Chapter 104: Problems, and a Solution
"Let me make sure I understand this. Our suppliers are refusing to deliver food and ingredients?"
"Yes."
"And the reason?"
I looked at Bella, who was sitting across from me and looking slightly grim.
"They're being intimidated. The same people who have been attacking civilians are threatening them, and they're too frightened to go against them."
I rubbed the bridge of my nose.
"How long will what we have in stock last us?"
"A couple of months."
The tension in my face eased slightly.
"Well, that's something. We can reduce sales a little by introducing rationing — it will barely affect people's day-to-day lives, but it buys us roughly another month. By then the Veela should be bringing produce to the district's internal market."
"You're right."
Cissy gave a thoughtful nod, scanning the reports.
"But it would be nicer to avoid that entirely."
"And what's stopping us?"
"We just explained what's stopping us."
I shook my head, then conjured a Patronus and began dictating into it immediately.
"Fleur, could you please invite your grandmother? We need her advice."
"Draco, I've already told you, the Veela are working double shifts as it is. They're not complaining, because they have wands now, and in our district they're treated as equal citizens with the same hours as everyone else. If you're hoping to push them into overtime, it won't work. Or rather, you can push for overtime, but the produce won't come any faster. There are simply limits to how quickly plants grow and animals mature."
"No."
I shook my head.
"I'm not going to ask them to work overtime. I have a different idea, and it may work. But it will cost a great deal of money, not something I'd want to do on a small scale."
"I still don't understand what you're actually proposing."
"I would tell you, but I don't yet know if it's even possible."
The conversation dropped away, and we waited for Linda to arrive. She came fifteen minutes after I sent the Patronus to Fleur. Not that our silence meant we were idle; there was no shortage of other matters to attend to.
"Draco. Bellatrix. Narcissa."
The Veela elder pronounced each of our names with a respectful nod.
"Linda."
We said it almost in unison and nodded to her almost simultaneously.
"Draco, you had a question for me?"
"Yes. You see, we have a food problem again, and I've been thinking that perhaps your girls might be able to help us resolve it."
Linda gave a strained smile.
"I would be glad if that were so, but I'm afraid the harvest..."
"It isn't about the harvest." I shook my head. It wasn't terribly polite to interrupt her, but at that moment I wanted to get to the point as quickly as possible. If my plan turned out to be impossible, we would need to think of something else.
"Then what is it about?"
"Tell me, do you maintain contact with other covens?"
"Yes."
"Including the one in Russia?"
"Possibly."
"Excellent. Russia is an enormous country with vast amounts of land, and I haven't heard that they had a poor harvest, which means it should be possible to approach the Russian government through Veela channels and purchase a portion of their food reserves."
"Son, these are Russians."
"Mum."
I looked at Bella.
"The hatchet has long needed to be buried, as the Queen has already done, because very soon we will have a common enemy, and fighting on that front and against each other at the same time..."
I shook my head.
"Besides, we won't find food anywhere in Europe. The countries are too small, the land is entirely spoken for. But Russia..."
"All right, all right, I'm not objecting!"
Bella raised her hands.
"Can we count on you for this?"
I looked at Linda, and she gave a nod.
"We'll reach out to the coven in Russia. I can't imagine they'd object to a small percentage for acting as intermediaries. But are you certain it needs to be the government? Wouldn't private sellers work just as well?"
"Private sellers are fine in principle, but I don't want to leave people without food. The moment they sense an opportunity to sell to us at a premium, a great many of them would simply stop caring about their own communities. The government, at least, has an obligation to look after its own people. Whatever they sell us won't strip any single region bare. It will be spread across the whole country. That's what I'm hoping for, at any rate."
"Understood."
Linda nodded.
"Fine. Once you know where things stand, you'll let me know?"
"Of course."
She said her farewells and left the study.
"Let's hope that by the end of the month we've purchased enough to last us six months."
I looked at my mothers, and they nodded in agreement.
"Now, other problems."
"Well, as ever, the hospital is desperately short-staffed."
Cissy shook her head sadly.
"Though I have taken on some Muggle-born nurses; they can at least provide first aid. I've also found a couple of specialists who can handle diagnostics. But as for actual treatment..."
"That problem won't be solved quickly. I've arranged things so that Susan might be working at the hospital from next summer, but really what we need is to recruit graduates fresh from Hogwarts and have you train them in the basics."
"That would help."
"I could put out an announcement, something to the effect that healing training courses are opening, with guaranteed employment for those who complete them successfully. Though I honestly don't know whether you'd have enough hours in the day to both treat patients and teach."
"Well... I could take a page from your book."
Cissy said it with a slight smile.
"Mine?"
