Birthdays and Hogwarts letters.
Neville celebrated his birthday on July the 30th, which was exactly the day before Harry's birthday. For the first time he had visitors, and suddenly he found himself swimming in gifts. Harry and Hermione had chosen to gift him agricultural supplies, seeds and a shiny Alienware Laptop. Neville was now ready to join the multiplayer game sessions and he appreciated being able to watch whatever content amused him. Luna had chosen to give him a painting of a grassy field of flowers that existed behind her house, and this was now proudly on display in his room. Xeno had provided him with many botany and biology textbooks, and Neville adored the gift. He wanted to know more about the different varieties of plants, and how they functioned.
Harry and Hermione had also been present when Neville received his Hogwarts letter. For the pair, King Ragnok himself had cast a complex, wandless Goblin enchantment that would make their magical signature disappear until September the 1st, as a second line of defence, as they were away from their homes.
The most entertaining activity for the boy's birthday had happened in the Longbottom kitchen.
Neville had insisted that he wanted to try making hot wings, and suddenly Harry's practised kitchen skills became known. Hermione also seemed to be rather adept with the knife, and looking at the three children cooking in the kitchen had caused the Longbottom house-elf to almost catch a heart attack. Of course, Harry had explained to their diminutive friend that he could help, as it was an opportunity to learn a new recipe. Mipsy and Tipsy had even helped with the fries and the other ingredients as they apparated across from Peverell Manor with anything that Neville did not have on hand.
The rest of the night was spent as Hermione and Luna cried in agony and Harry and Neville dared each other to eat the hot wings coated in the dreaded Moruga Scorpion Hot Sauce. It was the hottest known chilli pepper, that had originated from a small village in Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean. It was rated in excess of one million scoville units, and it was essentially death in an unassuming package. Neville eventually gave up, later into the night, as Harry was declared the victor – he was now panting, his face was tomato red and was sweating bullets.
"That is the worst thing I ever had. I need more!" Neville had yelled after drinking some milk to cut away at the capsaicin on his tongue. For him, it had been a spiritual experience.
"Oh my sweet summer child, you aren't out of the woods yet. You still need to go to the washroom one or two days from now. Or maybe as early as tonight. I hope you don't launch into orbit around the planet. When you figure it out, let me know…." Harry sniggered.
What Harry had meant, was that Neville's washroom experience was going to be painful. To put it decently, the consumption of that type of hot pepper guaranteed that his anus would be having an extended appointment with Satan himself. Of course, Neville did not know this, as this was his first experience.
Hermione and Harry giggled. The real prank would occur in a couple of hours.
That same night, Neville had explained to his grandmother that he wanted to be the first Hot Sauce producer in Magical England. She smiled as she realised that the pair were already exerting a good influence on him. Neville promised himself to clean the Greenhouse and implement hydroponic methods, as Hermione had given him a small kit and he was shocked to find out that crops did not need soil.
Harry's birthday had occurred the next day on July 31st. Harry had chosen to have a meal at Peverell Manor, and his only new attendees were Neville and Augusta. Augusta as regent for House Longbottom had combed through many photo albums and provided Harry with pictures of his parents that had been taken by Alice and Frank. Neville was clueless as to what he could give Harry, and decided on a special cactus plant for his bedroom dresser. Harry truly appreciated his gift. Harry loved things that were the products of a person's hands.
"So you survived then?" Harry grinned.
"You are evil. It felt like the sun was coming out of my…behind!" Neville laughed.
"And you know what? Despite all that you and I are the types of guys who will line up for more punishment. Why do we do it, Neville?"
"Tasty?"
There was much laughter that evening, over the prank.
Sirius, Remus and William had given Harry a combined gift. Harry now possessed every type of Allen, torx bit and socket ever produced, complete with Imperial and Metric sizes. The gift had not been expensive but merely very appropriate. Harry generally preferred German tools, and he was pretty pleased with the affair. Hazet was unquestionably a reputable brand. He had been so excited after unwrapping the gift paper, he yelled:
"I am going to the moon with this toolkit. You just watch!"
