… - …
Chapter Twenty
Serious Business
Saturday December 16
Tiberius Ogden took stock of his situation. His family had earned tens of millions of galleons selling firewhisky internationally for three generations. That steady stream of income was rocked on June 24 and came to a fiery halt on the morning of November 6. The theft of the distillery was insult to injury. Cormac's idiocy in October brought his ability to run the firm one day into serious question but having forty million galleons in the bank is nowhere near being broke.
Forty years ago, his father had sat him down and discussed the cost and benefits of insuring the warehouses. At the time they were using a distributed approach and had five throughout the island. The costs were huge and when he learned that there was large-scale systematic employee theft taking place at two of the sites, when he has handed the reins, his first move was to consolidate the warehousing part of the business.
His father had warned him of the risks of acquiring political enemies. Thus, while he personally was solidly within the traditionalist sphere and had (perhaps unwisely) acquired a wizengamot seat, he seldom spoke loudly in favor of or against a bill. Only a fool who sold a product to the public would stand in front of the media and espouse divisive viewpoints. His silence on several issues erroneously led Dumbledore to believe that he had one foot in the old wizard's camp. Tiberius recognized that there were far more muggleborns and half-blood teens buying and consuming his product in some self-created, mythical rite of passage than the traditionalists who had invariably enjoyed a bottle of his single-malt.
To his everlasting regret, he'd attracted the attention of Lucius Malfoy and had agreed to help fund his various schemes. He quickly found that to be a slippery slope; having been sponsoring contract killers for over a decade. Now everything that he'd seen pointed to the likelihood that the new Minister of Magic or her earring wearing lackey had pointed a team of aurors in his direction. It didn't matter who threw the match; someone had to authorize it.
He poured himself a generous measure of Ogden's Reserve – a hand selected 30 year-old straight without the dragon blood. At this moment, he wasn't in the liquor business and he felt like he had the village idiot for an heir.
He made his plans.
… - ...
"Thank you all for coming," said Sirius. "The team seems to have settled. I'll be handling finance; making sure that the bills and everyone gets paid, helping people as I can and saying yes as often as I can."
"Remus Lupin will be the lead on disposition of household items other than jewelry.
"Demi Greengrass will be dispositioning jewelry and will act as the lead in major negotiations.
"Arthur Weasley will be the lead in item evaluation – looking for items that might be illegal to sell and the like. We want to keep those items out of any estate valuations that Gringotts might calculate. We can't go around buying estates and not being able to sell 20 percent of the stuff. Procedurally we have the opportunity to walk through the properties before we agree to an estimate. He'll also help Remus with household sales.
"We have an open position relating to the sale of the property itself. There will be some significant challenges there, in that many of the proprieties won't have actually been sold in centuries and may need to obtain a title."
Anna Daily spoke up and said, "My sister, Sally Daily might be a very good fit. She's a witch and has sold commercial and residential real estate properties for years. I'll text her and ask her to stop by later today."
Sirius replied, "Thank you, Anna. That brings us to Layla. Like her sister, Winky, who works with Harry Potter, Layla has a fantastic ability to see magic. She can walk around a room, Look and see which items have magic applied, be it a charm, enchantment or curse. She'll also assist us then we need things moved.
"That takes us back to Anna Daily, who is on loan to us from the gracious assistance of Minister Bones. The first estates that we will be buying and dispositioning are Lestrange and Malfoy. There is a very real chance that there will be a skeleton or two, either in the closet, in the basement, or buried in the back garden.
"Bill Weasley has agreed to be available to us one Saturday a month beginning in January for the purpose of removing curses from items of significant worth, that if cleaned, could be sold at a profit.
"Ted Tonks has agreed to be available as needed should we need help with contracts.
"The first estate that we'll be working on will be the Lestrange property."
Remus asked, "Where did they live?"
Anna replied, "They lived a bit south of Ipswich near the water. There are a few acres, so your skeletons in the back garden quip could be very real."
Sirius continued, "The property itself was ostensibly appraised at 200,000G. The vault is valued at 150,000 but there is a 50,000G fine assessed for storing highly dangerous and illegal items which caused a fire last June. The jewelry was appraised at 10,000G. The household items excluding jewelry were appraised at zero, which represents an opportunity as well as an easy out, should we choose to simply burn down the dwelling, as has been offered to us as an option."
Remus asked, "What are the order of events?"
