Beta: None, as AriArlene is busy with classes.
Original Release Date: 12/04/15
Disclaimer: I do not own anything in the canon Harry Potter universe or any other universe.
Chapter Thirty Eight – The Many Meetings
Sifting through the mail that the Marauders Emporium had gathered, Sirius stops mid-yawn as the name of Monsieur Delacour followed by the "French Ministry – Head of the Department of Commerce" on the line below. Opening the letter, Sirius reads it before silently handing it to Amelia who had adopted a look of concern on her face.
Finishing the letter, Amelia hands it back to Sirius and asks, "What's your concern?"
"I didn't know that he was a French Ministry official when he stepped into the store" answers Sirius, face pale.
"Sirius, just speak with him like you would anyone else. You never know what he would like to talk about" states Amelia.
Quickly reflecting on his wife's words, Sirius smiles and says, "Thank you", before grabbing the pencil added at the bottom of the letter and disappears with barely a trace.
Arriving in a conference styled room with a long, rectangular, and wooden table, Sirius looks around at the five well dressed individuals, eyes widening.
"Please take a seat, Mr. Black" states the gentlemen in the middle of the five individuals
Taking a seat and sitting with his back straight in the wooden chair, Sirius waits as the person on his far left sets up a quill which quickly begins scrawling across the roll of parchment on the table.
"Now Mr. Black do you understand why you have been asked here today?" asks the man in the middle.
"I understood it as a meeting between myself, Mr. Lupin, who is currently unavailable at this time, and the French Ministry of Magic" answers Sirius slightly nervously.
The man in the middle opens his mouth before the only recognizable individual in the room, Monsieur Delacour, interrupts, "What Pierre is getting at is we would like to harness the equipment that you and Mr. Lupin have, and use them here in the French Ministry of Magic."
Smiling, Sirius replies, "I see. We would be glad to assist in any way possible. Do you mind me asking what product(s) you are looking at using?"
"We would like to use some of the cameras for a broadcast monthly, if not more often, to the French witches and wizards" answers the man on the far right of Sirius, the left of Monsieur Delacour.
Taken back, Sirius smiles and remarks, "That is an interesting idea. Our system should definitely be able to do that. The only potential problem I see is we would need to build a French datacenter to handle the traffic, but we should have enough servers to handle a capacity of say, ten thousand? Would that be enough, or would you need more capacity?"
"Ten thousand households?! That should surely be enough for now" exclaims Pierre.
Shaking his head, Sirius states, "Not ten thousand households, but ten thousand devices simultaneously connected, sending and receiving any kind of content."
"Still, that is quite a lot. But where and how do you propose setting up this 'datacenter'?" inquiries Monsieur Delacour.
Pausing briefly to collect his thoughts, Sirius answers, "Remus and I have established our one UK datacenter underground, and so far we haven't received any issues. I think if we could, buy a large tract of land, for potential expansion of the datacenter, and be able to build a store above ground, we could use that for as a way to get our products that the consumers would need to view the proposed French broadcast feed, in addition to any other products we sell. We would be glad to pay for the land up front."
"But are you willing to pay a small tax for each item you sell?" inquiries a lady sitting between Pierre and the obvious session recorder.
"Yes, we are. But do you mind me asking how much of a tax you are proposing?"
Clearing her throat, the lady answers, "A modest three percent."
"We can agree to that" states Sirius, smiling.
"Great!" exclaims Monsieur Delacour, clapping his hands together with a smile on his face.
"So Mr. Black, when would you be able to begin this datacenter and store?" asks Pierre.
Pausing for multiple seconds, Sirius answers slowly at first, "We're understaffed currently, so the actual store part would have to be opened at a later time, but the datacenter can begin I'd say in two days' time, as tomorrow I watch my son board the train to Hogwarts, and Mr. Lupin also returns to Hogwarts tomorrow as well. But with a thought, after the datacenter is built and finished, alongside a two story store, I believe I could hold some interviews and get the store staffed with some local witches and wizards."
"How long would it take to do just the datacenter portion?" inquiries Pierre, the faint scratching of the quill barely audible.
"I would hazard a guess at about a week."
Eyebrows furrowing, Pierre asks, "Why such a lengthy period of time?"
"A good portion of time is to install a French only node in our network so that only wizarding citizens in France can access your broadcast feed. Essentially it's the building of the facility, the placement of servers and connection nodes, testing of the network, and to make certain everything is performing within our standards" answers Sirius.
"Do you mind if I ask what your standards are for performance?" inquiries Monsieur Delacour.
"Of course. For every one hundred connections, only one connection can be lost. For sending or receiving content to outside of the home server, the Omni Connect, ninety nine percent of the connection requests must be started within ten seconds, and finished within ninety seconds, unless the customer is viewing a live video stream, in which content has up to twenty seconds to begin streaming to their device. That's the gist of our network requirements" answers Sirius, smiling.
