Chapter Fifteen
Where's Sirius?
Monday October 2
Harry and Hermione were over halfway through doing the wand fittings for the morning. Harry had just finished with Ted Tonks when Sharpeye stepped in and stated "Three ministry owls arrived with these."
"Thank you, Please set the letters on the desk. There are still fifteen people in line. He looked over and saw that his girlfriend's mind was miles away from her client. Fortunately, the wand that she'd handed him backwards had been a good fit and he left. Harry asked her, "Could you go check on the letters?"
Hermione dashed into the office where Emma was doing a bit of book work for the teens. She saw her daughter and asked, "Please bring us each a lemonade."
The over-excited teen was back in seconds. When she returned, Emma asked, "Hermione, Where did your dad finish in his dental class?"
She admitted, "I never thought to ask."
"That's my point. By the way, he passed somewhere in the top half. Go open your letters."
"I got an O on both practical and theory in transfiguration and charms and Es in defense."
"How about Harry?"
"He earned an O plus in defense, Os in charms and an O and an A in transfiguration."
"How about mine?"
"You got an E in practical and an A in theory. That's great, Mum."
"Thank you. Congratulations to you too, We're licensed and we passed our OWL exams. In the mean while, there are still eight people in line hoping to have their lives returned to normal." A half hour later, they had their lunch, chinked Orange Crush bottles together and said, "Cheers."
… - …
Rockcrusher, the long-time Gringotts Account Manager for the Bones family greeted his client, "Good afternoon, Minister. How may Gringotts help you?"
"I need a quick refresher on Estate Law – specifically how an estate is appraised, who typically does it, the estate disposition process, the fees and taxes applied."
Rockcrusher began, "Gringotts gets involved when the decedent's name appears in The Book of Death. Their account manager is notified and in most cases, Gringotts is in possession of a Will. If a spouse survives and is the named beneficiary, a concise estimate of the value of the estate is performed.
The estate is either classed as ordinary, minor or major. An ordinary estate is one where the net value of the estate is under 50,000 galleons. Eighty percent of the estates fall into this category. Gringotts' fee for the appraisal is a flat fee of 500 galleons. If the liquidation of the estate is required, a 5 percent fee is assessed. There is no estate tax on an ordinary estate."
"If they're not assigned an account manager?"
"Snotnose in appraising assigns someone."
"Who typically purchases the estates?"
"Conrad Parkinson until the end of June."
"That doesn't have the appearance of an arms-length transaction."
"It does not but over the years, the other bidders have come down with Dragon Pox with amazing regularity. Harry Potter's grandfather would occasionally bid on some estates."
"First, it depends how a Will is written. Say that you have one beneficiary and your will states that Susan is beneficiary to all of your possessions. Further, there was sufficient cash to pay the appraisal feel and taxes. In that case, Susan would receive what you owned, minus the fees and taxes. It would be her choice to keep, sell it herself, or have it dispositioned on her behalf.
"Complicating it slightly, say that you had two beneficiaries and your Will stated that Susan was to get your home and the other beneficiary the other half. The estate would be appraised and depending on the appraised value of your home compared with everything else, the terms of your Will could be easy or difficult to follow If the total estate was valued at 100,000 and the home 30,000, it would be easy. The estate, less the home would be dispositioned, taxes and fees paid and your two beneficiaries could equally share the proceeds, taking into account the value of your home.
"Complicating it further, the estate is worth 100,000 and the home 60,000. In that case, the terms could be followed if Susan had the cash to pay the other beneficiary the difference.
"A variation on that would be that your estate is worth 100,000 and the home 60,000 with the terms that Susan receives the home and the other beneficiary receives the remainder, net of the taxes and fees.
He concluded, "To come back to your original question, the short of it is there's no real gold to be made in the ordinary estates."
She asked, "What of the minor estates?"
