Making some Coin:

Harry instructed Percy and Bill to walk at least three hundred meters. While this was just merely a stretch for Harry and Hermione, Percy was already breathing audibly. Harry then instructed the group to stop as Percy wondered about the significance of the lone thousand feet trek that positively hurt his feet.

"Percy, you are in for a wild ride," Harry explained with a grin.

Percy merely nodded, as he tried to catch his breath.

Grace was truly a sight to behold, particularly when she made her first impression. Bill looked on, as he waited for Hadrian to call his phoenix. Bill was of the opinion, that nothing could surprise him, as he already knew about the Storm-Lord and the Rune-Priestess. Little did he know, he was not going to be spared either, for the rest of the evening.

"Grace!"

ZAP.

Percy looked on, as he began to put his brain to work. Percy wondered what type of bird could suddenly appear on command. Surely the bird seemed very intelligent? Grace looked at Percy with a calculating look, while he scratched his chin and Bill smiled.

"Figured it out yet?" asked Harry.

"Not really. Your bird is very beautiful. I do like her colours?" Percy commented a bit uneasily, as he attempted to give the rare compliment.

"Alright Perce don't kill your brains, we need it for the evening. We will tell you at the Manor. Everybody hold hands. 3..2..1.." Harry warned.

ZAP.

Percy now found himself in the workshop. As he slowly looked around, the first objects within his sight were P-90s and AK-47s. Percy who was none the wiser about guns asked:

"What are these?"

Hermione laughed as she realised that Percy's attention was now elsewhere, and he had already forgotten about Grace. Harry continued with the explanation:

"Ah. You think that mundanes fight with swords and shields? This is a P90. A submachine gun. As to why we own weapons, after the story this evening, you will understand. Let me give you a demonstration of how to deal with Death Eaters…."

Harry smiled as he flicked on some floodlights. He then carried Percy outside to the informal shooting range and demolished many targets after emptying a couple of magazines. Percy was then given a brief explanation as to how warfare was currently conducted in the mundane world and became pale as he realised that Wizards were in a lot of trouble.

"Are you going to kill Death Eaters?" asked Percy.

"Better than that. But why don't we carry you to a very special corner of our workshop. Then you will look at the implements and attempt to put the whole story together hmm?" Hermione explained.

"Well, carry on then?" stated Percy, oblivious to the momentous reveal that was coming.

Percy was then carried to the Armor rack, where several pulse pistols were on display. Harry then took up a pistol, engaged the stun mode and threw a tennis ball. He then nailed the target mid-air. Percy's face began to take on a look of recognition, before Grace landed on his shoulder and politely nipped Percy's ear.

Grace did not like being ignored.

Percy looked at the bird on his shoulder, as he realised that the bird had apparated them to their location, and he had not paid it any mind. Upon this realisation, he began to ask an entire battery of questions, that reminded Harry affectionately of his first encounter with Hermione.

"Wait, what kind of bird is that? How did we get here with the bird? Where are we? Did you build all these objects? Wait…this one here…..this is what shot Lucius Malfoy! Wait, are you the Storm-Lord? But how? Wait then…you must be the Rune-Priestess? But wait…what are these other two armor suits are for? Wait, what does the armor do? Wait….is that a portrait? What is thing here attached to the portrait?"

Percy was now tomato faced, and he had to gasp to catch his breath.

Harry carried him over to the couch. Remus and Sirius appeared, and then the storytelling began as Harry went slowly, and left nothing out over the next three hours. Harry had even shown pieces of his memories in the pensieve to support his claims. Bill found himself very surprised by the revelations, as he and Remus had tea and some small finger foods as the time passed.

"I can't believe this! He is alive?" whispered Percy.

"Very much so. In the last war, he infiltrated the Ministry. So, we expect him to come back and move slowly in the shadows. Now as you understand our capabilities and our awareness of the situation, you can see why we needed oaths."

"I-I can't believe you were left to suffer like that. That was cruel. How do you even have your sanity?"

