Harry and Hermione spent the next two up days and four turned days working on a replica of the sorting hat but they couldn't figure it out. Hermione got frustrated with their efforts on their fourth turned day.
"It's useless, we can't crack the spells and enchantments on the hat, it's impossible to know how it works without the the hat." Hermione said throwing the book she was reading on enchantments on the desk.
"Then we get the hat." Harry said.
"Are you mad?" She asked.
"No, we get the hat, or a copy of it and work out the enchantments from that. We need to jinx the hat to get the sorting we want." Harry said standing up from his seat by the table.
"Harry, how are we going to get a copy of the hat?" She asked.
"Hat copying hat box." Harry said holding out his hands. A black hat box materialized, and Harry smiled as sweat beaded on his forehead. "Place the hat in the box, close the lid, the box flashes, pull the hat out, close the lid, box flashes, the hat is copied." Harry said.
"You think it will work?" she asked.
"I just put three quarters of my magical power into making this thing. It will work. What we need is Minerva, she can smuggle it in and copy the hat. All we have to do is call Minerva and have her come get the hatbox." Harry said with a shrug as he took a seat on the couch and fell asleep.
Minerva came over on Friday morning, she sat at the outdoor table with Emma, Dan, and Sirius. The kids laid out their plan to copy the hat, and figure out how it works so they could jinx it and make it pick the house they wanted. They also went into the reasoning behind it. Minerva listened to everything they had to say before smiling at them sadly.
"There are more than a few flaws in your very well thought out plan. The first one being that the hat is in Albus's office. An office connected to his living quarters and for the past month he's been spending all of his time in his office. Even if he was out of his office, his office is guarded by a phenix and living portraits of all the headmasters. The hat stays in his office until the sorting. He personally brings the hat down and leaves it in the alcove next to the teachers quarts on a stool where it sits for maybe ten minutes before the sorting. Every teacher not at the table before he comes in walks right by the hat. Two or three teachers at least. Then I come and get the hat to start the sorting. There is maybe a three minute window where no one is by the hat. There's also the little fact that it's sentient and anyone touching the hat or trying to tamper with it will wake it up and it will start calling for help. And even if you managed to copy the hat and with that copy you managed to find a way to jinx the copied hat the real sorting hat will never allow you to cast anything on it. It was made by Godric Gryffindor. Made the same way you make things, but unlike you, who has just started to understand the full range of your powers, he was old when he made it, 120-140 years old. His skills were emance. I hate to break it to you kids but there is nothing you can do to tamper with the sorting." She said.
"No, it looks like we can't mess with the sorting." Hermione said looking disjected.
"Well, I wouldn't count us out just yet. I think I have a plan, I just need to get with Sirius here and hammer out the details. But I think I can talk the hat into placing us in the house we want. We just have to pick a house." Harry said with a smirk.
"I think we go Gryffindor. We will have access to a professor we trust then." Hermione said looking to Minerva as she said it.
"To tell you the truth I think most of you would have ended up there without all this elaborate screaming. You are all good, honorable, and courageous warriors in training." Minerva said with a shrug.
"Well we'll make sure, are there any other kids you know of that should be sorted into our group. We're doing this to control who we have to let into this group. Meaning we want to be able to get out of bed and walk into our trunks and not have to explain to anyone where we're going. Now I understand we might have one or two outliers. But for the most part we want kids we can trust to get sorted into Gryffindor. If we fill up the house with our own people then there won't be enough room for the hat to sort anyone else into our room." Harry said.
"Well, so far I've done twenty home visits for Muggleborn students this year. I've also checked up on six half bloods as well as a few purebloods. Of those kids I can tell you at least six are Gryffindor material. Now will the hat sort them that way? I'm not sure. I can tell you this, Ron weasley is going to be a problem. His family are deep in Albus' pocket and the boy is very dim witted from what I've seen of him so far. There has never been a Weasley not sorted into Gryffindor. He will rat on you the second he gets a chance, and I bet he's going to try everything he can to befriend you." Minerva said.
"Really? So he would be a spy then? I don't know about you but spying seems very Slytherin. I wonder what the hat would have to say about that. I'm hoping the conversation we'll have with the hat will be very enlightening. Aside from him was there anyone we would want in our group?" Harry asked.
"Of the first years I helped this summer I can name a few that would be good fits for the group. I can also tell you that there are forty first years this year, twenty boys and twenty girls. Each house will get ten students, five of each. The first kid you should look at is a boy named Dean Thomas. He's a very athletic muggleborn with a good head on his shoulders and a penchant for accidental magic. He's on the mage scale so he should be able to pick up wandless magic like the rest of the group. He also has good grades in muggle school and his parents, both hard working professional, a doctor and an engineer in a lab of some sort I think, were not that happy about him attending Hogwarts. They wanted him to stay in school and go to university. So your double time schedule will go over well with them. The fact that he can come home almost every day and still keep up with his muggle schooling will put them and him firmly in your camp. Aside from that he's a good natured easy going kid." Minerva said with a smile as Hermione took out her notebook and started writing things down.
"So we have three boys and three girls so far. We need four more." Harry said making a white board with two columns.
