Chapter Eight

The Wand Shop

Monday July 24

It had been a month since the Great Wandout. The floo system had been shut down that long and for all appearances, it would be a permanent. Certain people and many businesses were desperate for cash. Fletch envisioned two things;

* Sooner or later the floo system would come back on line; probably as quickly as some wands could be found.

* Floo powder was made in Italy, which probably didn't have any wands later. Fletch envisioned a floo powder shortage almost as soon as the floo system went back on, as so few people could wandlessly apparate.

As such, Fletch made a 5,000G investment and bought up all of the floo powder for sale in the shops at rock-bottom prices. The shopkeepers were delighted to dump what they viewed as a now-worthless product and were delighted that Fletch offered to pay in pounds. As such, he was now the owner of two shopping carts full of the (currently) useless powder.

He was now in his second round of selling household goods for the widows – watches, rare books, Tiffany lamps and the like. He sold the watches, lamps, high-end cases of wine to non-magical second hand shops or bottle shops and decided to keep the books to sell later when buyers had more money again.

Tuesday July 25

As requested, Harry, Hermione, Dobby Winky and the Grangers met with Barchoke that morning at nine. He gave the teens frames for their wandcrafter licenses, their business license and their tax exempt certificate. He said, "Wandmaster Whitehorn stated that you might need assistance in purchasing some of the shop supplies."

"The only one that comes to mind is unaged distilled alcohol at one-eighty proof."

"How much are you thinking of?"

"A half-case a day."

"What are the specific requirements?"

"Distilled in a copper still. Bottled in plastic or glass bottles; the bottle size is unimportant."

"I'll have someone find what you need. Let's go tour your new business."

They walked down the marble steps to the next building. A guard opened a garage size door and stood aside to let them enter. Barchoke said, "To my knowledge, this is the only building in Diagon alley with gas heat, air conditioning, running water and electricity. The Citadel uses city water and electricity and the Leaky Cauldron uses city water, electricity and gas heat."

Hermione saw it as a slightly smaller version of Darryl's shop in Salem. She saw the similarities – a terrazzo floor, breakroom, bathroom, office and a store room.

Harry noticed the differences;

* Rows of UV lights at one end of the shop that will be used to cure the shellac.

* A larger storeroom at the expense of a smaller office.

* There were two higher chairs allowing his friends to sit properly at the eating table.

* Overall, the ventilation looked more robust; which given that they would be coating hundreds of wands in a session, would be very useful.

* There were three work benches rather than six. As the third was beneath the UV lights, it became the designated paint station.

As they were walking, Barchoke stated, "Your tooling and wand cores will be delivered tomorrow morning at ten. Please unpack everything as soon as possible to ensure that it will meet your needs. When you have inspected everything, please stop by the lobby and let me know if everything meets your needs. There is some wood in your store room."

Dan said, "We can go get the Land Rover and go to a few stores for some of the other supplies. Barchoke, the facility looks fantastic. Thank you."

He nodded and replied, "Master Wandcrafter Whitehorn sent very specific lists and excellent photographs."

Harry and Hermione thanked him again as the guard showed them how to lock and relock the various doors. They used their portkeys to get back to their home and went to a grocery store where they bought two pails of nonfat dried milk powder, vinegar, baking soda as well as several cases of Orange Crush, 7-up, tea and a few things for lunches and snacks. They dropped that off at their house so Dobby and Winky could deliver it to the shop. Next they went to the builder supply store where they bought ten pounds of blonde shellac flakes, a few more plastic pails, jars, several plastic funnels, squeeze bottles for the glue, spray bottles, various paint brushes, a label maker and the like.

Dan said, "There's no sense buying too much of the shellac flakes until you decide that you like that brand. Was there enough shelving in the store room?"

Emma suggested, "Let's see what else they deliver tomorrow. Given that the coffee maker and refrigerator were the same brands as what Darryl had, he must have given Barchoke a very specific list. It was running, so he even allowed for the adjustment in electricity voltage. I wouldn't be surprised if there were pens and pencils in the center desk drawer."

