Chapter 34: The Beginning of Summer

I shifted about on a worn stool, neck a bit sore from having to lean back to watch the game, but I ignored it. Watching every moment was too important for a bit of discomfort to matter. I wasn't the only person watching the TV in the tiny pub at the edge of town, but I was the one most invested in the outcome.

It was the afternoon of June 26th, and today was the final match of the 1992 European Football Cup. Denmark versus Germany. Victory would determine if I truly knew the future, and could control it for my benefit.

Nervously, I stared at the screen as the game played out. I had bet all of my winnings from the first bet on Denmark, which had originally been the money my mother had given me on my sixteenth birthday this year. I'd gone from five thousand pounds to a hundred and fifty thousand thanks to the long odds.

If my gamble failed, it would suck. And badly. Sure, I hadn't bet any of my own hard-earned wealth, but losing over a hundred grand would cause anyone to spit up blood in despair. I mean, I'd never had that much money in my first life. Yet the outcome was worth it if my gamble succeeded. Still, I couldn't help but nervously tap a finger against my leg, watching and waiting.

It also didn't help that Harry was supposed to return later today as well. The Hogwarts Express was a long ride, taking eight-ish hours to get back to London, but he would finally be home for the hols.

I wanted to meet him at the station when he arrived, but that would have been a bad idea. Too crowded, and I didn't want everyone in the magical world to know about my close connection with him.

'Besides, I threatened the Dursleys into going to pick him up. They'll be there for him,' I thought to myself. I'd also told the Dursleys I'd be taking Harry with me after two weeks. Just long enough for the Blood Wards to replenish. He'd be out of their hair, and spending the rest of summer break with me, including two weeks in France.

An excited shout rang out from the other patrons in the bar, and I snapped my attention back to the game.

"Another goal! WOO! Go Denmark!" I cheered along with some others.

'If everything I know goes right… then that was the last goal of the game!' I thought excitedly. In my timeline, Germany failed to get a single goal, ending the game 2-0 in Denmark's favor, netting them the cup. All that remained was to wait and see what would happen.

And then several minutes later I watched, mouth open in shock, as the ball made it into the net mere moments before the final buzzer rang out.

"No way!" I hissed out, uncaring if anyone heard me. Germany scored?! How?!

They still didn't have enough to win, and Denmark was still the overall victor, but Germany wasn't supposed to score a goal!

'This… is not the future I thought I knew,' I thought to myself nervously. I still won on my bet, because I'd bet on Denmark to win and nothing else, but still, this was surprising.

'I know what this means,' I decided after a moment of deep thought. 'This is… a warning. My knowledge of the events of the future isn't perfect. I cannot act like things will come to pass exactly as I know them.'

This was a wake-up call for me, one I hadn't realized I'd needed until it slapped me right in the face.

Why had I expected everything to play out as it did in my old world? There were similarities, but magic didn't exist in my previous life, or if it did, it didn't take the form of JK Rowling's version of it.

The very fact that things had similarities to my old life were pure coincidence. I had to understand that I couldn't rely on my old experiences. They were a decent guide, nothing more.

'But that sort of thinking can be put to the side for the moment,' I decided, letting the glee I'd been holding back trickle in.

Three million Pounds Sterling! That was the amount of money I'd just won after betting on Denmark winning the 1992 Football World Cup!

I licked my lips as I stared at the scoreboard on the TV in front of me. This was more money than I'd ever had, in both this life or the last! Combined!

'I can afford that other storefront now! I'll be able to ramp up my business and really hit the ground running with this money!' I thought giddily, unable to hide my glee with Occlumency fully.

I wasn't alone, thankfully. Plenty of patrons had been cheering on both sides, though they seemed to favor Denmark as the underdog, which made sense. Nobody was expecting Denmark to do as well as it did, hence the crazy odds I'd taken advantage of.

So I whooped and hollered along with the rest of the crowd as an impromptu party broke out.