"Stubborn, I guess?"

Bill now joined the conversation:

"I understand why the Goblins like Harry and Hermione. While I don't know the exact quantity of Galleons, I know both of these two here are making as much as the whole Wizengamot."

Percy was even more flabbergasted, as he listened on.

"We are. Sirius is pitching in to help us. Your family are genuinely part of my war effort. That being said, if I didn't genuinely like you the oath would have killed me. I guess it is a case of simultaneous needs. We will begin building relationships with the Neutral houses soon enough. Lord Greengrass is our ticket. I understand Lord Davis would not be too hard to convince either, as he married a Muggleborn woman."

"I can't believe it. It is like the authorities cannot be trusted! An innocent man put in jail? Percy commented, clearly distraught.

"I get the feeling that this upsets you greatly. But think about your Father. I have a suspicion the authorities are the reason why he hasn't gotten a raise." Percy considered this and realised that Lucius Malfoy had it out, for his father. He also thought about Sirius being in the presence of Dementors for almost a decade and asked the expected question:

How did you survive Dementors, Lord Black?" asked Percy.

"Just Sirius is fine Perce. I reminded myself I didn't do it. But you see the problem – Albus Dumbledore has too many responsibilities. He should have investigated my case. These Death Eaters were allowed to return to society with a slap on the wrist while I had to stay in Azkaban. They will come out of the woodwork, when the news of Harry's death goes public.

When they pop up, no stunners. We are going to kill the lot. I am aware you lost your twin uncles you know. All of us lost Lilly and James. I also lost my fiancé. Marlene McKinnon. Killed dead."

Everyone became silent, as Sirius openly spoke about someone he had loved.

"We were going to get married. It was supposed to be a surprise for everyone. I believe Lord Nott killed her. So, we have Harry – his parents, his innocence, his childhood? What about the Bones family? What about the hundreds of mundanes? Yes, we don't use the word muggle here. And the Goblins too?

No Percy, no leniency this time. No mercy for those fuckers."

Percy nodded. Harry then explained the nature of his research project:

"Your job Percy is to find historical information primarily about the founders. If Salazar Slytherin was truly a nutter, the other three Founders would have never let his lineage continue. No, somebody told a lie at some point. We are going to get to the bottom of it."

Percy sat down and his face lit up, as he considered that this rather simple piece of logic had been overlooked. Yes, it made sense. Why would the other three founders allow extremism to fester in their school system? Surely they could understand complex political issues? He nodded as he realised that this could be his titanic contribution to magical history. He continued:

"It is a sensible proposition, that makes perfect sense. What will I have to do, besides reading?"

"Let us take you through the Portrait modification that we accomplished. You are going to meet Invictus. Let us show you how we manage information. We also don't mind showing you the armor systems and giving you a quick crash course in some of the more advanced magical theory as you work over the holidays. And we would like to show you some of the more advanced devices we have built.

But yes. Welcome to PDFs and the search function."

It was late into the night and Percy had arrived at home, with the biggest smile on his face. Percy had gone wild with the computer and the search function was something he never knew he needed. He found the linkage of Invictus to technology, to be easily one of the most creative things he had ever seen. He had also been given a year's supply of Snickers as an early birthday gift from Sirius, as a joke. Percy did not mind that arrangement one bit. He jauntily strode into the kitchen with a rather pleased look on his face.

"Well, it is very late. Never have I seen your face this bright. Was it worth it?" asked Molly.

"Worth it? You have no idea! I can't speak freely of what I have seen, but I can say…trust Hadrian. Hadrian and Jean are absolutely brilliant at magic! They have the ability to look into situations and connect unrelated ideas, that just make sense! It was bit of a gamble, but it was well worth it. I was given a magically shielded Kindle, I am going to read!"

Percy then accelerated upstairs, with his microgenerator and his device in his hand.

"Well Bill, that was unusual. Those two are a proper riot, aren't they?" commented Molly.

