Chapter 3
Haryana never thought of herself as a business woman but then again she never really had a chance to think of herself as anything other than the light side’s golden girl.
“You do realise we could bump profits here by at least twelve per cent if you stopped pussy footing around and sold fae wine with your ‘enchanted’ dinner night. A couple of magic swirls they could do themselves isn’t going to cut it.” She argues with the managers of Illusion, her first group meeting. “And yes, I know they charge extortionate prices for that wine but that’s because the wizarding world is full of racists and it’s the only way they can feed their families.”
“How are we going to get the bottles then?” Kouta, the manager of Illusion Japan demands.
“Easy, you’re going to make them aware of my offer of stable living. The Hare twins and the packs of werewolves that followed pathed the way to legitimising the whole venture, and with vampires and veela joining in it’ll only be more attractive.” She says as she waves her hand at a different chart. “We’ve missed the chance at their winter wines and I’d advise not even asking for the spring and summer wines so they don’t feel like this is a trap but if we keep them safe and happy I’m positive we’ll be able to start trade at a much more reasonable rate by autumn. Imagine, Illusion! The only place to drink a real fae wine!”
“It has promise.” Nilda, The manager of Illusion Mexico murmurs.
“Exactly, now on to our next point. Letting the veela use the pool at a discount. You all know it will drive up profits.”
“These gems are beautiful.” She says as she looks over the glowing crystals set into an array of earrings.
“They are.” Menelaos, the manager of Sphere Greece purrs. “Very hard to mine too, it drives up their price. We’ve only been able to get small chippings like these.”
“For wizards maybe.” She says as she closes the case and surveys the managers in front of her. “But dwarves are inherently good miners. Imagine how much someone will pay for a chunk of this? Something they could only get from Sphere. The prestige.”
“And you know some dwarves willing to mine for us?” Hildegard, the manager of Sphere Germany asks curiously.
“Miners? No. But I do know someone who’ll put in a good word for me. If you’re willing to pay them right, of course.”
“I know you’re an English company but why the hell is there only one of you?” She asks Bryana, the manager of Portal.
“Well, we have several floos connected to our various destinations.”
“Uh-huh.”
“And we give out well-thought-out information packets.”
“I can see that.” She mutters as she stares at the boring book she gave her talking about none of the things she’d ever want to know about the Niagara Falls.
“Our guests also sign wavers that mean we aren’t liable once they leave the premises.”
“Alright, I’ve heard enough. Wrions, we’ll start with at least one Portal in popular magical cities, in countries with an Illusion. Once they’ve settled we’ll start expanding.”
“Now hold on a minute.” Bryana splutters.
“And can we make sure to hire people who actually care about their local culture? I guarantee we’ll get more business if our guests think they’re getting local secrets.”
“Wait, so you’re all vampires?”
“From the same coven, yes,” Milton says.
“Oh, cool. So anyway, there’s only so much I can do to hype up the ingredient subscription boxes in Hogwarts, plus we should also expand the project to Beauxbatons, Castelobruxo, and Ilvermorny as they are also your local schools. We need to peddle this to the people carrying the wallets as well. There’s only so much a kid wanting the best ingredients can do if mommy and daddy say no.”
“You were punished because your first potion was so good the teacher thought you were cheating, yes?” Ala ad-Din, the manager of Genuis in a Bottle Egypt asks with a grin.
“More than the teacher was the cause of my mother’s death and I look more like my father who was his childhood bully, but essentially yes.”
“Worrying teaching habits aside we could use that, parents do love excuses to brag.” Carolina, the manager of Genius in a Bottle Switzerland laughs.
“I trust you guys to run with it. You might be the managers I trust most at the moment, aside from the Hare twins.”
“Of course, I’ll fund an expansion!” She says as she reads through Pearle’s expansion plans. “I have a lot of furniture that needs to be restored after all. And paintings, do you know someone who specialises in magical painting restoration?”
“I’ve bumped into a studio or two that could be promising. I’ll have them send you their references.” Pearle says as the quill floating next to her takes note.
“Please do, I’m in the market for talent.”
“Oh? You’re willing to buy? Well then, I have a few artists that are struggling to pay rent on their studios that would be delighted to help.”
She rolls her eyes but smiles at Pearle. “Note those down too.”
“Dena! Dewitt! How’s business going?” She asks right before they start scenting her.
“Oh, lovely cub.” Dena rumbles happily.
“We hadn’t realised how much we miss it until it was taken away,” Dewitt answers with a smile.
“I’m glad, now let’s talk numbers. These meals you’ve been making me have gotten several of my schoolmates and their families jealous. How would you feel about getting a second kitchen for home-plate meals? Sort of like the magical version of a takeaway?”