"Almost all minor estates have Account Managers assigned. They are classed as those with a net value greater than 50,000G but less than a million. 18 percent of the estates are classed as minor. The research/appraisal fee is 5 percent. If needed, liquidation is 5 percent of what is needed to be sold and the estate tax is 5 percent."
"What are the major estates?"
Rockcrusher replied, "Those over a million. There is typically much more work involved. An international search is done for holdings and accounts – both magical and nonmagical. The appraisal fee goes up to 10% Keep in mind, the potential range. Mr. Nott's estate might have just exceeded a million. Conrad Parkinson's might be worth fifteen or more million. Were Tiberius Ogden to die today, his could be worth double Parkinson's."
"The same for liquidation?"
"No; the same 5 percent applies."
"Parkinson?"
"Yes."
Amelia asked, "Tax?"
"It also goes up to 10 percent."
"How is it paid? Some sort of vault transfer?"
"No, always in person, in one of the conference rooms."
She asked, "Who is it paid to?"
"Ministry Finance Manager, Basil Debit."
"Does he sign a receipt?"
"Of course. There is also an estate estimate sheet that is sent along with the coins and receipts."
"What is the timing?"
"Ordinary estates takes a week, minor up to a month and majors are completed within six months."
"How long was Parkinson the sole buyer?"
"Since 1980. It's not as simple as placing a cardboard sign in a shop window. The family would need to be good at discerning the ordinary from the valuable, skilled at selling and have a significant amount of liquidity. If you would get around to exonerating Sirius Black of all charges, he and his mate would be in a position to run that business."
She flinched and replied, "What?"
"Which two people did Harry Potter fight in the graveyard?"
Realization kicked in. She said, "We can come back to that. What would Parkinson reasonably expect to net? With what degree of effort and over how long?"
"25 percent, taking between six weeks and six months. In some cases, it might take a year to wait for a desired price. Previously, he held private auctions for a select group of buyers. He had a flock of house elves that would pose as people and sell goods through second-hand shops on the nonmagical side."
"You mentioned previously."
"Naturally. The fifty or so associates and spouses that he used to invite to those private auctions all had a common tattoo and met a common fate in June."
"I see."
Doubting her words, he replied, "Perhaps. Let's take an example – you and your niece live in the family estate in Folkstone. Assuming that it was put up for sale today, how many people would be able to afford to buy it without taking out a loan?"
"No more than a dozen. I see your point. The bottom will certainly drop out of a segment of the real estate market."
"True but ignore the estate/manor house market; consider rental property. You've 30,000 magical humans living in Britain of age to get a wand. What sort of dwelling do most live in? Your former assistant, Randi Eastling-Bell – where does she live?"
"In a rental flat."
"30,000 people. Ten percent live like hermits out in the countryside. Two percent live in old country manor homes. Eighteen percent live in some sort of magically enhanced property. Twenty percent own a non-magical property. The remaining fifty percent live in a rental-flat someplace. I'd speculate that half of those rental units are owned by the former tattoo club. What's going to happen when all of that rental property goes on the for-sale market? They'll most likely be sold to nonmagicals who will expect to be paid the same for each of the units, as opposed to giving the magicals a discount because the land lord knows that they could be there for fifty years and if a window cracks, they can fix it themselves. At lot of them moved in just after the war and are still there. Whoever buys those units has a right to charge the tenants the current market rate for their rent."
"So I walked in with a handful of questions and am walking out with an arm-load of problems."
He rebuked, "No, Minister. The problems were there all along; you just hadn't noticed them. My suggestion would be to attempt to contact and have a civil conversation with Mr. Black. If you choose not to find him, you may want to contact Andromeda Tonks' mate. I believe he has many contacts on the nonmagical side. Also, a classmate of Susan's – Justin Finch-Fletchly's father, Peter Finch is in non-magical commercial real estate. They each could prove to be occasional bidders."
Sensing that she was about to leave, he added, "There is another situation that you failed to ask about; actually two but it is easier to consider them together."
"What's... oh, Intestate."
