[Rohan Pov]
It was still early morning, It was very cold but the sun rays shone through the London mist, casting a pale white sky. People were already out for their morning jog, unbothered by the cold, their footsteps echoing against the quiet townhouses.
"Just here is fine," I said, leaning forward as we reached the block.
The driver pulled up right in front of a seemingly ordinary townhouse. I paid the fare, even added a tip, and hopped out into the chilly morning air. I reached back in to grab my bags—one briefcase and a bag.
I stood on the sidewalk for a moment, gripping the handles, and watched the cab pull away. The neighbourhood was waking up, but nobody gave me a second look. I looked at the townhouse and smiled. This was the house that I bought last time i was here to make it into my safe house of sorts. As the house already looked like the London sanctum, I had the exterior renovated to resemble it completely, and now looking at the finished building, it looked just like the real London Sanctum. It now stood out among the other townhouses here as it looked more like an expensive hotel.
I walked up to the door and rang the bell. A moment later, I heard the heavy click of the locks, and the door swung open. Olivia stood there, looking sharp even this early in the morning. Her face lit up the second she saw me.
"Rohan! Welcome back," she said, stepping aside to let me in. "I wasn't expecting you until later this afternoon."
"Well, I took the earliest flight I could find; I didn't want to waste even a day," I chuckled, stepping in. Of course, I had already told her during our last conversation that I would be returning today, so there was no surprise there. The excuse I gave her was that I was doing really well at school and was allowed to take breaks. Don't know how much of that she believes.
Closing the door behind me, she said, "I've got a pot of Tea brewing upstairs."
"Lead the way," I replied. "Tea sounds perfect right about now."
Before I could move to pick up my luggage again, Olivia pulled out her wand with a fluid motion. With a casual flick, my heavy briefcase and bag rose into the air, bobbing gently at shoulder height.
"I've got these," she smiled, gesturing for me to head up the stairs first. As we climbed, she didn't waste any time getting me up to speed. "The book typing process is moving much faster than i anticipated. We've already managed to do 40 books."
I whistled, impressed. "40 already?"
"Things got faster once everyone learnt typing," she said, her voice filled with excitement as the levitating bags trailed behind her like loyal pets. "At this rate, we'll have all 7 years books done before christmus"
We reached the top floor, and Olivia gestured toward my room. "Go freshen up. I'll have the tea ready in the kitchen by the time you're done."
I nodded, I stepped into my room, set my luggage by the desk, and took a quick, scorching shower. I have been working nonstop for more than 30 hours by now, and the water seemingly washed all the fatigue away. Five minutes later, I walked into the kitchen where the aroma of Earl Grey filled the air.
"So," I said, taking a seat and wrapping my hands around a warm mug. "How did it go? Any word on the summer camp?"
Olivia leaned back, a slightly tired smile tugging at her lips. "Dumbledore's approval was everything, really. Honestly, it was a madhouse at the Wizengamot. Lucius Malfoy stood up and nearly had a fit, calling the school an 'affront to tradition' and a threat to secrecy. Half the room was shouting before the Minister could even get a word in."
She took a sip of her tea, her eyes bright with the memory. "But then Dumbledore stepped in. He gave this calm, classic speech about how we have a responsibility to guide new talent rather than gatekeep it. He told the room that my proposal was necessary for the stability of our community and that he fully supported it. The shift was instant—no one wanted to go against him. We got the license right then and there."
I grinned, leaning back. "That's incredible. With the license in hand, we're actually official."
"Not quite," Olivia corrected, her expression turning more practical. "The license is just the golden ticket. There's still a mountain of approvals and paperwork to climb. I've been stuck in endless meetings with different divisions in the Ministry—getting health and safety checks, building inspections, and background clearances for staff. Each department wants its own stamp on this before we open the doors."
She checked a small watch on her wrist. "In fact, they've called me in again today. I have to head over there shortly for another round of 'discussions' with the Department of Magical Education this time arond."
I placed my mug down on the wooden table, the exhaustion finally catching up with me in a single, heavy wave. "Well, better you than me. Looks like no one suspects my involvement much…other than Dumbledore, I think."
I stood up, stifling a yawn. "I'm going to head to bed. I'll meet up with everyone and get a full brief from you in the evening."
"Alright, get some rest, Rohan," she said softly.
I gave a tired wave and made for my room, where I collapsed onto the bed, beyond exhausted after being awake for over thirty hours straight.
I woke up eventually to the harsh, insistent blaring of the alarm I'd set earlier. I wanted to sleep more but i knew i had to get up. Peeking out into the hallway, I found the house was completely still; there was no one in sight. I called out Olivia's name, but only silence greeted me in return.
