Tea Time at Twelve; Thunderous Terrors Thunderstricken; and ... (2/2)
Title: Tea Time at Twelve; Thunderous Terrors Thunderstricken; and a Terribly Tremendous Tactical Trainwreck To Tangle Truth (2/2)
Author:
house_illrepute
Characters: Harry; Hermione & the Twins (sorta); Draco (mentioned)
Summary: Newly-wed Harry makes preparations for the Honeymoon with his new beau Draco. But there are other plans afoot aside from travel plans. Plus, the Twins unveil a new ingenious product, sure to be all the rage... in espionage circles, that is.
Category: Romance; Humour
Rating: PG-13
Warning: smut-free; blissfully happy newlywed!Harry; plotting!Harry; this part is more of a character study into Harry's mentality.
Word Count: 1533
Author's Notes-1: This is a continuation of the non-series "Maintaining One's Station". It occurs after the wedding ( partially told [ here ] ) but before the honeymoon, which will be posted soon. You don't need to read the wedding to understand what's going on, but I do advise you to read [ this ] as it explains a great many thing about Draco's financial and estate affairs.
Author's Notes-2: Directly continued from here. You need to at least read the first part to get a clear understanding of this final part. I split into two parts because of the sheer size of it and my desire to keep each part of M1S condensed into nice, quick, and lite reading experiences.
Challenges:
slythindor100 's Challenge #51: Letter 'T' and Challenge #53: Impromptu.
| 2 |
“Is this thing… are you sure… how can you tell?”
As clear as if she were standing in front of him, Harry could see Hermione; or, at least, an image of her. It was as though she had been ‘recorded’ by a Daily Prophet photographer, but with three key differences: the playback message wasn’t merely a quick two-second loop; the message appeared on the lenses of the Spectral Spectacles, as if they were two small tellies hanging under the wearer's eyebrows; and it had sound, though it was thin and hollow.
Harry removed the Spectrals to make sure that he was still in the hallway of Grimmuald Place, sans Hermione. Satisfied, he flipped the glasses over to inspect the front-side of the lens. No image could be seen. As well, no sound from the message could be heard even though it was still playing. Only Harry could see or hear the message, and even he needed to speak the correct activation charm.
“Ingenious,” Harry whispered.
He walked with a brisk stride up the stairs away from Colin and continued to listen to Hermione’s message, uninterrupted.
“… don’t know if this is working-”
“-of course it’s working!”
“-I take slight offence to your dubiety.”
The last two sentences were more faint than Hermione’s, but a jovial nature echoed in each word: Fred and George were also in the room with her, unseen because they were operating whatever device needed to record the message.
“Fine! Okay! It’s working, then. May I continue?”
“By all means,” said the one twin; followed by a, “don’t let us deter you,” from the other.
“Thank you… As I was saying Harry, this is a dangerous game you’re playing, and I still don’t understand the point in it, nor your logic behind it. But the Malfoy Estate is officially frozen, just as you wanted. The Ministry of Magic’s Office of After-War Reparations, Remuneration, Restitutions, and Restoration will vote on it tomorrow morning. No worries, though, it will be approved. The judgment will determine how much in 'war fines' his estate will have to pay. That will be his 4R tax. That's a mere formality, really, because it'll be the totality of his British Isles estates and fortune.”
Harry grimaced at her scowl, which burned with disapproval. He braced himself for a proper scolding. To his surprise, it hadn't come.
“Once the paperwork is sent to Gringott’s, Bill will transfer the Malfoy vault to Waag’recht Gasse Bank in Berlin. With the money you said you’d pay towards Malfoy’s 4R tax, as well as some unclaimed and untagged monies seized by various Auror teams, it’ll hardly be missed. Pursuant to War Code 14-546 of the Warmage Act of 2001-”
“-Oh, bilge, bosh, piffle, and tosh!”
“-Enough with the formal gobbledegook!”
“-Get on with it, woman!”
Harry couldn’t help but laugh. For all the poor audio quality, Harry was certain he could hear teeth grinding quite plainly.
Hermione had closed her eyes and taken a deep, calming breath. “As I was saying: There are securities, assets, and equities that the Aurors have confiscated that no one has claim to, so now it belongs to the Ministry. The lot we’ll be appropriating hasn’t been catalogued or indexed by the Evidentiary Department, so we’ll simply combine it with your payment to pay Malfoy's 'war fines' and be done with it. There won’t be any paper trail leading back to the switch. But Bill wanted me to warn you, Harry… The German banking market is rather volatile at the moment. So, whatever you’re trying to prove should be over and done with by a year’s time, two years maximum.”
