The Count of Azkaban
Chapter 9
The new daybreak would be forgotten by all. It was like any other. But to the keepers of magic, it was the day that light started to fight back against the dark.
Although forgotten, several chains of incidents started today.
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Harry had gotten up early, as was his custom now and was deep in meditation. He needed to be calm and collected, most of all to block the link he had with the dark lord. Though it had weakened quite a bit and was almost non-existent while he was in the elven realm, it had gained a bit of strength since his return to the wizarding world. Now, he needed to stop the link through several meditation techniques which were unique to him. Had it been for any other wizard or elf, they would not have been able to do so, but he was cursed with abnormality all his life.
Today was the day when he would start the first phase and meet Malfoy. Blade had already informed him that the young lord was in the habit of reaching his office by eight in the morning. Harry would wait until eleven. The magical owl who bore Malfoys letter was already roaming in the vast estate. Harry had had a chat with him and the owl had agreed to wait until being dismissed of his duty to take back a reply.
He looked at the scroll which the owl had delivered from the Malfoy bank and re-read the letter.
From:
Lord Draconius Malfoy,
Order of Voldemort, 2nd Class., Order of Merlin, 1st Class, Chairman, the Malfoy Bank, and Member of the Wizengamot.
To:
The Count of Azkaban,
Isle of Azkaban.
Sir,
We are in receipt of a letter of credit in your favor issued by the La Banque de l'Union Européenne, from the Paris, France branch.
Kindly set up a schedule for an appointment to complete formalities.
Harry was smirking at the letter. The memo was normal and professional although he had already gotten the information that Draco had waited for him to come till late last night. As a matter of fact, he had left instructions to be informed as soon as the owl returned. 'Let's get on with it', he thought. He took out a galleon and put his thumb against it. A few seconds later, blade appeared in his room.
"We need to go to the Malfoy Bank." Harry told blade and the latter nodded. With a swish of blade's wand and a thought of Harry's, they both changed into formal robes. Then blade disapparated to the bank.
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The Malfoy bank was a flurry of activity in the morning. As usual, there were people at the tellers doing their jobs and vaults were being visited by many. A few desks away, some one was applying for a loan or an advance. Amidst all this activity, blade entered the bank, a parchment in his hands. He walked to young girl who was sitting at the reception counter. Her name tag announced her as 'Grace'
"Miss Grace!" blade called out authoritatively.
The young girl looked up and saw a clearly handsome man. Her lips got a bit wider than the usual and she smiled. Clearly, she was interested.
"How may I help you, Sir?" she asked politely as per the banking guidelines, though her smile was a lot warmer.
"I am here to meet with Mr. Malfoy." Blade said.
"Do you have an appointment?"
"No. But we were asked to contact them" with this, he took out the letter from Malfoy and handed it over to the girl. As she read through the letter, grace almost screeched. The rumor mill had been working overtime since yesterday regarding some client which had been keeping the plat-prat, as he was called behind his back, quite uptight. This must be him.
"Are you the Count of…" she stopped as she saw blade shook his head.
"No. I am his personal secretary." With that, her head bobbed up and down. After asking him to take a seat on a sofa, she quickly spoke to Scattermigger and a few seconds later, left her place and walked to the chairman's offices.
Draco Malfoy had come up early once more. He was a bundle of nervous energy at the moment. Just then, Scattermigger entered his office.
"Sir, a man claiming to be the Count of Azkaban's personal secretary has come to the bank with your letter. He is asking to meet you. I have called him up here."
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Draco was not happy with the present situation. He had wanted to meet the count himself and get to know him on a personal level. He had no intention of dealing with the man's secretary. But he couldn't be turned away as well. Making up his mind, he looked at Scattermigger and said, "Bring him in but make sure that we do not do any business without the count being present here." Scattermigger nodded and went back to fetch the Count's messenger. Draco, on the other hand, started to check up on his appearance to make sure that everything was fine.
A few minutes later Blade, accompanied by Scattermigger, entered Draco's office.
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Blade entered the office and looked around. He had seen better and was hardly impressed. Scattermigger took the scroll and handed it over to Draco. Both of them were silent, willing the other to start. A few seconds later, it was Draco who broke the silence.
"Ah! Mr.?" Draco started in a condescending tone. He wanted to have an upper hand while talking to this man. Any separate understanding may be useful.
"You may call me blade. I am here at your request and I don't have time to waste." Blade said brusquely, totally obliterating Draco's approach.