"Our position is that the adjusted value of the estate is net of the 50,000G fine and any unpaid taxes and mortgages. In this specific case, I don't expect any mortgages but unless they were automatically paid by Gringotts, it is quite reasonable to expect some unpaid property taxes. The impact to us is determining the exact amount of the 5 percent to be paid to Gringotts and the Ministry. Andromeda Tonks and I are the joint beneficiaries to the estate. So in summary, the goal is to verify that the estate is safe and legal to sell."
Demi asked, "First off, what is the basis of the vault estimate?"
He replied, "The weight of the melted alloy."
"Anna's sister and Ted may be in a better position to comment but if they had the property more than a couple of generations, there may not be a copy of the title or deed at the county, making it difficult to sell."
Anna mentioned, "If this is a good time, Sally is available right now. I just texted her."
"That would be fantastic."
A moment later there was a pop and a knock on the door.
"Hi, I'm Sally Daily. How can I help you?" She looked like the American Actress from the film When Harry Met Sally.
Sirius explained what they were doing and the issue with the burned-up title.
She replied, "A lost title is fairly common. With a copy of the will and paid-up property taxes, it is fairly straight-forward to handle. Would you like me to take care of it for you? I'll get an exact amount due for the taxes and see what needs to be done to get a clear title. I'll also find out the assessed value of the property."
"That would be great. Let me introduce you to the others."
After the introductions were made, Sirius asked, "Does anyone think it's worth challenging Sneerwell's vault estimate?"
Demi replied, "Other than out of principle, no. If you don't contest the vault value, you get paid tomorrow and disburse the other proceeds as they become available. Depending on what Sally finds, the property could clear in two weeks or it could take a year. The quicker we can move onto the Malfoy estate, the faster we can sell off those assets."
Sirius asked, "Anna, when would you be available to do a walk through of the Lestrange property?"
She replied, "How about tomorrow?"
"That would be wonderful. Remus, Arthur, Layla, are you available tomorrow?"
They nodded yes.
Anna mentioned, "When you're going through a property, it's always is a good idea to bring a camera and plenty of film along. I'll do it this time and buy you a camera. We'll do it together at Malfoy manor and their other properties."
Sally asked, "Where are you planning on storing the household items?"
"I leased a warehouse just south of London."
"Will that be the address for the business?"
"Yes. Ted Tonks finished all of the paperwork. There's a bit of office space included." Sirius asked, "Sally would you like the job?"
She looked around the group. Demi nodded yes.
Sally replied, "I would like that. Thank you for offering."
… - ...
Sunday December 17
The walk-through and categorization of the items at the Lestrange property was surprisingly easy. In truth, it wasn't much of a home – no plumbing, three bedrooms a library and a large kitchen/sitting room. As Bill had done, they made several piles – cursed, enchanted, ordinary salable, junk and don't-ever-mention-this-in-polite-conversation. The Lestranges weren't pack rats; the home was amazingly clean and free of clutter. Though it hadn't been lived in for years, Sirius wouldn't have been surprised if Kreacher had been cleaning it on a regular basis.
The Black silver was ordinary; it hasn't been charmed or cursed. Beyond that, there were dozens of cursed and/or poisoned knives ranging in size from needle thin to a gut-ripper cutlass in Bella's closet. The library was free of traps and curses but the topics were as dark as humanly possible.
In jest, Sally asked, "Are you planning on selling this stuff to muggles, or souvenir hunters?"
Sirius asked, "What did you have in mind?"
"There must be scores of perverts out there who would love a pair of Bellatrix's knickers; if she had any. OK TMI. Seriously, is there anything else in here that's worth taking?"
Sirius asked, "Layla, is there anything hidden in here?"
The little elf Looked around for a few minutes before she replied, "There be many coins under your feets – many coins."
Many coins didn't begin to describe it. There were also a few small bags of gems that Layla told them not to touch. All-in-all, there were 100,000 galleons that she told them were safe to take.
Sirius asked, "What about the bag of gems?"
"Layla thinks that they are very evil. Layla thinks we should leave them here and burn home down."
Arthur said, "Perhaps Bill could take a look at..."
Layla stated, "Bill Weasley would die in this house if he comes. We should be going now. Take silver things if you wants them. Go now."
They didn't have to be told three times. Everyone but Remus carried out the very large silver service sets.
Sirius said, "Minister Bones authorized us to torch the home. Does anyone disagree?
Remus agreed, Let's do it. Incendio."
