For the second day in a row and the third time in two days Harry was woken up by a knock at the door. He shot out of bed at the sound and grabbed his track pants off the chair by the bed. He put them on as he jogged to the door and opened it to see Andy standing there dressed for the day in jeans, a white button up shirt, black pumps, and black suit jacket.
"Hey mum. Sleep well?" He asked stretching as his body cracked and popped back into place.
"We did. The beds are very soft. We're all gathered for breakfast. Emma sent me to get you guys up. It's just past ten." Andy said glancing around the huge dimly light room. She saw Hermione sitting up in bed with the blankets up around her naked body.
"We'll be out in a few minutes." Harry said.
"Okay." Andy said with a smile that bordered on a smirk. Harry shut the door and walked back over to the bed. As he did he saw his cat was no longer a cat but a bird again.
"Hey girl. I'm betting you're happy to be a bird again?" Harry asked holding out his arm for her to hop up onto which she did. She looked at him with a half shrug and stretched her wings as if she was getting used to them again. Then she tapped her beak with her wing and gave Harry a sad look.
"You liked having a cat's face?" Harry asked and his bird nodded sadly.
"Do you want to go back to being a cat?" Harry asked and his bird gave him a shrug and flapped her wings.
"You want to go back to being a cat, but you want to keep the wings?" Harry asked and Hedwig bobbed her head.
"I'm not sure if that would work girl. You're bird wings won't be able to carry your cat body." Harry said to which he got a sad squawk in reply.
"Harry, why don't you just make her wings bigger and her cat body smaller?" Hermione asked as she finished getting dressed in gym shorts and a t-shirt.
"What do you mean?" Harry asked.
"You're a mage Harry, just transfigure your bird into a small cat with big powerful wings. It won't hurt her. And later we can try out other things, maybe she'll like something else better." Hermione said looking at Harry like he was slow, which at the moment thanks to his limited sleep, he was a little slow.
Harry grabbed his wand off the nightstand and set Hedwig on the bed. He thought about what he wanted and waved his wand over his bird and she shifted back into a small white cat with large eagle sized white wings that connected to her back and folded up along her body like a gryphon. Hedwig expanded her wings and flapped them a few times to check out how they felt before she took a running leap off the bed and glided to the floor. She turned around and took a few running steps as she flapped her big wings and took flight. It was hard for her to hover but she could glide around the room with ease. Harry held out his hands and she glided to him landing in his hands and folding up her wings. Harry set her on his shoulder and they walked out of the room heading for the kitchen. They stopped short when they saw everyone in the dining room.
"Hey guys I see you figured out the room service tray." Harry said letting Hedwig down.
"Yeah, Emma showed us. This is great Harry." Ted said.
"Good, also don't bother picking up after yourselves there's a full time elf service that will have this place spotless by the time we get back. Mia, do you want your normal breakfast?" Harry asked heading for the kitchen.
"Yes Harry. But I want a caramel cappuccino." Hermione said.
"On the way love." Harry said without thinking as he walked out of the room. Everyone smirked and looked at Hermione who sat up in her seat with a smile of her own. Her wand was in her hand in a flash and she hit the door with a silent silencing charm.
"Get it out of your systems now people. I don't want you making Harry feel self conscious with your jokes and looks. I got him acting on his feelings and expressing himself. His relatives made him shy and brow beaten so Dumbledore could control him and keep him weak. So joke about it with me, but you leave my Harry alone. If we want to make it out the other end of this war we need Harry confident." She said looking around the table in her best Mcgonigal stare.
"We won't say anything dear. I think it's nice to see him expressing himself." Andy said smiling at her protective stare.
"Good. Anyone else?" Hermione asked.
"Harry's a lucky man." Ted said.
"I'll say. How come you don't stick up for me like that?" Dan asked his wife.
"Your head doesn't need to get any bigger dear." Emma said without missing a beat and it set the table off.
"Just so we're clear, you're not moving into Neville's room." Amelia said to Susan making both her niece and the boy sitting next to her blush just as Harry came in floating plates and holding cups of coffee. He set the food down and looked around the table.
"What did I miss?" He asked setting everyone off again.
"Nothing Love. Thank you for getting breakfast for me." Hermione said kissing him and digging in.
"You are most welcome." Harry said setting a plate with fancy cat food on the floor for his cat bird.
"I can't help but notice your Bird is a Cat with Wings now." Dan said.
"Yeah. She turned back this morning and she missed having a mouth and fur but she wanted to fly again so we came up with a compromise. A cat with wings. But she can be anything I can think of. I think I'm going turn her into a small dog when we go so we can take her with us for a change. She would make a cute purse pooch." Harry said reaching down to pet Hedwig's head.
"So you can turn her into anything? What about a human?" Dan asked trying to understand magic.
"I mean, I've never tried, but seeing as you could turn a human into an animal then I'm sure you can turn a bird into a human." Harry said looking to Hermione for confirmation.
"You can, but it would still be Hedwig the owl as a girl. She won't be able to speak, or eat with a knife and fork. Walking on two legs might be odd for a while. It would be the equivalent of a human with no higher brain function. Turning her into other animals would be better. But there is no size restrictions. You could turn Hedwig into anything from a small bug to a big elephant. It will be disorientating for her to change. I'd stick to small domesticated animals for now. Small dogs, cats, birds, rodents, reptiles, and the like." Hermione said.
"We'll try a few to see what she likes. As for our day. I know we have appointments all over the city starting with a big group appointment at Doc Carter's office at noon. I think we'll all head over to the doctor's office and as Doc Carter finishes seeing you guys we'll start shuttling you guys off to the wand makers shop to get a jump start on that. After that we'll head off to Geno's shop for some formal clothing and things. Geno makes clothes for women. We found out the last time were there so we'll get everyone outfitted a bit and them head off to lunch. At some point Abby will call me back and tell me what time the appointment at the ICW is set for. Andy, Amelia, Dan, and I will head off to the meeting and meet back up with the group for dinner somewhere. Tomorrow we'll do a big shopping run. Hopefully we can get a tee time at the club for tomorrow morning." Harry said looking at his watch and trying to visualize the time table for the day. Most of the adults around the table found it to be a bit funny and or cute that Harry was plotting out their day for them. The Grangers and Dora just nodded.
