Ch. 7
Monday 25 May 1998
Monday morning, Harry woke to Teddy whimpering in his Moses Basket at the end of Harry's bed. Harry grabbed his glasses and got up to change and feed him. When Teddy saw Harry, he smiled. "I see you're feeling much better today." Harry whispered so he didn't wake Hermione. Having a sick child the first night your girlfriend spends the night in your room is a surefire way to dampen the mood. As much as he loved Teddy, he wanted his nights back. "Can we please let you sleep in your nursery tonight little sprog? I really want to sleep alone with your Aunt Hermione tonight. Please."
"Are you actually whining to Ted about his sleeping arrangements?" Hermione asked sternly as she padded across to the seating area.
"No. I'm asking. There's a difference." Harry corrected hastily, thinking Mione was mad. When she started laughing, he grinned.
"You are so cute my love." She leaned over the divan to give him a kiss. When Harry turned Ted on his shoulder for a burp, Teddy grabbed a bunch of Hermione's hair. "Yes. You are cute too little one." She smiled as she untangled his little hands.
HP
When they were done with breakfast, three of them headed off to Longbottom Estate for their lessons. When Harry floo'd in, he fell on his face. As he got up, he saw the very formal woman that was Nev's Gran standing in front of him.
"Hello Lady Longbottom." He intoned as he took her hand and kissed it.
"Hello, Mr. Potter." She replied just as formally. She then looked at Sirius. "You've started his training in etiquette, I see. Good for you Lord Black." She then gave them all a warm smile. "Welcome to Longbottom Estate." She said as she led them to the sitting room. "While we are here, please feel free to address me by my Christian name."
Harry was a little shocked at this and looked at Nev. All he got was a bewildered look in response. "Thank you, Augusta" Harry replied as they all took seats.
"Now, I understand from Sirius that you, Harry and Hermione, have not gotten the training in how our political system works, is that right?" She began.
"Yes ma'am. I didn't know I was part of a Noble and Ancient House until a few weeks ago." Harry smiled sheepishly.
"And you are a first-generation witch, right?"
"Yes ma'am." Hermione looked confused. "Most call me 'muggle born'." She added.
"I hate that term. It sounds derogatory." Augusta declared.
"That's an interesting idea." Harry said. "The term 'first-generation' turns the idea into a positive rather than a negative."
"Yes Harry." Augusta smiled. She pulled out a book from a bookcase and sat down, handing it to Harry. "Here is a list of what are called the Sacred 28. They are the families with the 'purest' blood in Britain. At the beginnings of the Ministry in 1707, there were 32 Pureblood families that had seats on Wizengamot. In the 1930's, they kicked some off because they were not 'pure' enough. In other words, they thought because these families didn't share their beliefs about muggles, they were impure. Monty just barely held onto his seat during this time but he was not included in the "Sacred 28". You'll notice that your friend Ron's family is in there. They are not on Wizengamot now. Their seat was taken in a quidditch match bet between the Malfoys and Weasleys 300 years ago." Augusta had to stop because Harry, Hermione and Neville started laughing like hyenas.
"Please tell me it was a Cannon's match." Harry said through his laughter.
"I'm unsure. I can check the archives tomorrow." Augusta returned a little bewildered.
"That would be brilliant." Harry calmed down. "I'll have to tell the twins."
"Now." She continued sternly. "Originally, these families had 2 votes apiece and thirteen heads of departments on Wizengamot. So they originally had 75 votes. Now, the Sacred 28 plus the Potters hold 2 votes apiece. Of the other seats, 27 are made up of department heads, and 15 are award nominees." She wrote in the air all the names of the Sacred 28 and began crossing some out. "These crossed out seats are now empty because they are Death Eaters. They have been taken away permanently. That was decided this week."
Harry began crossing out names with his wand. "Then all these families won't have seats." He sat down.
"Yes. If they're convicted." Augusta confirmed. "Now, Harry, your seat has been empty for 16 years and was overseen by Albus, so it is rightfully yours now. I would suggest you wait to take it up until you actually feel you are ready."
"Not now then." He smirked at Hermione and Neville.
