Shifter

XVIII

The Growth of the Fairytale

Growing Giant Fairytale announced this morning, it has bought out struggling broom manufacturer, Arrow. However, many, us included thought that this was a ploy to shut them down and sell them off piece-by-piece, which would have put many people out of work, money in Fairytales pockets, and been a great shame to the people of the Magical UK, as it would mean the death of such an old company, as well as the loss of many jobs. It was in fact, the first company to start mass producing flying brooms on the planet.

However, a representative from Fairytale has officially stated that they are NOT closing manufacturing of brooms or any part of Arrow. That we should all calm down and that no one shall lose their jobs.

Fairytale has officially stated that the name of Arrow will be continued; as they shall put out a new broom that Arrow couldn't quite afford to finish production beforehand as a special tribute, and will be released next month, a whole six weeks earlier than expected, though, with Fairytale they can actually-make the brooms in mass, thanks to Fairytales added capitol, with the name Arrow. The company has been absorbed into Fairytale, under the heading Fairytale Racing BRAND, and will specialise in high performance brooms, while they have assured us, they will continue making their trusted and reliable staples for more luxury and easy flying for those who do not have an aptitude for crazy areal moves, or broom-based sports.

We look forward to the release of the Arrow BRAND racing broom.

If not for Fairytale, this company would have sunk and gone bankrupt within the year, even if the new broom was successfully launched, as their closest competitor stole away so many, too many customers for their versatile Nimbus series, and many people would have lost work. However, now Fairytale reports that they shall be increasing employment by an estimated three hundred percent. This will greatly help with unemployment and hopefully assist our economic growth.

It should be noted that the Fairytale Firefly bar, hotel, and restaurant in Diagon Alley shall be opening come the second of June, just three days after the start of the school holiday, which will allow our children to attend and enjoy the grand opening too – and with fireworks, and performers scheduled to open the place, I know I'll be there to report on all of the goings on, and have a great time. Please see the back page for some coupons for some discounts for opening night, and to see who will be performing. I'm rather excited to see some amazing up and coming artists that have been signed to Fairytale Records.

I'm sure you all remember the opening of the Firefly in Hogsmeade, formally the Hogshead Pub, having been renovated beyond what we could have ever thought of or imagined, for New Years Eve. The whole building had been torn down and rebuilt three times its original size. It was a wonder to behold when we first stepped through her doors, and I had never heard such talent with some of the performers, like Jenny Jones, probably my new favourite singer, and I think it makes all the difference that she plays her own guitar – and guess what? Jenny Jones and her band, The Nifflers, are going to be showcasing their new song "Endless" at Firefly Diagon Alley, and I cannot wait.

If the opening of the Diagon Alley branch can outdo the Hogsmeade opening, I'm sure we'll all be surprised, but I have my fingers crossed for an amazing night. It had done so well that its only competition, the Three Broomsticks was reportedly empty, and is now barely coping with a high loss of customers, and rumour has it that Fairytale made the landlady, a very generous offer for the Three Broomsticks, and that she accepted. We have a source that believes The Three Broomsticks will possibly be turned into a hair salon and barbers' shop, where witches and wizards can go to get their hair professionally done.

We have even come to speak to the bartender, and owner of the Leaky Cauldron, which will be Firefly, Diagon Alley's competition, and though he tried to hide it, we could tell he was nervous. He had even admitted that he was unsure whether his quaint little pub could hope to compete. We also feel bad that the Cauldron could potentially have to shut its doors, but we can also look hopeful, and into the future where Fairytale is leading us, and that maybe the new and strange isn't bad after all, and we know that Fairytale is said to be rather generous, and perhaps they would see to taking claim over The Leaky Cauldron, and since it is next door to Firefly Diagon, they could potentially expand into it.

Fairytale has also opened a few smaller places in Diagon Alley, such as a clothing store that sells everything from muggle fashions to wizard and witch fashions, called Strawberry Stripe. They have also opened a sweet store and even a large pet store where they have trained animal medi-witches and wizards (magi-vets) to treat injured or sick pets rather than such as what we might find usual to just hand over potions that could possibly do more harm than good, as it probably is better to have professionals looking after our beloved sick or injured pets, as they are a part of the family, and I include my darling Post Owl in that.

