Disclaimer: Brôma theôn
*****
Hermione was more than a bit surprised to find her head of house waiting in the common room when she came down that morning. Her surprise deepened when she noticed the absence of her best friend. Harry was an early riser, likely due to his damned relatives, and it was a rare occasion that he slept in.
"Mr. Potter could not get away from his project with the Department of Magical Law Enforcement this morning," McGonagall said dryly. "They usually permit him to escape in time to meet you, but I'm afraid he may have broken yet another of the immutable laws of magic and they were loath to let him go."
"Harry has work in the morning too?" The girl's eyes narrowed.
"For quite some time, yes," the old woman agreed. "No less than three hours every morning before class and as much time as he can spare the rest of the time."
"When is he supposed to sleep?"
"When he sneaks off to Mr. Weasley's workshop, the one you three think we don't know about," Professor McGonagall responded to the question in a dry tone of voice. "His aide is rather dogged in her defense of his rest time."
"What aide?" Hermione asked flatly. The girl's lips whitened and drew into thin lines.
"Mrs. McLain," McGonagall stated, nothing in her tone suggesting how amused she was by her favorite student's reaction. Few things were better in life than to look down on the follies of youth from the tower of experience. "I understand she's married to another of my old students. You may know her by her maiden name, Flint, I understand she uses it because she believes it annoys her birth family a great deal."
"Oh." Hermione brightened. "I see."
"Wonderful." Minerva choked down a laugh. "The reason I came to meet you this morning, Ms. Granger, is to inform you that you are excused from classes for the day."
"I am?" The girl's head tilted. "May I ask why, Professor?"
"Your father has requested your presence for what he characterized as a moderately important meeting. I saw no reason to deny his request in light of the fact that you've already completed and turned in every assignment for the remainder of the year."
"I didn't mean to inconvenience you, Professor, it's just that I don't have as much time to do assignments, what with all the time Luna and I have been spending in the engine shed, so I thought it best to get everything done early."
"It was not a complaint, Ms. Granger."
"Yes, Professor."
Minerva escorted the girl to the front entrance where they were met by a dozen armsmen and two dangerous looking goblins.
"Anguish, Sprocket," Hermione said with a wide smile. The girl turned to the humans and reddened. "I must apologize. I am quite sorry, but I'm afraid that I cannot recall your names at this time. Please excuse my awful rudeness. I promise that I shall endeavor to learn them so as not to repeat the insult in the future."
"Flint," the woman at the head of the group. "I'm normally assigned to work with Harry so we haven't met more than once or twice. Rest of the group is new so there's no reason you should know any of them either so don't worry about it."
"Still." Hermione bit her lower lip. To the girl, it was absolutely unconscionable that she did not know at least the names of the staff assigned to her. She'd been raised to think of the people who kept her world running as members of her family, that she had allowed her other interests to distract her to the point that she did not know such a simple thing was, and would remain a source of shame. No matter what Harry's aide said.
"If you wish, I shall procure dossiers on every employee with pictures and personal information so that this does not happen to you again," Anguish said calmly.
"Thank you, Anguish, that will be quite helpful," Hermione chirped, her earlier good cheer returning. Making a mental note to spend the next dozen nights memorizing them if necessary. "What are you all doing here?"
Anguish nodded for Sprocket to go first.
"Just came to report that the new goblins should be arriving later today and that living areas and workspaces have been prepared."
"Thank you, Sprocket. Could you help the shop foreman and Luna get them settled in?"
"Of course, Mistress," Sprocket replied, bowing low. It was a great honor to be trusted with the clan's voice, even for so small a task. He silently vowed that he would not disappoint.
"Harry told the rest of us to make sure you got to your meeting safely," Flint spoke up. "You know how he worries."
"He also suggested that you might appreciate a few extra hands around in case you had a chance to go book shopping," one of the new men stated with a perfectly straight face.
Hermione giggled. "You too, Anguish?"
"The Potter has ordered me to stay close to you every time you leave the protection of the castle," Anguish stated. And to keep the girl safe by any means necessary. The exact words he'd used were; 'I don't care if you need to make a mountain of corpses so long as Hermione stays safe.' A very goblin like statement, she'd thought approvingly at the time. It, more than anything, had confirmed that she had made the right choice when she joined his war-band.