'This is fine. I don't have to be all-knowing about the future to take advantage of things,' I thought to myself. I wasn't sure if I was trying to convince myself or not.

After celebrating a bit, one of the first things I did after getting home from the pub was call up Archibald and inform him about the good news. I wanted to keep my sudden rise in fortune as secret as possible, but I still needed somebody to trust with this knowledge.

After letting him known about my recent windfall, Archibald had gotten me in contact with a trustworthy accountant and financial advisor – a Squib, of course, so he could handle the money I'd make in both worlds – and I immediately made sure the winnings were sent his way so he could put it away safely.

Through my accountant's help, a third of my winnings were turned into galleons and stored with Gringotts. The goblins kept the wizarding economy stable if nothing else, and I'd need magical currency to afford magical resources. Then, I turned another third into dollars and kept the final third as Pounds Sterling. Several bank accounts were opened up for me locally, as well as across the pond in the USA. Those would be funds for my foray into the tech world as well as other investment opportunities in a few years.

Best of all, thanks to some help from Archibald's financial advisor, my winnings wouldn't be taxed as heavily as they normally would be. Just because I'd won several million pounds didn't mean I'd actually get that amount, not after the government took its cut. But with some deft help – and also some magical shenanigans and less than legal loopholes – my newfound wealth was mostly safe and secure.

To that end, I had kept 'only' one hundred thousand Pounds Sterling in direct, liquid cash-assets, with the remainder of the Pounds Sterling put aside for business investments, such as new storefronts, marketing, and supplies.

And in the States, I had nearly two million dollars squirreled away thanks to the exchange rate of one pound being worth a dollar and eighty cents at the time. As for my Gringotts accounts, I had two hundred thousand galleons ready to be used.

Having so much money was intoxicating, and I had to rely on my Occlumency a lot in order to avoid succumbing to the desire to buy a bunch of frivolous things now that I could afford to do so.

Still, now that I had money, I was even more aware of the various economic downturns that would soon hit England and the world than ever before.

Sadly, I wasn't in a position to do much about it. Archibald's contacts in the financial world only went so far, and I only knew the broad strokes of the event in question. I knew it would happen, though, so the best I could do at the moment was shuffle my investments around so they would be safer.

For now, all I could do was wait for September to see if the economic collapse I'd predicted would come about or not.

'On the bright side, the recession will mean some commercial properties will be cheaper. Diversifying assets into the real estate game could be beneficial,' I mused to myself, only to pause as what I was thinking sank in.

'Oh, God! I'm turning into a scummy landlord!' I realized in horror.

After a few minutes to try and calm down from my perfectly justifiable panic attack, I sorted through the rest of my thoughts for the future.

Business-wise on the internet side of things, it wouldn't be until 1995 that the Dotcom Bubble would truly take off. And then, it would pop in March of 2000, so I had a couple years to start looking into and investing in tech. And buying up the failed businesses. Google, Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon would emerge from this era and grow to become juggernauts in the future, and I was determined to have my slice of the pie.

'I should make a trip to Silicon Valley at some point,' I mused to myself. Another thing to put on the to-do list. I also wanted to visit Magical America because I'd heard some interesting things about it, and from the whispers, it seemed a lot of investment opportunities might be coming around soon in that region.

On the local magical side of things, Harry's second year was where things started to get dicey. Oh, his first year at Hogwarts was a mess, but you can't exactly deny that a freaking thousand-year-old basilisk wasn't a drastic ramping up of the stakes.

'Note to self, have Harry learn Protego and Expeliarmus as soon as possible,' I mused to myself. 'And get to work replicating Hexes like Piercing and Bludgeoning for my own defense purposes. Oh, and get more guns.'

I'd kept the ones I'd stolen from the kidnappers last Christmas, but I was an American at heart, and you could never have enough firepower. Plus, I was really curious to find out if I could enchant bullets or inscribe runes on them.

