Chapter 1

"A Gentleman Inspired Others To Dream More, Learn More, Do More And Become More"

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The towering buildings of Atlas city were quite a sight to behold for someone that has never gazed upon their beauty before, especially given that not many people were even able to live in Atlas due to limited space and the fact that it was literally a floating city. Only the rich, powerful, or brilliant were even considered to be allowed to live in Atlas, not including its Huntsman school that had recently been incorporated into their military. Still, transports could be seen coming and going from the floating marvel of modern engineering almost day and night, but one such transport was rather special when compared to the others. It wasn't what this transport was carrying, but rather who.

As the ramp lowered to allow those traveling to Atlas to exit the vehicle, one man stood apart from all the others in both appearance and mood. Tall and slender, yet not to the point that he lacked a decent amount of muscle, a man in apparently his late forties to early fifties strolled out as if he owned the very ground in which he walked. Messily, yet surprisingly well groomed, black hair was swept back and out of his face; the lines of silver that ran through his black locks and well trimmed beard gave him a very mature look. His strong jaw and aged lines around his face didn't detract from his more refined handsomeness in any way. In fact, it was his bright emerald eyes that showed just how youthful he still was despite his body saying otherwise.

Yet it was his clothes that really set him apart from the other passengers in which he shared a transport with, or more specifically it was the quality in which they were made. First was his well fitting dress shirt, being smooth to the touch while retaining his body head while in such a cold environment. His pants were equally well made, as was the belt he wore with a lion's head belt buckle portrayed proudly. The riding boots he wore, in which his pants were neatly tucked into as to keep in as much warmth as possible, were of a stylish black leather with red highlights dancing across them until they came to a small metal head just above his toes. Finally, to top everything else off, he wore a well made vest under a wool double breasted business overcoat.

CLICK. CLACK. CLICK. CLACK

Ah yes, and one could not even fail to notice the high quality cane held loosely in his right hand, covered by a black leather glove. The shaft was made of fine wood, pure hickory heartwood if one were to ask, while a roaring silver lion's head was crafted as the handle. It should also be noted that the lions eyes had been replaced by small rubies,

This was Harrison James Potter, a well to do business man that had seemingly appeared out of thin air and managed to build a business that rivaled that of the Schnee Dust Company; reportedly in only a few years when compared to the generations it took the Schnee family. Rumor has it that he's been going to every major kingdom, investing it what many would consider small businesses, and somehow turning out such a large profit. Weapons, dust, real estate, protection for villages outside the kingdoms, and even dabbling in scientific study. Now he has come to Atlas.

The streets of Atlas were no different than any other city, even having vehicles for the limited roads they were able to pave, and as such a new arrival would eventually find themselves surrounded by stores of every shape and size. There were weapons stores of various sizes, clothing fronts with many surprises, but what drew Harry's attention the most was a small little place serving not even a ghost. It was a quaint little tea shop, tucked out of the way and standing out against the polished metal with its dull red brick.

"Hm, perhaps one cup before I get down to business," Harry mused, a small smile playing across his lips, "Heh, I guess I still have a bit of the old me lurking around a bit."

The inside of the tea shop could only be described as warm and wholesomely inviting to even the coldest of individuals. While the walls were still lined with the same red brick as the outside, the many paintings that hung upon them depicted open grasslands and fields of beautiful flowers. Roaring in the back corner was a large fireplace, using real wood instead of just being for decorations, and resting upon them were several small glass houses with unique designs for each. Leaning up against the counter, with a book held open, was a young woman that looked no older than twenty. Judging by the image displayed on the cover of said book, she was well entranced by a juicy romance novel. Harry smiled a bit as he approached the counter and the girl made no move to even indicate she heard him.

"Is it a good read?" Harry wasn't going to lie, what remained of his Marauder side got a small kick out of watching the young girl almost jump out of her own skin with a flush spreading across her otherwise pale face.

