Vernon Dursley, The Mad Muggle and The Floo of Doom.
Written by Wendy Holmes
Apologies to Sever Us who did a Severitus Challenge, My
CHAPTER 3-Corporate Giant
CHEM-PLUS begins to take over the pharmaceutical world, because no one has the kind of medical products they offer. One of their male sexual enhancment products is market as PENIS-RESTOR, but renamed to Via-RESTOR-Plus. Almost like saying it was better than 'Viagra'.
Vernon has a group meeting and asks the guys about telecommunications for the wizarding world and transportation methods from the wizarding world to their world. After a few months research they find out how the Floo Network functions. They call it Flight Path Corporation or FPC.
So they make their own Floo Network with major transport points. They test their Floo Network which they have since renamed Flight-Path. It works flawlessly.
So now they decide whether they should set it up like a private network or a public one, subjected to all kind of rules as to whom is going where, like air travel. They compromise and set it up as a rich mans travel system for a start. Soon they have FP installed in New York, London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, Rome, Melbourne, Sydney, Tokyo, Honolulu, San Francisco. These major hopping points are under guard. Only those with a Licensed ID Card can use these FP sites. Licenses are known to cost corporations thousands of dollars, but they are good for a year, which is still cheaper than Air Travel it being almost instantaneously.
They install smaller private floos with the USA from New York to Chicago, St. Louis, Dallas, Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, Redmond, Spokane, Cheyenne, St. Paul, Miami, Atlanta and New Orleans. All FP connections are guarded. Only those with a Licensed Company ID Card can use these FP sites.
The Airline Companies and Manufacturers file a complaint against this new technology stating that it will put them out of business. Vernon's Lawyer is explaining that this is no different when automobiles were first made and those selling horse's complained, over 100 years ago.
His Lawyer, Jacque De Riper explains that those people who have filed this lawsuit were offered a stake in the company, but they respond much like their counterparts did the previous century. However, this new technology does not use Oil nor their byproducts and is clean technology, unlike the Airlines and their companies which do pollute the atmosphere.
Vernon and his Corporation FPC, win the lawsuit. Airplanes are still needed for most major routes for the common man, but the rich and famous enjoy FPC modes of transportation.
Over the course of the year from the summer of 1997 to the summer of 1998, between Harry's 16th and 17th birthdays, Harry's Uncle Vernon has wiped out most of the death eaters and their Dark Lord. He and his army buddies have also killed a lot of innocent people, however war always has casualties according to Vernon.
He and his bud's, Hank, BBD and Joe are the Fab Four, as in fabulously wealthy. They have several corporations that manufacture herbal remedies with medicinal benefits, ranging from cures of many diseases and even dental benefits.
Many Doctors and Nurses are losing their jobs, because the hospitals have less customers. They will always have auto accident victims so they will never run out of those patients, however Vernon Dursley and his buds have decided to fix the noisy auto industry. They decided it right after the top of the line SUV made in Japan, breaks down and the unscrupulous dealer refuses to honor the warranty.
So back in the lab, they start learning about molding techniques and products used in molding. Then they have Joes nephew design a vehicle that looks like a car, but instead of an auto engine they plan on using electrical motors with solar energy. While solar energy in the muggle world produces some electrical power, it does not make enough to really make car go 'zipity doo dah'. They check the Charm, Potion and Spell books for something so they can make a potion to put into the solar panels that will enhance their performance.
Finally they head off to Diagon Alley to Flourish and Blotts to buy up every book they have on as many different topics they have. Then they check out Knockturn Alley and buy some dark books, which are on sale because no one wants anything to do with dark stuff anymore, seeing as how Voldemort got himself killed so easily by the Uncle-of the-boy-who-lived.
Then it is back to the lab to do more reading and see if they can come up with something. Finally within some of the dark texts on power use they find several methods they they combine into a potion. What the end result is a potion that enhances the existing power by 100 fold by taking small amounts of radiation from uranium by splitting the atom and capturing the atomic particles and converting them to electrical energy. Hence they now have a nuclear engine, without the side effects of radiation and no possibility of a deadly nuclear reaction. The amount of Uranium used is as small as a radium chip used in a wrist watch.
They begin making some test vehicles with the new coating of the Power Potion applied during the construction of the solar panels. The panels they discover do not have to be any larger than a 1 foot by 1 foot square or 144 square inches.
They incorporate the squares into the design of the vehicle. They look like racing stripes from the front of the car, over the roof to the rear deck of the car. They build their test car out of Carbon and Carbon Fibers with titanium supports where needed to protect the passengers. Air bags are common place, including crash foam (think of the crash scene from the movie Judge Dredd).
CHEM-AUTO.
Makers of The Dursley Special an Suv comes with a top speed of 150 mph. Later they market The BBD Special a high end two passenger car, for cruising the Autobahn at very high speeds, usually in excess of 200 mph. The next year they market 'the Joey', a off road vehicle with a top end speed of 120 mph. Then to the British military they market 'the Hank', which is a tank with a top speed in excess of 100 mph. They also add a flying option, wherein they vehicle can launch into the air to jump over obstacles. To do so they have added a rocket launching capability using power potion mixed with the rocket fuel. The Hank can launch straight up, forward, reverse and sideways and turn around before landing, all of which is computer controlled.
