Chapter 18: As Things Come Along Nicely
"If you could all settle down, we will start our meeting." Dumbledore looked like a tired man. There were too many things happening that he was not aware of and he was uncomfortable not being in control. In the room were the Weasleys, a newly refurbished Moody, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Mundungus Fletcher, Minerva McGonagall, Severus Snape, Dedalius Diggle and a few other order members. Severus Snape really looked sore on losing his teaching position at Hogwarts.
"Headmaster, what are you going to do about Mr. Snape?" one of the order members inquired.
Albus sighed. "I am going to offer a research position to Severus as soon as the board gives me the permission. If they do not agree, I will fund the position as part of the Order of the Phoenix. The new board is going to look over my actions with a fine comb and I really don't want them to create more trouble for us. Hopefully I will be able to push items onto the board's agenda, something that I have wanted done in a long time."
"And what would those be Headmaster?"
Dumbledore looked at Bill and said, "I have wanted the Goblins to overlay a few custom wards on Hogwarts. I hear that they have an anti-dark mark and anti-dark creature ward with key in exceptions on some of their businesses. Bill, could you get an estimate of what wards we can overlay on Hogwarts existing wards?" Bill nodded.
"What about the allegations of misuse of Hogwarts budget?" Dedalius Diggle, a Wizarding solicitor inquired.
"Unfortunately, some of them are true. Some of the excess budget was diverted to the activities of the Order of the Phoenix. Now that that source is going to dry up, I will have to rely on my primary source of funding for Order activities." Nobody except Dumbledore knew that the Potter Vault was funding all their activities.
"Anyway Severus, what do you have to report?" Dumbledore looked at Severus solemnly.
"The Dark Lord was very angry for a lot of reasons. He expected Draco Malfoy to inherit the Black fortune. He never expected that mutt to banish everyone else from the Black Family and distribute the assets. Apparently the Malfoy fortune is down to 5-digit now from an impressive 7-digit." Dumbledore nodded.
"He is also worried about losing revenue from his other income sources. He suspects that his broom companies are going to take a hit. The potions company might cause problems as it might lead to a loss of demand for potions ingredients. He was especially angry at loss of Daily Prophet. He held Ogden under the Cruciatus for a long time for the Weasley's case. Only the owl order business and portkey business do not seem to be affected."
"Day before yesterday, on the Potter brat's birthday, he had ordered hits on 13 of his friends from the Dumbledore's Army. But none of those death eaters came back. He tortured everyone in the chamber when he read that they were port keyed to the DMLE in an unconscious state. He still does not know what happened and has asked Wormtail to find out."
"Do you know the names of the intended targets?" Severus shook his head. "Did you say that all death eaters were incapacitated and portkeyed?" Severus nodded. "Are there any new attacks planned?"
"The Dark Lord plans to hit Diagon Alley sometime next week. I don't think I will know the exact time of attack." Severus explained.
"Thank you Severus. I have received a letter from Ms. Delacour that the Veela Nation has ordered her to distance herself from our Order. They definitely have not aligned themselves with the dark, but they are adapting a wait and see approach. Bill, do you know of any reason why that would be so?"
Bill shook his head and said, "I do not really know. But I remember Fleur and Gabrielle being giddy about something. Now that I think about it, Fleur somehow learnt full control over her Veela charm. I did not feel it from her at all."
There were many gasps in the room. "But that has never been done right?"
"No, it has never been done. It was the Veelas holy grail. Someone taught Fleur to that during that week she took training at Gringotts and I don't think she would tell any of us if the Veela Nation ordered her not to reveal it."
"While I am on the topic of Gringotts, I have something interesting to report. I visited the Abbott residence in the morning today on an assignment from Gringotts to certify their new wards. I could not believe what I saw. Other than Fidelius, you name the ward, and they had it. It was one of the strongest wards I have seen other than Gringotts and Hogwarts. Even the ministry does not have such good wards. I have another 10 houses to go to this week and I expect to see the same. Could the Abbott residence be one of the sites that were ordered for attack? I can believe that as I saw a ward that would shock the magical core with excess magic and a portkey ward to DMLE." Bill explained.