Whistling in surprise, Monsieur Delacour replies, "Those are very high standards. And I know that I'm quite happy with your standards and the level of connection that my family and I have had while using our devices."
"How about your hiring requirements? Such as only accepting Purebloods?" asks the only lady in the room.
"Monique!" exclaims the others, horrified.
Smiling, Sirius answers without missing a beat, "Remus and I pride ourselves in hiring applicants who are friendly, competent, and have a drive to work. We don't care if they are Pureblood or not. In fact, Remus is part Werewolf, but he takes Wolfsbane potion every full moon."
Exchanging looks, Monsieur Delacour answers with a smile on his face, "We approve wholeheartedly."
Another hour later, Sirius exits the mysterious room and makes his way out of the French Ministry of Magic, a signed contract to begin building a French datacenter and store, alongside property lines and other documents regarding where to begin the construction. Apparating and arriving home, Sirius finishes a few things such as attempting to tame his hair before rushing off to the store to run it for the day.
Opening the door, Sirius hears, "Glad to see you've made it back from your meeting."
Looking to the counter where a smiling Remus stands while a dozen or more customers look over the shelves, selecting items and putting them into the wooden baskets to help carry the purchases, Sirius smiles. Sirius helps Remus check the customers out, helping keep the line moving and both parents and students happier as another portion of their shopping goes quite well. As the amount of people in the store drops to just a handful, Sirius comments as he leans up against the back of the counter, "The French Ministry wants us to open up a datacenter for French wizarding citizens, in addition to opening a store right above it."
Taken aback, Remus asks, "And what did you say?"
"I agreed to do so. A three percent tax on everything we sell in France, but that shouldn't hurt us."
"Sirius…who's going to staff the new store when we are already stretched thin enough as is?" asks Remus tiredly.
"I said we'd hold some interviews for some staff, and I didn't give a stated date for the store portion to open."
"…You do remember that I'm going back to Hogwarts to teach, correct?" asks Remus.
"You are?! I thought you were just going to sit on the couch and conduct classes remotely" answers Sirius sarcastically with a smirk on his face.
Shaking his head Remus replies, "But that does bring up an idea. We can-"
"Record my interview with each candidate and let you have a say in the matter? Of course we make a list of questions we'd both like to ask of the candidates" interrupts Sirius with a smile.
"For once you are thinking logically. Yes, we should do that, and perhaps even have Amelia be a third party and take a look over the questions" comments Remus, a smile creeping across his face.
The next day, Sirius, Remus, and Amelia escort Susan and Harry to Platform 9 ¾, and onto the train before Remus states with a smile, "I'll see you two later for dinner", before taking a step back to allow Amelia and Sirius a chance with Harry and Susan.
"Harry, just because Remus is at Hogwarts doesn't mean you can get off free for pranks. But feel free to do some minor pranks in conjunction with Peeves" reminds Sirius, giving Harry a wink. Turning to Susan, Sirius says with a smile, "Susan, just be as good as you've been, especially as you don't get into the trouble that Harry, Neville, Fred, and George get into."
Giving Susan a hug, Amelia smiles and adds, "Be good, study hard, and if something goes amiss, seek Remus first, then myself."
"Harry…don't go running into situations such as the one with the Chamber of Secrets without alerting one of the three of us first. And if you do, at least take Remus with you" states Amelia looking at Harry.
"I will" answers Harry.
Getting on the train, Harry and Susan part ways, heading to their respective group of friends. Sitting down across from Neville and Hermione, Harry comments, "So Sirius thinks we need to help George and Fred to do some more pranking, and include Peeves."
"Why would you need to do such a thing?" asks Hermione curiously.
Shrugging his shoulders, "Hmm, I suppose to have a bit of fun. To keep my mind occupied on how to plan things out strategically."
"Why don't you make up your own game, write the rules, and how everything works instead?" offers Hermione.
Pausing to think about it, Harry replies, "I like it. It would be interesting to do such a thing. Then maybe it could be tested using the Marauding Network. I'll ask Remus."
Grabbing his Omni Play, Harry types out his message, muttering faintly, "…needs handwriting recognition…".
"Do you all mind if we join you?" comes a familiar female voice.
Looking up, Neville smiles and answers, "Certainly."
Entering the compartment and closing the door behind them, Ginny and Luna take a seat on Harry's side, with a silent Ron taking a seat beside Neville and beside the door. As the sights of trees rush past the windows, Harry pipes up, "It looks like Sirius and Remus are working on a French network. Remus said if I come up with my own game, that he'd program it in and allow people from both the UK and France to try it out and give feedback."
"You're making your own game?" asks Ron, eyes bright with interest.
"I'm thinking about it" replies Harry.
"I'd like to help" remarks Ron.
