Welcome to the age of Technology:

After Harry finished his meal, both Priya and Harry entered the 'Muggle' world, with her trusty trunk in tow. Now that the Magical purchases were done, it was time for Harry to have his first official shopping spree. This included acquiring enough clothes and the necessary technology that he would need for self-study. Invictus continued to pretend to be an oddity as he observed the cars. He concluded that the carriage design had advanced.

Priya skipped across the road to a strange but useful muggleborn owned business. For Invictus, this was his first encounter with the place, but for the two other people, this was just a pickup. As she walked into the nondescript office, Priya told the receptionist "Room for two. Here is my ticket." The man proceeded to a room at the back of the establishment and returned. He brought Priya her smartphone.

"Fully Charged. 13A is all yours," he replied as he handed a key.

After they walked into a secondary lobby, Priya began to explain to both Harry and Invictus the purpose of this place. Harry suspected the purpose of the place, as he had seen the initial transaction, but he decided to listen anyway.

"You probably know this in passing but magic in Diagon alley happens to screw over smartphones. This muggleborn Wizarding business charges a fee for keeping your smartphone here while you do your business in wizarding England. They also charge it which is handy. This little business helps us to wear the right kind of clothes whether we are doing business in Wizarding England or the Muggle world. Sure, you could transfigure your clothes but I want you to imagine the spell reverting when you are in the middle of a shopping mall. Better not to take chances."

Invictus decided not to ask questions until they arrived at the room. He wanted to know what item could demand such importance. Harry suspected that this business was a product of the Muggle world continuously advancing while the wizarding world continued to stay the same. When they arrived at Room 13A, Priya opened the room and entered. Priya then went into the bathroom and told Harry she was going to change. Thirty seconds later, she was out, after pulling her robe off, it seemed. She continued,

"As for you Gramps, a smartphone is a device that can contact anyone in the world as long as you pay for the service. I am going to call my friend Lorna to apparate to this place. She like me is also a witch, but both of us come from non-magical parents. Before I do that, I want you to look at the device in my hand."

Invictus observed the small black slate that did not seem like much. That was until the device was powered on and he was shocked as he began to observe closely. The trinket was so bright, and you could move the text around. It seemed complicated to operate. When Lorna answered the call, he was surprised to see her face and hear her voice.

"Is this communication happening right now over a vast distance? Immediately, right now?"

"Yes. Wizards still use owls. Muggles use these, however. It is pretty common, nothing special." replied Harry.

"This is fantastic! And you can see the other person too? Can you only contact a single person grandson?"

"Anyone as long as they give you a phone number. It is unique. You can also send small documents, messages, pretty much anything."

"Merlin's beard! I suppose it has been five centuries, it makes sense!"

While Harry attempted to explain smartphones to Invictus, Lorna confirmed the details and promised to arrive in two minutes. Soon enough there was a knock on the door and Lorna entered. She sat down with three coca-colas. Invictus was rather fascinated by the brightly coloured tin cans.

"What are those?" Invictus asked.

Lorna realised the funky chain was a scaled-down portrait. She naturally asked:

"Hello there, who are you and where are you from?"

Invictus answered "Invictus Peverell. I am an old family portrait from the 15th century. Harry is my last descendant. Gringotts kept my language updated but I am seeing the muggle world for the first time right now." he answered.

"Haha, old man you are in for a hell of a ride," Lorna replied. "In the modern world, you can approach a cabinet and automatically buy any type of drink. Food and snacks too, it depends on the vending machine. I brought these along for us because I figured this lot would be thirsty."

They cracked open the cokes and they all drank. Invictus rubbed his palms as he became rather excited. The world had changed much and he wanted to see it all.

Priya instructed Harry to summon Grace and get the trunk home. Grace arrived and took the box out of sight. After the short break, Priya gave Lorna a blank envelope. Perplexed, she took it and examined it curiously. Then she questioned Priya.

"What is this?" she asked, genuinely confused.

Priya replied, "Harry stepped into an inheritance at Gringotts and decided to reward us exorbitantly. He insisted rather forcefully. Here is unsafe to talk. All I will say is that 10,000 pounds would not put a dent in your card. Do not make a commotion, I will fill you in elsewhere."