"Well I have two boys to add to the list. These are easy picks. Michael Corner and Terry Boot. Both half bloods. Both from Ravenclaw family lines and both of them were raised to be Ravenclaws. Both families have deep roots in the magical world. Marcus and Mary Corner are potions brewers. Both Mary and Marcus are weak magic users but they are two of the most well respected potions brewers and researchers in the world. Emily Boot is an Auror and her husband Nigel runs a magical import export business. Both families are good friends and the boys grew up together. The two are best friends and powerful mages. They were both up to second year spells when I visited them a few months ago. The corners have also been teaching the boys potions for a few years. They could probably sit there potions OWLs right now. If your goal in life is to cure the world's problems with potions then these two are what you're looking for." Minerva said.
"They sound perfect, what are we looking at in terms of girls?" Harry asked.
"One name I can give you right off the top of my head is Sally-anne Perks. She's a muggle born from a low income house. She's attending Hogwarts on scholarship. Her mother died in childbirth and her father is in the muggle military. She was raised by her aunt who is also a muggleborn witch. She works as a legal secretary in Andy's office. Sally is a very smart young girl with a good head about her. She also has a strict military upbringing and a head for law, she wants to be an Auror or a law witch when she grows up." Minerva said with a smile.
"Good, we'll talk to Andy and see what she has to say about the girl and her aunt. Who else?" Harry asked looking at the board.
"Well I saw quite a few muggleborns that would fit in with your group but I think you'll want to look at a set of twins. Their from an Indian family and their father, Ravi Patil is an ICW ambassador to the UK. Their mother, Laxmi Patil is Indian magical royalty. Both girls are very powerful and have the potential to be very good. Also it would be good to get their parents into our group. Both girls score on the mage scale like the rest of the kids I mentioned but the older one, Padma, she's smart. She was taking advanced muggle classes and they were both tutored in magic. Parvati acts a bit dimwitted but they are both a good fits for the group." Minerva said.
"So we're looking at eleven? Five boys, six girls?" Harry asked.
"Yes, will the hat play ball and sort an odd number of kids into one house?" Hermione asked.
"I don't plan on giving the hat a choice. Right before the sorting you and my are going to use our invisibility robes to vanish from the group. Then we'll grab the hat and use the time turner and a trunk to kidnap the hat and bring it back to the shed. We'll have a good long talk with the hat. If the hat won't play ball i'll make a copy using the copy box and the copy will become the new sorting hat. The old one can spend the next few years hanging out in the shed. When we have our NEWTs in hand we'll give the hat back to the school. I can make a hat copied by my magic sort students however we want." Harry said with a shrug.
"That might work, the hat rarely speaks outside the sorting." Minerva said nodding at the shockingly easy way the kids side stepped the issue.
"There you go, now we can spend the last two days we have before school starts hanging out with our friends and planning. I want each of us to take one of these names and find them on the train. We'll question them and feel them out. If we think they'll fit then we'll bring them back to the last cabin on the train and we'll talk to them as a group. I want to get to the train platform early so we can sucre a train compartment, expand it and set up privacy charms, we'll also be able to catch these kids as they walk onto the platform." Harry said looking at the list with a calculating eye.
"Or we can just send them all invites with portkeys to a dinner at the house and we can meet them ahead of time. We can also get a feel for the parents and how they act." Hermione said.
"You think they would all come if we just sent letters?" Harry asked.
"Yes, especially if they came from you and they were hand delivered by either Minerva or Andy or Amelia. Your name is powerful in the wizarding world Harry." Hermione reminded him.
"True, I keep forgetting that." Harry said nodding. "Maybe a dinner and at the end of the night we can hand the parents cars and cases of gold coins. The cars take almost nothing to make and they would go over well." Harry said nadding.
"Now you're thinking. I'll write the letters and we'll hold the dinner tomorrow here at the house. We'll do an all day thing so the kids can use the garage pub and game room. We'll host lunch and play quidditch. Then we'll do dinner and a conversation about what we plan on doing. If we get an outlier we can mind trick them and send them on their way. We have six candidates, we only really need five." Hermione said.
"What are your feelings about this Mum?" Harry asked Emma who was sitting at the table listening to the whole thing.
"I think it's a better idea than trying to get a read on these kids in the few hours you have during the train ride. We will also get a chance to meet the parents. I say we do it. I'll call Amelia and Andy and plan it out. I wish we had more time to plot this all out." Emma said.
"We won't need much prep time because i'm going to handle all of the food. You just have to provide drinks for the adults and keep them entertained but from the way it sounds between Andy, Amelia, and Minerva they know all of these people." Harry said looking to Minerva.
"It's true. I spent time with each family and I can tell you that these people are all good upstanding people. I wouldn't suggest them if they weren't." Minerva said.
"Good. kids go play and take a break. I'll call Amelia and Andy." Emma said hugging the two as she sent them into the garage to hang out with the other kids.
"Harry and Hermione are getting freakishly good at plotting and planning." Sirius said looking shocked.
"Those two are a lot more grown up and mature then we give them credit for. Now, you two, go down to the off-license and get good drinks. Get a few cases of expensive wine and champagne as well as a few bottles of Scotch. In fact fill the bar in the pub. I'll go call Amelia and Andy. We need to get their take on these people. Minerva I hope you can join us today as well as tomorrow?" Emma asked the older witch.
