75th Rule of Acquisition

Home is where the heart is, but the stars are made of latinum!

Chapter 14

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Money talks

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The Goblin he'd dealt with once before greeted him with a slight bow and a cackle; the nasty little grin was still there as the beady black eyes narrowed in on the people trailing him. It was blatantly obvious to the Goblin who the alpha male was in the small pack. The child, as the Goblin watched, also knew who the alpha was, and it wasn't the older red head, the father of the Weasley clan. Harry Potter approached him, bowed, and handed him the key; the child had respect, rather refreshing when it came to dealing wizards. None of the other wizards or witches understood respect, but Harry did, he even liked business and money, two things that were incredibly important to the Goblin society in general.

Arthur was also amazed at how the young Harry had just strolled into the bank and bowed; he looked at his wife and saw her eyes widen slightly at the sight, but like Arthur, she remained quiet. She couldn't understand how someone so young could think and act so mature, it was almost as if there was an adult stuck in the young boy's body.

Harry had grown up, that was for sure, he wasn't the hard-headed and nervous boy that Ron had said he was in the first year.

"I'd like to talk business," Xander said. "Is there somewhere we can go in private?"

The goblin smirked and waved his hand towards a doorway.

"Follow me."

Xander nodded and started following. The Weasleys made as if to follow, and Xander stopped. He turned around and smiled at them.

"Sorry, but I'd like to do this privately," he said.

"Harry?" Molly asked; her voice concerned. Xander was more than aware of the fact that she probably reported everything he did back to Dumbledore.

"Is that a problem? It is my account, after all. I can handle my own vault," Xander protested, trying to sound innocent. Molly gave her husband a worried look, but Arthur only shrugged.

"It is his vault," Arthur replied. Molly sighed, and Xander shot Arthur a grateful look. The last thing Xander needed at that moment was a confrontation.

"Thanks. I don't know how long this will take," he said. Arthur nodded and said he would wait behind for Xander while the others went shopping. When the rest of the family and Hermione were finally gone, Xander smiled. "Arthur, please follow me," he requested. The head of the Weasley house blinked in surprise but followed anyway.

The goblin, led them to an office, where he sat behind a desk and waited for Xander to begin.

"First things first," Xander said. "I would like all access, held by other people to my vault, revoked. Other than a chosen proxy, who must be introduced by me, I am the only one allowed access."

"That is acceptable," the Goblin said.

"Right. I'd also like to use my money to make more money." The little creature's ears seemed to twitch at that. "Would it be possible to invest some of my account?"

"Yes. We can choose companies for you to invest in, or you may direct us to particular businesses."

"I'll leave it at your discretion," Xander said graciously. The Goblin nodded. "If I need to create funds to transfer to other accounts, will you be able to do this discreetly?"

"Yes," the Goblin said without hesitation. He paused a moment before asking, "Will there be anything else, sir?"

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Arthur sat there, more than a little shocked to see Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, casually discussing business with the goblin. 'Too casually', Arthur thought. He looked between the two with interest. There was a look in Harry's eyes that Arthur hadn't seen before. 'Rather like a wolf getting ready to rip open its prey,' the head of the Weasley family thought grimly to himself.

"Yes," Harry answered briskly. "I would like to purchase the business rights for Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes." Arthur blinked once more in surprise. "And I'd like to set up several other accounts." He watched as Harry started talking about setting up a trust for a werewolf relief fund and a house elf fund for displaced elves. Both would help find work for the magical creatures.

When they were finished, the Goblin left the two alone. Arthur stared at Harry for a few moments before shaking his head. "Why did you need me here for this and not Molly?"

"You want the honest answer?"

"Always," Arthur said with a smile. Harry smiled back at him. It was a feral smile.

"I don't trust your wife," Xander replied simply. Arthur looked stunned.

"Why?"

"Because she reports directly to Professor Dumbledore, and frankly I don't want him to know what I'm up to."

"And what are you up to?"

"I'm going to create an army that'll kick Voldermort's arse." Arthur wasn't sure if it was the boyish glee in Harry's grin or the dark promise in his eyes that frightened him most.