"Before we leave this apartment I want to get everyone a gun rig and have them run through a hundred rounds before we let them out the front door. They all have vests." Dan said.
"I agree. That's good thinking. I see most of you are dressed for the day. Dan can you start running them through gun selection while I grab a shower and change?" Harry asked.
"I'd be happy to help." Dan said.
"Good. Anything else we need to do today?" Harry asked looking around the table and getting head shakes.
They finished breakfast and they all headed off in different directions. Most of them followed Dan to the shooting room. They looked around the room wide eyed as Dan went over to the back table they set aside for the enchanted guns they just bought and grabbed a few of them. He brought them to the table and went over gun safety with the group that included people that knew what they were doing like Ted, Andy, and oddly enough Odd and Luna Lovegood who were magical big game hunters in their time off. The rest of the group which included Amelia 'why would I need a muggle firearm?' Bones, Susan, and Neville. Dan broke the group up and had the folks that knew what they were doing test out the guns as he went over the basics of firearms handling, aiming, and trigger control. By the time Harry walked into the room dressed in his black three piece suit, white shirt, and black tie the first group had their guns and they were working through their first 100 rounds to get used to loading and shooting.
"Harry, I love your house. I'm staying." Ted called out as he blasted away with the other enchanted Wilson Combat 1911 they had.
"Okay with me. How's it going mum?" Harry asked approaching Andy who was blasting away at a target with with a CZ75b SP-01.
"Great dear. And I agree. We're staying with you from here on out. Between the library, this room, and the movie room you have everything covered. Add in room service and the elf maid service and I never have to lift a finger again." Andy said with a smile.
"I'd be happy if you guys stayed. It's good to have a house full of family." Harry said patting her on the back as he looked at Odd who was shooting the Browning Hi-power Dora gave Harry before the trip. The older style gun had a silencing charm but no extended mag or recoil enchantments. Odd was shooting one handed standing side long at the target. But he was getting perfect hits and his reloads were spot on and fast.
"Nice work Mr. Lovegood. Very accurate and your reload was flawless." Harry said.
"I've been shooting for thirty years my boy. You don't go traipsing through the African bush without a side arm. The crumple horned snorkacks might be big and easy to spot but big cats and venomous snakes are more likely to get you. I've carried a 500 nitro express double rifle and an old 1911 every trip." Odd said confidently.
"Very good sir. We must all sit down sometime soon and put a hunting party together." Harry said feeling more and less confused. How can a sentence be both practical and informative, and also confusing and full of nonsense? Harry shook it off and checked out Luna who was standing next to her dad. She was using the Little Sig p238 pocket pistol. In her tiny hands the gun looked like a commander sized 1911. Like her dad she was shooting one handed and doing it flawlessly. She had a big grin on her face as she turned the paper target into a donut.
"Like that little gun Luna?" Harry asked.
"Very much so. It's nicer than the walther ppk my dad got me for hunting trips. It fits my hands better and it doesn't hurt to shoot." Luna said with a big dreamy smile.
"Well it's your gun now. We'll see if we can get you a small 1911 that shoots 9mm. I'd much rather have you shooting a bigger bullet but with the recoil enchantments you won't feel the difference." Harry said.
"If you four have put about a hundred rounds through your guns then you can step away from the shooting line. Reload your mags and holster your guns, keep them on you at all times. Like the vests they should be the first things you put on in the morning. Harry get Neville set up." Dan instructed the four shooters before going back to talk to Amelia and Susan.
It took most of the hour they had to get all three of them up to speed. Susan took the last Sig p238 pocket pistol. Amelia and Neville ending up with a Sig p226 tacops, although Amelia found the firearm distasteful and Neville found the gun a bit small in his huge baseball mit sized hands. By the time they cleared out of the shooting room to head out the two Bones ladies were just passing competent but Neville, like Harry and Hermione took to the gun like it was second nature. The last two dozen rounds he fired he put in the dead center of the target at thirty feet. Harry, who found himself evaluating everything on many levels now saw the skill and size of his friend and knew he would have to try to talk the boy into joining the Steel Security team. With some training Neville would be someone's nightmare. At 6'2 and at least 200lbs of mostly muscle he was already scary.
It took a few minutes to get everyone into the Beast and Harry's Camaro. Harry waved his wand over his winged cat and she turned into a small all white Jack Russell terrier. She yapped out a bark and wagged her tail before she hopped up into Hermione's arms and into her big handbag. They took a few other cars with them for later when the group was going to split up. Harry lead the Beast with Andy, Ted, and Hermione in his car as Dan drove the beast with everyone else. Ted was sitting up front and he looked around the car with an appreciative nod.
"You like the car Ted?" Harry asked with a smile.
"I love it. I miss having a nice classic car. I used to have a mint condition little yellow Porsche 914 spyder. It was a fun little car. But then we had Dora, and we needed a real car so I traded in my little sports car for a black 1990 BMW 525i. It had good safety ratings. I had that BMW all the way up five years ago when Dora wrecked it. I fixed it with a spell and it never drove right again after that. I traded it for a small Ford Fiesta 3 door hatch with the small 1 liter ecoboost turbo engine. It was like driving a golf cart it was so slow. I started driving less and less over the years and walking to work more. It's only 22 blocks from the house and I don't have to pay congestion charges or for parking. Three years of walking and I lost forty pounds and I started working out more, which I know Andy likes." Ted said with a smile.
"You know I do. My husband has the body on a man half his age." Andy said with pride.
"You two both look very fit for mages. Magic burns calories so there are not a lot of fat mages but their are a lot of soft and doughy ones. You both look more like healthy muggles like my folks." Hermione said.