"Do you know who installed the wards?" Dumbledore enquired. "No! They wouldn't say."
Dumbledore held his head with his hands and massaged his temples. "Thank you Bill. Minerva?"
"The first year enrollment has gone up to 214 students. I have also received confirmation from Gringotts that 198 of them have already paid their tuition for this year. So this should help us hire more teachers as it undoubtedly is a large class. I have received a letter from Mr. Campbell that we will receive a shipment of 310 brooms on September 2nd."
Dumbledore brightened at the single good news he has heard till now. "That is good news. I have received several applications for various subjects. Ms. Tonks has applied for both Defense and Transfiguration. Mr. Rajendra Patil, the brother of our twins, has applied for the DADA position. Mrs. Andromeda Tonks has applied for the Potions position. Charlie Weasley has applied for the Care of Magical Creatures position, and surprisingly Ms. Evans has applied for the Muggle studies position. She has promised to send me lesson plans for all 7 years within 15 days and said that they would be very different from the Ministry approved syllabus. She plans to work with the ministry to change the syllabus." Dumbledore shook his head as if he believed that it was impossible. "Hagrid?"
"Some of the older unicorns are back as are some of the Centaurs. The Acromantula are still missing. Aragog and Mosag were reluctant to tell me where they were gone."
"HARRY!" Parvati squealed as soon as Harry and the witches entered the muggle restaurant called The Bamboo Garden. She hugged him and whispered, "Thank you! I know you had something to do with that document that we signed." Harry smiled at her. Padma walked up to him and hugged him too and whispered her thanks.
"My! My! You have grown taller and become more handsome Harry. I love your eyes, now that you are not hiding it behind those damn glasses. I assume that you are wearing contacts?" Parvati gushed. Harry blushed and mumbled something about thanking Mrs. Tonks and her potion. Padma observed that most of the witches give Parvati possessive looks. Diffusing the tension caused by Parvati's obvious flirting, Padma laughed and said, "Harry, I think introductions are in order."
Harry smiled. "Ladies, let me introduce my friends here. Hermione Granger, Susan Bones, Luna Lovegood, Daphne Greengrass and Nymphadora Tonks... but please call her Tonks or she might hex you into next year."
"Awesome! I know all of them except Tonks from my Arithmancy and Ancient Runes class. It is nice to meet you Tonks." Padma gave each witch a hug while Parvati smiled. Harry groaned and said, "Am I the only nut who did not take those awesome classes?" Parvati snickered and linked her arm in Harry's and settled next to Harry in their private dining area. "In that case, I am a fellow nut too. Did you guys hear about the recent gossip?" Parvati asked excitedly which made Padma roll her eyes exaggeratedly.
While the other witches were busy gossiping, Padma, Hermione and Harry ordered some lovely Indo-Chinese food. "Parvati and Padma, I cannot speak for Ron, but I would like to apologize for my behavior during the Yule Ball in our fourth year. Two beautiful ladies such as you, deserved much better." Parvati and Padma looked at each other and did that twin-communication through their eyes. They both immediately schooled their expressions on their face into a serious one and said, "Do you think a simple apology would do? Do you know how traumatic it is to our young impressionable minds?"
Harry thought for a minute and mentally conversed with his four wives. While Parvati was observing Harry, Padma actually noticed that all four witches had gone a little distant for a few moments. "You are right! I will make up for my oversight and you have two options. First, I could take you both on a date in town and ensure you have fun. Mind you, with Riddle behind me, I am not looking for any romance or commitment." Harry said with a wink.
"Confident much? You could not manage just one of us a year and half ago. Now you think you can manage the two of us?" Parvati scoffed.
"You said something about a second option?" Padma asked.
"Yes, the second option would be an all expense paid 7-day vacation to India with the present company plus two." Charlie had come back with the Weasleys and had decided to take up Tonks' offer. "You both will be our tour guides. I have half a day of business while I am there and I can make my own arrangements."