"Exactly; those without a will, or without any living beneficiaries. In short, should someone pass, without any direct beneficiaries – acknowledged children or other living named, beneficiaries - the ministry and the estate disposition group would split the estate evenly after taxes, appraisal fees and discounts. If you're looking for quick funding for the ministry, they are your fast solution."
"What if they're married?"
"In Britain's magical world, it means nothing, unless they have a will. Given the interconnection of those who died on June 24, there could well be a handful of estates with no wills or living beneficiaries. Without having looked I would guess their percentage to be a fourth."
"Thank you, Rockcrusher. I'll have to decide how many of those problems can be turned into opportunities."
Rockcrusher replied, "All of them can. But not until you clean house in your financial department, which I suspect was your original reason for your coming to see me. Please return in two days."
… - …
Tuesday October 3
After they had sold their wand allotment for the day, Emma said, "it's a good business practice to review your business for the last month and preview where you expect it to go for the next.
* In August you made 2,250 wands and sold 600.
* In September you made 2,115 and sold 1,100.
* In October, do you want to make more, sell more, or both?"
Harry replied,"Both."
Hermione asked, "How so?"
Harry said, "If we went from three glue stations to six and we glue and clamp three times a day, eight, noon and four, we'd be in a position to finish 180 a day during the week and half of that on Saturday mornings, That would put us at about four thousand made a month. If we had two people doing fittings in the morning, we should be able to get the shaping, sanding and three coats of shellac done as well."
Emma said, "That sounds like a plan. On to sales, in September, virtually all the wands sold were acromantula. The oak wands was always offered first, so that was what sold the most."
Hermione admitted, "The rod style has outsold the baton style six to one."
Knowing that this had become a point of pride for his girlfriend, Harry commented, "There's three points with that. To date, we've sold mostly to newblood and halfblood witches and wizards. In my own case, that's what I've always presented first, so I'd expect to sell more of those. Last, the rod style takes less time to shape and sand than the baton." As his girlfriend's face started to display a slight frown, he added, "Either isn't right or wrong; preference is in the eye of the buyer." He was pleased to see a nod.
Emma said, "So to summarize, we've agreed that Hermione will transfigure three more glue tables, we plan on making 180 a day and plan on fitting 75 a day. Who will advise Gringotts about the increased fitting rate?"
"I'll talk with Barchoke to start that in November."
"Getting back to the task at hand. You two have a contract to fulfill – make, fit and sell 30,000 wands. You could likely acquire contracts for at least that many more. Let's go back to the wand-core discussion. I believe that Europe is about to finally recognize that they have a serious wand-core shortage, as it appears that every core that we know about is derived for some body part or extract of a magical animal. If we took acromantulas out of the equation, and had simply killed every unicorn, thesteral or hippogriff in Britain, I doubt that you two would have been able to make thirty thousand wands. France and Germany, the Netherlands and Poland are probably worse off to begin with – too many wars were fought on those grounds to have vast magical forests."
Harry agreed. "I'd bet that every Abraxan in France is sporting a bald tail."
"Exactly; so your three-year outlook could easily be a hundred thousand wands or more, not thirty. Depending on the number of witches and wizards, it could be two hundred thousand. We don't have any data on populations, or core availability. What do the acromantula do in the winter?"
Hermione said, "They go into caves and hibernate."
"When?"
"Hagrid would know better. I'd guess the first week in November."
Emma said, "Close enough. "So that implies that by then you need to have collected enough strand to last you until the middle of May."
Dan had arrived a few minutes earlier and had been listening. He asked, "Could a handful of the spiders be coerced into simply creating additional webs?"
Hermione said, "That would be horrible; forcing a helpless animal to do that!"
Dan suggested, "If you asked Minister Bones for permission, I expect that she'd grant it instantly and observe that most witches would prefer that two dozen monster-size spiders get coerced into making webs that they won't get to use than have every unicorn in the land shot for its tail hair. Buy them a flock of sheep if your conscious bothers you."
