Harry Potter Morgendorffer Helen's Announcement
Disclaimer: Daria is the creation of Glenn Eichler and is the property of MTV Viacom. Harry Potter and its characters are the creation of JK Rowling and are the property of JK Rowling and Warner Brothers. I own neither and neither expect nor deserve financial compensation for this fiction. I am writing for my own amusement and ego gratification.
Speaking of ego gratification, positive reviews are nice. Why not write one and post it?
Harry Potter Morgendorffer*Harry Potter Morgendorffer*Harry Potter Morgendorffer
It was one of those morning commutes. Helen Morgendorffer had driven in from the southwest and had been caught up in a traffic jam on Interstate Highway-35. A pickup truck had rear-ended a passenger sedan just south of Slaughter Lane and a passenger in the sedan had to be extracted by EMS. Traffic stayed stalled for twenty minutes. Traffic did resume moving after that, but only at a crawl. Flustered, irritated, Helen told herself that if that was her biggest event out of the ordinary, she'd count it as a good day. Arriving in downtown Austin, she parked her car in its usual spot in the parking garage, then walked over to the bank building on Congress Avenue. She walked into her office mentally composed from the walk.
"Hi, Janey," said Helen. "Any messages?"
"Helen, Mr. Bloodworth wants to see you," said her assistant.
"Did he say what it was about?" asked Helen.
"He didn't say," said Janey. "It didn't sound critical, but it sounded important."
"Thank you, Janey," said Helen.
Helen took the elevator down the executive suites. Unlike humans, Goblins liked having their offices underground. The further down you were, the more status you had.
Helen announced herself to the receptionist and sat down to wait. Mr. Bloodworth's receptionist was a Goblin, not a human. Ms. Mourning Knife had her hair pulled back and tied in a bun. Office gossip said that like many of the young humans around Austin, Texas, Ms. Mourning Knife had caught the music bug. Rumor also had it that she had a lovely singing voice. But despite any talent she might possess, Ms. Mourning Knife was never likely to go live on a No-Maj stage, even if she were lucky to win a contract as a back-up vocalist somewhere. Helen thought that was a pity.
Helen didn't have to wait long; one of Mr. Bloodworth's assistants came out of his office and then showed her in.
"Good morning, sir," said Helen. "I understand that you wanted to see me." Goblins, like humans, had also used large desks and tall executive chairs to show their status and importance, and Mr. Bloodworth had a large desk and a tall chair to show his. Helen looked at Mr. Bloodworth and tried to guess what he was thinking. It had been difficult, but shehad gradually learned to read Goblins' expressions over the past few years. By his posture and facial expression, Mr. Bloodworth looked pleased with himself.
"Gringotts is having a conference in London and we'd like you to present a seminar," he said.
"Me?" Helen said incredulously.
"You, Helen," said Bloodworth. "Over the last five years you've been working for Gringotts of Texas you have demonstrated that it is possible for your kind and ours to work together in a business setting. We would like you to travel to London and present a seminar at a weekend business conference."
"I'm honored," she said. "I'll be happy to go."
"When is it?" she asked.
"It's in three weeks," said Mr. Bloodworth.
"Can I talk to my husband first?" asked Helen.
"Certainly," said Mr. Bloodworth, although Helen could tell by his undertone that she had better be at the conference and not let Jake Morgendorffer get in the way.
Helen called her husband to see if the invitation would interrupt any of Jake's plans. After a brief discussion, she was relieved to learn that despite Bloodworth's relatively precipitous invitation, Jake could hold the fort with the children while Helen went to the Goblins' confab.
They got together in private that evening after the kids had retired to discuss Helen's upcoming business trip and to iron out details on the home front. Jake would stay behind and drive the children to and from school, then pick them up at the end of the school day. The idea of Helen going on a business trip didn't bother Jake so much as who her employers were. Goblins made Jake uncomfortable for a number of reasons, starting off with their teeth, claws, and attitudes; Helen's Goblin co-workers weren't particularly friendly and most tended to be dismissive. On the other hand, one of Helen's human magical co-workers did point out one of the Goblins' redeeming qualities: if there was sexual harassment, Goblins preferred to hit on their own kind, not human females.
"One more thing," said Helen. "I'd like to take HJ with me."
"Why?" said Jake.
Helen looked fondly at her husband and smiled. Sometimes Jake could be so obtuse.
"Jake, we've been getting the run-around about HJ's trusts for years and I'm tired of it. Gringott's main branch says that I have to talk to the Potter estate's solicitors and the solicitors say I have to talk to Gringott's. I've also been told to look up HJ's magical guardian. I'm tired of the back-and-forth. It's time to go to the main branch and start kicking up a fuss. As long as I'm there I'll start raising a ruckus."
-(((O-O)))-
The next morning, Helen started to make her arrangements for the trip. She began by reviewing her travel documents first. Everything was in order. Helen had kept her travel documents up-to-date since she and Jake had adopted HJ. For that matter, HJ's documents were also ready to go. She and Jake had occasionally talked about traveling abroad and they'd even once taken a cruise out of Galveston on a budget cruise line. She'd made sure that not only the girls had their own passports, but also that HJ had a valid British passport, even if his said that he was Harry James Potter, which in fact he was.
Helen first wanted to talk to HJ in private. She caught him while he was patrolling the perimeter of the back yard to see if he or the girls had left any toys in the grass. The yard man was supposed to come by the next day; he was a little slow and HJ and the girls had learned the hard way that their toys usually took a beating after they'd been run over with a lawnmower or trimmed by a hedger.
"We need to talk, young man," said Helen.
"OK," said HJ, wondering if Helen had found out about one of his school pranks.
"I want you to know that I'm going to be making a business trip to Britain three weekends from now," said Helen. "If you have any plans, I want you to clear your calendar."
"So how long are you going to be in Britain?" asked HJ.
"It's not just me," said Helen. "You're coming, too."
"Me?" HJ said incredulously.
"Both of us, young man," said Helen.
"How long are we going to be gone?" said HJ.
"The weekend and a couple of days afterwards," said Helen. "There's some business over there we need to take care of."
"What's it about?" asked HJ. He'd learned that getting answers concerning Helen's work was hit-or-miss, usually miss. The Goblins tended to be private about bank business and Helen had caught a lot of their attitudes. More often than not, answers weren't forthcoming.
"There's some questions about James and Lily's estate and what you inherited from them that I want answered, and I've learned that not only can I not get any answers from over here, you're going to come along to help," said Helen.
Visions of playing tourist in London appeared in HJ's head and just as swiftly evaporated. He suspected that he was going to be spending a lot of time in hotel rooms and boring offices.
"One other thing," said Helen. "Don't mention this trip to the girls. We'll discuss it at a family meeting."
HJ didn't need a tarot deck or a crystal ball to guess what was likely to happen. Quinn is going to pitch a fit, he thought.