Chapter 2

Henry hesitated before knocking.

A voice came from inside, telling him to come in. Henry pushed the door open and walked inside Sirius Black's study, which was near the library. The candle had nearly burnt to the bottom and Henry knew that Sirius had been working hard for the past few days.

"Henry," Sirius acknowledged him. "What can I do for you?"

"Mrs. Potter invited me to their home for Christmas weekend," said Henry. "Can I go?"

Sirius frowned. He looked from Henry back to the documents in front of him and sighed. "We're taking a separate holiday this year to France," he said. "I suppose Carina told you about it."

Henry nodded. He allowed a faint hint of hurt to creep into his expression - as if he were trying hard to prevent it but it still was altogether too much for him to fully mask.

"Yes, I think it best if you stay with the Potters for the weekend," agreed Sirius finally. He rubbed his forehead. He was about to return to his work when he realized his nephew was still waiting. "What else?"

"It's just - it's just that - I don't have any presents for them or any money to buy -" Henry allowed his cheeks to turn a tinge of red in embarrassment.

"I should have thought of this before," Sirius nodded. "I'll give you twenty galleons a month as pocket-money. That's forty galleons since your arrival, plus ten more as Christmas bonus. That should be sufficient. You may go to the local shops down the road on your own, just notify Kreacher; but if you wish to go to Diagon Alley, let me know and I will arrange an escort for you."

"Can I go tomorrow?" asked Henry.

Sirius nodded. "Remus has some work in the Alley. I'm sure he'll be glad to take you with him."

The next morning, Henry trotted behind Remus Lupin as a quiet observer while the man bought various potions ingredients from an apothecary. The ingredients, Henry recalled, were used for the original inferior Wolfsbane potion. This was the variety that only allowed a werewolf to retain his mind; later varieties as researched by a collaborative effort between Luna Scamander, Rolf Scamander and Teddy Lupin were able to completely negate the effect of the full moon on a werewolf, allowing them to live a completely normal life on the day itself.

"Mr. Lupin, can I ask you a personal question?" Henry asked curiously.

"Please do," said Remus.

"Uncle Sirius is an Auror, Mr. Potter works for the Minister and Mr. Longbottom is a wizard solicitor. What do you do for a living?" Kreacher had already told him but Henry knew it would be a good point to direct the conversation to his ultimate aim.

Remus chuckled. "Interesting question. Why do you ask that?"

Henry blushed slightly. "It's just that you always seem to be in muggle suits whereas the others are in wizard robes. I was just curious what other jobs people could have in the magical world."

"I don't work in the magical world," admitted Remus. "I have a condition which makes it hard for me to secure employment here. But with Sirius and James' help, I managed to find employment in a muggle financial services company. I am a portfolio manager for high net worth clients."

"What does that mean?" Henry asked in confusion. He knew what that meant but the average nine year old wouldn't.

Remus smiled. "Well. We take people's money and invest - that is, we use the money in a number of ways - think of them as bets on how much money other shops and businesses will make - and we get back more than what we started with if we win those bets. We keep a bit of this extra money and return the rest to the people when they want it back."

"So," said Henry. "If I gave you twenty-five galleons, you could make it a whole lot more?"

Remus chuckled at the boy's keen interest. "It's becoming harder these days," said Remus. "The economy - that term refers to the whole money business - is going through a rough time. It might be difficult to even return the original amount of money back to the people who gave it." He smiled ruefully at Henry. "Hold on to your galleons, Henry. Gold is always safe."

Henry hesitated. "But it's all a bet, isn't it? If you lose money by betting one way, you could have made more by betting the other way!"

Remus nodded at the young kid's apparent insight. "I can't fault with that logic," he admitted. "But who would have bet that the tortoise would beat the hare in a race."

'One who had glimpsed into the future and seen the end-result,' Henry thought to himself. "But, Mr. Lupin. If I do give you some money and ask you to make a bet in the money market for me?" He looked at Remus pleadingly. "Please," he begged.

"I don't know," said Remus. "There's a minimum amount of a thousand pounds that needs to be invested in the muggle world." He quailed at the boy's enthusiasm. "Luckily, the magical world has a much lower requirement of fifty galleons."

Henry feigned disappointment, he knew Remus Lupin very well. "I only have fifty. I was planning to spend half of it on presents."

Remus sighed. "Very well, Henry. I will put another twenty-five galleons of my own money in the pot. Let's see how you handle a small dose of investment. Here's the deal. I give you twenty-five galleons and expect a profit of five galleons. One year from now, I will claim thirty galleons from you, and if your investment falls short, you will have to pitch in from your pocket-money. Deal?"