"Yes. Of course." She smiled indulgently at James' son. Looking at Hermione, she noticed she was writing but not on parchment or with ink. "What are you writing on Hermione?" She was curious because it looked so much more efficient.
"It's muggle paper and pen." She smiled as she handed it over for the older lady to look at. She immediately began writing.
"This is so wonderful." Lady Longbottom enthused. "It's so much easier to use. Can you get me some? It'd be much better than parchment."
"Of course." Hermione smiled wondering if she could introduce paper and pen to school this year.
"Now, as you can tell, the Sacred 28 list is not complete. For instance, the Lovegood's are purebloods, so are the Boots. I was going to suggest this afternoon that after a seat is taken that it be given to another, pureblood or not, that has served society in some way. My first appointment was going to be Minerva McGonagall. She's a half-blood that has done great things for this society."
At this, everyone was nodding. "I'll second that."
"Thank you, Sirius. I've been talking with a lot of families and I think it will pass."
They then went on to discuss names of possible replacements for another hour or two. Toward the end, Augusta asked. "Sirius are you going to bring Harry to watch the proceedings today?"
"I was thinking of it." He looked at Harry who nodded. He needed to learn as much as he could about the politics of Wizengamot if he was ever going to do anything there. "I guess so. Nev, you going?" Sirius asked.
"Yeah. I s'ppose." He grumbled.
Everyone adjourned and the small family floo'd back to the Madhouse for lunch.
HP
They floo'd into the house and Harry heard a song he recognised but couldn't put a name to. "Who is this?" he asked as he followed the music to the drawing room where Dora was dancing with Teddy in her arms. Teddy was just giggling.
"You don't know who this is?" Sirius asked incredulously. At the shake of Harry's head, he said. "It's the greatest band ever besides Led Zeppelin—the Beatles." He took Hermione in his arms and started dancing to All You Need Is Love.
Hermione started laughing but Harry noticed that she followed Sirius' lead. He started to wonder if he needed to get dance lessons; it seemed Hermione liked to dance and if she does, he needed to learn. He wanted to be able to do things Hermione liked to do. But the only experience he had with dancing was the Yule Ball—not his finest day. Maybe Emma could help.
All this was going through his mind as they danced and he sat there watching. Soon Dobby popped in and announced lunch. As they sat down, Sirius asked the young people, "So what do you think of the lessons with Augusta?"
"It was interesting. I've heard of the Sacred 28 but never understood how many pureblood families there are. It's no wonder the system is so rigged against non-purebloods." Hermione offered. "I think if you add more diverse views, you can nip this bigotry stuff in the bud now."
"Yeah. I like the idea of bringing in people that have done something for society." Harry added. "I just hope they let mug—first-generation families in."
"One thing you have to understand about Wizengamot is they never meet before 1.30—and are home by 6. They do not believe in getting up early or staying late. However, they do believe in being on time." Sirius got up from the table. "Let's go." They got up, said goodbye to Dora and Teddy and left.
When they arrived at the Ministry, they ran into Nev on their way to the lifts. "Hey Nev." Hermione said as they rode it to the proper floor.
"Hey Hermione." He smiled at them both.
"Now Wizengamot usually meet in a smaller chamber on Level 2 because not every member shows up every day. However, we have been meeting in our large chamber on level 10 since the war ended because everyone and their nephew twice removed wants to come." Lady Longbottom explained as they got off the lifts to take the stairs. "Boys, everyone is going to stare. You are new entities and you're both famous, so don't be surprised."
They came to a pair of heavy, deep red English Oak doors that looked to Harry to be a thousand years old. They had solid brass rings as door pulls instead of normal door knobs. This should have clued Harry into what the inside of the room would be like.
They walked into a rectangular room with heavy wood paneling on the walls. The entrance to the room led down an aisle with stadium seating, 5 rows each on the long sides of the rectangle. At the end of the aisle was an ornate, and clearly very old, oak table with two ornate, throne-like seats. To the side of that was a smaller desk, clearly for the Wizengamot scribe. Both Kingsley and Griselda Marchbanks, the Chief Witch, were seated at the table.
As they came in, Sirius went to the left top bench to the middle seat with Harry and Hermione following. The Longbottoms went to the right to a similar position.
