Chapter 24 – Challenge Accepted
12 April, 2010
DG Potions and Holdings
The Welland Valley, Northhamptonshire, England
Draco's Office
Draco Malfoy
I left New York Friday morning as planned. I would have stayed longer, but Mia asked me to leave. She said she had too much to process, and needed time to do that. She was right, she does need time, but I hate being away from her. She said I could keep in touch, which is about the best I could hope for considering our first meeting. I spent 30 hours with her before I took my portkey back to England.
I came home, and floo'd Theo. We had lunch, and I lost myself in firewhiskey. Mia is perfect. She's brilliant, gorgeous, confident, incredibly ambitious, compassionate, and she is forgiving. Maybe not THAT forgiving, but she did give me her mobile number after she explained to me what mobile phones were.
I owled Potter on Saturday and he helped me get a mobile phone set up. I told him about a few of the memories we viewed without mentioning the Viola memories. I knew Mia never told Potter about the time turner. He tried to question me about the vault, but I still couldn't tell him anything. He invited me to dinner that evening. The Longbottoms were there as well as the Zabinis. Daphne's elves, Lola and Nina, love me, and completely ignore Potter. It's the best reason to visit the Potters. We had a good evening. Hannah Longbottom interrogated me the whole evening about Mia. Hannah and Mia became very close Eighth Year. I think she really misses her.
Sunday, I made the mistake of visiting my mother. She was highly distraught after using the tea set Ophelia left her with Posey Parkinson, Madrigal Flint, and Astrid Avery. She said the women verbally attacked her with everything they ever thought about her, and with each sip of tea the insults became harsher. She was going to throw out the tea set, but I took it off her hands, maybe I should gift it to Theo. He'd love it.
I'm finding it hard to focus. All I can think about is Mia and the short time I had with her. We talked and she showed me all she has accomplished. It's very impressive.
8 April, 2010
Various Locations
Danville, Illinois
Draco
I arrived at Hermione's townhouse at 8:10 this morning. She answers the door and says, "Good you're early, we can grab pastries." She takes out her phone and lifts the side of the case so there are two handles, and says, "Grab a side and don't let go. You'll feel a pull like apparation, but it works more like a portkey."
I grab the handle and watch and she presses on her phone screen a few times and I feel a pull and we arrive inside a house. She says, "When we were looking for locations for factories we had a few options. In the 1980's General Motors, a car company had several factories across the Mid-West. These towns had an amazing economies because most people were employed at their factories. In the 1990's, General Motors pulled out of several of these towns and moved their factories to Mexico because they could pay Mexicans less than $4.00 an hour, whereas they were paying Americans close to $25.00 an hour. It devastated the economy in several American cities in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, and Illinois. We toured all these towns, and now they are filled with retired people or very poor people. We chose this town over the others for one reason, and if you follow me I'll show you why."
She lead me to the back of the house into a garage. She helps me into the car, and says, "This is a no-mag town. We discovered it's just easier to drive from factory to factory. We have a couple of factories that assemble our no-mag line of devices. We started the line a year ago. We had to have an extensive training program and it took us a couple of years to get the line of products into production, but has paid off very well."
She only drives for about two minutes before she stops at Diner with a dark blue sign that says 'Royal Donut'. She says, "All of the towns had similar establishments, however this place doesn't just serve doughnuts, they serve pastries. Their doughnuts are magical. I haven't determined if it's owned by wizards, but they are really delicious. We stop here every time we are in town."
We walk in and there are several displays of different kinds of doughnuts and various pastries. The counter girl greets us and Mia orders us each two doughnuts and orange juice.
The counter girl says, "Oh Mia, it's so good to see you. Will you want the usual as well."
Mia smiles, "Yes, please. Whatever you can spare. I'll take it all."
The lady takes out several boxes and starts filling them while we eat.
Mia says, "This first one is an Angel cream bismark. They are filled with a light and fluffy vanilla cream that is simply divine."
