Chapter 34: Weekend

Fifth Avenue, New York, USA, June 29, 1976.

Hermione and Severus appeared in an alley located on 77th Street at Fifth Avenue.

They both walked to the bottom of the alley until they came to a brick wall blocking the passage.

Hermione quickly pulled out her wand and stepped forward while Severus just waited patiently in place.

After making a few movements on the wall with his wand, the wall turned into a gigantic door, it looked like a door custom made for trolls to enter.

Above this door was written in golden letters:

Welcome to Magic Fifth Avenue

After a while, the gigantic door opened by itself, allowing Severus and Hermione to pass through.

The two wasted no time and passed through the door.

As they entered Magic Fifth Avenue, the first thing they saw was a district full of magical stores selling all kinds of magical items.

Talking mirrors, diaries, floating lanterns, omnioculars, reminders, cards, pen-flyers, deluminators, rings, pendants, stones, chess, hats, swords, and magic clocks.

Potions, antiques, and magic books

Magical purses and trunks that can store various things that their owner puts inside them, and that only he can take out of there.

Invisibility cloaks(not like Potter's), flying motorcycles, flying brooms.

There were also many food stores selling all kinds of magical sweets or other foods.

The district was full of wizards and witches of all ages.

Other magical beings could also be seen shopping and strolling through the businesses.

"Wow and here I thought Boston's magical shopping district was impressive enough" commented Severus rather surprised with what he was seeing.

"It's very different from Diagon Alley, don't you think so Severus?"

"Yes, even though both are very lively, they have no comparison. Tell me, Hermione, is this why you wanted to go through the door instead of showing up directly at the entrance of the Manor?" asked Severus even though he already knew the answer.

"Well, obviously yes, it loses the essence otherwise, it's like entering Diagon Alley for the first time" Hermione nodded and argued her point.

"But if I remember correctly, you told me that you had already been through the Manor, but when we got to the Boston shopping district, you were just as impressed as I was, so that can only mean one thing," Severus said staring at her, causing Hermione to avert her gaze.

"Hermione, you showed up directly at the Manor didn't you?"

She just averted her gaze for a while until she gave up and sighed saying, "Okay, I admit it, I didn't go through the door earlier and yes, I did show up directly at the Manor, I found it more exciting and fun to wait to see it together, Happy?"

Severus shook his head sighing and smiling slightly.

"Good, I just wanted to make sure," Severus said amused.

The two passed the shopping district, only to arrive at the area where most of the upper-class magical society of the USA stayed.

This area was filled with Mansions side by side that belonged to the most powerful and wealthy families in the magical world.

You could also see several luxury inns that were the official stopping place or hostel for wealthy wizards and witches, high officials traveling to the country, or people of international fame and importance.

And among the row of Mansions in this area is a Manor belonging to the Prince family.

This Prince Manor is much smaller and less luxurious than the main Prince Manor in Great Britain, but that is understandable since one is the size of a huge house and the other is the size of a palace.

Yet this mansion is identical to the rest of the mansions around it that show wealth and social reputation.

It is a sumptuous, luxurious-looking dwelling with recreational areas.

It has a large garden of its own and great amenities.

When Hermione and Severus arrived at the entrance of Prince Manor in New York, they were greeted by a small house elf dressed in very elegant black robes.

"Master! Your most loyal elf, Popper, welcomes you!" said the elf bowing respectfully.

"Oh, Popper, I told you there's no need to bow every time you speak to me, come on, get up."

"Popper thank you, Master," said the elf getting up and then looking at Hermione "Welcome back Miss Prince, Popper reminds you that there are not enough ingredients for the dinner you had planned if you wish Popper you can go shopping."

"Uh..., oh yes that, don't worry Popper, I already took care of the rest of the ingredients," Hermione said looking nervously at Severus.

"So that's why you wanted to go to the Boston shopping district with me, good excuse not to go shopping for things alone" Severus scoffed.

"As I said before, it's more enjoyable in pairs" Hermione excused herself as she walked into the Manor without giving any more answers.

'Stubborn as ever, at least she stopped harping on Popper about being a free elf' thought Severus as he played it down and entered the Manor as well.

For the rest of the day, Severus took the time to diligently look over all the investments he was thinking of making this weekend.

He had been reading all about the current market and came to understand the big picture of everything that was going on in the magical and Muggle world.

He also had Gringotts arrange to give the Prince family an official identity in the Muggle world as a very wealthy ancient and heirloom family that had recently found an heir, he, Severus Prince being the one to inherit all the wealth of this family.

Apparently, it was not difficult as Severus already had a Muggle identity and the Prince family had left a record of their existence in the Muggle world many years ago when they were in Ireland.

Doing this allowed Severus to get into the Muggle market which was afloat and constantly growing, as opposed to the magical market which was very stagnant, thus leaving the once-powerful and wealthy magical families as if they were mere commoners compared to some wealthy Muggles.

Severus wrote several letters to different companies and industries around the world, he was planning to invest and buy several companies that were going through very complicated economic situations at present.

The Muggle world was constantly growing and this also brought a crisis for the industries as there was great economic inflation, and all the prices of the existing goods and services in the market started to increase constantly.

