A/N: Thank you guys so much for leaving reviews! I love hearing what you guys think of the story and enjoy talking about it with you. For example, JaspersStoryAlter's review helped influence this very chapter. ;) And a special thanks goes out to all the rest of you who have that reviewed multiple chapters (ex. Moi and Marioluver). You're the best!

"Hi, Luna," he greeted happily, clocking in at exactly seven o'clock. "You know you don't have to stay in this late."

The blonde looked up from her computer and smiled, her fingers still typing away. There were a million reasons why Luna was the best secretary in the world, but her ability to multitask was probably only rivaled by Hermione (which might explain their problematic – from Harry's standpoint – relationship) and he always admired how loyal she was. With all the scandals happening in the office, it was nice to have someone around that he knew he could count on.

Lately, she'd started hanging out at the office afterhours to be there when Harry arrived. He used to feel guilty about making Luna work overtime, but she always insisted that it was her pleasure. Harry was often messing around in the office until midnight, and it would make no sense for him to force his friend to stay around while he shuffled through papers, made frantic notes, and sighed heavily. That's why he made her promise not to stick around for the rest of the night. Nowadays, she typically left shortly after he arrived, but it was enough time for them to share a short conversation before she finally got her well-deserved break.

"You know it's no problem, Harry," she said. She tilted her head to the side and hummed. "You seem happy today. Can I take that to mean you and Severus had a good time?"

Harry just shook her head. When Luna first came to Godric's, she had correctly guessed that Harry had totaled his new Audi even though he'd been hiding the accident from everyone. He secretly believed that she was a descendant of Sherlock Holmes. (Okay, that would make her some fictional character, but that's beside the point – the point being that Luna was crazily perceptive.) That's why he was only mildly surprised that she'd picked up on his mood and the cause for it.

"Let me guess. Hermione told you about our meeting," he surmised, walking over to the blonde's desk and picking up a few documents waiting for him. He frowned at all of the junk mail and tossed them into the wire basket on the floor.

"She had me add the meeting to your Google calendar," she admitted.

Satisfied with the explanation and proud of himself for his correct deduction, he started to make his move towards his office. Luna's station consisted of her desk that held her computer and phone and a high tech printer/scanner/fax machine. Right behind her station was an opaque glass wall that had one door on the left end, which was the entrance to Harry's office. He didn't know who was the architecture for the building, but he was happy that he and Luna were able to work in such close proximity.

As his hand touched the doorknob, Luna spoke up again.

"Oh, Harry?"

"Yes?"

"I've been meaning to go to the movies this weekend. Did you and Severus enjoy yours?"

How had s-? "Uh…yeah. It was okay…We watched Nebraska."

"That's the black and white one, isn't it?"

Still baffled as to how his secretary had known about their trip to the theaters, he just nodded.

"It's not a very romantic choice," she commented.

"No, I suppose not."

"So were you able to get in a kiss?"

Harry was choking. He didn't know what had gotten stuck in his throat, but he was suddenly having trouble breathing.

"Nothing to be embarrassed about, Harry. No one is going to blame you for taking things slowly, especially since you haven't gone on a date in months. Look on the positive side. You may not have gotten the kiss you wanted, but at least you were able to sit next to him, right? I'm guessing he must have smelled really nice."

Seriously! Who was this girl and from which planet did she descend from? Was she related to those aliens that had mentally attacked him earlier? One of their friendlier cousins? How could she know all this and say it so calmly?

Luna pressed a few buttons on the monitor and started to pack up, seemingly oblivious to Harry's slight panic attack. Once she'd cleared all of the papers off her black desk, she pulled down her bright purple cardigan and then turned to Harry.

"I'm sorry, but I have to get going now. Call me if you need any help," she instructed before leaving out the doors Harry had just entered.

As soon as he walked into his personal office, Harry headed straight towards his closet and knelt down to put in the combination for his safe. When the heavy black door clicked open, he tried not to sigh as he pulled out the safe's only contents – a 3" ring binder. It saddened him to have to keep the binder tucked away like that. For years, his safe had been empty – a clunky waste of space. He'd had no reason to use it because he felt safe (pun partially intended) at work. These people were his family; he had nothing to hide.

Now that he realized what was going on behind doors, he had to keep his own secrets under lock and key for fear that the others might find out what he was up to. The binder held the names of all the people Dudley had screwed over and copies of their contracts, which were highlighted and circled and notated on like a rented textbook. He'd spent night after night pouring over these things, trying to find one ambiguously worded phrase that would set these people free. But what could he expect? These people weren't hired for no good reason; they were good at their jobs.