It has been reported that many people in the Ministry of Magic are against anything to do with Fairytale. Though we can only assume they are losing money somewhere. However, the thought that Albus Dumbledore, older brother to the former owner of the Hogshead, Aberforth Dumbledore had tried his hardest to get his younger brother not to sell his pub, and that is confusing us.

Since then, Albus Dumbledore has attempted on a couple of occasions to revoke some of Fairytale's licences, for reasons we cannot see, but Fairytale lawyers outshone the supposedly great wizard at every turn. He had also quoted for this paper and our competition that he is against Fairytale changing so much of the traditional way the magical world had been. At first, he had been okay with it, but when he realised how much Fairytale seemed to change, he jumped sides and placed his support in the anti-Fairytale camp, which is losing, and support is firmly in Fairytale's favour, especially with the vast majority of people, as its lower prices help out, as believe it or not, but most mage are not ridiculously wealthy.

We should wonder why Albus Dumbledore doesn't want so much change, as it is adding money to our economy and putting men and women who previously found finding work difficult in secure jobs with prospects of advancement. Then its products, some made and bought within the muggle world are allowing many families who struggle with simple things in pocket with cheaper and better-quality wears.

Fairytale has been helping the Magical UK get out of the dumps we had been in since You-Know-Who's rise to power all those years ago, and I personally wonder what else they might do for us as a nation that could grow and prosper. The thought of the wonders they could bring to our world, and the jobs they could make is very refreshing from the fear and shame of not being able to afford simple things for your children that muggles could even while under the same equivalent in finances.

Remember to look out for the new Arrow broom, and hopefully we'll have pictures with full broom stats and prices within the next couple of days, as it won't be long until the brooms launch, along with order forms. I can personally see many people wanting to buy this new and iconic broom for their children or loved ones around the world as it could possibly be the last ever official Arrow broom.

Then just a note, Fairytales Racing BRAND has promised that the Arrow Racing BRAND racing broom will be with 100% certainty, in line with one quarter the price of the CHEAPEST Nimbus broom, and with higher specs than the Firebolt…

Report continues page 2…

Senna had a wicked grin as she read the front page of the Daily Prophet. It was because of the paper, now called the Fairytale Frontier that the Daily Prophet had no choice but to up their game and start reporting properly, and fairly or they could be run into the ground, so they were letting their reporters, report how they wanted, and the quality had gone up drastically. The ministry had no choice but to let the reporters and editors buy out the paper and report as they saw fit, so everything was looking up for that paper, and its staff now they didn't have to shill for corrupt jackarses. Senna had even authorised her secretary to give the green light for The Daily Prophet to print the same coupons as The Fairytale Frontier, though, the Frontier had a couple exclusive coupons, of course.

She didn't care about the Prophet paper though, and bought it just to compare between it and the Frontier, but she was pleased they were upping their game and trying to compete. Its reporting had gotten much better, but they still fell short because of the way they used to obey the ministry, so wasn't quite as impartial in the eyes of the general public as the Frontier, and it still wrote a few shill articles occasionally, as they couldn't get rid of all the authoritarian dickhead government worshipping staff.

"What the…?" Astoria asked in bafflement as she read her copy of the Prophet, as she hadn't gotten a subscription to the Frontier yet, as she didn't want her house to 'kill' her over it. She was sitting at the Ravenclaw table with her friends, including Rikka as she had been dragged into their little gang against her will, but at least they kept Hermione's nagging and bigotry away from her, and though she knew about their room, and hung out with them there to do homework or whatever, she stayed in her proper dorm to keep Hermione's nose out of their business too. Though, she found it all troubling, she did like her new friends, homework in the tub idea. It was so relaxing to sit back in the tub, in the nude, after a quick shower of course, with floating trays, and all their things charmed against spoiling with water, and it was nice that she had friends who would help her on a few of her weaker subjects – she was actually-rather happy with them, and was starting to seek out their company, if only to sit and read together quietly. It was pleasant, so she made sure to take special care to watch out for her friends, Astoria especially with the way so many Slytherins were jerkoffs.

