… - ...

Chapter Thirty-five

Broomsticks and Quidditch

1998

Tuesday February 3

That morning, Winky announced that they were down to their last 200 foot roll of strand. Harry said, "Save it. We might want it for something."

Emma suggested, "Let's try the dragon wing bone. It's been in the box nearly three months." They opened one of the boxes and looked inside. The pieces were hollow and appeared to be semi-transparent.

Dobby said, "I can grind this up like sand."

Hermione suggested "Let's make an assortment from oak, beech, willow and vinewood and have the Aurors try them out as backup wands."

They agreed and went to work.

That afternoon, Harry tried a few that hadn't yet been varnished. The results were promising, so they called Kingsley and made the offer. Harry invited the Aurors to come over Thursday morning. He also called Devlin to stop over. He was in the alley and was there in a few minutes. Harry set a gallon size plastic container of the powdered bone on the table.

Sharpeye announced Devlin, then went back outside and Harry told his older colleague, "Open it up."

He did and proclaimed, "Sweet."

Harry said, I didn't weigh it, how much is four ounces?"

Devlin examined the material and said, "About a half a cup. It will be about a half inch canal." He thanked Harry and replied, "I'll have something that we can try Thursday afternoon."

… - …

Thursday February 5

They had an assortment of the wands ready in the three woods and lengths from 10-14 inches. Harry explained, "We're trying a different combination with dragon material. Winky will find you the best fit. The wands are our gift to you in appreciation of your hard work. We only ask that you try them out a bit, then write a note after a week and indicate how it worked."

Winky had no trouble with the fittings, though the beech and vinewood were the only woods that she gave out. Invariably, their dragon wands were the same length as their strand wands.

When they were done, Emma asked, "What about the sales trip that's scheduled for April?"

Harry replied, "We have 13,500 strand wands left. There's 4,000 scheduled for the two day trip to Vienna next week, leaving 9,500 for Barcelona. I'm certain that we'll sell all of those. I want to try and do business with Nimbus. That will put fifteen people back to work. We should be able to collect 2,000 feet from Longclaw and Mischa a week from Sunday."

… - …

That afternoon, Devlin brought eight brooms along as they entered the empty Canons stadium They started with the strand brooms and matched each other as they rode laps. When they were done, Devlin admitted, "I was going flat out. How much did you have left?"

Harry replied, "A bit, but to do much more would get tiring after a while."

Devlin suggested, "Let's try the single band broomsticks. They have two ounces of the powder" They rode for a bit. Neither of them thought that the new brooms had the raw speed of the strand brooms, though they both agreed that they were a bit more agile.

Devlin asked, "What did you think?"

"They are a good playing broom; quite agile but not quite as fast. What did you think?"

"About the same. Let's try the two band ones." They were noticeably faster. Devlin remarked, "They're comparable to the Nimbus 2001. These have three ounces."

Harry remarked, "They were faster but the agility was the same. Let's try the four ounce ones." They were wickedly fast but took a fair amount of force to steer them. Harry tried the three ounce one again. It clearly was the best broomstick.

Devlin asked, "What do you think?"

Harry replied, "For a recreational broom, the two ounce broom is pretty good. It's easy to maneuver. They're not Firebolts but I expect that they could put these on the market, sell them and not be embarrassed. I would say it was comparable to their 2000 model that I flew. My expectation is that the performance may vary slightly from the variety of the dragon. What would you like me to do?"

Devlin thought for a moment and asked, "How did they do as wands?"

"We made a set for the Aurors to have as second wands. Vinewood worked best for about 60 percent, the others selected beech. No one went with willow or oak. Some people could use either. Everyone went with one or the other."

Devlin asked, "How much do you have?

"Ninety five pounds. There is an identical dragon that I'm due to receive in a few weeks. When you referenced four ounces, were you talking weight or volume?"

"Volume, but by chance they're similar in this case. So you have enough for 350 brooms, if they go the four ounce model. My suggestion is to price it by the ounce, for sake of discussion, 25G an ounce. That way, they can decide if they want to put 50G of core into it or 100. I would absolutely not tell them what it is, or how you made it.

"What if the production of strand doesn't improve"

Harry admitted, "Honestly, it may not. I'm happy making these. I'd give you the strand to continue with the parity broomstick project. If it works out that way, Nimbus would only have 500 broomsticks to make this year. I'd make 6,000 wands a month. It's not what I want but it would keep the lights on."

Devlin replied, "My suggestion is to call Nimbus and offer them 1500 ounces at 25G each Offer them an exclusive, one year deal with a rock solid non-disclosure agreement regarding the core or how it was processed. You can show them the broomstick. They can't reverse-engineer it and there's nothing proprietary on the back end of that one. Have Gringotts draw up the agreement. How firm are you on your pricing? It would be a new cost model for them."

Harry replied, "You'd mentioned that they had been using unicorn tail. I know a bit about it." He walked him back to the storeroom where the hairs that Hagrid had found in the forests were stored. They were sorted by length. "Most of it breaks before it gets to 48 inches. I can't speak to braided kneazle hair, but braided unicorn hair in a wand is almost a waste of wood.

"Assuming that they sold two thousand a year, they must have had free access to three or four dozen and when they died, they'd shear the tails and use the longer strands. They probably sold the shorter ones to Ollivander for a few galleons each. In other words, they weren't strictly in the broomstick business, they were also in the core business. To circle back to your question, I can take these three ounces and use it to make three wands out of it. I can sell those wands for 500G each I don't need the business. I'm simply trying to put fifteen people back to work and hand them back their self-respect."

Devlinl smiled and replied, "You'll do fine. I'll sit in the back of the room, in case he has any technical questions. Give him a call to meet this Saturday at 9 am."

… - …

Saturday February 7

Roy Nimbus and his associate, Suzette Fairchild arrived. Suzette may have been of Veela heritage, or she may have simply been a very attractive 23 year-old witch but it took Harry less that five seconds to notice she didn't have the hands of a broom designer or woodworker.

