Ch. 9
Saturday 6 June 1998
The next morning, Harry woke up to what he had begun thinking of as his "Teddy Alarm". It was six o'clock and Teddy had woken and started cooing.
As he began to get up and wandered into Sirius' room, he wondered when Teddy would start sleeping through the night. If he was fed between 10 and 11 at night, he usually stayed down until 3 but then he'd wake up at 6.
"Come on, little man." He said as he picked Ted up and started towards his room. "We'll get you changed then go make breakfast." He whispered to the baby as he changed the nappy. After getting him dressed, they went downstairs. "I'm going to really like it when you can walk." Harry muttered as he put Ted in the bouncer. He noticed that Ted was starting to wave his hands and start tracking them. "You're getting to be such a big boy. Why don't you try and sleep all night now? It'd give your mum and Uncle Padfoot a break." He continued talking to Teddy about everything under the sun as he got breakfast ready.
At 7.30, the Grangers floo'd over for breakfast, like every Saturday. When everyone was at the breakfast table, Hermione said, "Since you boys are going to Gringotts today, Luna and I, along with Mum and Dora if you want to come, are going to find computers and tellies to work with."
"Okay. We're expected at Gringotts in half an hour." Sirius said. "Do you need a portkey?"
"Sounds great." Hermione replied as Sirius made one.
"Remind me to teach you the spell tonight." Sirius said as he handed it over. The men left as Hermione asked Dora and Emma, "Do you guys want to come with us?"
"Sure." Dora said as she got up. "Let me get more clothes for Teddy, then we can leave." The other three heard her trip up the stairs as she went.
"So, how'd your week go mum?" Hermione asked.
"Well. We still don't have as many patients as we used to but that will change gradually. To tell the truth, it's quite boring at home now. Although we do go out to dinner more." She smiled. "It's taking some time to adjust to."
"Well, I'm glad you're adjusting and you can come here for dinner during the week, you know." Hermione replied. Dora came back and they left for their shopping.
HP
Meanwhile, the men were on their way to Gringotts. They had decided to floo directly to the bank because it was Saturday and they knew Diagon would be a madhouse and they didn't want to have to deal with the commotion being Harry Potter caused.
They walked in and asked to talk to the Head of Acquisition and Trade. Soon, a young-looking Goblin came to get them. He led them through the twists and turns of the back offices until they reached Master Sharptooth's office. "Master Sharptooth, Lord Black is here to see you." The escort said as Sirius, Neville and Harry came in.
"Hello Master Sharptooth." The three said in unison.
"Hello." He replied as the young one left and he waved them to the seats in front of the desk. "What may I help you with?"
"Well. My Godson here." Sirius said as he put a hand on Harry's shoulder. "has killed a basilisk. Granted it was five years ago and in the bowels of Hogwarts' Chamber of Secrets but we believe it's still there." He took a deep breath. "We were wondering if there was a way to render and sell it."
Sharptooth got a greedy look in his eye. "You say you killed it young man?" Harry nodded. "Then it is yours to do with as you please. We can send a team in tomorrow to take care of it. Can you get approval from the Headmistress?"
"Yes. I can do that this evening." Sirius then paused. "Do you have a floo? I can firecall her now if you want."
"Of course, you may use that fireplace." He said pointing to the one in his office. Sirius went over while Sharptooth asked, "Will there be any tricks to get in?"
"Yes. I'll have to open it, it opens with Parseltongue."
"I see." He said as he looked at his parchment. "I see Teams A and B are free tomorrow. Can you meet us there at 8 a.m.?"
"Sure." Harry agreed as Sirius sat down again.
"She says she'll have Hagrid meet us at 8 at the gate." He looked back at Sharptooth and put on his Wizengamot face "So Sharptooth, how much is this going to cost?" He asked calmly. And they bartered for the next 2 hours deciding who got how much.
HP
The women got home by 11.30 that morning with five laptops and five tellies. They had taken them from the mall towards a secluded alley where Dora shrunk them and fit them into Emma's purse. They then portkeyed home.
"Where do you want these?" Emma asked as Dora took Ted upstairs.
"Luna, do you think the cellar will do?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah. I don't think anything will get fried down there." She responded as they walked down to the cellar through the kitchen. It was there that the electronics were taken out of Emma's bag and resized.
They extricated two computers and headed upstairs with looks on both their faces that said they were already working on the problem. In some ways these two are more like sisters than friends, Emma thought. I'm so glad Hermione has people that love her for who she is. But like most sisters, they're alike in some ways but not others. Emma thought about Luna's interest in strange animals which Hermione would have to see to believe in.
