Chapter 8: Conspirators, Christmas and Hats.
During the next couple of days, the rumours had gotten out of control at Hogwarts. Suddenly Draco summoned a dragon, and Ronald Weasley defeated the beast with a sword and shield. Some of the third and fourth-year witches were asking Ronald if he would be interested in taking an evening walk with them. Ronald had tasked Invictus with identifying every known broom closet, nook and cranny around the castle and Ronald was dodging the packs of admiring witches.
"Brutus Weasley our dearest brother, teach us your great ways!" Fred teased Ronald as he continued his practice on the boxing bag.
"Ickle Ronnekins is now dead! Long live Brutus Weasley, guardian of many a witch's affections!" George laughed.
Neville and the rest who knew how much he liked Hermione, understood that he only had eyes for a single witch. And frankly, they admired how much restraint the boy had displayed recently. Most young men would have loved to explore a witch sexually, and a lot of the older girls didn't mind showing him a very good time. Ronald continued with the punching bag, as he delivered multiple jabs in quick succession.
The new member of their cantankerous group was the Sorting Hat. He had complained to Albus that he wanted to take a walk. He wanted to talk to Astoria and Ginny who were 'two of the best firecrackers in all of Minerva's lions.'
"Perhaps they are meant for great things? Very well Allistair, I will summon them?" Albus replied as he mistook the Sorting Hat's prank for incarnate destiny. Technically, they were destined to be great at explosives, but that was a case of personal dispositions.
Sometimes the Sorting Hat desired an evening stroll, and other days he preferred to stay on Ginny or Astoria's head during the morning. As they went about their business, the other students mistook the object for a casual wizarding hat. When Minerva had asked Astoria why she had the Sorting Hat on his head, Allistair the Sorting Hat answered:
"Felt like taking some breeze, Minerva? I requested these two. They are funny!"
Professor McGonagall was shocked at the interaction that night in the common room and did not even bother to ask again about the issue.
For him, the best entertainment he received was when he got to see Astoria and Ginny as they got busy in the small workshop under the tunnel-linked apartment. Suddenly Allistair was observing the go-kart construction and all sorts of other projects as they consulted Harry for help. His favourites were when they created harmless prank grenades, and the improved tennis ball launcher had been entertaining. The new 'rocket launcher' was powered by an acetylene and oxygen gas charge that was held via a protego field – it was an upgrade on the steam cannon.
"Hey Allistair how is it going?" Percy asked as he dug around for some ice cream in a freezer.
"Albus is convinced that the girls are special. He doesn't ask any questions. He even forgets that I am with the girls sometimes. He usually only speaks to me at the beginning of the academic year. Do you have any idea how boring it is, to just languish on a shelf all the time? FOR A ENTIRE YEAR?"
"Oh. That might be terribly boring. Well, as long as you are having fun?" Percy asked.
"Certainly. Mr Potter had a look at Godric Gryffindor's sword. He then reforged it with far better metal alloy, made the blade monomolecular and installed a miniaturised fiendfyre emitter, shield emitter and modified the crystals in the hilt. We have all the goodies now! He even let me sit on top of that big brain of his, while he made the modifications."
"I bet that was a wild trip!" Astoria giggled.
"Oh Astoria, you have no idea. I had to do a doubletake, and shake myself off like a wet dog! I learnt much from the half-hour visit in his head. My general knowledge base has increased!" the Sorting Hat replied, as he observed Ginny assembling a small item.
"Well, I hope you saw the control room?" Percy asked.
"Oh yes! I did visit the control room, and Hermione is working to interface me into the castle. That will allow me to take over some of the functions like security and surveillance when the war arrives. Ms Greengrass is working through some of the other problems with the runic middleware. There is the possibility of a remote connection. There is also the hope I will be able to utilise the diadem as a processor. I am glad I decided to participate in Harry Potter's prank!" Allistair commented as he grinned.
"Any chance you speak any of the old languages? Can you read and translate?" Percy asked.
"I can Mr Weasley?"
"We need to have a chat one evening. Your contributions could help get a lot of the older tomes translated. We do have some of the genealogy records that Riddle hid. If we could get a Rosetta stone listing out of you that would be great?" Percy wondered.
"Oh, this group is good mental stimulation. The founders would have fought for all of you to be in their houses." the Sorting Hat commented.