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They made their way out of Gringotts. Xander watched the crowds of people closely, looking for any signs of trouble, but nothing happened apart from the odd comment about him. Other than that, all was good. They made their way to a bookstore, where Xander made several purchases, including updated history books, fresh inkwells, and new quills. The next shop they went into was a broom shop, where he bought cleaning equipment for his broom. After that, they headed into a wand supplement store, where Xander was able to buy lots of various cleaning products for his wand. He also got a holster, like a sling, in which he could store his wand. It was magically imbued, so it cleaned itself whenever it got dirty.

The final store they visited before going to the meet the others at Flourish and Blotts was a camping shop, where Xander bought two tents. One was huge and more than capable of housing two large families. Arthur didn't say anything about it, but took note when Harry asked about protection spells, strong protection spells, and what kind of defences it had. He told the shopkeeper that he wanted the best and that money wasn't a problem. The shopkeeper nodded and got him just that, the best. Next on the list was a smaller tent that looked rather shabby on the outside but had a sea of marvels on the inside.

When he was done, they made their way to back to Flourish and Blotts. "One of the things I set up was a relief fund for those helping in the fight against Voldemort," Xander said.

"Harry, you know you shouldn't say his name," Arthur remonstrated. Xander shrugged and carried on anyway.

"I've set up an account for your family, Arthur." The older man stopped in surprise. "You'll be hired under the company: Black, Incorporated. I've got a few ideas that'll make both the twins and yourself extremely rich."

"I won't accept charity," the man protested.

"It's not charity Arthur," Xander said, cutting him off sharply. "Its war and I need my allies to be prepared. If that means supporting you until you can manage yourself, then that is what I'll do. Please accept it so we can get things moving."

"What do you want me to do?"

"We'll discuss this later when we're not in the open."

Arthur nodded wisely in agreement. It really was a sensible suggestion, as the bookstore was crowded. Xander wrinkled his nose at the scent of so many women gathered in one place at the same time, many extremely excited. There were times he regretted having Hyena's senses. Hermione was in front of them, bouncing back and forth from one foot to the other.

A sign proclaimed, Gilderoy Lockhart will be signing copies of his autobiography Magical Me today from 12.30pm to 4.30pm.

Both Xander and Arthur groaned when they read it. Xander looked up at the older man, who smiled back in sympathy. Hermione was oblivious to the exchange. "We can actually meet him," she squealed, "I mean he's written almost the whole booklist!"

Xander shook his head in amusement. "How do you know that, Hermione?"

"What?"

"I mean, you know as well as I that most authors in the Muggle world don't actually write their autobiographies," he said with a smile. "Most of them have ghost writers." Hermione blustered for a few moments as they fought their way into the store.

The first thing Xander noticed about Gilderoy was his teeth. They were such a brilliant white that were practically shining, and Xander was sure he could see his reflection in them. Ron snarled something that made Xander's eyebrows go up. He suddenly remembered what happened in this part of the book and tried desperately to duck out of the way, but it was too late. He'd been noticed.

"It can't be Harry Potter!" Lockhart exclaimed. Xander winced and turned around. The crowd of people were staring at the both of them, their heads turning from one to the other.

"Professor Lockhart," Xander answered with as much sarcasm as possible. There was a gasp from the group as Lockhart beamed again.

"Yes. Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, is quite correct. I will be at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year. I will, of course, be teaching the students how to survive even the most dangerous of threats."

Gilderoy Lockhart was a fake. Though he made very sure the public never knew of his fraud, the man was rather proud of his trickery. He had become very good at memory charms and used that knowledge ruthlessly to his own advantage. Yet, when he looked into Harry Potter's knowing green eyes, he got a feeling that the child somehow knew. Harry's smirk threatened to make Lockhart's prize-winning smile falter.

"Oh, so you can teach us how to fight the Dark Lord then?" Xander asked. There was a hushed silence in the room, and Lockhart's smile definitely faltered this time.

"I…"

"But how could you when you have never faced anything as dangerous as him? After all, he's been in hiding since I was a baby, so you've only dealt with … lesser threats," Xander said. The soon-to-be-teacher's eyes bulged.

