Unholy Alliance Part 4

June - December 1939

Septimus and Cedrella's gift from Sirius Black had been a small cottage and the land it sat on. Well, small by Black standards, which meant it had six bedrooms, three bathrooms, kitchen, dining room, parlor and a room for a library/office. It was quite a nice place and would probably seem crowded once there were children or relatives about, but in the meantime Septimus felt like he and Cedrella were a pair of gobstones in an empty trunk. Not that either of them really noticed that effect for the first week. They'd been far too busy getting intimately acquainted with each other.

They did eventually start talking over the future. Though that had to wait until the first blush of their ardor had faded and they were capable of going more than a few minutes at a stretch without ending up making love.

"I'd love to drag the family name out of the mud." Septimus said. "But I've no idea where to even start."

Cedrella smiled at him. "That'll be where I come in, Septimus. You know I've been tailing Sirius for years now. I know nearly as much about the political scene as he does at this point."

Septimus eyed her for a moment, and then grinned. "Have a plan, do you?"

He wasn't an idiot. Faced with the realization that she had a plan, he knew she hadn't come up with said plan since they married. Slytherins in general and Cedrella in particular didn't work that way. At least, the 'good' ones didn't. They took a long view, plotted and planned and schemed far in advance and at least tried to take as many variables into account as they could. He rather suspected that she'd had something in mind regarding him since they'd started meeting up every day. It made sense of her altering her pattern, which had baffled him at the time.

If he'd figured out that she was planning something regarding him even a year ago, he'dve been ... upset. At this point, he knew her well enough to know that she truly loved him, whatever she was up to wasn't bad, and that she wasn't using him for her own aims. Well, at least not in a bad way. She was Slytherin, after all. Being ambitious came with the territory, and women had little power where it 'counted'. If she couldn't manage to make a name for herself in the political arena thanks to male egos, being the real power behind an up-and-coming Lord wasn't a bad second option.

"Something of the sort." Cedrella admitted. "You've actually already done a good bit of the preliminary work. You're widely considered to be commonsensible, hardworking, honorable, and very personable. About the only person that speaks ill of you is Abraxas, and we both know why, in that case. Without that base already in place, the job would be a lot harder."

"So … what do we do from here?" Septimus wanted to know.

"We work on the financial end of things. That's where the bulk of your family's problems come from. If you're seen to be investing and spending wisely, that'll be the final cornerstone to getting people to listen when you talk rather than dismissing or ignoring you because they don't want to risk siding with someone with a bad reputation." Cedrella advised. "Again, you have already started some repair work there – that nest egg in your vault speaks well to your ability to save money. You've also never once gambled or bought some painfully expensive but useless trinket. People wouldn't know about the savings, but they'd have noticed the lack of gambling and buying things indiscriminately. On the investment end of things, we can use a portion of my dowry as investment capital, and work from there."

Septimus nodded. "Something fairly low-risk at first." He said. It was both the smartest thing, and what he was comfortable mucking with. "Maybe speak with the goblins?" He asked.

While wizards let goblins guard their money, and the goblins kept track of what businesses were doing well etc, it was the very rare pureblood wizard who would actually confer with the goblins and heed their advice before investing in a business venture, much less give a goblin full control to invest as they pleased. That had always seemed somewhat counterintuitive to Septimus, since the goblins would know where the best profits were to be had.

Cedrella made a bit of a face, but then sighed. "Probably the wisest course." She reluctantly agreed. "Given that we don't have much to work with, and a loss would both wipe us out and ruin our chances of pulling the family name out of the mud, as you put it." She took a deep breath. "I also think we should put off having children, at least for a little while. We need a better base under us before then."

Septimus opened his mouth to argue almost instantly. But then his brain caught up with him and he forced himself to think about the idea reasonably, and he clamped his mouth shut against the temptation to blurt out an immediate negative.

Right now, his salary was enough for them to live on without dipping into Cedrella's dowry. The expenses involved in a pregnancy and raising a child would force them into using Cedrella's dowry to close the gap between his income and their expenses. So they could either wait, using Cedrella's dowry to get them in a better position financially, or spend it on kids now, with no guarantee that it would be enough when all was said and done.

Put like that, there wasn't really much of a choice. He sighed. "You have a point. If at all possible, having enough money coming in to cover everyday expenses and have some left over to put towards Hogwarts tuition would be best. I know my parents scrambled to make ends meet from time to time when I was growing up. I don't want that worry for our kids."

Cedrella smiled and patted his arm. "I know that had to be a bit difficult to decide." She admitted.

"It was, but really, it's the best thing." Septimus said on a sigh.

Thanks to their finances, they were one of those couples exempt from not appearing in public at all. Septimus returned to work the day after their talk. Once their period of solitude was over, they both headed straight for the bank.