Sirius leaned over to Harry (who was seated next to him) and Hermione, who was on his right and said. "You're seated in my Heir and Spare seats. Next to you Hermione is the Potter seat." He grinned. "James and I had our seats moved together so all four of us could sit together and talk. We'd only ever attend if both our fathers were not attending."
"You really didn't take this seriously did you?" Hermione asked.
"Nope. Not in the least." he grinned as people began filling the seats around them. Augusta was right. They were being stared at and it took everything he had for Harry not to slip down in his seat. He looked over at Neville who looked like a deer in headlamps at all the attention. Eventually, as Nev began to calm down, he looked over at Harry and they grinned at each other. It was then that Harry decided that he wasn't going to be bothered by the stares. He took Hermione's left hand and rubbed his thumb over her fingers, thinking of how to get a ring on there as soon as possible.
He was surprised to see so many of his classmates sitting next to their fathers: Hannah Abbott, Susan Bones, Millicent Bulstrode, Daphne Greengrass, and Ernie MacMillan were the only ones he could name but he recognised several more.
"Augusta mentioned something this morning about Alliances, Pads, are we going to be building some?" The thoughtful young man asked.
"Yes. Soon. I want to talk more with her first though. I'm still getting my footing back as well. While being in on the Death Eater deliberations has helped, I want to get Augusta's advice first. Merlin, I wish Frank or James were here."
The session got underway then with Kingsley slamming the gavel down. It was the usual bureaucracy that happens in forums like this. They settled on a schedule for the next two weeks of trials of Death Eaters. They appointed a few temporary Heads of Departments. They even discussed the awarding of some high honors to those who fought in the Battle of Hogwarts.
Harry felt as though he had to say something but decided to check with Sirius first. "Pads, I need to speak up on this. How do I go about this?"
Sirius smirked. As soon as this topic was brought up, he knew Harry'd want to speak. "I'll help." Harry looked at him gratefully. Sirius stood at the next break in the debate. "Chief Witch Marchbanks, my heir would like to address this body." He smiled at her.
"Of course. The Chief Witch recognises the heir to Houses Black and Potter, Mr. Harry Potter." She smiled indulgently at him as he began to feel sick.
As he stood, he felt his legs trying to give way. I can do this. I faced Voldemort and Dan, this should be easy. He thought. He took a deep breath and began. "Witches and Warlocks, while deciding to honor both the living and dead is a noble idea, I feel that, being as most of you weren't there or were on the wrong side, this whole body has no right to decide who deserves the honors bestowed. It is only those that were there, that saw the carnage, who had to visit death on others, who had to move their dead friends into the Great Hall in the reprieve Tom gave our side, that should be deciding who gets what award." The hall erupted in shouting, He let the Chief Witch and Kings get control, then continued as though he hadn't been stopped by children fighting. His gaze took on a decidedly stubborn look to it. He heard Hermione groan and smiled to himself. The look she had hated for 7 years, that she called his 'I'm done thinking and I'm just going to do it' face, was on full force. "As I grew up knowing nothing of this world, I have no idea what awards there are. However," He got a gleam of mischief that Sirius groaned at (James used it all too often) in his eyes. "I believe if you truly want to honor these men and women, you could form a small band of the combatants from the Battle who decide these things. I offer Neville Longbottom as the leader of this committee." He paused to unearthly silence, so everyone could hear Nev's almost silent groan. Harry looked at him to see Nev glaring back. At this point, he let a feral grin out to play. "He not only stood up to Voldemort when everyone else was unwilling or too afraid but fought with unparalleled valor that night. I feel that he deserves the responsibility of deciding these awards, along with others who fought." He sat down.
There was dead silence. Then, a man whom Harry thought was Mr. Greengrass, stood up. "I concur with the reasoning behind Mr. Potter's request. However, I would suggest that some from this august body be included in this committee to give some official sanction to these awards. I also believe that those included from this body have no ties to V-V-Voldemort's side."
Chief Marchbanks looked to Harry. "Do you have a problem with this Mr. Potter?"
