The Unseen Scribe
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Lily's Journal - Chapter 12
🕑 Added 2023-10-30 14:46:28 +0000 UTCAN: Hey guys.
A business meeting and a nice relaxing day in this chapter.
Hope you guys enjoy this one.
Chapter 12
"Are we ready to start the meeting?" Sirius asked when Harry walked into the room.
It was two days after the end of the school year and they were currently in Grimmauld Place, having the first meeting of Marauders Inc. The company had gone into business just two days ago, selling their communications mirrors, the larger mirrors would still take time, Padma and Parvati were still working on the recording devices for the magical TV, but they were hoping to start selling the TVs soon.
The room that Harry walked in was one of the formal meeting rooms of Grimmauld Place, and as expected from the Blacks, it was well furnished. Everything looked expensive, and Harry imagined that the furniture of this room alone must be the price of a house. He still felt a little uncomfortable living in such wealth, but he would have to get used to it, his wealth us likely to increase a lot due to the new companies.
He looked around the room as he took a seat at the table. Harry sat to the right of Sirius, who was seating at the head of the table. It was only right for him to do so, the meeting was at his house, and he was the temporary CEO of Marauders Inc. He would probably be replaced by Lupin in a few months, the werewolf had resigned from his position as a professor when Snape 'accidentally' revealed to the whole school his status as a werewolf at the last week of the term, so Lupin decided to resign before the parents started to ask for his sacking. He would make a good CEO, he might not have the knowledge necessary at the moment, but he would be motivated to learn as much as possible as quick as possible. Having someone with this kind of motivation was something that couldn't be understated.
Hermione sat to Harry's left. She was dressed in a nice dress that made her look older than her current age, her hair had been somewhat tamed, falling in soft waves. She looked even more beautiful than usual, and the smile she gave Harry made her beauty even more pronounced. She was looking excited, she probably was dying to know how well the mirrors were selling, and if there was any problems or suggestions that they had to work on.
Daphne Greengrass was also there, seating on the other side of Hermione. The blonde slytherin had quickly accepted the offer from Harry and Hermione, and was now a member of their growing group. She was hired as a pureblood advisor, but she was quickly becoming a friend. Her intelligence meant that she was able to quickly connect with Hermione, the two of them, together with Padma, had a little rivalry going on since first year on the top of the Hogwarts academic charts. Apart from DADA, Herbology and Divination, where Harry, Neville and Parvati where the top students, Hermione, Padma and Daphne competed to the top in everything else. Hermione was usually on the top on everything but potions, where Daphne was usually above her due to Snape's bias, but the two other girls always gave Hermione a good fight for the top spot, sometimes even briefly overtaking her.
Penelope was also present, seating on the other side of Daphne. She was the only other member of their research group that was able to make time for this meeting, the others were all busy with family stuff. Penny was now officially employed by Marauders Inc. as a magical researcher, and she would be allowed to leave for her apprenticeship at the start of the next school year. She had graduated from Hogwarts with an O on all of her NEWTs, and professor Flitwick had happily accepted her as a charms apprentice. She would study for a mastery for the next two years, and she was still thinking about what she would do after that. She said she was having a lot of fun with the research, but she still didn't know if she wanted to make it her full time job.
On the other side of the table, across from Harry, sat Madam Bones. She took some time from her work in the DMLE to help them with the laws that they needed to know to sell enchanted items, and she only did that due to her friendship with Sirius. Harry had learned that she was the senior officer that Sirius had been assigned to during his time in the auror academy, and right after it. Harry's dad was Sirius partner towards the end of the war, but all aurors must stay some time with a senior partner when they are starting on the job, so Sirius spent quite a few months of the war working closely with Amelia Bones. Harry also learned that his dad's senior partner was an auror called Connie Hammer, he really wanted to meet her, to maybe learn some stories about his dad, but madam Bones said the she was really busy these days.
Another person sat at the other side of the table was Augusta Longbottom, Neville's grandmother. She was hired as an advisor for the company, her job was to basically be a bridge between the CEO and the Wizengamot, bringing news about the happenings on the ruling body of magical Britain, as well as giving advice about what to do when handling the politicians, she would be Daphne's direct superior, teaching the slytherin everything she needed to know, so by the time they graduate from Hogwarts, Daphne would be ready to fully take over the job.
