Arthur Weasley was reading the letters from his children how the new games had been accepted at Hogwarts. To his great pleasure, they had been a massive success. Fred, George, Ron and Ginny had written that many of their friends and classmates loved the idea of new entertainment and wanted to know when the games would be available in the shops and where they could buy them. This looked extremely promising for his first project. In twenty minutes a meeting was timed for all members of his department to report on their current projects. It was very encouraging that his ideas had worked so well to transform the muggle games into games that wizarding children would love to play and most importantly play more than once.
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Discover moreExplore Sci-Fi MoviesDownload Video GamesDownload Sci-Fi BooksBooksWriting workshopsFinally he took the last letter from Percy, who had written down some of his observations. He suggested that he should create another game too. While the younger years especially in Hufflepuff and Gryffindor loved the games, only Hogwarts Cluedo had been taken in well by Ravenclaw. Percy suggested creating a game that was both entertaining and educational. He had spoken with his girlfriend Penelope Clearwater what the Ravenclaws wanted from a game, and they liked increasing their knowledge and competing with others in that regard.
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Arthur agreed that it would be a good idea. He would propose the idea in the meeting today and see if the others had some good ideas. Then his colleague Robert Tynn came into his office. Robert was a middle aged, black man and originally came from Kenya. But his parents had moved to Britain when he had been just a year old. He was Arthur's direct superior at Juneur.
Discover moreCartoonsFan community platformFiction writing toolsFan fiction writingApp store optimization"Hello, Arthur, ready for the meeting?" He asked.
"Hello, Robert. Yes, I am. I just read the last letter from my children, who have been testing the games I modified during the last month at Hogwarts." He answered.
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"Oh, I am curious what you will present at the meeting then. You are lucky to have the perfect testers for that kind of project in your family." Robert said.
"Yes, I am. Even my third oldest son has accepted my choice to change jobs by now. He wrote me a letter with a new idea for a game that especially the Ravenclaws would like to have." Arthur said.
Discover moreMoviesComicsStory writing softwareMobile app marketingAnime"Nice. Just so you know we have a guest today during the meeting. Sirius Black will be present. I think you know him?" Robert asked.
"Yes, I do. His adopted son Harry is the best friend of my youngest son Ron." Arthur told him. "How comes he is attending the meeting?"
"I think Fassimo said something about him helping with getting a shop in Diagon Alley to sell our products. As he is a pretty big number in the Wizengamot now, he can ease our acceptance in Britain. You know that we didn't really have a market there until recently. With the pureblood faction blocking any attempts to sell goods that were created by muggles originally, or at least in parts, we had a hard time to even get known. Many already forgot that it was JWT that developed the WWN. They tend to sprout nonsense about it being a pureblood wizard that invented it. Other European Countries were easier to access. We are leading in the market in Germany, France, Spain and Sweden, to just name the major ones."
Discover moreOrder Fresh PastriesFan fiction forumFan fiction communityBook Movie TicketsFan merchandise"Okay, that makes sense. It would be great if Sirius managed to promote our products more." Arthur agreed.
Finally it was time to go to the meeting and both men walked there relaxed. They entered the room and Arthur saw Sirius and greeted him. Then they all took their seats. The Department head, Alanius Rokkomar opened the meeting.
"Okay, to get the official side over with, I hereby open the first complete meeting of the R&D Department of Juneur Wizarding Technologies. I want to first introduce you to our guest, Sirius Black, sometimes also known as Comte de Jarjais, who has agreed to support our attempt to finally successfully enter the British market. He was contacted by our new owner, who prefers to stay anonymous for now, to act as our marketing representative." Sirius nodded his head and smiled at the assembled people in the room.
Discover moreAuthor resourcesRead Graphic NovelsFiction genre guidesFan fiction booksMobile app development"Let's now start with the report of the projects you have worked on the last two months. Jack, how far are you with the project for the Quidditch World Cup?" Alanius asked.
"We have completed the recording part and managed to get the quality of the pictures up to 95 %. We are still fine-tuning the reproduction quality to get to 100 % next month. With the World Cup starting in June, we will be ready to supply the Quidditch fans with recordings of the games the day after the game has been played. Jean and her team are finished with the devices to play the recorded games through a modified VCR.
"The storage part for the devices consists of special crystals, which our team can mass produce. We have already stocked 1.000.000 crystals in our warehouses. We can get the recordings from the games to the transfer machine within ten minutes after the game. The replication of the original recording to the crystals will be done in three hours. After that we can send the crystals through owl post to the clients that have subscribed the recordings for the game. The only thing they will need are the devices to play the recordings.
"Our books are filled with orders for the devices from all countries in Europe except Britain. But Mr Black thinks he can manage to promote our ideas pretty quickly and that we can start selling in two months, early enough to profit from the Quidditch World Cup boom in England." Jack concluded his report.
