The Economic Power He Knows Not: Year One

Main Characters: [Harry Potter, Hermione Granger] Neville Longbottom

Plot: A smarter, more cunning Harry discovers the true meaning behind The Golden Rule. In this story, Harry isn't abused by the Dursleys, they just show him indifference and a bit of animosity at how much he's costing them financially with the unexpected expenses of raising him. Harry will be sorted into Hufflepuff, as I believe that house doesn't get enough honor or screen time, but will also show some Slytherin tendencies. He will use the money earned to buy things in the non-magical world for his fight against Voldemort rather than buy them in the magical world.

AN: Gold prices in British Pounds (£) for Monday July 1, 1991 = £207.54. Each Wizarding Galleon (G) weighs 6 ounces of pure gold. Conversion rate of £ to G = 5:1.

For 1G: Pau x W = Pcoin

Pau = price of gold per ounce

W = weight of coin in ounces

Pcoin = price of coin (£).

Therefore, £207.54 x 6 = £1245.24/coin. Convert that sum back to Galleons: £1245.24 / 5 = 249.05G. Finally, by taking the new amount of Galleons, multiplying by the sum for 1 coin, the cycle continues (249G x £1245.24 = New Sum). As the years progress, check the online history source for the price of gold and adjust accordingly.

AN: This is the beauty of fan fiction. We make it up as we go along. If there are any who complain that what I write is not believable see the first two sentences. Also note, that as an American, I may misspell or misuse British mannerisms, helpful constructive criticisms are welcome, flaming is not.

Thursday 1 August, 1991 Dursley Residence, Little Whinging, Surrey, England

Harry Potter was an unusual boy. To the general eye, he seemed to be rather scrawny and malnourished. He had a rat's nest of unruly black hair, mesmerizing emerald green eyes and worn out glasses. He also had a lightning shaped scar on his forehead. But what was most unusual, he was a wizard.

After a whirlwind of the previous week in which he had received hundreds of letters addressed to him but unable to open because his aunt and uncle had snatched them away, he found himself on the floor of a ramshackle hut on a large rock in the middle of the bay. Then at the stroke of midnight on his 11th birthday 31 July, 1991 he was met by Rubeus Hagrid, a rather large man with twinkling beetle black eyes and a wild growth of a beard who had knocked down the door to the hut, and in a fit of rage at the insults being thrown by Harry's Uncle Vernon, gave his cousin a pig's tail. Hagrid gave him his letter and informed him of the things that his relatives should have told him. The next morning, Hagrid took him to the wizarding marketplace in downtown London: Diagon Alley.

That evening, Harry spent the time looking through his books and other materials that he had purchased from the shops in the Alley. He had decided to name his owl Hedwig, he let her out his window so she could get familiar with area and to hunt if she desired. He gazed upon the gold coins and began thinking about something that had niggled at the back of his mind earlier. Now Harry had taken a basic economics class during primary school and so he knew the relative value of gold and how it was bought and sold on the stock market. He was taught how to read and understand the financial section of the newspaper. He was also taught how to identify pure gold and how to test for it.

Taking one of the coins with him, Harry ventured downstairs and outside to the rubbish bins. He dug around until he found that day's paper and turned to the financial section.

"Huh," he mused, "as of today, gold was being traded at £207.54 per ounce."

Harry went back inside and used the kitchen scale. He determined that the coin weighed 6 ounces of gold.

"Well, assuming that the coin is made from pure gold… then at £207.54 per ounce and the coin weighs in at 6 ounces… then this would earn me £1,245.24!"

With an evil grin forming on his face, he went inside and began his plan for the next day.

Friday 2, August 1991 Downtown London, Bank of London

Earlier in the morning…

Harry had woken early and approached his uncle with a neutral look on his face.

"Uncle Vernon? I have a question and a request."

Vernon glared at him and eventually grunted which Harry took as encouragement to continue.

"I have made a discovery and was wondering if you might help me? You see, in the wizarding community they still use gold as a source of currency. Last night I checked the paper for the price of what gold is trading for per ounce and discovered that at £207.54 per ounce, each one of the gold coins, which weighs in at 6 ounces, is worth an estimated £1,245.24 per coin."

