Chapter Two
Summer break was filled with social events. Most weddings took place in summer as well as balls, parties, dinners and galas. Word spread quickly that Harry was beginning his official Heir training by Andromeda and planning to attend events, as well as that Hermione, Ron and I were all learning along with him. As a result, all four of us got plenty of invitations to summer social events which Andromeda advised us to accept.
“Missing one or two events is acceptable, such as smaller events hosted by someone who you are not familiar with. However you can’t miss too many and certainly not any weddings that you are invited to. You’ll get a handful of invitations during the school year, but those you can turn down. For the most part, children between the ages of eleven and sixteen are allowed to socialise amongst themselves.”
“Once you reach your majority, you will most certainly be expected to socialise with everyone. As a Lord of a Noble and Most Ancient House, Harry will be allowed to turn down certain invitations without causing offense, but that will not apply to the rest of you unless you reach a certain level of power, such as becoming Head of a Ministry Department. This will be expected for the duration of your lordship.”
“It is common that once most lords or ladies reach a certain age, they will hand the lordship over to their heir. The lord or lady would still have the title of lord or lady, but the Heir would be the regent, be the Head of House and sit on the Wizengamot. The lord or lady would be retired and not expected to regularly attend social events outside of their family,” Andromeda instructed us.
“Must I be here for this? We already learned this as children,” Sirius complained.
Sirius had been recuperating in Black Castle under Andromeda’s stern instructions. We saw him regularly when we flooed over for Andromeda’s high society lessons. Dora had also been included in these lessons, although she used Auror duties to get out of them as much as possible.
“You avoided Great Uncle Arcturus’ lessons whenever possible and when you were forced to attend, you spent the entire time getting in fight with Bella,” Andromeda told Sirius. “Besides, you need the refresher Siri. You are going to be reentering high society in a matter of weeks and you need to act like a proper Lord. You can still infuriate your parents from beyond the grave with your political agenda, but you will be a proper and courteous member of society.”
The most prominent event of the summer was Grace Lovegood, Heir to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Lovegood and Luna’s older cousin, marrying Emeric Hufflepuff. Coming in as a close second was the Black Ball that Sirius was throwing at Andromeda’s insistence to celebrate him returning to the wizarding world and taking up the Black Lordship.
There was a tense atmosphere in the Burrow, mainly due to Percy’s stress over his NEWT scores. His job in the Department of International Magical Cooperation was dependent on getting good scores. Molly was also very worried about Fred and George’s OWL scores.
“THEY’RE HERE!” Percy shouted one morning, spotting several owls flying towards the Burrow. He ran out into the yard and relieved the owls of their burdens.
“Mother, the Prophet. Fred, George, here are your letters. Zo… oh yes, you did the Muggle Studies OWL, didn’t you? And here’s mine?
“Well?” Molly asked eagerly. Ginny leaned over my shoulder as I opened my envelope.
“Exceeds Expectations in Charms, Outstanding in Defense and Transfiguration,” Fred said.
“Exceeds Expectations in Herbology, Outstanding in Defense and Potions,” George said.
“I got an Outstanding with a score of 92,” I said, glancing at the singular score on my sheet of parchment. I opened my notebook and wrote to Hermione.
“Oh excellent, excellent. Percy?” Molly asked.
“What if I did badly?” Percy asked, nervously clutching his unopened envelope.
“You’ve done a ton of studying. I’m sure you did amazingly,” Ginny said encouraging.
“Besides, the scores are already written. They won’t change whether or not you open it,” Ron pointed out.
Percy hesitantly opened the envelope, scanned its contents and sighed in relief.
“Outstanding in Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Charms, Defense, Transfiguration and Potions, with an Exceeds Expectations in History of Magic,” Percy announced with a wide grin.
“Oh Percy, that’s wonderful,” Molly said, giving him a big hug. “All of you, well done.”
“I’ll go OWL the Department of International Magical Cooperation. They wanted to know as soon as I got my test results,” Percy said, rushing up the stairs.
“Hermione also got an O in Muggle Studies, but with a score of 99,” I announced.
“That’s great. Are you two going to continue Muggle Studies at the NEWT level?” Molly asked.
“Oh Merlin no. This was because the coursework was easy enough for two muggleborns. Neither of us are particularly interested in doing the NEWT classes, particularly because those have to be in person and you can’t just do the homework on your own time,” I explained.
Fred and George whispered to each other during breakfast, then caught my eye and subtly inclined their heads upwards, indicating they wanted to talk privately. I nodded then went back to my eggs.
“So what’s this about?” I asked once we made our way to the attic after breakfast.
“We’re planning on officially opening-”
“-Weasleys’ Wizarding Wheezes for-”
“-business via owl order this year-”
“-now that we have our OWLS and-”
“-we were wondering if you were-”
“-still interested in investing in us?”
“Absolutely. Tell me about your plans,” I said.
Fred and George launched into an explanation of the products that they had already created. They would use the investment money to buy two owls to start with and to begin creating their products on a larger scale. They said that they would at first market the products to Hogwarts students to begin with expand to the wider wixen population if the business was popular.
“And are you planning on having a Board of Directors? If so, how big and how much decision making power would each person get?” I asked.
“Oh, yeah, I guess-”
“-we should do that.”
“How big are they-”
“-supposed to be?”
“Five is perfectly acceptable for a small business, although it implies you are expecting your business to get bigger, which you are. If you are co-owners, you could be two out of five. If I’m going to be heavily investing in your business, I would want a seat. Harry would probably love to invest and most large businesses have a Heir or a Head of House on the Board of Directors. Then you would probably want an adult with experience to offset all of us. If everyone got 20% vote, then you two would get 40% combined, Harry and I would get you over 66 percent so that other one person wouldn’t have too much power. Also, don’t blindly take my advice, especially when it comes to business. Oh, and make sure to file the appropriate paperwork with the Ministry and get somebody to do your accounting because magical businesses have to pay taxes. At least they are incredibly straightforward compared to muggle taxes,” I recommended.
“Uhhhh-”
“-Okay.”
The twins looked incredibly confused.
“Get some more information about businesses, I have a book on the magical economy that I’ll lend you, but talk to people too. Percy would be a good place to start. He’s smart and will help you if he sees that you are taking this seriously. Come up with a business plan and an amount of money that you want from me. Then I’ll officially invest in your business, not just hand you a bag of money,” I instructed.
“Thanks Zo,” they said.