Chapter Twenty-five

Doubloons

Sunday May 12, 1996

A few days after Anne had flown back to Salem, Amelia invited Augusta, Emma and Hermione over for what would be a rather long lunch. She started, "First off, I didn't call anyone here with my hand out; you each have helped enough. That said, it's pretty clear that there's a 200G per student gap between what we want to spend and what we're currently charging. Emma, you and Hermione are the two most successful businesswomen I know. What can we do?"

Hermione pointed out, "200G x 400 students is 80,000. That's a serious amount of gold but not a mountain."

Emma added, "Agreed. When the endowment funds are established, you'll want a clearly established Statement of Purpose for each fund, identifying what sort of things that the gold will be used for. Someone making a donation to add electricity to the castle wouldn't expect their donation to be used to purchase potions ingredients. Designated gifts are a good way to encourage incremental giving but someone donating 10,000G for a dedicated potions tutor wouldn't expect their donation to be used to pay the normal salary of the everyday potions instructor."

Hermione suggested, "Getting back on track, setting up an operating endowment fund that received a million galleon donation isn't a permanent solution to an 80,000G per year spending gap. It's a heck of a safety net but the solution is to announce that the tuition will go from 500 to 550 to 600 the next term then 650 then 700 over four years. People don't like surprises."

Emma pointed out, "Ultimately, the parents are your customers. If the fees are too high, but they see value in the program, they'll look for discounts, or send their children as day students. If they don't see the value, they'll go someplace else. People will get excited about qualified, engaging instructors and new programs that they see value in. They're less interested in across the board salary increases for the staff.

"Lead with the one and slip in the other. It pays to have data. If a typical charms-based job pays x, it doesn't make sense to have the Teaching Charms Master get paid 30 percent less."

Augusta asked, "What about the boarding/day school option?"

Hermione replied, "There are the fixed costs and the incremental costs. You're contractually providing room and board to the staff and keeping the school open. Given that, you're obligated to hire someone to wash the clothes, clean the bathrooms, buy the food, make the meals, serve them, clean the lunchroom and wash the dishes. Even as a day school, you've purchased capacity to serve some number of meals a day. The same holds true with the outdoor chores. Those are your fixed costs. You hire house parents if you're going to have any number of boarding students. Ron Weasley aside, it only costs a few sickles per person to feed most people on a daily basis. Those are the variable costs. Most of the costs associated with the castle are fixed.

"My suggestion is to pick a reasonable percentage – 80-85 percent of the boarding rate and peg it as the day school rate. Lunch would be included. Use 150G per class per year as your single subject rate that doesn't include meals.

"The real challenge is to set up properly supervised field trips to London to go out for pizza and a movie. I have no idea what they'd charge but a basic model of the goblin made reuseable portkey would be a very elegant transportation solution."

"Why not use the Floo system?" asked Augusta, who wasn't familiar with the finely crafted devices.

"Nonmagical homes aren't connected," observed Emma. "I'd have far preferred that Hermione attend as a day student. It would have saved you spending six weeks petrified by that horrible snake. Besides, there's no soot or spinning. They're a wonderful device."

As they continued their discussions, Amelia listed the various suggested endowment funds on her notepad

Hogwarts – separate operations fund and capital funds

Primary school – separate operations fund and capital funds

Masters programs – operations

Night School - operations

Emma observed, "Identifying the different funds and their respective objectives will be a good way of gauging interest in the idea. My guess is that if a total of 100G was donated to the different funds, they would be donor designated something like this;

Hogwarts capital 20

Hogwarts operational 10

Primary capital 45

Primary operational 20

Masters 3

Night school 2

Amelia looked at the percentages and asked, "Please tell us your reasoning. Anne led her presentation talking about establishing masters programs. Your numbers seem to be pointed in a completely different direction."

Emma replied, "Starting at the top, people envision that starting a primary school will better prepare their child for Hogwarts and to a greater or lessor degree, painlessly bring about the social changes that have been discussed. The people who feel strongest about that will ensure that the school get purchased, gets off to a great start and lacks for nothing."

Amelia said, "Go on."

"No one is seriously suggesting moving Hogwarts, or inviting the kids from Inverness High School over for the weekend. That said, the only capital project that will gain any traction is the electrification of the school – or at a minimum, the dormitories and one of the wings. It's a lot harder getting people to contribute the extra 80,000 to the operations fund because deep down, they think that some kid is eating too much.

"Anne's going to need to generate a lot of good press – grades going up, finishing kids getting good jobs, positive experience on a field trip or the like. Neville's most vivid memory of the school had been repeatedly getting bullied by one of the heads of houses."

Augusta agreed, "Anne isn't Dumbledore; she didn't win any wars. As long as she doesn't stumble in her first two years and can show some visible, positive improvements, she'll gain the public's trust."

Hermione observed, "Bless her heart, she has an academic bias. Look at her CV. She spent her entire life earning those degrees while working at Salem. Beyond that, her position charter is for Hogwarts, not the primary school. Replacing the roof is necessary. Electrifying the school will be wonderful but the payoff is enabling the students to call home."

They all had things to think over as they left. Amelia reread the donation percentages that Emma had presented. She believed that Gretta Macmillan would arrive at very similar numbers if asked. That said, they'd need total donations of at least ten million galleons if the ten percent for Hogwarts operations fund that she'd envisioned would reach a million.

… - ...

Thursday May 16

A few days later, Hermione and Emma walked into the breakroom and found Harry laughing uncontrollably. Emma asked, "What's so funny?"

"Do you remember when were were looking at the summary sheet for my family holdings when we first got back from school?"

"Yes. Did one of the stocks split again?"