He stood up. "I believe this to be an excellent idea. As my girlfriend has told me how honest and openminded his daughter Daphne is, I nominate Mr. Greengrass as the first of these members." He smiled his thanks to Mr. Greengrass.
So they began the back and forth of nominating Wizengamot members to this committee. They decided on a 10-member committee with an extra if they needed a tie breaker. Seven would be combatants to be determined by Neville. Four would be Wizengamot members. They voted in MacMillan, Slughorn (Harry grimaced at the inclusion of Horace), Greengrass, and Abbott. Finally, they had the committee organised and they moved on to other business.
It was then that Lady Longbottom brought up the ideas they had discussed that morning. When what Harry had begun thinking of as the Death Eater contingent got ahold of it, they were furious.
Avery's proxy, since he was in jail, started off with "You can't let mudbloods into Wizengamot." That stirred all sorts of anger at the proxy and those who took the death eater side.
At a lull in the conversation, Neville stood shakily. "I understand that everyone is scared about how things are changing so fast for the purebloods in our society. However, the truth is that if we keep along this path, it will lead to another Dark Lord. I really don't want to have to fight another war. If we include both half-bloods and first-generation families in this body, we won't be as insular as we have been and there will be less division in our world." He took a breath. "Look, just because you're a pureblood doesn't mean you're inherently smarter than a first-generation witch. The smartest witch I will ever meet is a first-generation witch. She's sitting in this body as we speak. She is the top student at Hogwarts and her parents are muggles." At the yell of "Who?" Neville looked over at Hermione. Harry put his arm around her and smiled down at her. "Her name's Hermione Granger and she's sitting with her boyfriend Harry Potter. She also fought beside us at Hogwarts." Neville pointed to them.
"Lord Black, how dare you bring a mudblood to our session?" The Carrow proxy shouted.
Harry was about to stand up and defend his love when she reached over and kissed his check. "Please no Harry."
They didn't see it but Sirius shot to his feet. "HOW DARE YOU INSULT THE WOMAN WHO SAVED MY LIFE!" He bellowed as he started to leave his seat. Harry could feel the anger roiling off him as he tried to crawl over Harry and Hermione.
Harry stood up and grabbed his Godfather's shoulder, fully aware that Sirius was going to pummel the fool who said that because he felt the same way, and stopped him from moving. "Padfoot, I just got you back, please don't do anything they could throw you in Azkaban for." He said soothingly. That was as good as cold water being thrown at his face as Sirius looked at those pleading eyes and took a breath to gain control. He nodded at Harry, glad to have someone that cared about him.
He stood at his seat. "It is that kind of bigotry that caused both Grindelwald and Voldemort. We need a change and Lady Longbottom's idea is one both the Houses of Black and Potter support wholeheartedly."
"As do I." Said Lord Abbott.
"As do I."
"As do I"
Chief Marchbanks held up her hand at this. "We will take an official vote."
It passed by a wide margin.
HP
After the session, the three met up with Nev and Augusta. Nev just glared at Harry. "You're dead, mate." He growled.
"What'd I do?" Harry looked at Nev innocently as they walked to the stairs.
"I don't need this bloody committee! They're gonna walk all over me." Nev groaned. Harry put his hand on Nev's shoulder.
"No they won't. You can do this Nev. I know you can." He said as they got on the lift.
Augusta looked at Harry. "I did not realise you were such a natural at getting your own way young man." She complimented.
"I knew all along." Hermione put in. When Augusta and Sirius gave her a skeptical look, she simply replied, "When he can talk you in to going after Voldemort in first year, saving Sirius third year, going to the DOM fifth year and running off to save the Wizarding world seventh year, you just get used to him getting his own way." Hermione laughed at the incredulous look on Augusta's face.
"You'll have to tell me some of these stories." She shook her head as they got to the fireplaces. "We'll pick Nev up at 8.00 tomorrow." Sirius said as he floo'd out.
"Bye Nev, Augusta." Harry spun out with Hermione.
When they got home, everyone but Teddy was exhausted. He was on the floor playing with his gym and giggling when they came into the drawing room. Dora was just sitting there with her eyes closed.
Harry leaned down to pick up his godson and laid down on the rug. Then he put Teddy on his stomach and they talked and played in their own world until it was time for dinner.
