From the Daily Prophet of 20 July, 2000
Philanthropist Potter
Seeker donates broom money to St. Mungo's
By Aglaia Friedman
HOGSMEADE -- Hero and hunk. Saviour and Seeker. All these words have been fairly used to describe Britain's biggest celebrity, Harry Potter.
Now you can add philanthropist to the list.
The Boy Who Lived spent his Wednesday morning finalizing a one-year, 100,000-Galleon contract to exclusively fly the broomsticks of the Firebolt Broom Company. Then, in a move that is sure to leave highly paid wizarding athletes all over the world feeling sheepish, he donated all the gold to the War Orphans Wing at St. Mungo's Hospital on Wednesday afternoon.
"In the past as an Auror and, hopefully, in the future as a Quidditch player, I've made more than enough money to live comfortably," Potter said at a news conference. "I don't need any more gold, but those children at St. Mungo's do need it. I'm glad that I'm in a position to be able to help them in some way."
The Daily Prophet can exclusively report this is not the first time the Boy Who Lived has given to the hospital.
When asked about the donation, St. Mungo's director Mildred Cross said, "We are truly grateful to Mr. Potter for his incredible generosity. His contributions have done much to ease the suffering of all those affected by the war."
Cross declined to specify what was meant by "contributions." However, when asked about the director's statement, Potter admitted to giving regularly to various charities run by the hospital.
"It's my share of the profits from Wheezes," Potter reluctantly explained, meaning the popular joke seller Weasley's Wizard Wheezes where Wednesday's announcement was made. "I own 10 percent of the business and I've been giving away everything my share earns."
The Boy Who Lived could not say specifically how much gold he has donated to the hospital, but Fred and George Weasley, the co-founders of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and Potter's agents, said the total, excluding Wednesday's gift, is in excess of 100,000 Galleons.
"The lad really is incredible," said stunned Wizengamot member Mundungus Fletcher when told of the donations. "Giving away 200,000 Galleons? Un-bloody-believable! For that Harry deserves a sainthood … or at least a few years as Minister of Magic."
In Wednesday's news conference -- which marked the first time the Boy Who Lived has answered the media's questions in more five years -- Potter also commented on his future in politics for the first time since he was forced out of the Ministry in May. The 19-year-old, widely believed to be the leading contender to replace Cornelius Fudge on the First Level, did not dismiss the possibility.
"Returning to the Ministry is something I'll have to think about in the future," he said. "But for now, I'm ready for Quidditch training."
It was Potter's preparations for his first season on the pitch that made Wednesday's donation possible. The former Auror agreed last month to join Puddlemere United, and two weeks ago it became known he was actively searching for a broom to fly when the team opens training camp 1 August.
Eleven companies from four continents submitted a combined 19 models in a competition as fierce as any in the history of the broomstick industry. The Boy Who Lived and his agents conducted extensive flight tests last week in Ottery St. Catchpole, and Potter chose the Fireblast '98, Firebolt's second-generation broom, as the winner.
"I really like this broom," Potter said. "I've flown a Firebolt for years and this has a lot of the same qualities. It's as fast as anything out there and it's reliable. It came down to it or the Velocity C. The Velocity's acceleration is a bit better, but the Fireblast felt more stable at high speed. As a Seeker, I think a little bit more balance is more important than a little bit more pace."
Firebolt officials were delighted when they were notified of their victory.
"When we received Mr. Potter's owl, it was like we had won grand prize in the Galleon Draw," the company's chief executive wizard, Gerard LaFlame, said. "We have a great deal of pride and confidence in the Fireblast, but we knew that all our competitors were making their best pitches as well. That we won says many good things about this company and we celebrated all those good things with almost as many good bottles of champagne."