Astonished by the response he got, Draco decided to change his track. He was not the chairman of such a big bank for nothing. "Be as it may, the letter of credit is in favor of the count. Hence his presence is essential to the setting up of the transaction."
"The count doesn't delve in matters of such mundane importance." Blade said. He was surprised how accurately the count had predicted the meeting. Then, he shouldn't have been. He had just lost a thousand galleons to stout.
"It is our policy Mr. Blade. We take the security of our client very seriously." Draco ended the conversation.
Blade took out a small thing out of his pocket which looked very much like a muggle cell phone. A few seconds later, he was speaking with the count.
"Count!" he said. "The director of the bank insists on meeting you"
"I will be there in a few minutes. Ask them if they are free." Blade looked at Draco who nodded his head once.
"We are waiting." Blade said and switched off the mobile.
All three of them waited in silence. Draco had already left message at the entrance to avoid any delays.
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There had been no practice in the morning today for Ginny. Since last night, she had had an odd feeling. So, she had called up Blinky and asked for the full information on the earlier incident. However, as there were no pictures that may be shown, she was at a loss.
Now, as she sat in her chambers, Blinky appeared in front of her.
"Madam wants know" she said simply. Ginny was astonished. Blinky never volunteered anything. But deciding quickly, she nodded her acceptance.
Blinky squeezed her big eyes close and put her hand out, her palm facing upwards. A ray of light burst from her palm and she could see Artie flying at the break-neck speed on his broom. In real-time, she saw the scene unfold from Blinky's point of view. She gasped once more as Artie plunged in to the near death dive. But this time, she knew the outcome. She was more interested in the man who had saved him. And then she saw him.
He was a tall man, maybe 6'2"-6'3", with long black hair tied back in a pony tail. He had high forehead and sparkling blue eyes. He looked oddly familiar. Then she saw him somehow saving her son. How he had done it was not known because he had had no wand and had not moved his lips to say out an incantation. All she could see were the effects. Her son was alive and the benefactor was gone.
She stayed like that for a long time. Her heart was saying something her mind refused to accept. But she was a Weasley, not a Malfoy. Heart always won. Only one word, with a couple of tears escaped her. "Harry."
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The Harry Potter, alias The Count of Azkaban had just apparated into the lobby of the Malfoy Bank. Had he wanted, he could have passed through the wards and appeared directly into Draco's office but his abilities were better served unknown.
As soon as he appeared, a young woman approached him.
"The Count of Azkaban?" she asked deferentially.
He nodded.
"The chairman is waiting for you. If you could please follow me." With that, she turned and led the way to the office of Draco Malfoy. Another one of the attendants discretely signaled the office as to the arrival of the count.
A couple of minutes walk later, Harry reached the office. The door was opened by Scattermigger, Draco's secretary.
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Harry walked in, imperiously, as if he owned the place. He glanced once at blade and then looked straight at Draco Malfoy. He had changed a lot. Gone was the brat who had nothing better to do than invoke his father's name and his position. He had turned out to be a self assured, confident and vain man. The vanity had stayed.
Draco felt uncomfortable under the piercing gaze of the count. He never got uncomfortable, except perhaps when he was with the dark lord. That in itself was very uncomfortable to him.
He decided to turn on his charm a bit. He stood up, smiled and walked out of his desk and put out his hand to greet the count.
The count, it seemed, was in no mood to be expansive. Draco's hand remained in air for a couple of seconds. The count made no movement to meet it. Flushed to his roots, Draco put his hand down. He had never been so embarrassed, at least in a long-long while.
The count spoke, "Why have you requested my presence for such a mundane matter as executing a letter of credit? It had all the magical seals as well as copy of my magical seal."
Draco was once again pushed back a step. He knew he was wrong. In the magical banking world, there had been no real need for the count to come. Although it was customary, it was not a necessity. Draco had asked the count so that he may come to know him, but the ploy was reaping more thorn than roses at the moment.
But he had a way out, a small thing which could explain his actions.
"I apologize for any discomfort which may have been caused by this; however there was something on which I had to ask you regarding the letter of credit opened in your favor."
Draco paused, clearly waiting for any reaction from the count. He obviously got none.
Getting up a bit ruffled, he took out a copy of the letter of credit he had received and gave it to the count to peruse. The count however did not even glance at it but continued looking at the now squirming Draco. His gaze said all. He wanted an excuse for this impudence.
"As you see, the letter here is quite vague."