"Precisely. If Susan is as well prepared as we hope, let her teach the basics to the new recruits herself. She'll understand the material better for it and gain experience at the same time."
I gave a thoughtful nod.
"That's a good idea. And you?"
I looked at Bella.
"What about me? A disaster, that's what."
A small scroll was tossed at me. I unrolled it and frowned immediately.
"Has he completely lost his mind?"
"It would appear so."
What I was holding was a magically copied order from Fudge, directing that, in light of the increasing frequency of terrorist incidents, Dementors were to be deployed to guard the school. I did not like this one bit, and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it directly.
"Bloody—"
A stinging hex caught me on the cheek.
"Draco, watch your language."
"Sorry, Mom, but this is..."
I held the scroll out for her to see.
"I know. But that's no reason to swear like that. Especially in our presence. If you want to use that kind of language, go to your room, close the door, and say whatever you like, but in front of us, please try to control yourself."
"Right, then."
I went still.
"What can I even do? Nothing. This requires going directly to the Queen, and that's your department."
I looked at my mothers.
"But I'm afraid she won't be much help on this particular matter. Fudge has been overreaching for some time, and he'll simply delay rescinding the order for as long as he can, hiding behind one feeble excuse after another."
"You're right there."
Bella nodded.
"Right. I'll carry a weapon, then, as will everyone who's been trained at our school. Everyone can shoot a pistol by now; I just need to produce more ammunition with a basic Exorcism enchantment. Enough that each round causes the Dementors maximum discomfort, and a few will dispel them outright."
"That's a good idea. We can also assign an escort to the Hogwarts Express, and if the Dementors approach it, they'll be shot."
"Also good. The wards on the school grounds have been substantially strengthened, so they won't get in there, but on the journey they might try to cause trouble."
"If the wards will protect you once you're inside the school, why bother with weapons at all?"
Bella gave me a knowing look.
"Because I don't trust Fudge not to try to walk them through personally. He's the Minister; he believes the school answers to him. Which it no longer does, as it happens."
I stretched my lips into a smile that would have sent Fudge diving under his desk.
"Right. Are there more problems?"
"There are, naturally."
Another scroll was passed to me. I sighed, unrolled it, and settled in to read.
***
***Several hours later***
"Ah... that's good."
"Draco, you need to rest."
Fleur, who had been astride my lower back giving me a massage, said with concern and a touch of worry.
"Soon."
"You don't understand."
Penny, who was massaging my head while Fleur attended to my back, said with gentle reproach.
"You don't need to reduce your workload; you need to step away from it entirely for a day or two. You're running yourself into the ground."
"My darlings. Believe me, I would be overjoyed to rest a few days and spend them with you. But at the moment I simply can't. I've already started using Daphne not as a personal assistant but as a fully trusted envoy, sending her out on tasks of every conceivable kind: negotiations, audits, observation, intelligence gathering, you name it, I've sent her to do it."
I raised my voice very slightly, conveying precisely how displeased I was with having to use her that way.
"And I had held on to the hope until the very end that she would just be a housekeeper."
"Ha. She did everything in her power at school to become your right hand."
"That sounds rather lewd coming from you."
I smirked as I said it, because I had recently walked in on Penny in a rather personal moment. I had come back to our room at an unusual hour and simply found her there...
"Hey!"
"What?"
My voice was mildly wry while Penny's was full of indignation.
"Don't bring that up! Though I'm quite certain that if you wanted, she'd be happy to be your right hand in that sense too."
She managed a small parting jab after all.
"No, for that I have my fiancées. And once a little more time has passed, we'll be able to allow ourselves a little more than we currently do. But for now..."
I sighed.
"Can you two stop? I'm going to get rather uncomfortable if this conversation carries on."
Fleur's voice was mildly aggrieved.
"Where on earth did you learn to talk like that?!"
Penny addressed her friend with mock severity.
"From you two, you shameless pair. Now let's finish the massage and go to sleep. Draco has another exhausting day tomorrow, same as every day, and ours won't be easy either. We could all do with some rest."
"Yes, yes."
Penny said it with mild dissatisfaction. It was obvious she was very much in the mood for another round of sparring with me or Fleur, but she didn't argue. And before long, when the girls had finished the massage, they settled in beside me.
"You still need to rest properly."
"We'll rest during the last few days. I've cleared two days at the very end of summer, completely free. We'll just relax: the two of you, me, Daphne, and maybe some friends, if anyone wants to join us."
I looked up at the ceiling, thinking.
"Right. Let's go to sleep."
Fleur raised herself slightly and leaned over to give me a soft kiss, then Penny did the same, and soon, lying there and reflecting that I was quite possibly the luckiest wretch alive, I began to drift off.
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