The faces of the two Indian witches lit up. "Really? When can we go?" "We so wanted to meet our grandparents this year, but Mom had a few last minute appointments and we had to cancel our trip. That would be lovely! What all do you want to do?"
Harry laughed at the twins' excitement. "Susan definitely wants to get a tan on the beach. Hermione would love to visit historic sites, Daphne would love to look at your potion-supplies bazaar and hunt for potion recipes, Luna and I would love to visit some jungles and interact with magical creatures. I would also love to visit the mountains and the sea. I have never been there before. And I am sure all the witches would love to shop." "YAYYY SHOPPING!"
"That will be awesome! Would it be alright if we all split up in the morning and meet each other every afternoon or early evening? Parvati and I are going to con our elder brother and cousins to be tour guides. Harry, you are going to love my grandpa's Herpertarium!" Padma had the same gleam in her eyes that Harry was very familiar with whenever Hermione starts her planning sessions.
"That would be perfect. I did not know you had a brother. And how many cousins do you have?" Harry inquired.
Parvati rolled her eyes. "Harry, I don't think you have any idea about India's population. My mother has four brothers and four sisters. My dad has a brother and six sisters. We have about 40 first cousins. " Parvati grinned. "Believe us, finding tour guides will not be a problem at all!"
Harry grinned. He continued talking with Parvati about Indian culture while he spied Padma and Hermione bring out their ever present notepads and start working on an itinerary. Harry laughed and shook his head. "Say Parvati, I know you are interested in fashion and beauty care. Do you know anyone who is interested in starting a shop similar to Madam Malkins in another Magic Alley?"
Parvati looked stunned. "Of course I do, Harry. My aunt and Mrs. Brown, you know Lavender's mom have been scouting for a location for almost a year. Diagon Alley's rental prices are too high and they have not been able to raise that kind of financing. Why do you ask?"
"How about someone I know offer them a deal on a good location and add in a ton of Acromantula silk at 1/4th the market value? Why don't you give me your aunt's address?" Parvati was surprised at that and wrote down her aunt's address on a piece of paper. Harry went into a meditative trance for a few seconds and then told Parvati, "Someone is on their way to meet your Aunt!" Parvati was so shocked that her jaw had dropped. "How did you do that?" Padma and Hermione were oblivious of what was going on. The other witches saw Parvati's expression and snickered. "Ask not any questions and I will not lie," Harry told the Indian witch cryptically and she nodded.
"So who is up for some travel shopping? I believe we are leaving tomorrow for India and it will be pretty hot and humid at most places there. Dora, do you think you can shop for Aurora and Charlie too?" Harry inquired and Tonks nodded her head. "Parvati, I know you are close to Lavender, so feel free to shop for her even though she is not joining us on the trip."
After an hour of shopping, Harry escaped from the witches. He really did not want to witness the witches shopping for their unmentionables and bikinis. Parvati and Padma initially were hesitant to shop and Harry convinced them that the shopping and the trip was his responsibility. It was part of the deal and each person had a 500 galleon limit for shopping today.
On seeing their gob-smacked expression, Harry explained, "Parvati and Padma, I know I don't have to buy your friendship." The two witches vigorously nodded. "You really don't know how rich I am and believe me if I tell you that even if you manage to spend 10,000 galleons today, it will be less than what I earn in a day. I have enough money to splurge and live for 100 generations. I am not boasting and but am merely stating a fact. Two things are precious to me, my friends' lives and their happiness. If you had surplus of a delicious candy, would you not share it with me?" Both witches nodded again. "It is the same case here. I have excess of something. I don't throw it away, but use it to bring some happiness into the lives of my friends. So if you consider me your friend, both will accept my deal."
"Thank you Harry!" Both witches hugged him and kissed his cheek. "Please do not tell anyone that I am rich. The thing I respect in a friend is their ability to keep my secrets. I hate attention and fame. I hate fan-girls. Please, I beg of you, not to act like as one." Parvati and Padma scoffed together. "Don't worry Harry! We will kick your butt if you are wrong..." "And still tell you that your haircut is hideous." Parvati and Padma snickered.