"How is it vague, sir? I have been under the impression that all the formalities which are to be completed and technicalities to be fulfilled have already been agreed to under the treaty number 1665. Are you telling me that the Le Beau is not conforming to the treaty?" The portent of the sentence was clear to all present. Le Beau was the biggest international bank and the chairman of the international council of the banks. It was a very serious charge. Malfoy bank could very easily be out of favor for even uttering such words.
Draco made a hasty retreat in his words and said, "No. I didn't mean that. If you see the letter of credit, it is quite vague as to extent of its disposition."
"And what would that mean? How is it vague? I ask of you once more. Or have they somehow not mentioned the section under which the letter of credit has been opened."
"No." Draco said. "Though the section and everything is present, that section is not used. As you are aware that your letter has the term for unlimited credit, I just wanted to know the extent of credit would you wish?"
The count looked at the chairman of the bank as if was a mosquito who was continually annoying him and was coming in the danger of being swatted out of his misery.
"The reason I had requested for an unlimited credit was because I did not know how much may I spend over here. But, ah!" Harry paused. "You are not really asking me this, are you? You have limited funds and may require to arrange for them should my demands may be out of your budget."
Draco was visibly miffed now. If anything, he was a Malfoy and the richest known man of England. He was damned if his credit would be questioned by an unknown person.
"I beg your pardon, Sir. The extent of my liquidity has never been challenged. The house of Malfoy is a bond in itself." Draco said a bit rudely.
"Then it would seem that I am the first to do so." The count replied, remaining calm despite the lack of composure of Draco. Fact be told, he was enjoying his present discomfort.
"I would like to tell you that should you be hard pressed and would also require a billion galleons…"
Draco could not even finish his sentence before he saw the pitiful impression on the counts face.
"What do you suppose such a pitiful sum would be to me, sir? If I had required such a pitiful sum, I would not have deigned to open a letter of credit. You are mentioning an amount that I am in a habit of keeping in my wallet." With that, he took out a wad of ten orders, made by the French government and drawn on the British wizarding government, payable to the bearer for a hundred million galleons each.
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There was no greater way of putting Draco back in his place. After seeing the great wealth of the person in front of him, he was truly and utterly humbled. Although he had read the dossier on the count, he had more or less discounted the net worth figure. There was no person in the world that was that rich. Add to that, evaluations of privately held companies, was a dicey issue. Now, as he was being totally upstaged, he had no more option to back down. He would have to get into the count's good graces by actually doing some work.
Harry now decided to act magnanimous. It would be the final nail in the coffin. "Come now. Let's not get into this. I don't wish to create any trouble for you. I do not plan to be here for more than a year; hence let's assume that I shall not be drawing on for an amount of more than five billion galleons."
Draco was visibly humbled as his head was now nodding like a five year old.
Smiling, Harry got up and said, "In the future, such mundane activities will be handled by my secretary here." Draco nodded.
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As the count stood up to go back, Draco had a brainstorm. He hurriedly got out of his chair and came to the count's right hand side.
"Dear Sir, I would like to apologize for my uncouth behavior and causing any discomfort to you. If you accept my apologies, kindly grace me your presence with your having a cup of tea with me and my family. It won't take long."
This was something Harry had not expected. He had no wish to meet Ginny. But he had to mould Draco according to him. Mentally sighing but outwardly showing not even a single emotion, he nodded.
Draco looked as if Christmas had come a month earlier, rather as if he had earned a cool million. Taking out some floo out of the floo bag, he turned to the count and said, 'the address is Malfoy Castle.' Accepting the floo powder, Harry waited for Draco to pass through. A few seconds later, he himself passed through. Unlike the old Harry, he did not fall. His years of training had given him perfect balance. He was so good at it that nobody even saw when he muttered the scourgify charm to clean the soot.
Harry looked around and saw, what was obviously, the grand hall. Draco was trying to impress him. His plan was working, not that he had had any doubts. His only apprehension was to meet Ginny or her son. But he would endure it.
Draco on the other hand was congratulating himself on getting the count here. He wanted him to meet Ginevra. Everybody was impressed by his wife. So much so that she was in greater demand in the social circle than he was. That may be also because she seldom went anywhere. But when she did, she was the star attraction.
Draco realized it and used it for what it was worth. Now was one of those times.
Harry had heard every one of Draco's musings. Internally, he pitied Draco. Ginny was a woman to be cherished, not used. Before he could think of anything, Ginny appeared out of one of the hallways. As soon as her eyes saw him, they both just stood still. Her face whitened and the only thing Harry heard was a single word, "Harry!"
Author's Notes:
Another chapter. Hope you like it.
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