Harry Potter and all characters, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling, not me.
More Important Than Any Broomstick - Chapter 35 - Taking Care of Business
While Harry and Hermione were still laughing about Krum's predicament, Fred and George walked up to them with another load of muggle electronic gadgets to charm.
"You know what, guys," said Harry, "I think it's time we sold you my mum's spell."
Fred and George looked blankly at Harry. Fred said, "Your mum's spell?"
"That's not what dad said," said George.
Hermione chuckled, "At the time, we wanted to keep that secret. We didn't want anybody to know we'd been to Potter Manor, where we found the book. Harry really wanted to give your dad a copy, so he had me charm his copy to look like it wasn't his mum's."
Harry looked deep in thought. "Guys, I think it's time that Lily Potter had more of a legacy than being my mother. I want the world to know what a genius she was. Once we agree on a price, we're going to make a magical contract where you agree to give her the credit for developing the spells for power and communications, and Hermione for adapting them. For now we'll just sell you the power spell."
"Let's see," said Fred, while rubbing his chin, "Potter's Power Supply."
"I like it," said George.
After they'd settled on a price for the power spell, and a percentage of the profit (ten percent since now Fred and George would be doing the work), they made a contract that said they'd give Lily Potter and Hermione Granger credit for the spells, and wouldn't share the spell with anybody without getting Harry and Hermione's express permission to do so. The twins had half the money for the spells and agreed to make monthly payments to Harry and Hermione until it was paid. Hermione charmed the contract so that if they broke their word they would have `CHEAT!' written across their foreheads in acne and would be incapable of using the spell afterwards without receiving a non-lethal-yet-painful electric shock every time.
"Isn't that a bit cruel?" asked George.
"It's just business," said Hermione with a smile.
"Besides," said Harry, "You weren't planning on breaking the contract, were you?"
"No," said Fred, "I guess we'll have to agree to your terms."
They all signed the contract and Hermione taught them the power spell, making sure nobody overheard. When they were done, Colin Creevey walked into the room laughing.
"What's so funny, Colin," asked Hermione.
"Viktor Krum," said Colin, happily. "I was just in the hospital wing because I was a bit sick, and Krum walked in with his ears, nose, and lips doubled in size. He claimed it was an accident while training for the tournament." Harry and Hermione gave each other a look that did not go unnoticed by the twins, and started chuckling. "Anyway, after she'd shrunk those, he asked Madam Pomfrey to enlarge his," at this point Colin looked embarrassed, "Y'know, bat and balls, claiming they had been shrunk. She adamantly refused, saying, and I quote, `I did not study healing so that I could make boys' anatomies bigger than they're supposed to be! What is it with that obsession with size anyway? I'm sure you'll find a girl that will love you just the way you are.' Krum's face turned so red when she said that, I could swear I saw steam coming out of his ears. I was afraid he was going to start throwing things, but he marched out of the room." At this point, everybody who heard that was laughing hard, but none more than Hermione. Colin said, "Well, I've got to go to my pensieve and take a picture of that memory. See you, Harry!"
"You can take pictures inside a pensieve?" asked Harry, interested.
"Yeah! It's a lot better than carrying a camera around. It was kind of expensive, but I got my parents to pay me to have Fred and George here charm some stuff from around the house, like my dad's electric razor." When he saw a look of concern on their faces, he added, "Don't worry, it's just for my immediate family. My dad said that with how much their electric bill went down, it was worth the money to buy me a pensieve. Now I just have to see what's happening instead of taking pictures all the time. I think some people got annoyed when I did that."
"Glad we could help," said Fred.
"But the real credit goes to Harry's mum," said George.
"She invented the spell," said Fred.
"And it's actually either Harry or Hermione who've performed it until now," said George.
Colin smiled broadly. "REALLY! I've got stuff at my house that might have actually been charmed by Harry Potter! You should've signed the ones you did, Harry!"
Harry chuckled a bit to hide his annoyance at Colin's hero worship. "Sorry Colin. Don't you have some pictures to take?"
"Yeah, right," said Colin, and he walked off.
Fred and George looked at Harry and Hermione. "What did you do…" said Fred.
"…to Viktor Krum?" said George.
Hermione blushed, "Well, he pinned me against the wall and tried to kiss me, so I kneed him in the crotch and shrunk everything in that area, giving him his, er, `little problem.' I also enlarged his lips, ears, and nose."
The twins both burst out laughing. Fred said, "How come you don't do that to Harry when he pulls you into broom closets?"
"Actually," said Hermione, "I pull him into broom closets," causing Harry to blush while the twins eyebrows went up. "But even if he did, that's different. We're dating. Krum was trying to get me to dump Harry, and force me to kiss him! He said Harry didn't fight the dragon as well as he did, and that I should be with a real man instead of Harry!"
"WHAT?" exclaimed both twins together. "What you did to that horntail was priceless!" said Fred.
