23 Getting an Investor

Chapter 23 –

In the largest bedroom of number five Privet Drive, atop a soft linen-lined bed lay a boy of eight. He had messy black hair, and his forehead had a peculiar lightning bolt-shaped scar. The boy yawned as his sleep was disturbed by the noise made by the bell at the front door. It had become a habit for him to be the first to open doors, in his previous home. His godfather, Padfoot as he liked to be called, had made it clear that he wouldn't have to work and do any chores to stay in this home. Though, Harry still had some doubts and was waiting for the other shoe to drop, as had become the custom for him, while he lived with the Dursleys.

He remembered that today, his Godfather and his uncle Moony were going to bring over a friend, who was like him, Magical. He was excited to finally have a friend of his own. When he had found the reason why his Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia called him a freak, he had been astonished. He was a wizard. It all made sense. At first, he didn't want to be a freak, but when Padfoot showed him that being a wizard could let him eventually become an animal, like a dog, or a bird, or as he hoped to be, a Lion, he had decided, that if he was a freak, he would be the best damn freak he could. And he had asked Padfoot for a wand just like his own, and he had agreed. He was going to finally be learning magic.

Rubbing his eyes and putting his glasses on, Harry jumped off his bed and headed out of his room to quickly freshen up, so that he could go and meet his new friend. It took him a few minutes to get himself ready, as he made his way into the living room of the house. He could hear Padfoot and Moony talking to their guests.

"Harry should be down here, any minute." He heard as he made his way into the living room.

"Hi!" He said as he stepped inside.

"There he is, good morning Harry!" Sirius said as he smiled while making his way toward him. "Come, meet Nathan Frye, and his mum, Jolene. Nathan's going to his second year in Hogwarts!"

Harry looked at the older boy, who was holding a large package in his hand. Noticing his gaze, the boy smiled as he offered the package to him saying "Hi there! Sirius said that you like to learn magic, and while I can't teach you any spells right now, I figured I could give you something about runes and potions. This is for you."

Harry was astonished and it must have shone on his face. This was his first present, he had never gotten gifts of his own before. Noticing his shocked astonishment, Sirius gently guided Harry to Nathan. Harry gently grasped the package in his hand and procured the book inside. The title said "An Introduction to basic runes, potions, and general non-wand-based magic."

"If that smile is anything to go by, I think he likes it," Moony commented, smiling himself.

"We're glad, it will help him start off on runes and potions." The old woman, Jolene said as she smiled down at him.

"Thank You, I've never been given gifts before," Harry said, looking at Nathan. He noticed a flicker of sadness pass through his eyes before the boy said "Well, how about after we're done here, why don't we take you all back to my home, and I can introduce you to some of my buddies, and we can play football after, yeah?"

Harry excitedly nodded, as the prospect of playing football and making new friends was very enticing to him. "Yes, please. Can we go now? Padfoot, can I? Please?" He said turning to look at his godfather.

Nathan chuckled as Padfoot replied "Now, now, Harry, they've just arrived, and let me hear what this young man has to say, and we can go with them after he's done. You have a portkey home, I presume?"

Nathan nodded before saying "You will have to shrink our car for us though."

Sirius nodded smiling slightly, it would be a wonderful way to introduce Harry to potentially new friends. He looked at Remus, who was watching the interaction with a smile on his face, and said "Could you help Mrs. Shephard here, with their car?"

Remus nodded, and he and Jolene left the home. Sirius looked back to Harry and said "Kiddo, why don't you go upstairs and get started on that book, while I finish my talk with Nathan here?"

Harry excitedly nodded, as he bounded his way up to his room.

oOOOOOOOOOOOo

Nathan watched as Harry made his way to his room, and he was left alone in the living room of the home with Sirius Black.

"I can't thank you enough, Nathan, Harry really needed that. I was thinking of buying him a trainee wand, in fact, Ted has already made arrangements of sending one to me already. And him getting out of the house and meeting children and making friends will be good for." Sirius said as he sat down on the couch in front of Nathan.

"It was my pleasure, Sirius. He is a sweet kid. I will look out for him when he comes to Hogwarts." Nathan said. "Now, about the reason I came here, as you know, we muggle-borns need a pureblood proprietor to start any business in the magical community and I was hoping you could help me out, I have so many ideas, that I am sure the magical community can benefit from."

Sirius immediately said "Show me something you want in the market, and I will fund the project. For now, tell me about what you have planned."

Nathan was astonished at the immediate acceptance of his request and smiled. "Well, I want to combine the enchantments of floo networks, and two-way mirrors and make a face calling device, like a muggle phone. As owls and inbuilt floo systems are the only way of talking to people around the country and the world, I want to bring in a third, more convenient method of communication. I also want to start my own newspaper firm, to rival The Daily Prophet, by hiring muggle-borns and half-bloods, who are currently unemployed. And I want to start a security firm, eventually and buy some land to house muggle-borns and half-bloods that are currently being forced to take up residence around Horizont-alley, carkitt-market, and Knockturn-alley,"

Sirius sat astonished for a few seconds before he smiled and said "Well, you're ambitious. Okay, I can fund a lot of these projects, provided that you show me a prototype of your ideas. About the homes and land, I can act as a liaison, buy up the land for you entirely, and sell it to you at the exact same market price, bypassing the pureblood transactional law. What you do with it afterward is up to you."

