Author Note
For these stories I will be using a CYOA called Crossworlds. I can't post a link so you'll have to go look for it. I found this series online by accident while I wandering the net and I figured that it could be fun to do something that is similar to Jumpchain yet different, and hopefully I won't make a mess of it like I did with that series. You'll need to find the CYOA online and read it in order to understand what is happening because a lot happens very quickly.
As for the CYOA I don't intend to visit all the worlds on it because I don't watch much in the way of anime and I'm thinking of turning the second world visited from a DC/Marvel mashup that doesn't last long into a story where the new MC and a friend join the Young Justice Team after attending Hogwarts as that could be fun to write and I can still use the CYOA to set that up. I'll plan out what to do next once I actually start the second story as planning that far ahead always leads to me skipping to my next story before finishing the last one.
Feel free to ignore the set up as it is mostly for my own reference.
Crossworlds CYOA Set Up
Deity
Loki
Powers
Shapeshifting
Illusions
Burning Hands
(My plan is to appease Loki by using the powers he granted to play pranks on people so that he won't want to prank me)
Class
Red Mage
(I've never been a fighter and best not to specialise if your working alone)
Spells
Poison
Harry Potter World
School House
Ravenclaw
(Best to stay out of Gryffindor and Slytherin since I'm supposed to be hiding from a big bad that means being in the House of the main characters is a bad idea. As for the snake house I'm not a pureblood nor do I want to be Voldemort 2.0. I guess Hufflepuff would be okay, but I need to study hard and not get distracted by people trying to be all friendly. Plus a Ravenclaw you get two speciality classes)
Speciality Classes
Defence Against The Dark Arts
Mind Arts
(I need to learn to fight some evil bastard and to hide the fact that I'm not who I appear to be so these choices makes sense)
Best Friend
Hermione Granger
(She can be annoying however she is intelligent and she's a powerful witch. It will be easy to make her my friend when she arrives at Hogwarts since she has none until Halloween. Luna Lovegood might work better but she'd been two years below the MC and that could be a problem since she'd need be 17 before moving on to the next world. I don't care enough about the other characters to hate or like them and I want the MC to have a romance with the person he's dragging to different universes for profit and adventure)
Artefact
Resurrection Stone
(I know where it is and there's no one dead who I care about enough to be driven to kill myself to be with them, so I should be able to call up the ghosts of dead wizards and witches for short meetings. Maybe the stone can restrain Voldemort's spirit and banish it to the afterlife. Not all prophecies have to come true and the one about Potter and Voldemort doesn't name anyone or even give you a time frame other than the chosen one being born at the end of the seventh month. It could refer to a future dark lord. Also the CYOA indicates that the stone does what it is supposed to do rather than creating illusions that convince you to kill yourself or something like that)
Inventory
Ornate Dagger - cuts through the fabric of reality
World Seed - must be protected
Hogwarts Letter
Personal Effects (food, clothes, toiletries, mobile phone, and laptop, some money)
Implanted AI (it takes on the appearance and mannerisms of Cortana from Halo)
Babel Fish (a translator)
Bottomless Backpack
Crossworlds 1 - Harry Potter
Part 1
The Leaky Cauldron. The Wizarding World.
It was understandable that I found this all a bit too much to deal with. One moment I'd just been heading for the shops to pick up some milk and the next thing I knew I was travelling the multiverse and while I had no intention of ever looking back it was still a lot to take in.
I'd been so eager to escape my old and boring life that I'd not stopped to think about what leaving really meant. Not that I should be mad at myself for leaving because it hadn't been totally selfish of me. I had to protect the world-seed from some big bad who wanted to endanger entire worlds, and I couldn't do that as the man I'd been.
So far it had been a wild ride, I'd gone home and grabbed a few things before heading to the Mall at the Crossworlds and getting a lot of stuff on credit. Which I would have to pay back at some point if I wanted more help from that Bob fellow. Thankfully he accepted gold and they used that as money here and I had plans for making money.