"If you are pranking me, I will hex you to kingdom come. But alright I am going to roll with it, just to see if it is a prank," she replied with excitement.

Priya erected a silencing ward on Harry so that no one could hear him. Priya told Harry to explain to Invictus the basics of muggle life in the 21st century as they did the shopping. They finally stepped out into the public and walked towards the end of the street.

Harry then explained cars, buildings, billboards, streetlights and everything in between. Harry admitted that he didn't know exactly how everything worked, merely because these were things that were out of sight and out of mind. He also explained until last week, he had never really paid attention at school. Invictus thought back to his childhood and considered that the boy could not know everything. However, it seemed like as long as you understood enough, you could use what was present. Invictus continued to carefully observe the environment as they entered a high-end fashion store.

Priya decided that she would purchase that red dress and the shoes that she had wanted for a long time. Form-fitting, all red and complete with matching accessories? She was now quite pleased with the contents of her shopping bag. Lorna took up some items that she had wanted for a long time and placed all of them in her shopping basket.

She nervously looked around when the transaction went through, waiting for the surprise to come.

It had been approved. Lorna decided that she would have to get all the finer details later. After the wishlist items had been acquired by both young women, both Priya and Lorna decided it would be rather entertaining to give Harry a makeover that would make all the girls at school swoon. They gave the all the store assistants the same story:

"Hello, our Harry had lost his stuff in a fire, and he is here to get replacements. We do not mind spending for the best."

Harry suddenly felt like a knut in a galleon party. Priya naturally picked items where Harry could mix and match his pieces to get a lot of variety. Also included in the purchases were underclothes, track clothes, shoes and everything else that he would need. Harry now had a wardrobe that could compete with snobby, rich teenagers in England.

Naturally, Priya's parents had been involved in the excursion. Trusty Amba Singh showed up and helped the girls make multiple trips to the little Nissan wagon. This had been necessary, as there were many bags to transport and Grace was out of the question.

During the entire affair, Invictus initially was amazed but soon got his bearings as he realised that the Mundanes had merely improved on the system that the Goblins were currently using. He was impressed with the efficiency and entire plethora of healthcare products. He affectionately thought about his daughter Lucretia. She would have gone crazy with the variety of products that he had seen today. Mundanes had perfected the art of mass manufacture and there was so much choice, it was mind-boggling.

He also noticed that Muggles who had been laughed at for being unclean, small and underfed were much taller and healthier. Their appearances were immaculate in comparison to his time. They seemed to have far more strength and were much more vigorous in their movements. The world had made a lot of progress and it had been a heartening realisation for him.

Invictus had assumed that Priya's complexion was an oddity. He soon realised that London seemed to be a hub of many different communities, many of which were immigrants. Many people looked like Priya. The last time he had been to London it was underdeveloped, and everybody looked more or less the same. He had a lot of history to catch up on, as much had occurred.

This place, London - it was surely an achievement. It made Diagon Alley seem like a quaint little hovel. The Magical world had stagnated. Literacy and numeracy had to be basic skills. The entire world seemed to be full of floating images and text. Some looked like directions, others were information on products that you could purchase. Failure to read essentially meant being left behind. England did not have a public education system in his time, but surely one had been put in place. He was curious to see how that particular system worked.

Invictus who had preferred loose robes throughout his life, keenly observed that clothes were more form-fitting today. He could see many physiques as he looked on. Those who were interested in taking care of themselves did an excellent job of it. He wondered about some of the political arguments he had heard in his day and he also considered how much smaller the children looked in Diagon alley. He realised that Wizards probably in the usual deficit of common sense had become inbred.

Invictus continued to take in the sights and the sounds.

The final store fascinated Invictus the most. He finally understood why he, in his shrunk down picture frame was no big deal. Some of the timepieces or 'smartwatches' on display were truly spectacular craftsmanship. They did communications, remainders, health tracking, heartbeat monitoring and many other things. But more fascinating to him were the square light up slates.

The computers and tablets.

They were 'devices' that did communication. Essentially you could pay for a specialised connection and get whatever information you wanted. You could also learn skills, use it for entertainment, do casual reading and get news. Harry explained that he needed one so he could put his impressive brain to use – he was learning at an accelerated speed and was planning to take on both Mundane and Magical subjects. Invictus was also pleased to hear that the boy's mother had also been a researcher and his grandson was excited to dig in his mother's trunk. Invictus wholeheartedly supported the idea of a person having many hobbies, as they aided in sharpening both the body and mind.