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"Well that was certainly interesting," Hermione said as they were leaving the rather shocked crowd behind.

"Wasn't it just?" someone said behind them. Xander perked his head up as he felt the sneer that went with that voice. "Imagine that, the famous Harry Potter walks into a book store."

Xander snorted, "There's a joke there somewhere."

"Yes. A wizard, a tramp and a Mudblood go into a store …"

Xander whipped around so fast it made everyone in the group start. His eyes flashed angrily at Draco Malfoy, and Xander took a step towards him.

"You really didn't learn anything from my little lessons at school, one of them being why you shouldn't insult my friends. I'll guess I'll have to set another example."

"I would like to see you try Potter," Draco challenged. Xander growled. The sound came from deep within his chest, from his very soul. Without realising it, he had already made these few a part of his new 'pack,' and they were being threatened. "And you call these friends? A Mudblood know-it-all and a Weasley?"

"Bet you're surprised to see him here, huh, Malfoy?" Ron said, trying to diffuse the situation. Draco sneered again, and Xander idly wondered, 'If the wind changed, would his face stay like that?'

"Not half as surprised as I am to see you in here." He eyed both Ron and Ginny. "I suppose your parents will go hungry for a month to pay for all those books." Xander spun around and faced Ron to stop him from doing something he'd regret.

"Ron, look at me." The red head did. "Ron, remember, there's a thing called karma?" Hermione choked and looked at the two of them, and then answered Xander's rhetorical question.

"It's a Muggle thing, Ron. It means what goes around comes around," she said. Ron was still flushed, but nodded anyway.

"Ron," Xander turned around with the other two to see Mr. Weasley and the twins battling their way through the hordes of women.

"What are you doing here," Arthur asked. "It's too crowded. Let's get out of here."

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Arthur Weasley." Now Xander was positive that the room temperature had actually dropped. He knew the name to the voice almost instantly, a cold hatred that wasn't his own burned in his mind; Harry hated the man almost more than Xander did.

"Lucius," Arthur said, nodding coldly at the white-haired man.

'Damn,' Xander thought, 'there goes getting out of here quietly'.

"Busy time at the Ministry I hear," Lucius said. Xander could hear warning bells going off inside his head. His mind started working overtime to try to think of a way out of this. "All those raids. I hope they're paying overtime?"

"It appears not, huh, Mr. Malfoy?" Xander said. The white-haired wizard blinked and looked down at Xander, his sneer matching that of his son. "But then honest work never really pays that well. It's the thought of doing good that makes it worthwhile, not that that's something I'd expect you to understand."

"Hold your tongue, Potter," Lucius answered with fury.

"Or what? You'll cut it out?"

Malfoy Senior smiled. "Something like that."

"I'm not sure that's something Voldermort would appreciate, Malfoy." The older man winced at Xander's casual use of the name. "It's his destiny to fight me, and if he finds out you beat him to it..." Xander shook his head with a tut.

"I do not follow, nor have I ever followed he who shall not be named!"

Xander's smile was probably more evil than Lucius Malfoy's. He did have nearly three life-times-worth of practicing it. He recited what he had read from the book, word for word. "And I would remind you that it is not – prudent – to appear less than fond of Harry Potter, not when most of our kind regard him as a hero who made the Dark Lord disappear."

"How did you -"

"How did I what, Mr. Malfoy? Know what you said?" Lucius snarled something incomprehensible. "Well, let's just say, who spies on the spies?" Xander grinned, his grin reaching up to his eyes. "But that's not what's weird Lucius. You said 'disappear.' Why not 'die?'"

"I have know I idea what you're talking about."

"No, I guess not. I'm surprised, with your not knowing anything that you managed to make it up his ranks. Probably came from selling people out to garner favour. But then, you're good at that, aren't you?"

Lucius growled loudly and pulled out his wand. It was aimed straight at Xander's head, but the boy did not worry or move. He was certain that the spirit of the Hyena would protect him. Others in the room screamed as the crowds tried to get out of the way, fighting each other. Xander and Lucius Malfoy faced each other, Xander calm and Lucius in a fighting stance. It was perhaps lucky for Lucius that Hagrid appeared suddenly, out of nowhere.