“We’d have to hire more chiefs.”
“Done.”
“Parseltongue, really?” She sighs as she watches Torva grin at her.
“Well, why not? It’s your first spoken language.” She stares and he grins more. “And it was amusing. Oh! For your Christmas presents, I’m sure the budding Parseltongue speakers will like them.” He waves his hand over the table and eight Parseltongue to English books appear, as well as one Parseltongue to Italian book. “And this one is for you.” He hands her one he pulled out of a pocket way too small to fit it.
“Parseltongue to… Purrseltongue?” She asks as she reads the title.
“Yes, ah, it brings me back. Did you know that there was a Dark Lady who could speak it? She used to summon a mouse inside mortals’ stomachs and then tell her cats to dig out their meal.”
“Really?” Haryana asks, her interest peaked.
“Really, I have a delightful collection of her personal books. She was studying elemental magics, quite illegal in most countries.”
“You can’t just bribe me into forgetting that you’re the only one running four stores in four different countries with illegal magic.” He raises an eyebrow at how she’s clearly already starting to read through the dictionary. “Oh, shut up.”
His laughter booms around the room.
“This new line looks really good. When should it be ready to launch?” She asks as she looks over the little potion vials and the notes below them. The Night Raven line, really trying to get her approval here.
“We were thinking of launching during the spring.” Bora, the manager of Portable Potents South Korea tells her.
“Hmm, and what about the other treatments?”
“Well, the golden light line is well on its way to being back in stock for the summer.” Najoua, the manager of Portable Potents Saudi Arabia tells her. A woman who looked so alike Haryana in skin tone and facial structure that it had been startling.
“And the snowdrop line is doing as well as expected, at this rate, we won’t have any spare nor will we need to quickly make batches.” Zeb, the manager of Portable Potents England adds.
“Perfect.”
“Are you telling me that there are just masses of Acromantula silk sitting in the forbidden forest?!” Salvatore gasps.
“So much.” She promises, watching all of their eyes light up. “I’m having Hogwarts audited during the summer, I’m sure it won’t be too much trouble to have the nest moved to one of my nature reserves. It would be highly irresponsible to keep a hive that large near children after all.”
“And think of the poor trees.” Carmina, the manager of The Little Cape Italy purrs. “They must be simply suffocating under that much webbing, us clearing it up can only be a help.”
“My thoughts exactly. Now, you said you had sketches of the new clothing designs?”
“Pure diamond?” She asks as she examines the beautifully crafted fountain pen in her hand.
“Almost, to make the runes work while still keeping it completely clear we’ve had to fill the etchings with demiguise fur. Feel the slight softness near the tip.” Crew, the manager of Elder Scroll England explains. It was indeed softer.
“And this works?” She asks again.
Lermontov, the manager of Elder Scroll Russia grins. “It’s our clearest fountain pen yet.”
“It’s okay,” Haryana says as she smiles at the young woman in front of her.
“Sorry, my mom is the manager but she’s fallen ill,” Aleah says, clearly panicking.
“We can reschedule…”
“No! No, now’s good. Umm, I have all her paperwork here.” The woman trips a little as she tries to put the stack of parchment down. One of them slips off and lands in front of her. “Oh, Merlin! I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay, really.” She promises as she reads the parchment over. “The daily tea subscription?”
“Shit! I wasn’t meant to bring that, it’s just a little something I was thinking about trying. I know it’s silly. Please just…”
“How much would you charge per month.”
“I… uh, what?”
“Miss Mistle, I have been drinking the same green tea from you since September.” She stresses. “It’s good tea, don’t get me wrong but a variety would be more than welcome.”
“Oh… Uh, 50g?”
“Higher.”
“What?”
“If you stick to this then you’re going to make three-hundred and sixty-five types of tea. Three-hundred and sixty-six on leap years. Up the price.”
“Oh! Umm, 60g?”
“More.”
“100g?”
“Keep going.”
“250g?!”
“Miss Mistle, how much does one bag of tea cost in your store?” She asks making her shrink a little. “An average cost.”
“… 75g.”
“Exactly, you need to remember that you aren’t advertising to school children. Despite my size. You may think that 250g a month is pushing it but the people who use The Yawning Blossom won’t even look at it for that little.” She explains. “So what we’re going to do is charge 2,300g a month for it. 525g a week since most months average four weeks plus an extra 200g for more expensive ingredients.”
“Are you sure people will pay that much?”
“I’ll pay that much and I know for a fact that Solstice will pay more and happily advertise.”