They stopped for take-away Asian food on their way home. After dinner, Emma asked, "Do you have everything that you need?"

Hermione replied, "I'd like to say yes but we don't really know."

Harry said, "We should stop by Madam Mulkin's and pick up some light-weight work robes. We can't just wear jeans and t-shirts like we did at Daryl's; at least not when we're doing fittings. We should get gray or navy blue. We could get The Wand Shop embroidered on them. We could get some company shirts made as well."

Winky said, "I be very good at embroidering. Harry potter should also have family crest on robes." Purposefully, she glanced at Hermione and continued, "Maybe he would be sharing. Winky can put The Wand Shop on side sleeve." She was clearly doing a bit of matchmaking.

"What are your plans for the morning?"

Hermione said, "We'll leave at eight. Normally we'd glue and clamp some blocks and get ready for the fittings."

Dan said, "Call by eleven if you want me to pick something up at lunch. I could drop it off here and you could ask Dobby or Winky could bring it to you by one."

Harry said, "Thank you. Dobby, tomorrow can you go to Hogwarts and bring back a couple bales of parchment? In no particular order, we need to make glue, sandpaper and shellac if the alcohol has been delivered. We need to inventory and put away the core, set up the workbenches, inspect the tooling and confirm with Barchoke that it is fine."

Dobby and Winky stood in front of him, and she declared, "Dobby and Winky will be helping. We will get homework. We will put away horsey hairs and ugly spider string. We will spray like Mr. Darryl showed us and be fusing string together."

"Then Dobby is thinking he should be making more wand blocks."

"Winky would like to make sandy papers. When Master Barty was young and still good, Winky made glue many times and Master Barty would build small castles. Then he got older and old master Barty was bad to him and sent him to bad sea castle place. Then he came back and pretended to be swivel-eye and died. Winky is much happier being here."

Emma knelt down and gave the trembling elf a hug. "We want you here, Winky. We want you all here."

… - ...

As the wand crew were picking up groceries, Ginny read her Hogwarts letter with great anticipation. In all honesty, she couldn't wait to get back to the castle with comfortable beds, regular meals and the like. She saw the information about some new classes and thought that the schedule looked fine. At the bottom, the letter indicated that the train would be running. She couldn't wait to get back to a near-normal life.

She found her mum and announced, "The Hogwarts letters came. It says that the train will be running as usual."

"Let me see, dear."

Where Ginny saw the glass as being half full and something resembling a return to normality, Molly's glass was half empty. She hated the idea of different classes and felt that Minerva needed to know her opinion.

She took the portkey that was hanging on the rack, snatched Ginny's letter right out of her hand, stepped out into the back garden and said, "Activate."

In a fit of anger, she marched into the castle and soon found McGonagall in her office. "Good morning, Mrs. Weasley. What brings you here?"

"Math, Science, English? Learning to drive? History of Magical Beings. No wanded classes for a semester. What is going on here?"

Minerva asked, "Do your children have wands?"

"Professor Dumbledore would never have gone along with these changes for the sake of changes."

"He started school in 1895. He never moved beyond that mindset."

Molly declared, "I've a good mind to keep my children home."

"Our goal is to prepare witches and wizards who are able to wield magic to function anywhere in Britain in the twenty-first century." She was certain Molly hadn't heard a word that she'd said, let alone listened to it, so she tried a different approach.

"Here are your withdrawal forms. Should you choose to use them, please have them returned to my office by August 25. Should you choose to send your children to Hogwarts this term, they'll be expected to fully participate in their assigned classes. Please see your way out."

"But..."

As the door closed behind Molly's still flaming temper, Minerva occasionally would admit to herself that Ragnok's solution was sound and that this conversation felt rather good to have.

Molly walked out of the Hogwarts door, pulled out her portkey and said, "Activate."

Nothing happened.