The reality is they could have spent money with John Mcmillan's construction firm to bring the property up to building code and could have made a bit more. They eventually cleared the title, had the remains of the home vanished, filled in the foundation and sold the five acres property. They didn't break even against Snotnose's estimate but they learned a lot and no one got hurt. Remus and Arthur would eventually sell the little furniture to second hand shops and discover that they could easily work together.
… - …
The property eventually sold for 75,000G, the silver service, for 1,000G. Sirius gave the books to Hermione. They collected 150,000G from Gringotts. That along with the bag of coins that they found came to 326,000. That minus the 10 percent between Gringotts and the Ministry came to 293,400. Ten percent of that (29,340-1,000 for AW = 28,340) was split between Anna, Sally, Layla, Demi, Remus and Sirius. It came to 4,723 a share. Sirius and Andromeda split the proceeds.
Sirius paid the warehouse rent out of his share. He would buy it in a month.
Greta would notify Amelia that 16,300G had been deposited in the Estate account at Gringotts.
… - …
Friday December 22
Fletch was down to his last hundred bags when he'd heard that a floo powder shipment from Italy would be forthcoming. He sold those out for 15G a bag and kept three for himself. All told, his 5,000G investment had grossed 50,000G.
He didn't view himself as a scalper, so much as having performed a service by having managed a limited allocation of a scarce commodity. After the first week, no one had complained and in fairness, the apothecaries had all done exactly the same thing with their limited supply products.
… - …
Sunday December 24
The Christmas holidays at the Grangers were as different from life at the Dursleys as Harry could imagine. Emma's Dad, Ben Olifson came over for the day. He didn't come often, but Harry truly seemed to enjoy his company. He suffered from crippling arthritis. Since he was immediate family to Emma, Hermione found a treatment that they believed would work that they felt that they could now give him.
The surprise came when Hermione offered it to him. He replied, "This smells like the potions your great grandmother used to make when she worked at St. Mungo's. Did you make it?"
"Yes. I... I did."
"Do you go to Hogwarts?"
"I did. Harry and mum and I make wands now. We have a wandshop in Diagon Alley.
Ben asked, "What happened to that strange guy, Ol...?"
"Ollivander. He passed away in June."
Emma asked, "You knew?"
He replied, "Of course. I didn't have any magic; I was a squib. That's why I went into dentistry. Your mum was nonmagical I thought you might have magic when you were an infant, but you never received your latter."
Emma replied, "A guy named Wilkie Twycross bound my magic when I was an infant. I had it unbound in late August this year. I passed an OWL and here I am. So what really happened to Grandma?"
"St. Mungo's where she worked was bombed in 1941. Most of the staff were killed. A few of her friends who she worked with got sent to Hogwarts."
Harry asked, "What was her name?"
"Patti Olifson. There was a disturbance one day at your babysitter's house when you were about a year old. We never knew what had happened. Your mum passed shortly after. You grew up so fast, so beautiful."
"Thanks Dad." She was delighted that Hermione's potion had worked and he was able to hug her again.
It was the best Christmas that any of them could remember.
… - ...
There was little to celebrate for the purebloods – what few wands that had been delivered hadn't gone to them. The Bulstrode household had been cold from October until Millicent came home from school and renewed some of the house charms. Her parents had cut down the trees on their property to use as firewood. Since they didn't subscribe to the Quibbler, they had never seen Macmillan's advertisements.
Her father hoped that the charms would hold until they received their wands, or if Millicent could somehow come home every other Saturday Neither had received their yellow Wand Purchase Permit card yet.
… - …
In contrast, Reginald Cattermole received his notice that he was being called back to work at his position as Maintenance Supervisor at the Ministry in January. While his wife Mary and their children, Alfred, Ellie, and Baby Maise were happy for him, he wasn't certain that he wanted to go back. He had found good work doing heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) maintenance at one of the buildings a mile from Charing Cross road and had been making more than from his old position. Add to that, the very favorable, pound to galleon exchange rate and it had been a lot more money. He had spent many Saturdays literally doubling his paycheck doing currency conversion in the Leaky Cauldron. When the exchange rate hit bottom at two pounds to the galleon he felt like a millionaire. Given that his rent was in galleons, he was happy to make the exchange.
… - …
Willy Widershins was one of the low-security prisoners who had been paroled from Azkaban had been picked up (again) for stealing a wand. What the auror didn't recognize was that he was allowing himself to be caught. He was tossed into one of the ministry holding cells. It was warm and he was fed twice a day from food purchased at the Leaky Cauldron. When his two week sentence was up, he fully intended to repeat his crime and spend January in comparative warmth and comfort.