"The Weasleys would majority still end up in Gryffindor. The ideal thing would be to convince people to change their minds. But some people won't be convinced. So I guess Harry will do, what he has to do?" Percy commented.
"Godric had said the same thing many centuries ago. It is a reality of life. Why do you think the sword was forged? Godric preferred to be a diplomat, but after that, he lopped entire droves of men in half!" the Sorting Hat replied.
Susan Bones had become the new tag along in Ronald's group. She had joined the group's advanced class that was hosted in the Ravenclaw wing. Ronald would often give her simple spells to cast while she observed Neville and Luna working with the older students. Daphne and Tracey became the Slytherins who were not just the resident snake geniuses, but also the people who were friends with the trio. Susan had been asked to keep their relationship quiet, and she had decided that perhaps holding on to two secrets was not a bad thing.
Susan had explained that she didn't think she could manage with the morning exercise, and for now learning spells was sufficient enough. Ronald had her limping to the Hufflepuff common room almost every evening as he pushed the high-intensity casting. As he escorted her he often explained that her ability to Stun, Shield and Disarm was important for dealing with bullies. Suddenly Vincent and Gregory saw that Susan Bones had a new friend, and they stayed very far away from the girl. One evening they had cornered her and Susan had screamed so loudly that Minerva had run out of the class to find both of the boys stunned, with small smoking craters on their chests. Both of the henchmen stopped bullying her the next day. Susan got in the habit of pointing her wands at the pair anytime she thought that they were getting too enthusiastic.
Ronald became the person who had shown Susan how to fight back, for now.
Draco Malfoy had spent some days in the hospital after the December duel, and he had absolutely no memory of what had happened – but awaking to the news that Ronald Weasley the pureblood traitor had choked him with his conjured snake until he fainted, had left him confused. He could not remember taking part in any defence club. Riddle had explained the situation clearly enough:
"I tried to summon powerful curses but I could not manage. Weasley is a big dumb strong animal. He is like a bull. I don't think you will ever win by brute strength." Tom complained.
"What do we do, Tom? He has humiliated us!" Draco asked.
"We lay low. Then we kill his siblings with the Basilisk venom. His lot first and then Astoria second. She hates you Draco, Pansy is a much better choice. She is a good pureblood woman. Take what is offered…" Tom suggested.
Before the school term was over, Draco had gotten his first blowjob from Pansy and she was over the moon – she would be Ms Malfoy soon enough and Astoria had lost out on a golden opportunity to be wealthy and powerful. Tracey and Astoria had been listening to the entire affair and all of the sweet talk, from the polymer spray.
"Well, that is some messed up shite. As soon as Draco said suck me, I just tuned out and waited until they left the broom closet!" Tracey sniggered at Astoria.
"Hey, they wanna breed little inbred gremlins into existence, no problem with me. If their child can fight his way out of wet tissue paper, I would be surprised." Astoria replied.
It was officially the end of the term. The entire group had opted to go home for the Christmas holidays. Now the people in Harry's fold were on the way home via the Hogwarts Express. The final two weeks after the showdown in the hall had passed without concern. Now that everyone was fairly comfortable with the transporters, most people apparated home as soon as the compartments on the train had privacy. Only Fred and George had stayed for the journey and when the train had emptied and Jordan had left, the twins went directly to Weasley Manor.
Hermione had managed to integrate the new transportation algorithm she had captured from the vanishing cabinets. The seven hundred kilometre apparition distance was powered by the passive energy stored in the inked runes of the cabinet. Now the algorithm had received Hemmione's optimisations and Harry's power crystal. Intercontinental apparition was a piece of cake and a single power crystal now had enough power to make at least twenty big trips.
Two days before the first use of the enhanced algorithm by the Hogwarts students, Hermione and Harry had trialled the process, after determining that flobberworm transport was fine. On the 18th of December, Hermione and Harry had skipped across to Spain and then to Ved's old village in Maharashtra, India. Harry and Hermione had insisted that Ved take them to places primarily to eat the local fast food.
The next day on the 19th of December, Harry and Hermione had taken a small joyride in the Thunderbolt as she skipped one thousand kilometres ever so often to stress test the upgrade. Their little trip had taken them across the Grand Canyon, and even to some of the beautiful pristine Finnish forests before she decided on her next test. She then jumped twenty five kilometres vertically while being fully cloaked. She had triple checked her calculations and decided she could chance it, as they were still in the atmosphere.