By June of 1998, they have marketed their new car the Dursley Special which is like an SUV. It can be built and sold for less than what Japanese imports sell for. They use no gas, no oil, no water and safety devices are built in as the standard. They come equipped with either Gullwing doors or sliding doors. They also have a water cooler built in so you will have plenty of water on hand, should you need it when thirsty. The parking solution allows the SUV to slide sideways into those tight parking places.
Automotive manufactures scream about the Dursley vehicle which when hit by their vehicles, tend to crunch their vehicles while protecting the passengers from all harm with the Dursley Special. In crash tests, the crash barrier is destroyed, while protecting the passengers. After the crash foam is removed, the owner takes a bottle of liquid and using the injector built into the foam storage unit, injects the liquid contents of the bottle into the foam unit to recharge it.
CHEM-AUTO sales sky rocket in selling their foam protection unit with two bottles of foam fluid. Refill bottles cost slightly over $50.00, but is well worth it. The foam protection unit is not sold to the Japanese auto industry, nor any of the Asian markets that sell to the British Empire.
One lazy afternoon during Easter week, Vernon is out in the swimming pool in his penthouse office. Joe, Hank and BBD are there as well. He has the open air office by the pool warded against magic use and had audio and motion sensors installed so that if anyone even flies in on a broomstick, they will get a nice laser beam vaporizing their broomstick.
They are sipping their butter beers, which they get by the case from Old Tom. The phone rings and Vernon says 'speak' and the phones answers the caller. It is his secretary. She is saying that there is someone named Harry Potter out there to see him. Vernon, "Send him in, in a minute." and he gets out of the pool and pouts on a robe after toweling off.
Harry enters the office suite and it is huge and lavish. Vernon says, "Have a seat over there Harry pointing to a chair. Vernon sits down in his comfy office chair and lights up a cigar. Harry sits.
Vernon waves the cigar, "A new invention for cigar and cigarette smokers. Just add two drops of this Lung-RESTOR potion to each item to smoke and your lungs are protected from the effects of tobacco. Also you may notice that there is no tobacco odor. This way I can smoke all I want to and Petunia will not know about it."
"So Harry, would you like to work for me, inventing new products. You sure did a fine job this past year."
Harry, "How did I do a fine job this past year?"
Vernon, "You left your old school books here. I read them. Because of you, I am rich and have my own businesses."
Harry, "Uncle Vernon did you kill Voldemort with that nuke?"
Vernon, "You know boy. The problem with the wizarding world is that they unwilling to accept collateral damage to get the job done, whereas we in the muggle world are willing to make those sacrifices. Look at WW1, WWII, and everyone place we ever had a war. Casualties happen, it is a fact of war. While I might feel sorry for those who died, many who lived nearby knew he lived their, they sold food to him, worked for him, supported him, so do not tell me they were guiltless. If they had not supported him, he would have left their and gone elsewhere."
Harry, "If they had not supported him, he would have killed them."
Vernon, "So what. They got the same result."
After a minute of silence.
Vernon, "Harry, you have to understand us Englishmen. We have patriotism for our country whether we serve king or queen, we serve The Crown of England. We know that in a war environment, say in Africa and we do not support someone who has declared himself to be a 'lord' who was not born one nor acclaimed one, we know that to resist such a dictator will costs us our lives, but we also know there are thousands more like us who will come here and kill that SOB. So the men in the military who have sworn an oath to give up their lives, if necessary, in service to the Crown of England, do so. You Wizards. Do you know what is wrong with you?"
Harry, "What is wrong with us?"
Vernon, "You have no patriotism for your country, you have no standing military to deal with troublemakers like Voldemort was. Your legal and Judicial system sucks. You put people in Azkaban without a trial and then leave them there for years. You do not have a Parliament to make laws, nor a Prime Minister to govern. If you'd had a standing military, they could have attacked and killed off Voldemort before he got so powerful."
Harry, "We have a Ministry of Magic and a Minister of the Ministry of Magic."
Vernon, "I have seen your M of MoM as he is known, Cornelius Fudge. He would not even survive one term in the muggle world due to his incompetence. Someone would assassinate him."
Silence for a moment.
Vernon, "Harry here is a commendation from the Crown of England, exempting those who took extraordinary means to kill Voldemort. Included on it is also a Wizarding pardon. This one has your name on it, even though you were not directly involved in the operation that took him down.. Me and my team already have ours."
Harry just stares at Uncle Vernon. He cannot believe he has changed so much. Whether it is for the good or the bad he is not sure.
Vernon, "By the way Harry, I am not a muggle but a squib with latent talent which surfaced right after you went off to school last September. Well off with you either head for home or visit your friends. See you later, bye now..." and with that Vernon went out to the pool and took off the robe and dove in.
End of Chapter 3