… - ...
Of the estimated 2,000 elves in Britain, 1,400 had signed on with Bright Moon. There were a few, such as Amelia's elf Smidgen who believed that they had the best situation in Britain, or Dobby, Winky or Winky's sister, Layla who probably did. The Hogwarts elves wanted the same recognition but they had community and ultimately were waiting on direction from Nobby. That said, a few of the younger ones had bolted and immediately signed up with Bright Moon.
By and large, the Bright Moon elves were earning two or three galleons a day and collectively were amassing a fair amount of gold. Dobby and Winky had repaid the gold that had been given for their use to become wandcrafters.
They ranged from 28-36 inches in height and appeared to be growing taller. Most elves had grown an inch since the Great Wandout in June.
Emma, who frequently visited the Bright Moon building over her lunch break had found white shirts and dark trousers (both dress and dungaree) or skirts that were appropriately sized and purchased several cases of them from time to time. Soon every Bright Moon elf had adopted the look as their new uniform. Winky taught a few of the younger elves embroidery and soon their shirts all said Bright Moon.
The pillow cases were gathered in a pile and burned one evening. As a result, even more of the elves reconsidered their choice. When the picture was printed in the Quibbler, more elves left their abusive homes and joined.
Luna realized that her place was with the elves and with her father's blessing withdrew from Hogwarts. She made arrangements to take the OWL exams along with the fifth years and would score in the top five. She spent her mornings at the building listening to the elves tell the stories of their lives before Bright Moon. In the afternoons, she set up jobs for her 1,400 friends. Some were hired for the day, such as when Sirius needed help for a day or two. Some went to people who needed help with their home or garden once a week. Some were hired for a month at a time. That was as long a time period as Luna would write a contract. They wanted to pay her ten percent of the revenue. In true house elf fashion, she negotiated them down to five percent. It was less than they wanted to pay her but more than Rufus Scrimgeour was earning as Head Auror.
The future was very bright indeed.
… - …
Saturday December 30
Harry agreed to do the nine fittings that Saturday morning. They arrived at eight am as usual. There were several hundred wands that either needed their first or third coat of shellac. Hermione and Emma started on those, while Harry worked at the glue tables.
"We'll need to mix more shellac this morning," said Emma to Hermione. "Would you rather mix some up, or brush these?"
"I'll make a batch today," said Hermione. "Would you like a cuppa?"
"Yes, Earl Gray please."
At five to nine, Harry walked into the sales room. The bright lights felt good after three days of rain and sleet. Redeye greeted him.
After a minute, Sharpeye asked, "Are you ready?"
Yes. I'll take the cards today. There aren't that many and it's too wet outside."
First in line was Ron. Harry said, "Hi," and asked, "How long was your old wand?"
"You've seen it a hundred times."
Harry admitted, "I'm not Ollivander." In a mystic voice he added, "Eleven and three quarters, rosewood with a vulture's arse core."
"I get it; you've made loads of them. It was fourteen inches."
As Harry was reaching into the shoe box, he asked, "How's the family?"
"Dad's working with Sirius. He likes it. Mum and Murial have never really gotten along. Percy is... lost. He always wanted to work at the ministry. You see the twins more than I do."
Harry bit his lip recalling Percy's pomposity and references to reports that he'd written about cauldron bottoms. He handed Ron a fourteen inch oak rod and said, "Give it a wave." A gush of silver sparks flew out.
"Sweet. Thanks."
Harry set the card off to the side and put the five coins in the box.
Seamus was eighth, after Slughorn. The Irish lad must have thanked Harry five times before he left.
Last in line was Cormac McLaggen, who had been waiting out in the sleet longer than he felt that he should have had to. The fact that people had been doing more-or-less the same thing, in far longer lines, for the last five months never occurred to him. He threw off his hood and blinked. Emma had recently had a new set of bright overhead lights installed in an effort to counteract Seasonal Affective Disorder, Sharpeye had come in out of the sleet while Redeye stood a step behind and to the right of Harry as had been his routine since returning from Hogwarts at the end of October.
As Harry asked, "Do you have your yellow card and five galleons," McLaggen pulled them out of his shirt pocket and slapped them onto the tabletop. Harry ignored the bad behavior and placed the card on top of the card stack and the coins in the money box. Redeye came a half-step closer.