"Of course I can. I can also head to the Alley and pick up a few bottles of Firewhiskey and cases of butterbeer for the kids. It has no real alcohol content. I'm also willing to go pick up the Thomas's tomorrow. They're the only family that won't know what a portkey is." Minerva said.
"Good thinking." Emma said as she pulled out her black magic mobile phone.
It took some planning and a few home visits from Amelia, Andy, and Minerva but the next day at ten the first group showed up. It was Minerva and the Thomas family. The three Thomas's, dressed in their sunday best, took a few moments to gather themselves but as soon as they did they looked around and saw they were in a huge back yard in front of a very nice upscale two story house. Minerva lead them off the portkey landing area and over to the garage where Emma, Dan, Harry, and Hermione were standing by the small round outdoor tables Harry made yesterday. The Grangers greeted them with smiles and Harry floating a tray of drinks next to him.
"Dan, and Emma this is Ray and Macy Thomas and their son Dean. Thomas's these are the Grangers, Dan and Emma, their daughter Hermione, and Harry Potter." Minerva said.
"It's nice to meet you all, would you like a mimosa?" Emma asked with a smile as she shook their hands.
"Don't mind if I take one, that port thingy was not fun." Raymond said shaking Dan's hand. Harry floated the try up to him and he was shocked.
"I remember the first time Harry took me to London by portkey. I felt sick for an hour." Dan said with a smile.
"So you're like us then? Normal?" Macy asked as she visibly relaxed.
"Totally normal, aside from our daughter." Dan said.
"Thank God, I thought we were going to be the only ones." Raymond said with a big smile.
"No, we're going to be the majority today, most of the families coming here today are at least half normal. Emma and I are Dentists although with Harry's powers and the amount of gold he gave to us we really cut back on our hours at work." Dan said as Harry and Hermione shook hands with Dean.
"Would you like a root beer Dean?" Harry asked summoning a cold mug and a bottle of root beer from inside the garage and handed it to him.
"Wow you just did magic?!" Dean said as Harry poured him a mug of root beer.
"I can do a lot more then that, and I'm willing to teach you if you want to learn." Harry said with a smile.
"No kidding?" Dean asked looking excited.
"No Kidding. Come on, I'll show you how easy it is." Harry said waving at the garage and the first set of doors opened.
"Harry, we have to wait for the rest of the guests." Emma said.
"That's right. Well it looks like learning will have to wait until later. Sorry buddy." Harry said.
"No sweat. I can wait." Dean said looking at the huge garage with wide eyes.
"Can Dean do that one day?" Macy asked looking shocked.
"That and a lot more. But he won't learn that at the school, that's why I wanted you to meet the Grangers and Harry. Harry's quite gifted and he has a way of teaching that is revolutionary." Minerva said.
"Then why send him to the school at all?" Macy asked.
"Laws. In the wizarding world, in order to own a wand after the age of fifteen you need to take a test called the OWLs. They're like magical SATs. but with the system we came up with we'll be able to take them in three years not five. And we'll be able to take advanced placement tests the year after that." Harry said.
"We'll also be able to come home almost everyday and keep up with our regular school work." Hermione said.
"No kidding?" Macy asked looking excited.
"It's no joke, we're both exceptional students and we plan on keeping up with that." Harry said.
At that point Andy showed up with Ted, Dora, Sally-anne Perks, her aunt, and her father who was in his dress greens with full brass and bars. Andy lead them over to the group.
"Dan and Emma Granger meet Captain Sam Perks, his sister Caitlin Perks, and his daughter Sally-anne. Perks clan meet the Grangers and their daughter Hermione, and this is Harry Potter." Andy said.
"It's an honor to meet you Captain Perks." Dan said shaking the man's hand.
"None of that, just call me Sam." The bigger man said with a big friendly smile.
"I can do that. Can I offer you something to drink?" Dan asked pointing to the tray that was still floating next to Harry who was busy talking to little Sally.
"I'll take a beer if you have one." Sam said looking at the frilly drinks on the try.
"A man after my own tastes. Harry! Get Sam here a Beer and a frosty glass." Dan said and Harry, without missing a beat in the conversation he was having, held up his hand and a bottle of lager and a cold glass came shooting out of the garage they came to a stop in front of Dan who plucked them from the air and handed them to Sam.
"Now that's some bloody skill." Sam said before he was hit in the arm by his sister who was standing next to him. "What? It was." Sam said.
"Still that's no way to speak in front of children. You have to excuse my brother. He skipped school the day they were handing out manors." Caitlin, but you can call me Cat, said.
"It's fine, the kids have heard worse from Dan, and Amelia swears like a sailor." Emma said.
"Hey Dork Skywalker, I want to kick your butt in pool." Dora said with a smile as she hugged Harry and Hermione.
"We can't, we have to stay here and greet guests as they come." Harry said.
"Well just because you're stuck here doesn't mean we have to be, come on guys. Let go" Dora said waving Dean and Sally into the garage.
"You guys are free to go sit inside as well." Dan said pointing inside the garage door were the pub and the cars could be seen.
