cloudy with a Chance of freedom

chapter 39

The first 'village' they set up on an abandoned and decommissioned base was rather small. However the number of applicants eager for a fresh start, even if it came with a secrecy agreement, were enormous.

So much so that Skull bought a second 'town' (again, on a decommissioned base) that was already under repair. He gave that one to the werewolves with the knowledge that there would be a fence made entirely of silver armed with guns that had tranqs that responded to heat signatures that would go active during the three days of the full moon.

Not only that, but there would be free doses of Wolfsbane available to anyone who became a citizen of the town, as well as reinforced cellars in every house.

The main draw for the werewolves was the fact that Skull did nothing to hinder their ability to come and go, or how they conducted business. He only took charge when it came time for the full moon, and he still gave them a run of a decently sized forest that was guarded by another silver fence. He didn't even take a census of who had the curse and who didn't. So long as they stayed inside the boundaries during the transformation he could care less.

Skull happily tossed Viper at the planning stages to getting the villages up and running, as well as what would be needed to get a much more feasible conversion rate for galleon to mundane money... never mind that the goblins had very little way of getting rid of the mundane currency they had since it was difficult converting the paper into something they would accept without a ton of red flags going up.

Or at least it was until Viper came up with the brilliant idea of making a second Gringotts in the mundane world, where new bloods could convert their regular currency to galleons without involving the goblins at all. The goblins eagerly traded all their stock for a few tons of gold bullion and accepted the idea of a 'new blood' run branch that could deal with the headache without dealing with the idiots in the Ministry attempting to get a cut of the action. It wasn't like they cared about mundane money, and the bullion was the market equivalent for how much the currency was worth in the mundane side.

It only took two scant weeks for word to spread about the Gringotts bank that was run by mostly new and half bloods with a solid head for math, along with a few werewolves who automatically got time off for their condition. By the third week Viper's smile would need Storm flames to wipe off her face. Not only was she making a lot of money off the idiocy of pure bloods, but she also got two percent off every transaction from the villages being set up.

She absolutely loved her brother, and didn't mind claiming him as such even with the memories that were returned to her. Having to deal with the others knowing her actual gender was annoying, but she could live with it.

She could also live with the fact Skull fully planned to find and adopt Xanxus before Timoteo ever got near him, and if possible kidnap Belphegor before he snapped. The damage done to his soul and magic for killing his twin wasn't worth it, and at least they knew how to handle his psychotic behavior.

It was nice having family who cared.

The only annoyance of their summer was the fact that Dumbledore kept trying to arrange 'meetings' with her brother. The Order of the Phoenix was active again, but much dwindled. By this point only Dumbledore's staunchest supporters were even a part of it, since Midnight was back.

If there was only thing that could motivate even the most 'pure' of wizards, it was greed and the potential for 'free' labor. It wasn't like they'd know the full extent of what was being produced so long as they got paid enough to make them happy.

And Viper was so very good at coming up with small 'fees and fines' that just coincidentally ate up the profits and hid them from people who were too stupid to do their own accounting.