When she got upstairs, she heard the floochime and went to see who it was. She smiled when she saw Sirius, Harry and Neville coming home.
"Hi boys." She greeted them.
"So, how'd your appointment go Sirius?" Emma asked at the lunch table a few minutes later.
"Well. I had to negotiate with them to bring down their cut of the profits but it worked."
Neville nearly spewed his juice out. "Is that what you call negotiate, Sirius?"
"Yes." He replied looking as though he had done nothing wrong.
"Emma, at one point, when he'd gotten them down to only taking 25% as a fee, and they didn't look like they were going to come down more, he turned into Padfoot and started growling and stalking around the room-like Sharptooth was prey. They came down to 15%." Neville informed her.
"Was it really that scary?" she asked because she couldn't imagine a mad Padfoot. Sirius changed to Padfoot, walked up to her, whined as he put his head on her lap. "Oh you are so cute in this form Sirius." She began to pet him. Then he started growling, pulled his head off her lap and started barking and showing his teeth as he stalked the room. It was such a complete shock as his face turned menacing that she whispered, "What the he-!" at that point he turned back into happy Padfoot and put his head down on her lap. Then he moved away and became human.
"That's how Emma." Sirius said proudly.
"I have to say, if I didn't know you, I'd be scared too."
"Bloody hell Sirius! That's frightening." Dora actually looked scared.
"I assume your shopping went well?" Harry asked trying to change the subject.
"Yes. They bought several different brands of both tellies and computers. Teddy had a blast." Dora opined.
"Did he stay up all morning?"
"No. He took a small nap around 9 and he's down now. Why?"
"Just wanting to figure out when he wakes up." Harry looked a little sheepish.
"You just can't get enough of him can you Harry?" Luna teased.
"Nope not even close. He's the best thing to happen to me since Hermione." He answered proudly. At this Dora burst out crying and ran up the stairs. Harry looked at Hermione, then Emma, then Sirius. "What'd I say?" He looked horrified.
Sirius looked at Harry sadly. "Moony and I had nearly the exact same conversation the day before the Battle. He said Teddy was the best thing since Dora."
"Oh bugger." He got up and ran up to Dora's room. At her closed door, he knocked. He could hear her sniffling. "Dora, can I come in?" He asked softly. She opened the door, motioning him inside as she sat on the divan next to the fire. "I'm so sorry Dora. I didn't mean to upset you." He looked at a loss as how to make her feel better.
"It's not your fault Harry." She tried to smile through her tears. "It's just that Remus was as much in love with Teddy as you are and it suddenly hit me that he's never coming back. Most days, I get through and can ignore the pain of his death but there are some days it really hurts. We were married for less than a year and you remember how scared he was when he found out about Teddy?" He nodded at that. "Well, after you went to the Ministry and didn't come home, he was even more terrified. Not about the werewolf issue but about us all getting out of this alive. Now he's dead and I really have no idea how to be a mum, let alone a single mum. That's why I spend so much time with my mum." She continued sniffling as tears ran down her face.
"You have us you know." Harry offered. "If you need anything, even just someone to scream at, I'm here. Moony was as close to an uncle that I had, that makes you my aunt and I will always be here for you Auntie Dora." At that pronouncement, she burst into wracking sobs once again. Harry reached over and brought her into a hug and just let her cry. He really had no idea how to deal with crying females and was hoping he was doing the right thing.
She spent a good ten minutes crying. When she finally calmed down, Harry realised that she'd fallen asleep on his shoulder. Not really comfortable with anyone but Hermione sleeping on him, he didn't know what to do. Deciding that it would be best to untangle themselves and let her rest, he extracted himself from underneath her and laid her on the divan to rest. He then went into the nursery, saw Teddy was still asleep and decided to sound-proof this room and set his wand as the baby monitor to keep Ted from waking Dora. He then went upstairs to the game room where he heard talking.
As he came up the stairs, Sirius approached him, looking concerned. "Is Dora ok?" He asked.
"Do you have Grief Counselors at St. Mungo's?" Harry asked.
"Yeah we do. Why? Is she not okay?" came the rapid-fire questions from his Godfather.
"No. She needs to see someone. I don't know whether she should go alone or we should go as a family but she needs someone to talk to."
"With the amount of nightmares you have love, you might want to see one too." Hermione added.