"Yer da also suggested she come along," Flint added. "Said it would be to your benefit to have your accountant on hand unless you had all your financial information memorized."
"Okay," Hermione agreed. "Shall we?"
Flint pulled two lengths of chain out of her pocket "Way we're doing this is we're going to split into two groups, first group goes ahead and the second group follows after we get an all clear. You're in the second group, Ms. Hermione."
"Just like with the cars." Hermione nodded.
"And for similar reasons as well," Flint agreed. "Anguish, which group are you going to be traveling with?"
"I shall be in the Mistress' group," the goblin stated firmly.
"Group one," Flint ordered. The woman pulled what looked like a makeup compact out of her pocket and stared at the mirror. "Group one's clear. Everyone grab the chain and we're off in three . . . two . . . one."
They arrived in what Hermione recognized as a hallway outside one of the private meeting rooms in her father's private club.
"Nice place," Flint commented, eyeing the wood paneling and the intricate Persian carpets that likely cost more than she made in a year.
"The food is quite good as well," Hermione replied cheerfully. "Be sure to have them send something up for you so you can try it."
The door opened to reveal her father's driver. The man's right hand was in the right pocket of his grey sport coat, his flat expression cracked upon seeing her and he shot her a quick grin and a wink before his face went expressionless.
"Six three one penguin," Flint said carefully.
"Five fifty star fix," he replied calmly.
"We're clear," Flint announced, causing a number of nervous wands to relax a touch.
"You can go in, Ms. Hermione," her father's driver said respectfully.
"After we've had a chance to sweep the room," Flint said firmly. "Please wait until after we've checked everything, Ms. Hermione."
"So long as you understand that this meeting is private," the man replied firmly.
"Harry said to do what you said within reason," Flint said to Hermione. "Well?"
"Yes, of course." Hermione nodded. "James, be sure they get something to eat while I'm talking with daddy."
At Flint's nod, three of the guards walked into the room and carefully cast every detection charm they knew. Three more swept the room for listening devices and secret passages the mundane way.
"Yes, Ms. Hermione," the man said indulgently. "Would you like me to order up something for yourself as well?"
"Yes, but it can wait until after we've gone through whatever daddy called me here to talk about," Hermione decided. "Business before pleasure."
"Of course, Ms. Hermione."
"You may go in, Ms. Hermione," James announced upon getting the nod from Flint, after her people vacated the room.
Hermione's father was seated in a rich leather chair. With a smile, the man rose to his feet and engulfed her with his arms.
"Thank you for coming on such short notice, darling. I suppose you're wondering why I called you here." He nodded over her head for his driver to close the door and take his customary post. "Do sit down, darling, and make yourself comfortable."
"What is it, daddy?" Hermione asked, sinking into the chair across from his."
He smiled. "You have the opportunity to purchase a repair yard for steam engines. My question for you is: Should you?"
Hermione opened her mouth to give an affirmative and closed it abruptly. "I don't know."
"You don't know?"
"I'd need more information before I could decide," the girl admitted. "How much is it, where is it, what condition is it in, how much would it take to maintain it, how much would it take to get it into the condition I need it to be in, how much can I afford to spend now, how much can I afford to spend on an ongoing basis, how much can I expect it to bring me. Did . . . did I miss anything, daddy?" The girl began chewing on her lower lip.
"Perhaps." His smile deepened. "Should you consider buying it on credit?"
"No," she answered immediately.
"Why not?"
"We are Grangers. We are not borrowers or lenders."
"Not directly anyway. We do own portions of banks and banks do make loans, for example." His eyes sparkled. "What's the difference?"
"We own portions of businesses that make loans. We do not," Hermione said firmly. "It's just like politics and titles."
"How is it like politics and titles, darling?"
"We are Grangers, if we need a politician or an aristocrat for some reason we'll buy one," Hermione proclaimed. "We don't become them."
"Or marry one," Phil laughed. "Why?"
"It's better to have a layer between us and the dirty business," Hermione stated. "We learned that from guano. It made us a mint but the whole stinking business of how our local factors went about getting labor left a stain on our family which we will never be free of. We didn't pay close enough attention and we allowed ourselves to get to close and we got burned. The world may have forgotten but we have not and we will not."