"Just as good. Do you remember my Grandparents had some land?"

Emma replied, "Yes, 80 acres somewhere in Gloucester."

Harry explained, "More specifically, 80 acres into one of the edges of the Forest of Dean. Dobby told me that it has some oak, a bunch of vinewood and chestnut trees. He also said that there's a large tract of land next to it that's for sale."

"How large is large?"

"320 acres. It has a 5 bedroom house on it."

"How much are they asking?"

"Six million pounds."

"How much are the taxes?"

"Dunno."

Emma suggested. "We should get more information. It's one thing if the property has some means of generating income. If so, you have a passive income generator – something that earns some revenue without you personally having to do much work. On the other hand, if it's a house next to some land that has a bunch of trees that you have no specific use for, it's an asset that will cost you some money to hold onto each year. If it's truly desolate, you could put some wards up and raise unicorns. If there are roads going through it here and there, that would be harder to do. You could always build a home on the property that you have but know that you are always welcome where you are now. You might want to talk it over with Hermione and Barchoke."

She had been taken by surprise by his conversation. He clearly had the money to make the purchase and there was that advantage of the property being adjacent to what he already owned. She told herself that at some level, she needed to set aside the image of the twelve-year-old waif down in the tunnel and see him for the man that he was rapidly growing to be.

She added, "Why don't we go see him now and ask him to look into it. We can go look at it."

Harry replied, "That's a good idea. Actually, Sally Daily might be a better choice. I'll call her." He did and she said that she'd look into it and stop over in an hour.

She arrived in just over an hour and confirmed that it was adjacent to his property and bordered a river. After sending Emma out the door for a bit so they could speak privately, she asked him a few questions. "What are you looking to do with 400 acres that you can't do with 80?"

Harry replied, "It has a home and I could grow some trees. I... I'm not sure."

"Don't you like where you're living now?"

"You know I do but..."

Sally stated, "Harry, you're the most amazing young man that I've ever met. Don't take this wrong. Unless things are going sour between you and Hermione, you have a pretty excellent living situation. Some options will open up for you in a few years that aren't completely available right now. If you envision a use for that land, let's talk about it."

Harry replied, "My access to the Forbidden Forest could close to me at any time without notice. You wouldn't have a wand if that access hadn't been available. Things are beyond great with Hermione."

She asked, "How many acres are in a square mile?"

"640."

"The forbidden forest has about eight square miles – about 5,000 acres. Dimensionally, it's abou miles. If you buy that 320 acres and add it to your 80, you would still have a hard time raising truly exotic animals on it because of all of the people tramping about here and yonder."

She suggested, "What you could do is stock up on materials and ask your friends to help you grow interesting trees on the 80 acres that you have. If you get an extra hundred thousand or two hundred thousand feet of strand ahead, and a few more bags of goodies from Hagrid, it could be a lifetime supply. If you're looking to acquire 5,000 acres somewhere and you feel that you have the gold to do it, I'll help you. I simply don't think that butting up against the Royals' land would get you what you're looking for. It's too populated of an area.

"So in summary, my advice is to take a good look at the 80 acres that you have and get some help planting and growing the trees that are of interest to you. As far as that goes, take a hard look at it and determine if it's even a piece of land that you're interested in. You could always have a home or three built on the land that you have. Alternatively, you could sell it for a very good price and use the money to buy someplace else. You should go look at it and see how you feel about it.

"Second, see if you can get a ways ahead on your materials collection. Your concern is completely valid, even if you never lose the access that you currently enjoy. Store some of it offsite, as any place could be broken into or catch on fire.

"Finally, before you get serious about building anything, go visit the different areas around Britain. See if any especially appeal to you. You don't have to buy 400 acres if you want to live by the ocean. Last, but not least, bring Hermione along to compare notes. See what you like."

"Thanks Sally. That sounds like great advice."

… - …

Harry replayed his discussion with Sally in his mind. The idea of owning a large section of land where he could create a reserve of sorts appealed to him but he didn't have the money to start buying up square miles of land - yet. His relationship with McGonagall was rocky at best and he had no assurance that her eventual replacement would be any more supportive of his efforts.

There was the other issue to consider with acromantula; two had turned into thousands and he lacked a heard of centaurs to keep them penned in. One person would have at least some of the answers that he was looking for. He'd just have to be careful as to how he phrased his questions. He didn't want to become a topic of discussion at the Hog's Head.

… - ...

Harry knocked on the door and said, "Hagrid, are you home?"

His large friend opened the door and replied. "Hello Harry. I was just about to make some tea. Come in. I got another bag of interesting stuff for you that I found. Have a seat. How can I help you?"

"I wanted to ask you about some of the animals in the forest. The centaurs – how long have they been there?"

Hagrid replied, "Thousands of years, I reckon. It's their forest. Dumbledore told me once that he thought that the forest was there long before the castle was built. I reckon that the castle was intentionally built to be near the forest."

"How about the unicorns?" asked Harry.

"Somebody brought them into the forest. They go hand and hand with leprechauns and elves and they've been in Ireland for ages. Sometimes people buy a pair to raise em, see but they need to be with other magicals. Without them around, they'll never have any young and die off." Harry kept that in mind. If he had a secure spot and was living there, they were a possibility.

Harry asked, "How did the thesterals get into the forest?"

"I brought two pair about thirty years ago. They seemed to like it; else they'd have just flew away, see?"

"Makes sense. They seem happy. How about the hippogriffs?"

"Same thing. I bought four a year later and they like it too."

Harry asked, "Where are they from?"

"Egypt I think. Maybe Greece; maybe both. I got these four from a guy in Athens."

