Investing in the Future

Chapter Thirteen

Harry stood on the balcony, resting his hands on the rail as he looked out over the island, so much had happened since he had signed the paperwork for the islands. Voldemort had been truly dead for almost three years now, Dumbledore was locked away in prison, although word was that his health was in very rapid decline now. The old fool had refused to believe, even when shown the darkened prophecy orb, and so he had come after Harry, insisting he had to die for Riddle to pass on. That had been the first test of their security and it had held up admirably, to a point. By the time the once great wizard had broken through, he'd been weakened enough that Harry and Hermione had managed to take him down, together. The goblins had happily taken charge of Dumbledore since they didn't have a court system up at that point, although they did have a prison. Britain had tried to demand his release but there wasn't a lot they could do. It had ended up with Harry being revealed as King of the Sanctus Islands. That had caused an uproar in the Magical World, not just Britain.

Originally, they hadn't planned for his identity to come to light until after his seventeenth birthday, but the Dumbledore situation had forced their hand. Thankfully they were established enough to stand as a nation, they now had some trade agreements with other countries, mostly Central American and Caribbean ones, although they did some limited trade with the magical side of the USA. Basically, nearby countries who needed the help they could give in exchange for raw materials and even extra hands and one of the few countries who had begun opening up more and accepting non magicals.

Work had begun on a new Jurassic Park, still on Isla Nublar. They had used wards first and then fences to cut off a section of the island, down near the lagoon, and work had begun there on various buildings, such as the control room, security offices, labs and workers accommodation. The dinosaurs were being left to roam since there was no reason to lock them away in enclosures. The park was still many years away from opening and there was still a lot of legal red tape with InGen to go through, but it was a good start. They hadn't done anything with Isla Sorna, leaving it as only a nature preserve, though Harry was considering opening it to limited scientific visits.

He was still dating Hermione and he had plans for his seventeenth birthday that involved a nice velvet box. Neville had started dating Luna last year and to everyone's shock, Blaise and Kelly had hit it off as friends and everyone was wondering how that would evolve as she got older, a four year age gap was nothing to a magical with their extended lifespans. Harry was a Godfather now, Remus and Nym had married just before his sixteenth birthday, little Teddy had been born six months ago, already showing signs of his mother's gifts and not his father's curse, something they were all grateful for. Sirius had dated twice but seemed happy as a bachelor. In two months he'd be hosting a wedding as Alan and Ellie were finally tying the knot. Everyone agreed that it was about time, Harry had assumed they were married when they first met because of how close they were.

Things had been going well, although the InGen board, specifically Peter Ludlow, John Hammond's nephew, was stirring things up, trying to take over from his uncle. For now they were watching and waiting, Ian had called it giving him enough rope to hang himself. It was obvious he wanted to exploit the dinosaurs and finish the small park in San Diego. Harry only owned the land, InGen owned the dinosaurs. Theoretically, it wasn't a problem since between them, Harry and John owned the majority shares in the company...unless John was removed from the board in a way that didn't enact his will. Harry wasn't sure what he thought of the Masrani's, but he was sure he could work with Simon better than Peter. He didn't like thinking about John dying, they didn't se each other much in person, emails and video calls didn't count, but he was still almost like a grandfather and he knew it was really going to hurt.

"Planning on coming?" Hermione called and he turned, smiling at her with flowers braided into her hair and a lightweight dress on, one definite plus to living here was the lack of cold weather.