“Really?”
“Really, now let’s get through the rest of this. I’m sure your mother told you what she wanted me to know.”
“She did, umm, Here!” She slides a graph over.
“Speaking of, please tell her that all of her healing bills will be taken care of. I want to meet her next time.” Miss Mistle bursts into tears and Haryana ends up hugging her.
“How would you feel about having sister stores?” She asks Reannon, the manager of Spellunking.
“It would be good to expand, we’ve never really had the time to think about it.”
“Well, now you do.” She laughs. “Shall we start in the major magical districts near the other ten major magical schools to see how it goes? Maybe pick three as a trial and if it works expand to the rest?”
“That sounds like a good plan. My daughter has always wanted to go to Japan while my son has been hoping to propose to his boyfriend at the top of the Eiffel Tower.”
“How sweet!”
Haryana is totally a business person she thinks as her Gringotts mailbox lights up like a Christmas tree. It had gained several new gems so her various businesses could keep in touch easier.
“Pup?” Sirius asks cautiously as he sits at their lunch table. “I, uh, I’ve not seen you in the mornings. Have you been eating breakfast? I know you might just be sleeping in but it's… important?”
It’s a little startling to see him there since she hadn’t noticed him but it’s really sweet of him to care. “I've been eating breakfast in the meeting room, I’ve had do to a lot of business but I think I’m on top of it for the moment?” She looks over to Wrions for confirmation.
“For the moment.” Wrions agrees with a grin. “Christmas seems like an important holiday so I avoided booking any meetings on it.
“Wait, it’s Christmas?! Oh, Sirius, I’m so sorry. Hold on a sec, I have your presents in my room. Let me just…” She darts into her room and tries to steady her heart to avoid tipping into a panic attack, she’s unsuccessful when she sees that none of the presents are wrapped. She can’t believe she’s ruining her first Christmas with Sirius!
Breathe, Haryana, you just need to breathe. It’s okay, she can fix this. She just… she just needs to wrap the presents. It’s easy, she’s seen Petunia do it every year. She just… has no wrapping paper.
No, no, no, nononoononono!
“…..ana?!” How could she fail this badly? “….. Pup!....” And she forgot as well! This was his first Christmas out of Azkaban! “Haryana!” She blinks when warm hands cup her cheeks. “There you are pup. Thought I lost you for a minute.” Sirius says as he moves the hair from her face. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“… I didn’t wrap your presents… I didn’t wrap anyone’s presents. I don’t know how.” She mumbles.
“That’s okay.” He says after he swallows, it’s clearly not okay. “How about I close my eyes while you hide my presents then I’ll teach you to wrap presents on your friend’s gifts?”
“Really?” She asks, not annoyed at all that she sounded like a hopeful child.
“Yeah pup, really.”
“Okay, just… just close your eyes.” He grins a little as he closes his eyes so she uncurls from the floor and shoves his presents under her blanket. “Done!”
“You’re sure?” Sirius asks playfully making her smile. She missed him so much.
“Yeah, yeah I’m sure.”
His eyes pop open and he grins at her. "Alright pup, let’s see them." She walks over with a big stack of books as his eyes widen. "Ravenclaw, right. Forgot about it. But it's good in a way because books are easy to wrap." He picks up the first book and snorts while she grabs the other things. "Ah, joke books. That's more like it."
"Joke books?" She asks in confusion.
"Haryana, pup, there's nothing on these covers but squiggles."
"Well, that's what Hermione says Parseltongue looks like. I can't tell the difference at all."
"Parseltongue." He says faintly.
"Yeah, you know, the snake language. These are Parseltongue to English books, this one's to Italian, because I've been teaching my friends. Surprisingly Ron is the best at speaking even though he's been learning the least time out of everyone. Blaise is best at writing though."
"I... you can teach Parseltongue?!" Sirius asks, both worried and intrigued.
"Of course, you can, it's a language." She huffs. “Now help.” She places the rest of the gifts down next to him. A crystal chess set for Ron, a year’s subscription to Yawning Blossom coffee for Blaise, one of her poison nurseries for Neville, free one-week pass at Portable Potents for Hermione and her parents, a beautifully made marble vanity for Daphne from Faerie Fire, a year’s subscription plus seventy-five per-cent of ingredients for Draco, one pre-paid shopping spree at the Little Cape for Pansy, one full set of Spellunking’s Hogwarts range for Hanna, and a two-week holiday at any Illusion for Susan and her aunt. Plus fountain pens and auto-filling black in pots for everyone.