Arthur was impressed. He wouldn't have thought of a possibility to record Quidditch games in crystals that could be sent to people at home, so they could follow the World Cup despite not managing to get tickets. This promised to earn JWT a massive amount of money. After all, Quidditch was the most popular sport in the world and reading about a match was nothing compared to seeing it. More, if they continued the practice for the league matches after the World Cup was over, they would have a steady profit from this product.
"On that front, I have some good news. Thanks to the Ministry trying to get into my good books and not angering my son more than they already did, I got the permission to open the store in Diagon Alley this morning. You can send some craftsmen to renovate it to your liking tomorrow. My house elf Dobby will await them and show them the premises." Sirius informed them.
"That's very good news, Mr Black." Alanius said. "Next topic on my list is the games you had your children test at Hogwarts, Arthur. What are their responses?"
"They are very good. I had them test the games Cluedo, Monopoly and Game of Life which I had modified. From the reviews they got, there is a great market for the games within the students of Hogwarts. The favourite at the moment is Cluedo, as it is accepted within three of the four houses. There are problems with the acceptance of games of muggle origin within Slytherin house, but we estimated that and think it would mellow over time when all the other children have the games. The Game of Life is better liked with the older students, Monopoly with the younger ones.
"Within the school my children got over one hundred and fifty requests to inform them as soon as the games were available during the past month. I got the lists from the school. My son Percy also told me an idea to get more Ravenclaw students interested in our games. He suggested that we create a game that is both educational and entertaining. I think it wouldn't be just the Ravenclaws that would like such a game. With the British market lacking in the department of entertainment in the form of games, the ones that are known have been played for centuries and get a bit boring with time, we can probably make our company known through the younger age group easily." Arthur reported.
"Good. The interest is encouraging. I want you to send the designs for the three games to the production department. I want them ready to go into worldwide sale before the summer holidays started. If possible get the first load ready for our shop-opening in Diagon Alley." Alanius said.
"I have an idea you could also take up." Sirius spoke up. "Why don't you create some more card games? The board games are great if you have more time, but for short periods, like waiting half an hour for the next class, you would need games that don't take up much space and which you can play in intervals, like cards. The only card game that is known in the wizarding world in Britain is Exploding Snap. I know that there are many muggle card games out there. It would probably be easy to modify them. Additionally I would look into more entertainment like music for the teenagers."
"Good idea. I see we will make good profit in the game department. Arthur, Robert, take care of that. Robert, you are responsible for the creation. Send three of your men into the muggle world and do some research. I also want you to think about new ideas yourself. Arthur, start with the game your son suggested. If he has some ideas, I am willing to pay him if we have success with it. If possible I want to have it ready for a test run in a month so we can start selling it together with the other ones in summer." Alanius said. "Hamilton, you are going to put thought into the music idea. Mr Black is right, we know that music players are a best seller in the muggle world, we should make something out of that."
"Of course, I will send him a letter when the meeting is over." Arthur confirmed and Hamilton Groomer nodded.
Percy sat on the Gryffindor table during breakfast. He had the first period free, but he had planned to review his Charms notes. He was in his NEWT year and wanted to make it into the Ministry. When the post owls arrived, he spotted their new family owl Ginger flying towards him. She landed in front of him and held out her leg for him to take the letter.
"Thanks, Ginger." Percy said and gave the owl a bit of toast.
He opened the letter and began reading. He must have looked really surprised, because Ginny questioned him about it.
"What's the matter Percy?" She asked.
"Dad wrote. He had a meeting where he presented the reports we sent him about the games acceptance here at Hogwarts at JWT yesterday. They will produce them and they will be ready for sale before the summer holidays, the first three probably even for the shop opening in Diagon Alley that is planned for early March. I had written him a letter too and suggested to create another game, one that would be more interesting for the Ravenclaws especially. You know, both educational and entertaining." Percy informed her.
"Not a bad idea, Percy." Harry commented who had listened in from a few seats to Percy's left.
"Thanks, Harry. Well, Dad writes his head of department wants him to create the game and asked if I would help with it. If the game is a success, he would pay me for my part in the creation." Percy sounded like he had problems believing it.
"Great. Did you already have an idea what kind of game it would be?" Ginny wanted to know.
"Well, I have thought about it a bit. When Penny told me what the Ravenclaws wanted in a game and I had some time on my own, I wrote down a few ideas. It intrigued me that there could be such a game. When I watched others play the games Dad already had you, Ron and the twins test, I noticed that you had the most enjoyment when you saw how much better you did than the other players. So it would need a recognizable means to see who was leading in the game. But it also couldn't be too easy for one player to win." Percy explained.
Harry nodded. That was the case with Monopoly. If one player was too good, the others didn't enjoy the game as much. But that was a rare case.