"Alright, what about asking the public to make donations to restore and preserve a historical building?" he asked.
"Never! We are Grangers," the girl said, sounding more confident. "We do not ask for money with our hats in our hand. We may give to worthy causes, we do not ask others to give for our benefit. If we cannot afford it, we do not buy it."
"What about asking a business partner?"
Hermione frowned. "Maybe."
"Maybe?"
"It depends on the partner," Hermione stated.
"Oh?" He gestured for her to continue.
"Is it someone I already have a long term relationship with? If not, is it someone I can build a long term relationship with? Will this deal benefit us both? Is there a chance this deal could harm them or our relationship? If so do I want to harm them or our relationship?"
"Alright." He nodded to his driver. "All the information you need should be in that folder. Tell me if there is anything else you would like to know."
Hermione took several minutes to go through the paperwork and a few more to do a bit of mental arithmetic.
"Well?"
"I'm not sure, daddy," Hermione admitted.
"Why not?"
"I don't know if my finances will allow it," Hermione explained.
"Why not?" he repeated himself.
"Because I have people who take care of that for me, daddy," Hermione replied with a smile, feeling a bit more confident. "I am a Granger. If I do not have a skill, I find someone who has it and if they aren't the best then I will ensure they receive the training to become the best."
"Harry?" He did his best to stay impassive.
"Is one of my advisors," Hermione allowed. "In this case, the advisor I am referring to is Anguish."
"I'm not sure I've had the pleasure."
"She's one of the goblins who came to the meeting with me, daddy. Harry found her for me, she helps look after my finances."
"You brought your accountant and you have her waiting outside?" he asked, his tone neutral.
"Yes, daddy."
"You may ask her three questions," Phil allowed.
Hermione suppressed a grin. They'd played the same game since she was a young child, the earliest version had been something along the lines of 'ask three questions and tell me what animal I'm thinking of.' The amount of information she was given had grown in complexity and the number of questions she was allowed varied, but it remained the same game she'd played all her life.
With a giggle, the girl pulled a piece of parchment out of one pocket and a quill out of another and wrote three short sentences. "Done."
"May I?" Phil held out his hand. It only took a moment to read the questions, the man handed the parchment back without a hint to show how pleased he was by what he'd read. "Alright, darling. You may ask them."
Hermione rose to her feet and walked to the door. Phil privately noted how adorable she looked as she switched from dutiful daughter to part time businesswoman. A shame he couldn't have cameras in the room, hopefully one of the ones in the hall was able to get something suitable to be framed.
The girl opened the door and handed the parchment through the doorway to her employee who made a few notations before handing it back. It was clear from the expression on her face that she'd answered his question before she'd retaken her seat.
"Well?"
"It may be a good move for me to buy this property if I could partner up with the Greengrass/Davis families and/or with Harry. It would be a risk, but not a large one."
"So you're going to buy it?"
"No, daddy."
"Why not?"
"Because the risk is fairly low, it is still too high," Hermione sighed. "I could survive a loss, Tracy and Daphne's family couldn't. Ruining them would ruin what promises to be a long term relationship between us as individuals and possibly family to family. The possible rewards aren't worth that risk so the answer is a firm no."
"And Harry?"
"I'm not sure," Hermione admitted. "Harry has his fingers in so many pies that it's hard to know exactly what he has available or what he could afford to lose. If I asked him to partner with me on this he'd likely agree regardless of whether his finances could survive a failure." The girl got an exasperated look on her face. "And since I am not sure if my accountant is more loyal to him or me so I can't even trust it if he let me have a look at his books so the answer remains a firm no."
"Good job, darling."
"Was this a test?"
"Life is a test, darling. One of my duties as your father is to prepare you for it."
"Okay, daddy."
"If you had chosen to buy this property, I'd have waited to see if you were able to keep your company from going bankrupt."
"And if I hadn't been?"
"Failure is part of the learning process, darling. Since you didn't, I'm going to make an offer." He resisted the urge to add 'that you can't refuse.' She likely wouldn't have recognized the reference and it would have changed the tone of the meeting when she didn't.
"What kind of offer, daddy?"
"I'll use the family money to purchase it along with a couple other properties and I will pay for them to be brought up to your standards. In return, a portion of your business will belong to the family as a whole rather than you individually."