It was a one-way portkey.

She was 622 miles away from home.

It was fifteen miles to Inverness.

She didn't have a credit card.

Her Prewett temper had gotten the better of her again.

… - ...

Wednesday July 26

Stan Shunpike, eye-witness extraordinaire was emphatic in his tale. "I saw 'em goblins bringing in big logs into that new building 'wo weeks ago. Then I seen 'em bring in big wooden crates 'at said work bench. That got to be some sort of place to be making something made out of wood. Then them guards with them big pikes scared me off. That's what I seen."

It was just after nine in the morning and the (temporarily furloughed) conductor already was on his second pint of the day. His friend Ernie Prang (who was having coffee) said, "Stan, yer full of foam. Them bleeden goblins don't make nothin' that uses a lot of wood."

"I'm telling ya, they was bringing in different kinds a wood."

One of the quiet ones washing tables was smart enough to put two and two together and clever enough to keep his trap shut. That information could be useful.

The reality was, Harry and Hermione had finished setting up the workbenches, arranging chairs and with Dobby and Winky's help had sliced the wood into thousands of wand blanks. Hermione had spent the morning making casein glue and shellac while Harry arranged the priceless tools. They had thousands of feet of web strand along with the tail hair that had recently been sheared. The first set of glued wand blocks were in the clamps. Dobby and Winky stayed in the store room to do a bit of celebrating of their own. Harry and Hermione activated their portkeys while the guards stood their posts.

… - …

Like Molly, John Macmillan read his children's, Ernie and Beth's, Hogwarts letters twice. He was amazed by the generosity displayed from the goblin Nation. The out-of-work remodeler took a different approach. "Ernie, Beth, put on your Sunday church clothes. We're going for a ride." Two hours later, they had found a place to park and walked up the steps to Gringotts.

They patiently waited in line and when the teller asked, "What business do you have?"

John showed the teller the two letters and said, "We came to say, thank you. I'm not able to work right now and until I saw these letters, I wouldn't be able to send my two children this term. Thank you. You don't know how much this means to me. Thank you. I'm... I don't know what else to say."

Rather than be embarrassed, Ernie was proud of his dad's courage and intended to tell him on the way back.

Snapjaw, the teller asked, "What is your name?"

"John... John Macmillan."

"Thank you for coming in, John Macmillan."

Five minutes later, Ragnok and Barchoke, who had returned from some international business received the message from Gumeye the attendant.

Ragnok stated, "There are some wizards with manners. Excellent."

… - ...

Back at Greengrass manor;

"It's about time you got home, Cyrus".

"I'm not in the mood for your attitude my dear. I've got nothing but bad news from the continent."

Demi replied, "As do I dear husband. But you go first. What do you mean?"

"No more shipments for the foreseeable future. They can't grow and preserve the exotic magical seedlings without their wands."

Demi asked, "By the way, did you bring anything home to eat?"

Cyrus replied, "No. Where would I get anything? Didn't Hippy come back?"

"No. I've not seen her since you sent her away yesterday morning."

"Hippy, come here now!"

"Master calls Hippy."

"Where have you been, why didn't you return with food yesterday?"

"Hippy do as master says, Hippy go to muggle world and get food. Go ask at the Davis house for help! Missy Davis takes Hippy to giant muggle store Tesco greengrocer. Missy Davis says good place to shop, have everything, open 24/7, what ever that means. I wait outside waiting for it to close, you tell me a good elf is not seen!"

Cyrus exploded. "You fool! It never closes, go back, disillusion yourself and take what you need, just leave a few bills in the till on the way out. Stupid elf."

Hippy popped out saying "Yes Master," just as Cyrus tried to kick her.

Astoria screamed: "Stop it, leave her alone," as she ran out of the room.

"What's gotten into her, Demi?"

"She hasn't heard from Draco in a while. Apparently he wasn't on the train coming home. Then again, either were half of the students in her house for one reason or another."