Ted Tonks was also seating at the table. He accepted the work of being the head of the legal department of the company, he law office also handled to business of both house Black and house Potter. Ted's job was to deal with any and all legal matters that the company might have, madam Bones was just an advisor, and she didn't always had the time to help Sirius, so they needed to hire a proper lawyer and Ted was the one they chose.
Seating alongside Ted was his wife. Andromeda was hired as the head of the marketing department. Even if she was cast out of the family, she was still a daughter of house Black, and as such, she had a lot of connections, people she knew since she was a child, and that now were in important positions, and she also knew a lot about organizing high society functions, something that would be necessary if they wanted to do business with the purebloods, she was even already planning a ball for a few days before the start of the quidditch world cup. According to her it was the perfect opportunity to showcase their product to clients from all over the world, since she had invited a lot of important people that would be coming to Britain to watch the games. Harry was also informed that he would have to attend the ball, something that he was dreading, but at least he already had a girlfriend, so finding a date wasn't a problem, and Andromeda was teaching him how to dance, solving another problem for him, but he was still uncomfortable with the thought of being around so many people that would only be interest on his scar. Andromeda said his fame was a good thing, that it would help to sell their products better, but Harry still didn't like it.
The last person on the room was Elizabeth Black. She was the 'muggleborn' granddaughter of Marius Black, a squib brother of Sirius' grandfather, and she was working the desk of the prophet before they hired her. She was young, having graduated from Hogwarts on the same year as Charlie Weasley, and she was almost perfect for the CEO's secretary position they hired her for, highly organized, and with a mind for detail that was almost uncanny, her help could make the company run a lot more efficiently. She also looked a lot like what Harry was beginning to call the 'Black look', long, dark brown hair, icy blue eyes and aristocratic features, she looked a bit like a younger version of Andromeda.
"We can start." Harry finally responded Sirius.
"Let's start with the sales numbers. What do you have for us, Liz?" Sirius said, smiling a little as he looked towards his younger cousin.
"The decision to start sales at the end of the school year was a stroke of genius." Liz said, as she rose from her chair and started to distribute a few papers for everyone at the table. "As you can all see, the number of parents and students that visited diagon alley that day massively increased our number of sales, we were able to sell the full stock in just one day, as opposed to the two weeks that we had estimated it would take." Liz added, and Harry looked at the numbers to see that it was true, all the stock that they had was already sold. A small smile graced his face, the rest of the group would be really happy with those news.
"We still can't replenish stock since the orders keep coming, my current projection says that it will take around a month for orders to slow down." Liz said, making Harry's smile grow even more, and he wasn't the only one smiling, Hermione also seemed really happy with the news. Harry imagined that it had nothing to with the number of sales, and more to do with the fact that people actually liked the mirrors.
"Of course, most of our stock was sold due to a big order coming from the ministry." Liz added with a small grin towards madam Bones.
"Those mirrors are a massive advantage for my aurors, it makes communication easier when aurors are deployed in large groups, and that easier communication has already saved the life of an auror today, he was able to use the mirror to quickly call for an extraction when he was injured." Madam Bones said in a happy tone, and Harry could understand why she was so happy, anything that could save the life of an auror was a good thing. It made Harry happy to know that their mirrors were saving lives, and Hermione and Penny seemed just as happy with that news.
"I believe that other departments of the ministry will also want to buy the mirrors, I was already approached by Crouch, and he asked me what I knew about the mirrors and how much it would take to buy them in bulk, he believes that his department could benefit a lot from such a quick and safe way of communicating internationally, international floo is notoriously unreliable." Augusta Longbottom added.
"All of this seems nice, but we won't be able to make those sales if we don't improve production. How are the workers doing, Liz? Are there any problems with the enchantments?" Sirius asked.