Harry replied, "You know a lot of interesting people."

His large friend replied, "I know you. You're the most interesting wizard, I've met."

Harry replied, "You're pretty interesting yourself. What else is in the forest?"

"There's plenty of deer, some fairies. Then there's the little bowtruckles; I think the elves attract them."

Harry changed the subject. Did I tell you I went and visited Charlie Weasley?"

Talking about dragons – Hagrid was happy. They had a fun afternoon together.

… - ...

Apparently Mr. and Mrs. Fudge didn't spend a lot of time together. Nearly three weeks had passed from the evening of his visit to the cells until the morning she found him on the floor of the bathroom muttering to himself incoherently. She portkeyed him to St. Mungo's where he was incorrectly diagnosed him as having had a stroke and administered a blood thinning potion. He lost consciousness and died the next evening. She'd never noticed anything unusual.

… - …

Saturday May 18

That evening, as Harry and Hermione were getting ready to go out for dinner, Hermione asked her dad, "We're going to a fun place for dinner, Would you and mom like to go with us?"

"Sure. Should I get the Land Rover?"

"No. We'll take you there."

"OK. We'll be ready in ten minutes."

They walked out the back yard. Hermione took her dad's wrist and said, "Hang on."

Harry did the same with Emma and they arrived just outside the Three Broomsticks where he saw Dan and Hermione a few feet away.

Dan asked, "Where are we?"

Emma replied, "Hogsmeade, just outside of Inverness."

"But that's six hundred miles?"

Harry replied, "That's part of the reason that the witches and wizards feel so lost without their wands. They can get most places in Britain in the time it takes to walk to the kitchen and get a glass of water."

They walked down the street past the post office, second hand shop, Gladrags and Schrivencrafts before they reached their destination - the Flying Horse. On the way, Dan asked, "Did you have any luck this afternoon?"

Harry replied, "We filled all of the reels and were invited to come back in September."

"Good afternoon, I'm Jamie; oh hello Miss Granger. Nice to see you again. You two have been here several times; I don't recognize your guests."

"These are my parents, Dan and Emma. This is Jamie Smith. He's the owner here. Please put four coins in the pail." He did and Dan and Emma drew first. His coin was embossed Yes. Jamie asked. "What is your favorite restaurant in the world?"

He thought for a moment and replied, "The Raffles in Singapore."

Jamie (who wasn't anywhere near stumped) asked, "Which room?"

Dan thought for a moment and replied, "The Butcher Block."

Jamie nodded and replied, "Right this way, please." He sat them down at the table in their private room and tapped the window a dozen times with the wand that Hermione had made him. Then he handed them the drink menu.

It was the drink menu from the Raffles Hotel. Dan remembered it from his days in the military. He looked at it fondly and asked, "Harry, Hermione, what would you like?

Hermione replied, "Earl Gray." She glanced at Harry and he said, "Orange Crush."

Dan looked at Emma and said, "Singapore Slings for us."

Harry asked, "Is this someplace that you've been?"

Dan nodded and replied, "A long time ago."

Harry asked, "Does it look the same?"

Dan looked carefully at the window, noticing the servers, their uniforms and the décor. He replied. "Mostly the same. The film must be recent."

Hermione replied, "I believe it's a live view. It's probably breakfast time there. When you order, the food will come from their kitchen like your drinks came from their bar."

"How?"

Harry replied, "Magic. Just go with it. It's easier."

As they looked at the screen, Harry asked, "What's the history of this place?"

Dan replied, "It was built in the 1830s and eventually was converted into a hotel, had additions put on, survived a war and the like."

"Was it a local place, or built for expats and foreigners?"

"Probably the later. I'm sure that a lot of business deals have been signed at that place over the years."

"You stayed there?"

"No. I was in the military and had lunch there one afternoon a long time ago. The menu has a lot of things on it that would appeal to different guests. The steak would be superb. I'll order."

The drinks came. Dan was unsurprised that the glassware was what he remembered.

Hermione explained, "They employ elves and your drinks were made by a bartender at the Raffles and delivered here."

The dinners came and were as good as the veteran remembered. He had a faraway look on his face and was quiet as the dinner wore on. When they were finished, Harry paid for the dinner. Dan was so preoccupied he didn't even think to fight him for it.

… - ...

Sunday May 19

Daily Prophet folds

By Cheryl Whitehart

Sirius Black, who had purchased the estates of the previous owners announced that the Daily Prophet would no longer be printed. Additionally, Black had sold the printing press, type and other printing supplies. He was quoted as saying, "Magical Britain has an honest, reliable newspaper. In recent years, the Daily Prophet was neither of these things and had to go."

The terms of the sale and the buyer of the equipment were not disclosed.

Hermione didn't say a word as Harry read the article. Their experience with the Prophet hadn't been positive.

… - …

Monday May 20

The next day the Quibbler ran the notification.

The ministry was informed that former Minister Cornelius Fudge passed away on his 74th birthday. He had recently been admitted to St Mungo's suffering from a stroke.

Mrs. Fudge had no comment.

Remus saw the announcement and commented, "He didn't get to enjoy his retirement very long."

Sirius replied, "Not everyone does. Carpe Diem."

… - …

Monday May 27

A few days before Harry was scheduled to fly to Boston, Emma asked, "Are you ready for your trip?"

"I guess."

Summoning her patience, she pressed, "Harry, in a class of one, any question is fair game. What do you want to learn? I'm certain that he'll ask and you've made thousands of wands, so you'll want to have more specific responses than I don't know and I guess. Let's try again; what do you want to learn?"

"I'm interested in dry boxes that are used to cure dragon hearts. Multi-core wands and staffs are high on my list, as are wands made from basilisk components.