Harry took the Goblin portkey to Gringotts to attend his two scheduled meetings. "Griphook, thank you for seeing me at such short notice."
"It is my pleasure to serve, Harry. I have a few things to discuss with you. First, Ms. Chang and Ms. Li have sent us a status report. We have to make two decisions here. The Goblins have identified a wizard Obliviator who agreed to part with the magic binding charms they use. We may have to bribe him a 1,000 galleons." Harry nodded and asked him to go ahead with that. "We have made copies of all the books in the Malfoy Library while we were retrieving the Black books from there." Griphook grinned. "I hope you don't mind that I have paid the 4 Goblins who helped us 500 Galleons each for their effort." Harry gave Griphook a thumbs-up sign. "Now, do we give Ms. Chang and Ms. Li copies of those books?"
"Griphook, can someone could look at those books and only give Cho and Su the books that are relevant? If they don't find anything in the subset, they should be given access to the whole collection." Griphook nodded.
"Next, I have solved your problem about acquiring potions supplies from magical animals." Griphook grinned. This particular problem had been vexing Harry for a long time and he could not find a solution. "The Goblins helped me acquire 20-year contracts from animal breeders and hunters in China, Canada, Brazil, Africa, Russia, Java and Australia for magical animal potions ingredients. We are negotiating a contract with a family in India for snake products." Griphook explained.
"Excellent! Goblins are the best! Pay the breeders and hunters generously and ensure that they don't hunt the animals to extinction. Even if you have to buy the forests to ensure that, please do it. It is more important than immediate petty profits." Harry suggested.
"Harry, you really think very differently from the Goblins. We would have focused more on profits per deal rather than long term impact. But we will do as you suggested. You don't mind giving the Goblins a finder's fee, do you?"
"Of course not Griphook! You don't have to ask me for permission for such things. You know how I think, so make decisions at your discretion. I consider you my brother. So you may act instead of me in such circumstances." Griphook beamed at the honor.
"Last thing before your next meeting Harry. You really need to meet your muggle investment brokers. Here is their card." Harry picked up the card to read Finch, Fletchley and Emyrs, Investment Bankers. Harry looked at the card in amazement. "I have confirmed your dinner plans today with them. They are expecting you at 6 PM. Will you be able to make it?" Griphook enquired.
"The world is definitely a small place! Of course I will go. I will take Hermione and Susan with me."
"I will let them know. Now folks for your other meeting are waiting in the conference room."
Harry walked into the conference room with his hood pulled up and a glamour charm obscuring his face. He gave each of them a secrecy oath document and a blood quill. "Thank you for coming. Could you please sign this document so that we can get on with our discussion?" Harry watched the gathered group as they read the document and signed it. Fred and George Weasley were grinning while Katie Bell gave him a smirk. Oliver Wood, Alicia Spinnet, Angelina Johnson and Lee Jordan had already seen a similar document before and hence they signed it after reading it. The only person who was doubtful was Penelope Clearwater and she too signed the document after seeing that the others had already done so.
Harry took off his hood and said hello. "HARRY?" "POTTER?" The question was echoed by the others while Katie and the twins laughed. "Sorry folks, we knew, but we couldn't tell you."
"But tell us, oh illustrious partner..."
"And almost brother! What is ..."
"Ms. Clearwater..."
"Our perfect prefect's girlfriend..."
"Doing here?"
Harry and Penelope laughed. Harry looked at Penelope and asked, "They don't know?"
Penelope looked at the twins' curious expression and laughed. "No! Only Charlie does!"
"KNOWS WHAT?" The twins echoed.
Harry winked at Penelope and said, "It seems..."
Penelope continued, "You perfect prefect brother..."
Harry said, "Is a better Prankster than..."
"You both gave him credit for." Penelope finished Harry's thought.