"You have no idea!" Bill laughed, as he released that Harry Potter and Hermione Granger were stringing along everyone. And worse yet, they had Goblin support.

The next morning Harry had brought Remus, Sirius and Lorna to assist with the apparition. Remus was carrying the twins, Harry was carrying Ronald, Lorna was carrying Charlie and Sirius decided to take Percy.

"Alright…going to Peverell Manor in 3..2..1.."

POP.

The group now found themselves in one of the other smaller manufacturing areas, where Harry continuously ran his production lines and his machines. Remus also had a couple of his CNC machines in this area, as the broom manufacture was not done in the main workshop. Harry provided Ronald with his contract.

"Alright folks. Ronald, this is yours. Read it through….sign down here and we can begin. Your mum has a copy, but it is the same as your brothers."

"Quill?" he asked.

"Oh right. We don't use those. Try a fountain tipped pen, legibility of your handwriting matters very little." Ronald took the pen and then tried writing on a notepad. He had never seen standard stationery before, and all the other Weasleys wondered why nobody had bothered to use ruled lines. After he was done, Harry received the document and put it away.

"Alright gentlemen, come over here. We manufacture many products. This is portrait Ink. Seven galleons a bottle. We make about thirty thousand a month. This production line as you can see, has magical bits and muggle bits. This here is a slightly different ink. This is for non-magicals. Twenty thousand a month at fourteen Galleons. Your job will be to clean the sensors like this….. "

At this point, The Weasleys realised that Hadrian made stupid money. He took them on a tour of the smaller machines that did limited scale prototyping.

"This is a CNC machine. Come let us take a look at the broom pieces being manufactured here. All Stormbolt stuff."

The boys looked on in amazement as the machine slowly cut the wood away with precision. Merely the idea that a machine could work so fast, and with such accuracy – now the boys began to realise why the Storm Bolt was so cheap. Fifty handles were being done at a time? Stocking fifty brooms a month was already difficult for the other stores in Diagon Alley.

Harry explained that Fred and George would work with Remus to stain the broom handles and apply tung oil. Ronald would be responsible for opening the plastic pot scrubbers from bulk containers and placing them into the broom thruster. Charlie would test his other brooms by flying them in simulated sessions, while he attempted to catch snitches and dodge bludgers, as he put the brooms through extensive testing. The Weasleys began their work while Percy reported to the main Workshop to work with Invictus.

Harry was only too happy to introduce any number of different cuisines to the Weasleys. Ronald was quite happy to meet Neville again, who was learning magic from Harry. Even Percy had benefited from some of the more advanced Magical theory that Harry had uncovered. Percy was also quite happy to read Lilly's research and to comment on the unique insights.

"Your mother's work is the most brilliant thing I have ever read. Thank you for sharing this with me. If I discover anything new, I will let you know."

"Have fun. Hermione and I have to re-engineer the production lines. We will let you know how it goes."

Percy also found that Hermione's brewing methods and explanations to be crystal clear, as she explained that she was the inventor of the Medi-Spray. She took Percy through heat control, laying out his ingredients beforehand, and memorising his 'recipes', so that all attention was paid on the state of the potion. She also provided cheat sheets, that summarised important heat control shortcuts for cooking off skins and other tough organic material.

Hermione explained that her main lab was at her Manor, and she did her research on her own time. Many days, Harry would spend the day at her place as they worked through building unique Potioneering implements. Percy appreciated how Hermione could answer Snape's essay homework in merely a paragraph. Percy was fairly good at potions and he recognised how automatic stirrers and their custom cauldrons improved the process greatly.

Ronald seemed interested in learning from Neville and Luna, as long as he had company. Sometimes he seemed a little annoyed, but perhaps he had reasoned that it was a small cost to pay. Even his brothers noticed the change. He wanted to be good enough, and he seemed to enjoy working hard. Harry had suspected that he wanted to purchase something important. He began to embrace his independence, and left the bosom of this mother's comfort.