Minerva, the first name on his list, had been manipulated into a particularly unforgiving agreement. She was only an English high school teacher, so her income stream was nothing to brag about. Nonetheless, she was a huge cat lover and was appalled by the number of strays she found wandering the streets and wanted to do something to help. She came to Godric's last year with a request for a few thousand dollars to help her create a local animal shelter. In return, she had to pay a twenty-three percent interest rate and put her old Corvette up for collateral. From the make, Harry knew the car could be sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars at any decent auto auction, but Dudley had somehow convinced the aging woman that it was nothing more than a piece of scrap metal. She'd signed the deal and was now one missed payment away from forfeiting the shelter and her precious car. She saw a problem in the community and went to Godric's to get help to solve it, yet Dudley had only seen an old woman he could take advantage of.

Sadly, Minerva wasn't the only victim. There were so many more. A man named Remus Lupin had needed money to pay his friend's attorney. His friend was facing some serious jail time, so Lupin had been desperate enough to pledge his apartment. There was a young woman by the name of Katie Bell who was willing to give up her precious necklace, a family heirloom of sorts, in exchange for some extra cash needed to pay for graduate school. Poppy Pomfrey, a certified nurse training to become a physician, had dreamed for years of starting a little clinic in town. She was able to loan some money from her wealthier friends but was still short a few dollars. Sensibly, she turned to a bank for help. Like in all of the previous cases, Dudley gave her an unthinkably high interest rate (hidden in a footnote on the seventeenth page of a sixty page document). To guarantee that she'd be able to repay the loan, which of course she could not, she had offered up her patent on a medical drug she'd helped develop. Given the increasing use of the drug, the patent was worth way more than the $30,000 she got in return. This was a fact that Dudley decided to keep to himself, though.

Looking at the names and reading about their problems, Harry had to try his best not to fall into a deeper depression. How was supposed to help these people? They were in deep shit, and there didn't seem to be anything Harry could do to help. In an ideal world, this would all be so easy. Harry would just collect all the evidence he had on Dudley's scheme, march on over to the police, and tell them all about the fraud. Dudley and his conspirators would be arrested, and that would be that. The bad boys would be caught, and that would take care of the bank's policy that contracts could only be terminated if all board members signed off. All Harry would have to do is hire some lawyers who would work some magic and nullify the contracts. Everyone, minus the criminals, would live happily ever after.

Except Harry didn't live in an ideal world. He lived in a world where the media blew things out of proportion and where people panicked at even the whiff of trouble. So if Harry went to the police about the fraud, he knew that the whole town would freak out. Godric's couldn't be trusted anymore! Godric's was stealing everyone's money! Godric's was a scam! And that's when there would be a rush of people at the bank, lined up to withdraw their money and close their accounts. In a matter of days, Godric's would have to file for bankruptcy, and all of his parents' hard work would go down the drain. Moreover, the townspeople would have no choice but to turn to the greedy banks Godric's was trying to run out of business. They thought staying at Godric's would lead them towards disaster, but they were more likely to get cheated at one of the larger banks who would see the flood of new customers as the perfect chance to make more money.

No, Harry couldn't turn to law enforcement quite yet. This was something he'd have to deal with on his own.

As he leaned back in his black leather chair, binder in lap and mutilated pencil in mouth, a brilliant idea came to him. If you can't beat them, join them! (Okay, maybe it wasn't "brilliant" since that saying was pretty cliché. But that's not the point.) He'd start going to work at 8am like normal, but this time he'd actually confront Dudley about his plans. Yet, instead of demanding Dudley resign (which would again lead to a scandal and Godric's demise), he'd ask to join in. Don't get the wrong idea. Harry wanted no part of their despicable misconduct. However, if he acted like he was one of them, he could build back their old relationship. As soon as they were buddies again and their suspicions were lowered, Harry would ask for their signatures on a few "new contracts" of his own, and they'd never suspect that they were actually agreeing to nullify all of their bad deals and slowly retire from the contract. He'd lie and say it was just another loan contract and make sure they didn't read the contract too carefully. Once they signed the dotted line, Minerva and the others wouldn't have any more monthly payments to worry about, and Dudley and his accomplices would be punished in a way that would save the bank face. Even better, they wouldn't dare go public about it for fear that their own crimes would be brought to light.

Ha! If only Severus could see him now! He wasn't just "not stupid." He was a fucking genius!

A/N: Ahh I hate writing long paragraphs of description and no dialogue. Blah

No worries, guys. Severus will be back next chapter. ;)

(P.S. If Harry's plan seems confusing to you, please let me know so that I can make it clearer in the next chapter.)