"What percentage were you thinking about?"
He smiled. "What percentage should I be asking for?"
"The most you think you can get," Hermione chirped.
"And what percentage will you be offering?"
"The least I think you'll take."
"That's my girl," he said proudly.
IIIIIIIIII
Snape eyed the Potter as the boy entered into his class. The others, the fools from the Ministry, were still invading his domain, limiting what he could do to get some of his own back from the man who'd stolen everything from him. The Potions Master suppressed a sneer as he watched the intruders cluster around the Longbottom, the biggest failure in class, a near squib. Better than wasting their time with the Potter, but only just. Damn them for their presence, damn them for interfering with his vengeance, damn them for being walking insults to his craft!
IIIIIIIIII
Hermione was on cloud nine when she skipped into the Engine shed. The results of her afternoon meeting meant she now had the ability to build new engines rather than just maintain the ones she already had. It was starting to feel as if nothing was beyond her reach, that the future was within her grasp.
"Anguish, I have some papers I would like you to look over," she stated cheerfully.
"Of course, Mistress," the goblin agreed.
The girl nodded to one of the guards who handed her a leather document case and then carefully removed a sheaf of papers. "I know daddy put in several embarrassing clauses, I do not know that I found all of them."
"Mistress?" the goblin took the contract, visibly confused by what the girl had told her. It was inconceivable that a clan leader would seek advantage over their heir unless they had some reason to suspect that their heir was attempting to take their position early.
"Daddy says that I can't always rely on lawyers so he expects me to know how to read a contract myself. I was able to find three clauses already, the first stated that I agreed to wear a maid costume every day of our next vacation, the second stated that I would serve him and mummy breakfast in bed every morning of my next holiday at home, the third stated that -" the girl blushed a deep red. "-that I would do something that isn't germane to this conversation. Daddy awarded me an additional two percent of Granger Steelworks for every clause I caught, but he was much too pleased with himself when I agreed to his terms to have caught every one of them."
Anguish nodded internally, a training exercise then. That changed things considerably. "Granger Steelworks, Mistress?"
"The family has decided to reopen Ravenscraig, agreeing to give the speech at the opening ceremonies and at the opening ceremonies of several other acquisitions netted me an additional four percent for my company."
"I see." Anguish nodded. "I will find what other traps your father left for you to trip, Mistress. Though it may be too late to avoid them, we can at least prepare ourselves."
"Thank you, Anguish. Sprocket!"
"Coming, Mistress!" the goblin replied, approaching at a dead run. The goblin skidded to a perfect stop just out of arms reach. "How may I serve you, Mistress?"
"Have the new workers been settled?"
"They have, Mistress," Sprocket agreed.
"Would it be convenient for me to meet them after we are finished here?"
"They are ready to meet you at any time, Mistress, day or night."
"Thank you, Sprocket. So you know, we will be taking possession of a foundry, a forge, and a small factory. We will be responsible for their maintenance and will be able to use them but they, along with the coal mine, will be spun off into a separate entity under my direct control. Expect that more facilities will be added later. We will also be taking possession of an engine repair facility, a shipyard, three scrap yards, no less than a dozen engines with funding to put them in working order, and several hectares of land."
"Yes, Mistress."
"The new facilities under my direct control are not required or even expected to make any money. We may use them for our projects, or we may let them lay fallow according to the agreement with my father. I say that we need to get them in a working state quickly and we need not spare any expense getting them there." Hermione sighed. "I'm afraid we will have to be a bit slower and more mindful of costs for everything else. Do you understand, Sprocket?"
"I understand your orders, Mistress," the goblin said carefully.
"Why are you taking possession of several properties that may be drains on your finances, Mistress?" Anguish asked, looking up from the contract she'd been examining.
"They're tax write offs for the family," Hermione explained. "Taking a small loss on them means we pay less on taxes from other income. Managing them is another of daddy's tricks to make me spend more time on business and less time having fun. He knew I couldn't resist making them mine," the girl sighed.
"As you say, Mistress," Anguish stated.
"I'll show you the relevant parts of the law later," Hermione promised. "Sprocket, could you let the new workers know that we're going to start doing the initial surveys of the new properties tomorrow? I'll be in to meet them and give them the details after we finish here."
"Of course, Mistress!" the goblin spun on his heels and marched back to the group.