"Oh my Oum, I am so sorry mister," the girl apologized profusely, tucking a strand of long dark brown hair behind her ear as she quickly shut her book and tucked in beneath the counter; Harry noted the flush never left her cheeks even after she got her breath under control.

"That's quite alright," Harry raised his hand in a placating gesture, cutting the poor girl off before she could continue apologizing, and gave her the kind of charming smile only a well cultured man could give, "I can understand the temptation of a very good book well enough. No harm done."

The girl let out a shaky breath as she gave him a nervous smile, clearly happy that she wasn't in any trouble and hopefully her boss wouldn't hear about her reading on the job. She just got the job and has to catch a transport from Mantel every morning just to make it to work; she kind of needed the money.

"Thank you, sir. Now, how can I help you?" she asked, pulling out her work scroll and preparing to take Harry's order; Harry looked to consider his options for just the briefest of moments.

"Earl Grey, please, and, if it's not too much trouble, could I trouble you for one of those slices of lemon cake?" Harry asked, the little pastry had caught his attention and he did have some time to indulge himself.

"Of course, sir. If you'd like to pick a table, I'll bring it out to you when it's ready," she motioned towards the very empty tables and booths, put one or two soft leather chairs with a table positioned next to them.

Harry just nodded his head, turned, and went to claim one of the leather chairs that was practically calling out to him like a long lost lover. The seats on the transport ship he'd come in on had been less than relaxing, despite how high class they already were, and nothing could quite compare to real leather. Harry let out a content sigh as he sat down, leaning his cane up against the side of his chair while crossing one leg over the other, and pulled out his scroll to help pass the time. Hermione would have loved this place, both the tea shop and Atlas itself, but more specifically she would have loved to find all the secrets Remnant had to offer.

This place really was something else, being so similar to earth in some ways and yet so vastly different in others. Young adults being taught from a young age to fight a seemingly never ending wave of monsters bent on their destruction. Abilities so close to magic, their souls being made manifest into personal shields that protects them from danger and yet is subconsciously shut down to allow for day to day life. Harry's first few years on Remnant were quite interesting, to say the least, but he was nothing if not resourceful. Sure he could have lived a simple life, that's always an option in his current line of work, but even after all this time he still had a saving people thing. Still, he had an appointment list to check and it wasn't time to go down memory lane.

12:00-1:30 FLIGHT TO ATLAS

1:30-2:15 FREE HOURS TO BECOME ACQUAINTED WITH ATLAS

2:30-4:00 MEETING WITH CEO OF SCHNEE DUST COMPANY

4:00-5:30 DINNER

"Hm, good, everything's in order," Harry said to himself, closing his scroll and slipping it back into his jacket's inside pocket; just in time for his tea and lemon cake to arrive with a kind smile from apparently the only worker on staff at the moment.

"What's your book about?" Harry suddenly asked the moment the young woman got back to the counter and tried to look busy, no doubt because she actually had someone to serve and didn't want to look like a lazy worker that didn't do anything when no one was around.

"Excuse me?" she asked in return, her attention now fully back on Harry.

"Your book, what's it about? I'm assuming it has a plot?" Harry teased more than asked, wondering if he'd grown to enjoy making younger people all flustered or if it was just because this young woman brought back memories from quite some time ago.

"Um...yes sir, it does have a plot. It's based on an old fairy-tale I was told about as a little girl. About a young traveler that rescues a princess from her evil father and they go off to live together. I mean, it's a little more detailed than that, with names and places and things, but...yea," she rambled, messing with the ends of her shirt like a nervous tick, but Harry just kept smiling.

"You're new to this kind of job, aren't you?" it was a statement more than a question, mostly because it was just that obvious to someone like Harry.

In turn the girl glanced away, almost like she was too embarrassed that she'd been found it, "Am I that obvious?"

"It's perfectly alright, especially for someone so young," Harry said, sipping some of his still smoking tea before setting it down with a satisfied sigh, "But the real question is; would you like to know a few tricks to make it better?"