"Let me see that," Astoria demanded, grabbing Luna's copy of the Fairytale Frontier newspaper, and looked over the front-page article about Arrows purchase, and Fairytale's Racing BRAND brooms, while Luna smile sweetly as she let her friend have her paper. "Damn, the Parkinson's must be wetting them-selves with panic that Arrow… I mean Racing BRAND, or Fairytale could compete with them. After all, Racing BRAND is going to undercut Nimbus by a hell of a lot on their lowest priced broom, and if the broom is superior everyone would want it, but the Firebolt... if the Arrow BRAND outstrips it, the Arrow could replace the Firebolt for the rest of the Quidditch World Cup matches leading to the finals, as brooms have been replaced in the past when a superior one is released during competition.

"If they could do that…?" she trailed off as she looked at Senna across the table where she sat with Ginny, as she sat with Rikka and Luna either side of her. "How…? We were talking about Nimbus last week, and you just ran off with Chacha," she said gesturing the doll munching her breakfast while sitting on the table looking adorable. "T-then suddenly Fairytale decides to get into the broom making business, and buys out such an iconic broom manufacture, and though they changed the name, named a quidditch class-broom after Arrow, and..."

Senna just shrugged in amusement. "What can I say?" she asked rhetorically. "Maybe I know some people here and there-," she tried blagging but it didn't seem any of the girls took her seriously.

"Her family owns Fairytale," Rikka announced nonchalant while shrugging as Senna glared at her.

It was pretty-obvious to figure that out, if you took into context that Fairytale were willing to run a huge lose just to destroy Nimbus for Senna's friend Astoria. It also begged the question of how rich and powerful Fairytale could actually-become, and whether they saw running at a loss as much bother when they could take out Nimbus, and then start balancing out a profit with new brooms in the future, especially since the Arrow Racing BRAND was already finished, and without Fairytale, likely wouldn't have been able to afford to launch it, let alone promote it as a potential competition to the Nimbus 2001, let alone The Firebolt.

Astoria could only stare at Senna with her mouth hanging open. "Y-you did this for me?" she asked in a whisper looking around to make sure no one was listening, which they weren't, as both Ravenclaw House and Hufflepuff House would leave them alone, which was why they now spent their meal times at those two tables.

Senna shrugged with a smile. "Sure… you're my friend, and I care about you. I don't like Parkinson trying to hurt you. She doesn't have friends like us, which is her loss, and why she and people like her are so easily defeated. I love you, okay?"

"T-thank you," she replied blushing while Senna just smiled and reached over the table and held her hands, and giving them a squeeze. "I-I love you too," she added shyly, causing smiles all around, even from Rikka.

"Hey, that's what friends do for each other," she replied smirking. "It also brings lots of jobs for loads of people in need of work, especially for muggle-born's, as all of these old companies choose pure-bloods first even if the muggle-born is more qualified. It's a racist world out in the magi-employment field, so we're evening things out I guess, and it is a part of our employment contracts to abide by an equality of opportunity clause, so that no mater your blood, if you have what we're looking for, we'll give you the chance, even if you don't have the experience, we'll train you, black, white, brown, Asian, and anything in-between, even other magical races, as long as they can do the job."

Astoria looked down at their clasped hands, and held Senna tighter as her heart fluttered while she felt bad for the first time in her life for muggle-born's. She hadn't thought that even the so-called light treated them as lesser mage, even if their grades or talents said they were not. Then looking to the paper, even the 'great' Albus Dumbledore seemed to want to keep things that way.