"Things are going well in the manufacturing department. The werewolves are happy to have a place where they can get proper work for a good pay, and the precautions we took to deal with the full moon are working nicely at the moment." Liz responded, making everyone smile, every single person in the room agreed that giving good jobs to werewolves was a good thing. Sirius was the one that had the idea of hiring the wolves, and it seemed to be working well, they had a large pool of potential workers that would be extremely loyal to them.
"The production rate should grow as the wolves learn to better work with the enchantments, most of them are still having problems either due to a lack of proper wands, or being under educated. A lot of the wolves we have working for us at the moment were bitten by Greyback, and as we all know Greyback likes to target children, the result of it is that many of them don't have full educations, Hogwarts tries to take as many wolves as they can, but the parents are always a bit scared about their children being around werewolves." Liz said, making madam Bones and Sirius frown.
"We have been trying to repel some laws against werewolves, but there aren't many in the Wizengamot that are willing to vote for something like that." Madam Bones said in an angry tone, and madam Longbottom nodded her agreement.
"I know my father would never vote for anything that helps werewolves. An uncle of his was killed by a werewolf when he was a child, and he has hated werewolves ever since." Daphne added to the conversation.
"There are many stories like your father's, Daphne. He isn't the first, but hopefully he will be one of the lasts, now that we are providing proper jobs to the wolves so most of them don't have to resort to crime." Sirius said, smiling at Daphne and receiving a smile back.
"Were there any leaks in the production line? It is always a possibility that someone will leak the enchantments we use." Sirius asked.
"None, and all my projections say that there aren't going to be any leaks for a long time. The loyalty of the wolves, together with the contracts they signed are enough to discourage any attempts of leaking our secrets." Liz responded.
"And I will have to once again congratulate Miss Granger on a brilliant idea." Ted Tonks said, making Hermione blush a little at the praise. "There were almost no changes to be made on her contracts, and while some of the workers were a little reluctant to sign such a binding contract, a lot of the wolves didn't care enough to complain about it, some even seemed happy to sing it, it seemed to make them feel more secure that the job they were being hired to do was not going to be just a temporary thing." Ted added.
Hermione had made a template for a contract for their workers once they realized that they would need to hire people to do the manufacturing of the mirrors. According to Ted the contract was a lot different than the one normally used, instead of the usual legal problems that came from a broken contract, whoever broke Hermione's contracts would face some nasty magical consequences. Ted made a few changes to the contracts, filled them with all the legal jargon that lawyers seemed so fond of, and rolled them out to be signed by all the workers they hired. The contract would protect not only their secrets, but also the workers, since the contract also states all legal rights of the workers, as well as stipulate all the fines that the company would have to pay for each violation of the contract.
"Good, What about you Andy? How goes the preparation for the ball?" Sirius asked, moving the discussion towards the next person.
"Things are going fine, I already sent the invitations and we have already received a few confirmations. All our French guests have already confirmed their presence, as well as the Spanish and Italians, I expect that members of the governments of all European nations will be present, as well as a professor from Durmstrang and the headmistress of Beauxbatons, who has already confirmed her presence." Andromeda said, making Sirius nod and Harry wince, he could already see all those people trying talk to him on the night of the ball. He knew that his fame was worldwide, not only in Britain, Andromeda had explained that to him well enough, he even knew that some places in France sold those Harry Potter children's books.
"Outside of Europe, we have confirmation from the Chinese and Indians, most likely due to the fact that citizens of their countries are shareholders of the company. In fact, the head of the Indian department of international cooperation has flat out stated that he is looking forward to talking with the Patils." Andromeda added.
"I imagine we will be getting more confirmations in the next couple of weeks, just keep me informed, Andy." Sirius said, and Andromeda nodded her head.
"What about you three? Anything to add from your side of things?" Sirius asked Harry, Hermione and Penelope.
"We are already working on a more advanced version of the mirrors. At the moment I'm the only one spending most of my time on this project, Harry and Hermione are helping me a little but they are focused on other things at the moment." Penelope responded first.
"What are the improvements on this advanced version?" Andromeda asked before Sirius could do it.
