- Yes... Well, you know, Granny, platform nine and three-quarters, a red train, people with bad taste in clothes, owls and a crowd of unruly children with superpowers - Hogwarts!
- Ah, Hogwarts!
A mischievous smile played across the queen's face. She was clearly enjoying herself in the children's company.
In general, Richard noticed Queen Elizabeth's excellent sense of humor. She loved to joke and play pranks among her own people. Naturally, to the general public, she presented a completely different person.
Harry stood like a statue, afraid to move. What was happening before his eyes was beyond comprehension. Every wizard he encountered during his visits to Diagon Alley treated ordinary people with disdain, calling them Muggles. Meanwhile, Potter tried to find out anything about his parents from the wizards and heard "You-Know-Who" mentioned several times. Wizards were terrified of the sorcerer who had killed the boy's parents. Harry had been under the impression that because of the Statute of Secrecy, no ordinary people knew about wizards. And then it turned out that this was not the case. The Queen was well aware of wizards. The intelligence services and the highest aristocracy knew about wizards. Moreover, the ruler of Great Britain, unlike wizards with superpowers, was not at all afraid of the evil wizard and even calmly called him by name.
"A terrorist! May the devil take Hitler by the thigh, as Uncle Scott likes to say! The Queen contemptuously calls the most dangerous wizard a common terrorist," Potter thought. "Not the greatest evil in the universe, the Dark Lord and all that other epithets, but the damn leader of a terrorist organization! After listening to him, you start to think he's just a common bandit."
"Richie, unfortunately, I have to go," the Queen said sincerely. "I only just managed to get away for a few minutes. Harry, I hope you'll be loyal to the Crown, not to some silly maxim."
"Yes, ma'am!" Potter replied enthusiastically. "I'll do my best, Your Majesty!"
Harry watched the queen's majestic retreat with admiring eyes. His friend's voice distracted him from his contemplation of the monarch:
"Congratulations, Harry, you're now acquainted with many of the Windsors. With such connections and my protection, you'll have an excellent career ahead of you, perhaps in the secret service. With due diligence, you might even be able to count on a title of nobility."
"Do wizards really work as special agents?" Potter asked in surprise.
- This information is not disclosed, but something similar is certainly practiced.
Harry really enjoyed James Bond films. He imagined himself in Agent 007's shoes and realized he wanted to be just as cool.
- Richie, what do you have to do to work in the secret service?
"After Hogwarts, you'll take your school exams as an external student. Ideally, you'd also like to attend a military academy or at least a reputable university."
- It's probably complicated and expensive?
"What doubts? It's probably difficult and expensive. But experience has shown that in two or three years, you can master all the knowledge of middle and high school. After that, studying at the academy will seem like a piece of cake. And don't worry about money-the Crown will pay for the education of a promising young man."
Richard winked at Potter.
Harry thought it was a good way out. Who knew what awaited him among wizards? He'd never heard of the wizarding pension that Uncle Scott often mentioned. And here was the protection of an aristocratic friend, acquaintance with three princes, a princess, an entire queen, and a future Lord (Finch-Fletchley). With such acquaintances, what was he supposed to do among cowardly wizards who couldn't see beyond their own noses and had abandoned young Harry like a piece of trash on the Dursleys' doorstep?!
"It's decided," thought Harry, "I'll definitely become a secret service agent and an aristocrat! If only so I can rub the Dursleys' noses in it and one day show up on their doorstep and declare, 'Address me properly-Sir Harry Potter.'" To hell with wizards! They never needed me, and then... Then the Queen herself said I could serve the Crown.
***
Richard had been studying stock quotes since early morning, leaving him feeling frustrated. He went down to breakfast in a bad mood.
"Richie, is something wrong?" Gerald asked worriedly.
A heavy groan escaped the boy's chest.
- It's inappropriate to talk about such things at the table.
- Sex, money, politics?!
"Two out of three, Dad..." Catching his father's astonished look, Richard added: "And sex has nothing to do with it!"
- Okay, let's talk after eating.
After breakfast, father and son traditionally gathered in the living room by the fireplace. They sat in armchairs. Gerald asked:
- So what's the problem, son?
"The stock market is going crazy! Every stock is plummeting. Gold, platinum, and silver are falling. Oil is rising, but oil company stocks are going crazy. They're soaring a few points, then crashing. In this situation, I don't even know where to invest. This will probably be a very difficult year financially. It feels a lot like a crisis, but I don't remember..."
The transmigrator nearly got caught. He didn't recall from financial history that there had been a crisis in 1990. He did remember the dates of the most recent crises: 1998, 2008, and 2021, caused by the market war between the US, China, and Europe.