As they walked into the kitchen, Hermione said, "You two were in your own world for the whole time we were in the drawing room."
"Yeah. I needed to unwind and for some unknown reason playing with Teddy does that for me." he smiled his lopsided smile she loved so much.
HP
That night Teddy slept in his nursery. Of course, Harry still fed him and got him ready for bed but he stayed in his own cot. This meant that Harry and Hermione had their room to themselves.
They got into pajamas and sat outside on their balcony through the French doors in their room. Harry sat down in a lounge chair and pulled Mione to sit down with him. Hermione tucked into Harry's arms as they both relaxed. "This is the first time we've been in this room alone since you moved your stuff in." Harry said as he rested his head on the chair.
"Yeah. It's sort of nice to just sit out here and not worry about Teddy." She smiled.
"That doesn't mean I'm not worried about him; just that my mind is more on you than him." He smiled into her hair. He took a deep breath and inhaled the vanilla scent that he only associated with her. "I love you Mione." He said softly.
"I love you too my Harry." She smiled as she cuddled even deeper into him. "I can't believe the war is over, we're together, most of our friends have survived, we're now living with Sirius right next to my parents and we get to help rebuild the world."
"Yeah. I can't wait to see how Nev handles this Awards Committee." He chuckled softly.
"Was that a spur of the moment decision? The committee with Nev at the head?"
"The committee idea was because I didn't want any Death Eater families deciding these things. Nev, well that was just a way of helping him spread his wings." He chuckled evilly.
"Did you see the look he gave you?" She looked up into his face as he smirked down at her. "You did. Didn't you? Why?"
"I don't want him crawling back into his shell. I like the new Nev."
She laughed. "You're mean." They fell into silence and finally fell asleep in each other's arms. A little while later, Sirius came in to check on them, like he had done every night since the battle; he chuckled and levitated both of them inside onto the bed where they instinctively cuddled together. "Goodnight Prongslet." He whispered as he kissed his godson on the forehead. "Goodnight Mrs. Prongslet"
"G'night Padfoot." She mumbled as he smiled on the way out.
Tuesday 26 May 1998
The next morning, Hermione woke up not in the same place she'd fallen asleep. For some unknown reason, this brought all her senses to alert. She turned over as quietly as she could, you never knew who was out there, and grabbed her wand. As she woke up enough for her frontal cortex to start reasoning, she slowly realised that they must have fallen asleep outside and someone moved them in. However, to be sure, she slowly opened her eyes and saw that yes, she was in their bedroom and nothing was amiss. She sighed as her heart rate slowed and she got up for the day.
After her shower, she went down to the kitchen where Harry was cooking breakfast. Again, he was talking to Teddy as he cooked. Hermione just stood there in the door watching as Harry told Teddy about what he and Uncle Nev were going to do today.
With Harry and Nev out of the house, she thought she would invite Luna over to work on her Runes project.
"So, when are you going to Gringotts today?" She asked as Harry jumped for his wand and swiveled around. Teddy gurgled with laughter.
"Oh. It's just you." He sighed as he put down his wand and looked at his godson. "You think that's funny, do you?" He asked as he tickled the little man. Teddy just continued laughing. Hermione laughed as well. As Harry went back to work, he replied. "I think about 8 but I'm not sure."
"Okay." She left the room and went to floocall Luna to see if she wanted to come over to work on the Runes project. She was very excited to help. Runes and Charms were her favorite subjects and she hadn't been challenged at all this last year. A good problem was just what she needed.
"Hey kids, enjoy falling asleep on the balcony last night?" Sirius grinned and wiggled his eyebrows teasingly as he sat down at the table.
"Yes, we did." Harry replied nonchalantly, even though his cheeks were burning.
"Was that you who brought us in?" Hermione inquired.
"Yes. I didn't think you'd want to wake up like that."
"Thanks. You were right. That would've hurt." She smiled at who she was rapidly thinking of as Uncle Pads.
"Then he came in and told me all about it." Dora continued as she sat with Teddy and let him nurse while she ate. "He was lucky I was up changing Teddy at the time or I would've hexed him to little itty bits."
"You wouldn't do that to your favorite cousin?" Sirius teased.