"Wow, you have a lot of nice cars Dan." Sam said peeking inside.
"They're not all mine. Harry made them. Feel free to look around and pick out anyone on this side of the garage. If you like a different color Harry can change it for you." Dan said waving Sam and Ray inside as well.
"Would you look at that! It's a Ferrari Daytona Spider!" Ray said.
"Keys are in the ignition if you want to take it for a test drive." Dan said as Amelia portkeyed in with Mary Abbott, Susan, Hannah, and the Boot family, Emily, Nigel, and Terry. With this group came another round of introductions.
By the time the Patils showed up just after half past ten Harry was bored out of his mind standing around. Dora and Neville didn't help matters. They kept coming out to mess with him. But after saying hello to the Patils who were more interested in seeing and talking to him then the Grangers which put a black mark in Harry's book. They all split up with the men hanging around the cars and bikes. The women sitting at the tables Harry made in front of the bar. The kids also split up with the boys playing pool and darts, and the girls riding horses, playing with the dogs, and sitting at the tables in front of the garage. Harry was the outlier in that equation. He spent the two hours circulating between each group. He made sure to talk with each kid and adult. By the time they all gathered for lunch at the big table in the backyard Harry was sure that everyone was a good fit with the group.
He was unsure about the Patils but he soon figured them out. Ravi was trying very hard to look as formal as he could because he was used to dealing with royalty and heads of state. Laxmi on the other hand was a soft and gentle woman who was looking to marry off her daughters to powerful but kind men. She had an arranged marriage but unlike most she was given a choice of suitors to choose from and she wanted the same thing for her little girls. As soon as she saw how taken Harry was with Hermione she backed off and made her husband relax. She saw this was a chance to form a friendship with a powerful house and she made sure her whole family could fit in with the group. When they were all seated at the table Harry stood up and walked to the head of the table where Dan was seated.
"For lunch today we have two options. A meat option and a fish option. For the meat option we have grilled chicken breast with a cream sauce over a bed of garlic mashed potatoes, and mixed vegetable. For the fish option we have grilled salmon over a bed of grilled asparagus and new potatoes with a hollandaise sauce. Now who will be having the chicken?" Harry asked and all of the kids and most of the adults raised their hands. Harry waved his hands and place settings appeared in front of everyone. He waved again and the people with their hands up got plates with the chicken dish. He waved again and the rest got the fish. He waved at the three bottles of white wine and they floated up off the table. He kept his right hand up but lowered his left and the bottles lowered but the wine stayed floating in the air. When the bottles hit the table he raised his left hand and clapped his hands when he separated his hands the wine split up into twenty equal parts and sank down into the adults wine glasses. He smiled at the table full of shocked looks and took his seat in the middle of the table.
"That's new!" Emma said.
"I've been practising, Hermione has too. I can keep close to fifty ball bearings in the air and juggle them. Hermione is up to two dozen." Harry said with a smile.
"It's half true, I can lift twenty-six ball bearings into the air at once and juggle them if i'm in deep meditation and I have full control of my power. Harry on the other hand can lift one at a time and keep the rest going and he can do it while holding a conversation or while he's reading." Hermione said shaking her head.
"Well i'm glad you find the whole thing shocking as well dear. I thought you could all do that." Emma said shaking her head the same way her daughter was.
"So this level of Magic is not normal?" Macy asked. She was a family doctor that ran a practice in the nicer end of West Ham where she dealt with a lot of bad things, it was still West Ham after all. She could have worked and lived anywhere with her skills but she was doing the lord's work helping the people that needed it the most.
"No, but it's possible for a lot of people." Hermione said. "All magicals have a core of power. It's a well that we use to manipulate the world around us. There are spells that measure how big our cores are. The spell gives you a number on a scale. 1-50 is squib level. It means you have enough magic in your body to form a core but not enough to cast spells. 50-100 is normal magical range. Your everyday witches and wizards. They can cast spells. 100-200 is the mage range. If you fall in that range you can perform wandless magic, you can enchant things, and you can cast ward spells. Every kid at this table falls in the mage range. 200 and up is the arch mage range. There are maybe a handful of people in the world that rank up there. Harry is in this range. He's capable of doing things most of us will never be able to do." Hermione said.
"Just how high do you rank on the scale Harry?" Macy asked finding this whole thing very interesting.
"High, but my number fluctuates a lot every day. It's also increasing by the day. This is what we wanted to talk to you all about. Hermione and I think we cracked the code of how to expand your core." Harry said calmly.
"WHat!?" Half the table exploded at once.
"Please!" Harry said raising his hands for quite. "Thank you. Now as I was saying we think we can all end up in the Arch Mage range but in order to confirm this we needed test subjects. Friends that are willing to work very hard and dedicate their lives to finding out if this will work. I can say this now. If you all work with us we can guarantee you all at least jump up 100 point on the mage scale in 20 weeks. We know this is possible because both Hermione and I have jumped 30 points in six weeks. Now this could be natural growth but from the research we've been doing into how the magical core works with the body in healing magic we've come to some conclusions that might have huge implication in magic and how we treat our cores. To know for sure we need more people to study." Harry said taking a drink of water from his glass.
