Lord Of Time

32

Chapter 32

During breakfast it seemed nearly every student at the Slytherin table received one thing or another, all boxed up for a journey towards Hogwarts whether it was Owl Order or something from their parents. With it getting so close to the Yule ball, well, most pureblood's had tailors who created the dresses for them from scratch.

You could tell from the squealing of the witches that it was what had come, they'd been talking about it long enough. If Harry had cared to look he would have seen it was the same for a lot of people at the other house tables. Yet Harry wasn't interested in that, he was currently reading the missive he had received from the publishing company he had sent his work too.

They were publishing it for him, two hundred books to start with and if they sold well more would follow. Harry didn't think it would if he was honest, it wasn't a book they'd want to believe in, and it completely contradicted their own solid beliefs.

Purebloods were too proud to let the book tarnish their views, hopefully he was wrong though. The proof was all in the book, now that was something that couldn't be rejected. At the bottom was a check for Gringotts, he would need to get it put in the bank soon.

They'd even given him an advance on the book, he'd made sure to get 'Advance against royalties' when signing the contract. They'd actually tried to get him to sign a flat fee contract, with a measly four thousand galleons.

They must have thought he was a fucking idiot, they'd chosen the wrong one to try and con. It made Harry realize the book might actually be more popular than he was betting on. A flat fee was a set amount of money for signing over the rights of the book, and nothing else no matter how well it sold, Advance against royalties was a combination of an advance against his book and money for each book that was sold.

He would have gone to a different publishing company but he decided against all the drama just made it clear to the company that he might be young but he was far from stupid, that they give him respect and a decent offer or he'd look elsewhere. He'd signed the contract and burnt the apology they'd sent two days ago, now he had his money, and his books would be on the shelf within a week.

"When's the next Hogsmeade weekend?" Harry asked, as he filled his plate with food using only one hand, he didn't want to get grease all over his paperwork or check come to that.

"First day of the Christmas holidays, which makes it the twenty-second," Carrow informed him, he'd just been looking at the announcement board earlier this morning to see for himself. He didn't have anyone's gifts yet, so he'd had to see if he would need to get it over owl post or if he would be visiting.

"Last visit before Christmas," Harry mused, it would be simple enough to sneak away and Apparate to Gringotts put the check in his account and take some money out and get everything he needed.

He would have to buy everyone something this year, seen as they'd all gotten him something for Christmas last year and hadn't expected something in return. He knew them all, but well enough to know what the heck they'd like? Nope, definitely not, although considering the length of time Tom spent poking around in their minds he wouldn't be surprised if he knew.

"Are you actually coming this time, Hadrian?" Alphard questioned as he ate his breakfast.

"Yes, I've got to make a pit stop at Gringotts though," Harry replied smirking in amusement at the egg that fell and splattered all over Alphard's front causing him to curse in annoyance. He shook his head, it was hard to believe Alphard was a part of Tom's group, he'd always assumed he was one of the few Black's who hadn't been part of it.

He had given Sirius money after all, and been stuck of the family tree for his 'betrayal'. Maybe family had come first to him; either that or he just had no kids of his own to leave his money too. He wished he'd paid more attention to the family tree, he didn't know as much as he wished he did.