Lorna who had been looking on at a 3D printer bought it for Harry as a gift, complete with 20 rolls of PLA filament. Priya selected a trusty IBM ThinkPad with top-end specifications and also bought a graphics tablet and a pen. Other peripherals included an HP Multifunction Printer and Scanner and a Headset that the store attendant had picked out.

Finally, when the shopping was over, all the items were carried back to the wagon. Priya and Lorna carried Harry to the walk-in branch of her current ISP provider. Here, Priya explained to the CSR that she wanted a Wi-Max connection for her son, who was living elsewhere. She requested a 50 megabit connection as an additional item that would be billed under her current account. She also purchased a Samsung Galaxy S for him.

Harry was now a smartphone owner.

Everyone limped back to the wagon as Amba drove everyone home. When everyone arrived at the Singh residence, the wagon was emptied and everything was piled up in the living room. Priya had not realised it yet, but Amba giggled as she realised that full mother mode had kicked in for Priya, after examining the expression on her face. Priya was already considering getting an SUV to lug around Harry. She would evaluate later on if such a purchase was justified – she had planned to save most of the money that Harry had given her. She sighed in contentment as she sat down on the couch.

Ved who was looking at the entire affair and had never been too keen on shopping with his wife said, "Good thing I was not invited. This was a shop till you drop day. I would have a heart attack. Maybe daughter you can fix that, but I rather not get one in the first place."

Invictus laughed with everyone else as he took in what was considered the 'Base of their operations'.

Harry was now comfortable to pursue his studies. So far, he had settled for reading at the library. Now he would have much more interesting content to consume. Priya was excited to see what would occur, with the facilities that were available to him. The healing sessions had not been started yet – the current activities had been a rather unplanned last-minute set of alterations. She would have to start with potions and minor healing spells during the week and do the invasive but much necessary bone resetting on the following weekends. After everyone had sat down and some tea had been served, Invictus spoke to Priya directly, after learning the pronunciation of her name from Harry.

"Priya, ask Harry's wonderful bird to carry us to his house. Walk with the null-box. You should have it in your pocket, I think. Harry should come along."

Harry nodded at Grace as she alighted on Harry's shoulder and waited for Priya to hold his hand. She then apparated all of them to a dilapidated room that was enclosed. Harry recognised this location as Arabella Figg's tool shed. Invictus then schooled Priya through a new spell the Peverell family had devised:

"Lumen Inflectitur Sinum Faciunt"

He instructed her to cast the spell beforehand, and to hold the spell until they were inside the null-box. The spell would allow them to deploy everything silently, with nobody any the wiser.

"So a superior invisibility spell?" Priya asked.

"Indeed. The spell is superior to standard disillusionment. It considers that you needed to bend the light and make a pocket to attain true invisibility." Invictus replied.

Priya who listened to the explanation laughed as she explained that Mundanes were trying to do the same thing with 'Optical Materials'. After a few tries, she successfully cast it, primarily because she understood the physics behind it. Invictus wondered about this new piece of information – this spell had taken him such a long time to learn. And under five minutes, Priya had understood the principle casually enough merely just to fumble with pronunciation? It meant that the Muggles or the Mundanes, as he preferred to call them, understood quite a lot. Invictus now felt like a filthy casual. He considered that perhaps his grandson might build an entirely new class of artefacts if this much knowledge was commonplace?

That excited him.

Priya had wondered if a spell being carried into the Dursey backyard would tip any alarms. Invictus who understood how wands worked intimately, explained that the detection spell probably tagged magic that was concentrated at a point, which would be a byproduct of a wand's construction. All wands had a pinhole at the tip that concentrated the energy of the core out into the environment. However, the ward probably needed concentrated magic to trigger the alert. As the spell had been started elsewhere it would not matter. Additionally, he explained that any artefact that used Runes or had been charmed beforehand would not be a problem.