"How is this all possible?" Minerva asked.
"We had this theory when we started working on the recharge tonic but the real results we saw go back to the day Harry almost killed himself by drinking the overpowered magic recharge potion. The day after that he was ten points higher. His score went from 375 to 385 in one day. And while he's right we both did go up 30 points he's more than doubled me. We think, and here's where our work will really come into play, we think that if a mage drains themselves to almost empty everyday and, and if they take Harry's healing tonic every night, they gained a one point bump in the morning. We saw this with me. I was a 127 six weeks ago the first day I tried this which was a Monday. I drained my core to 60 points by casting spells and practising magic. I took a small dose of Harry's healing tonic and the next day I was a 128. By monday the next week I was 132. We kept this up and i'm now 157. For every seven days we did this I saw a five point bump. Two days a week the number stays the same and we think it's the core's natural way of building at a safe rate. Five points for a mage is what we think our cores can handle. Harry on the other hand grows much faster but we think he's hitting a plateau because he's slowing down. Each week he's gaining less and less until we think he'll hit a normal mage growth rate. In the beginning he was gaining 15 points a week then after two weeks he dropped to twelve points. Then 10 points. Now he's up to 7 a week. He tops out at about 466 now." Hermione said in the prim and clinical tone she used when she was lecturing.
"466 and he hasn't even reached his maturity." Minerva said looking dizzy.
"Yes, we believe the age of maturity is when the elasticity will run out. We're not sure because we need to test it but we're sure it will slow down and then stop working at the age of maturity. But until we get there we think we can all be Arch Mages. If you look at the numbers i'll be able to reach Arch Mage level in ten more weeks. We would like to document all of this especially the day I hit 200. We don't know what will happen on that day. I'll either stop growing, or I might gain access to Arch Mage powers. We're again not sure. We just can't be sure of what will happen. I can say that the side benefits of Harry's healing tonic are a huge bonus, i've never felt stronger." Hermione said flexing her toned and well muscled arm in her sun dress.
"The tonic uses the nutrients you take in to your body to rebuild and fix your body. These are our peak physical forms." Harry said.
"You have a potion that can just do that?" Macy asked looking shocked.
"Yes, and before you ask it only works if you have a core. But we are going to look into that at some point. It's on the list of things we want to do." Harry said
"But are there other magical medicines that would work on normal people?" Macy asked.
"There might be, we'll look into it. We're doing a lot of research into healing right now because we're working on healing Neville's parents. They were injured in the war. That's our main priority. Second to that is the mage core monitoring." Harry said as Hermione made a few notes in her small black book.
"We'll see about it, and you'll hear from us by October. For now you should ask the Corners, they're potions brewers." Hermione said pointing to the two bookish looking quite people sitting at the other end of the table. They were listening to the conversations going on around the table and when Hermione said their name they both looked up.
"Yes?" Marcus asked.
"I was telling Dr. Thomas here that you two would be the best to talk to in regards to a potions question. She wants to know if there are any known healing tonics that will work for muggles." Harry said.
"There are a few but they tend to be on the weak side and they amount to being more of a costly waist then overly helpful. The only one that really works good is pepper up. It stops muggle colds almost instantly. But the dosage needs to be spot on or it ends up being harmful." Marcus said.
"Skelly Grow too dear. Don't forget about that one. It works really good but again, why you would use it is beyond me. A bone mending spell works much better." Mary said with a smile.
"Bone mending spell?" Macy asked looking very excited.
"A simple spell that mends broken bones." Mary said.
"You can just mend bones with a spell?" Macy asked.
"Yes. it's a very simple charm spell, you learn it in fifth year." Mary said with a smile.
"What else can you do?" Macy asked.
"Loads of things. You and I should sit down and talk about Magical healing." Mary said.
"That's a good idea." Macy said with a smile.
"And when you get a chance we'd love to pick your brains about a few potions we're developing." Harry said.
"You're developing a new potion?" Marcus asked looking shocked.
"Yes. a few of them actually. Right now we're working on a mind healing tonic and while our source books and notes are good we'd love to get your opinion on our work." Harry said.
"I would love to look it over. Do you plan on publishing or private brewing for the market?" Marcus asked.
"Publishing. We used a potions master's notes as a base to work off of and we want to make sure the man is credited for his contribution to the potions we made. We we're also hoping to come up with a book of low cost alternatives to the high cost potions people use everyday. We were hoping to put out a small 'cookbook' for lack of a better term. Easy to read instructions, easy to brew potions using easy to find cheap ingredients. We already have a few ready to go thanks to the notes we were working off of. My personal favorite is a substitute for the sleeping draught using a combination of Hops, Wild lettuce root, lavender, and Valerian root. Small bits of each are boiled together for an hour in a large cauldron. After that the the clippings are strained out and you end up with forty doses of a nice and gentle sleeping potion that has no side effects. The best part is that the whole batch of potion only costs about three sickles to make." Harry said.
"Three SIckles!" Marcus said looking really shocked now.
"We have a recipe for a giant batch of pepper up that cost just two sickles to make. You get close to 300 doses in one go. Half the ingredients you can get in a muggle produce section of the grocery store." Hermione added with a smirk.