For now, though, I had a meeting with Mrs. Finch-Fletchley. Not about business, for once, but a tutoring session for her son, Justin.

He'd gotten back from Hogwarts safe and sound, but whatever he'd told them about his time there had had them immediately call me up the evening he returned and asked me to tutor him in mundane school lessons.

'I wonder what caused this change of heart,' I wondered as I rang their doorbell early in the afternoon of Monday, 29th of June. The Finch-Fletchley's had seemed fine with letting Justin go through Hogwarts without dipping into Muggle education when I'd met with them in the past, so this was an interesting turn of events.

A servant greeted me, and I was escorted into a drawing room where Mrs. Finch-Fletchley was waiting for me on a couch.

"Good afternoon, Mrs. Finch-Fletchley," I said in greeting, and she beamed at me.

"Please, darling, you know you can call me Josephine," she replied.

"Old habits die hard," I claimed with a faint chuckle.

"True, true, and I suppose I can't blame you for being polite," Justin's mother said. "Now, how are you?"

"Doing well. Graduated top of my class at Woolingsby, as expected," I said, feeling proud at that. I'd escaped the hell that was public education. Time to dive into the nightmare that was higher education!

"Looking forward to Oxford?" she inquired, and I nodded.

"Yes, I'm eager to start attending."

"And I'm sure the fact Delilah is attending as well has nothing to do with your excitement," she teased me, and I couldn't help but blush.

"How's Justin doing?" I asked, deflecting, and she nodded back knowingly.

"He's been having some trouble adjusting to life with electricity again, and having a room all to himself," Justin's mother chuckled. "Other than that, he is eager to meet with old friends over the summer."

"I'll try not to bog him down too much with homework," I promised, and she grinned and nodded.

"Oh, by the way, before I forget, I will be gone for two weeks starting from the 17th of July until the 31st," I informed Mrs. Finch-Fletchley. "I'm having a bit of vacation in France. But don't worry, I'll make sure Justin has plenty of worksheets to do while I'm gone."

"How lovely! I do hope you have fun," she said. "And thank you for informing me, and giving my Justin the attention he needs."

Josephine then motioned for the door. "Come this way, we can find Justin in his room."

Justin's room was cluttered, bits and bobs from Hogwarts mingling with piles of stuff from his mundane side of things, and he looked up, a bit embarrassed, when his mother and I arrived.

"Sorry, bit messy," he apologized, moving some things off of a desk and onto a large, four-poster bed.

"No worries, I know how hard it is to keep a room clean," I said, thinking back to my first life.

"Have fun you two!" Josephine said, before leaving the two of us alone.

"So, any idea why your parents want you to take mundane schooling as well as Hogwarts?" I asked Justin as an ice breaker, who nodded.

"They told me it was because they wanted me to be well-rounded," Justin replied. "But I think they were just horrified by the curriculum at Hogwarts. Did you know we have to take Astronomy classes, but there's no math and science, or literature classes at all? I mean, I guess you could call potions a Chemistry class, but not really."

"Astronomy is useful to know, although only for potions and Herbology," I said. "I've always thought that class could be cut entirely from the Hogwarts curriculum because you can learn about the moon and stars and stuff when you need it. And don't let Snape hear you say that about his course."

"Yeah, we learned that right quick after a girl in Hufflepuff lost twenty points in our first lesson for comparing potion making to cooking," Justin said with a grimace.

"Well, the man's wrong," I said with a shake of my head. "It's not a one to one, but that's a completely acceptable comparison. I've read potion magazines that do the same. Honestly, why they keep him as a teacher when he's so terrible at it baffles me."

"Yeah, same. Nobody likes him. Well, maybe the Slytherins, but that's it," Justin replied.

"Well, let's get started on some basic worksheets and stuff," I said, turning to the main reason I was here. "I brought some of my old notes and tests from my time in Year 7 and 8 to see where you are, exactly. We'll do math and history first, which will be the most important ones if your parents are going to make you get a Muggle GED."