The one she points to is round and covered in confectioners sugar. I stare at it for a few minutes and watch her as she lifts it with her fingers and takes a bite. Her eyes roll back and she moans. I never thought someone acting so barbaric by eating with their hands would ever turn me on the way she just did. After a few seconds she looks at me and laughs.
She says, "Oh come on, Draco, are you still unable to loosen up enough to eat anything with your hands?" She shakes her head, and addresses the counter girl, "Excuse me? May I please have some plastic ware for my friend. His delicate sensibilities will not allow him to eat with his fingers."
I say, "Pardon Madame, continue with what you are doing, I am perfectly capable of eating a doughnut with my fingers."
Mia laughs. "You used to cut up pizza into bite size pieces, and refused to eat anywhere but the dining table. Are you telling me Draco Malfoy, is capable of such a feat as eating with his hands now? I'm shocked!"
I'm not really, it's still absolutely barbaric. When she moved into her flat, she would put the pizza on the tea table and eat it sitting on the floor with her hands. It was uncalled for. She had a perfectly good dining table we could use, and still view the movie we were watching. She used to tell me to stop being so serious. I would have eventually joined her, but by then it was a matter of principle. She wasn't going to win that easily.
Now that she has challenged me, I can't fail. Hanging out with Gryffindors such as Potter, Longbottom, Finnegan, and Thomas has ruined all sense of self preservation for myself. They are relentless if you don't follow through with their stupid challenges. They are all rule breakers, the lot of them. They dared me once to eat an entire meal at a pub with my feet on the table. Potter bet 10 galleons I couldn't do it. He didn't win, but I could feel my ancestors scolding me from beyond the grave. Barbarians!
I pick up the doughnut and take a bite. The doughnut is moist and the bit of cream in the bite was exactly how she described, divine. It was very sweet, almost too much so, but absolutely amazing."
We finish our breakfast and she goes to the counter. There are about twenty boxes of doughnuts waiting for her. The counter girl, Mia, and I take a stack of boxes and load them in her car. We drive for a few minutes and arrive at a factory.
She says, "This was our first factory we started. Only magicals work here. This has our first product, the Digital Incubator, we call it DigiGro. It's a single pot, you place your seed inside and choose the type of plant from the list. The device then places a magical field around the plant and adjusts sunlight, moisture, humidity, and the soil to give optimal conditions to grow the plant in half the time. Sasha's family are farmers and her father actually gave us the idea for the product. I was working on a magical network interface that only magical people could use. We were still in school at the time, and went to Sasha's home for the holidays. Paul, Sasha's dad, said what he would like to make farming easier, and I developed it. We sold five million units in the first year. It's used all over the world now, other than the United Kingdom, and is programmed for all plants both magical and no-mag. Come let's go inside, someone will come get the doughnuts once they see I'm here."
We enter the building and it's bright, clean, and magically extended. She walks in and a man greets her and then disappears outside, probably for the boxes of doughnuts. She continues walking to what appears to be a conference room and we are joined my a man around our age.
Mia introduces us, "Daniel, this is Draco Malfoy. He is C.E.O of DG Potions in England. Draco, this is Daniel Martin, he manages the factory for us."
Daniel shakes my hand, "Please to meet you Mr. Malfoy." He then looks to Mia and asks, "Are we lifting the ban?"
She smiles, and says, "To be determined still, but I'm here for our monthly meeting, I thought Gillian could give Mr. Malfoy a tour of the factory."
Daniel says, "Yes of course."
I'm introduced to a young woman with bright blue eyes and dark brown hair. We take a tour of the factory. The DigiGro devices are truly amazing. It does run on electricity, she explained they created magical generators that run on water and are able to fuel 100 of the DigiGro pots for a month on a gallon of water. Most farmers are able to add an accessory to catch rain water. They have started building larger models of the DigiGro that can grow twenty units of the same plant instead of the original one plant per pot. She said they would be on the market next month. I would really like to purchase them for DG Potions. It would eliminate outsourcing some of the rarer plants.
Next we toured where they make the chairs like the one at the Enchantex suite at The Plaza. The chairs will adjust to your body the perfect fit based on body type and moods of the person. If a person is highly stressed it even has a massage feature.