Henry smiled and nodded. He knew Remus would never claim the money from him and was giving him a lesson in responsibility. But it was important for the man to develop a trust in his intuition. "Nimbus Racing Broom Company," said Henry, and almost expected the look of disappointment from Remus.

"The first thing about investment, Henry, is to disregard all personal prejudices and look at the market objectively - that it, in a fair and unbiased manner. Just because a person likes a particular kind of product does not make it the best investment."

"I am being objective and fair!" Henry protested. "If you look at the past twenty years of the company's products; they have introduced a new broom every four years. The next one should be this coming year. I am betting that it will be rated the best broom in the world."

Remus' eyes widened at Henry's logic. He whistled in amusement. "You might have something there," he said keenly. "I will look into it." He hesitated. "How confident are you?"

"Very."

"Confident enough to place a higher bet?" asked Remus. Henry nodded eagerly. "Here's the deal. Instead of twenty-five galleons, I'll throw in a full hundred. In a year, I'll collect a hundred and twenty from you, regardless of your actual profit or loss, and you will have to make good this return. You can tell me to remove the money from Nimbus at any time during this year. Deal?"

"Deal." This time Henry shook hands with Remus.

Then, he spent the next hour shopping for the Potters. Remus was a big help in finding a scarf for Lily, a muggle joke-book for James, a box of chocolate frogs for Jamie.

"What about Harry?" asked Henry curiously. "I haven't met him, but he'll be there, won't he? I should get him something."

Remus started. He hesitated. "I suppose," he said finally. But Henry could tell that Remus himself was not going to get Harry Potter anything. Once again, he was dumbfounded. The Remus Lupin here didn't seem altogether that much different from the Remus Lupin in his previous life - in fact, he was more confident, self-assured, had less insecurities, and seemed much more professional in every capacity. Why was everyone so anti-Harry Potter.

But Henry knew better to pursue that line of questioning just yet and decided to buy a book that he himself had thoroughly enjoyed when Hermione had loaned it to him - The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien.

Saying goodbye to the Black family was a bittersweet moment for Henry. Carina had really been growing on him. Her softness and tendency to look to him as an older brother had won her a warm place in his heart. He knew she was extremely gutted to be going on vacation without him but she also wouldn't provoke her mother's fury by saying a word against it. He waved at her as they left through the floo with their suitcases.

Sirius was the last to leave. "James or Lily will come to fetch you within the hour," he said. He paused. "Be at your best behaviour when you're with them and - Merry Christmas." He gave a rare grin to his nephew.

"You too," Henry shot back.

Henry sat in the living room. Kreacher came before him. "That locket my father gave you, is it destroyed?" asked Henry casually.

Kreacher's eyes widened and he let out a loud wail, and then he started banging his head against the wall in self-punishment. "Kreacher is a bad elf. Kreacher has not been able to destroy the locket. Kreacher has failed Master Regulus. Kreacher has failed -"

"Kreacher, I'm ordering you to stop this!" Henry yelled over the noise of the house-elf. "Now listen. This has gone for far too long. You will behave like a proper pureblood house-elf, do you understand? Punishment is a master's right, not an elf's choice. When you punish yourself, you take away my right to punish you." He gazed at the house-elf with a pretence of utmost shock. "You insult me…"

Kreacher's eyes widened and he was aghast at his own actions. "Kreacher is a bad elf. Kreacher is a wretched elf. Kreacher is -"

Henry slapped his forehead in self-pity. "Stop this!" he repeated, and wondered how long it would take to re-train Kreacher into the paradigm of perfection and efficiency he had become in his previous life. "You are a house-elf of the Most Noble House of Black. When you insult yourself, you insult the House of Black. I will not have you do that. Do you understand?'

"Yes, Master Henry," said Kreacher meekly. "No punishment, no insults."

"What else have I told you?"

"No vulgar words. No insulting of guests. No hiding of Miss Carina's dolls. No turning on cold water when Master Sirius is in shower. No making faces to little Master Eridanus."

"Good," said Henry kindly, reaching forward to pat Kreacher's head. "See. You have it in you to become a good house-elf, Kreacher. You just have to try harder."

"Kreacher will try harder, Master Henry," vowed Kreacher resolutely. He looked over Henry's shoulder. "Good afternoon and welcome to the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black. Master Sirius is not at home; Master Henry has been awaiting your arrival."