It could have been a coincidence but the light from the bright ceiling lights just behind where the customers sat reflected off of the flat side of Redeye's highly polished hardened silver pole ax blade and shined in McLaggen's eyes; annoying the ever-angry teen even more than usual.
"How long was your old wand?" asked Harry.
"Fourteen and a quarter, maple with a fireball core."
"Give this one a wave," said Harry," handing him a fourteen inch maple.
He got a few gray sparks. Harry said, "Try this one," handing him a fourteen inch oak. It was a bit better – about average. Had he been less focused on ensuring a good fit, he'd have noticed the agitation in the teen.
The light caught Cormac's eye again.
"God Damn dirt digger – Diffindo" – He cast in a left to right downward diagonal slash.
Harry, who clearly had the better seeker reflexes, jumped up and threw himself in front of Redeye, who had momentarily taken his eyes off of Cormac as Hermione was carrying a white case of bottles.
Harry who had taken the brunt of the slicing spell and didn't want a repeat, slapped the wand out of McLaggen's hand and shouted, "What the fuck is wrong with you?"
The other two guards that had been standing just outside burst in and the three guards held Cormac down on the floor at daggerpoint. Sharpeye activated something and seconds later, there were twenty goblin guards in the room.
Seeing McLaggen was pinned to the ground, Harry looked at Redeye and asked, "Are you OK?"
The young goblin was freely bleeding from the shoulder but said, "I'll live."
"Dobby, go get Windsong." Little D popped away.
Redeye said, "You intentionally blocked his curse to save me."
Hermione saw him bleeding and said, "Epskey" a few times and the bleeding had stopped.
Meanwhile Windsong who had just walked in, gave a little wave of her hand and the goblins cleared the room, taking a still-struggling Cormac with them. She saw the etch into the brick wall where he'd started his curse. She flicked her finger twice and Redeye was on the table, stripped to the waist. "Did you clean the wound before sealing the cut?"
"No, I..." She immediately lost confidence that she'd done the right thing.
"That's fine. You helped." She reopened the gash, Looked at it for a few seconds, flicked her little finger as the wound resealed. "Unless you have no other options, always clean a wound before knitting the skin back together, particularly if the patient was wearing something. It's not unusual that there would be a bit of fabric or something similar inside that would cause an infection."
Turning to Harry she asked, "And you, Harry Potter?"
Before he could say, I'm fine, she directed, "Take off that snake suit and I will make certain of it." Hermione had his shredded white shirt off and undid the velcro at the side to get the vest off.
Windsong traced her finger across the path of the curse on his chest with her finger and the redness was gone. His skin felt much cooler. She examined the vest and commented, "I would have had a more difficult day had you not been wearing this. There's not a mark on it. Perhaps Hermione can find you a different shirt to wear after she's finished examining your chest and you can leave this off for a few hours."
Emma handed her still blushing daughter another of the white Wand Shop shirts and asked, "Can I get you a cuppa?"
Windsong replied, "I'd enjoy that, as well as your company. Thank you." They went off into the break room.
Ragnok and the four guards came in. He saw the blood on the floor and Harry and Redeye still sitting on the table talking. He held out one of his memory cubes and asked Harry, "If you would be so kind as to provide a memory of the nine people this morning. I'm certain that Director Shacklebolt and Minister Bones will also want to see it."
Harry complied and handed the cube back.
Windsong told him to rest for an hour before traveling. Nodding, he went into the breakroom, got into one of the lazyboys as Dobby and Winky took their place on either side. A minute later, Redeye joined in the next chair. He said, "Thank you, Wandcrafter Potter. Wandcrafter Hermione was walking by carrying something too heavy and I was momentarily distracted."
Harry admitted, "I get distracted every time she walks by."
The two survivors nodded at each other.
… - …
Connie and Anna came by a few minutes later. Anna took a few photographs. Hermione showed them the sliced shirt. Connie walked in the break room, noticed the four sleeping forms there and made a little noise.
Harry awoke and said, "Hello again, Inspector Hammer. How can I help you?"
She said, "I was wondering if you knew where McLaggen's wand was?"
Harry thought for a moment and said, "Probably still on the floor by the wall. I knocked it out of his hand, then tried to check on Redeye. I'll get..."
"Don't get up. I'll find it."
She did and Anna took a few photos before bagging it.
Just then Barchoke walked in with four guards. "Good morning, Inspector Hammer. How may the Nation help you today?"
"We were just asking Mr. Potter a few questions and were going to collect McLaggen."
