Goods and Services

While the children were having dinner, Brandt was taking a trip down Knockturn Alley. Opal had updated him that the pictures would be finished developing by the end of next week, but the old couple at The Dapper Bazaar had completed their analysis of the samples he had left and wanted to speak to him immediately. He checked the contract he had them sign the last time, and so far it showed no evidence of a betrayal on their part. So now he walked down the broken cobblestones of the dark alley to their shop.

He walked in and saw another two customers looking at the garments in the shop. However, as soon as the old man saw Brandt enter, he got up and spoke to the other customers who looked a bit insulted at what he said, but they left quickly all the same. Once they were out, he darkened the windows on the front, flipped the sign to 'Closed,' and guided the Steward to the back room.

The old man's wife was there, surrounded by all the samples he had brought them as well as with a large stack of paper. She looked up at him and gave him a small smile, gesturing to a stuffed chair in front of the table.

"Well," she began, "you certainly brought us a lot of interesting specimens. What do you want to hear about first?"

"Let's leave the most obvious for the end," Brandt told her. "Tell me about the core samples I gave you."

The elderly woman picked up one of the cylindrical core samples he had given and tapped it with her wand. One of the papers in the stack in front of her jumped out of the pile and her husband snatched it out of the air.

"This is the most confusing piece of dirt I have ever laid eyes on," he commented. "It is dead soil in nearly every aspect we could test. You see, most volcanic soil is rich in nutrients, but this is devoid of them. Neither of us can figure out why except to tell you that at one point some kind of organic compound was introduced into the environment through the soil that killed everything planted in it, both mundane and magical. That is what stumped me the most."

He walked over to a cabinet and pulled out a jar of dirt that just looked wrong as if something was screaming inside of it to look away.

"This is a sample of soil from Azkaban," he explained. "Years ago, I was given the task of growing anything in this soil. The only thing I got to grow in it was a type of potato that feeds only on magic. They couldn't be eaten as the magic in the soil around the prison turned this normally tasty potato into something that kills people in a particularly gruesome manner… and not from ingesting it. The soil around the prison is rich with magic; dark, evil magic, but magic all the same. The soil you brought me is devoid of almost any kind of energy."

He took a breath, and continued, "I say almost devoid because there are traces of necromantic magics present." Seeing Brandt's face, he shook his head. "Not anything a wizard would create, but the kind that you might find in a mass grave from a battle between wizards or an area where many magical deaths had occurred over a long period of time. Is there any additional information you can provide us on the soil?"

Brandt thought about what he could tell them, and decided on trusting them with as much as possible, "It is from an extinct volcano, as far as could be determined. There is some kind of naturally occurring fear ward in the area that extends far around the area, even into nearby waters. Standing in the area gives trespassers specific mental intrusions that make them believe that they are about to be attacked by others they are with, that poltergeists are in the area, that they are being stalked by a large animal, or that they are trapped and suffocating. There is someone who knows exactly what is causing this effect but won't reveal it to me. I was told that each of these fears is based in truth, one way or another."

The couple seemed to be even more confused by this, and the woman said, "Let us know if you want us to continue researching this phenomenon."

"Tell me what else you've got first," Brandt instructed them.

The woman took out the red crystal sample and tapped it, to bring forth the paper with their findings.

"This is Rubellite Tourmaline, it is used to promote healing and life force. It is typically about half as expensive as a diamond of similar quality, but not these. These I would value at about two to three times the value of a diamond of the same carat as these are flawless. Typically flawless means that there are no inclusions in a stone at 10x magnification, but more can turn up with deeper examination. These gems typically have inclusions that appear as hollow tubes, needles, irregular threadlike liquid, or gas inclusions, often in mesh-like patterns. However, the stones you brought me are flawless at 100x magnification."

Brandt's eyes widened without blinking. These were being used to warn people away from the scary tree, and there were over fifty, the size of a quaffle. From Nestor's report, they had no idea where they came from, just that they had to originate from somewhere on the island.

"If these were being used as some kind of archaic warding stones around something that kills people, what significance could that hold?" Brandt asked.

"How archaic?" the old man asked, "Depending on the age, they may just be ornamental as crystal warding techniques weren't developed until after the advent of wands, except in the middle east, and a few Dwarven communities."

Brandt just shrugged, but the comment about the dwarves was something he'd need to look into.