Right now I was sitting in the wizard pub looking as if I was reading some paper while disguised as my adult self using the powers of shapeshifting I'd gained by choosing Loki as my patron. I'd already gone to the bank to exchange some muggle money for the coins that the magical people used as I would need more than whatever charity it was that allowed orphans to go to Hogwarts as Tom Riddle had once done.
If nothing else I'd need some bus fare when I headed to the nearest orphanage, so it helped that I'd not changed all of my muggle money in goblin made money and I'd converted some back so that I had plenty of lose change in coins that hadn't been minted in the next century. The goblins hadn't noticed that my bank notes were different from what the locals used.
In case anyone ever noticed the mistake I'd shapeshifted myself so that the real me could still open up an account at Gringotts if needs be. I was keeping up the appearance of an adult because my actual body was now ten years old thanks to something I'd picked up at the Mall, and people tend to notice when children are by themselves. I didn't wish to be bothered by anyone at this time.
"Fate has a way of making people fit when they enter this world," Cortana reminded me.
Before coming here I'd quickly visited a futurist city that installed an AI into people's minds. This sounded dangerous, but so far it was turning out to be a good idea. The AI only knew what I knew, however she had access to everything I knew, including stuff I'd long forgotten, and with her presence in my mind I had someone to plan with who wouldn't forget my ideas and she'd no need to take any notes.
As I pretended to read the paper, which was a day old issue of the Daily Prophet, I planned out what I was going to do with the aid of my helpful AI. I would go to a muggle orphanage and claim to have been abandoned, social services should take care of the rest, it wasn't as if they'd think that I was trying to get placed into an orphanage on purpose, and they wouldn't be able to find any parents because mine were in a totally different universe.
Once I had a roof over my head I would need to do some accidental magic, only on purpose, and since magical outbursts were connected to intense emotions it shouldn't be too hard to make something happen as I was a ten year old again. Even with my with mature mind I should have far less self control than I used to.
At that point Fate, which was a very active force in this universe, as such she, he, or it should ensure that the magical ten year is shipped off to Hogwarts like the other young witches and wizards of this nation. Or at least that was how things had been explained to me by Bob who ran the Mall at the Crossworlds, he'd not gone into a lot of detail, and I'd not asked because I'd been even more overwhelmed at the time.
Since this paper was only yesterday's edition I knew when I was as well as where. This was the summer before Harry Potter's 11th birthday, something Cortana knew since that information was somewhere buried inside my head, and so I should have a year to settle into Hogwarts, and to study magic, before he arrives and makes things so interesting that I'd get distracted.
During my time at the school I'd also need to find someone who I could take with me to other worlds as I would need allies. It had been advised to me not to gather too many as I would need to pay them all attention, and you don't want to risk losing someone in the confusion, you could end up stranding them in a universe they know nothing about.
The image of Cortana was small enough to stand on the wooden table in front of me and she looked more like a scaled down model than the real thing, she was also naked, and not hiding the fact, keeping her blue coloured body on display. This image of a curvy AI would be more distracting if not for the fact that I'd reversed my aging to the point that I couldn't become sexually aroused.
My new physical state would be annoying as puberty was not something I wished to endure again, but it didn't compare to being murdered by some evil world wandering power hungry bad guy. That was something I really, really wished to avoid.
"So we have a plan," she said.
Only I could see and hear her since the AI was actually an implant that someone had placed inside my skull. The sight and sound of her was possible due to the implant being able to interact with the parts of my brain that sorted out all sights and sounds gathered by a person's senses. So for me she was real even if she wasn't corporal to me as fooling my sense of touch was something she'd not programmed to do.
"We go to a police station, since that makes more sense, and you tell them that your parents left you in the middle of London" Cortana directed "Make up some sob story about them getting drunk all the time and yelling at you. We need a fake name and an address, but we can get the address wrong since children don't always remember these things right".