"Thank you dear. We try to eat right and we walk everywhere we can. Walking to the shops has the added benefit of stopping you from buying too much junk, after all is it worth it to buy three cases of beer and soda if you have to lug it home." Andy said.
"Well now that you're here we should take you out to Red Hook to Miguel's shop and see if he has a nice convertible porsche for you. Something fun and fast like Emma's car." Harry said.
"Yeah, I have more money now then I know what to do with. I sold my accounting firm for 25 million dollars. Andy sold her part of the law firm for 18 million. The house is paid off and under heavy wards. We have no other forms of outstanding debt. We've made it Harry. We've always been well off but now we finally have fuck you money." Ted said.
"Fuck you money?" Harry asked looking at the older man.
"It's an amount of money in a bank account that is more then you will ever be able to spend in your lifetime. It means you never have to work another day in your life. You never have to take shit from a boss or client. You don't have to get up at the crack of dawn and head into an office, and kiss someone's ass. You have enough money to tell them all to take a long walk off a short pier. Fuck you money. We have it. Right honey?" Ted said looking in the back seat at his wife who was grinning.
"It's been a dream or ours to have Fuck you money. I was initially against the vulgar term but it does sum up the idea succinctly. We're retired!" Andy said with a big grin.
"Oh Mum, I didn't know. We'll find someone else to take over the ministry." Harry said.
"You don't have to, I'll do it for a while. But it's not really a dream of mine." Andy said.
"No need, we'll stick Amelia with the bag." Harry said laughing.
"She is a bit of a stick in the mud isn't she?" Andy said laughing.
"From the short amount of time I've known her it seems about right." Harry said pulling over in front of the doctor's office. Everyone hopped out and Harry shrank the car so Dan could pull in next.
Most of the group headed into the doctor's office as Harry and Hermione floated the unconscious Longbottoms into the office and right into an exam room with two beds. Harry stayed with Neville as doc Carter looked them over. He ran scans and asked Neville questions about their care. As he worked Harry saw his friend get more and more agitated by the questions and the lack of information from the doctor. Harry grabbed Neville's shoulder in his left hand and patted the bigger boy on the back.
"Doc Carter. Can you share some of your finding so far. My friend's fuse is getting shorter by the minutes and he's big enough to get through me to get to you." Harry said laughing to break up the tense air.
"I'm sorry son. I'm not talking because my mother always told me if you don't have anything nice to say you shouldn't say anything at all. Having me rant about the level of care your parents have been getting for almost fifteen years is not going to help anyone and I doubt you want to hear how creative I can get with my cursing." Doc Carter said turning to Neville and patting the bigger boy on the shoulder.
"So it's like I feared. They've been getting shit care haven't they? How bad and can you fix it?" Harry asked Pulling Neville into his side with his arm around the boy's shoulders.
"Well, let's start with the damage done to them in the first place. The male patient…." Doc Carter started to say.
"Frank, and the female is Alice." Harry supplied for the doctor as he gave him a look. The doctor saw the look and nodded.
"Thank you. I would have gotten it from a chart but I doubt the so called healers working on them can read or write. Frank here is, to put it in terms you can grasp, totally scrambled. His mind has shut down completely. It would be easier to find parts of his brain that were not damaged then to point out all the damage. Alice on the other hand is less damaged. Tell me, does she have periods of wakefulness and some conscious thought?" Carter asked.
"She does, she sits up and she interacts with me a bit. She doesn't speak, and I don't know if she knows it me. I also don't know if she remembers the interactions." Neville said as Harry guided him to a chair in the room as the boy broke. Tears streamed out of his eyes but he didn't sob. He tried with everything in him to stay strong. Harry never left his side.
"Keep going doc." Harry said.
"Well, like I said it's bad. To make matters worse they've been left to wither away. They are emaciated, weak, and their cores have deflated for lack of a better word. But here's the good news, almost everything can be fixed to a point with potions, tonic, time, diet and exercise. They will never be one hundred percent back to the mages they were before all of this but they will be back to fully functioning people with the right treatments." Carter said.
"How long and do you have access to the treatments?" Harry asked.
"A few days for their minds to heal. A few weeks for their bodies to heal. It could take a few months to get their magic back to full strength…." Doc Carter was cut off by an almost feral yell of rage from Neville.
"DAYS! THEY COULD HAVE BEEN HEALED IN DAYS!" Neville yelled so loud that Hermione, Susan, and Luna rushed into the room. Harry pulled Neville out of his chair and hugged the bigger boy as he shook from the sobs. Doc Carter shook his head looking sad for the boy. The girls joined the hug.
"Son, I'm sorry for everything you and your parents went through. The injustice of the situation is impossible for me to put into words. Two people have been robbed of fifteen years of life for no good reason that I can think of. It's going to take time and the right amount of work on their parts. But they will be fixed. I can't give you the fifteen years you lost but I can get them back." Carter said as the group broke up so Neville could look at the doctor.
"Whatever it takes, whatever it costs, and whatever you need, get it and put it on the card you have on file. This gets started now." Harry said.
"I understand. I can start them both on an IV drip of healing tonic, liquid protein, and growth potion right now to get their bodies back. They need to spend about six to eight hours here just getting nutrients and tonics pumped into them to get them started. I'll track down the potions and I can stop by your home later today to set up a room for their care and start the treatments. They need to be monitored for the first few days. I can ask a few of my nurses if they would be willing to spend a few days and nights monitoring them." Doc Carter said.
"We have them set up in a private suit of rooms. My home is at your disposal." Harry said locking eyes with the doctor. The message was clear. Get it done.
"I'll get to it then." Carter said walking out of the room to get the treatments ready.
"How are you feeling baby?" Susan asked looking into his big sorrow filled eyes.
"Betrayed. When we go back and burn the UK to the ground I'm going to find out why they were left to rot away like this for fifteen years. Then I'm going to kill the person who did it. They will die screaming for this." Neville said in a voice so cold it made Susan flinch but Harry just nodded.