The young woman seemed to think about it for a long moment before moving to sit down on the leather seat across from Harry, making sure to face the door just in case an unlikely new customer decided to walk in. It would be in that very chair that Harry would begin giving her pointers on how to appear more steady footed when meeting new people. Look them in the eye but don't stare rudely. Keep your back straight when standing because slouching makes it look like you don't care. Introduce yourself in the first or second sentence, depending on how in a rush the customer is. She grew a bit more flustered when he brought up better ways to read a book without being caught by a random customer walking in out of the blue.

Before either of them knew it, thirty minutes had flown right on by and Harry's scroll buzzed to let him know he'd better get a move on. It brought a smile to his face when, after only knowing him for half an hour, the young woman was now speaking so casually to him. She hadn't even noticed, which was the best part in his mind, and she'd quickly put his hints into practice. Still, Harry had work to do and it was time to get to it.

"Well, it would seem our time together has come to an end," Harry said, his tea and cake long since consumed, as he retrieved his cane and stood up from the still rather comfy leather chair.

"O-Oh, I'm sorry for taking up so much of your time," the girl went to apologize for what felt like the hundredth time, but Harry once again silenced her by simply raising his hand.

"Don't be, I rather enjoyed having someone to talk to in order to pass the time. In fact, I think I'll come back to this place again since the company was so nice," Harry replied with a smile, moving to the door without a second word.

"My name is Ashley, by the way!" the girl called out just as Harry opened the door to the shop, "All this time talking and I never introduced myself."

Harry turned back to face Ashley, giving her a mock bow, "Harrison James Potter, it was a pleasure to meet you, Ashley."

And like that, Harry stepped back out into the busy Atlas streets and went on his merry way. A rather strong gust of cold wind made Harry flip up the collar on his coat, which was followed by buttoning up a few more buttons to keep the collar up, but nothing would really chase the cold away until he got to where he needed to go.

CLICK. CLACK. CLICK. CLACK.

The sound of Harry's cane clacking against the concrete sidewalk was like an ominous bell to all who could hear it, which made the crowded streets unconsciously part and make way for his passing. It also came to Harry's attention that he'd only seen humans since arriving in Atlas, which unfortunately began to validate the rather disturbing rumors he'd heard about how they viewed the faunus species. Even down in Mantal, where everyone was borderline poor and down on their luck, the few faunus he'd seen were homeless or just about there. Perhaps, once his business with the Schnee Dust Company was complete, Harry would see about doing away with such barbaric social norms.

The buildings grew larger and larger the deeper he traveled into the very heart of the floating city, until he came across a building that didn't quite fit in with the rest. It was a mansion by every definition of the word, grand in design with the Schnee family glyph floating atop three pillars placed directly in the middle of the massive "U" shaped driveway, and no doubt extremely expensive. Harry had found it rather interesting that the founder of the S.D.C., a well respected man by the name of Nicholas Schnee, had allowed his son-in-law to take control of the company instead of his one and only daughter. After all, it was a well known fact that Nicholas had no problem with women taking charge, giving that he married Margaretha von Waldek of all people, and had no doubt conditioned his daughter to eventually take command. Now, if the rumors were to be believed, Nicholas sat in some far off country home while his company's reputation was being ripped apart faster that a pack of wolves could kill a pitiful little rabbit.

It was also rather odd that someone like Jacques Schnee, formally of the low and modest family of Gelé, was able to convince the founder of the most powerful company in the world that he was worthy enough to marry his daughter. Harry considered the many ways the young Jacques could have gone about pulling off such a miracle, from seducing Willow Schnee with soft words to somehow gaining leverage over Nicholas himself in some way shape or form. Just another thing he would get to look into during his wonderful stay in Atlas City.

Walking up to the overly large doors, Harry reached out with his cane and pressed the snowflake shape button just to the side. Even from outside, Harry could hear the highly stylized sound of the doorbell ringing within the massive mansion. The door opened and a short portly man greeted him; Klein Sieben if Harry's research into the Schnee family was accurate, to which he had no doubt it was.