Henry jumped around and saw an amused Lily and James Potter stare at him with open mouths. He groaned, they must have come in when the elf was beating his head against the wall. That would have drowned the sound of their arrival.

"You should start a house-elf training school!" said James. "I most certainly will enrol our Weepy!"

Henry groaned. "Let me guess. She weeps a lot?"

Lily nodded, still amazed by the changes made by the boy to the Black house-elf. "You ready?" she asked Henry, who nodded and motioned towards a trunk in the room. He got up and started towards the trunk.

"Allow me," said James, and passed through the floo with the trunk.

"Jamie is very excited," said Lily; once again Henry was disappointed by the lack of mention of her other son. "We all are. Come on. Go ahead first. The address is Godric's Hollow."

Henry took a deep breath on seeing Godric's Hollow. The house was beautiful. It had been decorated with exquisite delicacy in a mix of muggle and magical furnishings. He stepped forward and smiled, slightly ruing the fact that he hadn't grown up in this house; when he realized the pitiful state of the Harry Potter who was growing up in this house.

"Henry! You made it!" Jamie was delighted.

"Of course, I did," Henry retorted. "What's the worst that could have happened in grabbing a handful of floo powder and saying Godric's Hollow? It's not as if I'd end up in Knockturn Alley."

Jamie grinned. "Come on," he said. "I'll show you to your room."

Henry followed after Jamie up the stairs into a landing. For a brief moment, Henry thought he saw the door furthest along the corridor open a tiny crack. But then his attention was drawn by Jamie who dragged him to a room.

"This is the smaller guest room," said Jamie. "The bigger one is for Uncle Remus. He'll join us for dinner tomorrow night. Come on."

Henry followed Jamie back downstairs where James and Lily were having a minor argument. On seeing the boys approach, they stopped and smiled. Henry could tell that both smiles were extremely forced.

"You must be starving!" Lily declared and rushed to the kitchen.

James simultaneously moved. He looked apologetically at the two boys. "I hate to do this," he said. "Jamie, Dr. Heller has rescheduled your dental appointment. We have to go now. He is busy the whole of next week."

"What!" Jamie exclaimed. "But da-ad!" he whined, looking at his new friend.

"I'm sorry, son," James said apologetically. "You'll be back in less than an hour."

Henry grinned at the arguing duo as they left through the floo and turned around to see Lily bring in a plate of mixed cookies and muffins.

"Help yourself," she said. Henry didn't need a second invitation and promptly picked up a chocolate chip cookie. "How's the amnesia coming?" she asked. "Any recollection."

Henry shook his head. "Absolutely blank."

Lily nodded sympathetically. "I work part-time as an Unspeakable and we have encountered cases where memories retract to such depths that not even Legilimency can bring them back. They usually involve excessive exposure to the Crucia… well… to certain kinds of magic." She paled slightly. "But the healer said your amnesia was from a head wound, right?" she asked seriously.

Henry knew what was suddenly bothering her - the possibility that he had lost his memories after excessive exposure to the Cruciatus Curse or Dementors. "That's what he said," said he. "A mind healer tried searching my mind for nearly thirty minutes -"

"Ouch," said Lily. "That must have hurt."

"The headache made me lose consciousness," admitted Henry. "I was glad Mr. Weasley was around to help me."

Lily smiled. "The Weasleys are very decent people," she said. "Some of the best I know."

Henry hesitated. "Can I have a look at your library?" he asked. "Mr. Lupin said you had more books on SPP than the Black library."

Lily looked at him with wide eyes. "The term Spells with Protective Potential is something that not even a Hogwarts fifth year student would use with as much alacrity as you just did," she smiled. "Come on, little Ravenclaw." She led the fast approaching ten year old to the library.

The library itself was smaller and less authentically Georgian as the Black library, but Henry could see that the collection itself wasn't much less impressive. A pity that most of these rare books were destroyed in his previous reality. Books such as with the Black and Potter families and certain other purebloods were rare to get in modern stores. In fact, he had come to realize towards the later part of his previous life that any decent book that was in existence could be found in the Hogwarts great library or in the personal collections of the hundred most prominent pureblood families in the countries.

"I'll leave you here then and prepare dinner," said Lily. "Call me if you need anything." She paused. "Or better still, call Weepy and - well - use the same magic as you did with Kreacher."

Henry blushed, and Lily left with a chuckle. He scanned the shelves, impressed by the collection, and picked up a book titled 'Arcane Arts, Volume VII: Wards, Shields and Protection'. He had barely finished the first page when he heard the door slowly open. He raised his head and had his first glimpse of Harry Potter.