"I believe that I have found something, Mistress," Anguish reported.
"How bad is it?" Hermione braced herself.
"It states that you agree to wear clothing deemed appropriate by your mother every time you open a new facility and that you agree to open any facility that is to be under your direct control and any company in which at least two percent of the stock is owned by you personally or by a company under your direct control. In return you will be personally awarded one percent of the new company's stock, unless it is already under your direct control, and in return for acting as your mother's proxy, the Potter will be awarded one half of one percent of the company's total stock."
"I noticed that, Anguish, it's why it states that Harry gets one half of a percent for acting as mother's proxy. Daddy's been taking advantage of his good nature to have him do it for free and I will not have it. I told daddy that I expected Harry to be compensated for his time and daddy agreed."
Enthusiastically, the man was tremendously pleased to have a chance to deepen ties with his daughter's friend. "Daddy and I also have an agreement to make that clause retroactive which will give Harry a half percent of the coal mine."
"I see. I will continue my search, Mistress." It didn't take Anguish long to find another potentially embarrassing clause. "It states here that you agree to restore any motor vehicles older than nineteen seventy found on any of the new properties and to offer your father first refusal at ten percent below market."
"What?" The girl's eyes narrowed. "Where?"
"It is buried rather well, mistress. This section here states that you will restore any historical vehicles, this clause here states that the term historic will refer to any motorized vehicle made before the year nineteen seventy and that you will grant your father the right of first refusal for any sales of restored vehicles."
"Where does it give him a discount?"
"Near the end when you agree to a ten percent discount for any member of the family for goods and services."
"I knew it!" Hermione exclaimed, a frown forming. "I knew daddy'd slipped something else in."
"If you knew, why did you sign, Mistress?"
"Because that's one of the rules," Hermione explained. "Don't worry, I'd have never signed this if it hadn't come from daddy unless you and a dozen or so lawyers had cleared it first."
"I am relieved to hear that, Mistress. Do you already have a legal team or is that something I should look into acquiring?"
"I've been using daddy's, but see if it would make sense to put our own on retainer or if it would get our own in house team."
"I shall do so, Mistress."
"Thank you, Anguish."
IIIIIIIIII
Hermione's uncle strolled through the halls of his club and down the stairs to his boss' office without, uncharacteristically, a pause to flirt with the woman in the front office.
"Why yes, James," Charlie stated after his best agent stormed into his office. "I can spare a few minutes. What can I do for you."
"I haven't gotten a field assignment in months," Hermione's Uncle said flatly. "Double O eight took the last assignment that was supposed to go to me."
"And six before that," Charlie agreed. "We've decided that it would be best to keep you close to home for the time being."
"Why?"
"There have been suggestions that you're overdue for a promotion," Charlie stated calmly. "There has also been more than one comment from higher that it is high time you grew up and took your place in society."
"Is my sister behind this?"
"A whisper or two," Charlie allowed. "I suspect most of the push is coming from your brother in law. I believe, and this is just speculation, that he is arranging things so that your niece will be able to take a seat in the house of commons if she so desires."
"What makes you think that?"
"The fact that she's the public face of the mine reopening and will be the public face when they reopen the steelworks." Charlie offered his best agent a cigar. "She'll be the Prime Minister before she's thirty at the rate things are going."
"Something being my heir could compromise if things go for me as they did with the majority of my predecessors." Jim lit his cigar and took a puff. "I knew Phil was a bastard, just didn't think he was this much of one."
"You may think you have an idea of how much of a bastard he can be," Charlie snorted. "Trust me when I state that in actuality, he's a bigger bastard than you can imagine."
"Enlighten me."
"We became aware of a plot against your sister and her child shortly after Hermione's birth," Charlie began. "I was assigned the task of informing your brother in law."
"What sort of plot?"
"A dash of political due to your father and several more of economic due to Phil's side. The Granger family does its best to stay out of the public eye, but it is not difficult to see that they are a family of means to anyone who decides to look." Charlie took a sip of gin. "So I arranged to meet with the new father and to tell him everything we were willing to admit to knowing." Charlie grinned. "First thing he did was ask me to be the girl's godfather, told me he wanted me to have a personal interest in her safety."
Hermione's Uncle Jim laughed in delight. "That sounds like exactly the sort of thing he would think of."