"I'm working on a way to transmit written messages through the mirrors. The objective is to use this written function to not only send messages from person to person, but also use it for newspapers to sell copies of their publications through the mirrors, sort of like a proto magical internet." Penelope responded, making almost everyone confused towards the end. Most of the people in the room were purebloods that knew nothing of non magical society, but both Ted, who is a muggleborn, and Andromeda, who is married to a muggleborn for decades, seemed to recognize what Penny was talking about judging by the widening of their eyes.
"I don't know what this intranet thing is, but selling papers seem like a profitable idea, keep working on it." Sirius said, giving Penny a little flirty smile and making her roll her eyes, Sirius flirted with everyone that was of legal age, he even tried flirting with madam Longbottom earlier, which would probably give Harry a few nightmares.
"What about you two?" Sirius asked Harry and Hermione.
"We are not currently working on anything that could be used on the magical side, some of my alchemical work could be used in the future, but at the moment it is still a little early to use it." Harry responded.
"That said. We do have information from Padma and Parvati." Hermione added.
"The larger mirrors are ready to sell. The testing phase didn't show any major issues with them, and we expect them to hold the enchantments for around five years. We are also ready to start transmitting live events to the larger mirrors, the smaller ones are not connected to the same network, so they won't get live events for now." Harry said, making Sirius and Liz smile, they were probably thinking of the profits already.
"The recording devices will still take some time. We are hoping to have it ready in time for the world cup, but it might not be possible." Hermione added.
"Try to get those devices ready as soon as possible, it would be nice to sell recordings of the world cup, even if we are going to transmit it in real time." Sirius said, making Harry and Hermione nod. It was still a little surprising how Sirius took his temporary position as CEO so seriously, and even more surprising was how easily he could take command of a room.
"Speaking of transmitting it live. The negotiations on the front went well enough, I managed to get Bagman to agree to place a few of our mirrors on the stadium, I didn't even had to pay much for it, so we should be turning in a nice profit from the sale of the larger mirrors." Sirius said. "It could be even better if you figured out a way to add the sound of the commentator to the transmission." He added, looking towards Harry, Hermione and Penelope.
"I'll work on it, it seems easy enough, so it shouldn't take more than a week to do it." Penelope responded.
"Good, Thank you Penny." Sirius said, giving Penny another flirty smile.
"Liz, I want you to scale back on the manufacturing of the smaller mirrors once we start making the big ones, we are going to need to build a stock. We are also going on another hiring spree. We are going to need a lot more people enchanting mirrors in the near future." Sirius said, and Liz picked up her fountain pen and made a few notes on the notebook in front of her.
"Andy, now that the larger mirrors are ready, they are going to be the released during the ball. I want you to work out how to do it in a way that will make all those foreign magicals want to buy them." Sirius said, and Andromeda nodded her head smiling.
"Anyone have anything else to add?" He asked, and when no one said anything he added. "Then let's have dinner already, there are people waiting for us."
They all chuckled a little and walked out of the meeting room and towards one of the seating rooms were Hermione's parents, She-who-must-not-be-named, and Daphne's mother, Celestine, were all talking. The entire group, including the ones that were waiting on the seating room, proceeded to have a nice dinner prepared by Dobby, were they spent time talking about anything but work or business, it was a nice time and, by the end of the night, everyone got to know each other a little better.
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"Come on, Hermione. You'll like it, I promise." Harry said, grabbing Hermione by the arm and trying to get her to mount her broom.
They were currently on the grounds of the Harpies stadium, looking up at Ron, Ginny and Megan as they flew around the pitch, while Sirius and Gwenog Jones looked at them with small smiles. Sirius rented the stadium for the day so Harry and his friends could fly around a little, Grimmauld place didn't have a quidditch pitch, so they needed to fly somewhere else. Harry invited all of his friends and his teammates to the stadium, but a lot of them didn't show up. Hannah was out of the country, and Neville was even more scared of brooms than Hermione, his fall from that first year class seemed to have traumatized him. Padma and Parvati were busy, and Penny was helping Liz hire people for Marauders Inc, and Wood also didn't show up, he said he was training for his upcoming trials at Puddlemere United, but even with this many people not showing up, they still had enough for a quidditch game.