Changing seats, Harry and Ron sit closest to the door to the compartment and begin batting ideas back and forth, writing down the ideas and possible rules, everything that they might need and/or want when creating the game. Getting a pile of sweets and a few healthier items for Hermione, the compartment is full of energy until the uncharacteristic slowing of the train shudders them all from their conversations.
"Surely we haven't arrived, have we?" asks Hermione as she looks out the dark window.
Checking his watch, Harry shakes his head and answers, "No, we should have another hour."
A minute or so later the reason behind the stop remains a mystery as lights begin flickering out down the hallway before a bone-chilling coldness sweeps into the compartment. A cloaked figure comes into view, causing Harry to jump to his feet and exclaim, "EXPECTO PATRONUM!"
As a wispy vapor appears from the tip of his wand, Harry scrunches his eyes and shouts once more despite the ever increasing screaming in his head, "EXPECTO PATRONUM!", with a silvery stag erupting from his wand, pushing the three Dementors back into the hallway where a pair of silvery foxes slams into the Dementors and chases them down the hallway.
"Good job Harry-" begins George before Harry falls to the floor, white as a sheet.
"Harry" shouts Fred, rushing over, pulling out a bar of chocolate from an outer pocket of his robes.
"...ry…rry….arry…..Harry!" comes George's voice as Harry's eyes flutter open.
"You know you have the most beautiful green eyes, Harry" remarks Fred chuckling.
"That's what I hear, but I definitely wasn't expecting it from you" jests Harry as he pushes himself to a sitting position.
"Eat this" states George as Fred breaks off a large portion of the chocolate and hands it to Harry, before breaking off other chunks of chocolate for the rest of the compartment.
"Now brother of mine, shall we go see if anyone else might need our assistance?" inquiries Fred looking at George.
"I think we should" replies George as he takes the lead out of the compartment and down the hallway towards other compartments.
"You should let someone know that you passed out, Harry" remarks Neville.
"You're probably right. I'll let Remus know" states Harry before initiating a video call as the train lurches forward.
Roughly an hour and a half later, the train slows and comes to a complete stop outside of the brightly lit Hogsmeade. Exiting, the six make their way to the carriages and finally into the Great Hall where Luna departs and joins the Ravenclaw table.
Achieving the first year sorting, Dumbledore rises to the lectern and raises his hands for quiet before announcing, "Welcome back students and an extra special welcome to our newest students. As you might have noticed, Hogwarts is playing host to many Dementors by order of the Ministry of Magic. They have been ordered to remain outside of the grounds and shouldn't affect you if you don't get too close. With that note, all students are to not venture within seventy five meters of the boundaries of the grounds, which are conveniently marked with an orange line. When students visit Hogsmeade, they will be escorted through safely, but remain in groups. I would also like to recognize the valiant efforts of Messrs Fred and George Weasley, alongside Mr. Potter for their Patronus Charms that chased multiple Dementors away from fellow students. Finally, a welcome back to Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Remus Lupin, of which I figure had a hand in training our brave young Gryffindors. Now, eat!"
Food appears on the platters and the students tuck in, conversing as if nothing had happened on the train ride. As the students finish the main meal, the platters clear themselves of food, filling themselves with various desserts, many of which contain chocolate in some fashion. Beginning the stampede out of the Great Hall, and around the prefects gathering the first years, the students make their way to their dormities
"Harry, I'd like a few minutes with you" calls out Remus as he makes his way through the body of students.
"Yes?" answers Harry.
"Follow me, please."
Making their way out of the crowded Great Hall, Remus leads Harry into an unused classroom and asks, "How are you feeling?"
"Fine."
"Harry, while I'll never be your father, I do know when something is amiss, and I know you aren't saying everything. Is there something on your mind that you'd like to speak to me about, not as a professor, but as someone who cares."
Pausing Harry nods his head before beginning quietly, "I-I heard a woman screaming after casting my Patronus. I-I'm not certain what to think about it."
Placing a hand on Harry's shoulder, Remus begins quietly, "While I haven't a solid idea what it is, I have a guess that you might have heard your mother's voice as she opposed Voldemort."
"Would the Dementors be the cause of it?" asks Harry.
"I would think so, at least for now. But don't worry too much about them, they shouldn't get anywhere near you. Now, changing topics, please don't venture out after curfew. All staff now have badges that tell the cameras to not record when they are nearby, but students will still trip the system. If you have any more items that you would like to talk to me about, feel free to get ahold of me any time. Now, let me get you to back to Gryffindor Tower so you aren't caught by Snape after hours" states Remus, smiling.
Author note: Thank you all for reading! :D So if anyone has noticed, I try to change the order between Harry and Susan's names when they are both doing something, same thing with Fred and George, etc, to show that they are equal and to not give any special preference/favoritism to either party. :)
I couldn't find Fred or George's Patronus, so I made one up for them. The public document will hopefully become available in a chapter release closer to Christmas. Work is keeping me REALLY busy.