"Maybe we should all get a check-up." Sirius said warily. Before this last war, Sirius had never heard of a wizard having mental health problems. If a person was depressed, in the Black family, you were taught to just get over it—not get help for it. When he'd come to Grimmauld, and Remus started coming around, they did a lot of talking about how Sirius was doing mentally.
While Sirius accepted that he might feel better if he got some help, the war took a turn and it was put on the back burner. Now, he had to figure out how he felt about seeking help. Somehow, he felt that he should be strong enough to deal with his own problems without anyone's help. However, since the family wanted them to try this, he would—even only just once.
"Sounds good. I'll make a family appointment on Monday." Hermione declared. They all heard whining coming from Harry's wand as he jumped up and thundered down to the nursery.
Sunday 7 June 1998
The next morning at 8 sharp, Harry, Hermione and Sirius landed at the gates of Hogwarts. Just as Harry was getting his bearings, he'd gotten better at doing that quickly during the hunt, the Goblins arrived. While Hagrid was leading them to the castle, Sirius sent a Patronus to the Headmistress letting them know of their arrival.
They all trooped to the second-floor bathroom where Harry opened the sink, paused for a second and called for stairs and took them down. He then opened the door to the actual chamber and everyone except Harry stopped.
When he realised no one was following him, he turned around with a confused expression on his face. "Aren't you coming?" he questioned impatiently. He really didn't want to be down here and just wanted to get this done.
"Mr. Potter, we severely underestimated the price. It is going to go for at least double what I quoted. Do you want to do anything different in dividing the profits?"
"No. Ten percent each to Hermione, Colin, Penelope Clearwater, and Ginny Weasley. Fifteen percent to Gringotts. The rest for Hogwarts remodeling if they choose to remodel. And new brooms for each house." He confirmed. "Do we need to stay while you do this?"
"No. We will render it and use Goblin Portkeys to get out."
"Thank you, sir." Harry bowed as he looked at Sirius and Hermione. "Let's get out of here." He pulled them both out behind him.
When they got to the gate, Hermione found her voice, "I never realised how large that thing was. That was huge!"
"What she said." Sirius echoed as they apparated home.
HP
The rest of the afternoon was taken up with the regular Sunday Quidditch and swimming. It was after dinner when Hermione made the announcement. "Luna and I have properly runed and charmed a few extra phones and wanted to know if any besides the four of us want phones for themselves."
"We do." The twins said.
"You say that I could call Luna from my house while she is staying here?" Xeno asked.
"Yes Daddy. You want one, right?" Luna asked, knowing her dad wanted a better way of communicating with her when she was in the muggle world. He just nodded as Hermione handed him one.
"May I have one please?" Augusta asked. Hermione handed her one. She then gave one to Arthur, and Ginny as well.
"Okay, anyone that has a phone needs to follow me and we will teach you how to use it." Luna said in an assertive voice. Gone was the shy, soft-spoken Luna who only talked about wrackspurts and nargles. This new Luna was smart, concise and every bit as levelheaded as Hermione herself. Hermione was really growing to love Luna like a sister and was proud of her newfound confidence.
Hermione made sure everyone was in the drawing room: the twins, Xeno, Augusta, Arthur, Ginny, Sirius, Dora, Harry and Neville. Hermione took out her phone and flipped it on its back. "Everyone look at the back of the phone please. There on a small strip is your phone number. This is the number you give to people so they can call you. Memorise it." Luna handed out a piece of paper to each person with a list of everyone's name and phone number on it.
"Now to call someone you open your phone." Luna said as she demonstrated the flip phone design. "Choose someone to call. I'm choosing Daddy. I press the buttons in the order they are in the phone number" She put her Dad's number in. "Now I press the send button." She did. "And daddy's phone rings. Now daddy, since yours is open, to answer press the send button." He did and held the phone like she did. "Hi Daddy."
He looked at her but said into the microphone. "Hello my Luna."
"Now to end the call, just press end." He did and closed the phone.
"Now we'll divide you into pairs and one will go to the sitting room and practice making a call to each other." Hermione said in her best Professor McGonagall voice.
They, along with Harry and Neville (after practicing with his Gran), Emma and Dan, went around answering questions and teaching. By the end of the evening, everyone had made several successful phone calls.
"I love watching everyone learn something new." Harry commented enthusiastically to his girlfriend as he grinned widely, kissing her. "It's like the DA again."
"You just like teaching." Hermione laughed as a look of dawning comprehension came over his face.
"I think you're right!" He said hugging her. "I think that's what I want to do after school."
"Told ya Luna!" She yelled over Harry's shoulder.