"I need to see this." Marcus said with a big smile on his face.
"We'd love to bring you both in on our work. Having you both to bounce ideas off of would be a huge help to us." Hermione said.
"I think we've made enough gold with our brews. We would love to help." Mary said.
"Well gold is no issue. I can make it by the pallet load. I keep a pocket full of 1p coins, and i've gotten very good at making gold Krugerrands." Harry said pulling out a 1p coin and showing everyone at the table. He closed his hand and the coin flashed. When he opened his hand two gold coins were sitting in the palm of his hand. "These coins are muggle and each one is worth about four gold galleons. I can make them from thin air but using the bronze and steel 1p coins is easier." Harry said to a table that was half silent with their jaws dropped.
"You're a Maker!" Laxmi yelped before regaining her composure. "Sorry for the outburst. My great grandmother was a Maker. It is why we are royalty." She said looking shocked.
"Really? I would love to pick your brain about some of the things she did with her powers. I would love to know what the limits are." Harry said.
"THere is not much to tell. My great grandmother spent her days making gold and jewels. She bought land as far as the eye could see and she built a palace made of gold and jewels. She had three sons and three daughters. All of them became corrupted by the power of wealth and the sons killed each other and wounded her faitly over gold. My great grandmother decreed that from that day forward no man would inherit the throne. She died soon after that and her oldest daughter took over as queen. That was my great aunt Lakshmi. Not that it mattered. My great grandmother taught her children to live like gods and when she died the gold soon dried up. Instead of cutting back on their extravagance they sold off the lands. When they ran out of land they started carving gold from the walls of the palace. I am three generations removed from my great grandmother Anji and our once great land has mostly been sold off. The palace is mostly stone and mortar because we've been taking the gold from the walls to pay off debts and the rest of my family still fight over what little gold is left. Being a maker is true power, but that power can corrupt your soul. Always remember that all the gold in the world can not fill the hole of greed." She said softly.
"I've studied buddhism, I find some of it's teachings very enlightening. One such teaching is that there are two paths. One path leads to material wealth, the other leads to nirvana. I have always been humble in my everyday life. I have, from the very beginning of my training, tried to live by a code of ethics. I can make gold, but I try very hard not to use it too much. If I do it's for others. I can make jewels, but you see none on me. I made everything i'm wearing, but none of it is anything special. Every time I get greedy, or too over the top with my wants and greed I always meditate on those feelings and try to understand where they come from." Harry said.
"Still, if you can just make those gold coins would you mind passing a few my way? The Army doesn't pay it's officers like it used to." Sam said with laugh.
"Sure." Harry said holding out his hand. He summoned a fifty foot chain from the garage. He waved at the chain and it became ten silver attache cases floating in the air. He floated them to the table in front of the heads of the families sitting at the table minus Dan. They all took the cases and when they opened them they saw ten rows of coins that went the full width of the case.
"My God Kid I was joking around!" Sam said looking at the coins with wide eyes.
"It's just gold?" Harry said with a shrug.
"How much is in here?" Ray Thomas asked.
"10 rows of 150 coins. 210 pounds sterling a coin. Each case has 315,000 pounds. Or 12,600 gold galleons worth." Harry said.
"And you're just giving us this?" Nigel Boot asked.
"It's just gold. In the grand scheme of thing gold matters very little. Friendship means more. The wizarding world is headed for big changes. If our work on core expansion is right then every kid sitting at this table might one day be able to make a case like that with a wave of their hand. They might also be elementals of whatever branch they might be. It all depends on how this turns out. We would like to offer you all a seat at the table. You are dining with the Minister for Magic, the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and the deputy headmistress of Hogwarts. Some of you have titles of your own, but all of you are here because you're good people. Now as you can see there are perks to joining this group. Gold, cars, political and magical power. For the kids at this table there is more than just power, there's training. Both physical and mental. You will all be given one of these." Harry said pulling his lightsaber and igniting the green training balde.
"Is that a lightsaber!?" Ray asked looking giddy.
"It is, you see a few years ago I saw a trilogy of films, and from that I unlocked my magic. As you can imagine I thought I was a Jedi. From that day on I threw myself into becoming a jedi. Martial arts, Force powers, sword fighting, meditation, eastern religion. Anything I could get my hands on" Harry talked for a good long time, he explained his ideas, and the time turner schedule. He ended with. "and we would like to offer this training to you. You'll be out of magical school in four years, not seven. You'll get a muggle education, and you'll be fully trained in the Jedi arts as I like to call them. You will also be stronger, more powerful, also depending on the Arch Mage power expansion you might be, a maker or a fire, water, air, or earth elemental. So what do you say, do you all want in?" Harry asked with a smile.
"I'm in, I want to finish my schooling so I can get into university." Dean said looking at his parents as he talked.
"You're damn right we're in. I want a lightsaber!" Ray said excitedly as his wife rolled her eyes and shook her head.
"As long as Dean gets to finish his schooling and he can learn to cast magic like you can them I agree." Macy said laughing at her husband.
"I agree with that, I like the thought of my little girl being able to be that powerful." Sam said.
One by one the rest of the groups agreed, they all had different reasons but for the most part the parents liked the idea of their kids coming home everyday and the idea of them becoming as powerful as Harry.