I laid out a few pieces of paper that had several mathematical equations on them, as well as some questions about basic history, onto his desk. I could see Justin droop out of the corner of my eye, and nodded sympathetically.

"Yeah, it's a bummer, but it's important to learn," I told him. Then, a clever idea hit me. "Tell you what! If you manage to do these worksheets, I'll throw in a couple lessons about magic that the other First Years likely won't know anything about."

"Really?" he asked, perking up, and revealing that he could have gotten sorted into Ravenclaw with that sort of excitement towards magic.

"Absolutely! I know a lot of things that aren't taught in First or even Second years. I'll even let you pick the subject," I told him. "But that's only if you finish these worksheets. You don't even need to ace them. I just need to know where you are, education wise, so I can plan your future lessons around that level."

"Okay!" Justin said eagerly, and he dove into the assignment I'd given him.

He was done in only an hour, but I hadn't given him all that much in the first place. Then, I quickly looked it over, and found he had history more or less nailed down, but his math needed some work.

I told him as such, which made Justin sigh. "Ugh, math," he muttered.

"I can tell you won't be taking Arithmancy when it's offered," I chuckled.

"Arithmancy?" he asked, curious.

"A third-year elective at Hogwarts. It's magical math, basically."

"Math that's magical?" Justin inquired, sounding intrigued.

"It's fascinating, but painfully dry and boring. Much like regular math," I warned him, causing Justin to flinch.

"So, as I said, I'll answer some questions you have," I told Justin.

"Neat!" he said excitedly, and opened his mouth to ask something, only to close it a moment later.

"Can't decide what to ask?" I guessed with a faint chuckle, and Justin nodded sheepishly.

"Yeah. I've got a whole bunch of 'em rattling around in my head, but I can't exactly figure out which ones I want to ask first," he admitted with a weak laugh.

"No shame in that," I assured him. "How about I teach you some magic anybody can use that doesn't need a wand?"

That got him to sit up eagerly, and I took out some paper. I folded the sheets and then cut them into strips, before using a pen to draw symbols onto them.

"These are a form of Japanese magic called 'Ofuda' or magic tags," I said as I drew a Stunner Tag. "Usually, you need blood or some other special ingredients mixed into the ink, but it should be fine with your passive magic."

"What do they do?" Justin asked curiously.

"Well, this one I've drawn up acts similar to Stupify, the Stunning spell," I explained. "Channel magic into it, and it will fly off and attach to somebody and knock them out them. No need for a wand. Of course, it's only a one-use talisman that burns up after activating on the target, so you need to make more."

"Whoa! Is this like Runes?" he asked. "I've heard about them at Hogwarts, but they don't teach it until our third year."

"Good eye! Yes, Ofuda operate off of a similar system that Ancient Runes do. They are, at the most basic, symbols that guide magical energy in certain ways to produce spell-like effects. You can consider it sort of like a computer program or electrical circuits," I explained.

"How does that work, though?" Justin wondered.

"Why does saying things in pseudo-Latin create magical effects? Why do you have to wave a wand in a certain way? No one is entirely sure. Though, if you ask me, spell incantations as well as Runes are crutches of sorts. Magic is based purely on intent. It's why you can cast without words, or even a wand, at higher levels. Wands and Runes just make it easier to guide the magical energy into doing what you want."

Whoa," Justin murmured.

"Whoa indeed. Now, how about we try some of these Ofuda out?" I offered.

"Yeah!" he exclaimed, and reach out for the talisman's I'd made, only to move them away from his reach.

"Wait, don't use it around your wand," I warned him before he could touch the Ofuda, belatedly recalling an important fact about magic, specifically underaged forms of it.

"What? Why not?" he asked.

"Because all wands have what it known as a 'Trace' on them to detect underaged uses of magic," I explained. "It fades after six years, so you can cast spells freely then, but any time you use magic near a wand with the Trace, the Ministry detects it."

