Chapter 225: Gold Rush

If you want to support me check out my patréon at https://www.patréon.com/athassprkr

I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.

I would like to thank my beta, Akisu, for his help in this chapter.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

31 May 1994, Hogwarts, Scotland

It had been almost a month since the third task and Harry couldn't quite believe that Dumbledore was really gone. He fully expected the old man to just come back one day with some kind of ridiculous excuse that the entire wizarding world would have bought without a second thought.

And yet, Albus Dumbledore remained outside the castle, his mighty empire being slowly destroyed, one brick at a time. It was vindicating. It was also fucking terrifying. No matter how much Harry hated the man, the mere idea that someone as powerful as him was literally in the wind, having lost almost everything he had worked for, was just as terrifying.

Holy shit, Harry only wanted the man to leave him alone. He recognized now that he was being used all this time. He would have to be blind not to notice the fact that Dumbledore's position had been far more affected than it should have been. Someone was pushing for the man to be condemned, and it was probably Gellert Grindelwald.

Harry didn't know how the Dark Lord had escaped Nurmengard. The 'experts' from the ICW stated multiple times that he was still in his cell, but Harry knew differently. He felt the man's power, even if it was just the tip of the iceberg, and that definitely one another level.

The Colt's loss alone probably contributed to Harry's fear. The weapon had always been there, in his pocket, everywhere he went. It was this instant win button that he could use if he really was over his head. It provided some assurance against Dumbledore. But the sad part was that this confidence was just an illusion at best. Dumbledore was at least as skilled as Grindelwald and the man had laughed whenever Harry tried to shoot him with his ultimate weapon. The former headmaster would have probably done the same.

Harry needed to get better, a lot better, in fact, to protect himself from those monsters.

Honestly, the mere idea was Grindelwald was back, terrified Harry. Arcturus' reaction to it just made him uncomfortable. Whenever the man spoke of Dumbledore, it was just with a small air of caution and respect. But the way the man's skin paled and the way his hands trembled slightly whenever Harry told him about what happened with Grindelwald, it was terrifying on many levels.

Dumbledore was a man one could reason with. Mostly because he had a goal. You could get him to make concessions if you play your part well. However, Grindelwald didn't work like that. From everything he was able to gather from old newspapers, Grindelwald's main goal was the subjugation or elimination of muggles. He played on the pride of old wizarding families to support him, but Harry could tell that it was probably out of fear.

After all, Harry knew that the man was a seer. He had probably seen the effects of nuclear weaponry and the advancements muggles would have and wanted to stop it since they presented a real threat to the wizarding world. He was right, of course, but the undeniable truth was that he was too late. The muggles became the threat he feared they would be. His initial goal was impossible.

And if that wasn't good enough, the fact that Dumbledore was gone was as much a boon as it was a curse. Dumbledore was dangerous, yes, but he was also occupied all the time. It had been why people pushed so many positions on him after the Great War. It was easier to keep tabs on the man if someone had access to his schedule.

Now, the man had disappeared in the win. And Grindelwald was back.

Harry had no doubts that this was nothing more than the calm before the storm. He had won the previous battle, and yet he didn't feel like he did.

The school continued as it used to be, even if McGonagall was obviously getting overworked. Flitwick was helping her as much as he could, but they both had classes to teach. However, neither of them had the time for meetings outside the castle since they had classes. The frequent meetings with the board with the change in school administration were draining them. The woman had even ended up asking a few of the Aurors who remained after the task to handle a few of her transfiguration lessons, especially for the lower years. That's not even mentioning the fact that she had to look for a new potion professor, since Snape was leaving after the end of the semester, seeing the immunity that Dumbledore had given him crumble away without the old man in the castle.

McGonagall also had to find someone else to take up their resident cursed professor the following year. Oddly enough, Kingsley Shacklebolt made an appearance as the provisional Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor, replacing the missing Remus Lupin. The DMLE was already looking for the man as a possible collaborator with the third task fiasco, especially with his mysterious disappearance. That's not to mention the charges against him for having a working position as a werewolf without the proper registration in the ministry.

Other than that, the security consultant for the third task, Alastor Moody had also disappeared a few days later, but it was probably him just following Albus Dumbledore, who became unreachable after his appeal to lift his suspension as headmaster was denied by the board and he had to relinquish his control over the wards fully to McGonagall.

The DMLE ended up investigating the school funds and must have found enough irregularities since the school board made the suspension permanent just afterwards.

Unfortunately, that meant that the most powerful wizard in the world was probably free as a bird, having lost his political empire. Honestly, if it had been a regular headmaster that would have been the end of it. It was a scandal but nothing really world-shattering. Unfortunately, Dumbledore wasn't a normal wizard and people probably forgot just how dangerous he was.

Seriously, they cringed and panicked at the sheer mention of Voldemort but hadn't even considered the fact that Dumbledore was at least just as dangerous, and politics was one of the few things making him hold back on displaying his power.

All in all, Harry had absolutely no idea what the hell to expect.

Harry's thoughts were interrupted by Daphne hitting his shoulder, "Lost in your head again, Harry?"

"Just thinking about how quiet things have been," he simply responded.

Yes, if there was one way to describe Hogwarts' current status, it would be quiet. It was the complete opposite of how lively the castle was. Snape stopped being purposefully antagonistic to Gryffindors and just looked like he didn't care at all. McGonagall was too tired to berate anyone's behaviour. Hell, even the fact that Neville Longbottom was taken out of the castle by his grandmother kept the normal chaos that always surrounded him at bay.

