TBAY Trustfund Harry

[Meg Demeranville]

No: HPFGUIDX 46654

Satisfied that Melody did not have a concussion from her encounter with
the whomping willow, Meg motioned everyone out of Melody's room. Pip
disappeared with the tea tray in the direction of the kitchen, leaving
Frankie and Meg to wander through the dark halls of the Safe House.

"What a day," groaned Meg. "Melody might be tiny, but even tiny people
are heavy after you've carried them a mile through sand dunes! Oh well,
she'll be fine."

"Come on Captain Meg, I want to show you what else I did with the room,"
said Frankie as they left Melody to sleep off her tree attack. 

"I will be there in just a bit. I need some caffeine first. You know,
tests and everything." Meg watched as Frankie skipped down the halls
oblivious to the threats in Theory Bay. "Oh to be that innocent," Meg
sighed, turning towards the kitchen. She adjusted her heavy backpack on
her shoulders and headed toward the kitchen in hopes of finding enough
caffeine to get her though another test block.

"Care to explain yourself?" Grey Wolf sat staring at Meg while she
fumbled around in the cabinets of the Safe House kitchen.

"Explain what?" Meg jumped at the sound of another person in the
kitchen. "Oh, hi Grey, blast it, where does Sneaky keep the caffeine?"

"Above you to the left. And care to explain what just went on with
Melody? Are you or are you not a medical student?" Grey Wolf's eyes bore
holes in Meg as she retrieved two bottles of Diet Coke exactly where
Grey Wolf had said they were, brought them back to the table Grey Wolf
was sitting at and sat across from him.

"Yes, I am a medical student, but I panicked. I have never seen anyone
attacked by a tree before. I didn't know what to do. I failed." With
that, Meg began banging her head on the table.  "Dumb, dumb, dumb."

"Meg, although that is a stunning rendition of a House elf, knock it
off. You didn't fail. Melody will be fine." Grey Wolf reassured Meg. 

"Captain Meg, what are you doing?" Frankie asked as she wandered into
the kitchen. 

Noticing the enormous werewolf delicately sipping from a Coke bottle
completely dwarfed by his massive paws, Frankie shrieked and leaped into
the pantry.

"Grey Wolf, that was Frankie. Frankie, this is Grey Wolf," said Meg as
she pounded on the pantry door. "Get out here! Now! Oh for crying out
loud, you swim with kappas, sharks and electric eels everyday!"

"Yes, but they have fins," said Frankie, sideling out of the pantry
eyeing Grey Wolf warily. "I'll just head back up to the RATS room,
okay?"

Grey Wolf hid a toothy grin behind his Coke.

"Grey, stop that. You are encouraging her. Frankie, it's just Grey Wolf.
He doesn't bite, much. Grey Wolf won't hurt you. Now, why are you down
here? I thought you were going to wait in the RATS room," Meg asked
impatiently as she rejoined Grey Wolf at the table pulling Frankie with
her. "Sit," Meg ordered, pushing Frankie into a chair.

Realizing that Meg wasn't letting her go anywhere, Frankie said, "You
didn't come, so I figured you might have fallen asleep here in the
kitchen." Realizing that Meg was sitting next to Grey Wolf, Frankie
continued, "Oh, I see, you were catching up with Grey Wolf. It all makes
sense now. Ok, then, I will see you in the RATS room."

"Wait, Frankie, stay, I have some thoughts I want to run past you and
Grey," Meg said. "I have this theory I have been kicking around for the
last few days. It started as just a random thought in Developmental
Anatomy, but I think it has some merit. And if you guys like it, it
might have a place on the F.I.R.S.T.M.E.M.O.R.Y.F.R.I.E.N.D." Meg
watched as Grey Wolf and Frankie looked notably more interested than
they had just a few moments before.

"Well, Meg, out with it. You need sleep and I need be getting back,"
Grey Wolf said impatiently.

"Ok, here it goes. Harry is a trust fund brat!" Meg paused taking in her
friends' shocked expressions. "And it gets better! Malfoy would have
contributed to Harry's fund, if only to save face. Think of the bang
value! Even Captain Cindy would approve."

Grey Wolf and Frankie looked at each other and back at Meg. They seemed
to be trying to decide who would speak first. Finally, Frankie cleared
her throat. "Meg, no offense, but have you lost your mind? What are you
smelling in that lab? Hagrid tells Harry that his parents left him
money. JKR has said that the Potters had money. What cannon could you
possibly have for your ideas?"