"Now, I've cataloged all the other samples you gave us," the old woman told him. "However the one you thought was the most important is probably exactly what you think it is." She pulled out the small container of the buffalo manure that Brandt had collected with Harry.

"This is undoubtedly from a re'em. Though I am curious how you could possibly think it is anything else."

"They're small," Brandt told her, silently cheering in his head that they were exactly what he thought they were. "They are minuscule in comparison to any I've read about. Each one is between 450-900 pounds."

"That is interesting," the man commented. "I would have heard of such a thing, so this must be from outside one of the reserves. I hope that once you manage to start harvesting the blood, you'll come here first. We will make sure you are flush with customers, paying top prices. You may even get a bidding war."

"As much as I would like to, I don't think I will be killing any of them. I am working with an unlicensed potioneer on a method to extract their magic without killing them." Harry's durability potion from the manure was just his first step with the animals. If he could find a way to create a re'em blood potion without killing them, Brandt would make Harry the richest wizard in the world and he could take a percentage of that.

"Well then in that case," the elderly man said, "I will still make sure you are flush with customers, paying the same price as if you were killing them. The longer we can keep people assuming that you have limited supplies, the longer people will pay through the eyeballs for the potion. Even if it takes you a little bit longer."

Brandt took a small blue gem out of his pocket and tossed it to the man, "Please continue your work on the soil sample. I will keep you informed about the rest when it concerns future business possibilities."

He took back the other samples and their written findings. This would be something to inform Arcturus about, but he hadn't come back from his visit to the second Black island after paying Lord Nott his visit. However, he needed to find a way to tell the man without him trying to force Harry into a marriage with one of the Black children. Once he knew about the Re'em on the island, he might even think that telling Narcissa to seduce Harry would be a good idea to gain control of the island. No one had ever said that the Blacks were adept at positively dealing with children.

However, now he had a lesser business opportunity to focus on with Tonks's friend Ricki. That was going to be a whole other can of worms, with the man's background. Well, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Nymphadora had just gone through a horrendous and hellish day of training with Moody. She had lunch in the Auror infirmary as she had too many injuries from her last duel with her instructor. Before she could even start on her sandwich, she had to jump up and curse the healer that gave it to her, as her poison-detecting spell came back positive on the food.

The healer turned out to be one of the other trainees who Moody had talked into passing off the poisoned food. While Tonks was celebrating stunning the healer, who she assumed was Moody, she got a bludgeoner in the back from the real deal; breaking three ribs and starting the duel over again. That's how the rest of her day went, running detection spells on everyone she met in the ministry, occasionally getting into fights with people she thought was the crazy old man, only to find out it was just someone standing in for him. At the end of the day, Alastor left her in the infirmary and told her he was going to have dinner with her parents.

Like hell was she going to go home tonight, never be where they expected her to be, right? 'Constant Vigilance' and all that bollocks, right? If she went home now, she'd probably torch her childhood home with fiendfyre… just to be sure. Ricki's was always a good place for her to hide out, and he was having his meeting with Brandt tonight, so she could crash with him, and get a spa treatment while she was there.

A short jump on the Knight Bus, and two stops later, she was walking distance from Ricki's place. He had a basement apartment in an ugly muggle building. He got a basement flat by design, as there was no elevator going down to the subfloor of the building and no one would get to his place by accident. That left him with plenty of room to enchant the ever-loving piss out of the place. Ricki answered the door wearing a purple turtleneck and blue jeans.

He took one look at her and said, "What the bloody hell happened to you?"

"I need a mud bath," she told him. "I've broken eleven bones today, been stunned somewhere close to twenty times, and got my ten thousand steps a day in for the next few months. I was also hoping to crash Brandt's business proposal for you."

"Well, let's get you to it. How are you paying for it tonight?"

Something she found out while on a shopping trip a few days ago was that Opal was answering her calls even when she wasn't at Elmswood Lodge, so she told Ricki, "I'm offering house-elf dinner service. Might be good to set the stage for your meeting as well."

Leading her into the house, they went into a back room, with four tubs sunken into the floor. Around the outside of the room was a large shelf of tiny bottles with dark liquid inside.

"Any preference on the mud for today?" Ricki asked her.