She asked, "How much does a sheep cost?"
"A hundred pounds or so."
Emma asked, "Harry, when are you going to Hogwarts?"
"Sunday October 22. I expect to come back Friday the 27th. The hippogriffs and thesterals will get their tails sheered that Sunday. Dobby and Winky could bring over a dozen sheep or so and I could cast spells to get them to make webs that week. That seems like it would be fair."
Dan asked, "Hermione, how long does it take to shape and sand a baton wand?"
"Just over a half hour."
"How long for the rod?"
"Five minutes as an average The three thin coats of shellac are about the same for either."
Emma said, "Based on current sales, there are just over two months of the baton style in inventory. I'd suggest switching to the rod style for October and November and take up making them again in early December."
Emma asked, "Harry, are Dobby and Winky going with you on Sunday?"
"I'd expect so."
She added, "My suggestion would be to have them collect all of the strand on Sunday, then have them bring the sheep and then either incent or spell them to spin more webs. How many guards are going?"
"I was planning on four. I'll ask Barchoke if he can replace them for a week so the building isn't short."
She nodded in gratitude.
Harry said, "I'll go talk with Barchoke and be home in an hour."
... - ...
Barchoke received the message that Harry had entered the lobby. He walked out to greet him. "Good afternoon, Harry. How can I help you?"
"I wanted to talk with you if you have the time. Can you come over to the shop with me?"
"I'd like that."
Harry offered him a beverage and the sat down in the comfortable chairs. Harry asked, "Does Gringotts have branches throughout Europe?"
"Yes."
"And their wands are gone too, right?"
"To my knowledge, yes."
"How are they getting them replaced?"
"Similar to your own situation. There is a wandcrafter, Racz in Bucharest that has offered some apprenticeships similar to your own. I've heard that he doesn't have the same skill as Whitehorn, but he wasn't interested in teaching Europeans. The largest difference is in availability, or lack of, for wand cores The two largest dragon reserves in Iceland and Romania stopped exports and raised their wards to the point that they have all but disappeared. The heart from the Hungarian Horntail that was shipped to you was likely the last one exported. In short, there is a widespread shortage of renewable material. Too many of the magical animals have been slaughtered out of desperation. Enough talk of distant lands. How are you doing in the workshop?"
"We're making more than we sell and hope to to raise both our production and our sales again."
"Your only hard obligation is to make and fit 30,000 wands. All I ask is you let us know how many you plan on fitting for the next month by the fifteenth, so we can continue to issue and distribute the purchase permit cards in an orderly way. Minister Bones delivered on her promise. We still intend to issue the permits of the serious abusers last. If their businesses haven't failed in nine months, it is doubtful that they would in eighteen. Sooner or later, a trade will develop for stolen wands, so more regulation of new sales becomes a futile attempt at grandstanding."
He continued. "On another subject, Ragnok has scheduled replacements for the guards who will be accompanying you to Hogwarts."
"Thank you. I'll let Hermione and Emma know."
"And your other friends?"
"They will be coming with on Sunday. She'll be staying here during the week and he'll be staying with me. I expect that they'll both will be there to help again on Friday."
"Excellent. Thank you for inviting me over. I do enjoy looking at the sunlight occasionally."
"Thank you again."
… - …
When Amelia returned to see Rockcrusher, she brought Anna Daily along with her. Anna and Connie worked together as a team. Moody, Connie and Amelia had once been classmates together. Moody had only been 75 when he passed away (One never asks a lady her age) Anna joined the force forty years later, fresh out of Hogwarts. As such, she had a younger person's perspective and grew up with a magical father and a non-magical mother who still practiced as a real-estate attorney. After the greeting and introductions were made, Amelia asked, "Can we look at the Rudy O'hern estate?"