Harry paused at this. Surely he had more time than a year or two? Would two years be enough, anyway? Though it seemed a long time, there were loads to do still in the coming two years: the honeymoon (which Harry planned to heartily enjoy, thumb the price to rot!), settling into a new home, and traveling to and from South America to get the Brazilian Quidditch school up to the mark. With that sort of schedule, two years could come and go in two ticks.
“Bill said he’ll try and keep abreast of the market, and make any changes necessary to ensure the Malfoy fortune isn’t swallowed whole. As for you, however… after you pay for your honeymoon, purchase a home, furnishings, buy Malfoy Manor, and pay off Malfoy’s After-War Reparations, you’ll be… well… broke. Or a fair bit close. Bill will try to maximise some investments possibilities to help off-set this before the pay-off, but there’s a limit to what he can do: the world is magical, the market is not.”
Harry could tell Hermione was desperate for a good tell-off, a proper rollicking. Finally, it came in one drawn-out, breathless sentence: “And need I remind you, Harry James Potter, that this is highly unethical, extremely illegal, and just downright rude and nasty and cruel and I can’t believe you of all people would do something like this to your own husband and did I already mention ‘cruel’, because if not, then I’m mentioning it now because it’s cruel, too!”
This is the part of Hermione’s philippic that Harry learnt long ago to tune out. When she began to string adjectives together with no regard to ‘legal grammatical structure’, Harry knew it was safe to let his mind wander a bit.
Cruel, she called him. Cruel? No, Harry didn’t think him or his plan cruel at all, because there was no intent towards cruelty. Intention mattered with emotions as with magic. It had to. Harry was sure of it. Besides, Hermione could hardly talk, considering the amount of assistance she was providing. And if Hermione is doing it, then it can’t be all that bad.
“… and Merlin knows I’ve had my ups and downs with your husband, and he with me, but this is beyond the limit! To stoop so low as to take a part of…”
And yet, Harry did wonder if he was doing the right thing. There was little concern with legalities because he already knew his plan was illegal on so many levels. Even worse, he was implicating others as well - close, dear friends. Certainly, he had faith in his friends and their skills. If anyone could plan a move so bold and get away with it, it would be Hermione, Bill, and the Twins. But that didn't help Harry from thinking: what if Draco did find out the truth prematurely? Draco is both tricky and resourceful, a deadly combination, and discovering that Harry had (in essence) denied him his rightful fortune and estate was not outside the realm of possibility. The very thought made Harry sick to his stomach.
Harry pushed those thoughts aside.
He had faith in his friends and their skills.
Even so, this wasn't some impromptu plan, thought up or mapped out in one drunken night of Firewhiskey and Elfish Brandy. He had considered doing this -- or something similar -- as far back as third-year Hogwarts, when he knew that money mattered most to Draco. Over time as their relationship grew, however, Harry came to better understand Draco. Over time, he began to see that social class and money would always be the great disconnect between himself and Draco. For no matter how many gold Galleons were hidden safely in the Potter vault, it scant compared to the depth and breadth of wealth that came from a bloodline as old as Malfoys'. And the weight of that great divide could surely threaten everything Harry wanted and needed.
If that were true, what did it say about his relationship - his marriage?
"... and it seems so selfish that you would be the one to define what is and isn't to be acceptable ..."
Selfish, she called him. Selfish? He didn't think himself or his plan 'selfish' at all. Quite the opposite, truth be told. Draco needed hard lessons about wealth. And not about things he already knew, like how to accept and live with one's wealth, how to have it handed to him without question or regard to merit, how to be born into it. No, all that he already knew. Now, he needed to learn how that wealth could be stripped from him, how affluence can leave him without remorse or pity as a lover would if taken for granted for too long. He needed to learn how to make wealth, how to build assets; and that is a fair shake different from inheriting it. It would be Harry who'd be truly poor. Draco would simply be convinced he is so, and only for a small stretch.
“And I know you’re no longer listening to me and you’re probably starry-eyed thinking ‘what if Draco finds out’ or ‘oh, he’s a tricky little blighter, that one’ and - ”
Harry took off the Spectral Spectacles and replaced them with his regular pair of glasses. Regardless of what could go wrong with his plan or whatever perceived moral ambiguity came from it, Harry felt confident that he was doing the right thing. He knew, deep where it mattered most - where there were no laws or moral codes or Hermiones to say otherwise - this plan would ultimately strengthen their marriage and ensure that there would always be ‘Harry and Draco’. Because above all else, Harry needed there to always be a ‘Harry and Draco’.