As the days went by, Harry slowly introduced more complex tasks, to the Weasley boys. He did not attempt to overwork them - rather he tried his best to expose them to as much skills as possible. Fred and George had suggested that a "Beater Bat" with a "thruster" at the end, would allow them to hit harder. Harry also had them try shock-absorbent materials, as he tried to mitigate the sudden shocking sensation that bats usually underwent when they collided with a bludger.

Harry realised that if the twins had been Cricket players, they would have been deadly in front of the stumps. They never seemed to miss.

"Gentlemen, this is your idea. Mid October, we go live with the bats. 40/40/10/10 cut. All money from the sale goes directly to your new personal accounts. I will do the paperwork, and get you set up. Deal?"

"Deal!" both twins said, as they had no idea how well their products would perform.

Charlie had tested all of Harry's brooms, as he began to evaluate every characteristic. He worked through several iterations with Harry. He had suggested that several different variations of brooms could be built for specific roles on the quidditch team. Harry in a brilliant stroke of genius, then built an adjustable module that allowed people to finetune their broom performance to certain present patterns. The patterns were made patterns shareable with Hermione's help. This backwards compatible Stormbolt module would retail at 100 galleons at Christmas. Charlie had been offered 80 per cent for his initial idea, and Harry and Hermione decided to take 10 per cent each.

Harry was pleased to tap their ideas. By giving them opportunities and making them comfortable, he was getting several successful side projects that would benefit him. A battleship was an expensive long term project. Hermione and Sirius had agreed to share the funding of the long term project, but Harry wanted to have extra money in case some unforeseen circumstance happened.

One evening while Luna was painting within the manufacturing area, Neville and Ronald presented an idea, that was so ambitious that Harry had spoken to Lorna immediately, to get things started the same night.

"Harry, I watch football now. I like it very much. Maybe we can broadcast Quidditch? Remember those dataslates you are working on? We could let people see big matches on it? Ronald came up with the idea actually, but he had no idea how we could let people see something live. I know about the linked mirrors, as Uncle Remus had mentioned. What do you think?" Neville suggested.

"I think we will have to create a shell company and approach Quidditch Authorities. We will broadcast the matches and give the organisation some of the earnings. Say 25/25/5/5 between all of us? Naturally, this means 40 per cent for the organisational board. Not final, but if we can beat them down we will give you more."

"Don't you want more? Since you have to make the artefacts?" asked Ronald.

"Nope, we are too busy with other things. Some other things are going on, and in time you will understand. You also have no guarantee that I might find a different use for an idea you have suggested. And that will not be something to interfere with your profits. Might be the reason we make something different?" answered Harry as Hermione nodded.

"Nice!" Ronald replied.

As the August days passed, Percy started a scrap board. He began to trace certain Magical events to Mundane history. Percy began to see four particular individuals popping up across many locations throughout the world. He reasoned that the Founders would often apparate to different continents and participate in battles. Sometimes, they spent time fixing communities as they brought water to arid places, healed the sick, protected the weak and pushed for political reforms. He began to suspect that the Founders were well-travelled, and that they had seen much. Percy began to use Google and Invictus to the maximum capability. Invictus would merely send emails and purchase the academic journals, while Percy would use his detective skills. The additional academic reading, and being introduced to referencing, improved Percy's wiring style as he began to mirror the work that consumed.

Percy had suggested that Harry develop some way to store books on his dataslate artefact as the other projects were being discussed. Harry already had an idea - being able to copy textbook pages to a device would allow students to walk to class with little and nothing. If a magical catalogue could be combined into a 'dataslate', perhaps students could read only what they had individually purchased. This would allow book sales to flourish. Harry decided that Percy could benefit from this portfolio, as long as he worked out a deal with the publishers to supply him with the books. Percy was getting fifty per cent of the profits, with the remaining twenty five per cent split between Harry and Hermione.