"One of the magical ones, something to promote healing," she said with a small smile, which turned into a groan. "Opal?" Tonks called to the elf. Opal popped into the room and looked around, "Hey there little girl, do you think you could make dinner for this handsome gentleman in the kitchen, and then set him up with some snacks and drinks for a meeting?"

Opal was a bit hesitant, considering the last time Tonks had asked her to do something.

"You remember Ricki, right? He has a meeting with Brandt tonight and needs some drinks and snacks."

Opal nodded, and said, "Yes, Missy Tonks," then popped off.

"That was a weird elf," Ricki told her.

"Kinda my fault," she said. "I let Moody talk me into getting her to stand down while he made a surprise attack on Brandt and the kids to test their awareness."

"No, that's completely your fault," Ricki said, with a wince. "I'm surprised she still looks you in the eye." He grabbed a bottle off the shelf and showed her the label, "You're getting Romanian mud from Lake Techirghiol tonight."

He scooped a bit of the mud out of the jar on the tip of his wand and pointed it at an empty tub, then cast, "Gemino!"

The magic interacted with the mud on the tip of his wand and created a hose of mud that filled up the tub. When he finished the spell, his wand was wiped off on the edge of the jar and then cleaned off with a towel. Afterward, he cast a warming charm on the mud until it began to bubble.

"I'll leave you here," he set out a towel and closed the door behind him, and left her in the darkened room.

When the door was closed, Tonks shrunk herself to let her clothes just fall off her body, then conjured a dozen floating candles and lit them up around the room. Slowly, she slipped into the hot mud and let her head rest on the softened depression in the side of the tub. Brandt shouldn't be here for another hour or so, so she'd have at least that long to soak and heal from her day at work.

Brandt strolled with purpose down the street, heading to the address that Ricki had given him. After his trip to The Dapper Bazaar, he shot off a Patronus message to Arcturus to let him know when he was back in London but hadn't received a response yet. It might be the middle of the night where Lord Black was. He knew that at some point before Arcturus died, he would need to be shown all of the Black Islands and was looking forward to it immensely.

He had spent the last hour in one of his favorite restaurants, a place designed to look like a Nordic hunting lodge. One of his electives at Durmstrang was Wilderness Survival, which was taken mostly by students who wished to explore the vast wilderness around the school and hunt some of the more dangerous creatures that lived there to achieve fame and fortune. That particular class also had a mortality rate of about five percent, with many permanent injuries for others; he had quite a nice scar when he almost lost a leg to the webbing of a tripwire spider that lured him into its nest. There was a way station that was used as a base camp for the students. It was littered with trophies left by past students and this restaurant reminded him of that place.

Looking through the notes that the proprietors of The Bazaar had given him, his mood improved with every entry. The plant and animal life on Lyra's island was incredible, not just in the rarity, but the magical saturation. Any potions or materials made from the flora and fauna on the island would have maximum potency, and potions masters around the world would certainly pay handsomely for them. The problem was that the Filipino Ministry would know this as well and would likely start pushing for more harvesting of the island's resources very soon.

Brandt arrived at the building in question and stared at the decrepit building. He hadn't been expecting much as he was already in a very bad part of town, but this place was worse than the rest of the neighborhood. There were junkies on the stairs to the building, and he clutched a small knife in his pocket as he walked by them, into the building. The instructions took him down a set of stairs next to the elevator, and he felt a strong set of wards wash over him as he went down. At least the place was protected.

The corridor that led to the apartment had a creaky floor which might be a nightingale alarm, or it might just be worn out. There were wards on the door to the flat, two he could identify as alerts; one keyed to muggles in general, and the other was blood-based, but he couldn't determine any further details. He could ask about the wards later, so now he just knocked.

Ricki answered the door in casual wear, just a turtleneck, and jeans, "Good evening Steward Brandt, welcome to Château de Ricki."

"Thank you for agreeing to meet with me," he responded as he allowed himself to be shown into the room.

The living room had been transfigured, expanded, and charmed to the limits. There was a color scheme everywhere of golden lights on white furniture and floors. Plants with large leaves and fronds were evenly spaced along the walls with a U-shaped couch with a drink tray on a coffee table in the center, situated across from a moderate-sized fireplace made from white marble columns. Two paths were leading out from the main room, slightly raised with three stairs each. The next rooms were magically darkened which seemed to illustrate that he shouldn't enter them.

"This is quite impressive expansion work," he told Ricki. "Plus the charms and transfigurations for the decor."