"So, wait, it detects magic even if I don't use my wand for it?" he asked, confused, and I nodded.

"Yes, the Trace detects any magic used in the vicinity. Doesn't matter from who or what, it will sense it, and register it as a violation of the rules. As such, the restrictions against underaged magic use are only really enforced on muggleborn or halfbloods who live out in the non-magical side of things."

That was how in the second book, Harry had been blamed for the use of magic by Dobby, as the Trace on his wand had detected the House Elf using magic. Same deal for Harry's accidental magic outburst in the 3rd book, and then his use of the Patronus in the 5th book. The Trace just knew magic had been used nearby and so sent the warning to the Ministry.

And, being a passive charm to monitor magic and not able to tell the difference, only homes that lacked magic of any kind would be investigated for magical misuse via the Trace. Even a couple basic wards or magical items like the floo would be detected by the Trace. Hence why the Ministry didn't investigate underaged magic use for any home that was registered as having a floo.

"That's unfair!" Justin griped, and I nodded.

"Indeed. I'm not sure how accurate the Trace is, but it can detect magic use within a dozen meters or so, and through walls and floors, too," I said, before glancing out the window in thought. "You've got a pretty big backyard, if we leave your wand up here in your room, it should be fine."

"That works," he said with a nod.

I carried the Ofuda, not wanting to risk them going off accidentally, and Justin led me outsides to the back yard. He had a pool out there, which was in the process of being cleaned for use in later in the summer. The Finch-Fletchley's also had a tennis yard, a bunch of ornamental statues, and a couple sheds.

"Alright, I think we can do it over here," I said, leaning against the fence. "Here, take one of these Stunner Ofuda, and use it on me."

"On you?" Justin asked nervously as he took the paper tags from me. "Won't this knock you out?"

"Yeah, I don't mind. You need a target, after all. And a Stunner is one of the safest offensive spells to use on a person, besides Expeliarmus, the Disarming Charm," I assured him.

"Okay… so, I just… use it as if it were a wand?" Justin asked slowly.

"Yup! Go ahead, feel your magic and let it out slowly into the paper. Treat the talisman like a wand!" I urged, and waited.

It took Justin a couple tries to get the magic flowing through the paper. Understandable, of course, the slips of paper hadn't been treated specially and were purely mundane, unlike the Ofuda charms I used myself, whose ink was basically a potion and the tags themselves made from magically treated ink, paper or parchment.

This was also a bit of an experiment of my own to see if Ofuda made with completely ordinary ink and paper could still be used by a magical person. The magic was in the symbols, not the materials. Or at least, it should be.

'Only one way to find out,' I thought, watching Justin closely.

After a couple of failed attempts, he finally managed to get the charm working.

"WHOA!" he suddenly exclaimed as the Ofuda in his hands suddenly started burning with bright red flames at the top.

"That's new," I muttered, before shouting, "Throw it at me, Justin!"

"What?!" he asked in disbelief.

"Do it! Throw the charm!" I told him, and after a moment of indecision, he did so, flicking the talisman like it was a playing card.

And it immediately zipped over to me, flashing through the air like a red streak before sticking to my chest.

I instantly felt the effects of the Stunner on my body, muscles stiffening and feeling my back get slammed into the fence behind me from the sudden pushing sensation that accompanied the Ofuda touching me. I remained standing, though only barely. My awareness immediately faded to black as I slumped weakly against the fence.

I knew the difference between Stunners and the Petrification spell. I'd experienced both at the wand of my father in his 'better' moods.

The first was a magical taser that stunned a person by forcing them into unconsciousness. Simple, effective, no mess!

Petrification, on the other hand, was the body locking up completely, being rendered utterly immobile with next to no control over any part of the body, not even the eyelids! There was no pain, either, and it lasted for minutes up to hours defending on which version was being cast. You were also awake and aware while Petrified, at least with the spell version.