"Second thing he did was to triple security and order a couple bullet proof cars to transport his new family around in. We didn't find out about the third thing until a bit later."
"Oh?"
"Within twenty four hours every one of the blighters in a position of power received a personalized photo album containing pictures of their family, friends, neighbors, and pets along with a handwritten note from Phil Granger hoping that their loved ones stayed as safe and healthy as his own. Within forty eight everyone on the second level got one. Seventy two got the third. We never did find out if it went further than that.
Two years later we got wind of another plot against your sister. One of our informants tipped us as to why a trio of men had been dumped off a fishing boat thirty miles off the western coast on orders from the other side. To the best of our knowledge, there has never been a third plot against any member of the Granger family."
Charlie shook his head. "Haven't been able to confirm it, but we believe he had a conditional hit out on his former sister in law. Anything happened to him and your sister, and she would have followed them within a day. The orders were to do anything to prevent her from obtaining guardianship of your niece. If anything happened to your niece along with her parents." Charlie paused to pour a drink. "Well, there are some things one does not speak of in the company of those with sensitive dispositions. Believe me, James, it was ugly what he had planned."
"Not half as bad as what I would have done, I'm sure," Jim replied.
"Worse, James. Phil is, above all else, a family man. One reason I let our lords and masters talk me into keeping you close to home is the fact that you might be one of the few people he'd listen to if the troubles in the wizarding world start to heat up and the worst happens."
With a wide grin, Hermione's Uncle Jim poured himself a drink, quite pleased to learn that his sister had chosen so well and that his snap judgement of the man had been so spot on those many years ago when they'd first met.
~AN: Omake Below~
Omake by polarbear20000
Professor/Headmaster Dumbledore frowned at the rhythmic thumping that he'd been hearing for the past three days. He couldn't localize it and the wards didn't report any problems or threats to the school. In fact, he realized belatedly, the ghosts all looked rather amused. Even the Bloody Baron, who he was certain hadn't smiled in three centuries.
He activated the Floo to contact his Deputy.
"Minerva, can you come to my office for a moment?"
"Aye, Albus. I need a break from marking these... nevermind." The disgust in her tone was clear and the Headmaster refrained from comment about whose submission she was trying to grade at that moment. He broke the connection and waited.
The gargoyle soon announced her arrival with a few bars of that delightful Muggle band YMCA, audible only to him. The other professors had their own music to announce their entry, and he congratulated himself for working a localized ward on the gargoyle to set that function up.
He just didn't want the others to find out about his musical selections until he was long gone and past their reach.
Dumbledore watched as his Deputy walked in with an odd look on her face, but decided that he probably didn't want to know. He had enough work to do without officially noticing something - usually something Mister Potter and his cohorts got into - that would add to his workload.
"Ah! Minerva! Prompt as usual. Lemon drop?"
She glanced at the bowl, which was obviously filled with butterscotches and wondered if maybe Poppy needed to have a look at him in her official capacity.
"No, thank you, Albus. What do you want?"
He grinned at her direct manner.
"Have you felt that thumping sound, or noise, or whatever it is?"
"Aye. It's nothing to worry about."
He was a bit startled.
"You know of it?"
"The Basilisk's corpse is being taken care of, finally."
Well. This was new information, but he knew of no rendering techniques that caused so much ruckus as to shake an ancient castle. He responded in the only way he could.
"Er... come again?"
McGonagall nodded.
"Mister Potter, his house elf Dobby, and a selected contingent of Goblins with specialized abilities have arranged for the Chamber of Secrets to be the venue for a... what was it? A 'block party.' They're grilling the meat in a Goblin device that renders it safe for human consumption. With the amount of meat, the gathering is projected to last two more weeks."
Dumbledore again responded thoughtfully.
"Er... what?"
McGonagall nodded.
"Will that be all, Albus? I want to finish my marking before I make my appearance there. I understand that they have a recipe for Basilisk Haggis, and I'm curious. I haven't had a good haggis in a while, ever since Angus passed on."
Dumbledore shook his head in stupefaction, and his Deputy made her escape. He didn't notice the amused look on her face as she left. What was going to happen next?
He thought about that question and decided that he didn't want to know. He had enough work to do and there was no sense in adding to it.