She explained most employees hold a Mastery in transfiguration because most of the items are manufactured by performing perfect duplication. Which astounds me because it's a hard skill to learn. Duplication usually has a detectable flaw, the colour or texture is slightly off. Duplicated food has a blander taste, duplicated fabrics have a slight different feel, and colour. To be able to duplicate items perfectly requires skill. I have to say, I'm impressed.
She takes me to the parts room. The room is filled with about 500 stations. The people at the stations have a prototype of the part and spend their days copying the item. They are given fifteen minute breaks every hour and given the adjustable chairs for their ultimate comfort. There is a potions cabinet they can use that contain wit sharpening potion, pepper up, and what looks like the sleep replenishing potion to get them through the day.
Gillian told me that some of the factories duplicate items for the no-mag line of products, but doesn't break the Statute of Secrecy because the devices themselves have no detectable magic once assembled. She then took me to the basement of the factory and it was filled with giant cases. She explained that these were a few of the servers for the magical internet. I looked at her funny and she explained the concept of the internet. It was fascinating.
Mia created an entire search engine for everything magical. For example you can search what you want to do and it will list spells and/or potions for what you need. She has collaborated with magical stores, apothecaries, and farmers to create an online magical store where you can purchase anything. If there is anything magical you are in need of, as long as it's legal it can be found on Mia's magical internet.
I'm not completely unfamiliar with computers. Ophelia installed computers at DG Potions, we have a network within the company, but don't connect to this internet. Ophelia started using computers in the early 2000's. She said she has been researching them for years. It does help with administrative work. It is easier to keep track of inventory. We hired about five squibs to maintain our network and repair any issue we have with the computers. I thought we were progressive, but this is beyond anything I have imagined. Mia has truly brought muggle technology into the magical community and has completely dominated the world with it.
Gillian told me this is only a small fraction of the network. There are hundreds of buildings around the world with nothing but servers. It just a fraction of the other things Enchantex has done. They have their own satellite and mobile towers. That work world wide. The portkey system works based on GPS(?) mapping and Gillian showed me her phone. You can choose any place that is registered with the system and with a touch of your finger travel to that place. Some places are private, and you set a code to enter. For example, one can have their residence registered into the network and you have to have a passcode to travel there. Travel is tracked and charged. The company make one galleon a mile to travel from one place to another. The mobile phones also have their own network, and are billed according to usage. Gillan said the company is making billions of galleons across the globe and it doesn't even include the products being sold. I had no idea Mia was making that much money.
After the tour, I'm grasping how much Mia has accomplished in the last five years. I read all the articles Ophelia had, but they didn't do any justice to just how truly amazing all these products really are. This is just one of many factories Mia has. There are several in this town, but she has many world wide.
Mia seed me and says, "What did you think?"
I smile, "I'm impressed. How do I purchase DigiGro for my greenhouses?"
She laughs, "That may take some time. They all have embedded runes so they won't work on British soil. I need to process that change still, but you'll be the first to know. Would you like to see them in action?"
I nod, "I would."
She smiles, "You need to transfigured your red tie. There is a 234 year old woman where we are going who doesn't like British people much. She called me a 'Red Coat' the first two years I knew her. She might hex you if she hears you talk, and you are wearing red. She has slight dementia."
That's doesn't sound promising, "Why would she not like the British?"
Mia sighs, "She was born in 1776. She's from an indigenous tribe in Quebec. When she was a young girl half her tribe was slaughtered by British soldiers, they were forced to relocate and moved to west. She met and married a French wizard and they moved to Montana. Her name is Aponi, she is a many great grandmother of my friend Sasha. Sasha's parents, Paul and Constance, owns a huge farm in Montana. They own one thousand acres. It's beautiful there. It's the only place I know I can show you how the DigiGro devices work."
I vanish my tie and Mia takes out her phone and asks Daniel if he will take the car back to the house, he agrees and I grab the handle on the phone and we leave.