"I'm interested in learning about the world supply of wand core, pricing and the like.

I'm interested in the concept of efficacy of wands. Remember when we were there that summer and he told me that I had a 100 percent wand, Hermione 90 percent and the generics at 80 percent? I'm interested in learning about the other direction – amplification magics that might result in a 150 percent wand. Are there wands that would help near squibs or hedge witches – low powered magicals? I'm interested in personalizing a wand to a specific user. I'm interesting in learning if it is at all feasible to enchant a piece of wood to effectively mimic a wand. I'm interested if Dragon wing would make a passable wand as there's plenty of it and it's always better to have plan-b options."

She gave him a quick hug and replied, "Outstanding answer! Wasn't that better than I don't know, or I guess?" I recommend that you list the things that you just mentioned on the white board, then order them into the top third, middle third and bottom third in terms of priority. Finally I recommend that you ask Dobby to deliver your list this afternoon, so Daryl has a day or two to prep for some of those things. If your want to go over snake components, or dragon components, ask Dobby to bring them along when he goes, so you don't have any issues at customs.

"Now what I really came to ask about was, when you're gone, would you like some unicorn tail wands made, or should we focus on selling and make strand wands as we can?"

He replied, "I'd rather that we get out from underneath the 30,000 wands clause of our contract."

"That's fine, Dan would like a few days off, so I'll be at the practice a bit. Hermione and I need a few shopping days as well. We have about six thousand wands made. We'll fit as many wands as we can."

"That sounds great. Thanks."

… - …

Amelia called John Macmillan and Sally Daily into her office. After Michelle closed the door, she said, "I need some basic information. How much would it cost to buy a school?"

John nodded at Sally, as she had experience with commercial real-estate. She replied, "You're asking two questions. Before we get into that, let's clarify our vision for a minute, so we're all on the same page. I envision an existing primary school that would have between sixteen and twenty-four classrooms. In other words, it could comfortably accommodate between 360 and 500 students.

"I would envision that you would want it within the greater London area; especially if you were planning in a blend of magical, low magical and normal students. I envision this as a day school with a yard big enough to be a proper playground or be adjacent to a park. There are respectable neighborhoods, upscale neighborhoods and the rough edges. I'd envision that you'd want one located in the first two.

The best possible situation would be to find one that's available in a decent neighborhood that was in good condition but was partially damaged due to a fire or something and closed down. It doesn't make much sense to try and purchase a school that's currently operational. You're trying to buy an empty building, not an existing business."

As she was talking, Amelia clarified the vision that she was talking about. She never would have received the same information, had she been talking with Dumbledore.

Sally continued, "To answer your first question, you could reliably purchase a building like that for 2-2.5 million galleons. The second part of your question most likely is, What's the big number? In terms of components of that, you have;

The facility 2.5

The repair ?

Basic school equipment – desks, whiteboards, etc .5

Kitchen equipment – plates, trays, cooking equipment, tables, etc .5

Security – proper fences, wards, hedges, etc .5

Gimmick fit-up – Handicap ramps, therapy equipment .5

Library - .5

Sally asked, "John, if you assume that 25 percent of the building was damaged, what would it cost to make it right?

"If the area was damaged completely, it would be a tear down. If nothing was wrong, you'd wonder why it was abandoned. Any number would be wrong but two million is safe."

Sally summarized, "The big number that you're looking for is seven million. Additionally, you probably want a separate operating endowment of two million. She added, "To get there, in order, you need a cause that appeals to people, seed money, a clearly stated vision, a leader, enough money to make purchase and repairs, a building, the rest of the money, then you need students and faculty."

Amelia sat and absorbed Sally's words for a moment. She agreed with everything that the real estate sales agent had described. She asked, I have a few more questions, if you each have the time?" They both nodded.

"When you refer to an integrated school, what is your vision? You mentioned low magicals..." She recalled that Potter had used that same term with respect to crafting wands for them.

Sally replied, "You're either going to have two token muggles, one squib and 300 magical kids and make eye-contact, stating that you have an integrated school, or you're going to go somewhere near 50-50. If you're thinking of 350 magicals and you have capacity for 500, every one of the classes would have a few nonmagicals. Realistically you might open with only 200 kids total. It might take a few years to grow to capacity."

Amelia replied, "I see your point. 200 sounds like a more manageable number to start with; especially if part of the school is under repair. John, what would the range of repair times be for a project like this?"

"It would depend on what is damaged. Suppose you had a long school – essentially a straight line. The gymnasium, offices, heating, library and the lunchroom were in the middle. You have classrooms on either end. If half of the classrooms were damaged, and you didn't need them, you could wall them off and work on them over the course of a year, open and have them ready for year two. If the heating and lunchroom were damaged, you couldn't get an occupancy certificate until they were properly repaired. We'd have to find a building, look at it and decide if it could work. To circle back to your questions, the Bright Moon crew could work a lot easier if we could wall off the area away from curious eyes."

She asked, "Sally, you mentioned a gimmick. What were you referring to?"

"Something to continually attract a group of good, nonmagical kids. You can't go with the budding genius route; A new school doesn't have the reputation for it and you don't want to create resentment right from the start. You don't want to go the juvenile offender route; a bunch of rough-neck seven year-olds wouldn't be good. I'd go the physical therapy route; kids that were in car accidents who have a few broken bones and would need physical therapy. A healer could give them a nudge or two along the way and you'd have happy, nonthreatening kids and grateful parents. If you have newly identified magicals, they're bringing in nonmagical perspective to a group who is still at an age to be open minded. There could be other ideas but you could do a lot worse than the handicapped kid route."

