"If I shut down Gringotts without an alternative then the economy will fall. I want this timeline to flourish, so until I can work a way around it, Gringotts stays." The unhappiness with that issue showed in his green eyes. The fact that he banked outside of Britain had not gone unnoticed by the goblins. They had sent representatives to his lawyer, but were turned away, since Hydrus still spent his money in Diagon Alley, therefore adding to the economy.
"I guess that makes sense," Sirius answered, and went back to the paper.
"I think it is time to play some tricks on the Alleys," Hydrus said suddenly. He still had all those items from WWW that he never used. He wasn't selling them, because they were solely the Weasley twins' inventions and he would be damned if he took their dream away. Though there were a few things, like the non-magical Halloween items and stuff he and George invented, that he could put in Fun For All.
"Really?" Padfoot perked.
"Yeah, let's see what I have in the pocketspace," the immortal said, rubbing his hands together excitedly. So they cleared an area in the living room and he called all the joke items.
Sirius was in heaven. He never heard of any of these and never would have thought of half of them.
The closet Ravenclaw was also happy to see all the new tricks. His inquisitive mind was itching to take them apart and see how they worked.
"Some of these are exclusively WWW products, so we won't use them. However, there are some that only me and George invented and I want to market them, giving the Weasleys a cut of course. So as a gimmick let's set up a few of the harmless ones around the Alley and advertise the shop. I'd better talk to my store manager first, but let's say this week or the next?" Hydrus said as he sorted all the pranks into two piles, to be sold and not to be sold.
"Which ones were you thinking?" Remus asked as he read the package for the Peruvian Darkness Powder. "This would have been really useful in the war," he added handing it to Sirius.
"You bet it would," the dark-haired prankster said after reading it. "Would have been helpful getting away after curfew in Hogwarts too."
"Yes, I imagine it would have," the werewolf said distractedly as he looked over a few more items.
"So, nothing that shocks or hexes, I'm looking to startle not hurt. We'll keep the more painful items for people who piss us off," Hydrus said, still sorting, but now he was adding a pile of the more harmful pranks to a not to be sold yet pile.
"What's this?" Padfoot asked, picking up a disk that would stick to your hand.
"A joy buzzer, it's a big seller in the non-magical world," the immortal explained and then held out his hand to be shaken.
The two hands met and Hydrus's got the jolt, which, even though he was expecting it, still made his hand jerk. Sirius laughed and looked to Remus, who was shaking his head no. They played with a few more pranks; Sirius was turned into a canary, which caused Remus to accidentally fire off a few fireworks, which made Harry come running, which hurried Hydrus to quickly put harmful stuff in his pocketspace. The whole house had a good laugh and continued to sort through the prank items.
Two hours later, Hydrus looked at his watch and said he had to go and talk to his manager for Fun For All and set a toy section and prank section up. So he put most of the pranks in his pocketspace, causing groans and pleas from Sirius and Harry, which he ignored, and left to his shop.
Fun For All was a large square building, the cashiers' counters were in the front of the store with three registers and an anti-theft alarms on the doors. The back wall was lined with TVs and the two aisles in front of them housed VCRs, cameras, and video recorders. In front of those were aisles and aisles of movies. The computers were in their own section off to the right. There were five well trained witches and wizards to answer any of your questions. To the left was a repair counter, which was manned by the most electronically knowledgeable wizard Hydrus could find and train. Not that many of his products broke, but things happen.
Hydrus looked around the store trying to figure out if toy and prank sections could be added without taking away from the rest of the merchandise. He might have to open yet another store, and this one he couldn't pass off to anyone, because the Weasleys would be getting their share. Maybe, an annex in the back, Fun For All Kids section.
He made his way to the front left corner of the store where the offices were. Ellie Sanderson, a petite, auburn-haired woman was sitting behind the largest desk, poring over paperwork. She was a Half-blood raised in both worlds. Hydrus was an equal opportunity employer, he didn't discriminate with anyone. There was even a squib cashier. The repairman and one of the floor people were Pure-bloods. The rest were Muggle-born. She looked up when her boss entered the office and huffed when she saw the mischievous look on his face.
"What has that look in your eye? Are you going to make more work for me?" she said arching her eyebrows and folding her arms across her ample chest.
"Well," Hydrus hedged as he sat in the chair in front of the desk. "I might have a few ideas for an annex or two, if we can build an expanded room in the back. It'll be for kids and teens."
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