Fate and social services should handle the rest. No one would think that I was trying to trick the system because no one wants to be an orphanage. I'd heard of children who chose to stay with abusive parents rather than go into foster care because it scares them, although that had been second hand information so I could be wrong.
If I act odd then social services should put it down to some sort of trauma and if they mentioned that I seem mature I can just say that I had to learn to look after myself. I'd just need to bluff a little and hope that Fate handled the rest.
"Then do some magic and someone from Hogwarts should drop by to recruit you for their school" said the AI.
In many works of fiction that I'd read magical orphans always got dragged into all sorts of adventures and might even end up saving the world, or at least a part of it, that was just how it worked in some universes and this seemed to be one of those realties.
"We go to the school and you spend the first year studying how to use magic in combat" she was now saying "We raid the Room of Requirement for anything of value that we can sell in this world for gold or trade while in the other worlds that we visit later. Then when Potter arrives we can start worrying about the Dark Lord and his minions".
It would be very simple for me to derail the plot. I knew where all the horcruxes could be found. I knew exactly how Voldemort would return to life, at least in some sense, and I even knew how to defeat the man.
I'd already considered just writing all of it down and posting it to Dumbledore. Only I'd not done that only because the Headmaster was convinced that Potter had to save everyone and besides dealing with the Horcrux in the boy's head would involve killing him.
There was no way Dumbledore would leave my mind intact if he discovered that I had access to such information, and even if he didn't mind wipe me he'd make sure that he could control me, and I didn't want that.
As for killing Potter, that might be doable if I could advance far enough as a Red Mage to learn Rise. If I did learn spell then I could kill the wizard and then bring him back to life without any of Tom Riddle's soul inside his head. I'd want to practice that first and I'd need a heck of a lot of XP to get that far, but it was possible, and I'd bet that the snake monster down in the Chamber of Secrets would level me up a few times.
Plus there were loads of spider monsters in the Forbidden Forest who must be breeding like mad. I figured that I could cull the group for XP during my time at Hogwarts without them running out. A few years from now I should be able to go after Death Eaters and they must be worth a lot of XP. Add to that all the dark creatures in this world and I had plenty of targets for guilt free killings.
The AI had more to say about our planning.
"I have an idea about your laptop and phone" she told me "They'll break down at Hogwarts, unlike me as I'm shielded against effects like that, so either we stash them somewhere or we can sell them to someone who back-engineers the technology for massive amounts of profit. I was thinking that we could visit a university and try to find someone who is working on computer technology, someone who we can sell the technology to for fast cash".
If I made the transaction while disguised as an adult and just took cash then no one should be able to trace it back to me.
"I'll give it some thought," I said.
Since there was no point sticking around here as I had limited funds I decided to get moving and to go find a police station in the hopes that I could end up at an orphanage.
(Line Break)
Wool's Orphanage. London.
The orphanage that I'd found myself placed in was a big square building, surrounded by high railings. It was run-down, and poorly painted, but always kept clean by the staff, and the orphans in residence were well cared for and as far as I could tell they seemed happy enough that they were unlikely to grow up into violent criminals.
Upon arriving here I'd found that the orphanage was built back during Victorian times by an industrialist called Mr Andrew Wool, who worked in textiles as the name suggested. I also knew that back in 1926, when heavily pregnant, the witch Merope Riddle came to the orphanage. This would some time after her husband Tom Riddle Senior abandoned her, which he did because she'd stopping doping him up with the magical world's version of a date rape drug.
Shortly after giving birth to her son, who alas didn't die in childbirth and save the world a lot of trouble, and naming him after his father, Merope died here. Leaving baby Voldemort with no one to look after him. I couldn't help wondering if this would have been different if his mother had survived to try to raise him.
The orphanage took care of the new-born, without knowing anything about his magical heritage, though unpleasant incidents occurred around him there hadn't been any solid evidence to condemn the young Tom or he would have ended up in some place even worse than this by the time Dumbledore met him.