"If you woke me? Of course I would. The only man allowed to wake me is this little one." Dora smiled as Teddy just kept on eating.
"Will any of you be home for lunch today?" Dobby asked from his seat.
"Har-bear and I won't." Sirius contributed.
"Luna and I will." Hermione added.
"I won't be. Mum's taking Teddy so I can have lunch with a friend." Dora replied.
"Thank yous sirs and ma'ams." Dobby left his chair, snapped his fingers and the table cleared itself.
"We've got to go." Sirius got up, gave Ted, Dora and Hermione kisses.
goodbye and waited for Harry, who did the same, only he whispered "I love you" to Ted and Hermione as he left.
"I understand you are going to work on your project today?" Dora asked Hermione as the men left.
"Yeah. Luna's coming over in a few minutes and we have to head to Flourish and Blott's for some texts we need. Then we'll be back. We're also going to take a phone I've already put a few Rune sequences on to see how well it holds up in a magically infused area."
Dora just shook her head. "Okay. I'll be interested to have one when you get it working. You know, I have a friend in the Patents Office that could help you make money from this when you've finished."
"Maybe. I might try to help a few friends at Hogwarts then do something with the Patent Office."
"You mean you want to hook the younger generation a bit, then ask for money. Smart thinking." She laughed as she got up to get Teddy ready to leave. They both heard the floochime as they walked out of the kitchen.
"Hey Luna." Hermione greeted as she went into the sitting room and gave her friend a hug.
HP
The two men, dressed in their finest robes and looking as aristocratic as they could pull off—which was pretty well done, floo'd to Longbottom Estate to pick up an equally well-dressed Neville. Then all three floo'd to Gringotts. A few minutes later they were shown into the same office as before.
There, Trainee Swordback and Master Tonks were waiting for the trio. "Hello Ted. Hello Trainee Swordback. How are you doing today?" Sirius asked as he shook Ted's hand and bowed to Swordback. Both young men followed suit.
"I'm well." Ted smiled. "How's my Grandson?"
At this all three laughed. "Is that always going to be your first question Ted?" Harry asked.
"Of course. You live with him, I don't." He laughed.
"Well, if you go home for lunch, you'll see him today." Harry informed him.
"I think I'll do that." He looked at all three men sitting across his desk after he sat down himself. "Well Sirius, I know that you are to be at Wizengamot this morning, so you should probably leave. I need to get these men started on all this." He waved his hand at two large tables that were stacked high with folders.
"Bloody hell." Harry breathed as the other three laughed.
"This is why I've put this task off with Gran. It's a nightmare learning all this." Nev supplied.
Sirius got up to leave until Harry took his arm. He looked down at his Godson. "Can I come with you to Wizengamot instead of this?" He pleaded.
Sirius couldn't help it. He wanted to be the adult in this situation so badly but it was just too funny for the Marauder. He burst out laughing and couldn't stop for at least three minutes straight. Once he was able to get himself under control—both he and Ted were laughing so hard they were egging each other on- he said, "Sorry Prongslet. You need this." He turned around and left as fast as possible.
Ted got up and motioned for the young men to follow him. They went over to the two tables, that very much reminded the men of the table Kings and Chief Marchbanks sat at the previous day, that each had at least eight piles of folders that were a little more than half a meter tall each.
"The left table is the Potter holdings, the right the Longbottom holdings." Ted began. Pointing to three piles on each table, he continued. "Each of these piles has all the information you need about all the property you own."
"Huh? I own property?" Harry asked at the same time Nev asked, "I own more than Longbottom Estates."
"Yes and yes. Each one of you own several properties all over the world. I want you to go through each file and put a report together for me about the property. I want to know where it is, what it's used for, how long you've owned it, is it currently making money, how much it is worth and what you think of the place. The Potters own I think 20 properties and the Longbottom's own 25, I think. If you have any questions, please ask Trainee Swordback or myself." Ted smiled at the dumbfounded looks on their faces. Since both boys were sitting on chairs behind the tables, he stood in between them where the tables met. He pulled himself to sit on the tables to look at the kids. He said softly, "Look, you need to know what you own so you can make financially sound decisions when the time comes. Just take it one folder at a time and you'll get through it quickly. It's not as bad as it seems." He could see the looks of determination come across these young men's faces and knew that they'd be fine. He decided to leave them then.