The navi-com had gone haywire above the planet's atmosphere. They had been oriented wrongly, but Hermione merely righted the gunship with manoeuvring thrusters and made a set of small jumps downwards, as the ship's jumpdrive become more accurate, closer to the planet. Hermione made her way to the hangar, and she landed the Thunderbolt. Harry and Hermione exited the craft.
"But Hermione the rocket did pretty fine? We went a couple of thousand kilometres and it was alright?" Harry wondered.
"Probably weight is a factor. This thing is almost five tonnes. The rocket was only ten kilos." Hermione wondered.
"Oh right. Silly me. I am not worried, you always get the math figured out," Harry replied.
The best Christmas gift that they could give their friends was the ability to take a holiday anywhere. Also, this transporter improvement would give them the ability to wage war in an entirely new method.
Mr François was well known for his construction expertise in France. His company had done many projects for the French Ministry of Magic and Clementine Delacour. His latest set of customers was Lord Peverell, Lady Granger, Lord Weasley and Mr Lovegood. The Graphcrete and the holo forms, along with the magical retrofits allowed most of their equipment to run off wands. Getting smartphones have been a blessing too. During the initial wave of Peverell Mansion renovations, Harry met his daughter Noémie. She had come along during the holidays and was a worksite helper for her father that day for the kitchen refurbishments. Harry under glamour, had been happy to chat with the girl, as was curious about her missing arm. She had been in an accident – a car had hit her and even the French healers could only offer an amputation as the best outcome. Hermione had dropped by later that day and they had made up their mind.
They promised that if there was anything that could be done to help her replace her missing arm, then they would try their best to help his daughter.
The man was aware that the Artificer's mother was one of the most respected healers in France, and that he would have access to more eclectic methods. He had waited patiently, and then he forgot about the issue as more than a year had passed. When he saw the call, he considered that perhaps Mr Peverell required another project completed.
"Hello, Mr Peverell, seasons greetings!"
"Seasons greetings indeed. We are ready to have a go at getting your daughter a functioning prosthetic. I did not forget you. Some of the things we do are brand new procedures and they are certain risks involved. Will they hold out? Are they reliable? If they fail, will they cause harm to the body? Almost a year ago we had a theoretical project that could help, but we needed to minimise the risks. We did show you the initial Synthetic muscle fibres. I hope we are as talented as we think we are…"
"I hope so too. When Mr Peverell?"
Tomorrow morning. Send me a GPS pin and we will send Grace to pick you up.
"I will be there. See you soon. I have not told my daughter anything."
"Don't tell her anything. We can give her a surprise?" Harry laughed.
The next morning, Noémie found herself looking around at Peverell Manor as her father explained that she was visiting the home of the Artificer. This was somebody who her classmates often spoke about based on unconfirmed rumours – children who were well connected at Beauxbatons were aware that France had reactivated the Alpha Kill Team, and strangely enough, that the team were all British. And they were not Hit-Wizards.
They were the boogeyman and the boogeywoman.
While parents had been sworn to secrecy, children often overheard adult conversations. Noémie had noticed that Gabrielle did not ever seem fascinated by the news. She suspected that the Delacours knew these people – they had been the first to start wearing the "nullifiers". As time passed the design became more sophisticated and even stylish. Veela discrimination had disappeared overnight in France, and suddenly other European countries were buying the bracelet.
When Noémie had heard that an experimental procedure to give her a functioning prosthetic had been developed, she was ready in five minutes. Her father during their walk to their predetermined pickup location had to explain that the rumours were true and that he had done any number of projects for them. He even explained that the new concrete additive and the new tools were all "Harry's expertise." The girl was also surprised to hear that he had a phoenix. When Grace had arrived and transported the pair, the girl spent the next minute playing with Grace's plumage as she scratched her head. The bird hooted her approval.
"Papa she is fantastic! Oh, she is sooo pretty!" Noémie commented, in French.
"EWE!" Grace swooned. She liked compliments.
Now they were walking down a gravel track towards the Peverell hangar. It was open and the girl had insisted that she take a look at the fantastic items that were parked, while Grace sat on her shoulder and relaxed. Then the bird flew off and the pair received a shocking experience. Daffodil alighted, closed her wings up and came over to the girl. The man and his daughter were terrified until Dafodill took her front paw and gave the family a small wave, and walked off as if she had something important to do.