Angelina and Harry were chosen as the captains, and Angelina had the first pick. She immediately tried to pick Gwenog, but the professional player refused, saying she wasn't going to play because she didn't want to risk an injury before the world cup started, but she did told Megan to 'make big sis proud'. So, Angelina ended up choosing Alicia as her first pick, while Harry picked She-who-must-not-be-named Tonks, he knew she played for the hufflepuff team when she was at Hogwarts, and even if he had never seen her play, that amount of experience would make a difference.
When all was said and done, Harry ended up with a massive disadvantage, or at least he thought so. His team was himself as captain and seeker, Fred and Tonks as beaters, Ron as keeper and Luna, Ginny and Daphne as chasers. With Angelina's team being, Her, Alicia and Katie as chasers, George and Susan Bones as beaters, Tracy Davies as keeper, and Astoria Greengrass, Daphne's little sister, as seeker.
Harry realized that he made a mistake with his first pick, he should've picked Katie instead of Tonks, sure Tonks had a lot of experience, but allowing Angelina to pick both Alicia and Katie was a mistake. He knew Ron was a good keeper, but going up against a chaser line that spent the last three years training and playing together would be too much for him. He probably had an advantage on the beaters, Tonks was probably better than Susan, and even if he wouldn't underestimate her, he knew he was a better seeker than Astoria, even if he had never seen her play, but his chaser line was the weak point of his team. He had seen her play in the burrow, and he knew Ginny was scary good, probably better than Angelina, but he had never seen either Luna or Daphne play. Luna was a good flyer, he flew with her a few times in Hogwarts, but Daphne was a recent addition to their group and he hadn't ever seen her fly. So, he realized that his best chance to win the game was to catch the snitch quickly.
There were a few people that would be watching from the stands. Apart from Sirius and Gwenog, there were also Andromeda, Celestine Greengrass, Hermione's parents, Xenophilius Lovegood, Sue Li and her parents, and the Weasleys, minus Percy and including Charlie, who was in the country to watch the world cup. Harry was really hoping to test himself against Charlie, the last seeker to win a cup for gryffindor before him, but Charlie didn't want to play.
"Shouldn't you be focused on the game?" Hermione said, standing her ground.
"I know Fred and George, it will take another half hour before they are ready to play. More than enough time for us to fly a little bit." Harry responded, again pulling her arm. He had been trying to get Hermione to lose her fear of brooms for a few months now, and he had made some progress. She was now comfortable flying close to the ground or in low velocities if they went higher, but she still refused to fly at high speeds.
"You brought your broom, why did you bring it if you aren't going to fly?" Harry asked, appealing to logic was always effective with Hermione.
"I will fly." Hermione responded, huffing a little. "But only low to the ground." She added.
"How about flying with me?" Harry asked. "You can mount my broom in front of me, I will hold you as we fly together." He added trying to get a compromise. He really wanted to see Hermione's face as she flew in high speeds, her hair flying with the wind, it was something he wanted to see at least once.
Hermione bit her lips cutely, which almost made Harry kiss her right there, she always looked extra cute when she did that. "Fine, but you better hold me close, ok." She responded after a few moments.
"Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you." Harry responded, giving her a large smile.
He picked up his Firebolt and mounted it. Hermione mounted the broom after him and his left arm immediately held her by the waist, pressing her back against his chest, as his right hand went around her to grab the broom handle, while her own hands were both firmly on the handle.
"Ready?" Harry asked, and Hermione nodded her head in response. Her face showing how scared she was. "Don't worry, I'm with you, you're safe." He added, and Hermione nodded again, a little of her fear going away due to his words.
He started to fly in a low speed and only around a meter of the ground, giving Hermione time to get used to the feeling. He knew that was the best way to get her to open up. Flying their first full lap around the pitch, Harry looked towards the stands and saw a lot of the adults smiling at them, and he rolled his eyes when he saw Sirius giving him thumbs up. He started to pick up speed for the second lap, all the time looking at Hermione's face to see how she was holding up, as much as he wanted to see her fly, he didn't want to scare his girlfriend. As they ended the second lap, Harry flew a little higher and a little faster, starting to feel the wind as they flew, Hermione's face still showed a little bit of her fear, but it was a lot less than at the start. With a mischievous grin on his face, he held her tight to his chest and picked up speed, making Hermione scream as he flew closer to the speeds he liked for around two seconds before he slowed down again.