"Whoo, that was something!" I wheezed out as I snapped back to consciousness a moment later.

"How long was I out?" I wondered.

"A couple seconds, only. Are you alright?" Justin asked nervously, and I nodded.

"Yeah, I'm good. Not the first time I've been stunned, and it probably won't be the last," I chuckled reassuringly. "Though I think you may have overpowered the Ofuda a bit. It's not supposed to burst into flames like that, just glow a little."

"Oh… oops?"

"Don't apologize! You've just got to get the hang of it! Come on, let's try it again!" I urged him. He smiled weakly, and raised another Ofuda, his eagerness to see and learn more about magic sparkling in his eyes.

Two more Ofuda later, and we were out of the ones I'd made for that short lesson. I didn't feel like making new ones either on account of my body feeling jittery, like I'd drank six cups of coffee and then been punched in the gut repeated.

Luckily, Justin was willing to let me go. In exchange for more magical knowledge and tidbits, which I supplied him.

We were taking a short break for tea – the Finch-Fletchley maids brewing an excellent cup – and chatting in the garden, when I recalled another matter I'd wanted to bring up with him.

"Do you think I could ask you something, Justin?" I inquired, and he looked at me in surprise but nodded all the same.

"Sure, what is it?"

"Was Harry… did Harry seem happy at Hogwarts?" I asked, feeling a bit silly to be asking that.

"Harry Potter? Well, I didn't see him all that often outside of Charms and Astronomy, but he looked to be having fun with his friends," Justin said. "I mean, he did fight a troll, but he was okay afterwards."

"A troll?" I asked, pretending I didn't already know about this.

"Oh, yeah! It happened during Halloween! Professor Quirrell ran in, shouting about a troll in the dungeon, and then the headmaster told everyone to stop panicking and head back to their dorms."

"Wait, you're saying Dumbledore sent students back to their dorms instead of keeping them safe inside the Great Hall?" I asked, feeling a bit angry, even though I knew this was going to happen.

"Um, yes?"

"So he sent the Slytherins to the dungeon. The same dungeons a troll was sighted at?" I demanded, and Justin blinked, before realization hit home.

"Oh… oh!" he gasped.

"That could have been a potentially fatal mistake on Dumbledore's part," I grumbled.

Justin then frowned. "Um, I don't mean to be rude, but isn't your younger brother in Slytherin?"

"He is. Just because Rudy and I don't get along doesn't mean I want him dead," I told Justin truthfully. I then frowned. "Wait, but if the troll was in the dungeons, how did Harry and his friends run into it?"

"I, uh, huh, that's… a good question," Justin admitted. "I heard they fought it on the first floor, near one of the bathrooms."

"So the troll wasn't even in the dungeons by the time Quirrell managed to warn everybody," I groaned, and hearing it first hand from somebody else really drove home how poorly Dumbledore had handled the troll incident.

"Come to think of it, I don't think Harry and his friends were even in the Great Hall when the announcement happened," Justin said thoughtfully.

"Then where were they?" I asked.

"I don't know… I first thought they got separated from the other Gryffindors when they were heading back to the dorms, and I know some people were saying they went looking for the troll to show off," Justin said with a shrug.

"Well, that's something I'll have to ask Harry when I see him next," I said with a heavy sigh.

I then looked at Justin. "Do you think you could try and be friends with him when you return to Hogwarts?"

"I can try," Justin said with a slow nod, and I smiled gratefully at him.

"Wonderful. I hope you and he can get along. Harry needs a lot of good friends," I said. Then, I tapped the desk. "Now, let's get back to our lessons, shall we?"

Justin groaned, much to my amusement.

'Ah, well, he'll thank me later for it,' I thought to myself. I had a job to do, and it was time to get back to work!

&&&&&

Author's Note:

Seems like is having troubles. Again. Sorry about that.