Harry's eyes widened like a deer caught in the headlights and he froze.

"Hello," said Henry, observing the boy. He looked healthy, if just a bit on the scrawny side. "Harry Potter?"

Harry nodded. "I - I didn't know anyone was in. I'll come later."

"Hold on," said Henry. He smiled pleasantly. "There's no reason why we both can't stay in the library. I'm Henry Black." He stood up and walked towards Harry, who appeared extremely discomfited by Henry's actions. Henry held his hand out. "You want to join me?"

Harry gaped at the extended hand for several seconds before taking it. "I came to get a book. I'm not supposed to - I'm supposed to stay in my room -" He looked confused and very troubled. He hastily walked to a bookshelf and replaced a book and picked up a new one.

Henry noted that Harry had just done with 'Hogwarts: A History, Volume III' and was about to start on 'Hogwarts: A History, Volume IV'.

'At least, someone will be able to stay at par with Hermione this year,' thought Henry with amusement. "Nice meeting you, Harry." He smiled warmly.

Harry turned to Henry with surprise, trying to pierce through his words, but finding no guile, returned the smile.

'Odd,' thought Henry, as he returned to his chair and turned his attention back to the text.

The reading was not to last for long as Jamie returned and he led Henry to his room to play with magical toy soldiers again. Truth be told, Henry loved playing with those. Despite the knowledge and memories he possessed, he was still a child in every way that mattered and playing was fun.

"Right," said Jamie, opening the box. "I have a more interesting box than Carina. We pick a soldier in turns?" Henry nodded. "I'm calling shotgun on the Hungarian Horntail." A miniature figurine of a ferocious dragon flew from the box towards Jamie. "Your turn."

Henry looked inside the box. The figurines were looking at him expectantly, some were flexing their muscles, while others were swinging their weapons in a bid to impress him.

"You," Henry pointed to a knight-in-shining-armour.

Jamie was delighted by Henry's choice and immediately picked an axe-warrior, relying on the previous game they had where Jamie's axe-warrior had defeated Carina's knight. Henry picked a centaur with a bow. Jamie picked a goblin. Henry picked a werewolf. Jamie picked another goblin. Henry picked another werewolf. Jamie picked another goblin. Henry picked another werewolf. Jamie picked a sword-man. Henry picked another centaur. Jamie picked another sword-man. Henry picked another werewolf. Jamie picked a muscled brawler. Henry picked a goblin.

"Okay, let's start with eight for now," said Jamie excitedly. "You go first since I picked the dragon."

"Very noble of you," Henry muttered. "You two," he pointed to the centaurs. "Aim for the Horntail's eyes. Make him blind." The centaurs and dragon stepped into the middle and started attacking each other; the centaurs managed to take an eye off before they were incinerated, at which point they vanished and reformed in the box but out of the game.

"My turn!" Jamie yelled. "Goblins! Attack the knight!"

The three goblins trotted towards the knight-in-shining-armour, who braced himself - shield and lance ready. It was a bloody battle - and mid-way through it, to Harry's shock and chagrin, his own goblin reneged and joined the others in attacking the knight.

"Not fair," Henry protested, but the knight held his ground. It was a tough battle. But at its end, three goblins were lying prone on the floor and one was brutally injured. The knight was relatively unharmed.

"Ha!" said Henry. "Take that! Finish the dragon's good eye, Sir Knight, and claim eternal glory!"

The knight charged towards the dragon, moving his horse with amazing precision to avoid the small balls of fire. He threw the lance with perfect aim, and it pierced the dragon's other eye. But a fireball connected and the knight was incinerated.

"Aw," Jamie was disappointed when his dragon became virtually useless for the rest of the battle. But he was pleased when he surveyed the remaining troops. Jamie had an axe-warrior, two sword-men and a muscled brawler, while Henry was left with just three werewolves. "All in?" asked Jamie, and Henry nodded. "Charge!" he yelled.

"Charge!" Henry returned. He grinned when the werewolves worked better as a charging team than Jamie's medley of warriors. They first took off the axe-man. But the two sword-men made good battle, which lasted nearly a minute. Finally, the battle ended with just the brawler remaining on his feet. He hadn't delivered a single hit, other than to kick a dead werewolf in its gut.

The brawler raised his hand and claimed victory.

"That was close!" Jamie sighed in relief. "Don't tell Neville I nearly lost even with the Horntail and the axe-man."