Amelia nodded and replied, "Thank you both. I'm a lot clearer about what I had in mind. Thank you again."

She knew what she wanted. She had fifteen months to get it done.

… - ...

Friday May 31

Education Endowment Funds Started

By Cheryl Whitehart

Minister Bones announced the reformation of the board of school governors as well as a school finance committee. Additionally she announced the creation of six endowment funds.

Hogwarts – Operating and Scholarship Fund

Hogwarts – Building Fund

Lily Potter Primary School for Special Children – Separate Building and Operating Funds

Masters Program – Operating Fund

Adult Education (Through NEWT) Fund

Bones announced that the two Hogwarts funds had already received anonymous gifts of a million galleons each so far. The other funds have received gifts totaling 100,000G each. Gifts for these funds may be sent to Gringotts for deposit.

Sirius immediately donated two million galleons to the Lily Potter capital fund.

… - …

Saturday June 1

As they arrived at his workshop from Logan airport, Daryl said, "Welcome back, Harry. Tell me about your year."

Harry went to the refrigerator, grabbed two Orange Crushes, opened them and handed one to his mentor.

"Well, in total, we made the 30,000 wands for Britain. By the time I get back, I expect that the last of them will have been fitted. Gringotts is dribbling out the remaining Purchase Permit cards as slowly as they can get away with. You were right about Europe. We received orders from France and Germany at the beginning in early December and a dozen others a few weeks later. I expect we'll have made another 100,000 this year.

"Some idiot tried to kill a friend of mine and me with a wand that I was selling. His uncle bought his way out of that.

"Other idiots tried to rob the place. They ended up with their heads on pikes.

"Some of the Queen's oak trees went missing."

Daryl said, "He didn't?" There was no question in either mind who they were talking about.

"Yep. It made a few of the newspapers. Someone commented, It was like they were making Mosquitos again. Then a hundred or so seedlings were planted and they've been growing at an unprecedented rate."

Sensing that it was the right moment, Harry handed Daryl another Orange Crush, waited until he was drinking it and threw in, "Little D and W and I burned down Voldemort's house and killed another basilisk."

Snort – out the nose. "You did what?"

It was an Orange Crush moment. Harry explained what they had found and how he could sense it from a distance.

Daryl could only think of one word, "Cheers."

Harry showed Daryl a photo of him and Clawhook and explained trading sheep for strand.

Daryl replied, "That seems like a long-term solution. So spider strand aside, what have you collected a lot of?"

"I have pillow cases of unicorn tail hair that my friend Hagrid has collected. Fawkes came by once before a burning day and dropped off thirty feathers. I still have some thesteral and hippogriff tail hair and somehow I ended up with a big jar of magical bee honey. I expect that was a one of a kind thing. What I really have a lot of in terms of core material is shed basilisk skin, rib bones and a bit over a gallon of venom. Oh, I've got a line on some dragon hearts but right now the dragons are using them and there's the basilisk heart." He chose to not bring up the terms of the contract or the testing yet.

He almost hesitated to ask but curiosity got to the master wandcrafter, "How about woods?"

"Little D has done pretty good, We have a swamp alder, a big black walnut, willow, beech, vinewood and elder. The storeroom has been pretty full of oak and alcohol."

"What are you looking for in materials?"

"We collected about 115,000 thousand feet of strand in May. We'll try go get a similar amount in September. To be honest, most of the wood has been collected by Dobby and Hagrid spends a few hours a week looking for interesting stuff for me."

Daryl thought about what Harry had told him. He wasn't showing the novice wandmaker sense of inquisitiveness of, What happens if I try X and Y? On the other hand, he had a very robust business and was helping thousands of people a month, He replied, "In fairness, to my knowledge, there isn't another wandcrafting factory with five wandcrafters in the same building in the world."

"Harry replied, "Long term, I see it as more of an evolving operation. We're not going to be building eight or ten thousand wands wands a month forever. What I can't predict is how many people are going to want to switch from the twelve inch oak rod to a custom made. We haven't had hundreds of calls for it but the newspaper has been pretty specific that they're out in the future – time will tell. I've pretty much given up on the idea of making two thousand variations like Ollivander did in the off-chance that someone might want to buy one five years from now."

Daryl agreed. That practice was his basis for referring to the old master as goofy when describing him a year ago. He commented, "There are a lot of people using poorly fitting legacy wands. You could make a career going from country to country selling them or wholesaling them to other wandcrafters." Harry put that idea in the back of his mind. If it worked and the money made sense, they could make strand wands for a decade.

Harry continued, "I'd like to find out how many people could benefit from a powdered bone core wand. If the percent of people who are compatible with it is low, or there isn't much improvement over a strand one, then I'd have to seriously rethink that plan. I think, there's a bit over a thousand pounds left. I've given some away to Devlin to restart the Firebolt line someday." Daryl realized that when Harry had said given, he meant literally and some probably meant fifty pounds.

Harry continued, "The same with the basilisk venom. I really don't know what other uses there are for it. It might cure cancer and only have a small wand acceptance factor. I haven't really tested it."

"Never a dull moment for you. That said, you might check with the head healer at St. Mungo's. I'm sure they have a potions master or three on staff and could let you know if they could afford to be interested. How many ounces do you have left?

"Excluding what I brought here to test, about 150."

… - ...

Wednesday June 5

As they were having lunch that day, Daryl asked, "How is wand production at your shop different than class?"

Harry replied, "In class, we pretty much make one wand at a time – select the components, slice the block, indent the canal, glue it, clamp it, unclamp it, sand it and apply finish. In class, we almost always start with a ¾ inch block and there's a lot of sanding involved.