"I'll help you track them down and I'll hold them down for you." Harry said confidently making them all laugh. But Harry locked eyes with Neville and the bigger boy knew that Harry wasn't kidding one bit. If he wanted it Harry would help him torture someone to death. Neville knew at that moment that Harry was more then his friend. He was his brother.
"Thank you for helping me with this." Neville said hugging Harry.
"Anything for you brother. You should know this by now. All of you. Family means everything to me. You are my family." Harry said patting Neville on the back as he took Hermione's hand.
"When the Doc gets your folks hooked up we'll have him run though you three real quick and we'll head over to the wand shop in my car. He can take his time with the rest of the group and they can head over in the Beast. We need some time as a group. You need some time without your aunt breathing down your neck. When things are less hectic in about a week I think we'll do a road trip to Miami. I got a big ass house down there. We'll each take a car and by the time we get there you'll have a good handle on driving by then. Especially if we drive back after a week or so on the beach. We have time on our side again. Let's take it. How long will your gran keep before we have to do a funeral? Do you think we can hold off until your parents get up?" Harry asked.
"I hope so. I don't even know what to do. We don't have a pire, I don't even know the fire spell to burn a body." Neville said.
"I do Neville, I'll teach it to you when you get your new wand. And the stasis should hold for weeks, maybe even months." Hermione said.
Doc Carter came in with two nurses and they moved quickly to get IV tubes into the elder Longbottoms before they hooked four IV bags with different colored fluids to each of them. Doc Carter ran a few scans on them and made notes in his chart before he had a quick and quiet conversation with his two nurses. He turned to the group and smiled at them softly.
"I've started them on two tonics that will fix the damage done to their bodies and two potions that will work with the tonics to speed up the process. A few days of this combination and they should look more human. I have a line on the potion they need. I have a lab driving a two week supply up from Washington D.C., it should be here in a few hours. These bags will run into them in about an hour I'd like to run six to eight sets of this through them before we start the treatment tonight. Hopefully in a few days they should be up and about. I can not guarantee anything at this stage. Time and their bodies will dictate the end results but I know they should be able to make a full recovery." Carter said.
"Thank you doctor. I appreciate the work you're putting in on this." Neville said.
"It's my job son. I can't leave a patient in that state. Now let's start moving through the rest of you. I'm honestly looking forward to seeing how bad you guys are medically." Doc Carter said walking out of the room with one or the nurses.
Neville walked over to the two beds and touched both of his parents arms before walking out of the room with the group following him. It took an hour to get through Neville, Luna, and Susan. All three of them were Purebloods and therefore only got treatment in the magical UK. As a result they each had a laundry list of shit wrong with them.
The girls went first. Susan went into the exam room with her aunt who was skeptical of the better magical medicine of the colonies. A few minutes after the exam started she was singing a different tune. Susan had lingering active traces of the Dragon Pox virus she had when she was six still in her body. The result was a drain on her core that would have killed her over time as the magical virus reasserted itself and finished off her core by the time she was eighty. Doc Carter hit her with a few spells and made her drink a few bad tasting potions. She got violently ill and vomited up a big bucket full of black bile and sludge. When she recovered Carter tested her numbers and her mage score jumped from a 125 to a 145 and subsequent test showed a jump to 150, 155, and she leveled off at 165. He handed her a big cough syrup bottle of tonic and a shot cup.
"Take two shots of this for the next five days just to be sure, aside from that you're fine." Carter said.
Luna had Hermione accompany her into the exam room. After a quick scan and a short conversation they found out what was wrong with her. Luna struggled with nasty headaches from her minor seeing ability. She should have been given a weekly potion for it but she never was. This resulted in her hindering her natural seeing ability and that's what was causing the pain. On the tonic she would never get the headaches again, and she would have clearer and more precise visions. Also she would have more visions but less disruptive ones. She also needed some bones and scar tissue healed from a few injuries she sustained while hunting magical creatures with her parents as a young girl. She was still knocked out sitting in the waiting room when Neville went in with Harry.
Neville having grown up with a weak connection to his magic was basically tortured as a child by his gran and it did actually harm to his body and core. The funny part to the whole thing was he had a block on his core to start with and that was the reason he was so weak to begin with.
"It's a sinister little thing. It's not really a block so much as a gate. It disrupts the flow of magic not the magical itself. I can take it down. The damage done to your body and core will have to be repaired over time like Harry's. You'll be on the same potion he is taking. I'm going to prescribe it for you for three weeks." Carter said making a note in his file.
"Three weeks! He'll be too big to fit in my house in three weeks! Are you sure he needs it? Look at him. He's huge." Harry said joking around with his big friend.
"And he should be bigger. If I had to guess I'd say somewhere in the 6'5" to 6'7" area and about 275- 290 pounds of pure muscle. Kid you're going to be a freaking giant. But it's what you should have been. Stick to the diet and exercise plan Harry and Dan are on and you should look like you're cut from granite. How are you doing Harry?" Doc Carter asked.
"I'm up to 5'10" and 151 lbs today." Harry said.
"Good. I'm going to leave you on the potion for three more weeks, I think you'll be able to get bigger and stronger. I want you're bone density numbers to go up. Now, let's get this block off your core." Carter said waving his wand over Neville a few times as he muttered something. He wrote something down on a fresh scrap of paper and they headed to the operating room.
The ritual took about a half hour of writing runes on Neville's naked body and chanting. Harry made fun of the fact that everything on his brother was Big. "Oh Come on! That's not even fair." Harry complained making Neville blush and laugh.
"Sorry shorty." Neville said.
"So not cool. You get to be six and a half foot tall, big as the Rock, and you're hung like a centaur. You better learn all the sex magical you can before you and Susan go at it or you'll kill the girl." Harry said keeping his friend distracted as Carter worked on setting up the ritual.
"The potion will make you bigger but I don't think you can get bigger in that area son." Doc Carter said with a smirk.
"You guys better stop or you'll give me a big head." Neville said turning red.
"It get's bigger?" Harry said making them all laugh.
"We're all set. You can stay and help or you can go but I need silence for this." Carter said finishing his prep work.