The presence of Whitehorn and Barchoke in the room caused Roy to conclude that he'd seriously misjudged the situation. They hadn't noticed Emma who was sanding blocks at one of the workstations.

Harry began, "I have some core material that I'd be willing to sell to put your broomstick manufacturing business back in operation. It would also allow the retailers that you do business with to reopen. I'm willing to sell the powdered core material for 25G an ounce, in lots of 500 ounces. We recommend using two to four ounces per broom, depending on what performance level you are trying to attain. The terms are COD."

Barchoke casually observed, "If Miss Fairchild attempts Legilimancy in this building again, she'll spend the rest of her life shoveling dragon dung."

Devlin remarked, "Bad form, Roy. Perhaps Suzette would like to go have lunch with Director Shacklebolt, who is sitting in the sales room, or we can end this now, or you can accept Harry's offer."

"Or I can withdraw the offer and make wands out of the core, or I can make the same offer to the folks at Comet and they can get out of the cat hair business. The price is now 35G an ounce. You have five minutes. Suzette, DMLE Director Shacklebole is waiting outside. You'll be obliviated, fined, or arrested."

Barchoke observed, "Miss, if you attempt to apparate from this room, you'll end up in pieces. Also the portkey in the top button of your shirt won't work."

"Harry said, "Roy, is it OK if I call you Roy? The last twenty or so people who tried to steal from me ended up with their heads on pikes outside the shop." His green eyes bore onto Roy's. Miss Fairchild is in serious trouble. Industrial espionage is never a good idea. How are we going to fix this?" He glanced at Barchoke, who scratched his nose three times. Harry said, "The offer has changed. You'll buy 1,500 ounces for 50G an ounce. Additionally, you'll make a three million galleon donation to St. Mungo's. Miss Fairchild will agree to be obliviated of the last 24 hours. Should you choose to do business again, we can consider the original offer."

Just then, Redeye walked into the break room to get a beverage from the refrigerator. He was carrying his hardened silver poleaxe. He opened the door, selected a bottle and left, glancing at the two visitors – who seemed extraordinarily nervous.

Barchoke finished writing the 1,500 ounce purchase agreement and passed the two documents to the other side of the table along with a blood quill. Nimbus immediately signed. He passed the obviation agreement to Suzette, who immediately signed her name.

A minute later, Kingsley walked in. Barchoke handed him the document. He read it and asked Suzette, "Do you agree to this?"

"Yes Sir."

He did his task and they walked out of the shop together.

Harry asked, "Where would you you like your broom core material to be delivered?"

Nimbus wrote down the address for his shop.

Harry replied, "It'll be delivered in an hour. Please be certain that it's signed for."

… - …

After Nimbus left, Devlin said, "I had no idea that he'd pull that." Up until this point he'd only experienced the friendly kid side of Harry.

The young businessman with the brilliant green eyes replied, "I know that. Don't give it another thought. Fairchild was looking for the location of any Unicorns and wanted to know how the powder was made. Don't give it another thought. We're good. I doubt that he and I will do business again."

Whitehorn left. Harry wrote Barchoke a draft for the extra 37,500G and said, "It was a good day's work. Perhaps the guards need a small bonus."

Barchoke glanced at the portkey watch, which had notified Harry of the Legillimacy attempt, nodded and replied, "It was an excellent day. I'll ensure that they're looked after. On the way out, he thought, Very far, indeed.

… - …

When she arrived at home, Dan asked, "How did the meeting go with the broom guy?"

Emma replied, "There were a few bumps in the road along the way but it all worked out. Harry sold 37,500G of wing bone that normally would have been given to Neville for fertilizer. How was your day with Hermione?"

"Fine. We sat on the deck, listened to the waves and talked. It was a good day. Did they pull any tricks?"

"It was poetry in motion. Let me tell you..."

… - …

After they left the Wand Shop, Harry went to Elf Land, where he found Winky and Dobby watching Oaken and Hollyden run and play. After visiting a few minutes, he asked, "Winky, can you talk with the unicorns?"

She replied, "Some. Others are too stubborn to talk; what do you need?"

"I need one to offer to give me one ounce on blood."

She frowned an elf frown and replied, "We should not be making wands from blood."

Harry replied, "I agree. The St. Mungo's hospital people need it to help very sick people."

She relaxed a little, nodded and replied, "I'll help you with that."

He handed her a vial and replied, "Thank you."

She returned a minute later and stated, "You should not be asking like this. Unicorns do not remake blood very fast like humans. When a unicorn gets old, or hurt, you can have blood after they have died."

Harry replied, "I understand. Thank you."

… - …

When Harry found Amanda Crabtree at St. Mungo's, he handed the two vials to her and said, "Minister Bones told me that you were in need of phoenix tears and freely offered unicorn blood."

Amazed at what she'd been handed, she replied, "Thank you, ever so much. Would it be possible to get more in the future?"

Harry told her, "The unicorns generate new blood very slowly. It's not feasible to get one to donate blood on a regular basis."

"However did you come to that conclusion?" She'd never heard anything like that before and had no idea where he'd get such an outlandish idea.

"An elf friend of mine asked one and she told her."

Stunned by the information, grateful for what she'd been given and disappointed that ordering more in two weeks was out of the question, Amanda replied, "I understand. Thank you again."

… - ...

Tuesday March 3

Amelia began the Wizengamot meeting. When she got through the old business without incident, she counted herself lucky. She began,"The wizarding community is composed of many sub-groups. Some are perceived distinctions such as new arrivals, or seventeenth generation magicals. Some are a matter of slight differences in race such as wizard, elvin, veela, hags or goblins. Some distinctions are relating to a real or perceived matter of ability such as mage, wizard, witch, hedge, squib or nonmagical. Some are a matter of circumstance like vampire or lycan. All of these groups are expected to follow the rules of society. In kind, none of these groups should be systematically disadvantaged." Most of the members nodded in agreement.