She looked up. "Huh?"
"Harry wants to teach." She told her friend.
Luna sighed, growling playfully. "Couldn't have waited till after graduation, Harry?" she took out a galleon and handed it to Hermione. "There you go."
"Did you guys bet I'd want to teach?"
"No. We bet when you'd get your head out of your arse and figure it out." Luna laughed at the shocked look on his face.
"You made a bet?" Harry asked his girlfriend. "You hate betting. What happened?"
"We fought a war and I relaxed." She grinned.
A few minutes after everyone left for the night, everyone at the Madhouse got a call from someone else. Harry, Hermione, Neville and Luna went to bed very happily.
Monday 8 June 1998
The next morning, everyone, including Dan and Emma, was at breakfast at 7.00. As they sat eating Dan was a little skeptical. "So everyone last night had never used a phone before, let alone a mobile, yeah?"
"Well, the twins and the four of us had but no one else." Hermione returned.
"Did you get any calls last night?" Emma inquired.
"Yes. Everyone got some calls last night."
"It's just so hard imagining not growing up with at least a house phone." Dan added. "It's amazing they're all able to catch on. Especially with no previous experience."
"Yeah. Now the girls will have to figure out how to get computers to be compatible with magic." Nev grinned at his girlfriend with pride. "But you two will figure it out."
"I swear, each one of them is smarter than the two of us put together." Harry laughed. "I have confidence they'll do it.
"So Sirius, would you or Arthur like to go to a Crawley Town game on next Saturday?" Dan asked, knowing Sirius' answer.
"I'd love to!" Sirius bounced in his seat. "I'll see if Arthur or Xeno want to go." He got up to head to the sitting room to floocall Arthur, when he felt in his pocket for the phone. He called Arthur who said he'd love to go. Xeno said the same.
"Brilliant. I'll get the tickets today." Dan grinned. It was so nice having another man around.
"Why don't you kids bring all the notes you've put together about Hogwarts." Sirius suggested. "I talked to Augusta yesterday because she's on the Board of Governors and she wants to talk to you about it."
"We're not ready for a presentation." Hermione squeaked as she ran upstairs. She was back a minute later with the notepad. She started writing.
"What are you doing?" Sirius asked.
"She's rewriting her notes." Harry sighed as he took Hermione's pen and he took her hands in his. "It's okay, love. Gran isn't going to want to look at your notes. Bring them so we can reference them but she'll be fine with scribbled notes for now."
"Do you think?" Hermione asked quietly.
"Gran's awesome. She knows these are just ideas. She'll be fine." He looked in her eyes and saw she was calming down so he put her hands down and went back to his food.
"Harry, did you notice you called my Gran, Gran a minute ago?" Nev said unbelievingly.
Harry thought about it for a minute. "I guess that's how I see her. I mean, she's the oldest person I know and she's teaching me. I probably shouldn't call her that to her face though." He grinned.
"Actually, I think she'd love it. She told me yesterday that she's starting to see you as another grandson." Emma contributed. "And wishing she'd been able to raise you."
"Then maybe I will."
HP
When they got to Longbottom Estate and they'd formally greeted Lady Longbottom, Harry took an extra moment and said, "Lady Longbottom, I would formally like to ask for your permission to call you Gran if you will allow."
She gave him a smile, took a step closer and hugged him. "I would be honored if you'd call me Gran." She said as she kissed his cheek. "I should have raised you Harry. I'm so glad to get to know you now."
"If your parents had all lived long, healthy lives, you would have grown up as near brothers." Sirius put in. "Alice and Lily were very close friends as were Frankie and Prongs."
"You know Sirius, he really didn't like you calling him Frankie." Augusta sniffed haughtily.
"Yeah, I know. That's why we did it." He smiled. "It was either we call him Francis or Frankie. He scared James when he called Frank Francis, so Frankie stuck." He laughed at Augusta's disapproving look.
When everyone was seated in their usual places in the sitting room, Augusta started out. "I understand that you four have been spending your free time talking about how to change Hogwarts. Can you tell me about the changes you see needing to be made?"
Hermione took a breath. "Muggle Studies needs to be completely revamped and the textbook needs to either change or be rewritten. It's at least a century out of date. It says that cars are only for the wealthy and for short distances. Nearly every adult in the Industrialised World has access to a car. My parents have a car each. Aeroplanes are treated the same way. Apparently, there have been no technological advances since the Wright Brothers made their first flight or so wizards believe. Did you know Americans have been to the moon and back? You've seen the advancement with telephones and paper yourself."