Sirius barely blinks at any of it but then again the Black family was stupidly rich as well. “Alright, so here’s how you do it like a pro…”
Sirius pouts as she perfectly wraps the last gift, the one he’d first wrapped so horribly it had fallen apart the moment he’d let it go. “It was a good example.” She insists making him snort.
“At what not to do maybe, no need to sugarcoat it for me pup.”
“… you’re still my favourite godfather.” She tells him with an earnest smile making him fall back and cover his face with his arm.
“I’m your only godfather.” He whines.
“And my favourite, now out. I need to wrap yours now. And Mr Lupin’s, when was he supposed to be here again?” She asks, trying to kill any recognition in her voice since she hasn’t met him yet.
“Right about, Tempest, shit! Half an hour ago!” He scrambles up and kisses her forehead before scrambling out of the room. “Moony! I’m so sorry, I was helping Haryana wrap her gifts!”
“Were you?” Remus asks and Haryana is so glad to have the door blocking her view, he sounds so young. “Do I need to go in there and save her from your horrid wrapping?”
“Betrayal!” Sirius cries followed by a large thump and laughter.
She swallows again before moving over to her bed and getting the rest of the gifts. When she’s done she tentatively knocks on the door, blinking up at Sirius as he opens the door. “I’m done. Can I come back in?”
“Of course, pup. You never have to ask if you’re allowed in a room.” He promises to make her nod a little.
“Okay… can you help?”
“Course, let’s get these presents sent off.” She writes a little note apologising for sending them late before handing them off to Wrions who promises to get them to their intended targets within ten minutes, for a fee. “Now, let’s open presents!” Remus clears his throat. “… After introductions, Haryana, this is Remus Lupin. Moony, meet Haryana.”
“It’s wonderful to meet you Haryana,” Remus says thickly as he holds his hand out for a handshake. She passes it completely and darts in for a hug.
“I remember you.” She whispers and he hugs her back fiercely.
“Presents?” Sirius asks like an excited puppy when she finally lets Remus go making Remus roll his eyes.
“Yes, fine.” Sirius cheers and drags them over to the massive tree covered in twinkling lights.
“Okay, the first present is too…”
Haryana gets buried under gifts but it fills her with the same amount of joy as her first Christmas, no, more than that because Sirius had taken to wearing a lopsided Santa hat and Remus had had a hot chocolate moustache for about an hour but neither she nor Sirius had told him. He was clearly suspicious though since they kept giggling when they looked at him.
Haryana wears her Weasley sweater with pride along with the sapphire-incrusted headband from Pansy.
Most of her presents from Hermione had been muggle fiction books that she just had to read, Hannah had done the same for magical fiction books.
Neville had somehow gotten a clipping of the whomping willow which was happily whacking Sirius’ arm whenever he got close.
Daphne had apparently been swept up in Blaise’s murderous tendencies and gotten her a set of daggers disguised as potion knives with little frost runes curling along the blade, Sirius had looked a little horrified when she strapped the holsters on with glee.
Draco had gotten her a diamond cauldron so she could see all of the magical and chemical changes as they happened when she was allowed to do potions again. As well as a little note to maybe not use it in front of Snape so he didn’t die from an anger-induced heart attack.
Blaise had sent her a note from his mother promising to take care of any lingering muggle business she had which made Remus look a little ill and whisper urgently to Sirius. He’d also gotten her a bunch of size-adjusting baby clothes with cute slogans like ‘My mama’s a bird of prey’ and ‘I’m smarter than you and I can’t read’.
Ron himself had made a beautiful leather lead and collar for Floof which she instantly put on him.
And Susan had sent her a letter.
Dear Haryana,
Merry Yule. I just wanted to let you know that I’ve gotten my aunt to lock your godfather’s trial date for the middle of the spring holiday so you can go and watch the ministry scramble in embarrassment in person.
Best wishes,
Susan
She also gets a formal invitation to the Malfoy Yule ball.
Dear Haryana of the Noble House of Potter,
I am writing to inform you that you are cordially invited to the yearly Malfoy Yule ball. We understand that it is short notice since we had endeavoured to take the year off, but we would never fail to celebrate the return of one of our dear friends back to magical Britain.
Please send a quick reply with your acceptance.
Lucius Malfoy, Lord of the Ancient and Noble House of Malfoy.
"I... why do you have an invite to a Malfoy ball?!" Sirius splutters as he snatches the invitation and Lucius' owl glares.
"Because we're cousins, by marriage." She says simply as she writes her reply.
Dear Lucius of the Ancient and Noble House of Malfoy,
Thank you for the invitation. It is short notice, yes, but I had not thought I would get an invitation at all due to my assumed learning. I would like to formally accept this invitation.