"Can I help you, sir?" Klein asked with as much politeness as a man of his station was expected to show, especially since he was the personal butler to the entire family and had been hired on by Nicholas Schnee himself.

"Good evening," Harry greeted with a slight nod of his head and a tip of his cane, "I believe I'm expected. Harrison James Potter, here to see Jacques Schnee."

Klein seemed to stand a little straighter at those words, his shoulders nice and square, white his eyes shifted color from light brown to a solid yellow, "Of course, sir, please come in!"

The main entry was massive in size, not to mention as equally ghastly in Harry's eyes, and it did well to show off the Schnee family fortune. The large stairway, which went right down the middle before splitting off in two directions to the second floor, was made out of ivory stone and had a blue carpet going right up the middle. On either side of the stairwell were equally as large statues of knights standing at the ready, their armor matching that of which Nicholas himself wore in his younger years. Not to mention the snowflake design on the marble floor was made of two distinct shades of blue.

"Quite the decorator Jacques must employ," Harry commented lightly, feeling as if stepping inside hadn't diminished the cold in the slightest.

"Y-Yes, Mr. Schnee felt like changing some things from the way Sir Nicholas preferred them," Klein's eyes flashed a bright red for the briefest of moments before returning to their bright yellow, "Oh, how rude of me, may I take you coat, Mr. Potter?"

"Ah, no thank you," Harry waved the balding man away politely, "I'm still not quite used to Atlas weather and it's still rather cold to me."

"Very well, if you'd wait here just a moment, I'll inform Mr. Schnee of your arrival," Klein was gone a moment later, leaving Harry alone in the big empty main hall; being here reminded him of a colder version of Hogwarts.

Closing his eyes for a moment, Harry opened them to find the world around him had changed; or more specifically the manor had changed. What was once cold and blue, was now replaced by bright shades of red and royal purple. The chandelier above him glowed with red dust instead of blue, the statues next to the stairs had been replaced by roses, and the blue rug was now a deep purple with an intricate red pattern. It was what this place looked like before Jacques took over.

"Hm, good taste, Nicholas."

The sound of footsteps cleared Harry's mind, the room returned to its normal cold self, and Harry turned to find someone new standing before him. This new person was wearing a pure white double-breasted blazer with a red handkerchief in the breast pocket. Underneath, he wears a light-blue dress shirt, vest and a white clip-on tie , printed with the same emblem on his shoes and above his study. He also has a silver-colored ring on his right hand. Slicked back coal black hair sat atop his head with a pencil thin mustache on his lip, not to mention his ice cold blue eyes.

He was none other than Jacques Schnee.

"Mr. Potter, I trust your time in Atlas has been well?" Jacques asked, offering his hand for Harry to shake to which he did.

"I've only just arrived a little more than an hour ago, but so far it has lived up to its reputation as the miracle of modern science and engineering," Harry replied in kind, following Jacques after the man motioned for him to follow down one of the many hallways branching out into the Schnee property; Klein followed dutifully behind them both.

"Very good, very good, would you like a tour before we discuss business?" It was well known that powerful men hardly had any spare time, but such was the burden of success.

"As enjoyable as that would be, I'm afraid that my schedule is rather packed at the moment. I hope you understand," Harry eyed the paintings and statues as they walked down the corridor, spotting one of the Schnee family that looked relatively new.

Jacques was obviously in the picture, standing in the back with Willow Schnee to his left and a young girl placed firmly in between them. Harry had heard rumors about the beautiful daughter of Nicholas Schnee, but those rumors did little justice to reality. Judging by the picture, Willow was a tall and fit young woman with pale skin and slanted blue eyes. Her long white hair, exotic in its own right, was long and hung loose in the picture. Also, the dress she wore fit her perfectly; the dark blues and light purples were definitely her style.