Everyone in the room laughed out loud seeing Harry and Penelope imitate the twin speak and laughed louder seeing the twins expression on hearing about Percy. "Yes, Fred and George! It was all an act on Percy's part. He has his reasons for doing what he did and we would appreciate it if you kept it a secret from the rest of the world." Penelope requested.
"Well, in that case, Ms. Clearwater..."
"Welcome to the Family!" Fred and George hugged a shocked Penelope.
"How did you know? I thought I had glamoured the ring pretty well!" Penelope asked. The other witches squealed and looked at her ring finger and appreciated the ring while Penelope beamed.
The twins laughed and said, "We have our own secrets, sister-in-law-to-be!"
After a few minutes, Lee Jordan asked Harry. "And why are we all gathered here for?"
"Right!" Harry clapped his hands to get everyone's attention. "Do you all remember my first Quidditch match where I almost swallowed the snitch to catch it?" Everyone nodded. "Lee, could you please think of the last few minutes of the match while I retrieve your memory?" Harry touched Lee's temple with his wand and pulled out a silver strand and placed it on an Elven memory orb. "Now watch!" Harry pulled out the white sheet from a large flat-screen television-lookalike. Harry held a device which looked very much like a muggle remote and pressed a few buttons. "Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Quidditch Network on the Wizion."
Everyone looked shocked as they viewed the last few minutes of Harry's first match. "Here is why you all are here today! I am a very rich guy and I don't want anyone to know it. I hate attention and fame. I don't like fans. So I prefer to stay in the background. I want you all to be my fronts in the businesses I own." Most of the audience looked shocked at the announcement.
"I own three Quidditch teams: Puddlemore United, Holyhead Harpies and Chudley Cannons." The audience's jaws dropped. "There are 10 other teams out there and believe me, they are all owned by death eaters. I want to ruin those teams and if possible buy them. Of course, I do have money to buy them all outright, but that would mean contributing to death eater finances. So I have come up with a multi-pronged strategy to basically kill their finances."
"First, we kill the broomstick industry. I can't thank the broomstick twins enough for creating the Lightning!" Harry looked at Katie Bell who beamed at that. She had suspected that Harry had something to do with her father and uncle's sudden retirement decision.
"Second, make my three teams the best there is. The Cannons are going to change their whole roster. I have invited Victor Krum to play as seeker. I was hoping that Oliver would accept the Keeper position, Angelina and Alicia would be Chasers. Amie Mendonza, from Beaubatons, would be the other chaser while our own Katie Bell finishes her seventh year. I have invited Jacob and Nathaniel Portman, the beater twins from Salem, to play as beaters. Fred and George, I hope you don't mind not playing for the Cannons. I need you both for more important things. The old Cannons team will still be on the roster and will act as coaches. I am willing to pay 1.5 times of what the highest paid player will get. Will you accept?"
"YES!" was the resounding answer.
"Brilliant! I want Oliver Wood and Katie Bell to head the 'Quidditch Network'. That means, I want you to get contracts from all the teams to broadcast their matches live on the QN. Also get permission to broadcast old matches from people's memories. The Goblins will help you with the terms and conditions and Susan Bones will word the contracts." Harry said the last sentence while looking at the twins. "So she is the Oath Goddess!" One of the twins exclaimed. Harry could only laugh at Susan's new moniker. "I want Lee Jordan to be the lead commentator on both the QN and any matches played by our three teams." Harry looked at Lee and he nodded his consent.
"As your might have heard, I am negotiating with the ministry to buy/lease the patent for the voting charm. I want the audience to be sucked into watching QN. They get to vote on various mini-quizzes and will win large prizes." Everyone looked at Harry skeptically. He smiled and explained. "This voting charm serves two purposes. One, the more prizes you give, the more the viewership of the network. It is great for business." Everyone nodded.
"The second and more important use of the voting charm, once the public gets used to it, we will use the same process to change laws as soon as the current political climate changes." Everyone gaped at Harry as if he had grown a second and a third head. Harry laughed at everyone and asked, "Did you think that I was going to stop at the QN on the Wizion? We are going to start a news channel which will report only truthful news. There will be a Wizengamot channel which will telecast live the proceedings of the Wizengamot. The Ministry WILL be made accountable to its public."