"Thank you, Steward," he smiled back. "Have a seat, let me pour you a drink." They sat down and Ricki poured him a glass of Brandy.

"You have excellent taste," Brandt commented. "This is a Baron De Lustrac. I keep my liquor cabinet stocked with a few bottles myself."

"You don't say…" Ricki trailed off. "Well, it is good to see you again, how are Mr. Potter and Miss Black doing?"

"They had an interesting winter break filled with all the intrigue you would expect from an heiress and the Boy-Who-Lived, and then there was the situation with Lyra's father."

"Of course, I heard about that," he said and took a sip of his drink. "I think that's what convinced Nymmie to take you up on your job offer."

"She told you about that?" Brandt asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Of course she did. She's in the next room right now," he said, gesturing behind him and surprising Brandt. "You know it takes a real man to understand he knows nothing about a woman."

"I would like to think I know plenty, but certainly not enough to be a teacher of any sort. I wasn't aware that Miss Tonks would be joining us tonight."

"She's just here to relax," Ricki told her. "Moody kicked her ass all day and she needed a little respite from training."

As if on cue, Tonks walked out of one of the darkened rooms. She was wearing a baggy blue t-shirt that fell off one of her shoulders and gray sweatpants. Her hair was in a frizzy mess on top of her head. She was wearing slippers that looked like giant hairy feet as she walked over to the couch and collapsed over the side.

"Good evening to you Brandt," she said with a sigh.

As she wiggled her toes, Brandt realized they weren't slippers, but her real feet, grown to be warmer on the cold floor. He glared at her informality since this was supposed to be a business meeting. However, Ricki was the one who called her out on it.

"Sweetie," he chided, "this is supposed to be some kind of proper conversation. If you're going to be here, at least sit up straight."

She rolled her eyes as she sat up straight as a soldier and made a small hand gesture that said, 'you may proceed.'

"So what kind of proposal did you want to make?" he asked Brandt.

Switching to business mode, he began, "First of all, I would like to say that I was impressed with your work for Lyra for the party. The two of you did an excellent job setting up the situation for Ricki to be brought in to work."

"What do you mean?" Tonks said hesitantly, but Ricki just smiled.

"Obviously you had arranged for Ricki to be ready to do Lyra's makeup in advance, Miss Tonks. You already knew that you wouldn't be able to do it, or you could and you just played the fool to bring in your friend. You had one of his products on hand for Lyra's hair ahead of time, which you do not need for yourself. He also did not ask for a payment, nor did you pay him when the job was done before he left. You also coordinated hairstyles in advance, not to mention that pretty much everything you were doing that day was designed to try to push my buttons. So yeah, definitely planned in advance."

Tonks let out a sigh of resignation while Ricki just patted her on the back.

"Well, thank you for the compliments," Ricki nodded as he continued to pat Tonks.

"So, onto business. I was impressed by your work, not just the makeup for Lyra, but also the hair bag, and your work case. Both show a good deal of skill with expansion charms, as does this apartment." Ricki swelled a bit at the compliments. "So what I wanted to ask is if you were interested in expanding your business and having your own shop."

Ricki's eyes widened, but then narrowed, "Is this some kind of trick? Because I have tried to open a shop before."

"You're referring to your family?" Brandt asked, drawing a gasp from Tonks. "I have done my research, Ricardo Aguilar."

The normally jovial face of Ricki turned into a scowl, "If you have had me investigated, you know my family," he said the word as if he were spitting on the ground, "is dedicated to seeing me fail."

"Which is why you would benefit from another family supporting you in your enterprise," Brandt told him.

"They would still see my name, and work to get it crushed."

"I think you are underestimating the power behind the Black family name," Brandt said with a serious tone.

"Will Lord Black will officially support me?" Ricki asked with curiosity.

"Of course not, this is my business venture," Brandt told him. "The name is still Black though, and any business you start will be under the Black name. If your family goes after the business, then it will be treated as an attack on the Black family, and then Lord Black would make a personal response."

Ricki was still skeptical as Tonks was looking excited at the prospects, "You don't know anything about me. You've seen my work once, how do you know I would make any money?"

"As I said, I've done my research. After the party, I had one of my investigators visit Club Deviant and speak to people you know for character references. I also went there myself a few times last week and confirmed all the reports." Ricki looked like he was about to say something, but Brandt interrupted, "I wore a glamor and I know how to do an investigation without ruffling feathers."