I look forward to spending this time together cousin.
Haryana,
She pauses for a moment before finishing the letter off, she's putting a lot of trust in him but if this guest is who she thinks it is then his blabbing won't matter.
Lady of the Noble House of Potter.
"What?! No, you're not going to this thing!" Sirius protests as he waves the invitation around.
"I am." She says as she rolls up her reply and gives it over to the owl before Sirius can snatch that too. "Because Draco is my friend, so is Pansy who I know for a fact will be there. Oh, calm down." She huffs at the look on Sirius' face. "Don't tell me you've never been to one."
"Of course I have! They are just a bunch of pompous excuses for Malfoy to rub their wealth in everyone's faces." Sirius snaps.
"Which means I'll be perfectly safe." She counters reasonably.
"They were also a place where He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named held court," Remus adds, placing a calming hand on Sirius' shoulder. "There will be a lot of his followers there."
"Do you really think that they'll murder me?" She asks curiously. "My every step outside of Hogwarts and Gringotts is stalked by Rita and the Daily Prophet. If I go missing at a Malfoy ball they will be raked over the coals by the public. I'm perfectly safe."
"You could be hurt." Sirius tries but Wrions laughs.
"Haryana can more than take care of herself, the Malfoy's have quite the large vault with us as well. You have my permission as your guardian to go." Completely ignoring that she'd already sent her reply off. "Now I have received several requests to open the floo so you can receive the rest of your Yule gifts."
"The rest?" She asks in confusion, she'd opened all of the gifts from her friends.
"Yes, several werewolf packs, vampire covens, and Veela nests who have taken you up on your offer to house and protect them have asked to show their appreciation. It would be highly rude to deny them." Wrions says as soon as she sees her face. "Queen Titania has also expressed the desire to offer a gift even though you've only just arranged aid."
"I... I don't really have a choice, do I?" She sighs.
"May I remind you that you were the one who publicly offered housing and gallons. Creating mountains of paperwork for me."
"Yes, I know." She sighs.
"You... you know the queen of fairies?" Remus asks slowly.
"In passing, she and her people had their home stolen from them so while I buy it back they are enjoying a nice holiday." She tells him as Wrions snaps her fingers, the fire in the fireplace flares a brilliant green as fae soldiers swarm out. When Titania steps out Remus drags Sirius into a low bow, Wrions copies them, but Haryana doesn't even get the chance before Titania's face twists into a horrifying snarl. Time crawls to a stop as the fae's inherent time magics flare through the room.
Haryana meant what she said, she'd only known the queen of the fae in passing. As one of the many, she'd offered sanctuary to while she waged financial war on the world. She hadn't meant to, she had planned to gain Knockturn ally first before she started expanding through Brittan then when she'd owned all of the parts that mattered to extend her reach to the rest of the world. It turned out that people outside of Britain read the Daily Prophet in some capacity and Gringotts around the world were more linked than she had thought.
Haryana has heard Titania's love for her people as well as her city-levelling temper, but no one had thought to tell the muggle-raised witch what she might look like. Titania was tall, easily eight feet, with hair so black it looked like liquid shadows spilling down her back and skin mostly so white it made her look like a marble statue. Her dress a light blue with rivets like the veins of a leaf and covered in sturdy roots, her crown a glittering gold and sharp enough to be used as a weapon. What made Haryana's breath stick in her throat, apart from where the fae queen was stalking furiously towards her, was the parts of her skin that weren't marble white. Namely, her face that, instead of curving around to her ears as humans would, flared out into eight beautiful, purple and red butterfly wings. All with eyes of their own that matched the two on her face in both their inky black colour and their narrowed fury.
"Child." Titania hisses as the wind picks up around the room. "You are a child."
"I am." She agrees.
"You carry a babe." Titania hisses again, more furious with every second.
"I do." She agrees again. "I'm sorry for not warning you, so many people already know so I forget that some don't. I hope this doesn't sour relations between us but even if it does I'll still work on buying your land back. I swore I would."
Titania hisses wordlessly for a moment before all of the fury is gone. "Nothing is soured little deathling." She purrs as she pets Haryana's head, why does everyone insist on petting her head? "You will keep your word and I will keep mine. I have a gift for you, your mortals informed me it was a day of gifts today." One of the guards moves over without prompting.
"I didn't get you anything. I'm sorry." She says as the guard opens a chest, inside it is a long white staff with a clear orb at the end.
"You did not know I was coming. Next year. Go on now, pick it up." Tentatively she picks it up, watching in wonder as it shrinks down to a wand. The orb glows a soft white as it moves to the hilt. "Your mortals are fond of sticks."