I smiled and closed the door. There was no way I was going to waste a whole day sleeping. Despite my lingering exhaustion, I dragged my bags up to the attic.
The attic was my private space, a place only I had access to through my room. It was filled with crates of records, with a sturdy table positioned right in the centre. I set my bags on the floor and began to unpack.
First, I opened the briefcase and pulled out the vial of Steve Rogers' blood, carefully placing it on the table. Next, I reached into the bag for the Wasp suit and the Pym Particles, setting them down right beside the serum.
I took a step back and just looked at the table, taking it in satisfaction and even a little pride. the objects sitting here on the table were practically impossible to exist in this world, yet here they were. And I was the one who made that possible.
It was a proud moment for me as i knew how much i had to do to get here. I had dedicated so much time and effort to securing these items, and through of the persistence and sheer luck involved in makeing this possible. But as I thought about the next phase, my mood quickly soured.
The real challenge was only just beginning, and this part wasn't entirely under my control. I had to somehow convince Flamel to help me. Based on my dealings with the Ancient One, I knew that wouldn't be an easy task.
I got back to work, unpacking the high-end electronics I'd picked up during my time there. These machines were state-of-the-art computers, from marvel universe no less. They could run circles around anything from the same era of my own world.
My plan was to do the same thing i just did in the MCU, have them run in the background even when I wasn't here. While the public internet was still in its infancy here, vital systems like banking, communications,research and defence networks were already functional, and I needed a way to keep an eye on them. Especially communications.
Next, I pulled out a specialised vinyl record scanner. This thing was a beauty—designed to automatically load, read, and transfer data directly to the Computer. It was meant for the crates of records filling this room. Sure, I could have sat here and read through them one by one, enjoying the slow burn of the mystery, but I didn't have time. From what i have already gathered from studying them, they can accelerate my research on magic by decades. This was very important.
It took me nearly two hours to set everything up, but once I was finished, I had a fully automated pipeline. A conveyor belt fed the hundreds of records into the scanner, which captured the content and sent it to the computer.
Even with this setup, the sheer volume of material meant it would take a solid month of non-stop operation to get through it all. Still, that was lightning fast compared to the years it would have taken using scanners from my own world. I flicked the switch, watched the first record slide into place, and then turned my attention to the computer.
I had tasked the AI to spec out the ultimate system for this operation. Following its advice, I'd acquired three server-grade machines, each customised for a specific heavy-duty workload. One was from a Space research Lab, another one was from a VFX studio and one was from MIT lab made by Stark Industries. This was my first Stark Industries Product and it looked different from every other one. It looked futuristic then the rest of the computers.
After wiring them all together, I synced my phone to the computer, mirroring the setup from my previous trip. This time. soldering was easier. I watched, fascinated, as the AI began the take over all the computers and form a single one. Within minutes, I was sitting in front of what was undoubtedly the most powerful computer system on the planet.
The only problem was that i could not connect more to make it more powerful, as the attic had limited space. The attic was now buzzing due to the fans spinning in the computer, the records scanner also didn't help .
Luckly i had sound-proffed this place during the attic's construction, the electricity and phonelines were also from a power line secretly installed to this attic during its renovations. Cooling seemed to be the only issue as even the AC didnt help.
I then focused on the computer. Gave the AI a simple, broad directive: "scrape the digital world. I wanted it to siphon every scrap of data currently flowing through the internet—emails, government communiqués, every ftp link, everything." Since the public web hadn't truly exploded yet, I programmed the AI to go through the raw data and generate intelligence reports on anything relevant.
My primary objective was to gauge the awareness of the world's leaders regarding the Wizarding World. I knew there had to be a paper trail somewhere; some secret government task force or military think-tank was bound to be researching countermeasures for magic. Now, all that was left to do was wait for it to finish its work.
I stepped out of the attic and got ready. Evening was approaching, and it was nearly time for the team to arrive.
The first one to arrive was Olivia; she came through the Floo directly from the Ministry. She looked exhausted.
We then went to the ground-floor lobby and waited for everyone to arrive. Slowly, everyone started arriving. Some came through the Floo, while some used the Knight Bus. The only exception was Edward, who came in a cab as he was a Muggle.
Everyone looked surprised to see me back. I, of course, lied about some work, and no one went into it. I then went through what they have been doing over the past two months.
They had done a thorough job while I was away. They had typed 40 full books. These ebooks also had images where needed by scanning the pages, they also had content pages and references.
I looked at everyone and said, " Nice work, everyone"