"I won't," promised Henry. "You did well until the end. Instead of charging with all of them, you should have sent the brawler out as bait for my werewolves, while the other three remained defensive and attacked from behind."

Jamie nodded, accepting the suggestion. "Yes, that would have worked better." He grinned. "Another one?"

Henry nodded. This was much more fun than chess.

That night, the whole family sat down for dinner. Lily introduced Harry to Henry, and both pretended that they hadn't met earlier during the day. But other than that very little conversation was directed at Harry. After dinner, Lily turned to Harry sternly and asked, "Have you taken your medicines?"

"Yes, mum," said Harry quietly.

"Go to bed, then," she finished.

Harry opened his mouth to protest but a quailing look from his father later, he rushed upstairs without saying a single word.

Later in the night, Henry returned to the library when everyone had gone to sleep. He pushed the door open and nearly gasped at seeing Harry crouched in a corner, reading a book at candlelight. He grinned at the polar opposite roles of the two of them from the earlier incident.

"Hey," Henry whispered.

"Hey," said Harry. "Do you want me to leave?"

"Why would I?" asked Henry.

Harry shrugged. "Nobody else likes my company."

Henry didn't respond. He retrieved the book he had been reading and propped himself on the floor next to Harry. "You looking forward to Hogwarts?"

"Yes!" said Harry. For the first time, a hint of jubilation entered his voice. "I really am!"

Henry recalled the flashing images he had seen in the Realm Between the Worlds. Harry wanted to free himself from the oppressive atmosphere at home and enter a new world. But things had only gotten worse - a Potter in Slytherin. He had been lonelier and more despised than ever before.

"Do you know that the wards surrounding Hogwarts aren't really that powerful?" continued Henry when he realized Harry was waiting for him to say something.

"But 'Hogwarts: A History, Volume I' says that Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin made the wards unbreakable!" Harry protested. "It's said to be the most powerful ward known to man."

"That's correct," admitted Henry. "But in the past, there were other more powerful wards. The knowledge to create them is lost. One of them was a shield used by Hercules against the son of Aries."

"I've got a chocolate frog of the great warrior Aries!" Harry said excitedly. "He was one of the twelve great Olympian Sorcerers!" His eyes gleamed with wonder. "Do you know Aries fought against -"

So began an hour long conversation between the two about the ancient Greek Sorcerers, which as expected, ended in an intense debate on who would win a duel between Aries and Zeus. Finally, Harry conceded that Zeus had defeated far superior enemies and hence had shown himself to be more powerful, although Aries was the more skilled in battle magic and military strategies.

"Tell me more about the shield you mentioned earlier," said Harry, after a while.

Henry smiled. "Better still," he got up, and picked a basic book on defensive magic. "Here. Read this first. It will be more useful than 'Hogwarts: A History'. I'll see you tomorrow night?" asked Henry curiously.

Harry nodded eagerly. "Yeah. Goodnight," he called out.

Saturday was Christmas Eve and the entire family sat around the Christmas tree and sang carols and watched - even Harry, although he remained very still, almost as if he were in pain. It wasn't until later that night when Henry sneaked out to leave his own stack of presents for the Potter family that it clicked to him why Harry appeared so uneasy. Of the presents below the tree, there were nearly half a dozen for Jamie but only a single for Harry, and by the texture of it, the present was a new shirt or some similar piece of clothing. Jamie, on the other hand, had, among other things, a new broom. In fact, there were more presents with Henry's name than Harry's. One was distinctly from Sirius and Carina, another from the Potters, and a third had his name with Remus' handwriting.

Henry sighed. He just couldn't understand what was everyone's problem with Harry. He placed his own presents amongst the pile and headed towards the library. He paused when he saw Harry huddled in his corner rubbing his eyes, as if he had been crying.

"Harry," Henry walked towards him. "What's wrong?" He had an inkling that Harry had seen the stack below the tree as well.

"Nothing," said Harry. He wiped his face with his sleeves and forced a smile. "I read that book halfway through. It was very interesting. I liked how the writer explains magic while telling stories of battles." He hesitated. "But he keeps using this phrase again and again to scold characters in the book that I don't understand -"

Henry knew what was coming. "Dulce bellum inexpertis," he said before Harry could tell him. "It's Latin. I've been teaching myself Latin in the Black library. It means 'war is sweet to those who have never fought'."

Harry frowned thoughtfully. "But why would he say that?"