"Wandcrafter Potter is more than welcome to talk with you. Prisoner McLaggen committed his offenses on Goblin Territory and will soon be facing Goblin Justice."
They all knew that Barchoke's words were true, and that Hammer had made the obligatory attempt. That said, Anna took the bagged wand out of her satchel and handed it to him. Knowing that goblin justice was swift, Connie asked, "When is his trial scheduled?"
Barchoke looked at his watch and replied, "It is nearly ten. The healer told Redeye and Harry to rest for an hour. I'm certain that they would all like lunch. One pm today. Would you both like to attend?"
"Yes, as will Minister Bones."
"Attendant Gumeye will be waiting for you in the lobby anytime after 12:30."
Amelia was called immediately. This presented a highly risky opportunity. She contacted his mother and Tiberius.
… - …
The combination of the photos that Anna Daily had taken, Harry's memory and the examination of the wand itself was damning. The was no evidence to support a claim of provocation. If there was a light flashing in his eyes, Potter, who was only four feet away, hadn't seen it – though he had bent down several times to take wands out of the shoe boxes.
McLaggen shouting, "I didn't do anything illegal," before he was forceably silenced and further restrained wasn't helping. Too many of the nation were aware that there was no law in wizarding Britain specifically banning assault or murder of a goblin. The only reason that a trial was taking place was the wandshop, though owned by Potter was a part of the nation.
Tiberius Ogden couldn't see a way out for his nephew – Damn Gryffindor. He might as well write his thoughts on a poster board and wave them to the crowd.
Amelia was silent as the process unfolded. Any of the account managers who were interested, or available to serve as a juror placed their personal coin into the bowl. The accused was blindfolded and ordered to draw three coins from the bowl. Sneerwell, Rockcrusher and Steeljaw were selected. The others stayed to watch and wager.
After ten minutes, the Elder, who was nominally running the trial, appeared to have seen enough. He asked the three jurors, "Guilty as charged, or not guilty?"
Steeljaw apparently was the senior of the three and spoke first, "Guilty."
Sneerwell declared, "Guilty."
Rockcrusher paused for a brief second before declaring, "Guilty."
"Tiberius, do something," pleaded Mrs. McLaggen to her older brother.
Ogden wasn't certain if the Goblin Nation's rules inspired the old practice of offering indulgences (alternatives), or the other way-around but he had heard that they were an accepted practice in this building. He quickly penned a note, What would it take to get the boy released today? and asked the attendant, who was standing nearby to deliver it to the Elder. He wrote something on it, passed it back to the attendant who passed to to Ragnok, who wrote something on it and sent it back to the Elder.
The Elder glanced at the note, stood and said, "The accused has been found guilty on both charges. The penalty is death by beheading. A request for Alternatives has been heard. Here is the declaration. At six pm either the Accused will be beheaded, Tiberius Ogden will volunteer to take his place, or the entire contents of vault 394 will be surrendered and split between the injured parties. The requester has five minutes to decide."
… - ...
Back at Muriel's, Ron asked, "Dad, can I talk with you?"
"Let's go for a walk." As he closed the door, Arthur asked, "Is this a once around the neighborhood conversation, or a trip to the pub talk?"
"Maybe the pub. "Did you like working at the ministry?"
Somewhat surprised by the line of questioning, the older man admitted, "No. Not really. Molly's brother got me in but..."
Ron replied, "I understand. Do you like what you're doing with Sirius?"
Without hesitation he exclaimed, "Yes. Every day is different and full of excitement. There's next to no paperwork or boring meetings..." Ron smiled as he let his dad have his five minutes of fun.
"How long were you doing it before you realized that you liked it?"
"Two days, tops." Arthur had an idea where this was going but appreciated that his son had put a bit of planning into the conversation and let him lead.
They walked in silence for a minute until they reached the pub and Arthur ordered two beers and lunches for them. They sat in silence for a bit as Ron got part-way into his lager. Finally he said, "I really don't want to go back to school next week."
There, he'd said it.
Ron may not have thought about it, but Arthur just had a very similar conversation a few weeks earlier The wizened parent simply asked, "What are your thoughts?"
"I liked working in a commercial kitchen, The chef told us what to do, gave the instructions and let us do it."
Arthur asked, "If you think about it, was it the work, the environment, or the person that you enjoyed?"
"The environment I suppose. I seemed to be good at the work. After we'd finished, the London guy, Arnie gave me his business card and told me that I could call him if I wanted a job. I also liked working someplace where I knew what I needed to do and when I was done for the day, I was done – no homework, no thinking about something that I had to look up from a year ago."