"In class, you'd think nothing about spending half an hour sanding a wand. At the wand shop, we try and assemble 7,500 a month while working around fitting wands for 3,675 people. We sell the rest to Europe."

As the math didn't match the equipment that he'd specified for the shop, Daryl asked, "How many glue tables did you buy?"

"A few. Hermione transfigured three others and replaces them from time to time. I glue at 8, noon and 4 while Dobby glues at 8, midnight and 4am. He's not strong enough to make consistent indents for hours at a time, so we do that part for him. He nails the rest of the tasks. Usually we have eight or ten at a time.

"We switched to narrower blocks of wood to shave a few minutes off of the process wherever we can. No one complains when we start with half inch blocks.

"This last month, we ran low on strand, so all three of us sold. Winky could Look at a customer's magic walking in the door, select the best wand and put it in the box on the floor before they'd sat down. They were about two minute appointments. We averaged 400 a day.

"In the last week or so, we went to collect strand and in two trips ended up with 100,000 feet total."

Daryl envisioned what he'd been told. Harry had assembled a team that would allow him to put out these quantities on a sustainable basis, He honestly doubted that many established wandmakers could have done the same – they were too set in their ways to make such a radical shift in process. It was a remarkable achievement.

.… - …

Friday June 7

Romanian wandmaster and apprentices killed in car accident

By Cheryl Whitehart

The Romainian Wandmaster, Carl Racz was reportedly killed in a one-car automobile accident Wednesday afternoon. Four apprentices/students were also in the car at the time of the accident. Racz had recently licensed a wandmaker each for France and Germany. His workshop was in Bucharest.

No further details were available.

Emma read the page of The Quibbler with concern. She no longer believed in one-car accidents.

… - …

Barchoke looked at the list of who hadn't yet received their wand. He had his doubts about the accuracy of the list after noticing some tattoo club spouses who he was all but certain had left the country on it.

He made a note that the incoming Hogwarts students should be added and placed at the top. Also notable were Molly and Percy Weasley. He also saw Augusta Longbottom's name on the list to receive wands for the next week.

It was his expectation that the troublemakers such as Ogden and his crew, or Lynn McLaggen would be among the 420 remaining after the 30,000 had been completed. It would be months before any of them would receive Purchase Permit cards.

Monday June 10

They had discussed dry boxes for most of the morning. Harry asked, "How would they work for dragon wing skin? I was thinking along the lines of the shed basilisk skin – using it as a core material for either wands or broomsticks."

Daryl thought for a minute before replying. He asked, "From the dragons you've come across, what size pieces could you harvest?

Either two 5x5 pieces or two 4x4s and one or two 2x2s per wing.

Daryl replied, "OK. Factor in a 20 percent shrinkage."

"OK, for easy math I'd reliably end up with two 3x3s and a 2x3 with 1/8 inch strips per wing from a smaller dragon. That would be enough for about 1600 brooms per dragon or better than 2,800 extra wand cores over and above the dried heart. I would guess for a larger one, the numbers would more than double."

Daryl liked his line of thought and encouraged him to think it through. "OK. Another upside is they wouldn't need longer than two months in a dry box to fully dry. Where are you going with this?"

Harry replied, "Europe in general and my wand shop in particular are currently enjoying the benefits of a benign cluster of spiders that's available to me at fairly reasonable rates. I'd be a fool to believe that the easy access will be forever. Having access to a herd of fifty dragons is a wonderful thing but it's not a solution that will enable my shop to make hundreds of thousands of wands."

All but astonished at the quantities that he was forecasting, Daryl agreed, "No it isn't; the math doesn't work. How many dragons do you expect to get a year?"

"Best case, a dozen next year. They're too busy trading livestock with the other remaining reserves to want to harvest any this year. Actually, it might be two years, depending on how much cash they have in reserve before they're forced to sell some."

"Would it be possible to branch a few spiders off and form a new cluster?"

"Maybe. I've thought about it more than a few times. The current cluster is held in place by a group of centaurs. I'd have a serious problem on my hands if I bought eighty acres someplace, started a cluster of fifty and a handful got out somehow."

Daryl agreed, "That has Jurassic Park written all over it."

… - …

Wednesday June 12

They knew up front that working with the basilisk parts was likely to result in a 90 percent failure rate. Harry had brought a square foot of the shed skin, a pound of rib bone and four ounces of basilisk venom. The go-to wood for generics, oak proved totally unsuitable with basilisk. Daryl brought in 25 students to try a few wands. Oak - shed skin, oak - powdered bone and oak - imbued venom. The first two did nothing but the third caught on fire. Swamp alder proved better. Two of the students did reasonably well with it and powdered bone for a core.

The last test used elder wood with shredded skin. Harry tried, "Expectro Patronum." The result was equal to his phoenix feather wand. The powdered bone was even better.

Last but not least, the venom wand was tried. "Expecto Patronum."

Click, clack, click, clack. Prongs walked over and butted Daryl, who was actually pushed out of the way. Daryl was trying to simultaneously take photos and notes. He was both excited and nervous to have Harry try another spell. "It seems to be amplifying your normal best effort," remarked Daryl. "How do you feel?"

"Fine. Refreshed, like I was able to do something efficiently for a change."

… - …

Back at the London Wand Shop;

Emma and Hermione were talking about different ideas for Harry's Birthday.

Hermione said, "I don't think, he'd like 1,000, hell, 3,000 people gawking at him for his birthday, so I doubt that the BBQ idea would work."

"Emma replied, "I'll take care of it."

… - …

Back at Salem, the two wandsmiths were visiting late in the afternoon. Harry inquired, "I never asked, what do you have a lot of, magically in the States that you can use for core?"