A few minutes later, he had a copy of the summary sheet, which he handed to Amelia. "Essentially Snotnose appraised the estate at 104,000 galleons. There were insufficient liquid assets, so Parkinson was brought into the project. He paid 98,800 for all of the assets, properties and personal effects of Mr. O'hern. The Nation and the Ministry each collected 5,200, from the money he paid, leaving the beneficiaries 88,400 galleons. Parkinson likely sold the property and personal effects for 110 – 115,000G, though he's not required to report on a transactional basis."
"So in effect, he made the purchase at a discount?"
"That's one perspective. Another is that the Ministry representative was paid 5,200 galleons for no effort what-so-ever. Parkinson had salaries to pay like anyone else. Gringotts was paid the same amount for preparing a consistently reliable, complete assessment."
Amelia admitted, "Rockcrusher, I meant no disrespect. I'm simply trying to understand."
Anna cut in, "I think our true question here is, in your estimation, did Parkinson make his money by providing some value-added service such as contracting for, or performing repairs to the property, or through disposing of the estate by means of using his wide range of contacts, or both?"
Rockcrusher and Amelia both visibly relaxed. He replied, "In this instance, I believe that he made his money by offering the right pieces of the estate to those who placed the highest value on them. He most likely would have become personally involved when there was a major estate, or when there was reason to suspect that there would be items of questionable legality. You also need to remember, it costs money to sell an item if you're paying someone to sell on your behalf. It doesn't make sense to buy something for 7G and pay another 2G to sell something for 8G."
Rockcrusher added, "My question to you is, what did Mr. Debit do with the Ministry's 5,200 galleons?
Amelia said, "Thank you, Anna. Please meet me in my office in an hour. I have other business with my Account Manager."
After Anna had left, Amelia said, "A good barrister never asks a question in court that they don't already know the answer to. So what do you think happened?"
"2,600 was deposited into a ministry account. I expect that he either kept the rest or split it with a co-worker. The problem can easily be solved on a go-forward basis. Simply sign a memo stating that the funds should be deposited into a specific ministry account. Are you looking to silence him, attempt a clawback, find a co-conspirator or attempt to try him through your Wizengamot?"
He added, "My recommendation is that we ask him a few questions when he comes in next. My reasoning is, while he most likely stole funds using this method, the day-to-day activity is far more likely to be acceptable. Besides, until a buyer or several bidders have been selected, or identified, estate dispositions are on hold."
"Who would be a likely candidate to take this task over?"
"Sirius Black is the heir apparent to the Black family estate. It has sufficient liquidity. Potter is the only other candidate whose name comes to mind. He is far too busy with his current business venture. Your other alternative would be to take over the function as part of your Ministry. Long-term, that's not a good option. There is too much opportunity for theft."
He added, "Perhaps when his name comes up for a wand Purchase Permit card, there might be some small error on it like a misspelling that would require him to get fixed in the Lobby?"
She observed, "It's always good to correct mistakes. After he comes to the lobby, I'll change the directions to have the funds deposited into the appropriate account. In the mean while, I'll widen our search for Mr. Black."
"He is likely to be in the company of Mr. Remus Lupin. I believe that Lupin owns a motor vehicle."
"Thank you."
... - …
Friday October 6
Fletch had sold a third of his floo powder. The price was now 10G per bag, or three for 25G.
By now he'd easily recovered his initial investment and had mentally kicked himself for selling so much at 5G. On the other hand, his transactions were perfectly legal and he was making good money.
… - ...
Saturday October 7
Harry and the Grangers were honored to receive the invitation to Minister Bones' home for dinner but had no illusions that it was anything other than a three hour deposition without the watchful eye of the Nation supporting them. Amelia offered them a portkey but Dan wanted to drive to Folkstone. It afforded them the opportunity to have the meeting before the meeting, reminding Hermione that every question didn't have to be answered. They could be deferred, reflected, deflected, refused or a simple admission of I don't know could be offered. As Dobby and Winky were also invited along, they were specifically advised not to volunteer any information that night.
Amelia was candid and to the point. "The wizarding economy is imploding. I need more people to get their wands in the next ninety days. I need a lot more people to get their wands in the ninety days following. Is that possible?"