"Papa did the dragon say…hello?" the girl asked, incredulously.
"Yes, she did! Daffodil is my child, so she is mannered and very polite. And she talks too. She thinks you are adorable. Novitiate Rune Priestess Hermione Granger at your service?" Hermione replied before she popped out of the Thunderbolt with Daphne who was right next to her.
"And oh yes, this is Daphne….my apprentice!" Hermione joked as the blonde-haired girl gave a small wave, with a cup of coffee in her hand.
"Your dragon can talk? But how?" she asked.
"I taught her words no differently from how you learnt yours? I started when she was a hatchling. She isn't a year old yet. Norwegian Ridgeback. Come along to the workshop we are ready…."
"What is that? And you speak French?" the girl asked excitedly, as she pointed to the Thunderbolt.
"Yes, I speak French fluently. We met in the kitchen. Remember Jean? I had on a glamour!"
The girl remembered Jean von Neuman and smiled, before hugging Hermione tightly. She realised that she had met the famed Rune-Priestess, and she had not known. Now she wondered if the other boy that day was the Artificer? Hermione continued:
"To answer your other question, what is this thing? Beauxbatons has that magnificent flying carriage. House sized. Can carry about sixty people. Pulled by Abraxan houses. Pocket dimension. Files at two hundred kilometres per hour. You know it?"
"Yes! I saw it parked outside the school!" the girl replied.
"Good. This is 'Thunderbolt-II'. Seats twenty and carries enough guns, grenades, swords and all types of weapons to fight at least five hundred wizards at a time. Carries six pulse submachine guns, six pulse assault rifles and finally a rail cannon that can deliver two times as much destruction as a tank round. Powered by a magical fission reactor and has five G&P Type II Plasma afterburning engines. Flies at thirty five hundred kilometres per hour."
The girl was silent as she realised that the Rune-Priestess while she was being dead honest, was also pulling her leg. Her answer equated to ideally to look, you don't want to know. It is boring. The entire group had arrived at the lab, and the girl who was Muggleborn still had to acquaint herself with the surroundings. After Hermione had introduced Harry and his mother, they began the procedure after they explained the unique tools that would facilitate the process.
The entire operation had not taken long.
The most crucial step had been the shaping of the polymer and the superconducting pad, along with the gold-copper nanothreads that had been coated in a biologically inert compound. While the sight of it was intimidating, the girl had not felt any pain with the pain-numbing potion that Hermione had developed.
From the treatment that Frank and Alice had received, Hermione had developed an illusionary projector that magnified an area of the body and displayed a holographic representation of the activities that were taking place. The girl and her father observed as the liquid began to pool into the muscles and the nerves. After that procedure was complete, a plastic sleeve was attached to the stub on her arm. The girl looked on as the boy sized the item to fit her right upper arm snugly. The wandless transfiguration had been surprising for the girl. Priya continued to heal the muscles before she told the girl to relax for the 'magically assisted hypnosis.'
"Imperio!" Priya whispered. She took a minor thread from one of the magical conduits that were running on her upper right arm and she connected it to the sleeve. Harry who was facilitating the mental link, began to realign the delivered materials as he connected them to the severed nerves. Priya locked off the sensation from the area as Hermione prepared the necessary potions. Daphne kept an eye on the magical feedback which was low for now. When Priya committed the changes to the girl's magical core in the cradle, then Harry brought over an arm and connected it to the socket. This arm had been built with a combination of polymer muscle fibres and even some compliant mechanisms.
"There. Daph, power us on and load the firmware." Harry asked.
The girl felt a buzzing and winced as the pain from the operation was still there. Her muscles felt sore from needle tracks.
"A lot of pain?" Priya asked.
"Just a little," she replied as she attempted to flex her arm and felt nothing. "I am not feeling anything?"
"No, continue to flex the arm. The prosthetic is learning your magical signature and your nervous system. Keep flexing the arms and the fingers?" Daphne insisted.
Daphne had been fascinated by artificial intelligence programming and she had developed a magical algorithm that would shuffle arithmantic variables continuously, as better matches to a person's physiology were found. Old values were discarded, and the new values were used to iterate more detailed possibilities. The evolutionary runicware module had been developed separately, and if it worked it would be pushed to the Medi-Bracelets to help with fine-tuning diagnoses, among all the other things that required a spinal interface.