With a shrewd look on his face, he asked, "And what did you learn?"

"That you do more than just makeup, that you could probably run an entire salon if you wanted. Most of your techniques could be used for both muggles and magicals alike."

"You want me to work with muggles?" Ricki asked.

"Only if you wanted to. Most people who grew up in a pureblood house have an aversion to them, so it wouldn't be required. Though you live in a muggle neighborhood, so I figured that you wouldn't mind too much."

"You could make a bigger mudroom!" Tonks jumped into the conversation.

"Mud… room?" Brandt asked questioningly.

"Have you ever had a mud bath?" Ricki asked Brandt, who shook his head no. "Most spas around the world will give people hot mud baths, it's very relaxing. I collect fresh samples while I'm traveling and preserve them. Then when people want a mud bath, I duplicate the sample for a full bath and let them soak. Some locations have just rich nutrients in the mud, others are nearby or on top of magical ley-lines and have more revitalizing effects."

"That is an added benefit," Brandt said thoughtfully. "If that were a muggle service, I'd need to find a way to explain how you did it. For now, are you interested in the possibility of working together?"

Tonks looked excited at the possibility, but Ricki looked more serious and eventually gave a small nod of his head. Since they had crossed that bridge, Brandt took many papers out of his jacket and held them in front of him.

"One of the few things I wasn't able to find out in my investigations was your financial status. I'm certain you don't have access to your family's vault, and I couldn't get verification from the Goblins if you have your own. However, I am prepared to invest whatever remainder you need to get the business off the ground and allow you to buy back up to 60% of the business, while you pay back my loan, adjusted for standard bank interest and inflation. I will be able to put you in touch with a muggle realtor who can help you find a location that will fit these requirements," he passed Ricki a few pages of paper. "These are what will be needed to place the proper warding on the property as well as have a separate entrance for witches and wizards. You will probably want to add your own requirements as well."

"I'll need to look through everything with a solicitor," Ricki said as he looked through the papers. "I would really like to know what your interest is in this particular project. I don't think you'll be using any of the services I'll be selling, so what's in it for you other than money?"

"Honestly? It's an experiment. All Blacks are given a trust vault. No one can touch it, not even the Lord of the House. It's given as a test to the children in the family. If they manage to make it grow, they are rewarded in life later on. If they squander it, they might get cut off or disinherited. I have a few small investments from my vault which will have steady payouts for the rest of my life. I'm trying to branch out more into larger ventures and I want my first few to be close to home, so I can keep a better eye on them. At the same time, if this pans out, I can back off and let it run itself. Not to mention it helps my relationship with Lyra and with Miss Tonks here."

Ricki nodded, but Tonks told him, "I hope you're not thinking like Arcturus, that this will entice me to join your evil club."

"You already know my motivations," Brandt said defensively.

"We should get that out of the way," Tonks told him. "Can we give them 'The Talk' in two weeks?"

"That will work." Turning back to Ricki, "I'll leave you to look through the location requirements plus the incorporation and partnership paperwork," he took another stack of paper and passed it to his host.

The two men stood up and exchanged a handshake, then Brandt left through the Floo system. As soon as he was gone, Ricki covered the fireplace and collapsed back onto the sofa with Tonks.

"Rich guys don't just throw money at me every day," he said to her. "There is no way any of the other old families would risk doing business with me and upsetting my father."

"Well, as far as I've seen, the Blacks don't seem to give two shits what other people think," Tonks told her friend, "and they have enough magical and political power to back up their apathy. Additionally, who cares about having the old families as customers when you can have all the young ones? Brandt is going to be the proxy in the wizengamot, so he's also going to have the power to handle all their investments, other than his own."

"I just hope he knows what he's doing. My father has quashed two businesses I've tried to start since I graduated. He definitely knows I'm working at the drag club, but he hasn't done anything about that yet. I'm guessing he thinks that's a perfect place for me to be, despite how much I'm enjoying it."

Tonks wrapped an arm around her friend and pulled him onto her shoulder, as she grew a few inches to be the right height to comfort him.

"Don't worry, everything will be alright," she told him as she took his shot of Brandy from his hand and drank it herself. "Oh and I'll be crashing on the couch tonight."