"Couldn't have done it better ourselves!" said George.
"We told you that you'd be a great school champion!" said Fred.
"And you proved it with that dragon!" said George.
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The next morning, Sirius told them that Dumbledore and the teachers were going after another Horcrux lead, some cave that Riddle had visited and tormented fellow orphans in while he was at the orphanage.
After their normal training (which was going well, although neither Neville nor Ginny had made progress learning wandless magic and were getting a bit frustrated although by now they were experts at nonverbal spell casting), Hermione told them, "Guys, your spell casting is already at least sixth-year level. That's when they start having you cast nonverbal magic. You're doing great! We told you wandless magic would be more difficult to learn."
"You have both made amazing progress," said Harry sincerely. "I really mean it. I'll bet either one of you would win a duel against any student here!"
"Except you and Hermione," said Neville.
Hermione blushed, "Er, well yes. But we weren't planning on attacking you anyway. Either one of you could take on Malfoy if he attacks you, but don't start trouble with him or anyone else! This is for defense only!"
"Speaking of defense," said Ginny, "I heard that you two know how to defend yourself against dementors."
Harry said, "Er, yeah. That's called the Patronus charm. I've never tried it without a wand. Have you, Hermione?"
"No I haven't. We haven't seen a dementor since we learned wandless spell casting, but it would be worth learning. Although that may be a difficult spell to learn. It may be better to just summon our wands if we run into dementors and don't have them."
"I was wondering if you could teach it to us," said Ginny, "with a wand, at least until we learn how to cast spells without them."
Harry and Hermione both pulled out their wands, and Harry said, "You concentrate on a very happy memory or thought, and say or think, `Expecto Patronum.'" Harry and Hermione looked at each other, and both of them blushed as they came up with a memory. "Ready? One, two, three, now!" They both successfully cast their first nonverbal patronus with no problems whatsoever. Neville and Ginny were amazed to see the silver otter and stag running around the room together.
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By the end of that lesson, Neville was producing a bit of mist, and Ginny was producing a bit more. The day progressed normally. At lunch, a very old owl managed to fly into Harry's soup, splashing it all over him and the letter that was attached. Stopping himself from showing his true abilities, he pulled out his wand and said, "Scourgify," to clean himself and the letter up. He picked up the letter and saw that it was from Mrs. Weasley. He was a bit surprised to receive post from her, but Hermione didn't seem very surprised about it. He opened up the letter and read it.
"Dear Harry,
Hermione wrote me a letter saying that you were planning on purchasing the Daily Prophet and were looking for someone to make sure that the paper was printing the truth and not a bunch of rubbish. She also said that in her opinion, I might be able to do the job. If this information is correct, I'm touched by your confidence, and would love to try. It is rather boring sitting here in this house during the school year with nothing to do, and I certainly understand the need for a newspaper to be responsible and give accurate information. I've talked it over with Arthur, and he approves. Just let me know if, when, and where you'll need me to work.
Sincerely,
Molly Weasley"
While Harry was still reading, another more official-looking owl flew to him with a portfolio from Gringotts. That letter in the front said,
"Dear Mr. Potter,
This letter is to inform you that the publication known as `The Daily Prophet' has been purchased on your behalf per your request. The documents in this portfolio outline the details of this transaction and describe everything you now own. We have taken the liberty of making sure that the staff of that paper has been notified of your ownership. They have been told to go about business as usual until they hear from you. We have also included a copy of the personnel file for each employee for your review.
Sincerely,
Griphook
Assistant Manager in charge of the Potter Account"
"Well," said Harry as he handed the letters to Hermione, "I guess all I need to do is write the prophet that I'm sending Molly Weasley there as my representative, and then send her a detailed agenda of what changes I want made at the prophet."
"I've also got a suggestion for a name change. How does `The Potter Press' sound to you?"
"Like I'm using my name to sell newspapers," answered Harry sarcastically.
"We are," answered Hermione simply. "You have to put up with the bad parts of fame. Why not take advantage of the good parts?"
"I suppose."
"I also suggest that there be an article written by a Hogwarts student in every issue. The parents would be interested in that. Maybe on a different topic for each day of the week. I could write my weekly article about prejudice in the wizarding world. Maybe have an interview with Dobby in one of them. We could have one about academics, another on clubs like the Quidditch teams. I don't suppose there's much to say about quidditch on weeks that we don't have matches, but I'm sure something will be happening in one of the clubs. Maybe we should have a story about a different faculty member each week, and another about a different student. Then one on the general happenings at the school, and have you personally write an article every week on whatever you want. People would definitely read that one. We could put notices on common room walls and maybe even ask Professor Dumbledore to make an announcement so that we know who would be interested in working for you. It would be very good for their career if they want to be in the publishing industry. We could have them as part-time employees in a work-study program. I'm sure Colin would love to be our official Hogwarts photographer. Perhaps we could even have someone from the prophet come here to help them improve their writing skills, once they've learned to stop sensationalizing everything. I also think they should have a page devoted to muggle news for those who are interested. Perhaps one of the reporters is muggleborn and could accurately describe what's going on in muggle society that may affect the wizarding world. If not, I'm sure we could hire one."