Vernon's eyebrows started rising when Harry mentioned the gold and disappeared into his hairline when the value of the coin was commented on.

Harry continued, "Now if you would drive me to a gold dealer then to the bank, I would be willing to give 5% of the value in the gold." (AN: 5% of £1245.24 = £62.26)

Present…

Vernon and Harry drove to the central branch of the Bank of London to create an account after selling the coin at a local gold dealer. Everything was working to plan. To Vernon's surprise, Harry negotiated with the bank to give them a 7% interest over the course of the year if he maintained £100 per month kept in the account with an increase to 10% over the course of 15 years if he maintained £10,000 per month that was kept in the account. On the way home, Vernon glanced over at Harry.

"I'm impressed boy," he quietly said, "I didn't think you had it in you to be this financially savvy."

Harry looked over at his uncle shocked by the admission of praise. He looked down at his lap thinking hard about the possibilities of this new economic freedom and power.

"Uncle Vernon, how'd you like to have a little fun at the wizarding world's expense?" Harry slyly asked.

Vernon slowed and pulled off at the side of the road. He turned to look at Harry with a sly smile of his own.

"What did you have in mind?"

Twice over the next two weeks, Harry and his uncle would wake up, get ready, check the London Times for the prices of gold then drive over to Charing Cross Road to enter the Leaky Cauldron pub to access the Alley. They progressed into Gringott's Bank to exchange the British pounds that they had earned into Wizarding Galleons. They would then return to the muggle side, go to their gold dealer and sell the gold coins then deposit all but £100 of the earnings into Harry's new account. At a later random day, they'd return to Gringott's to start the whole process over again.

Eventually, Petunia noticed that their finances were changing for the better and couldn't understand why. She went over to her husband while he and Harry were eating their breakfasts.

"Vernon, could you explain two things to me. Why is the boy eating at the table and why has our savings taken a giant boost up?"

Both males smiled rather smugly at her. Vernon motioned her to sit and asked Harry to explain to his aunt the reason for the second question.

"Well Aunt Petunia," Harry started, "As you know, I took that basic economics class last year and after returning that day with Hagrid to the wizarding marketplace, I began to sort through and examine everything I'd bought and brought back with me. I noticed that the large coins, the Galleons, were made from gold. I then began to wonder, using the knowledge of that class, how much the gold was worth here in the non-magical side. After careful research, I discovered that the coin weighed 6 ounces and that the price of gold was £207.54 per ounce at the time. Now 6 ounces multiplied by £207.54 would net me £1245.24. I negotiated with Uncle Vernon that if he were to drive me to the gold dealer then to the bank where I could open an account, I would offer him 5% of the value of the gold."

Petunia was surprised and impressed to say the least. She looked at her husband and was amazed to see a look of pride on his face then turned back to her nephew.

"Now to continue, on the way home, I asked Uncle Vernon if he was interested in having a bit of fun at the wizarding world's expense and here we are. Based on how little oversight there is regarding the exchange of gold versus pounds, which stands at 5 pounds to every 1 Galleon, we figure that if the price of gold doesn't fluctuate too much, we have earned in the 2 weeks since starting this scheme, £310,124.05. To help Uncle Vernon offset any inconvenience of driving us between Gringott's, the gold dealer and the Bank of London, I'm paying him 5% of the earned value of the gold." (A/N: 5% of £310,124.05 = £15,506.23, the amount Vernon was depositing into his family's account.)

Petunia's mouth dropped open and her face paled. She turned to her husband sharply as he nodded.

"Keep in mind Pet, that we couldn't do this too often as someone might get wise to the scheme and frankly it would devalue the price of gold tremendously." Vernon said, "Over the course of Harry's schooling, he's agreed to send home 10 Galleons to keep things going. He even negotiated with the bank to give us 7% interest over the course of this year as long as he keeps £100 per month in the account then starting next year, over the course of the next 15 years, 10% interest as long as we keep £10,000 in the account. As for why I'm allowing him to eat at the table with us and a normal meal at that… well, I'd say that he's earned it. "