"We are." She laughs as a weird sort of rightness settles over her, her holly wand had been suited well for her when she was actually eleven but she had grown so much since then. She didn't need it to protect her from Tom because she could protect herself from him now. "But, um, could I ask about something? You called me a deathling. What is that?"
Titania seems quite pleased to explain that she had warped time and space to shred her previous soul up so she could steal the body. This meant that, unlike most who travelled back by giving younger versions of themselves their memories she got to keep her adult magical core, bound as it was, making her much stronger than her peers.
"Children of death are very rare because death rarely feels the need to associate with mortals, let alone take mortal form long enough to sire a child," Titania explains as she pets her head again. "Deathlings usually cannot sire children of their own either. It takes lots of power, more than most mortals could ever hope to have."
"Oh... will he be alright?" She asks worriedly as the fae magics slowly start slipping back towards Titania.
"Unusual does not mean impossible. What is done cannot be undone." The tension falls away from her as the last of the fae magic leaves. "Do visit when you have time. You will adore our groves."
"I'll try." She says non-committing making Titania grin before sweeping from the room.
"There is fae magic clinging to the walls." Wrions hums as the floos dies a little.
"What? Are you okay?" Remus asked worriedly.
"I am. She was surprised by my pregnancy and reacted." She says this is true. "She also gave me this cool wand." She shows off her new wand as the floo flares again.
Wrions magickly binds Sirius and Remus to a sofa as she gets swarmed by vampires, veela, and werewolves who want to give her gifts. Not that she notices, too busy thanking them and asking about their stays in her properties so far. She ties wooden charms to the metalwork of her trunk, ugly cries over hand-stitched stuffed animals, grins at possibly illegal magical items, and smiles at piles of jewellery. By the time the floo dies out, she feels like she's been buried alive.
Salvatore takes one look at the Malfoy ball invite before he starts grinning manically.
“Is it weird to wear white?” She asks as all sorts of coloured fabrics fluttered around her. “I’ve never been to one of these before, and I suddenly have all of these frosted diamonds.”
“You do?! Show me love.” She shows him the selection, one of many from the vampire clans. There are earrings, necklaces, bracelets, anklets, rings, long strings to tangle in her hair, and lots of loose diamonds in various sizes. “Oh, how delightful. I have so many ideas. Ardella! Jaime!” Ardella runs in with a tall, dark-skinned man. When Ardella sees her she pales. “I am giving you a chance, as my best gem weaver, to make a better impression on Lady Potter, Ardella. Do you think you can do that?”
“Yes,” Ardella says with a determined nod.
“Good, come look at these.” He gestures to the loose diamonds. “I want a pair of kitten heels. I’m thinking ‘Snow Princess’. Soft and sweet to show off Lady Potter’s innocence when viewing our world but cold enough to warn people off from trying to take advantage.”
“High quality,” Ardella says as she inspects one.
“Take what you’ll need, I need to know how much I’ll have left to work with. Jamie, meet Lady Potter. Lady Potter, this is Jaime Caprine, the best fur worker you’ll ever meet.”
“Well met.” She says with a smile. “I’d shake your hand but…” Jamie grins a little at the tornado of different white fabrics running along her skin and over her hair.
“White fur. I want to use it as a lining. Over the neckline, along the parting and bottom of the outer skirt, and the ends of flared sleeves. Do you have enough?” Salvatore tells him that makes Jamie light up like a Christmas tree.
“We just got an ice kitsune pelt, fully grown with nine tails. Lady Potter is small enough that we’ll only need two of the tails to get the effect you want. The rest can be used as a cloak.”
“Hmm, I could add a cloak.” Salvatore murmurs as he sketches something out. “That would still leave us five tails…”
Haryana feels very overdressed when Salvatore, Ardella, and Jamie step back but she trusts them. Well, she trusts they want to keep pleasing her so she doesn’t ruin them. Plus, this is a Malfoy ball and from the snippets she’d heard in the past [future, urg] they were the most lavish and pompous events of the year. Each one is bigger and more extravagant than the last.
“It’s beautiful.” She says as she moves her eyes from the floating mirrors to study the gloves Jamie had made with some of the remaining ice kitsune furs.
“Of course it is.” Salvador purrs. “I designed it, what do you think of the shoes?” He asks making Ardella stiffen.
She lifts the skirt of the winter dress to properly look at the surprisingly comfy heels on her feet, twisting her left ankle to watch how the frosted diamonds look paler against her tanned skin. When Salvador called the older woman a gem weaver Haryana had assumed that she’d be stringing the gems along the dress but watching her magically melt the diamonds together and then mould them into perfectly unblemished heels like she was playing with putty had been highly impressive.
