Owls never bring good news these days. The tawny owl had a roll of parchment tied with red tape. It wasn’t going to go away. Olivia calmed herself and opened the roll. There were several sheets of parchment in the roll. It was from the most expensive solicitors in London. The first page stunned Olivia for a full five minutes. All the Greengrass debts, personal and commercial had been bought by an investment company. No hints about who it was behind it. The next parchment was a new schedule of debt repayments. If the Greengrass businesses had any income the debt repayments would be easy. That was a big ‘if’, right now the business income was zero. The third parchment was an offer. A potential silent partner wished to buy half of Greengrass Potions, the biggest business when the Greengrass family was worth something. The offer was enough cash to run the company for a year. This was a big deal because the real value of Greengrass Potions was zero. Her new partner was risking all this money just to get her working for him or her.
The offer acceptance was sent off within the hour. The solicitors, Kenworthy, Le Blanc and Gomes, were trusted by all wizards and witches and the muggles they did business with. They were unusual in the magical world for having muggle business clients. Olivia asked the solicitors to arrange a meeting with her new silent partner. They told Olivia that her silent partner wished to remain silent for the time being.
Identities don’t stay secret for long in the wizarding world. Olivia sent her owl to Daphne. Astoria would be home from the shop in a few hours. Between them they should be able to track down well off wizards looking for risky investments.
The detective team had an answer within a day. Daphne knew who it was. It was Harry Potter’s brother, by adoption, Leo Blake, The Viscount Pimlico, and The Baron Purbeck. She had been introduced by Harry Potter in a chance meeting.
“Mum, he is almost harmless. He is doing this because I told him about Dad, the snatchers and how everything had been taken from us.”
Astoria had the muggle news from the internet, Leo was reclusive and vastly wealthy. There were photographs of him at a family wedding with some stories about his working-class life before being discovered. He was acknowledged by the muggle authorities as the owner of the titles and the family trust.
“Daphne, what connection do you have with his lordship now?”
“He doesn’t answer to any of that titled stuff. If you persist with it, you can get him annoyed. Harry asked me to tutor Leo in Occlumency. He had no defence at all when I met him.”
“What does Leo think about Greengrass Potions? Will he want to get involved?”
“The last thing he wants to do is to get involved. He wants you to run the business, hire back your old employees, and do whatever it takes to start earning. He wants the debt paid off and he will sell you his share of the company for what he paid for it. It isn’t charity. The solicitors have got an application in to the Ministry’s reconstruction fund. If it is The Viscount Pimlico signing the forms, it will be paid. All that has to happen is to get Greengrass Potions working again.”
Olivia shook her head slowly. “I’m not used to hearing things like this. What are you doing with him now?”
“I’m not doing anything with him now. I’ve asked Harry Potter to get him someone else to help with his tutoring. The fact is that Astoria has found some information on the killers from her searches on the internet. I’ve arranged for four weeks away from The Daily Prophet to check it out.”
“Daphne, please take care of yourself and take care of Mister Leo Blake. I need you both. You are not to take any risks while you are doing this investigation. I know you can take care of yourself, I trained you after all. Another little thing for me to take care of is Draco Malfoy.”
“What about him?”
“Well, all those letters and visits from Astoria have finally started something. He has agreed to visit here.”
Daphne did not look impressed. “If he doesn’t behave himself with Astoria, the Slytherin Ice Queen will make a comeback.”
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