"So why is Astoria upset? She always disliked the arrangement we made for her without asking her. Hopefully we can save her dowry and hopefully pay a smaller one with someone better than the ponce."

"She only disliked it because it was made behind her back. Since then, she's grown attached to the little pompous, arrogant ponce as you call him. She's heartbroken."

"So, she'll get over it. Give her time. And where is our other daughter Daphne, the one who takes after you, the one with the sharp tongue?"

"She's flown the coop, dear. She told me she was tired of no indoor plumbing, no water, no food, no light, no cooling. She went to stay with her friend Tracy yesterday afternoon. They have a muggle house you know."

… - …

Meanwhile at the Granger Dental clinic;

News of the weird

Three large white oak trees mysteriously vanished from the Balmoral Castle grounds last week. Groundskeeper Robbie Coldstone reported them missing. "There were six trees there my whole life and three of 'em vanished like they'd never been there."

Abby, The Granger's effervescent receptionist showed the clipping to Emma as she walked by over lunch.

Emma admitted, "That's pretty strange, Abby."

"They find the strangest stuff. We'll at least it's a good change from the usual UFO sightings."

… - …

The Grangers and Harry took the time to watch a video together. This time they chose the 1993 release of Tombstone. Harry seemed particularly drawn to the line, "I'm retired," that the hero spoke before things got going. As Daryl had mentioned, he shouldn't feel that everyones' problem was his to solve.

… - ...

Sunday July 30

Taking a break from from their tasks, Harry hugged Hermione, gave her a kiss and said, "Lets go to Fortescue's."

"OK." They told Blackeye that they'd be back in a half hour and made the very short walk to the ice cream shop. It was on the other side of the street and three shops down from the Wand Shop. On the way, Hermione wondered, "How is his business still open? He's probably not using electricity."

"Dunno. Maybe he knows his runes and re-energized them the day before, or maybe he uses a Honda generator. We can ask."

There wasn't a line, so after greeting him, they asked. It turned out that Harry's first idea was correct and he was waiting for them to fail. Since Hermione rarely went anywhere without her beaded bag that she'd bought in Salem, she handed Florean the shopkeeper one of the generics that she made in Daryl's class and said, "Check if this works for you."

He gave it a wave and the now familiar gray sparks came out. Ecstatic, he asked, "How can I pay you for this? You've saved my business."

She replied, "By keeping your business open and not telling anyone that you have it. We're opening a wand shop and that was one of my learning assignments when we were students. I can't sell that one but I can give it to a friend."

He gave a fake bow, kissed the top of her hand, gave a very genuine smile and replied, "Thank you, Miss. I'm honored to call you a friend. I won't tell a soul."

Harry said, "I'm Harry Potter, this is Hermione Granger."

Florean replied, "I remember when you were a wee little lad, living at Tom's for a few weeks. The years have been kind to you, good sir."

They were chatting when Neville, Luna and her dad walked into the shop. As Mr. Lovegood was ordering, Harry and Hermione greeted their friends. Harry suggested, "When you're done with your ice cream, come see the new shop we're opening. It's right next to Gringotts."

Luna replied, "We'd love to see it. Thank you for everything that you've done."

They left and walked back to the wand shop. Pondering Luna's words, he told Blackeye one of the guards, that they were expecting three visitors soon. Harry went to his desk, and took out the two wands that he had made for Luna and Neville as well as one of his generics that he'd made in Daryl's shop.

When they arrived, Hermione greeted them and said, "Welcome to our wandcrafting shop. We'll show you around."

"How did...?" Neville couldn't quite get his question out.

Harry replied, "First, the where and how we learned wandcrafting is something of a secret. Suffice it to say that we have our licenses." He pointed to the wall where they were displayed then continued, "And Minister Bones has signed our business license. Mr. Lovegood, I'd rather not see that part in the paper."

They all nodded in agreement, though Luna had Seen them in her mind, weeks back and knew exactly where they had been.