"So what, the players have to collect proof of their success?" Ginny asked.
"Yes, I thought there could be questions that had to be answered in different categories. They would have to be spread over a wide range of topics so nobody feels discouraged to play the game. I think it would be possible to have questions for a younger age group and an older one. Perhaps we could charm the game so that at the beginning the players state their age and the game chooses appropriate questions for the group. The category the question is from could be decided by the board. Perhaps by throwing dices to move on the board or pulling chips from a bag." Percy said.
"It sounds like you really thought a bit about it, Percy. It sounds great." Ginny praised her brother.
Percy smiled at the praise from his little sister.
Amelia sat together with her fellow revolutionaries in the Ministry. They had assembled to decide just who could take over for Fudge. They needed a strong candidate to even have a chance to replace the corrupt fool.
"Okay, we are agreed that we need to find a proper candidate. I would like to hear some suggestions." She started.
"It won't be easy to find a candidate that combines all the qualities that we want for the one in the top position." Amos Diggory said.
"Too true. If it would be, Fudge never would have become Minister in the first place. But all other possible candidates demolished themselves before they could take over the post or were brought down by outside influence, like Barty Crouch with his Death Eater son." Rufus Scrimgeour agreed.
"You don't want to be Minister, Amelia?" Frederick Rawthorn asked.
"No, thank you. I can do more good, if I keep the DMLE working. The best possible candidate would be one who didn't prefer one department over the other." She pondered.
It was very difficult. There were not many people working at the Ministry that fulfilled the profile.
"Call me stupid, but I don't think we will find our new Minister inside the Ministry. I remember that many called for Albus Dumbledore to become Minister in the past as he was powerful, well-known and neutral to the workings in the Ministry. I don't want to suggest Dumbledore,…" Desrella Ronins was quick to elevate her statement at the disbelieving looks the others gave her "…but perhaps we need to start looking outside the Ministry for our candidate."
"Desrella is right. If we had a good choice inside the Ministry we would probably ask him or her if he or she would be the candidate right now." Frederick agreed.
"Okay, any suggestions?" Amelia asked.
They thought hard about it. After five minutes Amos Diggory shouted.
"I got it!"
The others looked at him.
"Okay, who do you think of?" Rufus asked.
"Call me crazy, but I think the best candidate would be Sirius Black." He announced.
"Sirius Black?" Amelia asked disbelievingly. "Why him?"
"I think Amos has a good idea there." Frederick said. "Think about it. The Blacks are one of our oldest pureblood houses, but Sirius has always hated the dark arts his family was infamous for. He fought in the war against You-Know-Who and is a powerful and smart wizard. He wants to change the ways things work in Britain and get the country to catch up with other nations. He is the adoptive father of Harry Potter and has therefore the support of the public. The Daily Prophet reported intensively on him helping Harry after he ran away from his muggle relatives, even if at the time he disguised himself as Comte de Jarjais. He knows how to work subtly but can also use power to reach his goals.
"And the only thing one could hold against him is his imprisonment, which was done illegally. For him to have survived Azkaban with his sanity intact is another sign of his mental strength. Furthermore, we could be sure that the Prophet wouldn't be used by Fudge to denounce his opponent, because Harry is the majority owner and insists on them reporting the truth. Hell, the boy even got Rita Skeeter to write the truth now."
The others pondered Frederick's arguments.
"The question is would he do it? I had the impression he wanted to concentrate on giving Harry the home he didn't have until now." Desrella asked.
"I think he would. If anything Sirius is skilled in time management. For three quarters of the year Harry is at Hogwarts. He only returns home at the weekends to learn about his family magic. And face it, Fudge spends more time doing nothing than leading this place. The things Sirius would have to do is representing the new direction he wants to promote and clean up the mess Fudge and Bagnold left behind and keep track of the departments. While he would be very busy in the beginning, he could decrease his workload after perhaps three months of intense house cleaning.
"If we do this right the hard part could be over when the summer holidays at Hogwarts begin." Rufus said.
"Do you really think we could get the house cleaning done until then? I think three months are awfully short." Amelia doubted the estimation.
"Huh, no I meant the election process and kicking Fudge out. We need to get the vote of no confidence over in the Wizengamot, which will probably take a month. Then we have to get the election prepared. Another month. We would have elections in early April at the soonest. Then there are about two and a half months until summer break. That would be enough time to neutralize Fudge's old toadies and either sack them for incompetence, convict them for corruption or push them in dead end positions if we can't sack them.
"We already know who they are, so we won't have to waste time to find them. Once they are out of their positions of power we can restructure. For that we don't need the presence of the Minister all the time. He could go on holiday with his son for three weeks until we have managed to set up the new working processes. I suggest we start a brain-storming once the toadies are out. We should also get rid of those that only got their positions because of their connections. I want that the important departments are staffed by skilled wizards and witches." He explained.