While Priya made her way to the centre of Harry's backyard, he explained that the null-box was essentially a mesh of some strange material that had been charmed to expand to whatever size it needed to become, with reason. It also utilised runes to figure out how to fit within the environment. Essentially it was portable privacy in a box. He explained that Glaucon, the builder of the Deathly Hallows had considered this achievement to be more important than his famous wand, the death stick, considering the climate at the time – Magical persecution was common.

Priya thought about the rather interesting video she had watched a long while back when she was bored and asked "I wonder if he used something similar to a Faraday Cage? It essentially is a cage of metal that can stop energy from reaching a person who is inside." She thought about the gold earrings she had melted down to make her Medi-Bracelet and asked: "Any chance gold was an element in this? It seems that the mesh could have gold in it?"

Invictus the portrait did not have access to all his knowledge. His mortal counterpart had removed most of his memories and placed them in a pensive when he commissioned himself. Invictus knew too many things and the portrait spell would not have worked to capture his entire mind. But he did remember the construction of the null box from Glaucon's notes. He had used many bars of gold in its creation.

"Correct. I do believe there is something else too, another material. How did you guess Gold was involved?" he questioned.

Priya explained the development of her 'Medi-Bracelet' and how if gold was a magical conductor, the principle of the Faraday cage could carry across. Priya slowly took the null-box out and pressed the red face as instructed. She then briskly walked towards Harry's house as Invictus had explained that she had 30 heartbeats to clear the area after activating the device.

Invictus was flabbergasted at the explanation, but this made him happy. He would have a challenge on his hands. He also considered that the Medi-Bracelet seemed like a pretty sophisticated piece of work. Priya reminded him very much of his daughter, Lucretia. Perhaps fate had given him his daughter back, albeit in a different way.

Priya was now against the back wall of Harry's house. She had easily walked twenty meters from where she placed the Cube. In under one second, the cube had filled up the entire backyard before it became invisible. Then a door, floating out of nowhere appeared. Priya and Harry then entered the room.

The room was illuminated with soft white light and contained small bracelets, floating almost as if they were hanging from a small alcove in the wall. Invictus explained that the bracelets allowed a person to see the room while it remained invisible to everyone else on the outside. It also allowed direct apparition into the room.

Invictus continued:

"The doors automatically close for themselves, and all magic done in here is undetectable. This will allow Harry to learn independently. He can also have people over. It is basically a house in a box."

"This is brilliant….grandpa?" Harry commented.

"It is grandson, it is. I hope you will enjoy it." Invictus replied.

Harry began to beam with excitement. He could practice magic! And Hermione could probably come also! Priya, comparing the space to her own home averaged the space to be maybe fifteen meters by twenty meters? She would have to measure it. One thing was certain – it was ridiculously huge.

Invictus explained the common functions as they looked around. Some controls could be used to partition the room. Other controls could generate tables, seats, lights and air temperature. Perhaps she and Lorna could decorate it? The room did seem quite bland, after all. Invictus realised that he needed an entire crash course on the muggle world. However, he was a legendary artificer. Surely, he would learn quickly as long as he understood the basics.

It was agreed that the null-box required items to make it useful. There were a lot of things to put in place. For now, Priya explained that Harry would continue to stay at her place. He would sleep there tonight and he would get 0In the morning and merely apparate with Grace to get this bookbag from his attic at the Dursleys. Grace apparated everyone back to Priya's home after Invictus was satisfied with the arrangements. Priya explained to Harry that there were a lot of pending things to do and that these tasks included sorting out all of Harry's trunks, compiling which books he had access to, figuring out what heirlooms were left, and setting up all the new technology they had bought in his attic. Harry would now use his smartphone to keep in contact with everyone.

Priya realised that perhaps another Saturday dinner was in order as they worked through things – Hermione would benefit greatly from the new developments. Her mother would enjoy that very much. Feeding people to the brim was a special talent of hers.

William Granger called about a half-hour later and informed her that he would be present at exactly 5:00 AM to carry Harry for a run, at the local park not too far from their home. The purpose was to suddenly surprise Harry, while he was disoriented and give him a workout. William explained that this was a morning ritual that he did for many years, and he had eventually stopped. It would also be good for him too. Hermione would join after he had some individual time with Harry.

Priya grinned as Harry was in for a tough time.

Harry for the first time that evening ate a meal, watched a little T.V. with his Grandparents and then did something that warmed the hearts of everyone in the living room.