Harry put an arm around her. "Don't get so upset, love. It's okay."
"What do you two think?" Augusta asked Neville and Luna.
"Look at it this way Gran, part of the reason I stay at the Madhouse" Augusta grimaced at the name. "so much is because I can read anytime I want and not strain my eyes."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, the electricity? used" Nev looked at Harry to make sure he said it right, Harry nodded. "in their house, let's you turn on a light at midnight so you can read clearly."
"You can do that with candles." Augusta replied.
"Not as clearly. Come for dinner tonight and I'll show you the difference. We'll eat inside. Usually everyone leaves on Sunday before we turn on the lights. During the day, we use the sconces around the house for extra lighting but at night it's absolutely amazing" Neville enthused.
"Fair enough." Augusta looked at Sirius to see if she could visit this evening. After all, it wasn't Neville's house and it would not be proper to just come to dinner.
Sirius grinned, realising where she was coming from. "You are welcome at our table at any time. We eat around seven except Sundays."
"Do you have a recommendation for the new text?"
"Not yet. We were going to look for one tomorrow." Luna answered.
"I would also suggest you hire a muggleborn to teach it. Hermione said timidly. She wasn't sure if she was going to get yelled at for that suggestion. After all, all the teachers she had come in contact with were half or full bloods.
Augusta looked a bit warily at Hermione when she said, "I'm not sure how the Governors are going to feel about that."
"It makes sense to have someone who is familiar with that world to teach about it." Sirius reminded Augusta.
"I'll think about it. "Augusta said. "Now what other courses need changing?"
"History." Sirius, Harry, Hermione, Luna and Neville said in unison.
Augusta burst out into raucous laughter, which she hadn't done much since she married Gerald. "That's needed changing since I was there. And I know Minnie will help. She and I used to punch each other if we were about to fall asleep." At all of their dumbfounded faces, she just chuckled. "Yes, Minerva McGonagall and I were in the same year at Hogwarts, both Gryffs but she was much more independent that I."
"Please say you can fill us in on all the dirt, Gran!" Harry bounced in his seat like a puppy.
"After you're out of school dear." She patted Harry's hand consolingly as he pouted and the others laughed. "Anyways, look for a new text there as well girls. What's next?"
"In the core subjects such as defence, charms, runes and transfiguration, we feel there needs to be more emphasis in class on actual spellwork, not the theory. We need the theory but we need more help with actually making the spell work." Hemione suddenly became very passionate. "Personally, I would use Professor Flitwick's class almost as an example. He spends most of class helping the students who need it rather than on theory. The other thing we need is to learn more spells that we'll use in our day to day life. We may never use a cheering charm but the charm to clean the dishes I learned from Mrs. Weasley, yeah I needed those. When I think of not having had Mrs. Weasley teach me the housekeeping spells and having to clean up after Ron and Harry this last year, it actually frightens me. But I didn't learn those in school. Do you understand what I mean?"
"Yes. I think I do." They spent the rest of the day going over the outline Hermione had put together. When the question of money came up, Sirius looked at Harry and smirked, knowing his godson wasn't going to like being known as the benefactor for all of this.
When Harry realised his godfather was hanging him out to dry, he started. "You remember the petrifications in our second year?" Augusta nodded. "Well, at the end of the year, I killed the basilisk doing the petrifying." He sighed. "Turns out because of that, it's mine. I asked the goblins to render and sell it. They're giving each victim ten percent of the proceeds, taking fifteen percent themselves and giving the rest to Hogwarts on the condition they use it for these changes. It is going to each individual and Hogwarts as an anonymous donation so no one will know it's me. You must not tell anyone about where the money's coming from."
Augusta just stood there staring at this young man. "Harry, it's your money. Why are you doing this?"
"I don't need it. Better it go to things I'd like to see changed than having it sit in my vault. Don't worry, there will be at least a million galleons for Hogwarts when all is said and done."
They talked about the changes they'd like to see made to the Chamber and why, points application, the implementation of computers at Hogwarts and muggle sports being sponsored.
Around four, everyone but Augusta left for the Madhouse. Because Teddy was asleep, Harry and Hermione decided to go to their room and rest. They laid out on the bed and just cuddled together with their shirts off. "That was exhausting." Hermione groaned.
"Yeah but I think we got Gran on board. Especially with the money taken care of." Harry started playing with Hermione's hair. "I love the way your hair feels." He sighed.