"I'll help, anything I can do." Harry said.
"Good stand here. Place your hands on the two runes on his shoulders and when he started to glow push a little magic into him. It will help me break the binding." Carter said.
The ritual started when Carter started chanting something Harry didn't understand, it sounded spanish, or something like that. Soon the runs started to glow and Harry placed his hands on the two on Neville's shoulders. As soon as he made contact he felt his own Magic jump to life. Harry pushed raw power into his brother. Neville glowed bright white and there was a blinding flash and a backlash that tossed Harry back a few feet. Harry roll to his feet and brushed himself off. Neville hopped off the table and started bouncing around on the balls of his feet like a five year old on a sugar high.
"How do you feel?" Carter asked.
"Like I'm on fire. My whole body in tingling and I feel like I can run forever and never stop." Neville said talking fast and loud.
"Well stand still while I check your numbers." Carter said hitting Neville with a gold spell and the number 275 popped up.
"Oh Shit." Carter said.
"What?" Both boys asked.
"You're over juiced. You're core is way overpowered thanks to Harry. Son we got two options here. Both of them are dangerous. One, we can try to funnel the magic back into Harry. It might work or it might hurt the both of you. Or two, you can ride it out and it will make your core bigger, or it will tear your core and you'll have a hard time casting and controlling spells for a few weeks." Carter said running scans on the boy again.
"It's up to you. I'll try to take the magic back. Sorry by the way." Harry said.
"It's fine. I think I want to try to ride it out." Neville said.
"Well. The good news is you were a 210 before the block and your new number should be around 250 so it's not a lot of power for an arch mage. Just for my peace of mind, lock hands like this and Neville you try to push your magic and Harry you try to absorb it back." Carter said linking their two hands.
"Okay, go for it bro. I can handle it." Harry said nodding. Neville's hands glowed and then a few seconds lather Harry's hands glowed. Harry started to sweat and he gripped Neville's hands tighter.
"Stop!" Carter called out and both boys let go. Neville felt light headed but he got his bearings back when he saw Harry bent over trying to keep breakfast down.
"Harry you okay?" Neville asked.
"Yeah. I got a nasty head rush." Harry said standing up and shaking his head. Carter ran scans on both boys and hummed as he made notes.
"It's as I expected. You two are not related? You're sure about that?" Carter asked.
"We're not related, but with how inbred the UK is I'm sure we're cousins somewhere down the line." Harry said.
"Then this is odd, your cores are very compatible. Almost complementary. I'd like to study you both some more at a later time. There might be something odd at play here. For now just know that if you ever need emergence healing and you can't get to a doctor you two are your best bet. Healing spells cast by you two on each other should work very well. On the other hand battle magic I think won't work on you two. I bet you could hit Harry with a bone breaker to the head and all he'd get was a bloody nose. We see this with siblings all the time but for two people not related, it's odd." Carter said making notes.
"Can I get dressed now?" Neville asked.
"Please do. It's bad enough I know it's there you don't have to flaunt it." Harry said breaking the tension in the room again.
When they came out of the room they collected Susan and Hermione and Neville picked up a still sleeping Luna and carried her like a small child. They spoke to the adults for a few minutes and they they headed out to the curb where Harry expanding his Camaro and they got in with Neville up front and the three girls in the back with Luna in the middle so they could hold her up. Harry headed southeast to the wandmaker. He plugged his phone into the modern sound system, or modern for fifteen years ago and put on Aliotta Haynes Jeremiah - Lake Shore Drive.
"I like this song, it nice." Susan said closing her eyes and looking up into the bright sunshine. The feeling of the big convertible moving through the city with the soft but driving song and the warm sun on her face was a glorious feeling. Right there and then she decided this was what the good life felt like and she smiled.
"Dan showed me this song and it's been a favorite for me ever since. I have a place in Chicago and it's my goal to cruise up Lake Shore Drive while listening to this song at four in the morning." Harry said bobbing his head as he cut in and out of traffic to keep them moving but not violently.
"I like this car. I still can't believe you guys can drive." Neville said.
"We just started. I'm still a bit jerky with my brake pedal and I sometimes miss time a shift but the trick to driving is just doing it." Hermione said.
"What she said but without the issues as you can see because I drove a super fast sportscar with a heavy clutch and sticky race breaks when I learned. " Harry said.
"Do you think I can get a car like this?" Neville asked.
"There is a half built Ford Mustang in my study that you can have as soon as we put it back together. But I think we're going to head over to Miguel's shop and get you guys set up with cars of your own once you know how to drive. Like I said we're going to road trip as soon as we get the rest of the group over here. A road trip is the way to learn. It forces you to drive for hours a day and the expressway is good for controlling the car at speed. Every hour you spend behind the wheel the better you get and the more confidence you feel. We just have to get everything ready. We need to get Colin and Denise Creevey and their dad, Oliver Wood, and Katie Bell, and her mum out. There were more but that's all I can think of at the moment." Harry said as they pulled up to the wand shop.
They all got out with Luna getting up finely as they got her out of the car. Harry and Neville walked her into the shop 'weekend and Bernie's style'. David greeted Harry and Hermione with smiles. But looked concerned when he saw Luna.
"What did you do to this poor girl?" David asked.
"Nothing. We just came from the doctor's office and she's coming around from her anasteisha. She'll be fine in a few minutes right little sister?" Harry asked brushing a few blonde hairs out of her face as she slowly came out of it.
"Yes daddy." Luna said before her nose scrunched up. "Harry, you're not my daddy. You're my sexy brother." She said before her eyes got big and she tried to bury her head in Neville's side.
"I love you too little sister. Now these three need wands, start with these two I'll keep working on this one." Harry said taking a seat in the leather chair in the corner of the shop and pulling Luna into his lap where she rested her head on his shoulder as she hovered half way between sleep and fully awake.
"Okay, if anyone comes in tell them I am in the back." David said leading the rest of them in the back.
"How you feeling Moon child?" Harry asked rubbing her back.