Henry was about to answer when he suddenly felt something - a presence near them. He hesitated. Somebody was standing right behind Harry in an Invisibility Cloak. He dared not use Legilimency to detect who was there for fear that one or both of James and Lily might know Occlumency. He pretended to think on Harry's question, while actually assessing the situation. So one of the Potters actually spent time in secrecy with their neglected child without him knowing. But for what purpose?

"Beats me," said Henry afterwards. "Maybe because he's annoyed with people who want to act brave and go to war when there's really no need."

"Like Gryffindors," Harry interjected. He thought for a moment. "I think what it means is that one must try every other option before fighting."

Henry couldn't deny it. "Perhaps," he tried to sound bored. "Which house do you want to get sorted into?"

"Anywhere but Gryffindor!" Harry said passionately.

"Why not Gryffindor?" asked Henry curiously. "I mean, that's where your parents were, and Gryffindor's most likely where Jamie will also go." Harry turned red slightly and Henry knew he had hit the exact reason why the boy wanted to avoid the house. "Well, I'm personally more keen on Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff."

"Why Hufflepuff?" asked Harry curiously.

"Uncle Sirius slipped it one night over dinner," Henry pretended to blush slightly, it was more for the benefit of the invisible adult to remove any suspicions from the mature discussion earlier. "Hufflepuff is closest to the kitchens... will be easy to sneak out and get a midnight snack."

Harry laughed. Then he looked surprised at his own laughter. "You'll be sorted before me," said Harry. "I hope I can get into the same house as you." Reddening a bit, he explained. "You're the first person I know who likes talking to me."

Henry was angry with the Potters. It would have been much easier if they were nasty and horrible people. Then he could completely disassociate with them and take over Harry's progress. But he liked the Potters and he wanted to get close to them; their terrible treatment of Harry was shameful and he wanted to know the reasons behind it. However, the most important task was to obtain Harry's complete trust.

"Can you keep a secret?" asked Henry suddenly. Harry leaned forward eagerly. "Aunt Gwenog doesn't like me. She doesn't allow Carina to talk to me unless Jamie and Neville are there, and because of her Uncle Sirius also avoids me most of the time." Henry saw understanding and empathy in Harry's face. "That's why I started spending so much time in the library."

"Me too -" began Harry but he stopped. "That is, I like spending time in the library too." He sighed. "I want to go to Hogwarts!" he said dolefully and got up. "I'm going to bed now. You staying here?"

Henry nodded, pointing at the book in his lap. He turned the pages and began reading after Harry left. Soon after, he felt the invisible presence also leave the library. About ten minutes later, the library door opened again. Henry turned around, feigning shock and guilt, when he saw Lily Potter's face. She had a sleepy expression, but Henry could tell her eyes were puffed up for other reasons.

"Oh, it's you, Henry. I came for a sip of water and saw a light. You should go to bed. It's Christmas morning tomorrow," said Lily. He got up apologetically and walked out of the library with Lily. Before entering his room, Lily whispered to him. "Thanks for buying all the presents, you needn't have, but thank you very much."

Henry assumed her gratitude was directed at him getting something for the forgotten Potter.

Christmas morning was a bittersweet experience for Henry. It was a full house with the Potters, Henry and Remus; and the Longbottoms joined them after breakfast. Henry had seen the delight in Harry's face at the gift he had bought for him and he had started reading immediately after breakfast when it was evident that Jamie and Neville were going to try out their new brooms.

Henry hadn't received a broom either. The Potters had given him a big box of assorted sweets - enchanted to refill every week for a full month. Sirius and Carina had sent him a book about native druids and their magic from ancient Gaul. Remus had given him a book on investment for beginners and his recently purchased share certificate.

"I am impressed, Henry," said Remus. "Nimbus announced the launch of a new broom in January and the share-price has risen, although it could go up a lot more. If you pull out now, you'll make enough to pay me back and a few galleons on top."

"I want to wait," said Henry. "Surely, it will go higher when the broom actually comes out."

"There are rumours that the new Nimbus 2000 might be a dud," he explained. "If the rumours are correct, then you risk losing all of this profit. If they aren't, then you might make a lot more."

"It's a bet," agreed Henry. "I'd like to wait."

Remus accepted his decision.

James looked from Remus to Henry with interest. "Have things become so bad that you are taking money from children, Moony?" he joked.

"This child," Remus nodded at Henry, "might have detected a very simple trend in one of the most successful broom companies before anyone else. I put in one thousand galleons of my own money in Nimbus and removed it on Friday afternoon, making three hundred galleons profit."

"I think you missed out on a real killing," said Henry.