Chapter 46

"If you can get the licenses I can get the property," Director Ragnok said. "But you have to get the license first. Without it, it won't matter if I buy the property or not, you won't be able to actually do anything with it."

"Then it looks like I have work to do," Harry stood up, preparing to leave. "Have your people begin investing in those companies. When I get the licenses, I'll send you a letter."

XoX

Harry Potter sighed in relief when he found himself standing outside of Gringotts. Talking business like that for however long he had been in there was tiring, incredibly so. While he knew quite a bit about economics and business thanks to his reading, he had not realized just how much effort truly went into creating a business and investing money.

It was a lot of work to be sure.

Lifting up his right arm, Harry looked down at his watch to see that it was half past noon. His meeting with Director Ragnok had started at half past nine, which meant he had been sitting in that room discussing business for three whole hours.

His rumbling stomach reminded Harry that he had yet to eat lunch.

Deciding to have something at the Leaky Cauldron instead of going back to the Durlsey's where it would take an extra fifteen minutes to make his own food, Harry began making his way into the streets of Diagon Alley.

As always, Diagon Alley was very crowded. As one of only three places where the magical community gathered to buy and sell their wears in Britain, it was always busy, with people constantly coming and going. Harry was very thankful that his natural grace and athleticism had been enhanced by his jaguar animagi form or he probably would have been knocked down several times already.

"Hey! Is that Harry?"

While walking through the throng of people, his ears managed to pick out the sound of his name being called by a very familiar voice above the loud noises that penetrated the afternoon crowd. Spinning around, Harry tried to find the source of the voice.

"It is! Hey, Harry!"

Make that two sources. Standing over by a set of chairs surrounding a table at Florean Fortescues were none other than Tracey Davis and Lisa Turpin along with who Harry recognized as Tracey's father and mother.

A tiny smile work itself onto his face. Gliding through the crowd, Harry quickly made it over to the table where he was practically jumped on by an over excited Tracey.

"Harry!"

Harry couldn't help but laugh as Tracey tried her best to squeeze his internal organs into paste via her hug. It had not been that long since he had last seen his friends, just a little over three weeks, but he could understand why she was like this. It felt like much longer.

He supposed that old saying about absence in the face of time making the heart grow fonder had something going for it after all.

"It's good to see you, Trace," Harry replied to her greeting after she finished trying to see how thin she could make him with her hug. As she took a step back, he got his first good look at her.

Not much had changed with Tracey since the last time he had seen her. She had grown maybe a centimeter or two at most and her hair was just a bit longer. She wasn't wearing it in a pony tail like she usually did, allowing it to fall down her back in gentle curls and frame her face.

She also looked less conflicted then when he had last seen her. He supposed that meant whatever troubling thoughts she had been thinking were resolved. Harry was curious, but felt it best not to dredge up possibly painful and troubling thoughts.

Tracey was also wearing muggle clothing, tight blue jeans and a green T-shirt. This was the first time he had seen her (or any other witch) in muggle clothing, which may have had something to do with them only seeing each other at Hogwarts and when they were getting fitted for their robes.

It would make sense to see her in muggle clothes though. Tracey was a half-blood. Her mother was a muggleborn witch, therefore it stood to reason she was a bit more impartial towards muggle clothing than wizards clothing.

"You look nice," Harry complimented. While his compliment earned him a slightly pink face from Tracey, that was secondary to the large grin she sported.

"I know," she was replied in a faux haughty voice that sounded like she was trying to mimic Perennelle but couldn't quite get it. It was kind of funny, if he were honest. Tracey then looked him up and down and raised an eyebrow. "Speaking of looking nice, what's up with the fancy getup?"

"Ah..." Harry wondered why he felt embarrassment at being called out on his clothing. Really, he had no reason to. Was it because everyone else was dressed so casually while he looked like a muggle barrister? "I just got finished meeting with Director Ragnok. We were talking business so..."

"You decided to wear a business suit," Tracey shook her head in amusement. "Geez, Harry. You look like a kid trying to play car salesman."

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