"I don't trust my mouth at the moment." She said.
"Why not? You don't think I'm sexy? You don't love me no more?" Harry asked in mock hurt.
"I do, and that's the problem. I'm messed up enough to say something I'll regret." She said.
"Like what? You can tell me how cool and sexy I am. It's fine. It's only the truth after all." Harry said with a silly grin which made Luna laugh.
"Well I used to think you were sexy." She said laughing.
"There's my little sister. You ready to try standing up on your two little chicken legs?" Harry asked.
"Chicken legs?" She asked.
"Yes, you are too skinny. We need to get you fatter. How are we going to eat you later if you're all skin and bones?" Harry asked tickling her side and making her jump off his lap. She wobbled for a second and Harry had his arms out to catch her but she stood and tried a few steps.
"I think I'm good." She said.
"Good. Now go get your wand. Just walk through the door. Send my lady back out." Harry said.
"Thank you Harry. I do love you big brother." She said hugging him again.
"I love you too little sister. Now scoot." Harry said as his phone started ringing. He pulled it out and saw it was Abby.
"Hey Harry, I got you a meeting with the American security council chair Marcus Walker for today at 5:30. The ICW building is right next to the UN building in the UN complex on first street and 47th street. Your name should be on the list at the gate to the parking garage. I have you listed as Harry Steel and three guests. I told him a bit about the situation including who you really are. Just give your name at the front desk." Abby said and Harry looked at his watch. It was just after two now.
"Right. Thank you Abby, I owe you big time for this. At some point soon I'm going to open my own security and insurance investigation company. I know you're a big shot at the bank and you make good money but I'd like you to think about jumping ship and coming to work for me full time as my assistant and head trouble shooter. The position will come with a full staff of your own choosing and I'll pay you double what you make now to do half as much work." Harry said as Hermione came out and sat in his lap.
"Look, Harry. It's like I said before. I like you guys. You're a lot nicer than the normal assholes I work for. As nice as the offer is…" She stopped talking as someone barked a question at her. Harry heard some of the conversation on the other side of the phone. It sounded like someone was asking about some kind of document. Harry could hear how flustered Abby sounded as she apologized for something.
"Sorry about that Harry. I'm still in Paris working on a deal and these French wizards are the worst. So disorganized and bossy on top of that. I have to go. You're all set with the ICW." Abby said.
"Thank you again. And the offer was real. I would never yell like that. You can bring over any staff you have at the same or better pay. Big office, a staff of at least ten, a company car, and an apartment in the Potter building if it will sway you. I hope to start building up the company by the middle of July next month. Your help would make it go way smoother. You know everyone. If we can get it up and running by the new year I'll toss in a million dollar bonus. If we can get it done by Halloween I'll make it three." Harry said.
"You're crazy Harry, I have to go kill a Frenchman. I'll talk to you later…. And I'll think about it." She said before hanging up.
"Trying to steal Abby from the goblins?" Hermione asked kissing Harry.
"Yes. With her running the day to day for me I can do more then just sit behind a desk all day. I'd like to work as a recovery agent. It sounds like fun. Can you imagine stealing back stolen property? Ever since Ted told us about it I've been thinking about doing it. I think I can run the Agents with Neville, Dora, and the Creevey boys. With your dad running the tactical side, Abby handling logistics and day to day operations, and you running the R&D side, we can really do something special I think. We even have a law witch and an accountant with my parents. Regardless of what the ICW says we're making the company and we're cleaning up the UK of the dark and the so called light. The only thing the ICW is really going to do is smooth out the government contracts and make sure the UK gets its shit together after the war." Harry said holding her close. Hedwig popped her puppy head out of Hermione's big bag and Harry gave her head scratches.
"It's a big ask Harry. You made it sound like she was going to act as your secretary." Hermione said.
"And she will, I'll take all the responsibility for any fuck ups the company makes, I'll sit in the big office under a glamour to make me look older. I'll meet with clients, important contractors, and all the shit that goes along with the job but I want her by my side the whole way. I'm good for the big stuff but I can't run a company. You could but it's a waste of your real god given talent of finding the solutions to problems. Your first goal is to figure out these paired portkeys. We can't pay $2,500 a set if we're going to use them like I think we're going to use them." Harry said.
"So I get the thankless task of figuring out how this is all going to work?" Hermione asked with a smirk.
"You say thankless but you know how many times we'd all be dead if it wasn't for you. The fact that we've been playing with a stacked deck just highlights your skills. And it's not going to all fall on your shoulders. You'll have a staff of as many researchers as you need. Maybe we can steal a few Unspeakables from the DoM?" Harry said laughing.
"We need books, you're Potter library is impressive but we need more." Hermione said already agreeing without realizing it.
"Every death eater we kill is an old pureblood with a manor house full of dark things. I'm sure a few thousand books won't be missed. I'm also sure Abby knows a few international book dealers." Harry said as the door to the shop opened and the rest of the group walked in minus Amelia. Harry smirked at his mum at the absence of the older witch. Andy saw the look and laughed.
"Don't you start with me. I didn't kill her, she's still under the knife. She's got a lifetime as an auror worth of damage to her body. It's going to take hours to heal it all and then she's going to be out for a lot longer. She's out for the rest of the day." Andy said.
"Great, then we can plot against her behind her back. We're talking about SSI and we said it would be nice to have an in house law witch and we're going to need a head of accounting. What do you guys say? You want to join the family business?" Harry asked with a laugh.
"Sure, I like it here." Andy said.
"But I just got Fuck you money Harry! I don't want to work." Ted whined in a comical way.
"Corner office, good pay, staff of your choosing, company car, and an apartment in the Potter or you can keep living with me." Harry said.
"Fine, but if you give me shit I walk." Ted said with a pout.
"Okay. But you also have to look after my finances and make sure I don't go broke." Harry said holding out his hand.
"Fine, but I only work three days a week and you have to buy me a bass fishing boat." Ted said.
"Four days a week and I'll buy you a marlin fishing boat big enough to hold all of us for weekend fishing trips." Harry said.