But there was more to it than that. It was hard to explain. The closest comparison would have been that the castle had lost its spirit. There was a distinct lack of the insanity commonly seen in Hogwarts. The Weasley twins weren't pranking anyone. There were no confrontations between rival houses.

It was just quiet.

Daphne's smile dimmed slightly, "I think people are confused more than anything. But didn't you sneak out of the castle a few days ago for some big meeting with the Firebolt guy?"

"Yeah, I sold everything I had to do with the company."

The blonde's smile dipped, "Why the hell would you do this?"

Harry simply shrugged, "That was always the plan. Interest couldn't be any higher regarding the company and it will definitely dip after the Quidditch World Cup. Nimbus were desperate to get the official sponsorship for the World Cup and they couldn't really do it with most of the players having competing brooms. They massively overpaid for the value of the company. I sold my stake in the Firebolt company and Smythe sold a good chunk of it. Apparently, he wanted to stay invested in his brainchild."

"Aren't you losing on any possible future revenue?"

Harry couldn't help but smile, "Not really. The truth is that demand for Firebolts is going to fade after the World Cup. Every team in the country, probably even in Europe, is equipped with one. The World Cup would have been a great advertisement for the product, but the truth is that neither Smythe nor I have the means for international trade. The two of us alone can't take the product to the next level, but a large company like Nimbus could. The trade is pretty good, all things considered. Nimbus gains the Firebolt brand, and the opportunity to scale up production on an international level, on a product with a good reputation, as well as easy publicity as the official sponsor of the world cup. In exchange, we got a very good deal for the company, and Smythe even managed to gain a great deal of control over the direction of Nimbus' Firebolt division."

"So, how much money did you get?"

"Enough that I'm not worried about the financial position of the Potter family anymore."

Daphne raised an eyebrow, "You seriously made enough gold to compete with an old pureblood family?"

"As I said, I got a very good deal out of Nimbus. What can I say? I'm a very good negotiator."

Well, technically, Harry cheated. While using magic did cause him some pain, his Arcane Hearing barely gave him any discomfort. Using it to negotiate the exact price the Nimbus representatives were allowed to give, was like taking candy from a baby.

The blonde gave Harry an exasperated look and whined, "Harry…. Just tell me."

Damn, those puppy dog eyes were hard to resist, "Fine. I got five million Galleons out of the deal."

"FIVE MILLION GALLEONS?" she shouted.

Harry quickly hushed her. Her shouting was so loud that she could have probably broken the privacy charms that Harry had discreetly put in place as a reflex when Daphne sat next to him. It was a paranoid habit that Harry picked up to be able to speak freely in the common room without the Court of Slytherin listening in.

He couldn't blame her though. Five million Galleons was a ridiculous sum, especially since Harry started up with an investment of just five thousand Galleons. Most old families barely had more than a net worth of a million galleons, and that wealth was mostly in properties and investments. It was only the really big families that had more than that, who had gotten some ridiculous terms when the statute of secrecy was put in place and kept developing that wealth, that still had more. There were notably the Malfoys, the Blacks, and the Notts. Harry wasn't really sure since a family's financial matters were a pretty sensitive topic. Those three families were postulated to have an endless river of gold because of how much they spent their gold without a second thought.

Honestly, Harry was lucky that Nimbus was an international conglomerate, and could afford to spend what was essentially the yearly budget of a small magical country, on a small company.

Harry didn't know how much the Greengrass family was worth, but even if he had told the number to Draco Malfoy, the reaction would have probably been similar.

Harry flicked the gaping blonde, "Come on Daph. It's just a bit of gold."

"A bit of gold? You could buy half of Diagon Alley with that much. And you made that in a little over a year? Sometimes I forget how ridiculous you could be."

The last Potter returned her baffled look with a smile, "Trust me, even for me, this was ridiculously lucky."

"Are you sure you didn't use your weird seer power to make an insane amount of gold?"

Harry stiffened, his voice got strangely higher, "Of course not. I would never. I am a man of principle."

"You definitely would."

"That's not the issue. You're still missing the point. With so much gold in my vaults to throw around, can you imagine how good my gifts are going to be?"

Daphne hit him in the shoulder and turned up her nose, "I expect some very impressive presents, Potter."

"Of course, my lady," Harry responded with a boy.

They both fell into giggles and Daphne gave him a blinding smile, "I'm glad you're doing alright. I was really worried about you."

"I was cleared by Madam Pomphrey weeks ago," he protested.

"It wasn't about that. It's just that ever since your injury, you could barely use any magic. And I don't mean what we're doing in class, but your real stuff. I know it's been getting better, but there was just something missing in you ever since you came back. You miss playing around with magic and I can understand that. I was just worried, I guess. This is the first time you've been acting like yourself ever since the Third Task and I can't help but blame myself…"

"It wasn't your fault, Daph. If it wasn't you, they would have found another way…"

"I know," she interrupted him, "I know. I just wanted to say that I'm glad you're getting better."

She jumped and hugged him, and Harry couldn't help but hug her back instinctively, "I'm glad that I'm better too, Daph."

And he was. He hated what happened to him. But this whole affair had taught him a lesson. He had grown confident and arrogant in his skill and magic, but this showed him just how much behind he truly was. He also realized what was truly important to him and that the blonde girl hugging him was at the top of the list.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

AN: Not sure about this chapter tbh. It feels a bit like a filler but things have been so hectic in the last dozen chapters that I felt there had to be something to slow things down slightly. As usual, please let me know what you think or if you have any suggestions.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

If you want to support me check out my patréon at https://www.patréon.com/athassprkr

I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.

Thank you guys for your support in these hard times.