"Well, I was thinking about it and it just makes sense. Think about it.
You have The-Boy-Who-Lived who is without parents at the tender age of
fifteen months. He is going to need to be provided for and looked after.
No matter how much money the Potters may have had. Harry could have even
been poster child for all children who lost their parents to
You-Know-Who. It would have been a big public effort to take care of the
kids. What's more, the WW was probably paying the Dursleys to keep
Harry. Otherwise, why didn't they dump him at the nearest orphanage?
Yes, I know, ancient magic, but think about all the presents they pile
on Dudley. Where is the money coming from? It's coming from the funds
that the WW provides for Harry's care. Only it doesn't get there. It
goes into buying Dudley presents. Kinda makes you feel ill, doesn't it?"
Meg paused for breath, obviously proud of herself. 

Seeing Frankie and Grey Wolf's confused looks, she continued on quickly,
"Think about it. It's a common response. When a tragedy happens in a
close knit community, the rest of the community wants to do something,
anything for the survivors. Harry is also a hero for the Wizarding
World. It would be natural for people to want to help their hero. In
addition, his story would have been tragic. Left without any family
except some horrible Muggles. The Daily Prophet would have had a field
day reporting who had donated and how much. The money could have gone to
pay for any child left parentless by You-Know-Who. Neville, Susan Bones,
anyone who needed money. Harry just hasn't seen his share of it. Some of
it is paying for his education; some of it goes to the Dursleys for
clothing, food and other expenses. The Wizard World wouldn't have known
how much to pay the Dursleys, so they could have been getting much more
than was needed. And we all know where that money went."

Frankie nodded excitedly. "Think of their grocery bills to support
Dudley!" she shouted and snatched up her dive knife, transfiguring it
into a black marker. Grey Wolf caught her arm before she could start
sketching on the table.

"I think we can all comprehend household budgeting, compound interest
and inflation without the diagrams," Grey Wolf said firmly. Frankie
shrugged and twirled the marker in the air before dropping it back into
the sheath.

"Anyway, Meg, why hasn't Draco Malfoy rubbed Harry's face in that aspect
of his finances yet?" asked Grey Wolf. "Are you suggesting that Malfoy
the elder has withheld information from Malfoy the younger? Though I
suppose it's not the first time Lucius has done so."

"Drills..." said Meg faintly.

"What drills?" asked Grey Wolf.

"Uncle Vernon's drills. Think about it. Where is this manager of a drill
company getting all his money? He is using Harry's money. In addition,
Lucius isn't going to tell Draco that he had to give money to help raise
Harry, that's a violation of Death Eater code. You do not give money to
the victims. Especially not to the kid who took out your leader. It
could have been his proof that he was under Imperious. Also, it would
explain Arthur's hostility towards Lucius. He was able to buy his way
out of Azkaban." Meg stopped and slumped back against her chair. 

"Meg, get back to those drills. How do they connect to this theory of
yours?" Frankie asked, obviously interested in this new off-the-wall
theory of Meg's.

"Simple. We know that Gringott's vaults are underneath London. We know
that Uncle Vernon sells drill and drill bits. We know that the MOM
wasn't too worried when the Mason's saw the owls. What if Uncle Vernon
is selling drills and drill bits to the Wizarding World as well as the
regular world? We already know that wizards don't mind talking to him,
even in the very first book, before he takes Harry in. That's where all
of Uncle Vernon's money is coming from. He is extorting the wizards.
Charging them extra for drills. Especially since they don't know the
pounds to Galleons rate." Meg paused and took a long sip of her diet
Coke.

"Meg, they are wizards. They have spells." Grey Wolf pointed out.

"Yes, Grey, but sometimes a spell can't solve everything. Sometimes,
magically enhanced muggle technology works better. Remember in CoS, Fred
and George pick the lock on the cupboard rather than using magical
means. Doesn't one of them even say that Muggle tricks are useful?" Meg
said quickly.

"So, Meg, does this theory of yours have a name?" Frankie asked.