Arthur nodded and picked up up his beer for a minute to collect his thoughts. It had been a simpler conversation when George outlined their business plan, Fred showed him the gold and the lease offer on the building. He replied, "You'll need to pass at least one OWL to keep your wand. My suggestion is to go back to Hogwarts for spring term and focus on your wanded subjects. Keep up with your studies and focus on passing a few of your classes. When you get to spring break, call this Arnie and find out if you truly have a job waiting at the end of June. I'll check, but I think there might be a few classes available on restaurants and hotels."
As they were walking back, Ron admitted, "It was weird seeing Harry today. He seemed ten years older."
His dad admitted, "I thought the same about Bill the first time I saw him after he started working at Gringotts. Maybe if you work someplace where they treat you like an adult, you tend to act like one."
… - …
As Sirius Black had previously observed, Anna Daily had a remarkable eye for detail. She had been watching carefully as the proceeding for McLaggen was carried out. Beyond the reality that she was observing a completely different legal system at work, something was niggling at the back of her mind.
At the five minute mark, the Elder said, "Requester, What say you?"
Ogden knew what was in the vault. There was just over ten million in coin, among other things. He said, "That is a very steep price."
"You have other vaults. To my knowledge, you have no other heirs. What is your choice?"
Ogden handed over the key. The attendant took it to the Elder who carefully examined it, glanced at Ragnok, who gave the briefest of nods.
The bindings fell away. Cormac rubbed his wrists and arms then stood when he was directed to stand.
The Elder said, "You would do well to leave now. The attendant will show you out."
Daily wondered exactly what was in the vault that the Director wanted so badly.
… - …
The head table at Hogwarts was quiet as they read the paper that morning.
Ogden heir guilty of attempted murder
Fined 10M G and released
By Cheryl Whitehart
Cormac McLaggen was tried and found guilty of attempted murder of two individuals. In a Sentencing bargaining maneuver Distillery Magnate Tiberius Ogden got McLaggen's sentence reduced from death to a ten million galleon fine. McLaggen was immediately expelled from Hogwarts.
"Not so prominent now," muttered Sprout, loud enough to be heard.
… - ...
New year's Eve took on a more somber tone than what Tom and Julie Abbot were thinking of when they agreed to host. Living only a few miles apart in Folkstone, the Ancestral home of the Bones clan, (now reduced to Susie and Amelia) had a great view of the water from its hilltop setting. In contrast, the much more modest Abbott home had the best beach in miles. Further, they had spent a lifetime perfecting charmwork – specifically climate control over their 200 feet stretch of beach.
Hermione was grilling Julie Abbott about how they worked, how a wardstone and the like worked. They had made a bonfire on the beach. With the aid of warming charms the ambient temp was in the mid 70s instead of the low 40s. Susie had brought Smidgen to help and visit with Ralphie, the Abbott's elf.
Tom Abbott was thanking Harry for what must have been the thirty-fifth time. "It's a world easier renewing charms than making them from scratch. Without our wands, they were really falling apart. Amelia helped us out a few times. We got ours in late August, How many have gotten theirs so far?"
"A bit over six thousand," said Harry as a truck drove by on the road on the other side of the house. He decided that Sirius had a reason for enjoying the beach at St. Ebb. The raven hair teen was coming to find the sound of the waves very relaxing. "How long have you been refining your charms? It really is very pleasant sitting out here."
"The better part of twenty years since we got this place from Julie's Aunt."
Dan asked, "Where are little D and W?"
"They've found something to do on weekends. I'm happy for them."
Tom asked, "Who?"
"Our elf friends. They go on weekends to do elvie things. There's more traffic here than I'd expect for a Sunday night."
Tom replied, "We usually don't get much. The road goes up the hill going left and towards town going right. Would you like another, what did you call them?"
"Orange Crush. It's a soda pop beverage from the States. It's nice to look at the stars and not be freezing, standing on a ninety foot tower in the wind. When you're not charming beaches to stay at a perfect temperature, what do you do for fun?"
"I follow the quidditch teams when they were playing."
Dan asked, "Do you have a favorite?"
"The Harpies are fun to watch but I've always followed Puddlemere."
Harry commented, "They should have a full season this spring. I was at a couple tune-up games in the last few weeks. The new brooms seem to be working really well."
Another car sped past. Completely ignoring it, Tom asked, "How many? Where? I haven't read a word about them in the paper."