"Harry. Don't do that again!" Hermione said, her old, bossy tone creeping back into her voice.
"As her highness commands, princess of Sparta." Harry said in a teasing tone, and it got the result he wanted, making Hermione laugh and forget all about her fear.
"You know my name comes from Shakespeare, right?" Hermione asked.
"I do." Harry responded. "But I have to remind you when you go all bossy princess on me." He added in a teasing tone, and Hermione actually took one of her hands out of the handle to slap his arm.
Chuckling a little, they flew another two laps, getting higher and higher in the air with each passing minute, until Harry saw the others coming from the lockers, ready to play. He suddenly turned the broom into a dive, making Hermione scream again, even if it wasn't one of his usual dives that were almost vertical, he dived in a diagonal making it a little more comfortable for Hermione.
Landing softly on the ground, Hermione got off the broom and gave Harry a quick peck on the lips before walking towards the stands. Harry stayed a few moments just enjoying the after taste of her lips on his before shaking his head and joining the others on the air.
The game started quickly, with Angelina's team immediately picking up a lead, Ron was good, but he couldn't do much against that chaser line, but the lead wasn't as high as Harry feared, his own chasers being a pleasant surprise. He knew Ginny was amazing, but Daphne was actually pretty good as well, and Luna flew in such erratic patterns that even the bludgers were having troubles following her, she wasn't helping much with scoring goals, but she was distracting the other team, which helped Ginny and Daphne score a few goals. The beaters were also doing a good job, at least Tonks and Susan were, Fred and George were just targeting each other, ignoring the other players. And Harry himself was having no problems with Astoria, she was a good enough flyer, but she had no talent for a seeker, Harry imagined that she would make a better chaser than seeker.
The game went on for almost an hour, Angelina's team just kept growing their lead, even if Ginny and Daphne scored a few nice goals on Tracy. But just when the lead grew large enough that Harry could only tie the game if he caught the snitch, was when he saw a little hint of gold on the other side of the pitch, right below Tracy. He turned his broom towards that direction and dove in a diagonal path towards the snitch, Astoria coming a few seconds behind him. He passed right through the middle of his flying chasers who had the quaffle at the moment, making a nice interference play out of it, causing Katie to go out of formation. As he got closer to the snitch he looked behind him to see how close Astoria was, and saw that she was even further behind than at the start of the chase, she probably hadn't seen the snitch yet and only thought that he was making an interference play. Catching the snitch, he held it high and heard the whistle of Charlie Weasley, who volunteered to referee, ending the game. Flying towards his team, Harry was tackled into a hug by Ginny and Ron.
"We won, we won." He was a little confused when he heard Ron say.
"What?" Harry asked letting his confusion show on his tone.
"Luna scored just a second before you caught the snitch." Ginny explained.
Harry broke the hug and looked all over the pitch, searching for Luna. He finally found her flying close to Tonks, who seemed to be almost falling out of her broom in laughter. He could understand Tonks, Luna hadn't scored a single goal the whole game, and then she scores the winning one, it was unbelievable. Flying closer to them, Harry opened his arms and was tackled again into another hug, Luna was a hugger and Harry knew it. Flying towards the ground, they received congratulations from the people watching, and Gwenog even said that a lot of them had potential to go pro.
The whole group spent the rest of the day in the stadium, flying around and having fun. Angelina stayed the rest of the day jokingly complaining about 'crazy blondes causing chaos on the pitch'. By the end of the day everyone was a bit tired but they all also had smiles on their faces.
AN 2: Not much to say today.
Next chapter, we should have the whole group meeting a few new faces that are going to help them in the future.
I will see you guys in the next one.
Comments
Matheus Araujo Sousa
Thanks for your support. Next chapter should be coming out tomorrow or Saturday.
Aeden Emrys
Love this story! Read the 8 chapters on Fanfiction and came here to read the next 4 chapters and I am truely looking forward to reading much more!
SSasei
i love this story
