Hey everyone, sorry the chapter took me so long things have just bean a bit slow creatively. But I'm still plugging away and things should pick-up again soon.
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Remember your comments and criticisms are always welcome.
Big props to my beta reader who once again took my weighting that bearly passes for a language and turned it into readable English. Phineas, you rock and I don't say it enough.
Chapter 6
Harry crashed into the bed next to a naked and (hopefully) satisfied Hermione. It was two days after his birthday and Hermione, as she had warned him, had gone into heat. He had awoken that morning with Hermione in his bed with him, and she had been very clear with what she wanted. As much as that sounded like a dream come true for a teenage boy, Harry was more concerned about the changes that his Hermione had undergone.
The two of them had talked about it before, Hermione had guessed that she might act a little different and she had told Harry that she wanted him to go along with it. Her words went through his mind. "For one, I like the idea of you and I making love, and two, I need to know if having sex will clear my head if I'm distracted. I need to know, when I'm hit during the school week, if I need to arrange to skip class or if we can sort it out ourselves."
Hermione was both right and wrong. Harry couldn't call what they had done today making love. Yes, it was sex, and as they were both marginally more experienced than they were on his birthday (making it more enjoyable physically), it also lacked something that they had on his birthday. Where Hermione was right though, was the part about clearing her head. After the two of them were finished that morning, Hermione had seemed to almost, for lack of a better term, sober up and returned to her regular more articulate self.
Thinking it was over for the month the two of them, after cuddling up together for an hour, decided to spend the day doing their last piece of homework, Hagrid's Care of Magical Creatures essay. Harry hadn't expected there to be any summer homework for C.o.M.C; Hagrid wasn't the type of professor that set a lot of homework. Maybe setting summer homework was mandatory or something, as the only class they had that hadn't set any was D.A.D.A. Harry suspected it had more to-do with the fact no professor ever lasted until they broke for the summer.
They were to choose a magical creature and write an essay on what you needed to do to take care of it. Harry had chosen to do his essay on gryphons. He hoped that some of what he already knew about hippogriffs would carry over. Hermione had decided to do her essay on raising firecrabs. Harry had no idea why they were called crabs, firecrabs looked like turtles to him. Well, turtles with six legs and gemstones growing from their shells.
Just as Harry had been thinking about making the two of them lunch, Hermione started to get distracted again. They experimented a little more that day. It turned out that, while in heat, sex would only help "calm" Hermione for about five hours. The two of them had ended up being together four times that day and Harry was embarrassed and tired. The last time was in his room, when Hermione had come in after everyone had gone to bed.
Harry wanted to go right to sleep after that much exercise, but the two of them had learned that lesson on their first night sharing themselves. If you fall asleep covered in a sticky mess, waking up is not the most comfortable. He had woken up Saturday with Hermione's hand glued to a still sensitive part of his anatomy. Thus, the two teens dragged themselves into the shower to clean up before they both collapsed in Harry's bed.
-ϟϟϟ-
The next week had been a little uneventful, though Harry had started to fill the photo album Hermione had gotten him along with a few long walks on the heath with her.
On Monday, Hermione left to spend the week with her grandmother, leaving Harry in London and feeling a little down. On one hand he totally supported Hermione spending time with her family, family is important. But on the other hand it left him with Dan and Emma, who were Hermione's parents. It was also the longest Hermione hadn't been with him since his thirteenth birthday just over a year ago. The biggest problem was he had nothing to distract himself with. He didn't have any friends in London, he had already done his homework, daytime TV just wasn't worth watching, and all of his hobbies involved magic and were currently off limits. Without anything to distract him his thoughts always seemed to drift back to Hermione not being there.
On a whim Harry grabbed his wallet, both his muggle one and his money pouch that had a few silver coins left in it, and after he checked that Crooks had enough food and water, he left the house. It took Harry four buses instead of two because he got on the wrong bus and was halfway across the city before he realised and switched to one going back. Harry walked down Diagon Alley with no real destination in mind, just looking for something to distract himself with. The shop displays were colourful and eye-catching, but none of what they offered seemed to catch his interest yet.
He came to Gringotts and decided to refill his money pouch while converting some into muggle money. If he mentioned that he needed some muggle money to Dan and Emma they would probably try to give him some, but if he didn't say anything then they wouldn't need to spend their money. Harry then stopped by Fortescue's and got himself a cone filled with strawberry clotted cream* ice-cream. He continued wandering around the shops just browsing looking for something to distract himself. He did pop into a jewellery store for a bit, as Hermione's birthday was in six weeks and he needed to start looking for a gift. As much as Hermione wasn't the kind of woman who wore a lot of jewellery, she always wore the locket he had gotten her for Christmas, so it was worth having a look. There were some nice pieces in there, but they were expensive, and Harry didn't think that they would be appropriate for Hermione's birthday.