Daryl admitted, "We don't have a lot of anything. There are some 300,000 magicals in the US. If the Great Wandout had solidly occurred here and we had to work the problem domestically, we'd have been a decade completely solving it. As it was, there were thousands of wands lost in Newfoundland and Maine that put a big dent in our available supply. To your question, there are Musk Ox in Alaska, mostly north of the Arctic Circle. The quills from the Giant Porcupine are plentiful but finicky in terms of compatibility. In the western states, there are Jackalope. The powdered horns work very well but they're elusive. Red Vultures are common but only make a 70 percent wand. Powdered horn from White Buffalo is an outstanding core but there are a world of restrictions about harvesting and exporting them. We've talked about Thunderbirds. Finally, in the Everglades in Florida, there are some Giant Sea Crocodile in the brackish water. By law, they can't be killed but whenever we find a dead one, the powdered teeth and dried heartstring make excellent wand material."

Harry asked, "Has anyone tried powdered dragon bone? They may not make the greatest wands but they'd be available sooner than dried hearts."

Whitehorn replied, "I know that Devlin has tried the bone with erratic results. They might work, though I doubt you'd achieve better results for generics than what you're currently using."

"Probably not but it's always good to have plan-b options. Out of curiosity, how much were the wands sold for in Newfoundland?"

Daryl admitted, "The pricing was all over the place. When there were 400 people in line and twelve wands left to sell, it got crazy. To answer your question, five hundred to five thousand galleons."

It wasn't the first time that Harry questioned Ragnok's decision to set the wand pricing at five galleons.

Daryl concluded, "When you get done supplying wands for Europe, you could make a good living selling strand. I'm sure that you could get a ten galleons a foot, maybe a hundred if things stay crazy. Worldwide, there are so many witches and wizards using hand-me-down wands that really aren't very good matches."

Harry remarked, "A year ago, I made one of the class wands for one of my mates, Neville. He'd been using his dad's old wand. Either it had been damaged in a fight or it was the worst match ever. He was all but failing his wanded classes. The one that I made him was a great fit. He's like a new wizard."

Daryl observed, "You changed his life. What could be more satisfying than that? Cheers."

… - ...

Thursday June 20

Harry asked, "What about multi-core wands?"

Daryl replied. "Honestly, I see them as a bit like the fabled fountain of youth. I've wasted a lot of core trying to get one to work. What do you have in mind?"

"Basilisk venom and phoenix tears"

"Where did you come up with that combination?" The Wandmaster wasn't being derisive; rather a bit shocked.

"I've had them in my blood for three years."

"Harry, I won't tell you no but you might end up with a 15,000G wand. Assuming that they're at least compatible, I'd imbue one half of the block with one and the other half with the other rather than directly mix them. Then you'd have to work out the balancing ratios - a mix of 1 against 5, 2-4, 3-3, 4-2 and 5-1 to see which was best.

"I feel obligated to bring this up because even if it worked, you might be the only person in the world able to wield such a wand. Are you planning on heading off to war soon, or is this just a casual inquiry?"

Harry replied, "Just curious."

"Again to be fair, I'd fully expect that the failures would split or explode if someone cast a serous spell on an ill fitting one. Are you trying to recreate the Death Stick?" Daryl wasn't being rude; instead he was wondering if that had been the original formula of the fabled wand.

"Absolutely not. I like both of my hands attached."

"OK. Let's consider some other combinations that might be less volatile."

Harry suggested, "Strand and magical honey. Neither one sounds like an explosion in the making."

"What woods come to mind?"

Harry replied, "Oak, swamp alder and cherry."

"I understand oak. Why cherry?"

"Hagrid found it in a cherry tree."

"Good observation." They decided to put a few together.

Again, Daryl found a willing audience of 25 to try them out. Half of the students received a stinging sensation when they tried them and half achieved high-performing results with one of the woods but not the others. 25 percent did best with the cherry and 25 percent did best with the oak. No one had results with the alder. As multi-core wands went, they fit more people than Daryl ever expected and demonstrated highly positive results for some. In its own right it was newsworthy.

… - …

Back in London, Sturgis Podmore finally received his wand that morning (14 inch Oak Baton)

Mick had agreed to accompany him as he'd been a bit unsteady on his feet lately. Sturgis thanked the ambitious young man who had become something of a friend over the last months, saying, "Thank you for going with me. You can still come over and renew the charms next week, right?"

"I'll be there on Wednesday morning at ten. You can count on me." Mick had kept about half of the clients and was back to working five twelve hour days and a half day Saturday. It had been the best year of his life. Ironically, he'd picked up a few new clients in the last month who decided to hire out even after they'd received their new wands.

… - ...

Saturday June 21

Daryl announced, "The next topic is non-wood wands. What non-snake, non-wood materials could you envision for the wand casings?"

"Freely donated unicorn bone, maybe thesteral bone."

"Why bone?"

"Aside from the fear factor, I can't think of any reason. It feels like they would be competing with the cores. Sounds like the sort of thing somebody would use to raise an army of zombies or something."

Daryl nodded, "You're on the right track."

"I saw Tom Riddle get a new body and one of the ingredients was bone fragments from his father."

Sickened by the thought, Daryl said, "Well, let's give the rest of that discussion a pass for now. We'll talk about silver casings next time." No matter how long he talked with the amazing teen, Daryl was continually surprised.

… - …

Tuesday June 25

Daryl announced, "The last topic I wanted to cover is crafting a staff. Given that wands came after and are certainly more convenient to carry around these days, why would we want to consider a staff?"

Harry replied, "Amplification magics."