"There were ten bills passed in Minister Fudge's final five years in office relating to restricting the rights of those who were afflicted with lycantrophy. There is ample documentation that those votes were influenced by a combination of bribery or undue influence from ministry officials. I want to take the bribery charges off of the table at this time – regardless of the ample documentation that was discovered and kept as part of the disposition of the estates of death eaters, Dolores Umbridge and former Minister Fudge. There is no need to pursue charges of bribery when the objective is simply to right wrongs that this body previously had been led to do." She decided to try the carrot and stick approach.

"In summary, I'd like to summarize the package that you've each been handed regarding stolen rights, allow a half hour for discussion and then vote on restoring the rights one at a time.

The right to be employed at the ministry or a school

The right to open or maintain an account at Gringotts

The right to get married

Eliminating the requirement to register your address

The right to inherent property, or money, or be named as a guardian of minor children

The right to be named to, hold, or maintain a Wizengamot seat

The right to attend school

The right to own real estate

The requirement to notify a healer of condition if being treated

Responsible for any actions taken during full moon

When she concluded her summary, the discussion seemed fairly positive to removing the restrictions and eliminating discriminatory restrictions. Amelia hoped to reverse at least five of the ten laws. As Amos stood, Amelia prepared for the worst. After Augusta recognized him, he stated, "Minister Bones is right. Most of the restrictions were the vindictive work of Dolores Umbridge, fueled from the criminal actions of Fenrir Greyback. Lycans who choose to live responsible lives such as Remus Lupin aren't the problem.

"I can see safety concerns for advising medical personnel, just as a responsible patient would who had any transmittable disease. Everyone should be responsible for their own actions and behavior." These other laws have no place in a civilized society." He sat down to much nodding and murmuring of agreement.

Friday March 27

The Quibbler reported that Nimbus had sold 750 broomsticks to a broom shop in Hamburg for an undisclosed price. Harry commented, "Given that he was selling his wands for 2,500G each, I wouldn't be surprised if they were sold for 1,500 each. He must have used two ounces per broom."

Dan commented, "Maybe that's just the nature of the market for items that are resold several times each before they're sold at retail."

… - ...

Saturday March 28

That afternoon, Devlin was over visiting. As they were working on their second bottles of Orange Crush, Harry asked, "have you ever considered making more broomsticks; a lot more?"

Devlin replied, "I worked at Comet for a year when I was your age. I learned a lot and got licensed but it felt a lot like a job. I'd always wanted to design brooms as a hobby. I started Nimbus in 1967 with Jim. The Nimbus 1,000 was a great broomstick. It had a fifteen inch Unicorn hair that Uncle Daryl sent a bunch of. I ran it for fifteen years, then sold my half to Jim Nimbus with a three-year non-compete clause. That was the best thing I ever did. After taking a few years off to fight an unwinnable war, I concluded that Dumbledore and the ministry were fighting not to lose, rather than to ever win. Dumbledore had his insane everyone deserved six hundred chances mantra and the Minister wanted to fight people using unforgivables with stunners. I was ready to move to the States when you or your mum found a way to put him down.

"Life resumed some sort of normalcy. I went back to broomsticks. I made custom broomsticks for players for a few years before I came up with the idea for the firebolt. It really was a great broom. Going with Ashwinder bone for a core wasn't the best idea that I'd ever had; nor was it the worst. I tried raising them. That was a nightmare. I'd effectively designed a fantastic broomstick that came with its own built-in core shortage.

"Sorry about that. I got way off track. It's always been about core. Jim Nimbus had some relative in Ireland who had a few dozen unicorns and he sold Jim half of them and other people bought the others as pets for their grand kids.

"You probably had the largest supply of viable wandcore amassed that the world had ever seen. Then Chambers messed that up and then you came up with that brilliant idea with the wing bone. To your question, no. I'll finish the Lightening bolt run in a few years and build a few thousand Firebolts after that. I don't want to make a thousand broomsticks a month for another ten years.

"It was a foolish move on Jim's part to bring that Legillimans to the meeting and I understand why you don't want to do business with him. You should offer the original deal to the Comet people."

Harry asked, "Who is the best person to contact?"

"Diane Lind. She's the CEO." He handed him a card with her name and cell phone number.

"Thanks. How many could they make?

"Five or six hundred a month. They restarted the Kneezle hair braiding. It's not very good. If they had better materials, they'd shift their production to the higher end broomsticks. I think they could build broomsticks with however much you send them."

Harry replied, "Good, the amount available to ship is likely to vary from month to month."

Devlin suggested, "Give her a call. Setup a meeting for Tuesday afternoon at two. I'll show her the two that we have.

… - ...

Sunday March 29

Sunday morning, Harry had just made breakfast for everyone and was getting ready to eat his when the phone rang. It was Hagrid.

"Er, Harry. This is Hagrid. Can you come and visit?"

"Hi Hagrid. No fires?"

"No, nothen' like that."

"OK. I'll be there in ten minutes."

"OK."

Hermione asked, "What did he want?"

"Dunno. Maybe he was lonely Would you like to come along?"

"Sure. Mum, we'll be home by lunch, or call if the plans change." A moment, later, they were at the beach houses. She speculated, "Maybe there are more new elves."

"Maybe. They seem to like Emma the best."

She admitted, ""They do, don't they?" She bought them twenty cases of new skirts and trousers last week. She thinks they've grown a few inches lately."

Harry replied, "That's kind of cool. Little Oaken was chasing Hedwig around the shop the other day." Finally they reached their large friend's home where they saw him. Harry asked, "What's up?"

"Er, maybe you'd best see for yerselves."

They walked to the spider area where they saw...

webs.

Hermione remarked, "They kind of look like the hats and scarves that I made in third year."

Harry nodded but didn't say anything. He agreed but hadn't wanted to bring it up. There were none of the 200 foot long strands going back and forth as there had been before the fire. That said, they were definitely webs.