"I want to show Grandpa Invictus how my smartphone works. So night Grandpa, night Grandma, night Mum." Harry hugged everyone in a manner that suggested that he had been living in the house his entire life. Priya who was still blushing from the entire affair hugged Harry, poked his nose and then said:

"Sweet dreams my darling boy."

Harry went off to his room, with a rather pleased look on his face. It did not go unnoticed by everyone else.

Harry in the comfort of his room took the smartphone out and walked Invictus through its operation. He only understood how to call and send messages on the device and soon found himself experimenting. After maybe the first hour of experimentation, Harry suddenly had an email account and all the other necessary things he needed. He explored YouTube for a while, and then loaded a video about the Atom at Invictus' request. Then he jumped into many of the Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell videos. The situation quickly spun out of control and they both found themselves watching anything that was interesting. They both stayed up all night until approximately 1:30 pm having fun, until Invictus insisted that it was time for shuteye. Grace sensing her partner-of-heart wanted some comfort was only too happy to report for her dose of cuddles and hugs. Harry went to sleep, cuddling his phoenix.

Before Invictus went to sleep, he considered in passing what he had seen. The mundanes were aware of astronomical ideas that he would have never imagined. A galaxy? A super galactic cluster? Subatomic Physics? Magnetars? The Great Attractor? And even more interesting was a video that demonstrated the history of the atom – 1897 had been where things had taken off. Perhaps some important historical event led to the sudden rapid technological progress.

When he considered the average lifespan of a wizard being 160 years, he realised the longevity of wizards could be another reason why they had no interest in changing their views. They were slow to age, and to acknowledge any change. Harry as a young man seemed to hunger for knowledge and was thirsty to prove himself. Invictus looked upon the boy as he considered the brief synopsis. His grandson had been dead for a short time last week and had to fight off an evil piece of magic.

He promised himself to protect his only grandson.

Lilly and James who had spent a lot of their time crying and cursing the Dursley household were rather pleased with what had happened today. Lilly spoke to James as they continued their duties.

"Our darling boy has suffered so much. I ran out of curses to throw at Vernon and Petunia. Thank God he is safe. Today he got a chance to get decent clothes, eat a decent meal somewhere outside his home, and purchase necessary possessions. He will never need to ask the Dursleys, for anything ever." she commented as she wiped her tears away.

"Not to worry Lilly, my portrait will look after him. His soul and spirit have been mended, and what ails his body will be healed. I can see that the girl Hermione loves him dearly. I believe magic itself has ordained their bond as brother and sister. I must say, I love the little family he has assembled for himself.

While wealth is not a problem, I can see he is already plotting to do great things. I get the feeling he will get into business, as that has been a Peverell tradition. I considered his insights into the Dementors practical. Both solutions will work and I am curious as to see how he will implement it." replied Invictus the 1st.

Lilly nodded as she realised that the foresight of this man had literally armed Harry with everything he would need to learn independently. Lilly took Invictus' hand into her own and said, "Thank you Grandfather from both me and James for your planning. Harry after today can be his own person."

"You are welcome. The boy and his extended family, I see as my own too. It displeases me that he suffered so much. The magical world will have its comeuppance soon. Not to worry." replied Invictus.

"Everyone attached to us has suffered. Neville is not doing too well. Alice and Frank are still unresponsive. Remus is wandering all over Europe and Sirius is suffering in Azkaban. And our poor boy had to cope with a murder attempt in a place where he should have been safe. Why is life so unfair, even in the afterlife?" James vented.

"Not to worry husband, our job is to carry out the tasks that we are assigned. We will trust Lady Magic and God wherever he is, to guide our boy. That pair of witches who have already done so much for our darling son, I have no idea how to thank them. The worst mistake the wizarding world will make is to mess with the both of them, just watch James."

"Yes. I agree. I noticed even Ophelia has been looking for Harry nonstop. I always liked the idea of Daphne and Harry being friends. Cyrus and I had gotten along quite well, even though we had recently met." replied James.

"We can hope – I love that Harry is pushing relentlessly with his school work. I can't wait to see him tomorrow, all dressed up and looking smart!"

"I know, I know….well let us see how things go tomorrow Lills…." James commented