That was the perfect opportunity for Nathan, to slowly set up an entire community of disenfranchised muggle-borns and half-bloods, and provide them with homes, employment, and eventually, security. He intended to introduce similar locales for Werewolves, Dwarves, etc. With Sirius' help, he could start setting up an entire power base, that comprised mainly of the economically outcast. In the magical community, Muggle-borns, half-bloods, and other humanoid beings formed more than eighty percent of the demographic, with muggle-borns having the largest demographic with more than forty percent. It was this segment of the magical society, that formed the lower class. The same was the case around the world. Purebloods in the magical community ruled with an iron fist, and Nathan intended to change that, by elevating the Lower class and empowering them. This was his first step.

"Thank you, Sirius. This means a lot to me." Nathan said earnestly.

"Don't mention it. You'd be surprised, Harry's mum, Lily had similar ideas. She was a visionary, and if you can do what she intended to do, I will back you all the way. It's time someone did something for the muggle-born community as a whole." Sirius said as he gazed into Nathan's eyes. "You get me those prototypes for your products, and I will handle the rest. Now, if that's all, then I believe we should head on over to your home, I will go get Harry."

Nathan nodded, elated that he had finally gotten someone to invest in him, and kickstart him on his way to changing the magical world.

oOOOOOOOOOOOOOo

"It's Nathan with the ball, and he's making his way down the pitch! But can his team stand up to the infamous Stella's-impenetrable Wall?!"

Harry had to roll his eyes at Sirius' commentary. He didn't even know who Stella was before meeting her at the park, and now just because Nathan had regaled his earlier tale of Stella's success at the sport, he was making her out to be some sort of football star.

"Nathan bobs left! He weaves right!" Sirius cheered, imitating a sports commentator as he kicked the ball around. "This man is on fire, ladies and gentlemen! There's no one who can touch him!"

He's heading my way, Harry noticed panicking slightly. He's going to go for goal!

"Nathan sees that his trusty partner Harry Potter is wide open! He makes the pass!"

Harry did a double-take as he snapped back to reality. Sure enough, instead of shooting towards the goal, Nathan tapped the ball in his direction. The gesture caught him completely off-guard, and he ended up punting the ball at an odd angle. The ball rolled off to the side.

"Out of bounds!" Sirius called out.

"I'll take the corner," said Nathan. He then gave Harry a nod and leaned in close. "Okay, when I kick the ball to you, be ready. We can do this."

"Um, are you sure about that, Nate?" asked Harry. "I mean, you're better at this than I am."

Nathan smiled. "Yeah, Don't worry about it. You've got this." He said giving him a pat on the shoulder.

Harry swallowed as he watched Nathan head off towards the ball. He turned to the girl, Stella, who stood in front of the goal, ready for anything. She gave Lincoln a snide smirk, as though beckoning him to hold nothing back. Harry sighed. In his mind, that wouldn't make any difference.

"Heads up, Harry!"

Nathan punted the ball over to him, almost catching him off-guard again. With only a split second to react, Harry kicked the ball with all his might. Much to his surprise, the ball didn't drop limply to the ground but instead darted towards Stella. Even she seemed startled, as the ball whizzed right past her side and slammed into the back of the net.

"GOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL~!" Sirius cheered, as his voice rang out into the park.

Harry couldn't contain his excitement as he ran towards Nathan and started celebrating with him, laughing and smiling along the way.

On the sidelines, Sirius, Remus, and Jolene watched as they played the sport.

"It's the first I've seen him so carefree, this was a great idea." Remus commented.

"Yeah, I wanted to introduce him to Quidditch, but 'someone' here thought that it was a little too early," Sirius said looking pointedly at Remus.

"Hey, you know I am right. He is still getting used to the whole magic thing, and he's still very young. And I had no problem with a training broom, you wanted to give him a Nimbus on his first try." Remus responded.

Jolene chuckled as she watched the boys play with the children at the park, she said "Why don't you bring him over every weekend? I am sure you both can enchant a safe area near the Abode, where Nathan can play some quidditch with Harry. In fact, one of his friends, Jeremy is going to join him this weekend. It would be a perfect opportunity to introduce Quidditch to all of them. I am sure, Nathan has never played Quidditch yet."

Sirius' eyes widened as he shouted dramatically "Never played Quidditch?! The horror! Every respectable witch or wizard should have tried the sport once! That's it, Moony! We're preparing a small field behind her home, for the kids to play!"

Remus nodded beside him. He believed that James would want Harry to be playing Quidditch, and if they could prepare a safe place for Harry to learn, he was all for it.

"It's done, then. After the kids are done with their match, we can let Harry sleep over at the abode, and you two gentlemen can prepare a quidditch pitch near the abode." Jolene said as she walked away to the bleachers.

"Why do I get the feeling that we got conned into setting up a free Quidditch Pitch by her?" Sirius commented.

"Because that, is exactly what happened Padfoot," Remus replied.

************

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