Despite this I was still surprised that no one called a priest to have him exorcised, which would have been an expected reaction back then, but they didn't and this was a shame as the Church might have dealt with the boy by some means before he became an evil wizard.
If I'd been here in times past they might have called in a priest to deal with me because I'd blown out the lights, sort of purposefully, with magic and while the old wiring was blamed I got a few odd looks before people forgot about it. Unlike Tom Riddle I had no desire to torment children so it was easy to overlook one strange incident.
Tom had no sentimental attachments for the orphanage, and unlike me he would terrorise his fellow orphans, however I went out of my to be mildly pleasant to people so that I wouldn't get into trouble and in the hopes that people would forget about me should I not return here during the summer. For next year I had plans, ones that involved taking adult form and doing important things.
Another bit of history I knew about this place was that back in 1938, the Deputy Headmaster Albus Dumbledore came to the facility with the intent of having Tom Riddle attend Hogwarts, Which for young Tom provided an escape from this place much like how Harry Potter viewed the school as an escape from his relatives.
Throughout his seven years of education, Tom deeply wished to avoid returning to Wool's Orphanage for the summers, perhaps to avoid the air raids during World War Two, he even made a special request to the then-headmaster Armando Dippet to remain in school during the holidays. He was refused and no doubt this further fed his resentment towards both the muggle and magical worlds.
Should all go well Dumbledore would remain ignorant of me enough that he would never know that I came from this place as I intended to be a gifted Ravenclaw student, but if I got sorted in the snake house then he might think that I am Tom Riddle 2.0.
In his sixth year's summer vacation in 1943, Tom Riddle departed from the facility to head towards Little Hangleton to confront his Muggle father He murdered his father and grandparents and framed his maternal uncle for the crimes. Upon graduating and becoming a legal adult, Riddle departed from Wool's Orphanage forever, beginning his career at Borgin and Burkes. An odd step down the path to becoming the most feared dark wizard ever known.
As expected Fate had altered reality to make me better fit in. According to my file my name was John Smith and I'd always been here having been abandoned as a baby, I had no parents on file and there hadn't been a birth certificate for anyone to find, so I became John Smith with my birthday being the day I arrived here at the orphanage.
Another oddity was that in my world orphanages like this one were phased out, at least in the UK, and they'd been replaced with special homes whose staff tried to simulate a more family-like environment for those in their care. Even this place was going to be shut down in a few years to make way for an office block.
Since I didn't intend to return here that wasn't my concern, in fact if I could find someone to buy my phone and laptop I'd not be here much longer as I'd be able to rent a room at the Leaky Cauldron once I had some money. I didn't think anyone here would even notice that I was gone because there weren't enough staff members to handle the kids.
My only problem would be owl mail since I didn't know if owls went to the address on the letter, somehow knowing where it was, or if they were able to track people, if it was the latter then it shouldn't matter where I stay over the summer as long as I remained in the country.
That was a concern for later and it would be something I'd be able to look into soon enough. Right now I couldn't go anywhere because my Hogwarts letter had arrived and since I'd not been able to send a reply, as the owl hadn't hung around long for me to do that, I figured that some member of staff would come along to check up on me and to take me to Diagon Alley for my school supplies.
Given that I had to wonder why they even sent out the letters to students who had no contact with the magical world. Perhaps it was simply a tradition for all students to get a letter, but it seemed to me as if the letters were a needless security risk that could expose the existence of magic.
As it turned out the day a member of staff came to see me was today and after breakfast I was directed to the lobby where I soon came face to face with Professor Severus Snape who wore a muggle suit in all black that could have worked in either this world or the magical one I guessed. Given this man's dislike of children I wondered why he'd been sent to guide me.
"Mr Smith" said the gloomy teacher in a bored sounding tone of voice "I am Professor Snape of Hogwarts and I am here to ensure that you are prepared to attend Hogwarts should you wish to".