As he walked out of the shop, an excited boy who couldn't be older than eleven crashed into him. Harry almost over-balanced but was able to keep his feet, unlike the boy who had bounced off Harry and crashed to the floor. Harry helped the boy to his feet and noticed he was wearing muggle clothes not unlike his own jeans and T-shirt. The biggest difference was where Harry's t-shirt was plain green, the kid's was black with a large red superman logo on the front.
"Hey kid you alright?" Harry asked as the kid quickly pulled himself together.
Before the boy could answer a stern voice that Harry recognised called out "Mr Creevey, would you please calm down and return to the group!" The boy stiffened and started walking back to the voice before turning back to Harry and saying. "Sorry I crashed into you mister," before scurrying off.
Harry who recognised the voice followed after him and waved to the stern woman who was surrounded by three other eleven year olds and what appeared to be their parents. "Good afternoon Professor McGonagall."
"Mr. Potter, I didn't expect to see you here today. Buying your new books?"
"Not today. Hermione and I are picking everything up next week." He indicated the four children. "New Muggle born first years?"
"Indeed. I'm just showing them and their parents were to get their school supplies."
The two of them continued exchanging pleasantries, and Harry took the opportunity to thank her for her part in filing for the patent. He would have talked more but he could see Professor McGonagall had work to do. "It was nice running into you Professor, I'll see you on the first of September."
"Enjoy the rest of your summer Mr. Potter."
Harry was just leaving when one of the mothers spoke up. "Excuse me young man, before you leave, can I ask you a couple of questions?"
Harry, really having nothing better to do, was happy to answer. As they were a group of non-magical parents, it was actually probable that the questions were about their kids, not the constant attention for him being the Boy-Who-Lived "Sure, what would you like to ask?"
"I don't want to be rude, but I think the answer will affect what questions I can ask. Judging by your normal clothes, are you a...oh what did the professor call it? A mug born?"
"A muggle born?" The woman nodded. "In my case that's an interesting question, because it depends how you define it. Strictly speaking, no; both my parents were magical, even if my mum was a muggle born witch. However, my parents died when I was small, so I was raised by my mother's sister who never developed any magic. In essence, I was raised not knowing about magic, so in a very real way I am a muggle born learning about magical Britain the same time as other muggleborns." A few of the parents looked a little uncomfortable that the woman had brought up Harry's parentage now that they knew they were dead. But Harry didn't mind, the reason for the question was obvious even before the woman started asking questions about what her daughter needed to know about the magical world.
Harry told the parents some of the stuff he had learned over the years that he wished someone had told him. He told them about the Knight Bus, the uncomfortable mode of transportation that could take them anywhere on the main island for just a galleon. He told them about how things like the flu and broken bones could be healed in minutes with magic. And he told them about life at Hogwarts: the occasional feast, watching Quidditch matches, the walk around the lake in the warm weather, and sitting around the cozy fireplace drinking hot chocolate when it's cold.
While Harry was talking with the parents and telling them about life at Hogwarts, Professor McGonagall was showing the new students where to get their school supplies. Harry and the parents followed them as they went from the apothecary to Madam Malkin's and then from there to Flourish and Blotts. Between paying for the children's things, they asked Harry lots of questions.
"How is the school food?"
"Good but limited, it tends to stick to old school British classics."
"How safe is it to learn magic?"
"I won't lie, accidents can and do happen. Things can catch fire, potions can be mixed wrong, or sometimes you can get knocked out by an object flying across the room. But magical medicine is a lot more effective than modern doctors. In my first flying lesson, one of my dorm mates fell off his broom and broke his wrist. Madam Pomfrey, the school nurse, fixed his arm as good as new in less than an hour. You can't learn magic without some risk, but Hogwarts teachers know how to keep the risks to a minimum and when things go wrong they know how to fix things."
"How easy is it for us to keep in contact with our children?"
Harry explained owl post and how the school had owls that the students could use whenever they wanted. One parent asked about writing to her daughter,and Harry realized that it was all but impossible for a muggle parent to write to their children unless they sent their parents a letter and asked the owl to wait for a reply. Dan and Emma were only able to write to Hermione (and this year himself) so often because Hedwig would fly back to London to see if they had any mail occasionally.