"Precisely. Just as the elder and venom was a remarkable combination for a wand, in a staff, they could prove to be stunning."

"How long are they?"

Daryl replied, "Merlin's was said to be a head taller than him. Grindewauld's was said to be eye height. The one I made was 5' 11" like I am."

"If I may ask, what did you use for core materials?"

"Freely given thunderbird blood and cypress."

Harry asked, "Would strand work?"

Daryl replied, "I expect so, though it would be a weak choice for a masterwork."

"Just asking. I'll make mine out of elder and venom. How thick?"

"I believe that's a personal preference. I'd suggest searching for a branch that feels good in your hand, or just a bit thicker. Then shave it and split it. The front end of the wand is equivalent to the top part of your staff. You would hold it under your arm with the bottom behind you to cast with it.

"After you split it, examine it carefully and decide if it's the one for you. If it is, apply the venom and let that soak in. When you glue it, be certain that it is fully clamped so you don't have any open cracks. Three coats of low wax varnish as opposed to shellac would be a good choice. Use a bit more orange essence. Do you have access to such a branch?"

Harry nodded, took out his cell phone and rang Dobby, who might be the only elf in Britain with his own flip-phone. Harry explained what he wanted.

"Let's break for for lunch."

… - …

An hour later, Dobby popped in carrying four straight branches. Two of them felt thin in his hand; the other two felt slightly big. He thanked Dobby and asked him to give Hermione and Emma a hug from him and then Little D popped away.

Harry observed, "I won't know about any little knots or hard spots until I shave it and slice it."

Daryl pointed out, "You might get lucky on your first attempt. It might take a dozen. Both of these look promising. You'll know it when you see it. If not, your friend will be happy to collect a few more. If you see the one you like, go with it. I'll check in with you in the morning. The door will open or lock for you."

"Thank you."

Harry carefully did the split for the first branch. The wood seemed clear; somehow almost too clear. He decided to set it aside and at least look at the second branch.

He expertly did the split along the second branch. There were some small marks on the outside that would need to be sanded out. Harry thought that the slight indents would give his staff character. The inside somehow felt right to him. He was certain that Winky could have given him a detailed explanation, She was a remarkable magical being.

He carefully indented the canal on each side. When he was done, he carefully poured an ounce of venom on both pieces. He let them sit for six hours to soak in and dry. The lazyboys were just as comfortable as his own. By midnight, he was satisfied that both sides had dried. He glued both sides and placed the rod into the long grips of the clamp table. As the rod stuck out of both ends, he carefully applied an extra wood clamp on each end so there would be even pressure along the entire length.

Wednesday June 26

At six am he was satisfied that the casein glue had properly dried on the much larger than usual piece. He took the unsanded rod out of the clamps and carefully examined his work. He was happy with the glue job. He walked back to the Inn, showered, changed clothes, called Hermione and had breakfast before heading back.

Daryl had left a note on the whiteboard sometime after he'd left stating that Harry should complete his work and that Darryl would be gone for the day.

Harry puttered around the shop for the morning, sharpening the blades and such. After he came back from lunch, he started looking at the backup stick. As he ran his fingers along the inside edge, it didn't sing to him like the other one had. Satisfied that he'd made the correct choice, he set it aside and carefully finished the shaping process. He'd decided that he wanted a slightly thinner bottom than top as the top end was wider at the edge, he carved a small set of wings that reminded him of Hedwig.

When he finished the sanding, he rubbed it with a clean rag to remove any dust and applied the first coat of the varnish that he'd made. He set it aside for a while and went out for a slice of cart pizza and a bit of sunshine. He went back in and applied his second coat.

By dinner time, his third coat had dried. He was happy with his work. His only thought was adding an end-cap on the bottom. He decided to shelf that idea and left for the evening.

… - …

Thursday June 27

The next day. Daryl came in early and waited for Harry. He carefully examined both pieces and agreed with Harry's decision.

Harry arrived at nine. Daryl said, "Grab your staff and hold onto half of this rope." When the spinning stopped, they were standing on a big rock, standing twenty feet tall out in the ocean. Harry look in all directions and saw nothing but water on a calm morning. Daryl said, "Show me what it can do."

Harry pointed the staff well away from the rock towards the water and cast, "Reducto." Daryl thought it reminded him of the movies where the navy destroyer had dropped a depth charge into the water.

"Try something else."

Harry pointed the staff out towards the water and said, "Accio sunken treasure chest."

Soon a liquor box sized chest flew out of the water into the air towards them. Harry guided the box at their feet.

Daryl thought, Holy shit!

"Alohamora. Scourgify. Scourgify"

There was a box of shiny gold doubloons at their feet. They looked like they'd just been minted! Harry grabbed a big handful, put them in his pocket and told Daryl, "You can keep the rest."

"Are you sure?"

"Take them. Are we ready to go back?"

Daryl relocked the chest, grabbed one end of the rope while holding the heavy chest with his other, while Harry took hold of the other end of the rope.

When they returned, Harry observed, "That was pretty cool."

Daryl looked at the chest again and said, "This belongs to you."

Harry replied, "It used to; I gave it to you."

"Thank you Harry. I have something for you." He went to his office, and returned with a Salem institute diploma folder. "Here is your masterwork certificate. You still have to acquire your five years of experience but I'm happy to say that you've earned it."

Harry carefully looked at the certificate and managed to say, "Thank you."

Daryl replied, "Someday in the future, you'll be the master. I hope you find such capable students."

A/Ns

Harry has found an interesting alternative to magnet fishing.

In HP Fanfiction, what makes an original character interesting and memorable? Of the HP fanfiction stories that you've read, who is your favorite O-C?

Thanks for reading.