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Prior knowledge of economics is neither required nor expected to read (and enjoy) this story.

"Sometimes freedom from normal rules is what gives you competitive advantage."

- Reid Hoffman

You see, Vernon loved money more than anything else in the world. He hated poor people because they had less money than him. He hated rich people because they had more money than him. And above all, he hated being poor. So when he discovered something unnatural about his nephew, he paid no attention to that small part of his brain which cried 'freak' and 'unnatural', because a portly old man with a moustache and a top hat on his shoulder told him otherwise.

Was a Rolls-Ross unnatural? Or how about a mansion, and a private driver, and a maid, and a butler too? Or maybe even a private plane. Yes, he could see it now. Sir Vernon Dursley, charitable billionaire extraordinaire and self-made man. No, it was merely different, and anyone who thought otherwise was simply too poor to understand better. He almost pitied them, because he'd been in their shoes once.

Now, though, he had the keys to untold fortunes in his hand. A unique competitive advantage that no one else could replicate.

So he'd brought the boy to a casino, to see if he could magic up some tricks. After all, wasn't that what magicians did? Abracadabra, and hocus pocus, and the cards changed? Bah! They wouldn't let the boy in, because he was 'too young'. What a sham! They were probably intimidated by his well-built figure and intimidating presence, afraid they'd lose money (and they'd be right).

He thought about it some more, and then brought the boy to his business meetings. Not to a meeting room, of course, but always at restaurants (on the company dime), and waived away the boy's presence - my nephew, you know, his parents passed away and there's no one left at home to look after him today. He didn't know how it worked, but after a few beatings and the promise of juicy steak and ice cream desserts, the boy could tell if they were lying, more often than not. It wasn't perfect, but it worked most of the time, and that was enough to give him some big wins at work.

It was only a couple years before his boss called him in and offered him to the chance to buy in as an equity partner in Grunnings. Great sales! You've really stepped it up. Pulling in major clients! Landing great deals!

He'd told them no. And then he'd left.

They made drills. Why would he want to put money in that? No, the drill bit business wasn't great. There was too much competition, both domestically and from overseas. Especially the Americans and Germans, they'd forced Grunnings out of their markets. It was only his efforts alone that had enabled them to establish a tiny foothold overseas. There were even talks of tariffs on the horizon!

The profit margins were high on low-volume drill bits, and low on high-volume drill bits. At one point, business had even been so bad they had been forced to retool their production line, and then eventually outsource it to China. Now, even that was getting expensive, and the board was debating whether to move to Vietnam or Thailand, or so he'd heard.

However, he had a secret weapon. A competitive edge that nobody else knew about. A human lie detector, and in time, maybe more.

And so, he started selling knives.

That hadn't been the plan, but one of his company's old clients had gone bankrupt, and there had been leftover inventory - tens of thousands of knives. Nobody had wanted it, so he had picked it up on sale. Turns out, nobody wanted it for a reason. There wasn't any demand for knives at the moment!

Left with a massive warehouse of knives (and the ongoing cost of paying for the rent and storage fees), he'd pulled the boy out and tried selling them to individuals instead. And surprisingly, he'd manage to scam a bunch into taking them off his hands. Who would have thought that having a human lie detector also made it easier to tell lies of your own and scam people?

But the joke was on him, because one of those people turned around and sold those very same knives he'd sold for a healthy profit. However, let it not be said that anybody ever took advantage of Vernon Dursley!

A eureka moment had struck him. He wasn't going to get rich selling those knives. He'd been selling drills for years, and where did that leave him? Middle class. No, what he should do was sell those knives to other people for them to sell, and if they did the same, they'd have to pay him a small commission. It was only fair, right?

He was familiar with commissions. When he was at Grunnings, most of his income came from commissions. As the most successful salesman there, he'd earn a cut of a very large amount of sales, which had allowed him to bring home more money than his boss. But not enough to buy a Rolls Royce, or even a private plane.

But what if the commission money came flowing to him from all directions, like a tree with its branches spreading outwards?

The next few months proved that it was a brilliant idea. He'd sold his knives here and there, and those people had in turn sold the same knives onward, and so on and so forth. And every time a transaction had occurred, a small cut of that money would go back to him!

A few more years of this, and the boy began to show other tricks. Setting things on fire, changing their color, and so on. Little things, but used right ... they could go a long way.

And so, he'd started playing up the theatrics. Dressing in very expensive suits, wearing a Rolox, driving around a Rolls-Ross (the private plane was still out of his reach!), and using some of the boy's tricks in their gatherings, when thousands of knife sellers would come and listen to how he'd become successful (off them, of course!). But it wasn't a scam - they could do the same, if they worked hard enough. They became even more enthusiastic, and soon he was appearing on TV programs, and advertisements, and the like.

Life was good. Business was going international, and he was expanding into retail, jewelry, and real estate. There were even plans for a hotel in the works, and he'd slap his name on it. The 'DURSLEY' brand brought fame and recognition anywhere he went.

And then one day, a letter arrived.