When we arrive we land outside a large log cabin home. It's three stories tall and appears to have been added to over a long time. It's beautiful in a rustic way with a large A-frame room full of windows on the left side then the main home attached to the right. We walk up to the door and Mia knocks.
A very tall woman opens the door. She looks like Sasha's much older twin, "Mia dear, how lovely to see you. Did you bring my wayward daughter with you?"
Mia laughs and hugs her, "Hello Connie, Sash is busy working, while her boss is slacking off today."
Connie says, "You couldn't possibly know how to slack off, my dear. Who do we have here?"
Connie is looking at me and Mia answers, "This a friend from England, Draco Malfoy, Draco this is Constance Trueblood, Sasha's mother."
Connie looks at me curiously, I say, "Mrs. Trueblood, it's lovely to meet you."
She hums, "The Truebloods were British at one time. My husband's family left Britian in the 1800's due to the hostile political environment. Edward Trueblood died 20 years ago and spoke of an Arcturus Malfoy he went to school with, are you relation to him?"
Arcturus Malfoy was in a word, a monster. He would kidnap muggles, confound them, and then set them free is his woods and would hunt them. "He was my seven times great-grandfather, Mrs. Trueblood."
She smiles, "Well, we won't hold that against you, Draco. Welcome to our home. Mia, what brings you here on a Thursday? Shouldn't you be taking over the world, my dear?"
She leads us into the large kitchen and we sit down at a dining table. Mia laughs on the way, and when we sit down, she says, "I am taking over the world. Draco may buy some of our DigiGro devices, which means we may conquer the United Kingdom as well."
Connie smiles, "You've had some closure, I see. Oh my sweet girl, I'm so happy! Your aura is so much clearer."
Mia nods, "Yes Draco is Ophelia's godson and he brought some memories for me to view last night. I have much to process, but, oh Connie, she was present in my life in ways I never knew. She made all those changes in Great Britain. I have a lot to think over."
Connie looks at Mia and then at me and smiles, "I see that you do sweetheart. Would you like a drink, I have Diet Coke, Mountain Dew, coffee, tea, water, or beer?
Mia says, "Can we both have some of your delicious iced tea, Connie."
Mia looks at me, and says, "Trust me, her tea is outworldly."
Connie makes us all iced tea. It is very good. Connie asks, "How long will you be staying, Draco?"
Mia answers for me, "He's leaving tomorrow morning."
Fuck! I guess I'm leaving tomorrow.
Connie says, "Hmmm, but you'll stay in touch, correct?
Mia nods, "I think so, we were good friends a long time ago."
I speak up, "I would very much like to keep in touch."
Mia stands up, "Excuse me, I need the loo."
Mia leaves and Connie looks at me, "Give her time young man. Soulmates always find a way back to one another. My girl was broken for many years, but you are healing her. Those memories must have been something else. Sasha, my daughter, called me last night to tell me about them. They were exactly what Mia needed. She'll make the right decision, she always does." She patted my hand, and continued, "So tell me what you do in England?"
"I took over running DG Potions and Holdings, for Mia's grandmother at the end of 1999. I now own the Potions, greenhouses, and apothecaries we have across the country and in Europe. I'm C.E.O of the company. Ophelia left all the properties and very business interests of the company to Mia."
She laughs, "Oh my. Mia has no idea how much she inherited, does she?"
I shake my head, "She has a small clue, but Ophelia was the richest witch in Europe. I'm not even sure how much she really has."
Connie smiles, "You know Mia sets herself a reasonable salary and invests more into the company. Her employees are well taken care of. I'm so proud of her."
At that moment I hear scraping on the wood floors, and a very old woman enters the room walking with a walker. "Connie, I'm hungry." She looks at me, "Who are you?"
Connie answers, "Aponi, this is Draco Malfoy, a friend of Mia's."
Aponi looks at me, "You're a red coat too?"
Connie answers for me, "Aponi honey, he is British, but he's not a soldier, Honey. Come have a seat." Connie gets up to help Aponi into a seat. Then goes across the room to make Aponi some food.