Harry smiled at his girlfriend. "That sounds great to me. Do you think you could write the letter to Mrs. Weasley outlining those changes while I write a simple letter to staff of the former Daily Prophet telling them that Molly Weasley is now in charge and will be calling a meeting for them at the earliest convenience? I'd like the Daily Prophet to change to Potter Press next Sunday, and I suppose the headline on the front page should be about my buying the paper because I'm sick of seeing lies and exaggerations in the newspaper designed to sway public opinion. I guess I'll have to give an interview for that article. I suppose I'll write my weekly article for that issue, too. My main goal is for the paper to print the facts and let the readers decide what to think. You figure out the rest of the Hogwarts schedule. I hereby hire you as full-time staff in the position of `Hogwarts Happenings' editor if you'll take the job."
Hermione beamed, "I accept!"
-
The next morning, Harry, Hermione, Ginny, and Neville got to hear the story of how the Horcrux hunt in the cave went.
Dumbledore said, "To get into the cave I had to give a sample of my blood so that the doorway would appear. After we got inside, Professor Black tried summoning the Horcrux, causing an Inferi, that is a magically animated corpse, to jump up in the water."
"That was just to see what we were facing," said Black defensively.
"Anyway," said Lupin, "Dumbledore found this tiny boat that only one of us could ride to get the thing."
Sirius continued, "He was gonna ride it himself until Professor Brooks stopped him and insisted that she go. It's a good thing she did, too!"
She blushed very slightly. "I rode the thing over the Inferi-infested water and found a stone basin full of an emerald liquid emitting a phosphorescent glow. I took a sample of the liquid for Sir…I mean Professor Black to analyze, and then stuck my hand in it because I could see a locket in the liquid. My hand went straight through the liquid with no problem and I grabbed the locket. I then rode the boat back with no problem."
"That didn't seem right to me," said Dumbledore, "so I rode the boat back to the island to investigate. When I tried putting my hand in the liquid, an invisible shield prevented me from touching it. I believe that the spell protecting the locket mistook Professor Brooks for her father. Not being aware of his daughter's existence, Voldemort probably set it so that only a blood relative of Slytherin would be able to simply reach in there, as was true of the security around Slytherin's ring. Only a parselmouth, of which he believed himself to be the only one, was able to retrieve that Horcrux without befalling harm. Anybody else would've had to drink that poison in the cave, which according to Professor Black, would've been quite unpleasant."
"To say the least," interjected Sirius.
"So Professor Brooks got the Horcrux then?" asked Ginny.
"Actually, we found that it was a fake locket with a note from an individual whose initials were R.A.B. stating that he had retrieved the locket and was going to destroy it."
Harry looked disappointed. "R.A.B? That could be almost anybody!"
Sirius smiled, "But not everybody has the handwriting of my brother, `Regulus Antonio Black.' I immediately recognized the handwriting. I knew that he'd become a Death Eater and had been murdered on Voldemort's orders, but I never knew why until now. Anyway, we went to the Black family ancestral home, a thoroughly vile place by the way. Maybe I'll sell it to my cousin Narcissa Malfoy. Anyway, after we fought our way through doxies, boggarts, and Merlin knows what else that useless house elf of mine let take over the house, we actually found the locket in a display case. We had to clean it quite a bit before we were able to identify it. It wouldn't even open. After we identified it, we naturally destroyed it!" Dumbledore pulled a broken locket out of a pocket in his robes. It was in two pieces, one of which had a picture that everyone who'd been in the chamber of secrets recognized as Salazar Slytherin, and the other picture was of a woman who looked very mean.
Harry smiled. "Three down! Three to go!"
-
Hermione easily got Dumbledore's permission to have notices put up in all the common rooms and the headmaster personally made an announcement, saying that working part-time for a newspaper would be very helpful for a journalism career. As expected, Colin immediately came up to them asking for the photographer position. Both Ron Weasley and Cedric Diggory wanted the position of writing about clubs, although once Ron realized that it wouldn't be about Quidditch every week, he decided he wasn't interested. Luna Lovegood, Cho Chang, and Lavender Brown all wanted the general happenings article. Hermione decided that Luna wouldn't be very realistic and Lavender would turn it into a gossip column. She hired Cho, making it clear that she did not want it to be gossip - only facts. Blaise Zabini from Slytherin was the only one who applied to interview teachers, claiming that he wanted to be a reporter. The academics article was taken by a Ravenclaw named Terry Boot, and the student interview was given to Hannah Abbot of Hufflepuff. Hermione gave them all an orientation stressing that all articles be truthful and not exaggerated or sensationalized.
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