"The wood is cut and delivered, then sliced into blanks..." Ten minutes later they had made the circle around the shop. "... so the ministry and Gringotts agreed on a priority schedule and we'll open for business on the fourteenth."

"That's great you two. How are you going to run your shop when school starts?"

"We're not going back, Neville. We're deferring the rest of our education for a few years."

Xeno asked, "Can I send a reporter over tomorrow to get however much of your story that you would like to tell? I could get my mechanical press back together and start printing in a week or so."

Harry replied, "Tuesday would be better. I'll be right back"

Harry went into his office, brought out three gift-wrapped packages and said, "Happy Birthday, Neville."

He opened the package and said, "Wow. Thanks Harry."

"It's cherry tree wood with a unicorn hair core. Give it a wave."

Neville hesitated, He'd barely gotten two tiny sparks the first time he'd waved his dad's old wand. Whoosh! Dozens of silver sparks flew from his wand. Amazed, he asked, "Did I do that?"

Harry smiled. "Try it again."

More sparks.

"Try a simple spell."

"Lumos." Instead of a flickering candle it looked like a halogen beam!

Harry said, "You'd better practice up a bit before school starts, tiger. Just don't tell anyone that you have it. The students will all get wands sometime after school starts."

"I won't tell anyone, I promise. Thanks Harry."

"Here's one for you Luna and you, Mr. Lovegood."

"Thank you, Harry. Call me Xeno."

Luna opened hers.

"Harry said, "Dirigible plum and freely given pixy dust. I thought it would be perfect for you."

"Thank you Harry and Hermione. I love it." She gave them each a hug.

"Yours is oak and acromantula strand. Try it." Given who was waving it, Harry wasn't that surprised that a set of purple sparks were emitted.

Xeno observed, "It's a very good match. Thank you."

"Our pleasure."

Xeno asked, "What time should the reporter arrive on Tuesday?"

"Ten in the morning would be perfect. Who is coming? The guards always like to know in advance."

"Her name is Cheryl Whitehart. We should be going now. You two have a lot to do."

"It was nice to meet you."

"Thanks again, Harry and Hermione," said Neville. Harry noticed that his friend had more confidence in his voice than he'd ever previously displayed and that he stood a bit taller. Harry thought that it looked very good on him.

Luna also saw the change in her boyfriend. There was a tear of joy in her eye as they left. They wouldn't tell a soul.

... - …

Having been gently deposited by the reuseable portkeys that Ragnok had made for them, Harry and Hermione walked the short distance to the castle. The great oak doors were open, so they walked in and made their way to McGonagall's office and announced themselves to the gargoyle. A moment later, it stood aside and they rode the castle's version of a winding escalator to her office.

It looked far different than when Professor Dumbledore had occupied it. The rows full of silver trinkets that whirred, puffed smoke, or occasionally pointed in different directions had been boxed up and sent to Aberforth. Fawkes' perch had been placed into storage.

There were different books than those Harry remembered seeing on the bookshelf.

McGonagall remarked, "Miss Granger, Mr. Potter, this is a surprise. Do you need assistance?"

"No Professor, we came to give you this." Hermione opened her beaded bag and took out a wand. She looked at it for a moment swore that it was her old one.

"Heavens, child. Where did you get this?"

Harry remarked, "We made it for you. Give it a wave."

She did. Red sparks emitted from the tip.

"If you could call the other Heads and Professors Babbling and Vector, we have a few more that we can give out."

She cast a patronus. She was very pleased at the feel and balance of her new wand.

While they were waiting, Hermione handed her their withdrawal papers. Amelia Bones had signed Harry's, her parents for her. She clarified, "We've taken coursework and have certified as licensed wandcrafters and are opening a shop in Diagon Alley. It will open on August 14. These are some of the wands that we made in class and as, such are ours to give away as we choose. The ministry and Gringotts have agreed on a national distribution program with established priorities. Wands will be sold over the next few years."