Harry replied, "Puddlemere field. As far as I know, the sports press wasn't invited yet. Cheryl Whitehart ended up at one of the practices but decided to use her findings as background material for later. They're trying to match the equipment with the new brooms."
"New brooms?"
"As I understood it, previously every team bought their own equipment. A team with everyone on five-year old brooms was never going to fairly compete with a team with new firebolts or similar."
Tom asked, "So they're all planning on using identical brooms?"
Harry replied, "Exactly. There should be..." He never finished his sentence. A fireball flew into the air from the top of the hill with a whoosh that they could hear, in spite of the distance. He called out, "What's that?"
Amelia, who had been resting her eyes while Emma and Julie were chatting was suddenly wide awake. She grabbed Harry's arm and side-along apparated him to the edge of the property. She said, "Call for Susie's things."
"Accio Susie's things." As they flew, he gently guided them onto the ground.
"My Desk."
"Accio Amelia's desk." A flaming desk flew through the air. They put it out after setting it down
"Paintings."
"Accio Paintings." A dozen magical paintings flew towards them. One of her late husband was burning. She put it out.
"Accio Amelia's things." Another pile of items landed on the ground.
"Accio valuables." Several metal and wooden boxed flew towards him and landed next to the other items.
"Accio books."
Harry said, "It smells like fuel oil or petrol." She didn't say anything.
"Hogwarts elves – I need your help."
150 elves were there within a minute. The fire brigade sirens were growing louder. Harry said, "Where can they take your stuff to? It has to be gone in about two minutes."
She finally answered, "Welshpool. I have a home in Welshpool." Harry was wondering if she was going into shock.
"Nobby, can you and your friends takes this stuff to Minister Bones' home in Welshpool?"
"We will be doing it now." In the time it took to inhale and exhale, the grounds were clear.
"How else can I help?"
"I'm not certain..."
"Accio evidence."
Three burning flares appeared. That seemed to bring her around. Harry said, "Maybe you should call Anna and Connie and Mr. Shacklebolt. Can you do a patronus message?"
The fire trucks were arriving. Fortunately Dan had just driven his Land Rover up, so there was a plausible means of having gotten people here from the beach house.
Pop, pop, pop
Harry walked up to Connie and said, "She was pretty stressed and confused for a bit, Maybe she should sit down. We summoned a bunch of stuff out of the fire and the Hogwarts house elves sent it to her other home in Welshpool. I called these out of the fire as well. I called for evidence. Those appeared."
Just then, Hermione found him and handed him a sandwich and an Orange Crush. Taking it, he asked if she had another, which she did. He said, "Thank you. Please give this to Amelia."
Emma asked, "Amelia and Susie, Do you want to come home with us for the night?"
Harry walked over to Connie and said, "You should find and confiscate the CCTV tapes. Tom Abbott told me that there was one road going up the hill and it ran into town. I heard a truck driving by and there were a bunch of cars. You might get some license plates."
She winked at him and replied, "Good idea, Inspector Potter. Seriously, thanks for helping her."
A/Ns
Thank you for reading my story. I'm grateful that people read it, mark it as a favorite and occasionally leave notes.
Was Arthur acting responsibly with Ron?
Any thoughts on December 30?
OMAKE
At the Wizengamot meeting, Amos was ready with his usual inane comment. "Why weren't old graves dug up in a search for wands?"
It was Andromeda Tonks turn to do the shredding. "Mr Diggory, when you were ten, did you ever try using your mother's wand?"
"Er, I did. I couldn't make it work."
"Out of curiosity, who did the funeral services for your parents?"
"Stromberg and Annacat."
"Did you know that they put an anti-tampering curse on caskets?"
"Er no. I didn't"
"Mr. Diggory, exactly when would you have proposed that some unnamed group would go disturbing your mother's remains to see if by chance a wand that wouldn't work for you happened to had been placed in her casket?"
"Er..."
"There were a number of ancestor wands in my family vaults. When Mr. Black went into the family vault, which by my guess is 400 feet underground, all of the wands had been smashed. I remember reading an article to that effect in the first issue of the Quibbler. Exactly what are you expecting to find when some unnamed group digs up your mother and somehow evades a nasty curse? Or do you find the premise not to your taste?"
"Perhaps you'll want a lock of her hair and ask the wandcrafters to stop what they're doing and form it into a wand that probably would not work very well; or would you prefer to use her fingernails?"
"Er... I withdraw my question." He was green at the the thought.
… - …