Emma chose deflection for a moment. "Believe it or not, this is a conversation that we have every day. To be honest, we don't have any comparative information. Are France and Germany making a thousand a day or just a dozen? Do they have core material in hand for a thousand wands, or a hundred thousand? Are they legal cores, or human parts from virgins?"
Amelia acknowledged, "They're all legitimate questions and I'll do my best to find answers for you. That said, please answer mine."
Harry said, "The ultimate constraint is wand core. As of an hour ago, we have enough core on hand to make another six thousand generic wands. It's not something that we can go out and buy. We have to find it. Additionally, most of the work, including the sales/fitting has to be done by licensed wandcrafters. Emma has finished her wandcrafting coursework. We expect to have her licensed in a few weeks. We initially were fitting 50 a day; we're currently fitting 60 a day and expect to be able to fit 75 a day in a few weeks. You've concluded that part of their plans is to facilitate a social shift – who owns the next ticket in line is between you and Ragnok. So output has improved and we expect it to continue."
Dan interjected, "To be fair, instead of simply looking for upsides to the schedule, we should at least acknowledge the risks. Harry's mentioned the supply of wand core. The United Nations or some similar magical organization could easily attempt to ste..., I didn't mean to say steal, I meant to say gin up the paperwork and legally confiscate it. Bluntly spoken, a handful of goblins with spears wouldn't be much of a match against a two helicopter insertion team with eighteen heavily armed commandos. The building could be cleaned out in three minutes."
"That could never..."
Dan pointed out that, "In the time we've been talking about it, they could land, kill everyone, grab and go. Harry's committed to sell these for roughly thirty pounds each. What would a thousand wands go for in the German version of Knockturn Alley?"
Emma added, "The start-up cost is insane. The tooling is made out of Mithril."
Amelia was about to blow off her argument until she heard the magic word. Instead she said, "You're joking?"
Harry replied, "Hold my arm; I'll show you."
Defeated, she admitted, "I believe you. I had no idea."
Harry said, "We could all work this Sunday; it wouldn't solve the problem. I could beg Ragnok to allow me to put a shoe-box full of wands on your desk; it wouldn't solve the problem. You could restart the Wizengamot tomorrow. You'd doubtless have a bunch more people insisting that their need is greater than anyone elses."
Dan observed, "If they're like their nonmagical counterparts, it would only slow things down."
Emma circled back to her original point, "I think having a bit of international perspective would be useful, unless you were serious about the commando raid aspect."
Amelia had mentally taken back her previous statement. A thousand wands that would easily fetch 500G or more each would be a very tempting target. She resolved to remove that could never happen from her thought process.
Seeing as there was no simple solution, they were all somewhat relieved when Smidgen announced, "Time to eat."
… - …
Sunday October 8
Amelia reflected on the conversation from the previous evening; especially the one after dinner. From what she'd heard over the years, the ICW couldn't agree on what day it was – yet one thing that they were firm on was that wands could only legally be crafted and sold by licensed wandcrafters. She'd never considered that better than three fourths of the wands in use had been in use for decades and frequently were legacy wands from deceased relatives. Wars and human encroachment had severely diminished large magical creature habitat. Owl feathers didn't contain enough magic to work, nor would flobberworm slime, or dragon dung.
Emma had pointed out that as of Friday, the Wand Shop had fitted more than two thousand wands – A number that reportedly exceeded Ollivander's highest yearly output. Not one of those wands had been returned for poor workmanship.
Harry had gotten to the heart of the matter; it all came down to wand core. He pointed out that if every living dragon was slaughtered this week, the hearts wouldn't be dry enough to use for at least two years.
She'd thought about taking Emma's advice and calling her counterparts in other countries. Perhaps it was a conversation better held by others, or best not held at all. If she said Our wandsmiths made two thousand wands and they had none, what short and long-term position did that put her in? The only visible improvements that she'd seen was the emergence of a reliable newspaper. No that wasn't true; some stores were reopening, the floo network was running, though she questioned the supply of floo powder and her three trainees were actively helping people every day.
