This time, Hermione's expression was completely pensive.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that getting a good job in the wizarding world is not based on how good your grades were in school or how talented you are at magic, it's based on who you know. In other words, your connections. Why else do you think it is that Pureblood wizards are the ones who always get the best jobs even when they are not fully qualified for that job?"
Harry gestured over to the people Augusta was speaking with.
"You see those men Lady Longbottom is talking to? All of them are large figures in the wizarding world. Five of them were important enough that Minister Fudge invited them to the New Years Gala last year, and six of them are members on the Wizengamot. The one on the far left owns a very large company that imports magical goods from the Mainland, and the one with the large nose and spectacles owns sixteen different shops that sell magical goods like potions and potion ingredients."
"Now," Harry brought Hermione's attention back to him. Even Terry and Tracey had stopped arguing to hear what he had to say. "Do you think Lady Longbottom spends so much time and effort speaking with these people because she likes them?" Hermione looked thoughtful while Harry scoffed. "Of course not, most of those people she is indifferent to, and some of those people she probably outright dislikes. But she speaks with them anyways because by keeping these connections open she has a chance of helping her grandson make it big in both politics and, if he chooses to, importing and exporting rare magical herbs."
Neville blinked, then looked over at his Gran with new found eyes.
"I hadn't realized she was doing that for me."
"I'm not surprised," Harry responded. "I only know those people because my... adviser in wizarding culture and law gave me a list of important people in certain industries and fields of study."
"So you're saying that muggleborns won't be able to get a good job without knowing people?" Hermione frowned. "That hardly seems fair."
"You're right, it's not, but that's life." Harry shrugged, as if to say 'what can you do?'. "Besides, it's the same way in the muggle world too. Most people get jobs because they know someone in the industry they want to get into and can get them to give the company they work for a referral. In that sense, the magical world and muggle world are pretty much the same."
It was interesting how even Purebloods such as Lisa, Neville and Terry knew so little about how the magical world actually worked. Though a part of this may have just been because they were too young to really be concerned with that yet. Harry suspected they would not be taught all this until they were nearing fifth year when they would have to take their OWLS. This knowledge would not truly become important until then.
Harry's friends turned introspective as a new piece of information they had not really known came to light.
Well, all of them except for Tracey, that is. She just wrinkled her nose as if smelling something horrid.
"Ugh, all this talk of politics and job searching is totally killing the mood," she declared. "So let's talk about something else. Did you know that Nimbus is coming out with a new broom?"
As Tracey Davis began going off about the Nimbus 2001, which apparently was even faster than the Nimbus 2000, Lisa and Hermione both groaned. They were not Quidditch or broom fans at all.
Harry merely chuckled. Leave it to Tracey to destroy any sense of distress and introspection with all the subtlety of a troll at a tea party.
XoX
Like every year during the thirty first of July, Harry spent almost his entire day with Lisa.
Technically, he spent his third day of July thirty first with Lisa, but getting into semantics over bending time twice in order to live a single day three times was not something Harry felt the need to get into.
They had done all the things they normally did together. Lisa had taken Harry out to get some pizza for lunch. It wasn't something he usually ate, but he sometimes would on special occasions like his or Lisa's birthday.
They had also gone to the British Science Museum which, ironically enough, had a special exhibition about astronomy that Terry would have loved to see called Cosmos & Culture. It was a rather fascinating exhibition that showed how astronomy changed the way people view the universe. The exhibition had contained many devices, both ancient and cutting edge that allowed one to trace the history of people and the stars through different stories drawn from around the world.
While not something Harry truly enjoyed, like chemical science, economics, magic and history, it was still something that managed to catch his attention and make him wonder if there was some way to apply muggle astronomy with wizarding astronomy.
An endeavor for another time, perhaps.
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