Hermione transfigured three pieces of wood into very passable chairs and the three sat and watched the young spiders at their task. During that time, he called Dobby and Winky; they had been in their tree home doing Elvie things. Hermione called her dad and explained that they wouldn't be home for lunch and invited them to come watch.

They did and were amazed. Thirty feet isn't two-hundred but it was still enormous to their eyes.

About three, the juveniles (who were now the size of black bears) finished. Dobby had portkeyed 22 sheep into the spider area far enough away so they wouldn't run into the webbing. Harry portkeyed into the area and found Longclaw and Mischa. He said, "You have taught your children to make webs. They are great first efforts."

"Thank you, Harry Potter," said Mischa. Every parent likes to hear good things about their children. "We shall endeavor to make larger ones next month. We are very happy here."

"Good. Thank you both. I thank your sons as well."

She replied, "You may collect our webbing."

Dobby and Winky worked quickly. They filled the 200 foot spools. There were far more splices than what they were used to. Winky set aside one of the pieces that she didn't like the look of but when they were done, there was almost 16,000 feet.

Harry asked, "Mischa, what can I do for you?"

She replied, "We could make better webs if there was a tree here."

Harry could see her point. There was a 100 foot run that could be made back and forth between the spot where she was referring to and another tree. Harry asked Dobby, "Is there a tree that would work on my property in Gloucester?"

Dobby called some of his elf friends and explained what he was looking for. A minute later, there was a 30 foot English oak where Mischa had mentioned.

Longclaw clicked and said, "Thank you." Harry understood him perfectly.

Harry thanked Dobby and the other elves as Winky went to deliver the spools to the shop. He said to the spiders, "Enjoy your sheep."

They all portkeyed back to Hagrid's home where he invited the four of them in for a cuppa.

… - ...

Monday March 30

Newly supplied with strand and with good prospects for more, they worked incessantly making wands. Harry was doing 1,000 indents a day.

… - …

Tuesday March 31

Redeye introduced the two people from Comet, Diane Lind and her production manager, Tim Wolf, then went back outside.

Emma was in the room with them. Diane commented, "You found a wand for me. Thank you again." Emma smiled at her."

Devlin showed them the sample broom. It would be at the far upper end of the Comet line. Diane was honest. "This would be a change for us."

Devlin remarked, "There is a solid market for second tier broomsticks. I'm not ready to resume producing Firebolts for another two-and-a-half to three years. My expectation is that this broomsticks would retail for 500G, wholesale for 400 and have a production cost of 150. That's an excellent gross margin."

Harry remarked, "Jim Nimbus has no core to work with. We were ready to give him the same deal when his associate attempted to steal secrets via legillimancy and was caught by my Gringotts Account Manager."

Diane asked, "Why don't you make them yourself?"

Devlin replied, "I'm expecting to make Lightning bolts for the pro leagues for the next two years of so. I don't have in interest in producing both."

Tim, the production manager asked, "What is the expected variability?"

Harry replied, "Within lots of 500 cores, 1 percent. Within the total, not more than 5 percent.

Diane asked, "What are you looking for?"

Harry replied, First, complete nondisclosure as to the nature of the core. Second your assurance that the core will be used in broomsticks and not resold to other wandmakers. It's a wand-grade core. How long are your current wands?

They replied, "Twelve inches."

He found two in a box and handed them to the visitors. He said, "You can have these. Give them a wave."

They did and a gush of red sparks flew into the air. Diane remarked, "It's as good as my other wand."

Harry nodded and added, "Now you both have an extra. The price is 25G per ounce. You could use between one and three ounces in your brooms, depending on the performance. Do we have a deal?"

"Yes. Thank you."

"Good." The paperwork arrived and they both signed. Harry said, Your first lot of 500 ounces will be sent over tomorrow morning at 9. Call me when you want another sent."

Emma was very impressed with what she'd seen.

… - …

Wednesday April 1 (98)

Hagrid's Wand Hairs became one of the larger exporting businesses in magical Britain. Naturally, he still collected the occasional sack of interesting stuff for Harry and Hermione.

In April, Hagrid's business added a second customer, the wandcrafter from Oslo, Johann Gustafson. He wanted to order 500 cores and happily signed a contract similar to Otto's to only sell them to his countrymen. Dobby handled the deliveries.

… - …

Monday April 6

Emma and Hermione were invited to come see the newborn unicorns. They were about as adorable as could be as they wobble-walked along with the little elflings. Emma took a few photos of the event. One of the little ones wobbled up to Emma and looked in her eyes. The former dentist would remember that moment for the rest of her days.

In contrast, Dan performed two root canals that afternoon.

… - ...

In times of great change, new businesses often appear and thrive while businesses that are unable/unwilling to adapt to, or better, lead change fail through little/no fault of their own. For the suppliers of apothocary plants, Longbottom Acres with their new greenhouses with grow lights and flowing liquid nutrient systems completely eliminated the need to import magical plants into Britain.

As a result, the potioneers had the option of working with fresh, properly grown plants that would have even impressed Snape. As an unintended consequence of their success, several import businesses, similar to what Cyrus Greengrass had been engaged in for decades failed. Some clever importers changed what they were importing and stayed in business, Over the course of a year, Britain became a net exporter of magical plants. As Longbottom Acres thrived, the sales tax that it paid increased.

Augusta was very proud of her Grandson's accomplishments and was no longer afraid of telling him.

… - …

One Saturday afternoon, Harry and Hermione met Luna and Neville outside the Wand Shop. Harry said, "We have something to show you. Grab hold."

A moment later, they were just outside the row of beach houses. Luna observed, "They're lovely."

Harry replied, "Thanks. We'll show them to you later. Follow me. You'll want to see this." As they walked along, Harry said, "A year ago, we bought this. It was meadow. Then we sold it to the elves."