As if I'd say no. I needed to learn as much magic as possible if I was going to survive travelling a dangerous multiverse and protecting the world-seed.
"Yes sir" I said "I would like to attend your school, but I had no way of sending a reply".
His face changed to show an expression that meant something I couldn't guess. The man was hard to read.
"I rarely come out to meet new students" he mentioned "But when I do they normally require some sort of proof".
Well that made sense and I did my best to act as if it didn't matter. I knew that he could read my mind so I avoided eye contact.
"A lot of weird stuff has been happening to me lately" I told the teacher "Magic is a reasonable explanation for it and the letter wasn't hard to understand even if did leave me with a lot of questions".
He seemed to accept that and held out his arm after checking that the lobby was clear.
"Take my arm, this will be uncomfortable" he stated.
I took the offered limb and then suddenly we were in Diagon Alley. While it was indeed an uncomfortable feeling, it felt as if I'd been squeezed down a tube, I knew that I needed to learn how to magical teleport as soon as possible as it was a very useful skill.
"Most people feel sick the first time," Snape commented.
I didn't as I'd gone through much worse feelings of dislocation when I'd moved between realties.
"I'm fine sir" I said "Good thing I only had toast for breakfast".
That had been because I'd never been one for eating much so early in my day.
"We will start with acquiring your robes" Snape decided "Hogwarts has money put aside for students in your situation, however the funds are limited, as such we will have to be careful".
I didn't bother asking the gloomy guy any questions even if that would be normal for someone to do so in my situation as this teacher would just be annoyed by them, and since I'd been here before I wasn't gobsmacked by the sights.
"You seem subdued given what is happening" mentioned Snape.
Again I acted as if it didn't matter.
"I'm used to taking care of myself and keeping my own company" I said, using words I'd prepared in advance in case my maturity was ever brought up "No one in charge ever cared how I was feeling and the older children bully anyone who they think is weak, so I learned not to let them see how I felt. Orphans grow up faster than other children I've been told".
The teacher made a non-committal hmmm noise, as we entered a second hand robe shop. Once inside he spoke to the owner and I was quickly fitted for some basic robes that the owner used magic to alter so that they fit me better.
"Nothing fancy in terms of enchantments," the store owner assured me as I tried on a winter cloak "But it will grow with you, and it will make sure you don't freeze to death in that old castle. The House Elves know how to keep them clean. Standard for a new student even if they are a bit worn".
That seemed like more than enough to me as I'd never been a vain person.
"Does Hogwarts have a full school uniform?" I inquired.
There was nothing about that in the letter, but they do have uniforms in the movies so I was confused about the issue.
"Once you have been Sorted in your school house your robe will change to match its colours" Snape let me know "Other than that you will only need to concern yourself with what is on your list".
First-year students will require:
1. Three sets of plain work robes (black)
2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear
3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)
4. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)
Please note that all student's clothes should carry name tags at all times.
I possessed a near perfect memory since Cortana knew everything I saw, heard, and read, but not taste, smell or touch for reasons that had something to do with her design. This allowed me to recall a lot of information very easily, including the contents of my Hogwarts letter. Something she made appear as part of a heads up display.
Next up was the second hand book store and like before we wasted no time. Snape simply spoke to the owner and the required books were quickly gathered.
The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk
A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot
Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling
A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch
One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore
Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander
The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble
"Take a copy of Basic Potion Making as well" suggested Snape "Mr Jigger is a fine brewer however he assumes that all of his readers will have grown up in magical homes and thus have at least some understanding of potions. A muggleborn such as yourself will benefit from the introduction material in this book"
I noticed that Snape paid for the battered and worn book himself with single a silver coin. I figured that he felt sorry for me having had a crappy childhood as he had himself.
"Thank you, sir" was all I said.
Before he spoke again we acquired a simple trunk for my purchases so far.