The Fireblast was released in June of 1997 to coincide with the start of qualifying for the World Cup. Its top speed is listed as 172 mph, narrowly making it the second fastest broom on the market (behind the Velocity C's maximum speed of 174 mph), and it accelerates to 150 mph in a shade under nine seconds. Like its predecessor, the original Firebolt, the Fireblast was an instant hit on the international stage. At the 1998 World Cup in New Zealand, semifinalist Ireland and runner-up Bulgaria flew the model. An estimated 35 percent of the players in the Quidditch League of Great Britain and Ireland used Fireblasts last season, including 54 percent of Seekers.
In its bid to lure the sought-after rookie, LaFlame said his company even offered to give Potter the prototype of its third-generation design -- tentatively to be called the Inferno and due for release next spring. But the Boy Who Lived declined, telling the media, "I'll let somebody else be their guinea pig."
Yet, Wednesday's biggest surprise was the literally charitable terms of Potter's contract. Before the announcement, it was expected Potter would follow the example of other high-profile players like David Adams and Moira Mullet, who signed long-term endorsement contracts worth hundreds of thousands of Galleons with broomstick makers and did not give a Knut to aid organizations as part of the deals.
The manufacturers made offers at or beyond that scale to Potter. The Boy Who Lived would not give amounts but did say the proposals were "significant." Harrison Cloud, the chairman at Nimbus, told the Daily Prophet his company tendered a five-year, 2-million-Galleon contract with a 5-percent royalty on all sales to Potter. That deal would have smashed the wizarding endorsement record and most of the others must have had comparable terms.
But an advertising deal was never part of Wednesday's agreement. Under the terms of the contract, the Boy Who Lived is not required to undertake any formal promotion, though Firebolt may market the Fireblast as "the broom flown by Harry Potter."
"Obviously, we had hoped to make Mr. Potter our spokesman," LaFlame said. "But our company has always prided itself on marketing the finest brooms and I think this reinforces that. Mr. Potter picked us because we best met his needs, not because we offered him the most gold."
Officially, the 100,000 Galleons will be listed as Potter's payment for exclusively using Firebolt's brooms this winter. The company was aware of the Boy Who Lived's intention to donate the money throughout the brief negotiations.
"I never had any interest in advertising, even for millions of Galleons," Potter said. "My old friend Hermione (Granger) was actually the one who suggested I take advantage of the situation to raise a bit of money for a good cause. I want to thank her, Mr. LaFlame and the other good witches and wizards at Firebolt for making that possible."
Said LaFlame, "You cannot find a more worthy cause than the children at St. Mungo's. It makes us at Firebolt proud that our name can go alongside Mr. Potter's in helping them."
Even the Weasley brothers participated in the charity act. As Potter's agents, they were entitled to a 10-percent commission from the agreement but they too elected to give their share to the hospital.
"It was the right thing to do," George Weasley said.
Potter concluded his news conference Wednesday by asking wizard companies of all sorts to stop sending him endorsement proposals. "I'm just going to say no," he said.
When it was asked if that meant he was terminating his five-week-old advertising relationship with Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, Fred Weasley loudly exclaimed, "No!" before the Boy Who Lived could answer.
"I wouldn't even be advertising for these clowns if they hadn't written it into my contract when they agreed to work as my agents," Potter explained with a chuckle. "When I have a choice, I'll only concern myself with things when I actually need them."
With the start of training camp less than a fortnight away, Puddlemere's new Seeker actually needed a broom. The orphans at St. Mungo's have that fact, along with a hero's generosity, to thank for their new preponderance of support.
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Aglaia Friedman is the Daily Prophet's financial reporter. Owl her at thedpreportingyahoo.com
A/N: Well, for one chapter at least, I'm updating reasonably quickly. I shall endeavour to continue that trend as best I can. Thanks to everyone who reviewed Chapter 9. It means a lot to know what I still have a few people following along. Kudos also go to my betas -- Promethean Alchemist, LadyChi and Nancy -- for their swift reaction to my sudden re-emergence from lurkerdom. And, while I'm at it, I should also credit 3DO's Heroes of Might and Magic series of video games, from which I lifted the Firebolt broom names.