And so it would be.
He need only plan good, execute better, and take things one day at a time, one step at a time.
And the next step…?
The Honeymoon.
Author:
house_illrepute
Characters: Harry; Hermione & the Twins (sorta); Draco (mentioned)
Summary: Newly-wed Harry makes preparations for the Honeymoon with his new beau Draco. But there are other plans afoot aside from travel plans. Plus, the Twins unveil a new ingenious product, sure to be all the rage... in espionage circles, that is.
Category: Romance; Humour
Rating: PG-13
Warning: smut-free; blissfully happy newlywed!Harry; plotting!Harry; this part is more of a character study into Harry's mentality.
Word Count: 1533
Author's Notes-1: This is a continuation of the non-series "Maintaining One's Station". It occurs after the wedding ( partially told [ here ] ) but before the honeymoon, which will be posted soon. You don't need to read the wedding to understand what's going on, but I do advise you to read [ this ] as it explains a great many thing about Draco's financial and estate affairs.
Author's Notes-2: Directly continued from here. You need to at least read the first part to get a clear understanding of this final part. I split into two parts because of the sheer size of it and my desire to keep each part of M1S condensed into nice, quick, and lite reading experiences.
Challenges:
slythindor100 's Challenge #51: Letter 'T' and Challenge #53: Impromptu.
| 2 |
“Is this thing… are you sure… how can you tell?”
As clear as if she were standing in front of him, Harry could see Hermione; or, at least, an image of her. It was as though she had been ‘recorded’ by a Daily Prophet photographer, but with three key differences: the playback message wasn’t merely a quick two-second loop; the message appeared on the lenses of the Spectral Spectacles, as if they were two small tellies hanging under the wearer's eyebrows; and it had sound, though it was thin and hollow.
Harry removed the Spectrals to make sure that he was still in the hallway of Grimmuald Place, sans Hermione. Satisfied, he flipped the glasses over to inspect the front-side of the lens. No image could be seen. As well, no sound from the message could be heard even though it was still playing. Only Harry could see or hear the message, and even he needed to speak the correct activation charm.
“Ingenious,” Harry whispered.
He walked with a brisk stride up the stairs away from Colin and continued to listen to Hermione’s message, uninterrupted.
“… don’t know if this is working-”
“-of course it’s working!”
“-I take slight offence to your dubiety.”
The last two sentences were more faint than Hermione’s, but a jovial nature echoed in each word: Fred and George were also in the room with her, unseen because they were operating whatever device needed to record the message.
“Fine! Okay! It’s working, then. May I continue?”
“By all means,” said the one twin; followed by a, “don’t let us deter you,” from the other.
“Thank you… As I was saying Harry, this is a dangerous game you’re playing, and I still don’t understand the point in it, nor your logic behind it. But the Malfoy Estate is officially frozen, just as you wanted. The Ministry of Magic’s Office of After-War Reparations, Remuneration, Restitutions, and Restoration will vote on it tomorrow morning. No worries, though, it will be approved. The judgment will determine how much in 'war fines' his estate will have to pay. That will be his 4R tax. That's a mere formality, really, because it'll be the totality of his British Isles estates and fortune.”
Harry grimaced at her scowl, which burned with disapproval. He braced himself for a proper scolding. To his surprise, it hadn't come.
“Once the paperwork is sent to Gringott’s, Bill will transfer the Malfoy vault to Waag’recht Gasse Bank in Berlin. With the money you said you’d pay towards Malfoy’s 4R tax, as well as some unclaimed and untagged monies seized by various Auror teams, it’ll hardly be missed. Pursuant to War Code 14-546 of the Warmage Act of 2001-”
“-Oh, bilge, bosh, piffle, and tosh!”
“-Enough with the formal gobbledegook!”
“-Get on with it, woman!”
Harry couldn’t help but laugh. For all the poor audio quality, Harry was certain he could hear teeth grinding quite plainly.
Hermione had closed her eyes and taken a deep, calming breath. “As I was saying: There are securities, assets, and equities that the Aurors have confiscated that no one has claim to, so now it belongs to the Ministry. The lot we’ll be appropriating hasn’t been catalogued or indexed by the Evidentiary Department, so we’ll simply combine it with your payment to pay Malfoy's 'war fines' and be done with it. There won’t be any paper trail leading back to the switch. But Bill wanted me to warn you, Harry… The German banking market is rather volatile at the moment. So, whatever you’re trying to prove should be over and done with by a year’s time, two years maximum.”