Aponi looks at me, "So you're the man that hurt my Mihkokwaniy? Never mind, I see it. I may be ancient, but I can see. You take care of my Mihkokwaniy. I'm dying next year. I'll attend your wedding, but I won't see your first daughter. She'll come in the spring in two years. She'll be a handful, she'll carry the Black line, name her Black, and her husband will be a second son and take her name. He's a Black by blood too, distant cousin. Your son will be studious and quiet, it's the quiet ones you have to look after, he'll be cunning. He'll marry my Sasha's daughter. The twins will look like angels, but will challenge you more than the others. Don't teach them time magic, too damn smart for their own good. The baby will be a boy. He'll have perfect duplication magic that passes through Mia, name him Dagworth-Granger to pass the line. Stop at five, the sixth one will be a dark lord. Give my Mihkokwaniy time. She'll forgive you, but don't push her. I have spoken."
Mia walks in the room and goes to Aponi and hugs her, "Aponi it's so good to see you."
Aponi smiles, "My Mihkokwaniy, your journey has started. Be open, my Mihkokwaniy. Paul is in the barn now, you better go in order to catch him. Come see me in July. I'm dying next year."
Mia smiles, "You said that last year."
Aponi smiles. "I decided to wait for Sasha's son to arrive."
Mia smiles, "She swore off men again, you might have to wait."
Aponi smiles, "Not long, little rose. Now get, Paul won't stay in the barn all day."
We leave the house through the back door. I ask Mia, "Is Aponi a seer?"
Mia looks at me and smiles, "She's like a seer, but mostly only to people connected to her. She tells me I'll have five children. I don't foresee that happening anytime soon. She told Connie about her daughters and son when she was a little girl. Sasha has a sister and a brother. She's very good with spiritual magic like Sasha. She is by far the most interesting person I have ever met. It took her two years to talk to me. Did she talk to you?"
"Yes she did. I wonder if her predictions will come true. What does mihkokwaniy mean?
Mia smiles, "It means Rose. She said Hermione is a rose with many complicated layers like myself."
I smile, "You're complicated till someone figures you out."
She scoffs, "You think you have me figured out, huh?"
I smile, "No Miss Granger, but I figured you out once, I am sure I will again."
She smiles, "Ha! Good luck!" The skips ahead of me towards the barn.
Oh yes. Challenge accepted. She's going to be mine again. Merlin, how am I ever going to make that happen? I fucked it all up before. I loved her, but I was too much of a fucking coward to fight for her. How am I going to show her I'm not that scared kid anymore?
I follow Mia to the barn. She hugs a very tall man. He is at least 6'7" sandy brown hair and green eyes that are trying to eviscerate me. When he releases Mia, she says, "This is my friend from England, Draco Malfoy, Draco, this is Sasha's dad Paul."
Paul looks at Mia and says, "Is this the tool that left you for his mommy?"
Mia sighs, "I never said that, but yes."
Paul smiles and says, "Ya didn't have to, kiddo. So why are skeeving work to come see me?"
"Mr. Trueblood, you know me better than to think I'm not working! First of all, I brought you a present." She digs in her beaded bag and pulls something out, and sets it on the ground. She waves her wrist and it enlarges and I see it's a large DigiGro. She continues, "This is what I told you about. It will grow 20 of the same plant. We worked out the kinks, and now it should work as well as the single units."
He smiles, "This is why you're my favorite child. Let's go to greenhouse 420. It has the most room. Hop in the truck. The douchebag can sit in the back." I see where Sasha received her personality because her mother was lovely.
He shrinks the device and picks it up and places it in the front of the truck. He then pulls a handle for the back of the truck and looks at me, "Can you handle climbing up or do I need to get you a stool ladder so you don't tear your precious suit? We can't have your pasty ass hanging out on my farm, you'll scare the hippogryffs."
What is with this fucker? "I can climb up, thank you." How the fuck do you climb into a back of a truck? Damn it. I turn around and hop on the back and turn around to stand so I can move. I hear the man mutter, "Fucking candyass."