"Deal! You see, that's the way you negotiate dear. I got all that stuff and I still only have to work four days a week." Ted said with a big smile.
"You don't think my boy is going to look after me?" Andy asked.
"She gets everything you got plus she gets a bigger office on the top floor, and she makes more than you." Harry said with a smirk.
"Goddamnit." Ted said acting defeated.
"Well I have to look after my mum." Harry said.
"Harry remember my parents." Hermione said.
"Right, Dan how you would like to be in charge of the tactical side of the company?" Harry asked.
"What's the deal look like?" Dan asked getting into the fun of it.
"Same as my Mum. Corner office, top level pay, company car, apartment in the building when one opens up or you can stay with us." Harry said.
"I see, will my wife be given a position in said company?" Dan asked trying not to laugh.
"How about head research assistant to the head of R&D. What do you think Head of R&D?" Harry asked Hermione.
"I'd love to work with mum everyday. We'll spend most of our time hip deep in old magical tomes." Hermione said.
"I'm in!" Emma said hugging Hermione right off Harry's lap. Harry stuck out his hand to Dan.
"Me too. I'm in." Dan said shaking Harry's hand with a laugh.
"What about Me?" Dora asked.
"Top level recovery agent and head of the protection detail agents. You get the office next to me and Neville, top level pay, bonuses for recoveries, company car, and you can keep living with me or we can find you a place in the building." Harry said holding out his hand.
"I'm in. it will be nice to put my skills to go use." Dora said shaking his hand and hugging him with a big smile.
"I wouldn't do it without you. We're going to need help finding our brains when we get the company up and running." Harry said. That's when Neville, Luna, and Susan came out the back door with new wands.
"David said he's ready for the next group. I'm also going to need to borrow $10,000 for my wand. He needs to make me a gold wand like you got. I have this one for now but it might burn out." Neville said holding up a 14 inch long dark wood wand.
"Sure I'll spot you. Dan can you handle the bill when you guys are done? We'll head off to Geno's and we'll meet you at Moretti's for a late lunch. From there we'll head to the ICW meeting. Hermione would you like to take Amelia's place?" Harry asked handing Dan $30,000 in three packs of hundred dollar bills.
"I would. I wish I would have dressed for it." Hermione said.
"That's what we're stopping at Geno's for. I also wanted to talk to him about making vests and dragon hide lined coats and jackets. The armor worked but it was a bit bulky." Harry said standing up and stretching. He waved his hand over his suit to get the wrinkles out and put on his sunglasses.
"Okay, then we'll see you guys in about an hour." Hermione said leading the group out.
Harry walked out to his car as the group got in and dropped into the driver's seat. He started the car and pulled a can of Monster out of his bag. He waved his hand at the can, and it got frosty. He took a deep drink and set the can in the cup holder. He pulled out a small cigar and light it with his zippo. He puffed it a few times before he put the car in gear and darted into traffic heading east for Little Italy.
"You smoke Harry?" Neville asked.
"Yeah, you want one? These are really nice little cigars. Here try it." Harry said taking a deep drag on his cigar and handing it to Neville. Neville took an experimental puff and choked almost dropping the little cigar. Harry laughed.
"So that's what it looks like from the outside." Harry said as Neville tried a smaller puff and this time he didn't cough.
"Smooth. I'm used to a pipe, and very mild tobacco." Neville said passing it back as he hacked up something and spit it out.
"Here, have one of these. It will help with the coughing." Harry said pulling a second can of Monster out of his bag and chilled it with a wave of his hand as he passed it to Neville.
"I see you doing a lot of wandless magic Harry. Just how high up on the mage scale are you?" Susan asked.
"305 some days I'm a 310, somewhere around there. I've been trying to do more spells wandless. I'm good with the summoning charm and the cooling spell. I've played with a fire spell a bit as well. It's my hope to be able to do most spells wandless but it's not super important. You guys know me, I'm not interested in knowing every spell to start a fire I just want an easy to cast spell that works every time and if I have to do something big I'll push my power into it." Harry sad with an easy smile as the three smart girls in the back seat all let out differing levels of shocked gasps with Hermione being the least shocked and Susan being the most shocked.
"But Harry, it's important to have every tool at your disposal. If all you have is a hammer then every problem looks like a nail." Susan said.
"True, but I don't just have a hammer. I have a hammer, a drill, a set of wrenches, a saw, and a few screwdrivers. With that you can build a house. It might not be the most efficient way to build a house but unless you're going into construction then why learn the rest? I know about 75 spells, of that number 50 of them do more than one thing. Take for instance the fire spell. With a small amount of power I can light a candle. With a lot of power I can light a house on fire. One spell that can produce a small flame or can melt this car. I'm sure there are fifty different fire spells out there. But I learned one and practiced it until I can cast it with a wave of my hand and control it with a thought." Harry said with a shrug.
"That was well thought out and almost poetic Love. Who would have thought, Harry Potter, wizard and philosopher." Hermione said making them all laugh.
"I may be 5'10" but I'm deeper then I look." Harry said pulling into the fire hydrant spot in front of Geno's shop. They all got out and Harry shark the car. He lead them into the shop and saw Geno sitting behind the counter.
"Harry! It's good to see you!" Geno said coming around the counter to hug Harry like old friends.
"Geno, it's always good to see you. We need to fit these three for formal clothing, Hermione is also going to need something for a meeting in a few hours and I wanted to talk to you about a large order." Harry said.
"Well, why don't you and the big guy come back and we can talk while I work." Geno said leading the two guys back into his work room.
"Strip to your boxers and socks, get up on the box and stand with your arms out to the sides. Now what did you want to order?" Geno asked getting his tape measure.
"Geno do you work with Dragonhide?" Harry asked.
"I do, it's not easy to work with and it's hard to get. I charge a lot for it." Geno said having the tape measure start measuring Neville.
"How much would you charge for an armor vest like this?" Harry asked grabbing Neville's vest off the pile of clothes and handing it to the older man.