Harry told them about this and a trip to Eeylops Owl Emporium was quickly added to their trip. Not all of the parents wanted to get an owl, but of the four muggle born students two wanted owls. One of the families bought two, one for their daughter to take to school and one so they could write to her whenever they wanted to.
One student, the same boy who had run into Harry earlier, asked his father if he could have an owl, but his father refused. "You can use the school owls just like your brother."
It was then that Harry pieced together the name Creevey with his housemate Colin. "Wait, are you Colin's little brother?"
The boy, who had been more focused on professor McGonagall until now looked at Harry, in curiosity. "You know my broth…" Harry watched his face change from curiosity to recognition. Harry didn't normally experience that change in muggleborns who weren't raised knowing his name and his scar, but Colin Creevey was an avid photographer and had taken many photos of Harry over the last two years. Evidently some had made it back to his home and were shown to his little brother.
"You're Harry Potter! Oh my god, Colin told me all about your story, about how You-Know-Who killed your parents and how you defeated him when you were really young!"
He was about to continue when his father jumped in. "Dennis! That is not the sort of topic you talk about with someone you don't know! How would you like it if someone you didn't know walked up to you and started talking about your mum and how she lost her battle with cancer. Apologize now, then leave Mr Potter alone." The look on the youngest Creevey's face changed from excited, to put upon, then to sadness. Harry felt a wave of gratitude and sympathy towards the man as he chastised his son. Harry thought about how he would feel if he lost Hermione, and how much worse it must be to lose your spouse.
"I'm sorry Mr. Potter, I didn't mean to bring up bad memories." Harry accepted the apology, and the boy went to stand by his father who also nodded an apology for his son's behaviour. After that things were a little bit awkward. The new students were focusing on Professor McGonagall, and the adults (most of whom had also experienced the loss of a family member) didn't want to rub salt in a wound by saying the wrong thing, and so the silence dragged on while McGonagall lead the group to Flourish and Blotts.
Harry was just thinking he would make his exit go explore the alley more when the mother of the girl with two owls asked, "Do you really need a wand to do magic? My Tiffany has done lots of magic over the years and she never had a wand, and your teacher" she nodded to Professor McGonagal, "she turned herself into a cat and back, and she didn't use a magic wand for that. So does that mean that you can do magic without a wand?"
Harry was grateful for the change in topic and started explaining about how magic mostly responded to emotions, and while wandless magic was possible it was rather difficult, as to do so one truly had to emotionally want the effect to happen. He gave an example of a hungry wizard in the morning trying to summon a bowl of porridge* but accidentally summoning the last of the chocolate cake instead, because emotionally he would rather have the chocolate cake. "The wand, however, is a tool of the will, allowing much better control of your magic." Harry drew out his wand. "Using a spell focus such as a wand means we can choose how and when to use magic." Harry took the paper wrapped from his ice-cream cone and transfigured it into a paper owl that looked a lot like Hedwig. Harry noticed professor McGonagall hide a small smile out of the corner of his eye. "Not that wands are the only way to channel your magic, potions is another way and is a core subject at Hogwarts, and there is runic magic that you can choose to study from third year on. They are good strong options for using magic but they suffer from a lack of versatility with runes, or in potions you need to prepare well in advance for exactly what you need.
"Oh, here's a good example. You see this ring?" He held up his wand-summoning ring for them to see. "This is something I made last year using rune magic. It has one function and only one. Will you hold my wand for a second?" He asked the woman who asked about wands and she agreed. Harry took a few steps back and channelled a spark of magic into his ring and the wand shot back to his hand. "I can use my ring to summon my wand and only my wand. If I wanted to summon anything else, I would need to make another ring. There is a wand spell, that I don't know yet, that can summon whatever you like, depending on how heavy it is and how far away it is. However, once it's made the ring is easier to use." Harry knew he was pushing the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery, but as he had learned when the Ministry accused him of doing magic that was done by Dobby, the Ministry didn't know who cast a spell. They only knew that a spell was cast in the presence of someone who was underage, and as he was in Diagon Alley, where magic was going on all around him, the Ministry wouldn't have a clue.
"But to get back to the original question. Due to the need for a focus, and with how versatile they are, yes you need a wand."
"What about when your professor turned herself into a cat?" The woman's husband asked.