Hermione had explained the unusual phenomenon that had occurred in the South American mission, and Daphne wondered if the residual magic could be retuned to make an item more compatible with another person. She reasoned that if a seamstress could readjust a dress that a mother had passed down to a daughter, surely artefacts could be readjusted. She had taken on the project for a while now, and this was her method of learning Runes and Arithmancy.
She would bite chunks off a complex problem, and force herself to work under pressure. No different to her computer programming episodes.
After one minute there was a slow grasping motion that was made by the hand. The girl had become so emotional that she stopped the exercise and she hugged Priya, followed by everyone else. And it had not gone unnoticed that her new prosthetic hand was relaxed around everyone's back – no different to how a real hand would behave when it hugged a person. After the girl had settled herself, she continued the exercises and suddenly her hand reported sensation, as Priya touched the synth skin on her hand. As they continued the tests it seemed as if the girl had gotten most of her functionality back. Now the girl was skipping for joy, and her father was happy. The girl even seemed able to write with either a pen or a feather.
"So confirmation on the neural link. Confirmation on the bioadaptive-algorithm. Confirmation on the synth-skin. All a good day's work, son?" Priya asked.
"Oh, you didn't think that I was giving the girl such an ugly arm. This was just to test the principle for the Magical amp. Presenting…."
Hermione and Daphne were now grinning. Harry had planned something.
He wandlessly summoned a pedestal and unveiled a floating arm that looked futuristic. It was golden-tinged, and the various parts freely floated mid-air. There were no solid links between the finger joints and the wrists. The wrist and the forearm assembly were also disconnected from each other. Priya soon realised that Harry had replaced the linkages with superconducting fields, and there seemed to be a myriad of covers and changeable plates that were stylish. The girl would be able to change the pieces and match them to her clothes. It even seemed as if the goblins has done a lot of the embellishments. Daphne tapped a rune, and the sensation in the prototype arm stopped before Harry disconnected the prototype. The other arm parts flew across and assembled themselves.
"Right. That is more like it. Daph run the bio-adaptive algorithm again." Harry asked.
"Sure Harry, using the previous model as a basis to train the new network..and…."
Within two minutes, the new arm was working and in comparison to the previous arm, it was buttery smooth, expressive and looked way too cool.
"Do you have your wand?" Hermione asked.
"Yes?" the girl replied.
"I heard you had to learn how to use your left arm after the accident. You were originally right handed. How about a lumière for us?"
"Lumière!" the girl yelled, and suddenly the wand lit up in a bright white ball of light.
"Magical transmission over the superconducting fields?" Priya asked.
"Yep. I already use it on the wings and cannons so why not?" Harry giggled, as he looked at Hermione. She already understood the implications of what they had discovered.
Nobody's quality of life would suffer from missing a limb.
Now the girl was casting all the charms that she knew. Her father held her arm and she could feel his touch. It wasn't sensitive like real skin, but she could receive feedback. She could even feel objects through her fingers as she grabbed all of the random tools and passed her finger over the surfaces.
Priya looked at all three of the children and hugged them.
"Welcome to the club!" Hermione whispered to Daphne, as the Gringotts magic flared and once again things changed for everyone. Harry had dialled Fleur, and she skipped across with Gabrielle. After the girl made a promise that she would not speak about anything she had seen, Gabrielle began to chat with her.
"I always suspected that you knew them!" Noémie exclaimed.
"Yeah, I have seen a lot of weird things around this place. Nothing surprises me anymore. Do you like your new arm?" Gabrielle asked.
"Yes? I can feel objects! I can write and cast spells! I am going to do so much better with my magic now. Where are we going?" Noémie asked.
"To a small kitchen owned by some friends. Then my sister's boyfriend will take us on a small tour of non-magical London." Gabrielle replied.
"Bill isn't my boyfriend?" Fleur protested.
"Keep fooling yourself. As Harry says…..Meh. Let me get Ginny and Astoria, they are my friends!" Gabrielle replied. Fleur looked at Bill, and he blushed. Fleur decided to hold his hand, as apparently everybody knew.
The new discussion was about who could qualify for a second prosthetic to test the concept.
"I know one of Luis' former squad members who does not serve with the unit. He lost his left leg. I have given him checkups occasionally. Uses a cane to get around. Raphaël is his name. He might be a good candidate?" Priya suggested.