"Hey, don't be so grumpy girl, we all love you, too, so look to the Slytherins and enjoy," Ginny interrupted the depressing mood with a grin as they looked over to see the Parkinson sisters with their copies of the Prophet looking freaked out. "It looks like Parkinson A and B aren't too happy to learn they have competition here in the UK, and they may be arrogant, but they are smart enough to realise that Nimbus is under attack by Fairytale. You would think that they hadn't heard of all the other broom companies on the planet, or something…"

"Actually, the UK Ministries import taxes are a crime," Senna said smilingly. "It would be cheaper and easier by quite a way to get an international portkey or floo, and pick it up from another country. That's why all the imported brooms are so expensive, which is money in the Parkinson's pocket as they can keep their prices high, as long as they were in line with the foreign brooms, and cheaper, if only slightly, but now with Racing BRAND in the UK, they will lose money. But enough about business, let's go, we probably have some more awesome things to finish, so let's go enjoy the rest of the day imagining the Parkinson's pooping themselves because they don't have the guts to run dirty like Fairytale, and run at a loss… though, to be fair, we're actually breaking even on the manufacturing side."

"Okay," Luna agreed nodding with a smile. "It's nice that you're not losing too much money though, Sen," she said, as she was sure she likely was losing some, somewhere, probably in advertisements, and research.

"Yeah, you're right, Luna," Ginny said with a smile as she picked up Chachazero and plopped the little doll onto her shoulder with a cookie she had been enjoying half eaten as they all walked together exiting the hall before they split up to go their separate ways.

"We're being followed," Chachazero said after a few moments of walking, and having finished her cookie after Ginny and Rikka had split from the others to head to Gryffindor, with Astoria going with Senna, as the Hufflepuffs would let Astoria in their tower, so she could get to the room that way to protect her from the other Slytherins. It was surprising that the Hufflepuffs didn't question it, but accepted that one of their own was being loyal beyond them, and that made them more accepting to make friends outside of the house, even being nice to Slytherins.

"I know," both Ginny and Rikka replied together.

"It seems they've chosen us first," Rikka said with a tired sigh. "After all, to the Gryffindor fools we are traitors, and to Slytherins we are just the enemy. They want to send a message about our… non-'kosher' ways, because we've been acting wrong to them, especially Senna who is likely seen by them as our leader, so them coming for us is to warn her off, but they have no idea that she draws in the strong."

"My brother can be a little… well a lot blind," Ginny said rolling her eyes. "He's a dick. And then the Slytherins… I don't know what they want. So… you want to run or fight?"

Rikka stopped, causing Ginny to stop with her. "I will not back down. I had never thought I would find ... friends who think like me, or any friends, especially those that have skills like mine, even if they are a little different too, and well... I will not run away, even though we could flee now and they would stand little chance of keeping up, let alone catching us. After this we can do our homework in the bath with some butterbeer and snacks to relax – best ideas anyone has ever had."

"I'll even give you a shoulder rub," Ginny suggested smirkingly to her friend, brightening her expression at the thought. "But I guess we have to kick their arses first!" she continued with a smirk, as Rikka returned it with and a certain nod, as Ginny had been practicing, and working hard all year, since finding Senna with her magic and physical fitness, and she loved bath time homework sessions as they were so relaxing and fun, and that naughty part of her loved seeing her girlfriend and friends in the nude.

"Yeah, let's cut 'em!" Chachazero chimed out happily with her hunting knives out as the two groups starring Gryffindors and Slytherins burst out from around two different corners, and neither side seemed surprised to see the other, so it was certainly a joint Gryffindor, Slytherin attack, even though they hated each other, they hated mud-bloods, and real blood traitors even more, even if some were muggle-born's, they were foolish and didn't understand the stance they were really-behind.

"Let's have some fun," Ginny agreed with the doll for once as her wand span into her hand. "Ronald, hanging with all of these Slytherins? I am surprised and appalled with you!" she said with a mocking smirk as her wand twirled around her right fingers as if it belonged through them.

"Ginny, you'll stop hanging around that Slytherin, Greengrass or I'll…!"

"You'll what…?" Ginny interrupted with a cool glare. "Astoria is my friend, and I will do near anything for my friends, because I love each and every one of them, and them me in return."

"Shut it, Ginny!" Ron screamed his fury. "We won't have a filthy dark witch in the family, so I'll put you right!"