Just then, the other instructors walked in. Hermione gave Flitwick one that Harry had made especially for him. Babbling and Vector received wands that Hermione had made especially for them. Sprout and Sinistra received generics made by her.

As expected, they all worked.

McGonagall said, "We'll need wands for Poppy, and four others."

Harry pushed back. "These are all class project wands that were made before we were licensed. We're free to give them away to friends. The other professors will have to wait their turn in the priority list as per our contract." Harry had no intention of giving the last of the few unrestricted wands that they had remaining to people who he didn't even know names of.

"But..."

"Professor, I'm told that there are thirty thousand witches and wizards in Britain. When news breaks that wands are getting made, I expect that every one of them will walk into Gringotts in the next week or two and demand that they need their wand right now because their need is greater than anyone else on the entire planet. That's why there are armed guards standing outside the doors of our shop. We need to go now. Good afternoon, Professors."

As they were walking toward the oak doors, Harry remarked, "Daryl was sure right about that - Gimme, gimme, gimme."

Pomona Sprout walked back to her greenhouses, eminently disappointed in her friend of forty years.

… - ...

Monday July 31

After a few days at the shop, the teens had decided on something of a routine – arrive at eight, unclamp the blocks, glue and clamp another set. While that glue was drying Hermione created the indents and inserted the web strands. Meanwhile Harry shaped the wands. When he did the shaping, the wands were rod shaped. Later, when they switched off the tasks Hermione made baton shaped wands. They always kept ahead with the indenting and fitting of the strand steps, so they were far enough ahead to be able to glue and clamp another set when they arrived in the morning. They were done at six and unlike her parents, were home in seconds. They were making eighty a day without any problem. Hermione pointed out, "When we have to do selling and fitting, You'll want to start using that other glue table that I made."

Harry asked, "Are you sure that you don't want to do the fitting?"

"They'll all want their ten minutes with Harry Potter. Be sure to get them to sign their wand cards before they start. That's eight and a half hours of fitting."

"What if we both did it together?"

"There would be five people in my line and forty-five people in your line." He gave her an incredulous look and she backed down, "OK, we'll try it and see."

Harry, deflated and admitted that having one person doing the fittings at a time might be the better idea. They ended up agreeing that they would both try it together for a few weeks and see how well it worked.

The procedure that they'd worked out with Barchoke seemed workable. Every afternoon, they were given a list of the people who were scheduled to buy their wands the next day. The person would arrive, and the guard would check their name against the list. Then the customer would hand the wandcrafter their signed card and five galleons. The fittings were planned to last no more than ten minutes. Harry hoped that he could get them down to five or six, whereas Hermione feared that they would run fifteen.

For the fittings, they agreed that they would start with six wands to choose from – the three lengths of acromantula and the three lengths of either thestral or hippogriff on alternating days. They both knew the math and understood that it would be two years before they could consider doing a third shearing of either herd. As such, Harry decided that he would always ask them what the length of their old wand was have them try the closest size match acromantula wands first and attempt to end the session if the wand reacted favorably as it had with most of the test subjects at Salem.

As Emma had speculated, the appointments didn't specify a time. They both expected that there would be a two-hour wait in the mornings but the guards insisted that people wait outside, so it really wasn't the wandcrafters' problem.

At the end of the day, one of the guards would bring the list, the signed cards and at Hermione's request, the galleon deposit into their company account.

… - ...

As Harry and Hermione were deciding what to have for lunch, Dan and Emma dropped in. They had picked up pizza and cake. After filling their plates and sitting down in the Lazyboys with their built-in cupholders, Emma noticed the far-away look on Harry's face. She asked, "Why so serious, Birthday Boy?"

Harry replied, "I was just reflecting on the last year. It started out at the Quidditch World Cup – which was fun but there was a Death Eater attack, really more of a demonstration march. They scared a lot of people.