"Are you sure you are not a Slytherin?" Penelope asked. Harry laughed and asked if she would believe him if he told that the sorting hat wanted him to place him there first? Everyone else in the room was still speechless.
"Anyway, this box as you may have guessed is called Wizion and is the Wizarding equivalent of muggle television and Internet. These were created in the Wizarding world, so the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts office should not have any problems here. They run on magic and can even play muggle television channels." Katie danced a jig! She really missed muggle television while in the Magical World.
Harry laughed at Katie's antics and asked, "Have you heard of Rune-mail and Rune-Ports?" Most of the audience nodded. "Well, Wizion integrates with Rune-Mail and you can shop without having to go the shops. You look at the stores' inventory and buy things and money gets deducted from your Gringotts vaults and products shipped via Rune-Mail almost instantly." Harry finished with a flourish. He loved the fish mouth expression on everyone's faces.
"Wizion will be distributed by a company called the '21st Century'. Hermione is the chief inventor of most of our products. Penelope, I want you to work with her and take over invention of most of her new products. You will be taught a few patent-protected things which would be the basis of most inventions. You will also be running the '21st Century' company. That means, you hire staff who will man the stores."
"Other than Wizion, 21st Century has products such as self-refilling fountain pens which are much better than quills, files and folders to organize scrolls, muggle paper which is much more economical than parchment, Fountain pens that are charmed to write what you are thinking, which are much better than dicta-quills and many such inventions that are inspired from muggle inventions. Hermione wants you Penelope to take over the Wizarding cellphone project that she has just started."
"What if the ministry tries to stop such an enterprise?" Penelope asked.
"Everyone loves Quidditch and so the Ministry will be helpless. I will try to appease the Minister by contributing galleons to DMLE. In spite of all that, if they cause problems, we will topple Fudge's regime. I sure have dirt on that scumbag!" Harry commented off-handedly.
"My goal is to make the Ministry accountable for its actions, and root out the corruption. I don't care about blood politics and I think everyone was born equal." Harry declared. Harry then handed each a folder of what he expected their jobs to be. He then handed an additional secrecy oath document for Percy to sign so that she need not keep secrets from her fiancé. He told her that he would meet her fiancé's boss sometime next week.
"What if the death eaters attack Diagon alley and target the store?" Alicia asked.
"Who ever said anything about the store being in Diagon Alley?" Harry asked cryptically with a smirk on his face. "The store will be located in a new Wizarding Alley called 'Magic Alley' in a new Wizarding village I have built called 'Godric's Hollow'. Death Eaters and anyone with harmful intent are not welcome there." Harry loved the fact that a few fainted due to all the shocks that evening.
Harry, Hermione and Susan walked up to the Finch-Fletchley residence and rang the bell. "Harry and Hermione? What are you doing here? SUSAN! Long time no see!" Justin hugged Susan. "We have a dinner appointment with your parents Justin." Harry explained.
"Really? I thought dad and mom are meeting their partner. Unless you are..." Justin's eyes widened.
"Think no more of it Justin. You know me as Harry and let it be Harry." Harry really did not want others to think of him in a different light. Justin invited the trio in and invited Susan up to his room and she happily followed him.
"Mr. and Mrs. Finch-Fletchley, I am Harry Potter and this is Hermione Granger. Pleased to meet you." Harry shook their hands.
"Actually it is Mr. Finch and Mrs. Fletchley. She refused to take my name." Mr. Finch pouted. "But, it gets confusing. So please call us Thomas and Joanna. Makes life much easier, not having to stick to formality." Harry and Hermione nodded. "Harry, you really look like your father with your mother's eyes."
"You knew them?" Harry could not help but ask. Thomas laughed. "Knew them? Of course I knew them. Joanna was your mother's childhood neighbor. After your parents got together, James, Lily and Sirius were a permanent fixture here. Who do you think our third partner is? Emyrs as in Merlin? It was James and Sirius' idea of a joke. Effectively you are our new partner now. We don't believe that Sirius could have betrayed James and Lily. Do you know anything about it?"