"Good, I was hoping you would all join the group. Later you are all going to get an item of jewelry. Inside that piece of jewelry is one of these stones." Harry said holding up a golf ball sized round cut diamond. "It's something we came up with when we took apart and studied the charmed protection necklace. Each of these stones is enchanted to protect you from mental intrusions and it's also a minor shield charm that covers your person. The wizarding world can be a dangerous place and details of what we're doing really don't need to get out." Harry said.
"You can make enchantments?" Emily Boot asked looking excited.
"I can, and before you ask, the best body armor you can get is the stuff Amelia got from madam Malkin. However the minor shield charm does block everything up to good blasting charm, and it can take a few hits before it's overloaded due to the size of the stone. They also stack. Amelia, Minerva, and Aurora are all wearing three charmed items each. I can offer you all more but I have just one each for now. We have to make some more later. It take some time to make the stones and then to enchant them." Harry said and Hermione pulled out her black book and made some notes.
"It's on the list after the Longbottoms and before the Wolfsbane." She said.
"So three weeks?" Harry asked looking at his partner.
"There about. We'll mass produce them and store the extras for later like we did with the first batch." She said nodding.
"Good thinking we also have some work to do tonight and tomorrow." Harry said.
"Trunks?" She asked.
"Yeah, and bags of holding, cloaks, and lightsabers." Harry said.
"We'll get started on turn day one and hopefully we can get most of it done during the first week of school." She said thinking about the amount of work they had to do.
"Do these two always plot and plan like two mad scientist?" Sam asked laughing.
"You have no idea. They're smarter and more powerful than anyone at this table." Dan said with a fatherly pride that was matched in Sirius' eyes.
"You leave my evil geniuses alone. They're plotting world domination." Emma said with a smile.
"Actually we're plotting out how much work we have to get done to get this group up and running. For now we can have trunks ready by tomorrow and most of the standard kit we'll have ready by the end of the week." Hermione said.
"Yes but for now let's set up the rings and break out the brooms for a pick up quidditch game." Harry said.
"What's Quidditch?" Ray asked Dan.
"Loads of fun that's what. Hey Harry, you think we can play kids versus adults?" Dan asked.
"It's a bit unfair, you outnumber us by six." Harry said pulling a trunk out of his pouch on his belt.
"Yeah but you and Hermione can outfly all of us." Dan said.
"True, first off we have to get the people that never rode on a broom up in the air." Harry said walking into the trunk soon another trunk was tossed out of the open trunk before Harry came back out sitting on a broom with three dozen brooms following him. It looked like the scene out of the sorcerer's apprentices.
"You mean people can really fly on brooms!" Ray yelled excitedly. He rushed around the table holding the lightsaber Harry made for him.
They spent the next four hours teaching adults and children how to ride and play. They were slow to get started but they all relaxed after Harry showed them how the cousining charms on the ground worked which caused a bit of a panic and then shock as Harry popped back to his feet after a thirty foot fall. Once they saw that they all relaxed and soon they all got the hang of it. After an hour of flying around Harry called them all down and they picked teams. They played six on six with five chasers and one keeper. They played first to ten points and then they would switch off with the next team. The kids trounced the adults soundly with the only one close match of the day with two stacked teams of ringers. The two teams were made up of Harry, Hermione, Neville, Susan, Dora and Dean who was a natural athlete and a really good chaser. They battled Sirius, Amelia, Emily and Nigel Boot, Marcus Corner, and Ravi Patil. They were all on house teams growing up and Ravi played Semi-pro in India in his 20's. The game lasted a half hour with a score of 9-10 in favor of the kids. They figured out how to beat Harry in that game. Sirius stayed on him the whole game and effectively made it a five on five game. It was an interesting way to play but Hermione was still on the kids team and she scored six of the ten goals.
After that Harry broke out the smaller 150cc Honda dirt bikes and soon he was giving lessons in balancing the bike, turning, and hand controls. Soon they had kids riding around the horse trails on dirt bikes. Hermione on the other hand started giving lessons in Lightsaber combat. By the time that all sat down at the big table for dinner which was a big family style spread with bowls and platters full of meats, fish, potatoes, vegetables, and gravy. This time the dinner conversation flowed a lot easier then it did at lunch. These people all knew each other by now and they were more comfortable talking to each other. Harry also saw groups forming. Macy Thomas and the Corners were deep in medical discussion with Emma. Ravi Patil was talking to Nigel Boot, and Ted Tonks about business. Sam Perks, Emily Boot, Aurora, and Amelia were talking shop. The kids were chatting in twos and threes with Sirius and Dan holding a conspiratorial conversation with Neville, Dean, and Dora. Susan and Hannah were making fast friends with the twins. Harry and Hermione sat in the middle of the table sharing a plate of pumpkin pie with ice cream on top and smiling at the group. They knew that this night would cement an alliance that would last them a lifetime. They also knew they would need to put in some time and get to know the group of kids, after all they were going to be running the wizarding world one day. When dinner was over Harry and Hermione got everyone's attention.