"School started. Hermione's birthday party was nice but the year went downhill pretty quickly after. Apparently someone impersonated one of Professor Dumbledore's long-time buddies and they put my name in for the tournament. It was awfully convenient that the Professor never noticed that someone was posing as his old pal for ten months; especially when he was seeing him every day.

"My old mate didn't believe me when I told everyone that I didn't put my name in to enter. He and his sister turned into real plonkers and got their mother involved, sending me rude howlers - letters that would automatically read themselves out loud at an ultra-high volume before exploading."

Emma hated bullying and wasn't inclined to suggest forgive and forget.

"I had to try and outwit a full-grown dragon in November. It died recently and now I have its heart in a drying box in the storeroom." Dan shook his head at the irony.

"I missed dancing with Hermione last Christmas because I was too scared to ask her when I had the chance. The last I heard, the guy who escorted her to the ball is in a long-term care facility for attacking the contestant from France." A sharp look from Emma, cut Dan's witty quip off at the knees.

"The remains of the guy who killed my parents is now a thorn bush. I wonder what kind of wand that would make?"

After swallowing a piece of the delicious cake he added, "On the upside, Hermione and I finally woke up and that's been spectacular... er, I mean..."

Delighted that he had gotten out of his self-induced funk, she stood up, leaned over, kissed him on the forehead and said, "We know what you mean. How do you envision this year going?"

"Pretty sweet, actually. Brilliant. We learned a really cool craft and have a chance to help right some really nasty wrongs."

She asked, "What do you mean?"

Harry set down his bottle of Orange Crush and explained, "Suppose that the electricity went out in Britain for a year. How would people change over that year? Oh, the gas to your home went out, as well as the water and your car doesn't work. How long would you get by?"

"Surely it isn't that bad, is it?"

"I guarantee you if we went over to Malfoy manor tonight, it would be dark, stinky and probably deserted, as there's no lights or running water. They had charms or charged runes that conjured and disposed of the water as needed."

"Now," he continued, "You're queen of the country and have the say, on a house-by-house basis, to decide who gets their water, gas and electricity back on first. Who would you pick?"

Emma admitted, "I'm not sure."

"Let me put it this way, who would you not pick?"

Dan caught on to his line of thinking and remarked, "My enemies."

"Exactly. In this case, I guarantee that after the Aurors and Healthcare workers get their wands, we'll see the people who Gringotts like doing business with, such as the shopkeepers here, the newborn witches and wizards and the like. Anyone who has ever been rude to them is in for a bad year. If your clinic had the electricity back on and your competitor down the street wouldn't have theirs for another year, what would happen?"

Dan replied, "We'd grab all of their business before they reopened."

Harry nodded as he continued, "So during that year without electricity, people are either going to have to adapt, move somewhere else,or die."

Emma jumped back in, "Right. In the wizards case, they're going to have to learn to patronize and do business with the normal, real world – for groceries, clothing and the like, or they'll need a crash course in growing vegetables in order to have something to eat... That's why they put the guards outside. Are you safe?"

Harry replied, "Certainly. We portkey directly inside and the guards act as the gatekeepers."

"Good. We need to get back to the clinic. Have a good afternoon, Love you."

Hermione knew that she was talking to both of them.

After her parents had left, Hermione mentioned, "Remember when Winky was talking about gluing with little Barty?"

"Yes. She was right. She's very good at making it."

"She is. Remember when she mentioned him pretending to be Swivel Eye?"

"Oh..."

… - …

A/N

When the line is a year or more long, there is no such thing as fair – regardless of the spin that anyone puts on their announcement. They can't all be first in line.

… - …

Small OMAKE – Dumbledore's portrait awakens

"Ah, good afternoon Minerva. What date is it?"

"July 10."

"I see. It's imperative that I talk with Severus."

"I'm certain that it is. Chat away. He's dead too."

"And young Harry?"

"He's gone. Hermione too."

"And Alastor?"

"He died twice."

"Here's what you must do..."

She closed the curtain over his painting.

… - …