Chapter Four

Aging Cassandra Trelawney stood, hidden underneath an illusion charm, watching the Weasley children play in the back garden from up a hill, a great distance away. Her arms were folded, and she watched carefully.

The twins Fred and George were chasing on their toy broomsticks after Ron, who was crying as he ran and clutching his teddy bear. Percy was tearfully yelling at them all to quiet down. Even as Cassandra watched, the girl, Ginny, threw a rock with careful aim at Fred's toy broomstick. It dovetailed out of the air and took George's down with it.

"Hey!" Fred and George looked up from the ground.

Ginny stood there, smirking, her arms folded. "Serves you right," she said. "You big louts."

The two older boys, Bill and Charlie, were inside helping their mother with something.

But Cassandra had her eyes on another boy. Awkward, skinny, and freckled, with messy reddish hair, he did look conceivably like a Weasley, but if one watched close enough, they could see that the hair was more brown than it was gold and some of the features weren't quite right. Not that it mattered. Molly Weasley could attest that she'd given birth to the boy.

Newton - or Newt - Weasley was bent over a garden gnome, gently and quietly trying to coax it out of a hole without getting his fingers bitten off. His pockets were full of frogspawn, his clothes simple, old fashioned, and earthy.

Nicolas Flamel appeared, also hidden, beside Cassandra Trelawney. "You know," he said, "your family thinking you're dead won't be of much use if you appear alive beside Ottery St Catchpole."

"I couldn't help myself. I was interested. He seems to be getting on quite well." Cassandra watched Newt cannily. "No apparent knowledge of the fact that I took his soul and corporeal outline from a different timeline just before it entered 1920's New York, and had him reborn in our timeline as the twin brother of Ronald Weasley to Molly and Arthur."

"I think they had enough children. I don't see why you had to choose them," Nicolas pointed out. "They are rather poor. The husband works in the bloody Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office."

"Of course you don't see." Cassandra frowned absently. "Not yet."

"Still, the power of a strong Seer using a Time Turner and an unborn infant's prophecy magic. Who knew such an experiment could reap such potent benefits," said Nicolas thoughtfully. "Do you think Newt Scamander knows he has a double?"

"He has no bloody idea." Cassandra smirked. "And neither does anybody else. Not yet. Even Dumbledore will doubt himself until he has solid proof, and by that point it will be too late. The Weasleys still think naming their son after Newt Scamander was their idea."

"Not very subtle."

"I wasn't going for subtle."

Nicolas sighed. "Are you ever going to tell me anything?"

"Are you still giving me control over your estate after you die?" Cassandra sounded idle, not terribly interested, casual.

"Yes. Are you going to start work from behind the scenes at that point?"

Cassandra smirked. "I already have. Placing Zuling Hanzen with Harry Potter was no accident."

"What?"

"Nothing."

Nicolas sighed. "Cassandra, I can appreciate that you like to play with the world like it's your chess toy, but I do wish you would tell other people about it sometimes. Your family at least deserves to know you're still alive."

"They'd tell Dumbledore," said Cassandra flatly.

"Would that be so bad? He's a good friend of mine. Why on earth don't you trust Albus Dumbledore?"

"Albus Dumbledore doesn't even trust himself." Cassandra turned away dismissively. "It's why he's never accepted the position as Minister for Magic. You didn't really think the placement of Harry Potter with Muggles and the suppression of primary school reports on his behalf was my idea, did you?"

Author's Note: This is the beginning of a Harry Potter/Fantastic Beasts crossover. See my story Operation Makeover for details, but essentially I'm doing a gigantic Harry Potter AU and this is a little taste of what's to come. I had to find a way to bring my favorite Fantastic Beasts character into my Harry Potter timeline. :)

If you're confused at any point about this story, see Operation Makeover. The two really should be read together. If you're interested in getting updates for when I've posted book one of this series, I would also either follow my author page or Operation Makeover.

I will explain more about the Cassandra and Newt decision at a later date.