"Take the scanner and measure his dimensions. We will get him hooked up. And yes, his bionics will be packing some nifty extras. We will give him an intermediate prosthetic next two weeks, and a revised one next year Christmas." Harry laughed.
"While we are talking about modifying people, I have a hypothetical implant that could be placed in the leg or arm, and it would clean poison and other contaminants out of the bloodstream. Time to see if it will help Aunty Alice and Uncle Frank with those microgram traces of lead." Hermione explained.
"I guess it is a Hail Mary for the 22nd once again? By the way, could we adapt part of this treatment for Alice and Frank? I am thinking we could partially interface their spinal cord into the muscle weave? I want to see how Daphne's bio-adaptive algorithm will perform too?" Priya queried.
"Maybe? Daphne, how do feel about a trip to France?" Hermione laughed, as Harry began to pack everything up, immediately.
"I am in?" Daphne laughed, as the excitement coloured her face.
Hermione talked about the new poison augment as they asked Priya to check that the theory was sound. If this modification worked, it would be impossible to poison a person. It was an arithmantic modification of Priya's poison drawing spell that could use magic to pull out any known contaminants or potions and deposit them in a bottle. Even terrible compounds like Cyanide and other impossible things had been included. The magic held all the poison particles in microscopic protego bubbles, as it was guided to the implant site.
Alice and Frank were summoned, and the French Minister facilitated an operation, that involved a top class mundane surgeon, as they worked away into Christmas Eve 'Eve' – Harry's favourite joke about the 23rd of December.
The Christmas Eve dinner had arrived, at Peverell Manor.
Luna sat next to Neville, but strangely Hermione was paired with Ronald as he discussed some of the possible questions that would arrive in his Potions NEWT. Usually, she would sit next to Harry, but he had his own company this Christmas. Ronald whispered to his crush about how he had egged Riddle on in the duel, and Hermione was genuinely impressed before she said:
"Very cheeky now Mr Weasley?"Hermione giggled.
"I wanted to see how I would manage against him. It gives me hope that we will win. He was not unstoppable." he replied.
"No, he isn't. He was born to a womb like anybody else." Hermione replied.
As the food arrived on the plates, Cyrus was happy to see that Harry seemed caught up in his new inventions. Daphne was animatedly talking about her A.I. algorithm that could autotune magical systems.
"From being clueless about the magical world to being a top-class programmer. You have no idea how you look with your laptop and your cup of coffee. I could swear you go to one of those Bill Gates hipster technology schools!" Harry laughed as Ophelia looked on carefully at the interaction.
"I guess I genuinely love the activity. It isn't so much that I see it as muggle or mundane. This is more about what I like? And I like logic?" Daphne commented.
"My my, some strong words there. Don't let the rest of the Voldy supporters hear?" Harry suggested.
"Sorry, that isn't a threat. That ring story? Why didn't I think about such an idea before? Not an inch of trouble!" Daphne answered.
"Yes about that, remember that joke you made earlier this year? We have a nice weapon waiting for you!" Hermione cheered brightly.
"Oh, I think you will be dangerous with that!" Alice commented.
The entire table became silent.
Before everyone could get their bearings, Frank leapt out of his chair and tossed a snowball directly into Neville's face.
"Surprise!" Frank yelled as Luna moved some of the splattered snow away. As Neville shook his face, he realised that Harry and the rest had gotten him good again, for the second year in a row, as his both parents came around his chair and hugged the boy. And now, they could walk and speak.
"Harry, Hermione and you Daphne? You should have told me, Daffy! You joined these two…..rascals! I hate all of you. Really, I do!" Neville laughed.
"Love you too!" Harry replied as Priya and Sirius who were sitting next to each other smiled, contentedly.
"Let us hope every year that they can surprise us. What did you three do this time?" Ophelia asked.
"We located a student at Beauxbatons who has a mundane father and a magical mother. He is aware of the magical world and he helped us with the operation. Top class Neurosurgeon. We did the operation in France and he handled the injection of the materials. We injected some materials into their muscle groups, their spine and their vocal cords.
Mum and I transfigured and connected the materials to the nervous system. Hermione did the potions and the development of our third augment. It is a small metal implant in the arm that filters all poisons and deposits it into a bottle. Aunty Frank and Alice are currently filtering the last bit of Bella's scummy poison out of their bloodstream. Hermione and I took our augments immediately after as we will need them for combat conditions."
