand or broomstick core. I'd guess that they either killed them for the purpose of collecting the tail hair and horn to sell, or to keep it from being used."

Flitwick mentally kicked himself. He'd never even considered the second statement that Potter had mentioned. There were a dozen groups that would delight in making it harder for British wizards to rearm – among them Weres, Vampires and Squibs.

Harry added, "The Wandmaster who we learned from told us that most people who learn wandmaking give it up."

Somewhat surprised, Flitwick asked, "Why is that?"

"It's too expensive to get into and their country might not have any reliable source of wand core. He told us most people were using what he termed legacy, or family wands. My uncle called them hand-me-downs."

Flitwick asked, "Who else is making wands now?"

"We were told that there's a wandmaster in Bucherast who has been teaching several students. One guy was from Munich, the other from Marseille. I expect that any of them would be willing to purchase a bundle or two of hairs if someone brought them in. I was paying 100G a strand when Cedric's dad, Auror Dawlish and Fudge's nephew were gathering them on behalf of the Ministry."

Flitwick carefully changed the subject. "I had a student a dozen years back who had a female pet unicorn, I'll look her up if you wish. If I might ask, how many wands did you trade?"

"The last one had an extended family of twelve. They were happy with the deal and so was I."

"Making good trades is an excellent way of doing business. I'll check up on her and contact you. Thank you for having me out today."

Harry replied, "I'm happy that you came to see us, Professor. I'll look forward to hearing back from you."

… - …

While Flitwick was talking with Harry, Geoffrey came out of the floo at the safehouse and said, "Hey Fenrir, where are you?"

"Whotcher, Geoff?"

"Here are 40 wands, Fen. That's enough for all of us and some to spare."

"How'd you get them?" asked a concerned sounding Fenrir.

"I went to the continent – France then Germany. I traded some hair from two of the unicorns for the 40 wands. Then I sold 150 strands to the wandmaker from Germany. He gave me 30,000G. He asked to buy more."

Fenrir said, "Too risky. I want you to burn the rest. The fewer people who have wands, the better for us. The money is always useful but the trail would lead back to us far too easily." He personally didn't cast spells with his wand; rather he used it for apparition. Aside from that, he hadn't missed having one but knew that the others felt differently.

… - …

The week between their initial sales and the Wand Shop grand opening was a fantastic opportunity for self reflection, process review and improvement. On the manufacturing side, they were essentially making two wands – the 12 inch rod and the 7 inch pencil. The only differences were the wood and core combinations.

Dan observed, "The class wands that we made in Salem were crafted one wand at a time, start to finish by the same person. What we're trying here is more like a factory. Processing steps are defined and we each work that step on a group of wands for the morning or day. Dobby generally has sliced the wood into half inch blocks. In class, we would use the slicer tools to split the block into two halves. Here Dobby does the slices and uses dental rubber bands to keep the two halves together and aligned correctly. Harry generally has been doing the indents. Thank you for that. It requires a good eye, steady hands and strong wrists."

Harry remarked, "Everyone's been taking their turn clamping the glued blocks into the glue tables. Hermione, the tables that you've transfigured have gotten better every time you make a new one. Professor McGonagall would be awarding you O's and extra points." She smiled at the memory of her favorite professor.

Dan replied, "Sanding the 3/4th inch blocks at Salem was an exercise in tedium and easily the most labor intensive of the steps. Switching to ½ inch blocks cut the sanding time in half. We could take it one step further and use 7/16th inch blocks. Everyone has taken turns with the sanding. With the smaller block, essentially all we'd be doing is rounding off the corners. Hermione, you've done a wonderful job finishing the wands. Making stacked racks to hold the wands while they're drying at the finishing station was an inspired idea; we can have a lot more drying than the setup that we started with. We'll just have to adjust the UV lights a bit, so they harden properly."

Hermione smiled and replied, "Thanks. On the sales side, Winky's done the best job that I could imagine at the front end. I originally envisioned handing the customer a handful of wands and guessing which one would fit over the course of ten minutes a customer. We'd have been doing fittings five mornings a week to get to 600 each week."

Dan asked, "What are the constraints, risks and roadblocks that we can work on eliminating?"

Harry replied, "The giant in the room has been and probably always will be core availability. Hermione's pencil wands are the most inspired idea that I can imagine in wand design. The customers love them, they're happy with the performance, fit better and double the number of wands that can be made with a full length hair. A lot of the broken hairs that Hagrid was so good at finding for us were less than 12 inches. More were less than 24 inches and rather than making one wand, we can make two or three from them. Almost all of the pieces that he's found for us were less than 36 inches."

Dan smirked and said, "So the short of it is, we have to find more sources of core – either more unicorns, or use something that isn't on our list yet. If we can solve this problem, we can become multi-millionaires or better. We can change the world for everyone who hasn't bought a replacement wand yet. So what's on our known list?"

Hermione said, "Unicorn, thesteral, hippogriff and dragon."

Dan asked, "Can we get more hippogriffs?"

Harry said, "Hagrid told me that he got them from a guy in Greece. They're out of wands too, so it's doubtful; same for thesterals. We have ten unicorns; the little ones are too little this year. Dobby, Winky; do you think we could find a few more?"

"We are hoping so, Harry Potter. Winky has elf friends looking."

Dan suggested, "Harry, you should give Seamus and Beth another call and see if they have had any other conversations or leads. What other items haven't we tried yet?"