"Nev, we've fought in a war, watched people we love be tortured. This should be easy." Harry slapped Neville's shoulder as he took his first file.
An hour later, both young men were still working but had only gotten through two properties each. Harry took the next file and saw that it was a winery in Tuscany Italy. "Bloody hell." He breathed.
"What is it Harry?" Nev looked at Harry.
"My parents had a villa in Tuscany. Why didn't they go there when Voldemort wanted them?"
Nev gave that some thought. "I don't know. Ask Sirius. He should know."
That was the only exchange they had all morning. At about 11.45, Ted suggested, "Why don't you boys go get lunch and you can continue this at one, yeah?"
"That sounds great. Nev, you want to get the twins and go to the leaky?" Harry stood up and stretched.
"Sounds good." They said goodbye to Ted and Trainee Swordback and left. They walked over to WWW, which was still under repair and restocking, and invited the twins to lunch.
HP
At the Madhouse earlier that morning, Hermione and Luna had etched in a Rune set Luna thought might protect the battery specifically. Around ten o'clock they decided to check how long it took for the phone to go out in Diagon Alley. Therefore, they went to Flourish and Blott's to get the reference material they wanted.
They stayed in Diagon until almost noon. When the phone had not fritzed out on them, Hermione decided to try calling her Grandmum before they left. She dialed the number and her Grandmum answered. "Hello?"
"Hi Grandmum. It's Hermione, how are you?"
"Hello my dear. I'm fine. Granddad and I haven't seen you in almost a year. How're you?"
"I'm great. Right now,`b n I'm in Diagon Alley on the phone." She grinned. "We might get cut off any minute."
"I thought phones didn't work in your world."
"Well, I'm trying to change that. This is an experiment."
"Oh that's wonderful dear. I h-" and the phone went staticky.
"How long was that Luna?"
"Two minutes."
"But it remained on for 2 hours." Hermione said, satisfied. They apparated home.
HP
That night the Grangers came over for dinner and spent most of the evening talking about what everyone did that day. They were in the drawing room talking about the property the Potters own when Harry asked "Why did my parents go to Godric's Hollow if Potter Manor has so many wards? Couldn't they have stayed there?"
"They could have but Dumbledore didn't think the Fidelus could be put on top of all of those ancient wards and keep them intact. He was pushing for James to use that charm. I thought he was nuts but we trusted the bastard." Anyone could see Sirius was upset so Harry went to give him a hug.
"Their deaths weren't your fault Padfoot. It was Pettigrew's and Voldemort's. And maybe Dumbledore's."
"I know. I just wish we'd relied on those wards before the Fidelus. You don't need a secret keeper for those wards because you have to be of Potter blood or be brought in by a Potter."
"So what sort of other properties do you own?" Dan asked, trying to change the topic.
"We own some vacant lots, a few abandoned buildings, a flat in San Francisco, a townhome in London, a ski lodge in the Alps, and a villa in Tuscany. It turns out the Longbottoms and Potters own two vacant pieces of land next to each other." He informed everyone.
"That's interesting. I wonder if Frank and James bought them together." Sirius asked thoughtfully.
"I think so, they were both bought in 1980 and they're both fairly large pieces of land."
"So how'd your experiment go today pumpkin? I got a call from Mum this afternoon." Emma inquired.
"Great. I think we're almost done. Luna and I think we'll have a usable prototype soon."
"How?" asked Dora.
"We were working on Runes this afternoon to make it last longer in an area like Diagon. It lasted for two hours without use and two minutes on the phone." She replied proudly.
HP
The rest of the week was very similar to Tuesday. Harry and Neville went to Gringotts every day. After looking through their properties, Ted started on what money they had and where and why it was invested there. They also talked about putting more money into muggle companies like British Airways, Barclay's, and Tesco's along with Walt Disney, Panasonic and Ford.
In fact, with Ted's help, they both decided to get out of some shady Wizarding businesses and buy stocks in the muggle world by Friday.