"I will expect an above average performance in potions in return" he warned me as moved on to the next store, again wasting no time "Now we shall acquire the other items on your list. Which are?".
Cortana provided the information without me having to request it and I read it off the heads up display.
"1 cauldron, pewter, standard size 2, 1 set glass or crystal phials, 1 telescope, and 1 set of brass scales" I said.
If he was impressed by my memory he made no comment on it.
"You will have to do suffice with glass phials" said Snape "And with a second hand set of scales as well as a used telescope".
Truth be told I didn't care much for stargazing. For me it was space travel or nothing, and I felt that should things progress well for me I'd get to experience space travel one day.
"I'm used to hand me downs" I informed the teacher.
Since I'd be the eldest of five children during my first life I gotten used to handing stuff down to younger siblings. Rarely did that involve clothes as my family hadn't been that poor, but favoured toys and bikes often saw many years of use in my childhood home.
"The purchase of a wizard or witch's wand is a personal affair so I will acquire the rest of the items on the list while you obtain a wand" instructed the professor as we parted ways outside the wand shop "Do not worry about the price, Ollivander will somehow know to charge the school. He always does".
Given that he could remember who buys which wand even years later it wasn't shocking that he'd know other things about those who went to buy wands.
"I shall be waiting here when you are done" Snape let me know.
Before long I headed into the dusty wand shop, and I was soon set upon by the wand maker who got to work by shoving different wands into my hand one after the other.
"No, not unicorn tail" he muttered "And most certainly not dragon heartstring, that just leaves...".
A wand which looked more like the horn of some exotic creature than a bit of wood was forced into my hand.
"Aspen 12 inches with a feather from a phoenix" I was told "How does it feel".
Words almost failed me.
"I feel like I've been reunited with a friend I'd forgotten I ever had," I said.
That was the only way I could articulate the feeling.
"I know exactly what you mean," said the store owner as he smiled at me "It's not the same for everyone, but the sentiment is often similar".
It was soon explained to me that phoenix feather was the rarest core type and these feathers are capable of the greatest range of magic, though they may take longer than either unicorn or dragon cores to reveal this, and this made sense to me since I'd chosen to become a Red Mage rather than a White or Black One. A White Mage would most likely have a unicorn tail hair wand while a Black Mage would get a dragon heartstring wand I felt sure.
"Phoenix tail feather wands show the most initiative, I've even heard of them acting on their own accord, a quality that many witches and wizards dislike" the old man let me know "Phoenix feather wands are always the pickiest when it comes to potential owners, for the creature from which they are taken is one of the most independent you'll ever find. These wands are the hardest to tame and to personalise, and their allegiance is usually hard won".
That did sound suitable for someone who was travelling the multiverse to gain power with little in the way of support.
"Now as you can see wand-quality aspen wood is white and fine-grained, as such it is highly prized by all wand-makers for its stylish resemblance to ivory" Ollivander informed me.
Well that explained why I thought it looked more like the horn of some animal than a fancy stick.
"Aspen wood is also known for outstanding charmwork" I soon learned "The proper owner of such a wand can become an accomplished duellist. Perhaps you will become one too".
I was planning to focus on defence against the dark arts because I had a very bad and powerful person after me, and this sounded like a good wand for such an endeavour.
"The wand for this wood came from a fine specimen of Populus Tremula which grows fight here in the British Isle" the wand maker mentioned "I put a lot of work into this wand so please look after it".
I fully intended to and once the wand was boxed up I went to head outside to find Snape, who would be waiting for me, only first I had a question.
"Do people only own one wand?" I asked "Or can you carry a spare".
Ollivander looked surprised by my question.
"As it is the wand that choses the wizard your wand may refuse to work well for you if you carry another" he explained "As such few would ever carry a second one, however it is not unknown to find wands that will share a wizard or witch, yours is unlikely to since like the bird the come from a core phoenix feather prefers to work alone. Although you might win the allegiance of another wand that will accept being a mere backup".