Progress was being made. There was also the matter of perspective. She had her wand; Augusta Longbottom didn't.
… - ...
Back at Hogwarts, Minerva called the other heads and Pomfrey to her office. Sprout saw the concern on her face and asked, "What's wrong?"
"I still don't feel that we're planning on teaching the children enough magic this year."
Sprout observed, "We agreed on the courses with Ragnok. He's paying all of the bills this year."
"I realize and appreciate that. Heaven knows – Arthur Weasley could never have afforded four tuitions this year on lay-off relief. That's not the point; this is Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, not Inverness-South High School."
She continued, "Filius, you're expected to teach the fifth years twenty-four charms between January and June 15."
"That's one a week."
"Finnigan will be lucky to get through eight."
Slightly frustrated but trying to be helpful, he replied, "It would be easy enough to look up the last ten OWL exams and see which dozen charms appeared on the tests most often and teach those first. You're right; not all of the students will get through all twenty four, just as they won't get through every possible transfiguration form. We could send out the second semester book list and some of the students will purchase the books this weekend. Undoubtedly, we'll have to focus on the practical portions of the wanded classes and assign extra theory homework over the summer."
Sprout suggested, "We need to find ways to make second term work, not lament its failure before it even starts." She asked, "Who have you hired for teaching transfiguration?"
The silence was deafening.
Flitwick stated, "Minerva, you agreed to be responsible for running the school this year. You may see it as being stuck running the school and choose to get a head appointed over the summer and go back to teaching full time. In eleven weeks, we need competent people in place teaching transfiguration and potions. Don't resent it. Hire an intern to teach second term if you want to hedge your bets but you need to get those people in place."
"Albus wouldn't have allow..."
"He cut her off. "Albus was head during the terms of nine ministers of Magic. He let the school stagnate and bask in its past glory."
Sprout pointed out, "The reality that we need to face is that the new classes will most likely be permanent. We need to find ways to fit them in, not hope they'll go away. That's our new reality. I assure you that the school will be going hat-in-hand back to the nation or ministry next June, looking for funding for another year or two. There's way too many businesses outside of Diagon that have folded, temporarily shut down, or that are barely limping along."
"What if we offer transfiguration and charms club this term?"
Flitwick gave a neutral "That's an idea," response.
Sprout asked, "Would they be contrary to the spirit of the agreement?"
Minerva admitted, "Perhaps."
Poppy sat in her chair after the other three got up and left. Minerva asked "What's on your mind?"
"You, my dear. Clearly you took on a responsibility that you neither were looking for nor have any interest in. That said, you have a one-year contract to get through. There is no shame in going back to Amelia in April or May and telling her that you want your old position back. That said, you either want to look for a one-term intern, or someone who could likely make the jump to Head in six months. For both positions, you might ask Mr. Potter if he could give you the name of a contact. Those two clearly were taught the basics of wandcrafting from a master and they're not making wands by the thousands using a pocketknife and a nail file. Did you truly examine the wand that Hermione made for you? They have excellent craftsmanship; and those were their class assignments – probably one of the first five or ten that she made."
Silence.
"Minerva, the legacy that you can leave on this school are the people that you hire. The goblins hired the first four. So far, your legacy consists of hiring an eighteen-year-old who got his girlfriend in trouble. If you don't personally have the contacts, there's no shame in asking for help but doing nothing will be your black mark. There are several potions masters at St. Mungo's you could invite to lunch if you insist on a Brit. Surely you must know some recent graduates who are working on, or have their masters and might be willing to teach a semester."
… - ...
A/Ns
How honest was Barchoke with Harry when Harry invited him over for a visit?
For those who are wondering, we're approaching the halfway point of the tale, in terms of pages.
Thank you for reading.
… - ...