"Ah, I see you've stumbled across by two girls," Jacques said when he'd noticed Harry stop to admire the painting, a small smile playing across his lips as he too gazed up at the images of his wife and first born.

"You're quite a lucky man, to have such a beautiful family. Were it that everyone was so lucky."

"Yes, you've no idea how long it took me to prove myself to Nicholas. He was a man that wanted the best for his daughter and I was dead set on proving that I was the one. Upon our first outing, Nicholas took me Grimm hunting and put the fear of the gods into me," Jacques admitted freely, remembering what it was like to be in Nicholas' suffocating presence when he summoned quite a few of his famed glyphs to make his point.

Soon enough both businessmen moved on and eventually arrived in Jacques' office, which looked just a bit more inviting than the rest of the manor. The book shelves that lined both walls were filled to the brim, which was an odd sight in this day and age. Two sofas sat in the middle of the office, a small coffee table between them with an unused chessboard sitting upon it. Further along was Jacques' desk itself, no doubt made out of some finely crafted wood and filled with the most advanced computer technology that money could buy.

"Would you care for something to drink?" Jacques asked politely, walking over to where an assortment of drinks sat with two empty glasses, "Wine, scotch, whiskey?"

"Two fingers of whiskey, please."

With their drinks poured and their seats taken, it was time to get down to business. Harry's goal was rather simple in form but complicated in acquisition. Jacques' goal was to find out if he could use Harry to turn and even larger profit and branch out into other areas not dominated by dust mining. It was like a game of chess, but only one of them knew they were even playing.

"So, a mutual friend of ours, who I take very seriously, said that you're looking to get into the dust mining business," Jacques said, taking a sip of his drink before putting it down on the table in between them, "And while I have no problem selling you the mine you requested, a part of me can't help but wonder why you'd want one of my stripped ones? I've sent in multiple teams over the years and they've all told me the same exact thing; the mine is bare of all dust veins worth the effort."

Harry grinned a bit, "What if I told you that they were wrong? That I could guarantee at least twenty more years of production from this single mine alone?"

"I'd ask what your secret was and how much it would cost me to be included in it," Jacques knew that dust mines all across the world were slowly but surely beginning to run dry, meaning the life blood of his company would run out.

"I'm afraid the secret must remain mine and mine alone, but that doesn't mean you can't still profit from it. On average, according to your public records at least, your largest mine produces a little more than seven tons of pure raw dust a week. Of the twenty three mines owned by the S.D.C., fifteen of them are supposedly more than half way depleted," Harry finished his drink with one last tilt of his head, "If we go into business together, this one mine you sign over to me will produce more than double what those fifteen could. In fact, the only thing that would slow it down was that it would need to be physically mined."

Harry could see the disbelief in Jacques' eyes, could feel the uncertainty practically oozing of him in waves. It's why Harry had spent the last few years building a reputation of being able to pull off the impossible, while also keeping to the agreed business arrangements that are agreed upon. Yet still, even will her booming reputation, this would be little more than an act of faith on Mr. Schnee's part. Even if it would amount to little risk for himself.

"How long will you be in Atlas for?" Jacques inquired, Harry smiled.

"For as long as there is business to be done,"

HOOK

"If you'd be willing to provide proof of what you say, after I've signed the mine over to you, then we can talk more on furthering our partnership."

LINE

Harry held out his hand, the light catching his emerald eyes in a way that almost made them glow, "Very well, I'll stick around for now, I'm a man of my word."

Jacques shook it.

AND SINKER!

"Now then, since our business is concluded for the day and yet our time isn't up, perhaps you could regale me as to how you managed to grow your own company so quickly and in so little time? The upper echelons of Atlas society have been drenched in rumor after rumor for quite some time now," Jacques proposed, getting an almost bashful look from Harry.

"Why, I wasn't aware that my story was so interesting. Very well, you could say my story began not long after I'd been robbed by a rather angry woman."