Neville looked around. For the most part, it looked like a young, vibrant forest. Most of the trees appeared to be twenty years old or so. Quite a few appeared to be a hundred years old. As they walked farther into the woods they began to notice the elves' tree houses. Neville had a smile on his face from ear to ear. Luna asked, "How many live here?"

Harry replied, "As I understand, there were 1,400 adult elves living here. Emma told us that there are 320 elflings. There are still elves who live at Hogwarts castle and some who live with people. I expect 200 or so live in the Bright Moon building in Diagon Alley."

Neville asked, "How did the really big vinewood trees get here?"

Before Harry could say anything, Luna remarked, "The elves asked them to move, silly."

Harry agreed, "They have the gift of being able to speak to anyone or anything."

Hermione had a thoughtful look on her face at his words. She hadn't considered the magnitude of their ability.

… - ...

Friday April 14

Quality Quidditch Supply Reopens

By Cheryl Whitehart

Quality Quidditch Supply owner Thomas Markum announced that the shop would reopen tomorrow, Saturday April 15 at 9AM. He was quoted saying, "We have over 500 broomsticks in stock; the Comet 260 and the newest model, the Comet 900." Markum stated, "The Comet 900 is for serious players with similar performance as the Lightning Bolt – the current professional league standard."

Fred Weasley put the newspaper down and said, "Dear Brother, Saturday looks like it would be a good day to introduce our new Quidditch Stadium game. We can draw some of the alley shoppers up our way while we send Lee down to Quality Quidditch and buy three of the Comet 900s."

… - …

Saturday April 15

With Hermione's help transfiguring several extra clamp tables for Tom and a bit of extra planning, Quality Quidditch Supply actually had a thousand broomsticks in stock. What they weren't expecting was the size of the sales. The Quibbler had a far wider circulation than the old rag, the Prophet had enjoyed. Representatives from Beauxbatons, several smaller schools in Germany and Durmstrang were there, ordering twenty each. Store owner Thomas Markum quickly placed a limit of two brooms per customer.

At noon, Diane Lind dropped off another 200 of the Comet 900s.

Gretta Macmillan happily stood in line to purchase brooms for her children, Ernie and Beth. When Thomas Markum made his monthly Sales Tax deposit for his business, it was 11,000G.

… - …

The smell of grilled hot dogs wafted through the alley that afternoon. The wand holster stand next to the joke shop was giving away a free hot dog and crisps with the purchase of a wand holster. They sold 800 that day.

… - ...

Madam Malkin hung her sign out that read Jeans Sale Today – Latest Styles. They were nonmagical varieties. She could purchase them wholesale for less than she could make them at the quantities that she initially stocked.

Most of the school age kids and their parents walked out with a pair or two and like the other shops in the alley that day, their shelves were nearly empty by 6pm.

… - ...

Sunday May 3

Dan asked, "How did we do in the last trip to Gdansk?"

Harry replied, "Good. For having a mixture of different wands, I think we did great. The dragon wing wands work fine, but they actually require fitting, which goes against running a volume sales environment. The only person who could reliably sell them quickly was Winky. Honestly, I'd rather find someone that we trust and have them resell them than work with them ourselves."

"That makes sense. Do you have someone in mind?"

"Not yet. On a different subject, we've been invited to sell wands in the States. There are three hundred thousand magicals in America and most of them are using their grandparents' wands. We've been invited to work out of five of the Gringotts branches – Salem, Chicago, New Orleans, Tuscon and Seattle."

"What are you thinking of with respect to volume?"

Harry put down his Orange Crush and replied, "If we had a hundred thousand finished wands in stock, I'd have us go somewhere until we'd sold twenty thousand, then go to the next city in a rotation and repeat it via two day trips for a second rotation a few months later."

Dan chose his words carefully. Harry rarely talked strategy with him. "That makes sense but we don't. Based on a sample size of two months, we have materials to make 16,000 to a very best case of 20,000 wands a month. Conservatively, you have materials to make 15,000 strand wands and another 1000 wing wands, depending on what Charlie sends. The only good news is that his piece is forecastable because you have it in your storeroom aging. Harry, the bigger consideration is that you have a recurring client base of 30-40,000 wands a year in Europe to service. While we don't have to have all hands on deck to go sell 1,500 wands in Amsterdam some Saturday next month; we probably do if we want to sell 16,000 wands on Chicago over four days."

Harry nodded and replied, "Hopefully we can do both. I like the security model that we used in Gdansk, selling there but staying at a different city and traveling via portkey. The distances are a lot farther in the US. We could sell in Salem and stay in Portland Maine, sell in Chicago and stay in Madison Wisconsin, sell in Tuscon and stay in Denver, sell in Seattle and stay in Cody Wyoming if we wanted."

"What are your thoughts on pricing?"

"We have the opportunity to change it. My preference is that on paper, we leave it alone. If we're still making good money for Ragnok, we don't have to make changes with, or substitutions for the Eye brothers. That said, for the days when we go someplace, I'd like to hire twenty of the elves from Bright Moon. We can use them for supplemental security and logistics. They can help us and would only cost about a wand a trip."

Dan finished his lager and asked, "When are you thinking of starting?"

Harry replied, "I'd like to get 30,000 wands ahead, then schedule them. Your point about the residual sales in Europe is valid. It would be easy to go someplace on Friday afternoon, sell a thousand on Saturday and be home later Saturday night. I expect that Hermione would prefer to keep working on her healing, so if she made the trips, she could leave late. I honestly believe that Madam Pomfrey would happily work around her schedule but she's hesitant to ask."

The dentist reflected on his very capable daughter for a moment and replied, "With the International Portkeys, she could leave Seattle a half hour before her class, make three hops and still get there early. It'll work itself out. Just give her some space."

… - …

Tuesday May 5

At the Wizengamot meeting that month, Harry, Susan and Neville took their family seats. Additionally, Mick Paulson, Anna Daily, Regulus Moonshine and Emma Granger were given appointed, non-transferable seats.

Amelia asked, "Is there other new business?"