"There are possibilities with the basilisk – the shed skin, the bones and the venom along with possibilities with dragons – the wings, the bones and possibly the blood. The hearts are off the table as they're solutions that are two years out. It's too bad that the dehydrator idea didn't work out."

Hermione asked, "How do we know that there was only one shed skin?"

Harry looked at his girlfriend, smiled and replied, "We don't. No one has checked on the other side of the Slytherin statue where the snake came from."

Dan asked, "How big is the piece that you currently have?"

"Somewhere between 100-200 square feet. Some of it may not be usable."

"When would you expect to get the rest of the snake pieces?"

"A week or two."

"Let's make a complete set of wands with 1/8th inch strips and see what we get."

Winky said "Downy Birch works best. Short wands for people, long wands for Aurors. A fourth of people could use snake and snakeskin wands."

Dan asked what he thought was a reasonable question, "Is there another use for the snake skin that you can think of?"

Harry asked, "What are you thinking of?"

Dan replied, "It could be the ultimate ingredient for broomsticks, heart transplants, cure cancer or time travel. I'm not saying that wandcrafting isn't a worthy cause but for all we know, you have the only one in existence. Again, I recommend calling the guy that Daryl recommended and ask what these things are used for."

"That's good advice, thanks."

… - ...

Monday August 28

As Harry and the three Grangers walked the alley, beginning at Toms that morning at five am. Hermione was distressed. "There must be six hundred people in line already."

"Keep moving," urged Dan, holding both his wife and daughter's hands as they made their way to the bank.

Up ahead of them, a scuffle broke out as two young men tried to cut in at the front of the line. Fortunately Scrimgeour assigned four of the larger aurors to handle crowd control for the opening morning. They sent the two on their way without further incident.

"Greetings wandcrafters. Good morning, Dr. Granger," greeted Barchoke who was watching the line grow with interest.

Lockjaw, who was standing next to Barchoke observed, "There are many people in the alley this morning."

Harry replied, "Too many. Most will just be disappointed when they are turned away for the day."

Barchoke said, "Please stop by later this week; there is much opportunity. Allow me to adjust your watches to bring you directly into your break room. Will you be assisting from time to time, Dr. Granger?"

Emma replied, "Yes. I thought I could help them keep their accounts straight."

"A worthy endeavor. Please accept this on behalf of the Director." He handed her a beautiful, exquisitely crafted gold watch that was set to go to the Wand Shop, her home, the Gloucester property and the dental clinic. "Your highly capable daughter can brief you on how to use it. Please wear it always. Enjoy the grand opening of your new business."

"Thank you." They said, "Activate Wand Shop." and were transported to the break room.

Dobby had already put a fresh set of wands in the glue tables. Hermione asked, "Harry, what are we going to do? There are 600 people in line."

He replied, "There may be 6,000 in line by noon. We're going to stick with the plan. The issue isn't that we're going to sell 200 hands today, the issue is that the ministry was too busy collecting our money and didn't spend five minutes thanking about logistics. No surprise on that; Fudge made sure that he was first in line. As far as what we're going to do, at 8 we're going to call Amelia and have her clear the line at the 200th person. We'll ask Dobby to go to the stationary store and buy a ream of yellow paper with anti-copy charms etched into it, I'll pass them out to the shop owners and have them come in on Saturday morning. There are about 100 shops in the alleys. Two apiece?"

She countered, "Five."

"OK. That will be our good deed for the week. Fair enough?"

"Yes. Thanks."

"We can't do this every week."

Her smile made him weak in the knees. She replied, "I know but this is the right thing to do."

… - ...

Rufus returned to the alley at 8. He counted out 210 people and said, "You're last in line. That's all they have to sell today."

One guy shouted, "That's easy for you to say; you got yours last week. I need mine to do my job."

It was the wrong thing to say. Someone shouted, "What do you suppose we're here for, ya bloody bastard? I go' family too. Ya should have stepped inta da line earlier. Wanker."

"Who ya callen' a wanker. Sod off." They exceeded Scrimgeour's rather low tolerance level when they began shoving each other. They both were tossed from the line.

… - ...

Inside, they were done by 10:30. Redeye said, "That was the last person for the day."

Hermione thought they should have done more. "We can make six or seven hundred a day. Why are we stopping at 200?"

With less finesse than he intended Harry replied, "And do what? Run out by Halloween?"

Hermione rebutted, "What's wrong with that? What's the point in doling out a few each week?" She had her hand on her hip and looked like she had more to say.

Emma, who hadn't signed up to be referee for the day observed, "Part of the reason is to maintain some semblance of order. Didn't you two agree on the numbers two weeks ago?"

There were two muttered replies of, "Yes."

Harry pointed out, "Make your yellow cards. Dobby and I will pass them out. We'll see if we get 500 people in line or 5,000. In the mean time, we have a lot of sanding to do and a lot of shellac to brush on."

… - …

A/Ns

The long lines waiting for a wand feel like a train wreck waiting to happen. There is contention inside the Wand Shop. Harry isn't an experienced managing director. They're all doing the best that they can but mistakes will be made.

Is the tale sufficiently different from Unintended Consequences? We hope so buteveryone sees things differently.

VashonBeader's tale, Harry Potter and the Order of Merlin has been quite enjoyable to read. I greatly respect her as a writer and have enjoyed reading each of her stories.

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O-C