The next morning, Harry is inundated with owls. Each one holding a large packet of shrunken letters. To add to the madness, Hedwig manages to open the hotel window and flies down to sit possessively on Harry's shoulder. Emma herself has one or two owls deliver packages addressed to her.
In the time it takes to divest the birds of their packages, a large enough crowd has formed that Emma has no chance of covering it up. Instead, she plants the idea that a number of the crowd saw a film crew. It will fuel speculation about why the x-men are involved in filming, but that's better than a potential fall back for her students being exposed before the possibility has even been explored.
Once they finally get into the limo and pick Hermione up, she stares at the pile of packages on the stationary bar. Then she forces a laugh, "They got you too?"
Emma nods, "International post."
"But why me? I didn't do anything."
All four Cuckoos look at her, "So you didn't help rescue Sirius and Buckbeak?"
"Not really, Harry was the one that did the important bits."
"You didn't stand with Harry when his name came out of the Goblet of Fire?"
"Well, yes, but that's only because she didn't put it in."
"You didn't discover that the creature was a basilisk?"
"Well..."
"And did you forget that you name is on the court records as a witness?"
Hermione sags, "Oh, right I provided my own memories didn't I."
Emma sighs, "Just to prepare you, but we're likely to be on the news tonight. I don't doubt that there will be a mix of vitriol, speculation, and gossip. Their sister was involved in the destruction of New York City a few months ago, and they were caught up in the riots of Salem Centre. Both of which were highly televised. I am continually thankful that Harry's arrival allowed us to regain a lot of the trust that was lost between us."
Mindee grumbles, "I still think you are responsible for Sophie's death."
Harry puts her hand on Mindee's leg, "At least Emma took responsibility and tried to prepare you for what we might face." Her tone turns bitter, "It's better than our teachers did."
Hermione sounds mildly indignant as she says, "Harry, they're good teachers."
"Hermione, when was the last time one of them took the time to check in on us after something bad happened? Christ, look at how he got on the quidditch team."
"That's, ah, erm, well."
Emma shakes her head, "We're far from perfect, and I've made some very big mistakes in my life. I have no doubt I will make many more. However, I don't think taking you on as my personal students was one of those mistakes."
Hermione looks between Emma an the others, "What did she do to regain your trust?"
After a pause, Celeste says, "She came to help us, no questions asked. Then checked up on Harry every day. Which is more than you or Harry got. It's..."
Phoebe scowls, "What she means is that with Harry's memories, it changed the way we understood our memories."
Hermione starts to say, "You don't sound happy..."
Emma puts her hand on Hermione's knee, "Hermione. I'm sure there's aspects of your life you'd be unhappy with being forced to examine. Just accept that and move along. Especially with another telepath that's stronger than you."
"Why?" she quickly adds, "I mean academically, not practically."
Emma's eyes sparkle with mirth as Mindee chuckles, "I think you just worked it out yourself."
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As Harry looks at the contents of her vault with the others, and Hedwig seemingly glued to her shoulder, she muses that it looks the same, although the piles seem small than they did when she was 11.
As she voices this thought, Emma says, "It's probably just that you're older now. But even if it isn't it's a key holder account so there's nothing we can do about it now."
As Emma pulls out a small digital camera and starts taking photos of the individual piles. Celeste asks the goblin by the door, "Do you know how much is in here?"
The goblin sneers at Celeste, "No. We just provide the vaults."
"Can you find out?"
"Five sickles for an accounting, two Galleons for an itemised inventory."
Emma looks up, "We'll pay for the accounting, to the nearest Galleon. Could you provide a list of all the other services your bank offers."
The goblin promptly says, "Two knuts."
"How soon can you have those done?"
"Present your key to a teller in an hour. We'll take the fee out of the vault."
Emma nods, "Come on, we can spend that time elsewhere."
After an hour trying to find out how to stop them from being mobbed by owls again (own or rent a home that you live in for a few months a year, and set up owl wards), and browsing the bookstore, (Obliviation and you, a guide to keeping our world secret; Protecting your home, a home owners guide to permanent and temporary protections). They head to the Frost facility for another day of headache inducing training.
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The day before they're due to leave for Hogwarts, Emma calls the Cuckoo's into her office and sends Hermione out with a list of people to find.
In the room with her is a young man in a dark grey suit and an open brown briefcase sat on the desk beside him.
Emma indicates to the four chairs on the other side of the desk. "This is Andrew Philips, one of my investment managers. I gave him a summary of what you have in your account, and he's spent the last couple of days investigating what could be done with it."
Andrew nods and takes several stapled reports out of his briefcase and passes them out, "I understand that you have about £500,000 worth of gold sitting in a safety deposit box. While that might seem like a large amount of money, it's not so large that you could live off it indefinitely. It's a mistake many working class people fall into when they get a windfall like this. It's slightly better for you, because gold doesn't tend to depreciate in value like cash does. Uh, goes down in value. However, it also doesn't earn you anything either as the value of gold has barely fluctuated in price since the turbulence of decimalisation in the early 70's. What I propose is that you leave between 25 and 50% of the principal as gold as a hedge against the gold market suddenly increasing in value in the next few years. With the remainder, you could invest in companies like Microsoft, Stark Technologies, and Sony. Which, given the growing popularity of the world wide web, are likely to be safe bets for the future. Especially Stark, as their share prices are currently in freefall due to the majority shareholder's sudden departure from the weapons market. However, you shouldn't only invest in growing companies like those. You should also invest in companies that pay regular dividends, like Frost International, General Motors, Hoover, and the like. Long term government bonds are a good low risk investment, as while they don't pay off as much as stocks and shares, they are a guaranteed return at the end of their lifetime"
Harry looks lost as Celeste looks up from her report, "You said that it's not enough to live off. How much would be enough to live off?"