Horace Slughorn got up and announced, "Professor Wihelmina Grubbly-Plank is here to give a report on the Forbidden Forest."

Amelia wasn't expecting this and wasn't certain why Slughorn would choose to bring it up. She said, "Welcome, Professor."

She began, "The eight miles that comprise the so called Forbidden forest has materially changed in the last few years. Lately, it has been overrun by Fae. With no apex predators on the land and less assistance from the elves, there are also more deer, rabbits and birds. The fire damage has been significant. The two fire in the last five years have seen a fourth of the forest damaged or destroyed."

She paused for a moment as Nobby stood, waiting to be recognized. Amelia took a chance and said, "Yes, Nobby?"

He said, "As the forest is private property and the Professor has no standing in the matter, how is the current state of the property any concern of the group?"

There was a bit of murmuring. The ownership of the forest by the unnamed centaurs wasn't an official secret but it wasn't common knowledge; at least in this century. Nobby wasn't in favor of the conversation leading to the movement of any of the magical inhabitants. Amelia wasn't interested in a public discussion regarding wand core. She took the opportunity that was presented and announced, "It's private property and not our concern. Thank you, Professor. Thank you, Nobby. Is there other new business?

"It was brought to my attention that I need to officially appoint a Senior Undersecretary. That said, I name Michelle Wood as Senior Undersecretary. As there is no other business, the meeting is adjourned."

… - …

Saturday May 23

The Saturday lunches with Harry, Hermione, Susan, Hannah and occasionally Neville and Luna were the only thing that kept Harry even modestly connected with Hogwarts. Sometimes they had them at the Three Broomsticks or the Flying Horse, sometimes at Fortescue's. or sometimes in London for pizza. Today they were at the Flying Horse. As always, they put coins in to see who would select the location. All of the other selected the No coins, so Harry selected the Rosolino Ristorante in Naples Italy.

Hannah asked,"How did you learn about this place?"

Hermione replied. "We go to it a lot when we're in Naples. We've been there a dozen times."

Susan asked, "How?"

"We've spent the better part of the last two years making wands for and fitting them in different countries."

Hannah asked, "What about the Wand Shop?"

Harry replied, "We're there three weeks a month making wands for the next trip and then we're gone selling them the other week. A lot of countries haven't had the chance to develop their own wandcrafter, so we go and help out a bunch of people for four days or so. At night we try and find fun places to go and eat or rent bicycles and see the sights."

Susan replied, "Sounds like fun."

"It's not always fun. We've been robbed, people have been killed and Hermione's mum was briefly abducted."

Hannah asked, "Why do you do it?"

Harry replied, "If you had the chance to make a real difference in several thousand people's lives each month, would you try and help? What would your life be like if you still didn't have your wand? Neville's probably gone more than we are with his plant business."

The no longer shy teen nodded and said, "You're right about that. We make sales calls about six days a month."

"What are you planning on doing when you two finish Hogwarts?" asked Hermione. She'd asked the question before in the last few years and had previously received several different answers.

Hannah replied, "We'd like to work at the new primary school. We either need to have a teaching degree or be working towards one. We've been accepted at Metro for their accelerated plan."

Hermione was going to point out that student teaching was usually done near the end of the degree program, then recalled that it was a magical school. Tutoring second grade was probably easier to pick up than keeping a level head when some student invariably had an instance of accidental magic.

Luna remarked, "I think the two of you will become excellent teachers for small children. How are the old slytherin dormitories?"

Susan replied, "Thanks. Now that they have proper lighting, they're really quite nice, especially in the late spring when the old Hufflepuff dorms would be getting pretty warm. Before the electrical was finished, I thought that they were creepy. It's nice having everyone in our class together. There's a lot less conflict. Anyway, the last quidditch match of the year is the seventh year men vs. women. We'd like you to referee it, Harry."

Without saying yes, he asked, "When is it?"

Saturday June 6 at one pm.

He glanced at Hermione, who commented, "We don't leave for Vienna until Sunday afternoon. We could get everything ready before lunch."

He replied, "OK then. Luna, what's new at Bright Moon?"

She replied, "1,900 elves are now part of the co-op. That's as many as we expect. Some like your two friends work full time in businesses. There are nearly 100 who work in homes where they're truly loved and want to stay as a part of their family. As you probably heard, the council is looking to purchase a small tract of land on the west side of Elf Land. It's a 16 acre section that would be good to have as a buffer."

Hermione said, "They should talk with Harry." She looked at her love. They'd discussed it a few days earlier.

Luna replied, "Thanks. I think they have enough money to buy it outright on their own this time."

Harry nodded and replied, "The offer is open – to any of you." It and been a wonderful lunch with great company.

… - …

As their meeting was about to conclude, Ragnok asked, "Is there anything else?"

Barchoke replied, "The three year contract with the wandcrafters is set to expire next month.

Ragnok asked, "How much did we invest in them?"

"Initially 2,250,000G, then another 500,000 for the additional tooling for the other wandcrafters. The extra security and room rentals has been another 2,000,000."

"How much have we received?"

"71,100,000."

"Let us continue to assist him in any way that we can. We will keep the existing arrangement with the other branches and hope that he continues to find materials. Every month that goes by, our branch grows stronger. Send another bonus to the Eye brothers."

"I'll make it so."

Ragnok reflected on the deals that they had made.

They made the two and a quarter million galleon initial investment hoping that helping get the wizard's economy back in its feet would help bring about some social change in addition to helping their own. They had the same logic for the quarter million spent funding the school for the school year after the Great Wandout. They made nothing on the first 30,000 wands. Fortunes turned when Harry began looking into selling to other markets. They made five galleons each on his poor advice to Harry suggesting that he wholesale the wands at thirty galleons each. Fortunately that mistake was short-lived. Harry's idea to directly sell wands in the other countries was the best thing that had ever happened at the London Branch. The Eye brothers were now among the wealthiest goblins in the clan; though, as they had pointed out, it was dangerous work.

