"My mother loves tennis," Hermione explained as she cut Harry off. "And I specifically remember her saying the winner of the men's singles that ye.. I mean this year was a major upset; an unseeded player won. That would mean very large odds. I think I'd recognize the name if I saw it," She bit her lip. "But we can't do it. It wouldn't be right."
"I agree," Harry said.
"Well if it's just money we need, why don't we just use those?" Luna asked and pointed over to the buckets full of jewels they had found along with several other treasures.
"Steal them?" Hermione asked. "That'd be wrong too," She stopped and remembered what had happened to them last time. They had all been destroyed by fiendfyre. "But..."
Harry had been thinking along the same lines and beat her to the idea. "We can store them in a vault and if we do find we need to fight evil influence with money, we can use them then."
"But isn't that manipulation?" Hermione asked. "Wouldn't that make us just as bad?"
"Oh poo," Miranda said. "As long as you're not going to turn evil which is almost impossible for soul mates since it takes love to bind them, it wouldn't be that bad. Besides Death likes you remember. You give him all of Voldemort's soul pieces and you can take the Crown Jewels themselves and he'd just smile, thank you and tell you how nice the crown looks on you. If you haven't guessed, he really really dislikes Tom Riddle."
"But...are you sure?" Hermione asked. "I mean it seems wrong."
"You're not stealing them. Besides don't you think it's a fitting thing to have gemstones destroyed by junior Death Eaters be what stops them in the future," Miranda said.
"I hadn't thought of it like that," Hermione admitted.
"I do want you to have two of them though," Miranda said. "Look in the left bucket for two identical blue sapphires. Do you see them?"
Harry walked over to the bucket and after digging down just a little he found two very large blue sapphires, neither of which he could close his hand around.
"Great, now as my wedding present to you and a thank you to Neville and Luna, I want you to take those sapphires and do what you wanted to do to start with Hermione."
"What?" She asked.
"Wimbledon? Remember now?" Miranda asked.
"Oh, but wouldn't that be wrong?"
"If you were to bet all the jewels and bankrupt the Goblins, then it would be wrong...maybe anyway," Miranda replied. "But this is just a little honeymoon money."
"Are you sure?" Hermione persisted.
"A minor advantage isn't going to make you bad. Do you want me to have Death tell you so?" Miranda asked starting to sound annoyed. "Or have that newly acquired O in Defense changed back to an E? Didn't that happen in a similar way?"
"Uh maybe not," Harry said thinking of Death.
"I see your point," Hermione said as she thought of her OWL grade. "So I really got an O this time?"
Miranda giggled. "You'll find out in a couple of weeks, now go enjoy yourself. You still have a Diadem to get to the old bearded one."
Harry had one more thought. "This betting and taking advantage of things isn't going to affect me being an Auror is it?"
"An Auror?" Miranda laughed. "You're still thinking of that? Oh dear me, that's why I love you two; always good for a laugh or a cry."
"What's so funny about me being an Auror?" Harry asked. "I think I'd make a good one."
"Honestly? What would you do the first time a senior Auror told you to stay behind or do something you didn't want to? Even Dumbledore had to remind you every ten seconds to follow orders on your little locket mission. Auror indeed," Miranda continued to chuckle.
Harry was still frowning as Hermione explained the conversation to Neville and Luna. "Miranda wants us to use the sapphires as a bet for a wedding present and thank you to you two, but then she laughed at Harry's thoughts of being an Auror."
"Why would you want to be one of those?" Neville asked his friend. "Seems like you don't...well you don't follow orders very well."
Harry scowled at his friend for a few moments before the scowl turned to a grin. "Yeah you're probably right. That's what she said too."
"Miranda is so nice," Luna said dreamily. "Are you going to be rich now?" She asked.
"Not really rich I mean it's only a single gemstone," Hermione replied as she lifted the sapphire. "Though it is very large. Miranda only mentioned it would be honeymoon money. But whatever we get, you're getting the same amount."
"Thank you Miranda," Luna said to the air as she got from her chair and curtsied.
"So how do we do this?" Harry asked as he put the sapphires on the table. "Wait... she mentioned bankrupting the Goblins..of course...Bagman," When Luna and Neville looked confused Harry explained about Ludo Bagman making a bet against the Goblins. "So they must have some kind of betting system there and we can only presume they do bets on muggle sports as well."
"Is it fair to take advantage of the Goblins?" Neville asked.
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