"Okay, now I can follow you. Who is going to ask Sirius?" Amelia asked.
"I suggest you go together with Rufus and Frederick." Amos said.
"Okay. Do you agree, Amelia, Rufus?" Frederick asked.
Both nodded.
"When do we want to do it?" Rufus asked.
"What about in three days? That would be Thursday and Sirius should be at home." Amelia proposed.
They agreed to do it that way.
Minerva met with Remus, Filius and Pomona. She wanted to discuss some things regarding Albus' new suspicious behaviour.
"Thanks for coming on this short notice." She greeted them.
"No problem, Minerva." Filius said. "What did you want to discuss?"
"Albus. He is behaving stranger than normally. For the last month I have watched him closely and he tried to hide it, but now he is openly behaving suspicious. He is meeting with Severus more often and I fear he has a new plan that includes Harry. I get the impression he will try to involve the boy in another dangerous scheme." She told them.
"So there was more to your request to keep quiet about Harry's surprising rise in his grades since the beginning of the year. I had feared it, but I didn't want to believe that the headmaster was involved." Filius sighed.
"Yes, it was. From what Sirius told me, Harry had a big number of blocks on his magic, his mind and his special abilities. Further there were spells placed on him that enraged the Dursleys and he was given potions that hindered him. The goblins took care of all of it at the beginning of the year. All hints point in the direction of Albus Dumbledore. He had the biggest interest in keeping Harry under control." Remus explained.
"Merlin, the poor boy. How could anybody do that to a child?" Pomona exclaimed.
"We don't understand it either. The motive behind all of it is unclear as of now. But we think it could be that Albus regards Harry as a weapon that will be needed in the fight against You-Know-Who if he returns, which he nearly managed the past two years. There is a prophecy that stated that Harry has the power to vanquish the dark lord. It was obviously the trigger for Albus' plans, Lily and James' deaths and the wrongful imprisonment of Sirius. I don't know the wording, but the gist is either Harry kills You-Know-Who or will be killed by him.
"Sirius is doing all he can to have Harry trained so when he should manage to return, Harry won't be unprepared. The other thing he does is showing Harry that he is loved and that he deserves a happy life. From what I overheard Harry telling his friends about his holidays over the Christmas break, he absolutely loved it in Cyprus." Minerva said.
"Yes, Sirius is undoing much of the damage the Dursleys did to Harry. If Albus thinks he might be able to use them in the future, he will be sorely disappointed. They will be standing trial in the muggle world soon. The goblins collected proof of their crimes against Harry under the cover of an audit at Harry's uncle's employer. The management of the company already decided to forward the evidence to the muggle police. They will be taken care of." Remus informed them.
"Good riddance. From the things Sirius told me I wanted to go there myself and hex them into oblivion. I should have been more persistent after Lily and James had died. I could have spared Harry his unhappy childhood." Minerva regretted.
"We all fell for the assuring words of Albus. We can't change it anymore, we can only do what will be the best for Harry and help him survive and finally have a happy life." Remus said.
"Okay, I guess we will have to do more now to keep Harry's abilities a secret. Or has Albus already found out?" Pomona asked.
"From what I know he didn't. But I wouldn't wonder if Hagrid slipped up by now. You know him. He has the biggest heart but the loosest tongue. And he adores the headmaster." Minerva stated.
"So the best thing to happen would be something that distracted Albus for a while. Best out of Hogwarts." Filius analysed.
"Right. But the problems with the pranks at the Ministry have been solved by now and I don't think it will give a repeat performance." Minerva said, looking sternly at Remus.
"Why are you looking at me like that, Minerva?" He asked innocently.
"Because I know that you were involved and got the Weasley twins on your side. As if they didn't have enough mischief in their minds already." She huffed.
"Well, it did its purpose. The Ministry and Albus were too busy to do anything to sabotage the trial of Sirius and Peter." Remus said grinning.
"Okay, admittedly it did. But to help our situation now we would need something on a similar scale that wouldn't be suspicious for Albus." She said.
"I know of something that will happen soon. I am sure you have noticed how displeased Albus is with the new games the Weasleys have brought to school with them to test them for Arthur. I know for sure that JWT will open a shop in Diagon Alley soon, because Sirius got them the license. It will be in the papers soon. They want to use the excitement for the upcoming Quidditch World Cup in England to promote their products. If I am right, Albus will be trying to hinder them." Remus informed them.
"That could be very possible. I know of their products from my cousin in Cologne. There the products are a part of daily life and not to think away." Pomona agreed.
"That will perhaps buy us a month or so. I just hope we can manage until the end of year. It would be best for Harry." Filius said.
And, how did you like my idea of making the rebels decide that Sirius would make a good Minister? But I won't tell now if he would accept the proposition when he is told. That will be part of the next chapters :)