… - …

Saturday May 30

Harry was in line at the concession counter at the Canons – Magpies game and he saw Ron Weasley a few people ahead of him. Harry noticed that he looked older and was standing next to a young women who he didn't recognize. They looked good together.

Harry couldn't think of anything to say to his former friend and was happy that he hadn't yet been recognized in the crowd. He switched to the other line.

… - ...

Thursday June 4

Harry was inventorying strand when Devlin walked in carrying a broom case. He greeted his older friend. "Hi Devlin. What's up?"

"I brought you something that I finished this morning. It's the prototype for the Firebolt II that we were talking about a few weeks back. This is made with powdered basilisk rib and elder wood."

It was a masterwork in its own right. The twigs were perfect. Harry half wondered if he couldn't cast a spell with it. He observed, "It's beautiful."

Devlin replied, "It's yours. Give it a good go on Saturday and let me know what you think."

"Thanks. Have you got time for an Orange Crush?"

"Always. Tell me about your trip to Vienna."

"It was a blast..."

… - …

Saturday June 6

Hogwarts Quidditch pitch seventh year boys vs. Seventh year girls

The Quidditch Pitch had been expanded during the last task of the tournament and had never been changed back to the original configuration. It resembled a 2,000 seat stadium bowl with the difference that there was no lower section seating. Whether or not Dumbledore had ever intended to change his enchantment back will never be known.

As a result, there was plenty of room for visitors and Anne had done an excellent job marketing the games in the autumn and spring. A portion of the stadium was designated student only, a portion, staff and visitor only and the rest was general seating. Unsurprisingly, a good number of parents, grandparents and siblings came to the games to be with their families The Hogsmeade restaurants did a very good trade before and after the games.

Fred and George were among the vendors who set up stands before the games, selling their wares. Ginny had assisted them by making certain that the pygmy puffs were considered to be the cutest pocket pets ever. As it was a bright, sunny day, the twins had boxes of cheap sunglasses available for four sickles each.

Next to their booth, Dennis, Colin and Demzela, his study buddy, had set up a booth selling large plastic cups of root beer and Orange Crush, along with other fizzy drinks. A sign at their booth indicated that half of their proceeds were being donated to the new primary school. At three sickles each, everyone bought one as they made their way into the stadium. Amelia and her guests, Dan and Emma, Windsong and Hermione smiled as they walked by the booths, stopping to purchase beverages.

They found Anne, who was sitting by Flitwick about ¾ of the way up. As the witches were chatting, Filius was talking with Dan and mentioned, "Harry was the best student I've ever seen play the game."

Dan replied, "He's learned to see magic. I'm not sure when the ability began to develop but when we go to the professional games together, he always knows where the snitch is. He can spot it like a fluorescent orange dove in a flock of pigeons."

"Amazing. Did he ever take up treasure hunting..."

A handful of rows below the Minister, Sprout and Minerva were chatting away, enjoying the weather. It had been Sprout's idea to make the teams for each year. Essentially they were a series of pickup games and the only score keeping throughout the year were the number of wins by the witches vs. the wizards. Gone was the vitriol that the house matches had generated. The witches had won as often, as not with the score 3-3. The workshops that the Harpies had put on earlier in the year gave the promising students exposure and raised the interest in the sport.

As Amelia had put the game on her official schedule, Michelle Wood accompanied her. Her brother Oliver joined her. They sat a few rows above and to the right of Bones about at the top row.

Since Harry had been talked into being referee, Lee Jordan volunteered to do the play-by-play announcing. As he was a part-time student and not eligible to be on the team, Ron Weasley agreed to do the color commentary.

As Amelia had suggested to get a lot of good press whenever possible, Anne had personally invited Cheryl Whitehart to come to the game. Cheryl had contacted Colin and asked him to take photos, telling him that the paper would pay ten galleons for the first photo and twenty each for any additional pictures that they purchased. The perpetually happy teen gladly agreed.

… - …

Prior to the start of the game, Harry visited with some of the seventh years. Seamus came up to him and asked, "Do you ever make unicorn hair wands?"

Harry replied, "Sometimes. They're pretty hard to find."

In a quiet voice, Seamus said, "Me Ma has one that we keep in the back garden. His name is Jim. He's kind of old but he's yours if you want him."

The idea of new blood for the herd was very attractive. Harry replied, "Thank you. That would be great. I'll look you up. It might not be this afternoon, How about next Saturday?"

"That would be fine."

… - ...

Emma had invited Windsong to go the the game with her and Dan. She had never seen a quidditch game. Though they had little in common professionally, they truly enjoyed each other's company. Both were happy to have a friend that didn't ask an endless stream of work-related questions.

Quite a few people arrived just before the game was scheduled to start. Amanda Crabtree and Augusta sat on the other side of Amelia and the row above them slowly filled with witches and wizards, Rather than purchase sunglasses from the Weasleys, some kept their hoods up to keep the sun out of their faces.

… - …

Ten minutes before, the eight wizards and two witches went over their assignments for what may have been the tenth time. No one had any questions. In singles or pairs they apparated in, purchased their tickets and found their seats.

Meanwhile, Colin picked up his camera, thanked Dennis and Demzela and hurried off to the locker rooms. He politely knocked on the doors and explained, "Cheryl Whitehart asked me to get some group photos for the Quibbler."

Hannah replied, "We're not all dressed yet. Would you prefer to wait outside, or do you want to take them now?"

Nowhere near as embarrassed as she'd hoped, he replied, "Either is fine with me. If you're not ready, I'll go over to the other side, get a picture and be back in five minutes." He walked the the other side of the building, called the guys out and took two photos.

Each of the teams had up to ten players. Dean played keeper. Ernie and Terry played beater. Zach Smith, Anthony and Justin played chaser. Seamus played seeker. Blaise acted as reserve and would substitute in various positions starting at the ten minute mark.