Charlie based on his experience with inclement weather and the comfort of current Quidditch ' armour', began to suggest new slimmed down shapes that allowed for easy movement. Harry had tested the standard wooden pads and found them lacking. They also became waterlogged in their default state and depended on charms to keep the equipment dry. Harry decided that he would find some type of hydrophobic coating that would allow water to slide off, even without the assistance of magic.

Harry had opted for Graphene enhanced polymer pieces that were shock absorbent. They were very hard and not even the feared bludger could break the material. Between that and the custom non-Newtonian fluid that Hermione had designed, now players were free to move very comfortably, and upon sudden impact the padded material absorbed the shock. As for the face shield, while Harry preferred emitters for his weapons, some spells could still be replicated by standard runic arrays. And in any case, these runic arrays were hidden with her rune reflection system. Hermione then set about modifying a bubblehead charm to hug a player's entire face and keep water droplets out of the way.

This along with a robe redesign got rid of any extra cloth that could cause drag, and Madam Malkin worked with Luna. She designed each piece of clothing where water drops could not get in, by clever use of overlaps. Harry had decided to share this project between Luna and Charlie with a split of 60/20 along with the remaining twenty per cent being split evenly, amongst themselves.

All these innovative products were scheduled for mid-October or early November launches. Harry had finalised the designs and he was hoping that the International market would purchase these innovations. Just keeping up production of the Stormbolt was demanding as the restock requests were steadily climbing. Harry had laughed as August was almost up he had managed to produce eight thousand Stormbolt kits, with the assistance of Fred, George and Ronald. The redesign of the Graphene ink assembly lines allowed them to operate at double their capacity. Now he could stockpile his products and send them out to meet demand.

Harry was beginning to see almost half a million galleons net worth after he paid for his expenses. Harry could have taken the company public, but he decided that he would remain private. He did not want to tip off the public by offering any of his shares for sale. This was something that the Darker houses had done to capture funding for the war, and it would leave them vulnerable to his long term plans.

Shopping for Hogwarts had been no fuss. Lorna had taken all the children to Madam Malkin along with Harry. Madam Malkin was pleased to see that Harry was forging relationships with dependable, good people. Harry had no problem explaining that he was the manufacturer of the Stormbolt, and the Weasleys were working to help him meet the demand. Neville and Luna were also friends. Now that disposable income was available, everyone took nothing but the best as they purchased all new items for school. Fred, George had also chosen to get new wands. Lorna had helped with selecting potioneering reagents and books. Remus suggested secondary book titles that were useful. Harry and Hermione had finally insisted that they purchase quality footwear, and all of them were rocking either Nike, Adidas or Puma footwear, that was supportive and comfortable.

Molly arrived home to find that Hogwarts purchases which were sometimes stressful, had already been done. Her children along with Neville and Luna would be arriving at Hogwarts as easily the wealthiest. For her children, spending 1000 galleons each on school supplies was considered small money. Brand new robes, trunks, wands, exercise wear and all the other things – the entire family were lacking for nothing.

Molly began to suspect that there was more to the support she had received, and while nothing was illegal and malicious, there were greater plans at work. However, Percy was straight as a needle and he loved to play by the rules. And if he believed that they were the right people, perhaps she should not suspect anything.

It was the 27th of August and all the technical issues had been sorted. Remus began designing the new pieces for the new set of products, and Harry began to utilise his Protego shielding to not only support concrete but to hold molten steel and plastics as a programmable mould. Now Harry could make as many custom pieces as he desired by merely tweaking some runes. He could even forge as many titanium plates as he desired for his armour. Hermione had managed to develop a magical aesthetic, that made the pain of regrowing bones painless. This second potion began bringing in large sums of money. While it was not as large as the Medi-Spray, 90,000 bezants a month was no joke. A trip to France and a slightly different production line had to be set up again. The French were pleased, and the three musketeers as Harry joked - Gris, Otto and Antonio had gotten substantial wage increases as the I.C.W captured a lot of money.

Harry and Hermione's new friends were ready for school. Time to spring the trap.