"It makes me really mad. Someday Timothy'll have to fix it and figure out how to recompense everybody and stuff."

Miranda giggles.

"In other countries they don't have goblins doing it, right, how do they do it."

"Depends! Lots of places have the government doing it with the problems I mentioned, some places it's one extremely powerful family, some places there are few enough wizards they don't really even have a currency economy, but those places are falling behind."

"If the government wanted to do it right what would they have to do?"

"I don't know yet. I think I'd have to try some things, I'm not sure I could reason it out from scratch. Be predictable, that's a big thing, and grow the money supply, but I bet there's more to it - though even just doing that'd make you better than practically everyone..."

"Why's being predictable so important?"

"Imagine if it might be that tomorrow Galleons would stop being worth anything! You wouldn't want to have any of your savings in Galleons, would you? Only, also, Sickles could stop being worth anything, Knuts could stop being worth anything - better just buy a lot of land, that's definitely not worth anything but at least it's a status-enhancing way of wasting money...the system works better the more people can count on it to keep working the same way. Every goblin rebellion has been accompanied by a major economic panic."

"...so the agreeing to all want a thing doesn't work if you think other people might stop agreeing to want it?"

"Yup."

"This'll probably make writing my history essay much easier, thank you!"

"Sure!"

Father, he writes, the Hogwarts library is disappointingly inadequate, and I'd like to go to China this summer because the books here don't have any of their incantations. Do you know if this is because the language is legitimately difficult to transcribe? If so, is there a universal alphabet that allows for transcription of any language to a degree of precision necessary for incantations and should I be inventing one?

...

Spent another Saturday talking with the merpeople; notes are attached. We should invent a way to store sounds. Asked Michael about it and he said he'd talked with you about it once and it was very difficult. Can I have a summary of the exploratory work the two of you did, I think I can do it even if it is very difficult and it is anyways very valuable. 

...

I tried duplicating Alessandro Volta's voltaic pile and didn't get anywhere; can you send more copper and zinc, just in case it is a materials problem? And another copy of the letter he wrote the Royal Society, in case it is my understanding that is the problem? I'm also tentatively considering the hypothesis that it's Hogwarts that is the problem, if you were able to get it to work at home but not at the Ministry. If so I am going to correct that at once; it is unacceptable that there should be phenomena Muggles can explore but wizards cannot because some of the school's protections happen to interfere with it. I should also like to import some electric eels to see if Hogwarts interferes with them. 

...

Altogether, a good Saturday.

With love and regard, your son, 

Minor Finis Way

Someone in Ravenclaw comments on the length and frequency of the letters. Minor stares at him scornfully and thinks of another use for staring scornfully at the not-cousins: it gives you practice. 

France is kind of a nightmare right now. The Wizarding world not as much as the Muggle one, but only because nothing could parallel the Muggle one. One of his mother's brothers has come to stay with the family in England, because he has young children, but everyone else is staying because they're afraid if they leave they'll lose everything. He's worried and unhappy and he can't even discuss it with anybody because they will make comments about marrying the French in the first place. 

Thaddeus is very understanding. Thaddeus is solemn and patient and sensible and Zachariah's very appreciative. It's nice to know someone at Hogwarts. 

"Yeah, it is."

"...your brother's here."

"Yeah, but in Gryffindor. We don't have very much in common. I respect him and honor him as my brother but I - it's nice to know someone."

"I hope that doesn't happen to me when my brothers are here."

"It probably won't? Finis's kids all seem really close."

"Do you ever wonder what Finis told his kids about us, to make them so -"

"I mean, they're his kids, they're a lot like him, maybe he wouldn't need to tell them anything."

"Are they a lot like him? Timothy's nice."

"Maybe excepting Timothy," he concedes.

"Do you think he's up to something?"

"He tells everybody he's up to something."