All materials such as metals began to raise their prices rapidly.

Workers began to demand a wage increase that industries could not pay with the massive increase in things, so they ended up going on strikes that increased the social and political crisis.

Companies began to fall behind and ended up closing down.

Everything was constantly changing and this crisis was something Severus wanted to take advantage of to gain wealth and a lot of power.

It was the perfect time to invest if you had the money and knew how and in what to invest.

And Severus not only had wealth but also had a lot of useful knowledge to use.

After sending the letters with the different offers he was making to each one, Severus moved on to his other objective.

Currently, the only thing that identified the Prince was the potion factory they had in the magical world along with some stores where they distributed and sold their potions.

With 51% of the shares, the Prince family usually receives only 7000 gallons per month, from which they deduct all the expenses that the family has, leaving only a profit of 2000 gallons per month.

Added to the gallons earned from the shares held in other magical companies, the Prince family earns a total of approximately 3000 gallons per month.

Compared to the salary of a high official of the Ministry of Magic, who earns between 700 and 1000 gallons, it may seem a lot, but it is not if you take into account the investment made in the factory.

For this reason, Severus plans to create a global industry in the Muggle world called Prince Industries.

And to this, he was going to add the different companies that he was going to acquire during this crisis.

Severus wanted to move forward and place Prince Industries in the center of the Muggle and magical economy.

He had already started with the paperwork required to create Prince Industries with headquarters in New York.

He had decided to create the headquarters in the Chrysler Building until he had his own complex.

He chose this building simply because the owners were currently going through a very bad financial situation and he was able to acquire 17% of the building for a total of only $7 million.

This had left him with only $14 million, but it was enough for now.

After finishing arranging the last few things, Severus went to dinner with Hermione.

"So, Severus, this..." began Hermione nervously as they had both finished dinner and were about to go to bed.

"Hermione, you spent a week sleeping with me, what's making you so nervous now?"

"Well, it's just embarrassing, despite us being family and all, it's still awkward."

"If sleeping alone is what you prefer I have no problem" Severus replied.

"Don't be like that Severus, you know that's not an option" Hermione folded her arms giving him an angry look.

"I was just saying, you're the one complaining, not me."

"That's because you're insensitive, it's embarrassing for a man and a woman to sleep together."

"I don't think it's like that between relatives, but sure, whatever you say," said Severus trying not to provoke Hermione's tantrum anymore.

"You...!, you idiot, it's not the same, we're distant relatives" protested Hermione embarrassed.

"Fine, I understand, what do you want me to do, you're not giving me much of a choice Hermione" Severus shook his head tiredly not wanting to argue again.

"No, you don't understand, fine, never mind, let's just go to sleep" Hermione complained as she turned and went to the bedroom.

Severus just followed her without bothering to follow the conversation.

The two lay down together and Severus reapplied his magic as before as he stroked her hair and uttered the song in Irish.

Hermione who was angry and embarrassed with Severus' insensitivity to the situation of them sleeping together, relaxed noticeably with the magic Severus did and after a while, she fell asleep peacefully.

Severus was also tired, so as soon as he finished the magic he went to sleep as well.

Saturday and Sunday were the same, with Severus and Hermione wandering around the USA, seeing all the magical districts they could and visiting different Muggle cities that interested them.

Severus also ended up acquiring some of the companies he had offered to buy them from and also made a few investments.

Sunday afternoon Severus said goodbye to Hermione and went to the magical port of Boston where he caught the ship back to SWI.

The ship arrived for dinner time, so Severus met Gwen and Freyja when he went to eat.

They both demanded that he tell them all about his weekend.

"And that's it, a bit summarized, but there's nothing important that I missed."

"Wow, that's great Severus" Freyja commented with stars in her eyes.

"Looks like at least someone enjoyed their weekend" joked Gwen.

"It's decided!" said Freyja getting Severus and Gwen's attention.

"What's decided ?" asked Severus knowing he would regret asking.

"We have to go the 3 of us together to the shopping district!" said Freyja nodding to herself.

"Oh, I like that idea, besides Prince must be a terrific guide," said Gwen amused.

"Gwen, you've lived in the USA since you were a child, you don't need a guide, what's more, you must know the magical districts better than I do" Severus argued trying to get out of the situation.

"No, no, I was your guide in the institution, it's your turn Prince to be the guide" assured Gwen.

"Please Severus, it will be more fun if it's the 3 of us" insisted Freyja with her puppy dog eyes.

Severus wasn't very interested in going out shopping again unless it was absolutely necessary, besides if he suffered with Hermione at the locals, he didn't want to imagine with Gwen and Freyja.

But it was hard for him to refuse Freyja's eyes.

"You're not getting out of this one Prince" Gwen whispered to him with a smile.

Severus sighed and nodded his head.

Making Freyja and Gwen celebrate their victory.

Severus didn't know he was going to regret complaining about Hermione when Freyja and Gwen were a thousand times worse than her when it came to locals.

After continuing to talk for a while longer, Severus went to his dorm where he found Ethan awake and Sasaki reading as usual.

He talked to Ethan for a while and then greeted them both and then went to bed to sleep.