Harry felt a little sheepish, he had forgotten that part of the question. "Professor McGonagall is a special case, she is an animagus. It takes an insane level of skill to achieve but once you do then you can shift into your animal form at will. There aren't even ten people in the country who can do it."
The questions continued while the kids searched the shop for the books their shopping list said they need. Harry was asked about his ring, he was asked about any additional books they should pick up for their kids, and he was asked if it was OK if they contacted him in the future if they had any questions. Harry told the two families with owls that any letters addressed to Harry Potter would find him if sent with an owl, and he gave one family the phone number for the Grangers. The Creeveys had Colin to ask questions of so didn't feel the need to disturb Harry's holiday.
Their questions carried them to Ollivander's, and while the parents and soon to be first years were looking at wands, Professor McGonagall pulled Harry aside. "Mr. Potter, I just wanted to say thank you."
"It's no problem Professor. I was just wandering around looking for something to do anyway."
" I never thought having a student here to answer parents' questions would help so much. A large oversight on my part especially given the number of students that are familiar with the muggle world." The Transfiguration teacher admitted.
"Something to look at for next year, it seems like something Hermione would be perfect for." Harry knew that Hermione would jump at a chance to help like that if she was given the opportunity.
"I wish I could give you some house points for how much you helped, but as we are not at school I can't. Where is Miss Granger, if I may ask? I'm a little surprised to see you here, but seeing you without Miss Granger surprises me more."
"Hermione is visiting her grandmother for the week. They don't get to see each other much so I stayed in London to give them some time."
"Ah that explains it. Normally the two of you are joined at the hip." Professor McGonagall smiled as she spoke.
"Not our fault. Even when we are doing different things we tend to be in the same space. Same classes, same library, same common room, you get the idea. I'm a big boy, I can handle Hermione going off for a week. Just wish I had a hobby that isn't restricted by the Statute of Secrecy or the restrictions on underage magic."
"Is that why you were wandering around Diagon Alley? Nothing else to do? I would have thought that you were here to speak with Garrick." She gestured to the man who was now handing wands to Dennis Creevey.
"Yeah, just bored. Why would I want to speak with Mr. Ollivander? My wand works fine." Harry was a bit confused.
Professor McGonagall gave him a look that said she thought he was being a little slow before she spoke. "Garrick doesn't only sell wands, he also sells wand accessories, wand halters, wand polish, things like that. If anyone would be interested in selling a new wand related item such as, say, a set of wand rings, it would be Garrick Ollivander."
Harry realized what his professor was getting at. When he had gotten the patent for his wand rings, even though it had example contracts for selling his idea, he never actually thought about selling his rings. Not because they were difficult to make, now that he knew the rune sequence making more would be easy. No, the reason never thought to sell them was that he thought no one would ever want to buy them.
"Professor do you really think anyone would want to buy them? I don't really see many people needing them. Not unless you get into a lot of fights."
"Well if we just consider the people who get into duels then there is the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and the duelling circuit. But that's not the only people who would be interested, what about people who often lose their wand? Or older witches and wizards who have trouble picking something up off the floor? And never underestimate the vanity of some people, it would give some of them an excuse to display even more jewellery." The sometimes stern witch explained. "It may not make you incredibly rich Mr. Potter, but it's at least a step in the right direction."
Harry carefully thought about what Professor McGonagall said, there probably were more uses for his one summoning ring then he initially thought. He absentmindedly looked over the ring on his right hand, which he hadn't stopped wearing since the evaluation. Hermione was still wearing hers as well, as far as he knew; it had been easy to forget he was wearing it after a few days. He glanced over to Mr. Ollivander, who was just finishing up with the last of the muggle-borns, the young witch whose parents had bought two owls. Harry waited for them to finish buying their wands, and after checking if the parents had his contact info in case they had any more questions, he approached the wand maker.
"Ah Mr. Potter, holly and phoenix feather, 11 inches. I hope everything is ok with your wand?" The wand maker asked.
"Everything is working perfectly fine."
"Good, good. Then what can I do for you? Are you looking for a new wand holster or perhaps a quart of wand polish? You can't ever have too much wand polish."
"Actually I was hoping to get your opinion on something." Harry held out his wand. "What do you make of my little addition to my wand?" He pointed out the ring to the wand maker though he barely needed to, the oak he had used for his wand ring stood out against the holly of his wand.
The wand maker took the wand and examined it. He tested the wand by casting a few spells and the whole time muttering to himself. After a time he turned to Harry. "I can tell you that the ring has almost no interference with the function of the wand, and I can sense that the ring is magical in some way, but that's it. I can tell the ring is not wand magic. What does it do?"