Harry paused at this. Surely he had more time than a year or two? Would two years be enough, anyway? Though it seemed a long time, there were loads to do still in the coming two years: the honeymoon (which Harry planned to heartily enjoy, thumb the price to rot!), settling into a new home, and traveling to and from South America to get the Brazilian Quidditch school up to the mark. With that sort of schedule, two years could come and go in two ticks.
“Bill said he’ll try and keep abreast of the market, and make any changes necessary to ensure the Malfoy fortune isn’t swallowed whole. As for you, however… after you pay for your honeymoon, purchase a home, furnishings, buy Malfoy Manor, and pay off Malfoy’s After-War Reparations, you’ll be… well… broke. Or a fair bit close. Bill will try to maximise some investments possibilities to help off-set this before the pay-off, but there’s a limit to what he can do: the world is magical, the market is not.”
Harry could tell Hermione was desperate for a good tell-off, a proper rollicking. Finally, it came in one drawn-out, breathless sentence: “And need I remind you, Harry James Potter, that this is highly unethical, extremely illegal, and just downright rude and nasty and cruel and I can’t believe you of all people would do something like this to your own husband and did I already mention ‘cruel’, because if not, then I’m mentioning it now because it’s cruel, too!”
This is the part of Hermione’s philippic that Harry learnt long ago to tune out. When she began to string adjectives together with no regard to ‘legal grammatical structure’, Harry knew it was safe to let his mind wander a bit.
Cruel, she called him. Cruel? No, Harry didn’t think him or his plan cruel at all, because there was no intent towards cruelty. Intention mattered with emotions as with magic. It had to. Harry was sure of it. Besides, Hermione could hardly talk, considering the amount of assistance she was providing. And if Hermione is doing it, then it can’t be all that bad.
“… and Merlin knows I’ve had my ups and downs with your husband, and he with me, but this is beyond the limit! To stoop so low as to take a part of…”
And yet, Harry did wonder if he was doing the right thing. There was little concern with legalities because he already knew his plan was illegal on so many levels. Even worse, he was implicating others as well - close, dear friends. Certainly, he had faith in his friends and their skills. If anyone could plan a move so bold and get away with it, it would be Hermione, Bill, and the Twins. But that didn't help Harry from thinking: what if Draco did find out the truth prematurely? Draco is both tricky and resourceful, a deadly combination, and discovering that Harry had (in essence) denied him his rightful fortune and estate was not outside the realm of possibility. The very thought made Harry sick to his stomach.
Harry pushed those thoughts aside.
He had faith in his friends and their skills.
Even so, this wasn't some impromptu plan, thought up or mapped out in one drunken night of Firewhiskey and Elfish Brandy. He had considered doing this -- or something similar -- as far back as third-year Hogwarts, when he knew that money mattered most to Draco. Over time as their relationship grew, however, Harry came to better understand Draco. Over time, he began to see that social class and money would always be the great disconnect between himself and Draco. For no matter how many gold Galleons were hidden safely in the Potter vault, it scant compared to the depth and breadth of wealth that came from a bloodline as old as Malfoys'. And the weight of that great divide could surely threaten everything Harry wanted and needed.
If that were true, what did it say about his relationship - his marriage?
"... and it seems so selfish that you would be the one to define what is and isn't to be acceptable ..."
Selfish, she called him. Selfish? He didn't think himself or his plan 'selfish' at all. Quite the opposite, truth be told. Draco needed hard lessons about wealth. And not about things he already knew, like how to accept and live with one's wealth, how to have it handed to him without question or regard to merit, how to be born into it. No, all that he already knew. Now, he needed to learn how that wealth could be stripped from him, how affluence can leave him without remorse or pity as a lover would if taken for granted for too long. He needed to learn how to make wealth, how to build assets; and that is a fair shake different from inheriting it. It would be Harry who'd be truly poor. Draco would simply be convinced he is so, and only for a small stretch.
“And I know you’re no longer listening to me and you’re probably starry-eyed thinking ‘what if Draco finds out’ or ‘oh, he’s a tricky little blighter, that one’ and - ”
Harry took off the Spectral Spectacles and replaced them with his regular pair of glasses. Regardless of what could go wrong with his plan or whatever perceived moral ambiguity came from it, Harry felt confident that he was doing the right thing. He knew, deep where it mattered most - where there were no laws or moral codes or Hermiones to say otherwise - this plan would ultimately strengthen their marriage and ensure that there would always be ‘Harry and Draco’. Because above all else, Harry needed there to always be a ‘Harry and Draco’.
And so it would be.
He need only plan good, execute better, and take things one day at a time, one step at a time.
And the next step…?
The Honeymoon.