AN :
if we hit 150 power stones in 24h, I will release an extra chapter.
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Rita had a new editor-in-chief, and he planned very much to use her 'unique' skill set to profit from.
"What did you buy then?" she asked, awaking Harry from his own internal plotting.
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Thinking over what he'd just said and realising his mistake, "Nothing major, I just managed to recruit a rather resourceful person who will help protect my interests," he stated blandly. He also made an additional note to himself to interview Rita for anything else she might know but hadn't written about.
"Oh, not a pair of lawyers, I hope."
"Nah, your parents can always fit into that role. Besides, I think if everything goes as planned over the next couple of months, your family's fortunes will change quickly," he stated, wanting to move the topic away from discussing today's events centred on Rita's recruitment.
"What do you mean?" she probed.
"I have events set in motion where, if all goes as planned, you'll find your family will profit greatly. However, I won't get your hopes up. I'll know in just under two weeks if my lead pays off," he pondered.
"Come on, Harry, please," she begged, shifting her features to a devastating puppy-dog expression.
"Tonks, I'll tell you as soon as I know, but what I'm doing is sensitive and needs to be kept as secret as possible. If word gets out before everything is in place, it can easily be countered. So wait - you'll find out the full details in time."
"Why did you even tell me, then?"
"Because it was the right thing to do, and it will affect you just as much as it will affect me. Now be patient and wait. Things such as this can't be hurried. It's like a game of chess - you have to set up your pieces before you attack in such a way that when you do, your adversary can't counter it, and this I don't plan on leaving to chance."
Thinking over how having Sirius freed would help things along, as well as how hinting to Tonks now that he had 'helped' free Sirius could pay off in future, rather than having someone else try to take credit for it.
Looking over at Tonks to see she was just about to protest, he decided to move to a much safer subject, "Tonks, I want you to meet a friend of mine tomorrow. She's a year younger than you, but I think you'd both enjoy each other's company, and frankly if you both end up working for me, you'll probably end up working together."
After Tonks had finally left to go home for the evening, he was able to send Penny a letter asking if she could meet with him at the Leaky Cauldron the next morning.
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Once they had both arrived, greeted each other and found somewhere they could sit down without being bothered, Harry asked, "What is it you wanted to talk about?"
"What do you mean? I thought you wanted to talk to me?"
"Nah, I was referring to the letter you sent me," he probed.
"Oh, that's been taken care of. I managed to get a grant from Hogwarts," Penny said.
"That's good to hear. However, tell me if you need any help. Money isn't really a problem for me," he explained, trying not to sound boastful or arrogant about the fact he was well off.
Before she could say anything else, an owl landed next to him with a letter bearing the Hogwarts seal. Wondering what it was, Harry opened the letter but found it was only the Headmaster requesting his new address.
Before he could even put the letter away in his bag to consider his response, there was a flash of flame just off to the right of the table. The Headmaster had appeared in the magical pub with a flare of phoenix fire, causing everyone to watch as the grand light mage appeared with his beloved phoenix resting on his shoulder.
"Mr Potter," he greeted in his grandfatherly tone.
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"Good evening, Headmaster," Harry greeted, putting on a display of calm even though his insides were erupting with nerves at being caught in the open, before the Portkey to his home came to mind.
"Harry, my boy, I've been trying to find you all summer," Dumbledore said.
"Well, sir, you know how to find me. In my letter, I left instructions for any communications to be sent to my account manager, Bloodmoon. I am well aware you know him, sir," he stated in a factual manner, raising his mental barriers while making sure his Portkey was ready to go.
"I thought it would be best for us to have a little chat. Plus, I need to know where you're living for school documents and administration, since you and your relatives are no longer at the residence where I placed you a decade ago."
Now that made him angry, but on the outside he maintained his calm demeanour. It was sickening that the old man thought he could just walk up to him and play nice, thinking they were on first-name terms.
"Well, I have nothing to say on either point. First, I have the right to privacy, and the goblins act as a mail filter, just like your letter was charmed so you could find me. And I'm not your boy, despite whatever relationship you think you had with my parents. Any business you want to discuss should be done in private, not in the middle of a café. Secondly, at Gringotts I would have my own representative to protect my legal rights."
"Harry, my boy, I'm sorry you feel that way, but I am your magical guardian. I need to know where you live; therefore I must insist we talk."
"Insist all you want, but you're only my magical guardian due to my parents' will being blocked. I have nothing to say to you." Harry rose from his seat, intentionally ignoring the Headmaster and breaking eye contact because he could feel his ring heating up.
"Penny, it was wonderful seeing you again," he said to his friend, noticing some college documents in her handbag, before turning back to the Headmaster.
"I will see you at the meeting. Here, keep your cursed letter, and if you try following me I'll contact the Aurors and have you arrested for harassment," causing a sharp intake of breath from the onlookers.
"Harry, there is no need for that. I just wish to talk. Besides, I am your magical guardian - I am well within my rights to demand answers," he said sternly, as if talking down to a naughty child.
"Then talk to my account manager rather than wasting my time and ruining my day!" he said before taking another calming breath and cutting off the Headmaster.
"You know what the funny thing is? There's nothing you can do about it. After all, there's no place like home," causing the Headmaster to frown in confusion before Harry said the activation phrase to his Portkey, "Home Sweet Home," and felt the all-too-familiar pull.
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Over the next couple of days in the run-up to his meeting with the Hogwarts staff, he'd been extremely busy. He had visited a number of his investments, such as 'Terra-Green,' which he had bought the previous year, and he had learned about the processes they used in their cultivation of plants, which was carefully explained by the manager as he escorted Harry around the greenhouses.
First, if there was low residual magic in the area, one had to start with lower-magical plant life. Over time, this would increase the residual magic of the area enough to support higher-magical plant life. They would also introduce supporting magical wildlife to help ensure balance and keep magical pests down. The manager explained that getting the land to a point where it could start to be farmed took close to half a decade, and several decades before higher-level magical ingredients could be produced to a respectable quality and volume.
He spoke with the manager for quite some time about the current staff and their hiring standards, and found most of them were hired due to family connections rather than knowledge, with this knowledge being built up during their working experience within the company. This was reasonable as long as the master growers and harvesters were knowledgeable and skilled, but he was tempted to try and include some of his own people who had qualifications in the field.
This would ensure the standard of skill stayed high, rather than people being recruited simply because their parents happened to be on the staff. Also, it would be easier to monitor the business if he had an agent or two on the inside to give feedback on any issues that could be hidden from his knowledge until he was sure the workforce was honest and hard-working.
He also noted that the process was inefficient. In short, it reminded him of a rural farm back in the 17th century, where everything was watered by hand. This was not really surprising when he thought about magical society, so he was tempted to try to introduce some mundane concepts of mass production. Also, he wanted to ask Bloodmoon to see if it was possible to buy several fields around the cottage he owned.
He was already planning it out. The cottage could be converted into offices and storage rooms if he ended up buying the land. Then, he could hire some recently graduated first-generation witches and wizards who happened to have a talent and passion for magical plant life and cultivation.
These people could be found by discreetly asking Professor Sprout, and then get them to study mundane techniques to see if better results could be achieved.
Sure, it was a test - a very expensive and time-consuming one - but if it worked a decade or so from now, it could give him a massive advantage over his rivals. If the experiment failed, he had at least tried, and the farm could then be converted to the currently practised style, just like Terra-Green used.
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Hey guys I really need some power stones to Elevate the ranking :)
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