He turns to Mia, "Alright, Sweetheart, let's go."
We drive for few minutes. The land is covered in about one hundred long greenhouses. The scenery is picturesque. In the background are tall mountains. They are far in the distance, the land has rolling hills and a stream that winds through the middle. There is a forest in the near distance. It's lovely here.
We get to the greenhouse and Paul heads in and tells Mia to get me out of the truck. Mia let's me out, and says, "Are you alright? It's a bit cold out here."
I smile, "It's like being Home."
She smiles at me. We walk into the greenhouse, and Mia walks up to Paul and says, "Paul Sebastian John Trueblood, what do you think your doing? You can't grow this stuff! It's illegal!"
Paul laughs, "I have a license, I can grow it. Because I'm a magical farm MACUSA basically takes care of all my inspections. It's medicinal, but you better not tell my kids, I'll go fucking broke! Sebastian and Scarlett will have me in the poorhouse in a week. You'll have to support us then, Pumpkin. Aponi's peyote is expensive."
She laughs, "I haven't talked to either of them since Christmas, your secret is safe with me as long as you don't tell Sasha I brought you the Deluxe DigiGro."
He laughs, "Greedy little thing, isn't she?"
Mia laughs, "Yes, she is. Now this works like the single units. The plants all need to be same for the programming." She asks for seeds and he hands her some. "Luckily, we took in all accounts of hybrids for cannabis sativa to grow, you aren't our only customer who requested it. Here, program it in and they should be ready in about 2 months."
Paul pressed some buttons, and a visible shield appeared around the device. Mia looks at me and explains, "This is the protective barrier that keeps the perfect environment for the DigiGro. It will keep the perfect temperature, humidity, and moisture the plant needs to grow, and with a little bit of magic it grows in half the required time."
I smile at her. "These are truly remarkable, Mia. You know Neville Longbottom is the Herbology Professor at Hogwarts now, he would love this."
She nods, "He was quite good at growing questionable plants back in the day."
I laugh, "He still does. Theo lets him use all the greenhouses at Nott Manor."
Paul deadpans, "Such positive influences, you must be proud."
Mia clears her throat and looks at Paul and says, "We should be going, I need to get back to the City."
He frowns, "Ok, baby girl. Take care of yourself, and my eldest. Give Sash, my love. We'll come visit next weekend. I love you!" He then looks at me, "If you so as much make my girl think too hard, I have places on my land no one will find your body."
Mia laughed and grabbed my hand, "See you later, Paul." We walk outside the greenhouse. We walk until we are clear of the greenhouses. She unfortunately let's go of my hand, "Ready?"
I nod, "I am ready to leave here. It's been a interesting experience."
She laughs, "They are a hard sell. The Truebloods are all very protective. Paul and Connie have been family to me since I came to America. I wouldn't know what to do without them. Is there anywhere you want to go? We can go anywhere."
I look at her, "Take me someplace truly American."
12 April, 2010
DG Potions and Holdings
The Welland Valley, Northhamptonshire, England
Draco's Office
Draco
We went to Los Angeles. She took me to a place where she said they have the best burgers. She ordere us two double chili cheeseburgers and we spent the day on the beach. When it started to get dark she took me to Hollywood Boulevard. She told me about her time in America. All the places she's been to. We had such a peaceful day. By the time we went back to New York it was three in the morning. She asked me if she could met me at the hotel in the morning to walk me to MACUSA. I agreed. She promised to stay in touch, and hugged me goodbye before I took the portkey home.
Going home was like a stab to the heart, but that time with her changed everything for me. We have texted the last couple of days. She has even said she is thinking about making the DigiGro available in England. I just want her available in England.
I decided to text her. It's 9am in New York.
Me: Good Morning, Mia.
Mia: Good Afternoon, Draco. I can't text long I have a big day. Can I call you later?
Me: Yes, that's fine. Have a good day.
Mia: You too! Talk soon! :-*
I get to hear her voice later. She changed everything for me. I'm so fucked!