Chapter - 40 : Lines in the Sand part - 5

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"Em...sir, my name's Michael - not Harry."

This saw the volume of laughter increase, as did the minister's confusion. "Well, if you're not Harry, who is?"

Harry stood to face this fool in the green bowler hat. "My name is Harry, though probably not the Harry you're looking for. You see, I have no need of a new family and am certainly not your boy."

Lucius was always amazed that, no matter how stupid he thought Fudge was, the man still retained the ability to prove he was even stupider than Lucius believed. Appearances though had to be maintained. "Do not speak to the Minister of Magic in that tone boy, show some respect for your betters."

"My 'betters' would know it is extremely ill-mannered to address someone without introducing yourself first, something I noticed you didn't bother with either. I would also like to point out that divination isn't an optional subject until third year, how was I supposed to know this was the Minister of Magic? If that ridiculous green hat is some sort of badge of office then you really need to rethink that image. A sword is way cooler. I am Harry Crow, son of Barchoke, Gringotts Senior Accounts Manager."

Hermione was of course sitting in her usual seat, right beside Harry. In the defence classroom, this placed her between Harry and the door. Hermione was left sitting just in front of where Harry was now standing and the young witch was already twirling her hair due to her mounting anxiety. Her best friend had basically just told-off the magical equivalent of the country's Prime Minister. Both wizards who'd entered with the headmaster appeared flabbergasted, though the lady's eyes were practically twinkling with amusement.

"Mr Crow, my name is Amelia Bones and I'm head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement."

Harry bowed to the woman and answered her respectfully. "Well met Madam Bones, I sincerely hope you'r not here to arrest me?"

Amelia actually broke into a smile at this. "Not at the moment Mr Crow. This is Minister Fudge and the other wizard is Lucius Malfoy..."

There was an instant change in Harry at this news, he immediately addressed Draco's father. "My apologies sir. At my goblin school, we were taught classes on Lucius Malfoy. Again though, only your deeds were examined in great detail which is why I didn't recognise you."

Hermione thought she had seen all of Harry's faces but here was one the young witch didn't recognise. Harry was practically fawning over Lucius Malfoy, something that went against everything she knew about her best friend. The only explanation that made any sense to Hermione was if Harry was up to something. As the senior Malfoy was lapping up Harry's praise like Pooh Bear slurps honey, she didn't think it would take too long to discover if there was a sting in the tail.

"You attended classes about me?"

"Certainly sir, you are required reading for nine year old goblins in their economics classes."

Dumbledore didn't know Harry near as well as Hermione did but even he suspected the lad was up to something. Decades of dealing with students playing pranks had given the headmaster almost a sixth sense about these things. Albus decided he wanted to know more and, at this particular time, anything that diverted attention away from him was a good thing in his book. "What did these lessons consist of Mr Crow?"

"Oh it's a well-known fact that the Malfoy family donates generously to lots of charities and good causes. It's also well-known that those donations generally go to organisations where either Mr Malfoy or his wife are in some way connected with the charity or cause, which is why they are on so many committees and boards."

This was not something Lucius tended to broadcast but wasn't too bothered about those facts being revealed here. The boy was certainly correct, those in the know recognised the benefits of having a Malfoy on their decision making panel.

Harry though wasn't finished. In fact, he was just getting started. "This is where the real genius of this economic scheme begins. You see, either Mr Malfoy or his wife then insist their charitable donation is handled by a specific consultancy firm, Scorpius Enterprises. A responsible thing to do you might say, until you discover just who owns and runs Scorpius Enterprises - Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy."

Lucius' voice had dropped to a dangerous whisper now. "How did you know that boy?"

Harry though was unperturbed. Hermione now recognised this face, it was a face that told Hermione her best friend considered Lucius Malfoy an enemy. It was also a face she hoped was never directed at her.

"Now scooping a good portion of that charitable donation back into your own vault could be forgiven, if that was all the Malfoys were up to. Fraudulently refilling their vaults is not even the tip of the iceberg. They also 'recommend' the people to carry-out whatever work gets done or to provide materials needed with what's left of their donation. That these recommendations just happen to be the Malfoys' 'friends' would suggest to me there are switch-backs involved too. A switch-back is when money is paid illegally to win a contract to do work. This usually sees a contract awarded to a firm who are never the most economical option, and rarely the best at what they do."

Lucius Malfoy was now clearly livid but it was Amelia who asked Harry the question he was expecting. "Mr Crow, isn't that privileged information the goblins are handing out?"

Harry was quick to answer. "Oh no Madam Bones, all this information is already available inside the ministry. It just involves different departments, and there is a real lack of communication between them. I really have no idea whether Mr Malfoy uses his influence to ensure that lack of communication continues but that is neither here nor there. You see, we were all laughing at how easily Mr Malfoy could publicly make a large donation to charity, and then privately ensure a large proportion of it ended back in his own vault when our tutor pointed out what was really going on..."

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(P).(A).(T).(R).(E).(O).(N)

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