Colin thanked the guys and walked over to the witch's side. They were all dressed and had walked out and lined up. The witches had put Lavender in as keeper, Lisa and Millicent in as Beaters, Hannah, Susan and Daphne in as chasers and played Tracy as seeker. Padma and Pavarti substituted as chasers. Su Li alternated as chaser. The keeper and Beaters played the entire game unless there was an injury.

The quidditch robes were a thing of the past. The lads were wearing bright red nylon tops and the lasses a dazzling yellow. They all were wearing jeans and light armor.

While Colin was taking photographs. Harry put on a 90 second clinic with his new broom. He did loops, rolls, a rocket ship climb followed by an 80 degree dive before leveling off a few feet above the grass. The few people who'd been paying attention and saw the entire routine looked on in amazement.

… - …

Lee Jordan began the announcements. "Good afternoon everyone and welcome to the final game of the year – the seventh year witches vs. the seventh year wizards."

There was a fair bit of applause as he introduced the starting players on both teams. He continued, "Finally, playing seeker for the witches is the incomparable Tracy Davis." He stretched her name out and the applause picked up as the girls flew in a V formation around the pitch, waving at the crowd as the went by. The wizards followed behind in a weaving single file.

Harry called the teams together. The witches were handed one of the bludgers, the wizards took the other. He noticed the light armor that they were wearing and pointed out, "No one has to get hurt today. These older iron bludgers can hurt someone far too easily. Take it easy and have fun." He released the snitch and gave it a thirty second head start, then tossed the quaffle twenty feet up and the game began.

… - …

Michelle noticed that the seats in the row behind the Minister's group were starting to fill with some of the few people in the stadium to be wearing traditional robes and hoods. Given the bright sun, she could see quite a few people wearing caps, sun visors, hoods or shading their eyes with their hands and didn't think too much about it. While the two announcers were doing their best to make the play sound as if it were the Quidditch World Cup finals, in reality it was little more than a pickup game. No one hit the beater balls at the chasers or blindsided the seekers. As a group, the chasers were better than the keepers and ¾ of the shots on goal went in for both sides. The score was quickly 180-160 witches.

Apparently the snitch had gotten tired of being ignored and landed on Finnegan's head. Davis noticed it and flew straight at the now sober Irish lad. It took off and they both flew after it as they flew towards the professors and visitors.

Ron and Lee both wanted to talk and accidentally switched off the magical megaphone, so there was silence as Seamus and Tracy were traveling towards the stand.

Harry followed above and behind them to get a better view. He noted that the people in the row behind Hermione, Emma and the others were standing, ostensibly to get a better view; though they certainly weren't the only ones who were on their feet. Lee and Ron were still trying to start the megaphone when he heard the words Avada Kedavra.

As his broomstick was pointed in the direction of the crowd behind the Minister, he held the front of the handle and with as much force as he could muster, cast, "Stupefy."

… - …

Just then Lee got the megaphone working and hearing the curse being cast exclaimed, "Bloody Hell!"

Harry wasn't certain what would happen. Instead of the laser thin beam, his stunning spell came out like a shotgun blast and covered 20x 20 feet when it hit the stands. The hench-people who generally weren't skilled in the killing curse had been instructed to cast the cutting curse and had each cast a strong, "Diffindo," before being knocked unconscious.

… - …

In certain situations, the span of two seconds can be an eternity. In unison, Tiberius Ogden and his sister fired killing curses at the elected Minister of Magic, Amelia Bones. Willy Widershins (paroled from Azkaban) who had been hired for the job and paid well, cast a solid Diffindo into Augusta Longbottom's back as he'd been instructed. Simultaneously Emma, and and Hermione had each been hit with two solid Diffindo curses to the back. Amanda Crabtree was hit with a cutting curse intended for Longbottom.

Michelle Wood – Hitwitch turned Administrator heard the killing curse, pulled her wand and cast, Percutio at Lynn and Ogden, who she saw casting killing curses into her boss's back.

Before the victims had even fallen down or the assailants could portkey away, Potter's shotgun blast knocked them all down and out.

Flitwick was sitting just on the outside edge of Harry's spell was astounded as 25 people were hit by the red light and slumped over. He pulled his wand to keep anyone from escaping or doing further harm.

Windsong was dazed by Harry's spell. It took her a half minute to clear her head.

… - …

Harry landed and rushed to Hermione. She wasn't moving; none of the were. He pulled his wand and cast Enervate. She blinked. He hugged her for all that she was worth. They looked over at Emma and saw blood. With Hermione's help he cast Enervate as she ripped the back of her mum's shirt to see where she'd been wounded. She was bleeding freely from her arm. Windsong directed, "Go check on the others."

They went to Amelia, who was motionless. She'd been hit solidly and by all rights, should be dead. Harry cast the strongest Enervate that he could muster and her eyes shot open. She blinked several times as they set her down to rest.

Windsong went to check on Augusta Longbottom while Hermione spent a moment with her mum and Harry went to check on Amanda Crabtree. He stated, "Crabtree's hit with a very deep slice mid back going sideways. She's not breathing."

Windsong rushed over, cleaned the wound and flicked her finger six times. It was clearly draining her badly.

In the meantime, Emma and Hermione went to Augusta, who was hit on the left side of her back just as deeply as Crabtree had been.

Windsong pulled herself up and told Hermione to close the wound in Crabtree while she looked at Longbottom.

Someone went over to check on the people behind them. Harry shouted, "Don't touch them. They're the assassins."

Crabtree pulled herself over to Longbottom where Windsong was close to passing out. Her bleeding didn't want to stop. She called for help, "We need blood replenishing potion." Dobby popped back a moment later carrying twelve bottles.

Meanwhile Lee Jordan, who was still on a hot megaphone exclaimed, "Did you see that? Harry Potter shot a spell out of his..." Fortunately Ron had turned the megaphone back off.

The players landed on the field and in a moment of sanity, everyone stayed put and relatively quiet.

A/Ns

How's that for a cliffhanger?

Thanks for reading.

… - …