106 Year Five - Chapter Two

I found the carriage with my friends after a bit of a patrol, poking my head in to check on them with a big smile. "Children, have you been naughty or nice this summer?" I asked with a ho-ho-ho in the background.

"You'd be the most horrifying Santa ever, Shade," Wayne answered. "You look like the guy who'd give toothpaste and toothbrushes to kids eagerly awaiting chocolate," the Hufflepuff said, looking at me with a smile.

"Shade! I wanted to visit, but my mom told me the Hog's Head not really a nice place for proper witches to visit," Megan said earnestly, "Something about goats? Does it have a wild animal reserve?"

No comment, Megan. No comment.

"Hey Shade," Amanda said, looking strangely demure, if with a dangerous gleam in her eyes. "Can I have another guard dragon? Mine broke this summer."

I stared at her ever so briefly. "What did you do to my poor Draghul?"

Amanda fiddled with a lock of her blond hair, and looked away. "Played Quidditch with it."

"Quidditch?" I remarked.

"He made for a poor Beater. He tried to eat a Bludger, and the Bludger just broke out from inside him," she answered. That gave me pause, and made me rub my chin in thought.

"Ah, I guess the protective enchantments must be applied in the inside of the Gargoyle too then, thanks for telling me this," I inwardly grimaced. This would mean twice the work to get the insides as protected as the outside. I couldn't even alter the first batch of Gargoyles, since it would require me to transfigure them and they had been rendered resistant to it.

I'd need to start working on a new one.

"Who are the other prefects?" Wayne asked, and as I told him, he smiled. "Ernie's a bookworm. He'll be fine. Hannah's a bit of an airhead-"

"She's just really nervous," Megan answered.

"Well, I'm sure she's got a good head on her shoulder," I sighed. "I have to keep doing rounds. Just remember that if it's not a Ravenclaw prefect, they can't dock you points. Though they can send you in for punishment to a professor, they can't actually specify which one you head to." I winked. "Aim for Flitwick if that happens, but I'm sure there won't be any troubles. Now, I have first years yet to be sorted to convince to join the wonders of Ravenclaw House."

"Pick the nimble and lightweight ones," Amanda said, "We need good Quidditch replacements."

I sighed. "I'll get those best suited to have fun."

"H-Hey!" Amanda exclaimed, "At least lie to my face a bit!" she huffed.

I chuckled and shook my head, closing the compartment door behind me and moving along the corridor. I'd open the compartments, smile and wave, or merely nod at the students, and whenever I found a group of first years, I'd explain to them when they had to put on their robes, how their trunks would be taken care of, and that if anyone was unable to swim there was nothing to worry about, because the Giant Squid was a big softy and wouldn't harm a fly.

Though it had smashed a Hippogriff to paste, so they'd better be on their best behavior around Squiddie.

It was kind of fun to watch the awe in the kids' eyes as I mentioned what being a Prefect was, or how to get to classes in time. They kept asking question, being really polite with their 'Sir' thing. And by the time I had finished indoctrinating them on the glory of Ravenclaw, I would move on to speak good words about the other houses too. The rivalry between houses wasn't to be taken seriously; the house cup was just a cup with little meaning to it, the Quidditch sport was merely a fun way to spend time, but really dangerous, and as I kept speaking and moving along the compartments, I felt the cold fingers of death loom and rub against my spine.

"Mister Umbrus!" a cheerful red-haired teen said, with his equally identical twin by his side, trying to sound cheerful too. "My brother and I had a proposition to make you, if you'd hear us out."

I raised an eyebrow. They had practically ambushed me in the corridor, so I doubted I could move elsewhere. "Let us hear it, then."

"We were thinking, since we know you're a great guy that likes to help students and people," one of the two snaked an arm around my shoulder, "That you wouldn't be remiss in hearing about this great opportunity my brother and I, the great Gred and Forge, are going to present you."

The other nodded, "We have this great idea, you see, about putting up a Jokes' shop, but that would require...ah, some financial capital."

"Capital," the first one continued, "That someone who won the Triwizard Tournament would most certainly have."

I smiled at them. My Italian blood burned through my veins with the eagerness of a snake having found its prey, of a dragon swooping down for the kill, and as my smile made both of the Weasley's own dim ever so slightly, as if suddenly realizing the mistake in their thoughts, I swung both of my arms to pat both Weasley Twins in the back.

"Ah, if you wish to speak about a financial agreement in exchange for a percentage of your future earnings, you have come to the right place. Have I ever mentioned to you how fascinating the Muggle bureaucracy is when it comes to things like Stock Exchange, Shareholding and the ancient art of boardroom discussion?" I smiled. I showed all of my teeth.

It wasn't like stealing candy from a baby.

The baby would have at least tried to hold on to the candy and resist.

I was a good man, though, and a good man makes good contracts, ensure proper forms are kept, and gets the help of a lawyer to make a nice comfy ironclad set of clauses that are, for the most part, seemingly useless until a certain situation happens and you suddenly end up having to defend your right to a part of the earnings.

Hence, I magnanimously bought shares of their company, totaling for a grand thirty percent of it, and left them with the seventy percent to divide among themselves, because I couldn't be bothered with making deals and whatnot for their start-up, as we'd call them nowadays.

What the poor fools didn't know, or didn't realize, was that I wasn't banking on taking more from them.

Eventually, they'd marry off and have kids, and considering they were older than me, they might die sooner. If they had more than one kid, then the shares would be split among them. My son, or daughter, would need to be smart enough to buy from the minor shareholders and in the end acquire complete control of the company. Then, it would be up to him, or her, to ensure their own financial stability.

Or they'd just be stupid morons and sell it all to the Weasley, but that wouldn't be possible, because I'd whoop the stupid out of their heads the moment they began talking about that sort of thing.

Still, my venture in Capitalism aside, the arrival at Hogwarts had me direct the First years in the direction of the boats, where Hagrid would take them onward while I ended up on a carriage, brought forth to the eternal glory of my Fifth year at Hogwarts. My fifth, absolutely tranquil, year.

The appearance of the Pink Menace at the professors' table made my blood run cold. It wasn't that I recognized her by face, but by clothing. She had curly mouse-brown hair, and looked small. If it wasn't for the pink cardigan, I would have never recognized her with a literal toad-like face.

Though the one thing that annoyed me the greatest was the hat's song.

The bloody leathery hypocrite...

...why the hell are you spouting my words as if they came from your leathery-brain wisdom!?