“They’re perfect.” She promises to make Ardella sag a little. “So perfect that I can’t seem to remember a meeting between us before this.”
“I’ll not waste this second chance,” Ardella promises making her grin.
“What second chance?” She jokes before turning to Jamie. “You’re fur work is exquisite too, just so you know.”
“Oh, I know but it’s nice to hear.” Jamie grins.
“Enough compliments, out! Out!” Salvador scorns playfully as he shoos the other two from the dressing room. “It is, as always, a delight to work with you, Lady Potter. But you have been here for hours, let’s get you on your way, hmm.”
As soon as she steps out of Little Cape Rita Skeeter is there smiling down at her. She blinks at the woman since she hadn’t expected her, she really should have, and takes a tiny step back. She sees Rita zero in on the weakness like a shark making her stiffen her spin, so she’s ready for a fight.
It’s not a fight though because unlike the last time she and Rita stood face to face, the reporter was making better sales defending her than slandering her. It wouldn’t be difficult to call Rita her number-one fan this time around.
“Haryana Potter,” Rita says softly, visibly trying to appear as non-threatening as possible. “My name is Rita Skeeter, a reporter from the Daily Prophet. It’s lovely to meet you.”
Well, two can play that game. She widens her eyes in [fake] wonder. “You’re the one who found out that Uncle Siri didn’t get a trial?!” She asks in shock making Rita’s fake smile take a real edge.
“I am. I’m so sorry that we’ve failed yo…” She cuts the woman off with a hug.
“Thank you.” She says into Rita’s stomach, it’s not even a lie. Rita was saving Sirius’ PR rep so much time.
“You’re welcome, sweetie.” Rita purrs. “I was wondering if you felt like a proper chat?”
She looks up and smiles sweetly. “I’d love to.”
She takes Rita to a cool-looking restaurant she’d seen every time she’d visited the upper alley, Lotus. The outside is like everything else on this side of Diagon Alley, clean brick with an arching doorway and wide windows. Unlike the rest of the alley, all you could see through the windows was a wizard in an impeccable uniform standing behind a podium. The podium was a pink lotus flower with its stem leading to the watery illusioned floor.
She opens the door and smiles at the wizard before stepping into the room… “Oh! Cool!” She says in genuine delight as the floor ripples under her feet, the clearly real water that she was walking on. A little fish swims up curiously before darting away.
“Very.” The host says politely. “Welcome to Lotus, how may I help you both today?”
“I’m sorry to bother you but I was wondering if you had a table for two open?” She asks as she pushes the delight at the cool use of magic to the side, happy that Rita was letting her handle this and also worried that Rita was letting her handle this. “With a little privacy if you’re able as well. It’s completely fine if you don’t, this place is beautiful and no doubt booked solid.”
“We are usually very booked but I’d be happy to check.” He promises her as he pulls out his wand. “What’s your name, ma’am?”
“Haryana Potter.” She tells him, actually impressed when he doesn’t pause to stare at her like most do.
“Expecto Patronum.” He calls and a couple of seconds later a capybara is sitting at his feet. “I have Haryana Potter requesting a booth for two.” The capybara nods and then sinks casually into the water below them.
They wait less than a minute before a patronus manatee swims up and pokes its head out of the water. “We don’t have any booths but Lord Stout says they can use his lounge.”
“He doesn’t have to do that.” She says quickly.
“He insists.” The patronus says that the woman it belonged to knew she’d protest.
“Is the lounge agreeable for you?” The host asks.
“If it’s really okay then it’s perfect.” She says making the man nod and pull out a quill to jot the booking down. “I promise to book in advance next time.” She adds making him grin a tad.
“Enjoy your meal.” He says before whatever magic was keeping her above water disappears. She cries out a little as she and Rita are plunged into the water, schools of fish swimming around them as they descend before they drop out onto a plush sofa. Completely dry.
“I apologise for not warning you about the drop but it’s so rare to have someone new dining with us.” A man says from her left. She eyes him in his detailed kimono-style robes, watching the stitched koi fish swimming over the fabric before looking towards the menus he was holding. “It’s an honour to have you dining with us, Heir Black. Dena and Dewett are old friends, and I will be forever thankful that you were so quick to help them.”
Oh, isn’t he smart. She smiles at him and straightens up so she can shake his hand. “I was happy to help, always.” He shakes her hand and then places the menus on the table in front of her.
“Just tap the items you want, have a lovely meal.” He says then he walks through a door and leaves them alone in a massive lounge.