Hermione had pitched in with Priya, her family and Lorna to truly give him a devious, but welcome gift. They had purchased him a Server rack and three IBM Blade Servers. Harry had planned to purchase the equipment for himself, and Hermione had seen the bookmarks and figured out the particulars. He now had data crunching equipment available to him. Hermione had also decided on a personal gift that had been cheap but very useful – Harry now had ARM Cortex Microcontrollers that were fanless and were packing 2Ghz Quad core processors. These microcontrollers were far faster than the 300Mhz Atmels that the armour systems were running. After Harry had received his gifts, none of which were personal expressions of excess, the laughter and the chats continued. Sirius was happy that he could celebrate Harry's 11th birthday.
Harry had not invited Luna, but he planned to send some items for her and Xeno who had a commitment elsewhere.
Harry had provided modified smartphones for Bloodaxe and the Goblin King privately. So far, both devices had functioned well enough on the Gringotts ground floor. Depending on the cave, the functionality was hit and miss. Harry was working on a protean charmed communication hub to deal with this issue. It was now the morning of August the 1st and Harry messaged Bloodaxe.
"Nothing yet. No Hogwarts Letter. Crossing my fingers." Harry messaged Bloodaxe.
"Noted. I am enjoying the smartphone. I am buying a Stoner 63 LMG, I need one for…reasons" replied Bloodaxe.
Harry and Hermione laughed at that admission.
King Ragnok chose to look at the financial news. He considered the advantages technology offered. If they needed a titanium wing on Gringotts and the whole roof fitted with solar cells, so be it. King Ragnok was certainly joining the ThinkPad squad, after confirming with Harry that it was a rock-solid purchase.
Harry and Hermione waited until midnight, as they hoped that no Hogwarts letters would find them. While Hermione was not eleven as yet, the enrollment usually covered students who would celebrate their 11th birthday during the first term. As the night passed, both of them sighed in relief. Now, they were non-entities to the magical world.
Meanwhile, Albus had noticed that no letters had been assigned to Harry Potter with his passing, or Hermione Granger. He decided that he would review the possibilities, and select Neville Longbottom to groom for an eventual confrontation. As he spoke aloud to himself, Harry made sure that he recorded all the evidence, as this would provide him with leverage, if necessary.
The next morning, Lorna sat in the workshop with Sirius and Remus, as they discussed pressing issues. Lorna explained:
"I don't think we should wait until Christmas. I have been listening to the whispers, and it seems like now is the perfect time to release the information. We need to keep the momentum going, as people are beginning to suspect that Sirius was broken out. Rumours are going around. We want the Wizarding community to generate their own stupidity."
"Suggestions?" asked Harry.
"I can glamour myself and utilize Rita Skeeter. I will show her the grave and explain selectively what she needs to know. Of course, Death eaters will be out within the next couple of days. We will be armed and ready to roll. What would you prefer to do Harry? In terms of their lives?"
"We are killing the whole lot."
"I agree," Hermione said.
"You can do support and leave the more unsavoury activities to me. It isn't fair to ask me to…"
"No. I have the shields, and I will be cloaked. I will pick them off. I will also stay with Remus and Sirius."
"What about Uncle William?" Harry asked.
"I will tell him it was my choice. We don't get to do things by the normal rules because this is four against a couple dozen of them?"
"I know but you haven't fought before, Moine?"
"I know but I have been training with the dummies. I will be fine." Hermione insisted.
"Who is targeting with the drone?" asked Harry.
"I have been practising. Pretty good at it!" replied Lorna
"Alright. What time?" asked Harry.
"Early September. After the students are already in Hogwarts. That will minimise the damage and the likelihood of children getting involved." answered Sirius.
"That is brilliant. If the ruckus could happen while Hogwarts is freshly opened, that would direct everyone's attention elsewhere. Albus will be indisposed." replied Lupin.
"Alright. I want the whole of August to be utilised by the Weasleys. Well at least Fred, George and Charlie can work. The kitchen, we might have to delay that. Or maybe we can cater to the Goblins and other people. Small volume. We will use the Elves who have downtime. Christmas will be a full launch." Harry explained to the group
"That seems good. All we need is to block access to this workshop if the Weasleys are coming here to work. A big gate. For us who can apparate, we will just come here directly." Hermione offered.
"Alright. Let us get cracking."