"I know who betrayed my parents. It is Peter Pettigrew and he blamed my godfather Sirius for it. Sirius broke out of Azkaban, but he lost his life in a battle at the Ministry last month."
"We are sorry for your loss, Harry. We have a lot of fond memories of your parents and your godfather. If you ever wish to hear about them, let us know. But not today, we got a lot of things to cover."
"Here is the portfolio of our company," Thomas said while handing a file each to Harry and Hermione. "Most of the stocks have an 8-10 percent annual return. The technology market is about to boom and we are planning on moving some of these monies into it. We are a little hesitant to do that as these investments are conservative ones and the new technology market might be a little volatile. We were hoping we would get your input as you technically own 60 percent of our total investments." Thomas explained.
Hermione and Harry looked at the companies in which they owned stocks. Most of them seemed to be very stable companies. Hermione and Harry talked to each other mentally and decided to keep these stocks the way they were. "Thomas and Joanne, What do you say if I ask you to leave these as it is, and give you more money to invest in the tech market?"
"How much new investment are we talking about Harry?" Joanne inquired.
"Well, the total portfolio of our company is about 300 million pounds which is 60 million galleons. How about I invest 60 million galleons more?"
Thomas and Joanne's eyes widened before they schooled a professional look on their faces. "Actually Harry, the 5 pounds to 1 galleon exchange rate is fixed by your Ministry and forced on the Goblins. It is more realistic to assume 50-75 pounds per galleon based on weight of the gold. Why don't you do what your parents and Sirius did? Melt the galleons into gold bricks of 1 Kg each. We will pawn the gold in one of the International banks and with that money we will invest in these new ventures. Over time, we will buy back the gold we pawn from the returns on the new investments. But for now, I think we can only afford to increase our investments by 100 percent. That means that only 6 million galleons would do."
"Hold on! Let me ask the Goblins if they would melt the galleons for us." Harry concentrated for a minute and then smiled. "They agree but on the condition that we tell them how my parents overcame the Goblin enchantments."
Thomas laughed. "Lily was a very smart witch! It is a muggle technique called electrolysis. It uses electricity. I will mail a book on that to the Goblins."
"What will be the return on investment in these new technology ventures?" Hermione inquired.
"These investments will be riskier than the conservative market, but will give better returns on investment which we estimate to be around 20-25 percent. Also, the stocks will be worth much more after a few years." Joanne explained.
"Perfect! Thomas and Joanne, on a different note, how difficult will it be to issue our own muggle credit cards to the magical folks? The Goblins have no idea of the muggle world finances and I want to start a bank/agency that bridges the finances of these two worlds. The way I see it, someone could make a huge profit by converting a lot of muggle currency into galleons at 5 pounds per Galleon and melt the Galleons into gold and sell it in the muggle world. I plan to do the reverse of it, that is get the magical world to spend in the muggle world using a muggle credit card and we charge them the equivalent in galleons based on the 5 pounds per galleon conversion rate."
"That is a very good idea Harry. Do you think you will have enough investment of gold to undertake such a venture?" Joanne asked.
"More than enough. I understand that we can't let Wizarding world become... a free market. But there are many things the magical world can buy from the muggle world. Food and beverages are the first that pop in my mind. I want to start a super-food store from which each magical family can buy from. Delivery of food and produce will be instantaneous, thanks to magic. In fact, the super food store need not be here in the U.K. It can be anywhere in the world where there is enough supply. What do you think?"
Thomas whistled. "If we can do that, it will earn a lot of money. Is it time for us to diversify? Why not you let Joanne and I hash it out and you bring in the magic components. We may have to call in some favors from our colleagues in the banking industry. When do you want to start this by?"
"How about the first of October? That enough time? I can ask the Elves or the Goblins to help you speed it up. They are very efficient."
"That will be great. Let us head into the dining room now." Joanne invited everyone for a gourmet dinner.