[a/n]A review from #17 wondered how Harry ended up a casualty. Just part of landing in a war zone I'm afraid. Things like that tend to not get investigated.

Harry Does Different CDLXII

Crazy Math

"Dad loves Muggles. Thinks they're fascinating. Works for the Ministry of Magic, in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Department." Ron was telling the visiting Harry "Even showed us some money he got once. Called em pences I think."

After a second Harry realized "Actually it's a penny. More than one are pence. Anyway, it's a lot simpler than Wizard money."

"Father explained it to us." Said the oldest boy present "One, five, ten coins. Seemed horribly complicated. Even as big as a hundred pound coin, which I think, is worth some thousands of pences. How do you keep track?"

To this, Harry shrugged "Always seemed simple to me. For example, if you have ten pence, that's the same as two five pence coins. If you have ten ten-pence coins you have a pound. You'd need a hundred- -"

"Owwwww!" moaned Ron, pinching his temples with his fists "Fred! George! Make him stop!"

Percy primly added "While I reject Ronald's theatrics, I sympathize. Our way is much simpler. A sickle is 29 Knuts and a Galleon is 17 Sickles."

"Oh really?" asked Harry challengingly "How many Knuts in 5 Sickles?"

Percy barely blinked before answering "85"

"Right. Maybe that was too easy." Said Harry, after eyeing him critically "This is pretty easy in pounds, but how many Sickles in 44 Galleons."

George answered with about as much thought "748"

It took Harry some head-scratching and a borrowed quill and parchment to confirm the accuracy. And after nodding, he worked feverishly for a couple minutes then "How many Knuts in 21 Galleons?"

"10353" Ron gave the answer in far less time than it took his friend.

Harry ignored the blush of the youngest Weasley, who just arrived, in favor of asking "Ginny, we're having a debate. Random question: How many Galleons is 6789 Sickles?"

"399." She didn't need to resort to quill and parchment any more than her brothers had, though it wasn't quite instantaneous.

Harry looked around the table "I assume she's right?"

"Of course I am! With 6 left over if you want to be exact!" the young girl was quite over her shyness, in offense of being questioned.

All the boys nodded, displaying a touch of fear, despite their sister still being wandless. But for Harry it wasn't of note "Just amazed all you guys can do that. Right. So, a Muggle Pound is worth 100 pence. There's a coin worth 10 Pence. How many of THOSE would you need to have a Pound?"

"Err… maybe Dad gets this Muggle stuff, mate." Ron spoke for his siblings, all scratching their heads in confusion.

Nor did the adults fare any better when they appeared, half awake "Mr. Weasley, Ron says you're the Muggle expert. Can you tell me how many 5 Pence in a Pound?"

"Never good at Arithmancy, Harry." The older wizard yawned, "I'm sure Professor Vector could tell you."

The visitor savagely suppressed an eyeroll and queried "I assume you'd know right off how many Sickles in 1980 Galleons?"

"33600." Came easy reply.

Harry blinked and noted the other students nodding "I think I give up. You all know how many Knuts that works out to, I guess?"

"976,140." This came first from Mrs. Weasley, nor did any of them take quill to parchment. Even if a couple were a bit delayed.

Harry just groaned "Oy vey." But then asked "Arithmancy? Professor Vector you said? Maybe I'll check that out."

"Don't do it mate." Counseled Ron sagely "Care of Magical Creatures and Divinity are the way to easy Os."

Harry gave a nod of agreement, but it wasn't enthusiastic "We'll see. Plenty of time."