"Ah a Jorgensen. High quality but off the rack, you want me to make you a custom tailored vest?" Geno asked.
"No, I want you to make 2,000 of those vests. I also wanted to know if you can line a suit with dragonhide. If you can then I'll need less vests but more suits." Harry said watching the older man's eyes get bigger.
"2,000 vest!? What do you need that many vests for?" Geno asked.
"I'm building a private magical security company." Harry said with a shrug.
"Right, well for a vest like this with the custom fit enchantments and the transparent enchantments… for a big order like that? I can probably do it for about $7,500 a vest, mind you about half that cost is materials, Dragon hide doesn't grow on trees." Geno said trying to defend his price as he handed Neville a black three piece suit and white shirt like Harry was wearing.
"That's fine, how much would you charge if I got you a supply of high quality dragon hide?" Harry asked.
"If you supplied me with about 25 to 30 good sized adult Mexican orange dragon hides I could cut the price down to $4,500 a vest." Geno said.
"And what about a vest without the transparency enchantments?" Harry asked doing math in his head.
"That enchantment is the hardest part of the job. If I didn't need to do that work it's a simple tailoring job, and you're supplying the hides, I can do a large order like that for $2,500 a vest, but for that price you would get a very nice dyed white undershirt vest that would disappear under a white collared shirt with soft silk lining and my custom tailoring enchantments." Geno said.
"$2,500 a vest times 2,000 vests is…." Harry said looking like he was about to have an aneurysm.
"Five million dollars Harry. But if you where to buy them from Jorgensen they would charge you three times that much for plain black vests. For an order of the vest you have there, it would cost you about thirty million." Geno said making adjustments to Neville's suit.
"Trust me Geno, I'm not complaining. That's less than I thought it would be. What about the suit lined in dragon hide?" Harry asked.
"I can make it. But it would be big and bulky for no reason. If you want a bulletproof suit I can pull a few I have in your size." Geno said waving at the rack and the suits shuffled out and new suits shuffled in.
"What's it made out of?" Harry asked.
"I use enchanted fine stainless steel mesh screen that I enchant. It's sandwiched between the layers of fabric. The screen has cushioning charms on it to slow down the bullet and soften the impact. A suit like this cost about $750 more than a regular suit in the same cut. So for a three piece black three ply high twist wool suit with the mesh it costs $1,750." Geno said handing Harry an identical black three piece suit he was wearing in his size as he had Neville take off the suit.
"How big of a bullet with this stop?" Harry asked looking the suit over, he couldn't tell the difference from the suit he was wearing.
"The mesh is rated for anti-tank rounds but I wouldn't want to try it. It should stop a rifle round. But it's no good for stopping spells and magic like the dragon hide." Geno warned.
"No but with a vest under it you would be pretty much unstoppable. I'll take this suit now, I'm going to need three more in my size all in black, and so will Neville, and Dan. Do you make this in women's sizes?" Harry asked.
"I do. You want me to fit your girl for a suit?" Geno asked.
"Yes. Put it all on my tab. I'll be sending a few other people here for suits as well. I'll also get you the dragon hide in about two weeks or so. I'll deposit to five million in your account. Do you bank with the goblins?" Harry asked.
"I do not. I'll get you the account information when you drop off the hides." Geno said pulling suits.
"Good to know, I'll have Abby wire the money to your account. Hopefully it will be the last thing she does at the bank. I'm trying to steal her away from the goblins to work for me." Harry said and Geno looked even more shocked and happy.
"You can talk her away from the Bank? I've tried for years. That bank killed her parents. They were curse breakers." Geno said.
"I'm willing to give her anything to get her to work for me. In just a few short days she helped us really get our foot in the door here. The job pays twice as much as her job at the bank and comes with an enchanted company car, an apartment in a magical protected building, one of those vests, and a gun. She will be my second in charge." Harry said.
"Good. You get her to leave that bank and I'll give you a discount on big orders from now on." Geno said.
"Every agent will need three or four of these suits. I plan on hiring 250 agents. I'll put this one on now." Harry said taking off his jacket.
"One second," Geno said waving at the suit, it shifted slightly. "Now it has your measurements." He said.
By the time Susan and Luna were done getting fitted for business suits, dresses, and jackets, Harry and Neville were in matching suits, and Hermione was in a tight fitting tailored black three piece suit with a red silk blouse, and black high heeled pumps. The suit and shirt came from Geno but she pulled the shoes out of her bag which confused Harry.
"You carry high heels in your bag? Why?" Harry asked.
"You never know when you're going to need them, like now." She said primly as she pulled her hair into a bun and put on bright red lipstick. With just a few touches she went from girl next door to powerful sexy business women. She hit Harry with a sexy bedroom smirk and it made his pants uncomfortably tight.
"You look good like that." Harry said in a voice that wavered slightly as Hermione stepped right into his personal space and he caught a whiff of her lavender and citrus perfume.
"You like women in suits Harry? You like the power of it? You want to play boss and assistant later? Maybe you can get me coffee and the Johnson report." She said in a sexy whisper as she ran her hand down his chest. She grabbed his package when she said the word Johnson and Harry groaned.
"The things you do to me woman. If we didn't have a full day ahead of us I'd take you back to the apartment right now." Harry said in a deep voice full of raw need.
"What about a quicky in the bathroom when we get to the restaurant?" She asked liking the power behind his words.
"It wouldn't be enough space and time to do what I want to do to you." Harry whispered into her ear before hissing at her in parseltongue and making her shiver.
"Great, now my bra is uncomfortable and my knickers are wet. You happy? Now we're both turned on and uncomfortable." She said blushing.
"Good. Now you understand what I feel like all day when I'm around you." Harry said putting on his sunglasses and leading the group out. He didn't see Hermione's smile. They tossed their bags in the big trunk of his car and Harry practically flew to the restaurant five blocks away.
AN: This chapter was getting a little long in the so I'm cutting it here. The next chapter is going to be the meeting at the ICW and the fallout from that meeting.