"As we close the evening's festivities we wanted to hand out the shield charmed stones. Each stone will be placed in a gold setting. Let's start with kids, line up guys, and lets get started." Harry said as Hermione handed him a golf ball sized diamond from a black velvet bag. Harry took the stone as Parvati stepped up to be first in line. "So, Flashy twin, what are we thinking? Something small and simple or big and ostentatious?" Harry asked with a smile.
"Big and shiny!" She said with a big smile and a ting of red around her cheeks.
"Big and shiny it is." Harry said pulling three bronze coins from his pocket. He turned them into six gold coins and set the big stone on top of the shiny coins. He waved at the stack and it floated out of his hand. Another wave and it shifted shape. The coins melted together and formed an intracut gold necklace with the huge round cut diamond in the center. "Will this do?" He asked with a smile as her eyes got big and round and her mouth fell open.
"Y..yeah um, yes that's, pretty." She said plucking the ornate piece out of the air.
"Good, happy customers are repeat customers. Next!" Harry said looking at Padma who was watching him work with intelligent eyes. "What can I get for you young lady?" He asked with a smile.
"Simple please, and not so big?" She asked.
"Let's see what I can do." Harry said turning one bronze coin into two gold coins and adding a diamond to the stack. He waved his hands and a simple gold locket in the shape of a book on a thin chain floated over his hand. "A simple locket for a lady with refined taste." Harry said floating the locket to her.
"Where's the stone?" She asked taking the locket.
"It's inside. There is also enough space inside to fit a few things." Harry said with a smile.
"Wow, thank you very much Harry." She said bowing her head ever so slightly as she walked back to the table.
"NExt!" Harry called out making the group laugh as Dean stepped forwards.
"If you don't mind Harry can I get something less…" Dean started to ask.
"Girly?" Harry asked with a smile.
"Yeah mate, if you don't mind?" Dean asked.
"Not at all. How about a nice watch?" Harry asked holding up his left arm to show off his Omega Speedmaster that he made.
"Now we're talking mate." Dean said nodding.
"How about you two? Watches all around?" Harry asked Michael and Terry.
"That sounds good me." Terry said.
"Nice." Michael said.
Harry took a few more coins out of his pocket and the three stones Hermione handed him. He turned the coins into two dozen dull white gold coins and floated it all in front of him. Closing his eyes he waved at the floating mass and separated it into three separate piles and one at a time they all melted and formed into three watches with metal bands. "Three Omega Speedmasters." Harry said floating the watches to the guys. "The gem is the 12 O'clock marker. The cases are a tough white gold compound. The glass is scratch proof and it's powered by magic to always keep the right time." Harry said.
"Those are really nice. Can I get one of those?" Sam Perks asked.
"Sure, how about the rest of the guys?" Harry asked.
Soon the parents were all sporting watches or lockets. Harry sent everyone home with a reusable set of portkeys and every adult left with a car. After they all left Harry and Hermione spent the rest of the night sitting with Emma, Dan, Sirius, Aurora and the dogs on the big couch in the loft over the bar. They watched Mary Poppins and had popcorn but mostly they just sat close and held their ever growing dogs. When the movie ended they all headed into the house with the Sirius and Aurora using the door to get to Sirius' newly renovated townhouse. Harry walked into his room and saw a note on his bed. He picked it up and read the the short note before vanishing it. He walked over to Hermione's room and knocked on the door. When she opened it he smiled at her with a big grin.
"All we have to do is copy the Hat and the real sorting hat will play ball. We can spend the time working on the trunks." Harry said.
"Good, we'll be able to get most of the trunks done." She said matching his smile.
"That was my thinking. The note also said we did a full 48 turn with the hat." Harry said yawning.
"Are we going to take a ride in the morning or do you want to sleep in?" She asked looking at her watch.
"No, we made a promise to the horses and dogs, and we should keep it. We have two whole days ahead of us and we can take a nap as soon as we turn." Harry said reaching down to pat Blaze on the head.
"Okay, i'll see you in the morning Harry, goodnight." She said stepping out of her room into the hall to hug Harry.
"Goodnight." He said with a soft smile as he turned around and headed back to his room. He changed for bed and as he laid down to go to sleep Blaze laid his big head on the bed by Harry's pillow and gave him a sad puppy dog look.
"What's wrong boy? Do you want to lay on the bed?" He asked petting his big head. Blaze shook his head. "Oh, you still want to come with me to school?" Harry said and Blaze nodded.
"We talked about this, it would be to hard to…" Harry started but Blaze started to make a whining sound and his eyes got big and sad. "You know what? Fine, we'll take you and Shadow with us, we'll make it work. You'll probably have to spend most of the school day in the dorm room. But we'll make it work. Now get up here you big baby. If anyone asks i'm telling them none of the details of this conversation. No one needs to know you cried like a baby and I caved as soon as you did. We'll tell everyone we had a grown up conversation about you staying with me to act as my noble guard dog." Harry said scratching his dog's belly. Blaze for his part had a huge grin on his face.
"Don't gloat, it's not nice." Harry said and the big grin fell off his big dog's face but his tail was still waging. "Don't ever play cards with Sirius, he'll take your bowls and collar with that tail of yours." Harry said holding the drak gray dog that was almost as big as he was as he fell asleep.