The junior teller they spoke to first was understandably surprised to have a pureblood couple seeking advice on investments. He got over it pretty fast however and immediately escorted them to speak with a more senior bank official in his office.

"So. You wish to invest." Zartang said.

He looked much like every goblin Septimus had ever met, save for the fact he had blue eyes. Septimus half wondered if maybe Zartang was related to Professor Flitwick. Not that he was going to ask.

"Yes." Septimus said. "We would rather something guaranteed to return as much as possible for what we invest, given our currently limited capital. As goblins manage all the finances of the wizarding world, it follows you would know where the most profit is to be had. To ignore such knowledge is foolhardy."

Zartang gave them a fangy smile. "You have more wisdom than most of your peers, Mr. Weasley. Yes, I can help you invest wisely."

Septimus smiled in return. "I believe the standard fee for such matters is one percent of the proceeds?" He asked.

He'd done extensive research before coming here, both so he knew what to expect and to make as good an impression as possible. Turned out, not wasting time with frivolous small talk was a sign of respect, among other things that were quite different from how wizards did things.

"Yes." Zartang said.

"Hmm. Double the money we invest each month, and I'll raise it a tenth of a percent per month up to three percent." Septimus offered. "Do well enough to get it to three percent within three years ... " It would actually take just under two years if the goblin was as good as Septimus hoped, but Septimus had added time to account for possible problems. "And not only will it stay there, but you will become the goblin in charge of all Weasley vaults and monies when I become Head of House. Until that time, you'll be in sole charge of our personal vaults."

That sort of incentive ought to have the goblin working all hours of the day and night to increase the money Septimus would be investing. From what Septimus had read, being an Account Manager was a much-prized position. Being an Account Manager who was allowed to invest at their discretion *and* getting a larger share of the proceeds was the sort of thing goblins salivated over.

Zartang's grin widened. "You have a deal, human." He said. A wave of one long-fingered hand conjured a contract. Septimus read it over to make sure that there were no hidden clauses, then signed it.

That done, they left the bank. Cedrella eyed Septimus. "Three percent, Septimus?"

"Think of it as insurance." Septimus said. "Goblins always want more gold. Earning three percent of whatever he manages to bring in for us via investments will ensure that he pays very close attention to our investments. We'll be bringing in more per investment than any other clients he might be working with unless they're investing ridiculous sums of money. It also earns us some serious good will, being willing to go above the minimums set in the last Treaty. You know as well as I do that purebloods don't. And I don't think many muggleborns think of it. They're used to how things work in Muggle banks, which don't permit that sort of haggling and incentive giving."

"Good point." Cedrella admitted after a moment. "I hadn't thought of it that way, but you're right."

Zartang was as good as his word. By the time September rolled around, he'd earned two months' worth of extra percentages. Enough for Septimus to return the seed money they'd used from Cedrella's dowry with a bit of interest as thanks, and still have more to invest in September than they'd started with in July.

Unfortunately, in September, all thoughts of financial successes were driven from Septimus' mind. That muggle that had been making Septimus so uneasy invaded another country. Worse, that same week, Gellert Grindelwald and a large contingent of followers marched on several small muggle villages.

The simultaneous nature of the attacks rang alarm bells for Septimus. Alarm bells he largely forgot about, because Europe promptly went insane. In the next few months, even from the slight remove of England, it was incredibly difficult to make sense of much of anything that was going on. Armies were everywhere, alliances were struck, both wizard and muggle, and more than one battlefield had members of both communities present right from the get-go.

What made him want to beat his head against a brick wall was that despite everything going on, the Ministry was still very firmly of the belief that it was of no matter to them. It was all happening in Europe, not here, so there was nothing to worry about. No one would DARE attack the UK, much less the magical portion thereof.

Septimus wasn't the only one who openly scoffed at that. Charlus and Harfang were of equal mind with him. It was something they talked about with increasing frequency as the year waned and the fighting increased.

"It's going to come here sooner or later." Harfang predicted just before Yule, when the Marauders got together on the weekend. "The muggles declared war on that German within days of him attacking Poland. The magical European communities did the same to Grindelwald two weeks ago."

"And every available Hit Wizard and Auror on the continent is already on the warpath, with half of their Obliviators alongside, trying to keep the muggles from noticing what's going on." Charlus said. "What bothers me is that it's clear to anyone paying attention that that muggle and Grindelwald are somehow in cahoots, despite there not being any clear communication trail yet. But no one seems to realize it. Or care, for that matter."

"The ruddy bastard is going to end up exposing the wizarding world to the muggles if he's not stopped." Septimus agreed. "You'd think the Ministry would care about that at least."

"Them caring about that would require that they be able to think that far." Harfang pointed out with a disgusted snort. "Most of them can't think beyond their next bribe."

"Point." Septimus said, then shook his head. "Let's just hope that things are salvageable when they finally get their heads out of their asses."