"You're silly but if that's your thing, have fun." She smiled into his chest. "I like to listen to your heartbeat." She admitted.
"So we're each a little silly." Harry laughed as she smiled as his chest vibrated.
"Do you think any of this will work?" Hermione asked. "It seems like in Wizengamot you guys aren't getting very far with reforms and if the Governors won't take us seriously, I'm afraid we'll have to leave Britain to get good paying jobs. Most, if not all, Heads of Departments in the ministry are either half-blood or purebloods. So going into the Ministry isn't really an option for me, as much as I'd like to work to help different magic users have the same rights. If you want to teach, it might be better to go out of country because it'll take several years for anyone to retire."
"You might be right love. Let's just see if we can do anything about these things before we pass our NEWTS. If we don't see any changes by then, we can talk about going elsewhere."
"I hate waiting but okay." She smiled up at him. "I love you Harry."
"I love you too." He said as they fell into a comfortable silence just spending some alone time together.
Soon enough, Harry heard Teddy cooing on his wand and got up to put his shirt on. "Hey, who said you could remove my pillow?" Hermione complained as she sat up.
"Sorry love. Teddy's calling." He smirked as she put on her shirt "You don't have to do that love." He whined.
She just smirked. "You're the one that got up, dear."
He just huffed as he left the room. I'm going to finally get him to stop being a noble git soon, she thought as she went up to the game room where everyone was congregating.
In some ways the game room with its pool table, dart board, Telly and comfy seating, fireplace with more comfy seating and the bar area had become more popular than any of the rooms on the ground floor except the kitchen for the residents of the madhouse.
In the game room right now were Sirius, Dora, Nev and Luna. Luna was currently on the phone to her father. Nev was playing Darts. Sirius and Dora were sitting by the fire talking. Hermione sat down next to them.
"You guys finally awake?" Sirius asked.
"We weren't asleep, we were just resting." Hermione answered.
A few days ago, they had discovered a small bathroom that led into a medium sized bedroom on the other side of the wall from the game room. They had not noticed it on the tour originally, which was just weird.
Thinking about the bedroom, Hermione wondered aloud, "Maybe that bedroom is hidden from muggles."
"Maybe. I don't see why though." Dora answered skeptically.
"This is an old house. Maybe they used it to keep something illegal." Sirius offered. "That's what a lot of the old pureblood families did. Maybe it wasn't always a bedroom."
"I don't think we'll ever know." Said Harry as he walked into the room with Teddy in his arms. Teddy was beginning to be a lot more interactive as the days passed.
"Has he been fed?" Asked Dora.
"Yeah. I just got him fed and was thrown up on." Harry grinned. "It's a good thing I know cleaning spells." He handed his godson off to his mum and sat down next to his girlfriend and took her hand.
Nev got a phone call from his Gran at about 6.30 saying she'd be there in 10 minutes. When she arrived, they walked into the drawing room and Neville turned on the lights.
"Wow. This is bright." Augusta said as she blinked her eyes. They spent the rest of the evening talking about how they would revamp Hogwarts. They also talked about hiring new teachers.
"In a muggle school, they aim to have a student to teacher ratio of 25:1. That way students and teachers are better acquainted and feel more comfortable with each other. I think we have a ratio of about 60:1 at Hogwarts." Hermione added.
"Okay. What I would like you youngsters to do this week is write out a proposal that we can take to the Board. I talked to Minnie this evening. I called you, Neville from inside Hogwarts. We would like you to put together a rough draft of a presentation that you can show Minnie on Saturday. I told her we would either meet here or at Longbottom Estates, have dinner, then you would show us what you have." Augusta said. As Hermione started to hyperventilate as she began thinking of everything she needed to do, Augusta took her hand. "Hermione, this is a rough draft. Do not stress yourself out. This is just Minnie—not the board—this is where she'll help us iron out the issues. Look at it as you're bringing an idea to her that she'll help you polish." She smiled as Hermione calmed a bit. Then she turned to Nev and Harry. "And you two are to help her, not leave it all up to her." They nodded like boys being scolded by their teacher as they looked down at their plates.
"Yes ma'am." They said together as Sirius, Dora, Augusta, Dan, Emma, Hermione and Luna laughed.
"I think I'll call Ted and let him know the boys will be working on this this week." Sirius said as he went to floocall Ted. When he got back a few minutes later, he sighed. "Ted said to get this done first and if you have time to come in later in the week."
After dinner, the teens went up to the game room while the adults went to the drawing room. Gran left around 8.30. She wanted daily progress reports on how their work was going.