The Cupboard Series 5: United We Stand ...

Chapter 10

"Thank you for seeing me today, Slipshard," Harry said as he bowed to the goblin.

"It is what I'm here for, Harry," Slipshard replied, indicating that Harry take a seat in front of his desk. "Besides, managing the Potter accounts has always proved interesting and challenging, something no self-respecting goblin would ever shy away from."

Harry gave a lopsided grin in response to the feral pointed one from his friend.

"What is it that I can do for you today?" Slipshard asked.

"I'd like to make some decisions about the land across from Ynys Crochenydd," Harry stated.

In response, Slipshard pulled a folder sitting to the side of his desk across so that it sat in front of him.

"I anticipated your desire," the wily goblin remarked.

Opening the folder, he removed a single piece of parchment and passed it across.

"The survey of the land as you requested. To summarise: the land encompasses two hundred and fifty acres, including just under three kilometres of coastline. For the most part, it is desolate, undeveloped land, apart from one small section of forty acres that appears to have at one time been farmland. There are no buildings or structures apart from the single pier that you are already aware of. In terms of wards, there is only a single muggle-repelling ward," Slipshard said.

Harry's eyes scanned down the page, his finger tapping on the part that mentioned the old farmland. That could be useful.

"How hard would it be to develop?" he asked.

"Depending on what you had in mind, not hard at all," Slipshard replied. "Magic is, after all, very useful."

Harry nodded absently, before digging into his pocket and pulling out a slightly crumpled piece of paper. Flattening it out, he lay it on the desk in front of him. After scribbling a quick note on it, he looked up.

"I've written a few ideas of what I'd like to do with land, if it's possible, of course," he said.

A single clawed hand waved for him to continue.

"As I've said before, primarily, I'd like a hotel of some kind that parents could stay in if they come to visit their kids at the school. It'd need a dedicated FLOO with direct access to the island, of course, and probably a restaurant of some kind as well? And a road system connected to it from the muggle road system, of course."

Slipshard pulled out half a dozen pieces of parchment and lay them side by side across his desk for Harry to see.

"You have mentioned this before," the goblin said. "I took the liberty of having the dwarves draw up some designs, based on similar things they have done in other locations around the world."

"How many people can these hold?" Harry asked.

"The number of occupants can be varied from a couple of dozen up to many hundreds, depending upon what you require," Slipshard replied.

"Definitely not that large, probably no more than forty or fifty. I'll take these with me and get back to you on the one that I like the best," Harry stated.

"What else did you have in mind?" Slipshard asked.

"I'd like some buildings built that we could rent out as stores – maybe half a dozen to a dozen at most. Some land'll need to be set aside for people to live in; though for the people who work in the stores and their families, it'd probably make sense to have some apartments built above the stores. Oh, and that old farmland? Could we get it going again and maybe even expand it? We could sell the produce to the school – guaranteed market there," he said.