Harry held up his hand and summoned his wand. The wand snapped to his hand and Mr Ollivander turned to face Harry, an almost hungry expression in his eyes. "Mr. Potter, please do that again."
Harry tossed his wand to the shopkeeper and summoned it again. The look on Mr Ollivander's face grew more intense. "Mr. Potter, is that ring your own design?" Harry nodded that it was. "And do you hold the patent for it?"
"I do." A look of disappointment flashed over his face for a second but the greedy look returned almost immediately.
-ϟϟϟ-
Harry sat at the Granger's dinner table across from Dan and Emma as they looked over the contract he had gotten from Mr Olivander. As a minor, he couldn't sign the contract without a legal guardian counter-signing it, and the three of them were going over the details of the contract. The term's were rather straightforward; Ollivander's (the business, not the person) would have exclusive rights to manufacture and sell Harry's wand ring's for the next ten years. Harry could make a limited number to give to people but he couldn't sell them. Ollivander's was also allowed to use his name as the inventor for advertising and branding purposes.
In exchange Harry would get 40% of the profits from the sale of the rings. Garrick, as Mr Ollivander insisted Harry call him now if they were to be business partners, had argued that he should get the larger portion of the profits, because while it was Harry's design, Garrick would be the one putting in all the work now that he was the one making and selling the rings. Also, Garrick was the one taking the risks; as he was the one buying the materials to make the rings, he would be the one to suffer the loss if they failed to sell. In some ways, that Harry only got 40% stung him a bit, but that he also wasn't at any risk of losing money was a big plus.
"The contract looks reasonable enough. The terms are clear enough and straightforward." Dan said after looking up from the long roll of parchment.
"So you think I should sign it?" Harry asked.
Emma shook her head. "Harry it's not up to us to tell you to sign it. We are just going to make sure that you understand what signing it means. For example, do you realize that if Mr Ollivander chooses to after you sign it he can decide to not make any rings, and without selling the rings there is no profit; 40% of zero is zero and you could do nothing about it?"
Harry hadn't realised that, but now he thought about it Emma was right. There was no obligation in the contract for Ollivander's to make and sell the rings, only that only Garrick or a person working for him could make and sell them. Harry thought about that for a few seconds. He didn't think that was likely, Garrick had seemed excited to expand his business.
Emma continued. "You need to make the decision for yourself. Dan and I will help make sure you aren't being swindled or tricked, we would stop you if we thought that the agreement needed more from you than you could commit to. For example, you can't afford to spend a hundred pounds a month on a subscription of some type, but this contract doesn't put a burden on you that we feel would be too much for you."
There was silence for a few moments as Harry thought about that. A part of him wished that they would make the decision and make it easy. But that just wasn't the type parenting/guardians they were. They preferred to treat Hermione and himself as adults with training wheels.
Dan broke the silence "The questions you need to answer Harry are: do you think you will get more out of this agreement than you give up, and do you think you can get a better agreement somewhere else? If you think it's the right deal for you, then I'll go with you tomorrow and we can sign the contract. But it's your decision."
That helped Harry; what was he giving up really? Not much, he wouldn't be able to sell his rings for ten years. However, four of those years he would still be in school, and after that he would probably be working on his mastery or an apprenticeship. It would probably help if he had some gold coming in during that time that he didn't have to put any effort into.
Did he think he could get a better deal with someone else? Maybe, but not one where he could be so hands-off, and Ollivander's was the name in Britain for wands. Just having the rings sold in his shop would say they were good quality. Even if he could get a better percentage somewhere else, he would probably make more with Garrick just by selling more.
With those questions answered the decision was obvious to him. "I think I would like to sign it."
Dan nodded. "Ok good, we'll go and see Mr Ollivander tomorrow and get the paperwork sorted out."
A/N
Clotted cream - Clotted cream is a thick cream made by indirectly heating full-cream cow's milk using steam or a water bath and then leaving it in shallow pans to cool slowly. During this time, the cream content rides to the surface and forms "clots'' or "clouts", hence the name. Despite the name and the unappetizing description of how it is made it is in fact delicious. Clotted cream is served as part of tea and scones where it is liberally spread on the scones. It is sometimes used as a base to make really good ice cream.
If any of you non-Brits want to try clotted cream then the foodwishes YouTube channel has a good recipe that is very easy to follow
Porridge - I think Americans call it oatmeal.