Andrew thinks for a moment, "In the current climate? £5 million in the right investments. That should bring in around £40 thousand a year in dividends. If you want your wealth to continue to grow while you live off it, you'd probably want at least £30 million spread out around the world. That should then insulate you from any sudden shocks in the markets."
Over the next few hours, the Cuckoos take turns focusing on the most mind numbingly boring discussion they've ever been part of. Finally, Phoebe snaps and copies Andrew's financial knowledge right out of his head. Emma gives them a look that says that they will be receiving a lecture later.
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Later, in the library at Grimauld Place, Emma looks at the four Cuckoos with a mixture of pride and exasperation.
"First of all, well done on taking the initiative and copying Andrew's knowledge of finances. Xavier would urge me to say 'Don't do it again', but I prefer not to be a hypocrite. Instead, make sure the person you're taking knowledge from is someone you don't mind being like. Knowledge is tied up in peoples personalities, so you can't help but take in some of their personality while you take their knowledge. It's where I got my love of teaching after all."
Sirius frowns from his armchair, "What do you mean taking knowledge?"
Emma gives Sirius a tight smile, "Exactly that, telepathy is more than just Legilimency, as I'm sure our healing session showed you."
"But, isn't that, you know, wrong?"
Harry spots Sirius almost say Dark, so she asks, "Sirius, why do you think it's dark?"
Sirus gives them a long considering look before he stands up and takes one of the books off the shelf. With a deep breath, he says, "The Black family have always been dark, I suppose you could say I'm the white sheep of the family. I'm currently the only person that can safely touch some of the books here. That's why I generally keep it closed. This is the book that I learned occlumency from. This book... It's, not the standard method. It also had rituals for stealing the skills from a victim."
Sirius takes a deep breath and opens the book before flicking through the book with dead eyes. Eventually, he stops at a page and turns it around to face Emma. "This is a description of the ritual."
Emma looks at it before shaking her head, "While we could certainly do something like that. It would be needlessly cruel and expose us too much. It's far easier to just copy the relevant skills and the donor shouldn't even know we did it."
Sirius grimaces, "You're assuming my family left their victims alive."
Emma gently says, "Sirius, our powers don't come from magic. I know that your magic can do many things that mutants can do. But we have to live with our abilities day in and day out. I'm not sure I could explain what it's like for us, any more than I could truly understand my students who now have non-human physiology, or those who command elemental forces. A lot of people in power find telepaths absolutely terrifying."
Sirius dryly says, "I'm sure they have absolutely no reason for that opinion."
"You'd be surprised. Anyway, while I'm sure the Cuckoos are finding this fascinating. I actually was leading onto some other things. The discussion that we had was about your money. While I don't think you should make a decision until Christmas. I am prepared to buy up to half of your Galleons at 44 Galleons per oz of gold. I have also instructed Andrew to buy an additional £100,000 worth of Stark stocks once they reach rock bottom. I expect the price to go up after the Stark Expo in November. If you decide against them, then I'll just keep the stocks myself."
The Cuckoos share a glance, "We are willing to do that."
Sirius narrows his eyes, "Wait, Cuckoo? I thought you were Potters."
Harry stands up and sits on the arm of Sirius' chair to give him a hug, "I'm sorry Sirius, but while we will answer to Potter. I joined their family. I was lucky, I got out. They were killing me and I couldn't even tell."
Bitterly Sirius says, "I can't say I wouldn't have done the same, as i did. I was a little older than you when I ran away from home and your grandparents took me in. Are you happy?"
Harry nods, "I am. There are things that caught me off guard, and moments where we thought I was going to break the gestalt. But I wasn't going to let them go."
"What sort of things?"
"The whole bleeding for five days a month was a big one."
Sirius blanches, and Emma raises an eyebrow, "Was that before you woke up?"
Harry shakes her head, "It was during my first period. I thought I was prepared for it, I wasn't. We all had to confront a lot of things about being women that we hadn't really thought about during that period."
Emma nods in understanding. A moment later Sirius blurts out, "You're not allowed to start dating until you're 30."
Everyone else starts laughing.
Emma gestures over to Sirius, "Sirius is coming with me back to America tomorrow. Don't tell anyone else in the house, as we think they'll object."
Celeste frowns, "Why could they object?"
Sirius grimaces, "I'm the only one that Kreature has to listen to." He takes a deep breath, "I'm going to instruct him to allow them to use the bedrooms and the dining room. I don't think I could make him listen to any other orders."
Sirius reaches down the side of his chair and pulls out a brown paper package, "The Marauders made these in our sixth year to help us coordinate our bigger pranks. This was after your mother turned him down for being an immature bully." He smiles, "In fact I think this was the prank where we charmed all of the suits of armour in the school so that they would waltz with anyone that got too close. I haven't thought about that prank in years. It was only a couple of days after that, that Lily started dating James."
Harry takes the package, "What is it?"
"It's a mirror. We made them in pairs, and this was mine and your fathers pair. If you say Padfoot, then it will make the other mirror vibrate and we'll be able to see and hear each other. The one your holding vibrates if I say Prongs into my mirror.