Chapter 8: Y1 Books, Trains, and a Codex I
It had been a long restless night, his mother's letter still echoed in his mind and his heart still ached. Trying to distract himself from his own internal heartache, he had taken to exploring the surrounding area.
The area immediately around the apartment turned out to be surprisingly well connected, with a small country village no more than a mile down the road. This village had some of the more common shops and services, which would effectively provide for most of his day to day living requirements.
He would still have to travel into town for some of his shopping needs; however he had discovered a local Tesco's super store in the immediate area. Also, it was maybe no more than 5 to 10 minutes by bus from the village centre, if he required anything else. Fortunately there was also a train station providing regular services to Waterloo Station, and therefore non-magical London, if he wished to avoid using the goblin portkey.
However, his mind turned towards the magical world and his future role in it as the next Lord Potter, and how he would have to carry the sole burden of rebuilding his house. He realized he would have to prepare so he could catch up with other heirs. He wouldn't settle for second place or hide his talents like he had been forced to at his relatives; he would make his parents proud of him.
Turning towards his mother's chest, he decided needed to get started, so he could catch up with his future classmates. After all, other heirs and children coming from magical families would already have some prior education and instruction in magic; hence he needed to level the planning field.
First he took out a number of charms books and put them on the table, followed by Defence against the Dark Arts, Potions, Runes and Ancient Languages, as well many other books, sorting them into stacks based topic as he went. Seeing an old faded tome, he checked the aged volume over, prior to reading the title, 'Discovering the Mind – The Complete Guided to Mind Arts – by R&W De Lacy -1789.'
His first impression was that the book could possibly be out of date, after all it was close to 200 years old and things do change. But he quickly dismissed this idea, after all his parents wouldn't have included the book if they thought it would be of little value.
Opening the book, he saw that the parchment was faded with age and looked well used. The book was divided into 5 chapters, first was an introduction, then preparation, the creation of the codex, common methods of defence, and the final section was on offensive usage of the abilities.
The introduction was similar to what Bloodmoon had explained during their meeting and contained the consequences of misuse. It also introduced new key terms, such as codex and mindscape. The codex, in a sense, was the vault in one's mind, whilst the mindscape was the area in the mind created to house the vault, where defences would be built to protect one's secrets.
There was one statement in the introduction that really stood out, 'The mind is ever-changing, and the practise of mind arts is a continuous skill. Each individual is different, one must always be aware of this, otherwise newer techniques can surpass even a mind with decades of defensives, just like the young replace the old.'
How true that statement was. It made him even more interested, because the introduction made the skill sound exciting, like a game of chess, or a thief coming up with new means to rob a bank, whilst the bank was developing new means to stop the thieves, like a game of cat and mouse.
Turning to the next page, he began the task of preparing for the creation of his codex.
..
..
Several hours later
After reading the chapter, he discovered he'd unknowingly been preparing for the early stages of mind arts, due to him having learned to dampen the pain he had suffered at his uncle's hands. Also, the art of meditation was a key step in reaching and creating a successful codex, causing a rogue thought to cross his mind, 'at least his uncle had been useful for something,' before he crushed it completely, pushing thoughts of his useless relatives aside.
Taking a lotus position on his bed, before closing his eyes and taking several deep calming breaths, he slowly cleared his mind whilst thinking over the books instructions of how to create a codex.
Even with the books warning about the difficulty of the task, he was confident that he would be able to create a simple codex before starting school. After all it would save him from continuously having to reread the same books, not that he would complain, but it would be nice to have his own private mind library and the additional benefits were well worth the effort.
Putting the book down and opening up one of the charms books entitled, 'Charming My Way.' The book was an introduction to charms and explained that charms were practical day to day spells, resulting in Harry spending the remainder of the day reading said book.
...
Several weeks later.
August 30th, Bloodmoon's office.
Bloodmoon was currently sitting at his desk waiting for his 10 o'clock appointment with young Lord Potter. Since their last meeting he had been investigating current Potter holdings, as well as making several minor investments under the Peverell account profile. Just as he was checking the time, there was knocking at the door.
'Good, he's on time, always a good sign for business,' passed through Bloodmoon's thoughts before composing himself and calling out, "Come in."
Harry quickly made his way across the office space to sit across from Bloodmoon. He was currently dressed in a fine matching set of black silk shirt and trousers, with a pair of black dragon hide boots. If anyone saw him, they would assume he was a natural born wizard, from a high ranking family. His hair had been styled backwards, but still had an untamed nature to it.
"Let's get down to business then. I am sure you are busy preparing for the trip to Hogwarts, but I thought it would be wise to have a business meeting before you go, because there may be difficulties in ensuring effective communication," Bloodmoon stated.
"Thank you, I agree completely. It would be wise to have some type of policy or plan just in case I can't be reached for whatever reason," Harry replied.
Bloodmoon responded by handing Harry a file filled with documents saying, "This file contains your current Potter household dealings as well as holdings. I've done a primary investigation and found a degree of corruption in the higher management of these businesses.
Some are siphoning funds out of their profits into their own private accounts, whilst other businesses are just being run by incompetent staffs, hence they have been fired and their accounts are under investigation. Depending on what is found, we should have answers by the New Year, spring at the latest. The figures are shown on pages 5 and 6."
Bloodmoon paused to allow Harry to turn the pages before saying, "Under correct management and oversight we should increase profits in these businesses. We also found several business or firms that weren't rebuilt after the last war; hence these markets have been taken over. Pages 8-12 should contain the details; a key example of this is the Potter Docks in Edinburgh.
After suffering a major death eater attack during the last war they were never rebuilt. Since this was biggest port in north, most of the business from the surrounding alleys have moved south or were forced to close due to the need for docks to import the raw materials, to stay profitable and competitive with their rivals."
Harry just nodded, it was a lot to take in, he was grateful for the report that Bloodmoon had prepared. "Anything else?" he asked.
"Simply put, the businesses are a mess. Combined with the investigation into your magical guardian; it's just one big pile of legal paper trails.
It may take most of next year to fix the majority of your current business holdings. However, I have made a couple of small scale investments for the Peverell account into some minor real estate, basically small magical family homes. Also, I have a couple of proposals for additional investments for the Peverell account if you are interested?" Bloodmoon asked, handing over a new list.
Looking over the list, he didn't recognize the two businesses listed, but he could look up the businesses at a later date.
After all, Bloodmoon was working for him, it wouldn't be in his interest to harm him. Looking up at Bloodmoon he responded, "If you believe that these businesses are good investments, then I'll follow your advice." Rereading the names, 'Greenfinger Herblore' and 'Terra-Green Conservatorium' he asked, "Anything else I should know about these businesses?"
Bloodmoon took a minute to form an accurate reply without revealing too much information about another goblin's client. "Both businesses are profitable; they primarily deal with the selling of common potions and ingredients.
They have been around for a good 250 years each, but they are selling these shares because of financial debts. I can't say more, due to laws, but the client wants a private sale and I was approached by their manger since I was discreetly inquiring about possible investments."
Harry just nodded, "Alright, I understand. Can you send me a note confirming the sale, and any extra information after the sale is completed?"
"Indeed, I'll see to it," Bloodmoon replied.
"Ok, I assume that is everything I need to know, or is there anything else?" Harry asked, because he doubted Bloodmoon would keep him around just to chat.
"I believe were done for today. I will contact you if I see any other investments that may be of interest," the account manager replied.
"Ok, good day Bloodmoon, may your gold flow and your enemies bleed," answered Harry rising from his chair, shocking the manager with his knowledge of their tongue. He silently thanked his mother for her foresight in providing basic cultural reference books.
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