Harry lifted his sleeve and demonstrated the small metal implant on his left biceps that was finely made and neatly installed. He then rolled down his sleeve, and Cyrus nodded as he saw the use of it, regardless of how unusual it was.
"I know it seems very invasive, but the ability to deliver chemicals in our bloodstream will help us greatly. It can filter out most poisons and dangerous potions. Even Veritaserum does nothing to us now" Hermione explained.
"If it is that small, I will definitely take one closer to the war. It seems to be a small sacrifice?" Reginald pondered.
"That is good that you aren't throwing the option off the table. But Aunty Ophelia the greatest achievement was all of this was facilitated by good ol' Daffy!" Harry laughed.
The girl's parents were looking at her and they were curious, as to what was her contribution. Harry continued, "Daphne's new algorithm retuned the spinal interface and the muscle weave to be just as responsive as the item is with us, with anyone else. The system learns what values to adjust as it analyses the magical signature of the person. Now we can make stuff, and other people can interact with it just as effectively as our residual magic can be purged out of our devices. And the synth skin on the muscle weave isn't like normal skin but it allows people to feel touch in a limited way. Aunty Alice and Uncle Frank can speak and move around until we get their paralysed muscles repaired!"
Daphne had a confident grin on her face.
"Oh, Daphne I am so proud of you! You have contributed something great to the world!" Ophelia smiled.
"I would tell you that anything you want, you can have. But I heard you are making seven per cent on the tunnel project?" Cyrus asked.
"Six months and I have two million galleons staring at me. Besides the really nice clothes and some of the jewellery, I spend most of it on the coffee machine and takeout. I do suppose I can buy what I want, but that is only the next Thinkpad that is due to release soon." Daphne replied.
"I will have to settle for hugging you and congratulating you, I suppose?" Cyrus grinned.
"Yes, you will. Although I had never had to beg for a hug. I am happy that you are proud of me. I had the best teachers a person could ask for!" Daphne replied. Harry and Hermione leaned in on both sides and hugged her, and now her dainty giggle filled the Peverell kitchen.
"You know being the third wheel is bad enough. But in this group, looks like I am the seventh wheel!" Tracey whispered to Luna.
"Maybe you need to send Hannah those winning love notes. I am sure you can come up with something, Love Doctor?" Luna laughed.
"Time to use my smexy charms on that bird!" Tracey replied as she wiggled her eyebrows.
Ronald was looking at his dataslate at the dinner table and he had gotten a message from Slytherin and a Hufflepuff. Now he had a prospective bassist and violin player. It was time to open up the band practice to the other students, and the abandoned Ravenclaw wing was just the place. As Tipsy arrived in the kitchen, she distributed the envelopes to the children and the young adults. Bank statements from Gringotts were something that younger people did not bother to request regularly. As long as Harry and the rest at Peverell Manor were producing the products, the earnings came in every month. Daphne was the only person who had actively set up other arrangements.
As everyone looked at their account balances, the earnings varied. Most people were sitting on half a million galleons. Neville and Ronald were close to three because of the Quidditch earnings, and other projects. Ginny and Astoria were the only two people who did not have any active portfolios and the majority of Luna's earnings came from her sideline jobs which included working for her father, designing logos, portrait restorations and Clementine's salary.
The real long-term 'cash-cow' for Harry and Hermione was the tunnel project. To meet the demand of all of the Gringotts branches (all five thousand of them worldwide), Gringotts would have to produce at least three thousand segments a day, for ten years to meet the projected demand. And as Goblin populations got bigger, the demand would only increase. On average Gringotts, England was producing only seven hundred units a day, and King Ragnok was hoping to quintuple the production rate by pulling the older goblins out of retirement. Now, most of the manufacturing was done via a control room, and it resembled an underground factory rather than the traditional 'goblin with a pickaxe' operation.
"You know what Harry? On the 27th we are buying Zonkos out. We won't sell anything yet…not until we are ready to cause trouble…." Fred smirked.
"Hey! Happy for you. I think you guys are the right types for a joke shop. I only understand how to build things that explode or cause death. But you guys do know a joke when you see one. The Killer Bunny Rabbit is one of the most brilliant things I have ever seen! I am a big fan, make no mistake." Harry joked.
"Never fear, we are here!" George replied.