That gave me something to think about at least and I would review that information later. For now Snape was waiting for me I didn't wish to annoy him.
"Since we are done here I will return you to your... place of residence" he said as I placed my boxed up wand in my trunk "I have your ticket here. You'll find the platform between 9 and 10, there is a barrier between them that muggles won't notice. Simple step through it, if you are having trouble wait for someone using the platform to guide you".
Snape filled me in on a few more details before we teleported back to the orphanage. There was no talk of pets, not that I wanted one since there was no one for me to send a letter to, and only the most basic of instructions before we went our separate ways.
(Line Break)
Department of Computer Science. Oxford University.
Finding someone to buy my laptop, which was useless to me without wireless internet as Cortana could keep notes for me and I'd installed any games, turned out to be less trouble than expected as I'd been able infiltrate the major university's network thanks to Cortana and she'd found me some researchers who looked to be just the type of geeks who could invent some advanced computer hardware. The software on my laptop Windows and so it would be better for the super smart nerds to focus on advancing the hardware as to avoid copyright issues.
I met with a few stereotypical geeks in the dead of night, and they were taking this far too seriously since buying computers from the future can not be any sort of crime, not unless there was a version of the TVA around here and if there was they'd be after me by now anyway. Even without that concern it was good that I could change my appearance so easily.
"Do you have the money?" I asked.
I met the nerds, whose names I'd chosen not to learn, inside a computer lab that looked more like it was a place used to store trashed machines rather than working ones. But as long as I got what I wanted it hardly mattered.
"All we could get together at short notice was ten grand" said one of the engineers "I didn't get as much for my car as I expected".
That was more money in 1990 than in my time due to inflation, but it was only a tiny fraction of what the laptop was worth given that it could be used to advance computer technology by a couple of decades by anyone with the right knowledge.
"Forget your car, we'll be millionaires in a year or two" said one of the researchers "Maybe even billionaires".
It would be nice if it all worked out for them.
"Are you really from the future?" one of the three men asked.
I just nodded.
"Aren't you risking the timeline by giving us this technology?" another asked.
Hopefully not.
"I'm from an alternate timeline" I explained "This isn't my past".
Saying that led to more questions, some of which I would answer since I wanted to count out the money before I left. I had no intention of ever returning here so it was best to ensure that I got what I wanted before leaving.
"So multiverse theory is true" one of them said "Are you sure?".
Unless I was having a vivid dream in a coma right now it seemed that way.
"Yes, very sure" I said "World War 2 ended sooner in my timeline".
Something to do with Grindelwald it seemed safe to assume. My History of Magic book didn't cover such recent events and the muggle history books didn't mention the magical side of things. However they were clear that the war had gone on longer and gotten really bloody at the end.
"Got any advice for us?" I was asked "Anything we should know".
Well things could work very differently here, but there are a few things that seemed wise to share.
"The Soviet Union will collapse by Christmas next year. Kurt Cobain dies in 1994. You should avoid Bosnia for the next decade at least. Don't let your Tamagotchi Die. Rachel and Ross do end up together. Buy a Super Nintendo. Avoid frosted tips they look stupid. Alanis Morissette doesn't know the meaning of the ironic. Bill Clinton did have sexual relations. Y2K is nothing to worry about. Stay out of New York in September 2001. Don't worry the world doesn't end in 2013. Oh and stock up on toilet paper in 2019 so as to avoid the rush".
I'd not watched much news in the 1990s, nor had I studied that decade in the history books so I only had a vague sense of what would happen over the next ten years despite having lived through it. Mostly I recalled my mother gushing about the Labour Party and something about girl power. Or so I thought as it turned out I had been paying more attention that I ever realised. Not that anything I recalled was certain to happen in this universe.
Since I had no desire to go into more details I took the money and headed out, leaving the nerds to their new toy.