With the break upon us, my friends and I board the Hogwarts Express once again.
I was able to convince Victoria to join us again, not wanting her to spend a miserable Christmas with only her father around. Although reluctant, she was happy i insisted on it, with only her pride stopping her from really showing it, but i knew.
We reached Kings Cross as we chatted about our winter plans and apparently, the Wards decided to visit some family instead of creature finding. And James will be the same as last year, making him available for some fun. As we got off and separated, I could finally see aunt Amelia, at the sight of whom, Susan ran up for a hug. With a warm smile on my face I also gave her a hug.
"Thank you for letting me stay over again Madam Bones. I appreciate a lot and i hope I can have a wonderful time like last year." Said Victoria at the first opportunity she had.
"Of course dear. I worried about you during the summer alongside Aedan, but you insisted you were fine in your letters so I didn't force the issue. If it wasn't for that, I would have made this young man go get you." She answered and tried to loosen Tory up with her response, making her look very grateful. After which we head off.
"You know your aunts great right? She's kind of my a role model." Victoria whispered to me as everyone was walking to our transportation.
"Yeah. I know very well. That's why I love her lots. Although she's very busy, she's still basically mine and Susan's mother. You picked a pretty great role model." I whispered back.
"What are you two whispering about back there?" Then asked aunty as she noticed us.
"Just about how great you are aunty." I reply with a bright smile.
"Still good at flattering people with that face of yours I see." Was her answer, but a smile was on her face.
We got home comfortably and with Tilly being even more excited than usual this year because Susan had been away and Victoria was visiting again.
"I'm going to your room. I really want to look through your notes again." Declared Victoria as soon as she was done unpacking.
"You're free to have at it. I'll be doing some business in the office. I'm basically the head of the house in all but name, and that comes with unending paperwork. So glad i made those quills. Oh yeah, there's a few new ones added to the shelves, do give them a read if you want to." I say as I head out of my own room.
As I sat down at the desk i started going through the official documents for the Bones family.
The usual holdings of the house are doing well and are showing improvements after using my advice to better their businesses. The reconstruction of the former Bones manner is now formerly underway, with expert salvagers participating in the project in the hopes of saving anything left in the house when it was emptied. The creator of the Firebolt, Randolph Spudmore, is very excited with the progress he's taken with is masterpiece and is loving some of the suggestions I offered, meaning that this Firebolt might be even better than the original. The production lines and supply chains are already being prepared and we are expected to make an insane amount of Galleons off of this and my own broom.
Everything surrounding BonesWorks has been going brilliantly. The opening of the second and third cedar forests have gone perfectly. Everything is being run by werewolves, with more than a hundred participating in the making of the vanishing boxes and the deskwork quills, alongside some homeless house-elves we've found that had nowhere to go or way to survive. Happy to receive work and to be able to get the magic necessary for them to live, they've agreed to take part in the manufacturing. The sales of the two products have been insane, especially since the opening occurred in early November, right before holiday shopping begins. I unfortunately couldn't go, but Amelia was willing to do it on my behalf. There has actually been some difficulty keeping the shelves stocked at the moment, which will inevitably slow down once most people get a box. But the ministry itself will be a constant source of business for the quills and I've been negotiating a deal for them to purchase a set of official boxes for ministry officials, in order to send official documents and urgent matters to employees or department heads without flooding their personal ones. I've even got foreign ministries wanting to set up my store in their countries at the moment, but I need to stabilize the situation here first. It has been great to see the Galleons flood in instead of constantly flowing out. Amelia has been very proud of me for achieving such success.
Now for the unofficial reports. My personas businesses.