"Shut up, Weasley," Draco Malfoy interrupted before glaring at Ginny and Rikka. "We're sick and tired of Astoria Greengrass thinking that she's better than us!" he added in his two knutts. "Then she hangs around with poor blood traitors and mud-bloods, and that bitch Hufflepuff!"

"Who you calling bitch; mo'fo...?!" They were interrupted by Senna from behind them. "Hmm… four against thirty-three, seems like the odds are in our favour!" she said coolly.

They looked to her in shock to see she was holding two huge, limp, and unconscious seventh year Slytherin boys by the scruffs of their uniforms before dropping them to the floor at her feet. She had a huge grin on her lips bearing her perfect teeth, which caused them to grimace and take shuddering steps back, subconsciously they were all afraid, not because the girls were particularly intimidating, but because they showed no sign of fear, and well, Senna kind of intimidated them.

"T-there are only t-three of you," Pansy Parkinson stuttered out in worry.

"I count you know, stupid head!" Chachazero called out in anger. "If you have a problem, I'll cut it out of ya, like Fairytale is cutting your monopoly out of ya!" she hissed out swinging her knives with a huge manic grin on her lips, and they took a few more steps back as realisation dawned. The girls weren't afraid because they were planning on using extreme violence, and taking them out painfully, maybe even with deadly force.

"You have made a grave mistake this day," Rikka hissed out with her one eye practically alight with strength and anger. She moved around into a crouched martial arts stance without thought. They could see they were all starting to worry a little more, as they couldn't imagine others standing to fight like them, as if their greater numbers didn't actually-matter to them, and the older Slytherins knew of a terror above all who used stances like this one, and they were shaking.

"Who do you think you are mud-blood!?" a huge set Slytherin demanded in fear only to have Rikka attack. She moved in and grabbed him by his hair, smashing her knee into his face and breaking his nose, spilling blood and causing him to girly-scream as he flew back and dropped to the ground cringing and screaming for his mother, as he rocked back and forth while holding his shattered face with blood spilling through his fingers.

Senna slid in from behind, her right fist causing an older Gryffindor to squeal in agony as it crushed his spine from behind, as she didn't have to worry about permanent damage with magic at hand. She then attacked the next while Ginny was trouncing all the younger attackers with binding magic, as it was apparently amusing how many different binding spells, she found, and it was easier to kick a jerk when he was too pathetic to undo your binding spells.

"Mind if I have some fun?" asked a girl as she grabbed two Slytherin boys by the back of their heads, and shattered their faces into the wall. "The name is Kan'u," the purple haired girl said while Slytherins all around stared at her in horror. She looked mildly amused as they stared at her. She was wearing a Slytherin tie, but that was the only indicator that she wore to say what house she was in. However, it seemed pretty-obvious that she had a great taste for beating the crap out of her house mates by the way they reacted to her.

"It's the Devil Mud-Blood!" one Slytherin boy squealed in horror while others turned to her while a baffled looking Hufflepuff girl peaked around her before smiling.

"Hi, I'm Hakufu!" the brown-haired girl said with a grin as she dodged a spell without even seeming to notice, as her purple haired friend moved. "And this is my good friend Kan'u. I wanted to see whether my silly cousin was about. She's in Gryffindor too, don't you know?!"

"ENOUGH!"

They all stopped, and some were thankful, before the fight went much further, and with Kan'u, the attackers might have spent the month in the hospital wing. But at least Ginny got Ron as he screamed bloody hate and murder at her on the floor bound by her power, and silk strings that actually-cut into him, making him bleed. Chachazero had only managed to beat up Malfoy as he lay on the ground crying as she stood on his chest having cut up his face with her knives.

McGonagall had shown up to interrupt, looking enraged as she headed over, plucked up the doll, and threw her at Senna, with Senna catching her, her knives now gone. "I couldn't help but overhear your conversation, Weasley," she said in anger as she surprisingly looked down at Ronald.