“So you’ve not been here before?” Rita asks sweetly if facing down a shark who thought they were scenting blood in the water could ever be sweet.
Still, Haryana wasn’t the naïve little girl she’d been before. She smiles a little and ‘nervously’ plays with her menu. “I usually eat with Wrions at Gringotts, I’m not the biggest fan of adults.”
“That is completely understandable,” Rita promises as she readjusts her posture to seem smaller. “But you’re out and about today, it must be a special occasion.”
“Oh! Yes.” She says brightly as she looks away from the menu, smiling as she meets the eyes of the reporter. “I needed a dress for the ball my cousins are throwing, it was really nice of Lord Malfoy to invite me and I’m looking forward to seeing Heir Malfoy again before the school year.”
“You’re going to the Malfoy Yule ball?” Rita asks in slight shock, she nods before tapping the item she wants. Watching in slight awe as the breaded chicken bites appear in lotus petals, fancy. “Are you not a little worried? A lot of dark families go to that ball.”
“So?” She asks as the teapot next to her fills with sweet-smelling tea. She pours them both a cup to be polite.
“Thank you,” Rita says as she takes the cup before refocusing. “A lot of those families worked under He-Who-Must-Not-be-Named, aren’t you worried about one of them hurting you for revenge?”
She takes a pointed sip of her tea before putting it down. “Rita, may I be frank with you?”
“Of course,” Rita promises with a pleased glint in her eyes.
“Voldemort may have killed my parents, but Dumbledor left me with my Uncle. And yes, you could argue that if my parents lived then I wouldn’t have been moved but it was war, a bloody and violent war with multiple needless deaths on both sides.” She explains calmly. “And I had, as I’m learning lately, so many more relatives here in magical Brittan that I could have gone to. I’m not saying the dark side didn’t hurt me, didn’t hurt others, but the light side has hurt me worse in retrospect.”
Rita watches her like a shark for a moment and Haryana watches to poorly concealed glee rush over her face before she files it away. “So are you saying that you’re siding with the dark side?” Rita asks after tapping her own menu, clearly excited enough at her new article to forget that they were here to eat.
“No, I’m saying that I want nothing to do with either of them. Politically that is, outside of that I’m willing to co-exist with them, like going to the ball my cousins are throwing. Not because they are dark but because they are family.”
“That might be harder than it looks, people always believe what they wish to. Those on the light side might take you going to this ball as a bad thing.” Rita hums.
“If they cared about me as a person then they would have at least checked up on me when I was younger.” She hums back.
“The people care.”
“About Haryana Potter, murderer of Voldemort, sure.” She says after her first bite. “But they don’t care about me. How could they? They’ve spent years reading about me going on mystical adventures and blindly trusting a man who spends almost the entire year in a school saying that he checks up on me regularly. Either he’s lying and didn’t check up on me at all so he didn’t know what was happening, meaning that he was lying, or he was and he knew but he decided to leave me there.”
“That is worrying, and something I will be looking into,” Rita promises. “But this topic has gotten much too heavy for eating, let’s talk about something lighter. How is your creature protection campaign going?”
Haryana grins.
The article is published the next morning and Haryana grins as she reads it over her new rose tea, she’d not been lying about jumping on the subscription.
“Haryana Potter, from woe to wonder?” Sirius reads slowly as he sits opposite her, snagging the pot of coffee placed just out of reach of her. Wrions is mean. “What’s about?”
“I did an exclusive.” She hums as she reads over the section dealing with her creature rights movement, pleased that no one’s caught on to her mass buying of land and properties yet. “Also, Wrions, can we set up talks with Lord Stout about buying Lotus? It’s great and I want it.”
“What?” Remus asks as he blinks at her from the doorway to Sirius’ room… Oh! That’s new.
“Of course, I’ll have a meeting date by tonight.” Wrions hums into her coffee making her grin at her paper.
“I sat down for an exclusive interview with Rita Skeeter.” She hums again as she moves on from the article to skim the rest of the paper.
“Why?” He asks again as Sirius starts waking up enough to echo the worry.
“Because she’s going to write about me anyway. I might as well control the narrative.”
“You shouldn’t have to worry about this.” Sirius sighs as he watches her, the pity makes her jaw twitch.
“I shouldn’t be doing a lot of things.” She bites back with a sharp smile before dropping the paper on the table. “I’m going to read my new books.”
“Haryana, that’s not what I meant.” Sirius pleads but she ignores him, hopping out of the chair and walking to her room. “Haryana, please.”
She shuts the door and leans against it, trying to breathe through the sudden sharpness in her chest. “Fuck.” She sighs as she thunks her head back.