"Most of the Darker Houses do not have more than half a million galleons. Not after we collected our money. We could buy them out right now. I don't understand why they have publicly listed businesses, and they won't pay attention to them?" Sirius wondered.
"Laziness is the issue. They believe that their identity and their status are what ensure their wealth. The only thing that ensures wealth is competitive products and services. Nothing else. The free market is a very ruthless thing and they will find out soon enough," Harry replied as he and Hermione opened their statements, which were more of a yearly tradition now. Daphne had received hers and she seemed very surprised, as her eyebrows arched in confusion.
"Hermione could you just read this for me? My name has changed, I think?" Daphne asked as she handed over her official bank statement
"To: Priestess Daphne Greengrass….." Hermione slowly read before she smiled from ear to ear.
"Ha! Now they are two of us! The world will quake with our magnificence! Welcome to the club sweetie! I will ask for a full readout to see if you are magically connected to me?" Hermione replied with another hug and a kiss on Daphne's cheek.
"Hey look like there has been a change in names. Caelian Artificer Lord Peverellover here. Did you get a title upgrade, Mione?" Harry asked. Hermione fumbled around her statement.
"Vesta Priestess Lady Granger. Maybe building RuneOs qualified us for a promotion. The Vesta Priestess is attached to Rome I think?" Hermione replied.
"Not just the three of you. I have a…new title now?" Priya explained.
"You definitely should have one. You can fix anybody. I would know!" Harry smiled as he looked on expectedly. He continued, "What is it?"
"Life Worker Priya Singh?" Priya replied a bit nervously.
"Makes sense. You just don't heal. You have done magic that helps people with their lives too. Sometimes it is not healing injuries, it is improving people's lives too. At least I think so, but I might be a…biased party…" Sirius interjected. There was laughter in the Peverell Kitchen as Priya gave Sirius a polite kiss on his cheek.
Basilisk hide jackets were given out to everyone, as the main choice of gift. Harry had transfigured far more titanium into the hides, and the jackets all contained small emitters and power sources. Harry had managed to add trace elements to the protein complex in the scales and now all of the jackets sported a slight tint that matched house colours. Harry was the only person who had chosen to go jet black.
Apart from the obvious fashion pieces, all the other gifts were sentimental items except for the musical instruments and gear that was given to Ronald, Neville and Luna. Of course, these items had been delivered privately and were already at their homes. Hermione continued to be out of the loop, as Harry had asked Invictus to make the band practice sessions private, only so that he could troll Hermione when the band went public.
As Harry looked at the ceiling on his bed later that night, he was happy that there was no major bloodshed for now – but he knew what was coming soon. During January, he would be informed about the next assignment.
When Harry awoke on Christmas day, he went to his usual place. Father Nathaniel was already expecting Harry to arrive, as he had been attending Sunday church regularly. Harry had sat down on the bench and demonstrated the footage of the prosthetics via his dataslate. He explained that everyone in his corner had given a girl her arm back.
"Continue to build a better world. What of your mother and your godfather? And your sister?" Father Nathaniel asked.
Harry had described an uneventful year. It wasn't that events had not happened, but rather that foresight and planning were keeping things in check. An explanation and footage of the basilisk being harvested had been quite a sight for the man.
"I must say the magical world had some scary creatures. That thing honestly frightened me…" Father Nathaniel replied.
"Yeah, it kind of depends. Hermione has an actual Dragon. Unicorns are real, and Hogwarts had a giant squid in the lake. And my uncle is a bonafide Werewolf, although he is controlling the savagery with a lot of discipline." Harry explained.
"Perhaps it is good that we have these talks. If our worlds meet one day, I do want a tour! I can see why arranging your death was vital."
"Yes, it was necessary. We are working silently."
"When is your next mission, Harry?" the priest asked.
"Sometime next year. I have to speak to the French Minister about the deployment. I have a small dinner with him, along with my Uncle Luis. I heard we are dealing with Italian mafia types. Mum will be there, too."
"Hold the Lord in your mind when you fight. Let your strength flow from your faith. This was beautiful. I will see you next week Harry?"
"Yes, you will, Father. By the way, if you ever want to take a holiday anywhere, you can have a transporter."
"I always wanted to visit the Vatican. Perhaps I will take you up on that offer!" Father Nathaniel replied.
"I will make arrangements then. Goodbye. Gracie?"
ZAP!