"Then I followed you all, to try stopping you. Then I see you teaming up with Malfoy and gang," she continued with her rage bubbling higher. "Then, to make me wonder whether you're all a bunch of pacifist pixies, you're getting defeated, and two of them weren't even using magic, a fourth and fifth comes a long, and again, no magic, and the sixth is a flipping TOY, so that made me realise that you, morons, are obviously not paying attention in classes!" she hissed out making them flinch, as she swiped her wand and dispelled Ginny's binds, and woke another few who started whimpering and crying. "Therefore, you will all be having a week's detention as soon as the new term starts, with some pop-quizzes, so that we can assess how pathetic you are, and I'm being generous giving you so long to hopefully improve, and we shall add to your detentions by a week for every subject of which you should know most of the answers that you fail, by a week, until you've passed them all. If you even think about attacking fellow students again, I will make you rue the day you were born with magic! And don't think for a moment your parents won't hear of this, and one hundred points from Slytherin and Gryffindor."

She then let her eyes scan the attackers. "You best take your injured to the infirmary now, or I'll be sending letters home about how and why you got suspended, instead, now get out of my sight… no… Miss. Nightly, not you or the 'others', or the doll," she added as they watched the bad guys leaving with their tails between their legs, and a few of them looking mortified by their punishments, but some were helping their injured to the medical wing, and Senna was pleased that Hermione had opted out.

"Miss. Nightly, exactly where did you get that doll?" McGonagall asked looking at it as it made raspberries in the direction that the Slytherins and Gryffindors went.

"She's a family heirloom," she replied having already thought this question out, just in case. "She's been in the family for generations, on my magical side of course, as I do have a few muggles in my bloodline. She's my guardian and protector, so don't worry, I ordered her not to hurt anyone too much while performing her duty, unless they're actually trying to kill me, and she can't disobey me," she said, and though technically true, Chachazero was good at using loopholes, and Senna pretty much gave her freedom to do as she pleased as long as she obeyed the few rules she gave her.

"I see," McGonagall replied with a nod as she calmed down, as she had heard about all sorts of guardians created to protect people before, so the doll wasn't too odd, just a little overzealous in her duties; she did seem to follow her order, and not cause lasting damage. McGonagall took a deep breath while sighing. "Okay; you should all get back to your dorms, but rest assured that Professor Dumbledore will most likely try something to keep the peace, as you may know some of them Slytherins are wealthy pure-bloods, and…"

"We understand, Professor," Senna said with a soft smile. "However, you shouldn't worry. I have our backs and trust me-."

"I am also in a position where pureblood threats of wealth cannot threaten me," Rikka interrupted. "They all seem to think that pure-bloods are the only people with money!"

McGonagall could only look at her in surprise, as she hadn't met a muggle-born who was rich enough to fight a pureblood at their level before.

"Miss. Senna, could you please lead, Hakufu back to Hufflepuff safely?" Kan'u asked quickly and got a nod as Senna took the smiling girl's hand. "I hope to fight you someday soon, as it becomes obvious that not everyone at this school is weak."

"It will be awesome!" Senna agreed with a one-handed finger gun, before leading Hakufu away while she happily waved bye to everyone, and left with the others splitting off back to their dorms, and leaving McGonagall feeling confused and lost.

"Where the hell did these ones come from?" McGonagall asked herself, as she was left alone, but she was rather pleased with her punishment. She had been thinking about that one for a while, and was rather pleased to get the chance to see it through, and knew most of the attackers would not pass her pop quizzes come September, but hopefully they would try at least.

It was around twenty minutes later, and Senna couldn't keep quiet. "Those are some monster tities!" she said, staring at Hakufu as the sweet older girl was naked in the tub with them, as Senna invited her to do her homework with them.

"Wow!" Astoria agreed while squeezing hers, as they weren't very big yet.

"They are rather impressive," Rikka agreed as she looked over the firm boobs while she sat on Ginny's lap, feeling her much smaller boobs, and stiff nipples on her back as she received her relaxing shoulder rub.

"Can I touch them?" Luna asked hopefully, and getting a shrug and a nod, she squeezed the firm, soft melons in glee, and Hakufu groaned, and whimpered as Luina played with her boobs, nonchalant.

to be continued…