Starting with the Breaking Grounds Apothecary. Tim has been going from strengths to strengths. With improvements to his machines and the set up of three new manufacturing centers, he's been able to supply St. Mungo's with every potion they could need. He keeps introducing the modified potions every so often to maintain the edge of the store over others. A few masters have joined the store as they've seen the potential it has displayed and wanted to take up the challenge it was founded on. Make a better potion and well will celebrate you. And with many taking up the challenge, boosting the shops reputation, profits and recruitment of talented individuals, It has quickly been becoming a Mecca for potioneering within Britain. We've also apparently received some complaints about the constant flow of new potions giving extra work to ministry officials, but we've taken the opportunity to get more muggle-borns into the department in charge of verification and certification, killing two birds with one stone.
Natural Cultivation farms is slowly coming to dominate the market as they've begone selling a massive amount of rare and difficult to obtain ingredients at a constant pace to not devalue them. Under Melody's watchful eye, they've started three more farms around the Uk and have been trying to obtain an entire uninhabited island to transform into a paradise for Herbologists. Madam Chambers also took the opportunity to bring in other experts under her wing to help oversee the other farms and work with her to achieve her massive project. This has resulted in a massive amount of jobs, helping many in desperate straits no matter the origin. We now had squibs, half-bloods, people with non-human lineages, some sentient creatures and even four purebloods working in the management of the business. Of course every one is sworn to secrecy. The underwater farm with the merpeople tribe has also been getting some traction. We had to give some pushes in the ministry and do a lot of work to set things up, but we've been able to get the tribe to assist and learn from us. Hopefully it'll be up and running by the summer. What was the most surprising moment reported was that a group of centaurs would want to be involved in the herb island project if it is implemented. It took some negotiations since they are a very prideful people, but we don't look down on them and Melody actually wants to learn about their understanding of herbology. So it was agreed that if the project happens, they will be able to live there in peace whist also being able to use the herbs they require, in exchange for their knowledge on herbs and their assistance in maintaining the island.
For Fortress Protections it's been slower. Not because of any issues, but because we've been slowly selecting trustworthy individuals and training them to Auror standards. The rest of the people have been hired as hidden security for some various shops and businesses, while also always having a patrol hidden in Diagon alley to protect my businesses. The most important development for the company was that I let them be ordered by the darker side of our community in secret, letting them gain proper experience and giving us eyes and ears in new places. We've also developed a secret detention facility for when it becomes necessary, alongside a public office and shady office under the name of dead moon mercs for the different clients. I'm actually planing on having Geri Greyback take charge of that playing field as soon as her training is done. She will train her own team, of her choosing, alongside some members from our legit side and be a hidden card to play.
The FIRM center has been doing a wonderful job. The new merchandise has made it self-sustaining and allowed for them to hire individuals to give the seminars I wanted to have. The muggle technology did face a good amount of feedback, but the fact that it was only working properly and in some ways improved by magic, placated the witches and wizards egos enough to stop any issues from blowing up. Muggle-borns and half-bloods swarmed to the products offered and word of the calculators getting out and it's function made wizards across the globe look at the center like sharks looking at prey. Fortunately, they've started making deals to open up production lines for these new products in various countries, with the profits being split between me and the center. People other than Muggle-borns are starting to get active in FIRM activities, helping the message to stop treating those who come from non-magic origins like second-class citizens.
The Herald is still progressing nicely overall. They received a nice boost after the Umbridge debacle during the summer and their readership has grown as more people are slowly becoming aware of its intelligent and accurate reporting. The gossip Ghost column as given the paper another unique selling point as unknown or forgotten stories and places are being shared with Britain.
And lastly, my various creatures reserves, farms and sanctuaries are doing great. With new land bought in the surrounding areas to expand everything under protection, the new supplies to control, maintain and safely manage the creatures, alongside the new wards and secret keeping tools, have brought tears of joy to the workers there. They've also been very keen to follow my order to commence breeding the lot. There has been too much killing of magical creatures in the world and I want to bring them back from the brink. And I believe that with my abilities, I can do so and keep them a secret from muggles.
With everything handled, it was time for me to relax and enjoy my break with my family and friend.