Meg thought for a moment and went digging into her backpack. "Yes, I
came up with something the other day in Histology. We were setting up
for a review session in Gross Anatomy and our class president had the
best saying. It stuck in my head and I realized it fit the theory
perfectly. Ah, here it is!" Meg pulled out a piece of paper triumphantly
from her Netter's Atlas. "See, here.  
DUH, TIME'S UP, SCALPELS DOWN 
(Dursleys use Harry's Trustfund In Making Extravagant Surprises, Useful
Profiting, So Caring About Large Payouts Even Like Spending Donations of
Wizard Nationals)
What do you think? Isn't it perfect?"

Frankie looked at it and smiled. "Meg, you have to get out of the lab
more often. However, it does fit. Now, what do we do with it?"

"Simple, we put it on the F.I.R.S.T.M.E.M.O.R.Y.F.R.I.E.N.D.."

"Meg, what did you mean by it being bangy?" Grey Wolf asked. 

"Simple, it's bangy because think of the shock value for Harry. All
those times Vernon complained about how much Harry cost, they were
getting money for it and spending it on Dudley. It means that someone in
the Wizarding World was keeping up with the Dursleys and should have
known that Harry was being mistreated. Harry is going to snap when he
finds that out."

"How do we know the Wizarding World knows what Harry's situation is
like?" Grey Wolf asked, seeming to enjoy making Meg explain her
half-baked idea.

"Grey, it's obvious the Wizarding World knew some of his situation. Look
how the letters were addressed. First the cupboard under the stairs,
then the smallest bedroom, etc. They knew what was going on and did
nothing for Harry. Also, wizards were able to find Harry in public. They
saw what type of people the Dursleys were. The Wizarding World should
have intervened," Meg said.

"Meg, what is this scribbled underneath your acronym? 
POOR BABY, NAPTIME?
(Pity Over Ownings, Ron Becomes Awful Bratty Youngster. Now Arises
Problems, Temptations In Major Economics)
Is this what I think it is? Now, I know you have lost your mind. You are
taking on the Ron fans." Frankie stared at Meg, unable to comprehend
what her captain was thinking. 

"No, I am not. I am just thinking that Ron talks worse than he has it."
Glancing out the window, Meg noticed how the sky was beginning to
lighten. "But that will have to wait for another day. It's much too late
to start that discussion and I have classes tomorrow." Pulling out her
day planner, Meg looked at her calendar, "Grey, Frankie, can we schedule
a sit down for tomorrow at 5 pm? I will explain my random Ron thought."
Seeing Frankie and Grey Wolf nod in agreement, Meg reached into her
backpack again and extracted a bottle of pills and a small glycine
envelope of powder. Placing them on the table, she said, "Grey, would
you mind giving these to Melody. Put this powder in her juice in the
morning and give her two of these pills every six hours."

"Meg, you know you aren't a doctor yet. You will be a good doctor one
day, but you can't be prescribing medicines yet," Grey Wolf said,
staring at the medicines on the table.

"Relax Grey, they aren't real medicines, the powder is a vitamin
concoction, basically just a ground up chewable kiddy vitamin. She is
too little, really for anything else. The bottle of pills is just kid's
Tylenol. Judging by how she looked, she is going to have a horrible
headache in the morning. I don't want to be giving her anything stronger
though and I don't think there were any kids' medicines in the Safe
House. I just happened to have them on me because I spent the weekend
watching little kids. But try not to let her have too many of those
Tylenols anyway. She might have some disorientation from the head
wounds. Can you keep an eye on her tomorrow for me?" Noticing Grey Wolf
nodding in agreement, Meg quickly added, "Thanks. Now, are you heading
off to bed? I think I am going to go camp out in the RATS room with
Frankie."

"No, I will be heading to bed in a bit, but first, I have a date with a
tree. Does the RATS room need some new willow furniture?" Grey Wolf
asked.

"Grey, be careful! You saw what it did to Melody." Seeing the look on
Grey Wolf's face, Meg quickly said, "Sure, I think we could use at least
a rocking chair or something. Nevertheless, whatever you make is fine.
Just make sure that Melody gets those medicines with breakfast. Now, we
are off to bed. See you tomorrow to discuss the Ron thing. Night, Grey!"

Satisfied with the plans, Grey Wolf got up from the table and walked out
the kitchen door. Meg realized that there were glasses and bottles of
diet Coke all over the kitchen table. Pulling out her scalpel, Meg
pointed it around the room. In seconds, the room was spotless. Satisfied
that Sneaky would not be picking up after them, Meg and Frankie got up
and left the kitchen headed for the RATS room.

Meg (who has been working on this post for almost a week now and who is
thrilled it's finally finished)