Chapter 372: Jungle Trouble
historical
London,
FutureTek was the pride of the country, it was making things that none asked for, but they sure did make the world better. What started with just making computers had by now expanded into energy tech, defence tech and much more.
The FutureTek just released the news that they had successfully developed Thorium Reactors that were much cheaper than conventional nuclear reactors. Thorium-based reactors were safer because the reaction can easily be stopped and because the operation does not have to take place under extreme pressures. Compared to uranium reactors, thorium reactors produce far less waste and the waste that is generated is much less radioactive and much shorter-lived.
Another advantage was that these reactors can not be used to make nukes, hence, even nations with doubtful reputations can have these reactors. [A/N: Simple to say, Iran’s problem is solved. If they still go for uranium reactor then their intentions will be clear.]
The best part, Thorium was available around the world. With India 963,000 tonnes, United States 440,000 tonnes, Australia 300,000 tonnes, Canada 100,000 tonnes. All these were friendly countries that would not mind sharing their Thorium with the UK. Not to mention, many African countries also had them.
After this news was released, and a few runs of propaganda, people felt more at ease with there being a Thorium reactor near their neighbourhood than a Uranium one.
Soon, the British Government ordered for 30 such reactors to be made across the United Kingdom, including the new Greater Britain. [A/N: Whenever I say the United Kingdom, assume I am also including all territories.]
Not only this, but FT Motors also announced that they will be making EV charging stations across the United Kingdom, in the coming 3 years, their plan was to have charging stations at a distance of every 50-100 kilometres. While in the cities, they will be strategically placed all around. The push for electric vehicles was real this time, as the company just launched a new electric scooter, designed by Adam.
This came with the new Solid State Batteries, which were smaller and better, and also had a shorter charging time. The only thing stopping electric vehicles from getting mainstream is the time it needs to charge, Adam was working on this exactly. Their focus was to at least minimise it to just 15 minutes.
..
At the same time, a silent war was going on. When Sony released the Betamax tape in 1975, it quickly took over the market with its high picture quality, however, Sony limited the capacity to a recording of 1 hour. This would mean that for a person to watch a movie they needed to change the tapes.
In 1976, the current year, VHS tapes were launched, although their picture quality and sound quality were inferior, their ability to store footage of 2 hours was seen as a better alternative. Due to this, slowly Betamax’s market share started to drop.
Magnus owned Sony, but he did not want to allow Betamax to become irrelevant, not when the company invested a lot to make it. Betamax was sent to FutureTek to be researched and upgraded, at least a full movie should be able to be stored in it.
But, despite all their hard work, Betamax was just not feasible for longer recordings. Doing so forcibly will make the tape and also the video player too expensive.
This was a loss for the company, hence a new project was started, discarding Betamax completely. This was the formation of a smaller compact storage device that can store really high-quality movies. And hence, a smaller circular disc was designed, called DVD, Digital Video Disc. The disc could store 2 gigabytes of data. It was great for movies. But the thing was, to run these, one needed a laser reader/writer, and these were not cheap to make.
However, the strength of FutureTek was to provide tech at an affordable price. Their televisions were selling like hotcakes because of this. They currently had 40% of the television market around the world.
Their strength was in mass production, the cheaper it was to manufacture the lower its cost will be. So, an experimental assembly line was made to try it.
..
Hogwarts,
Magnus sat with Emma in Charms class, he was very regular nowadays in the classes, but only Ragnar and Severus knew why. That was because he liked to mess around with Emma. Touching places that would make her squirm and jump.
But, today he had to stop his daily activities and return to his small office room, a call had come from his good friend, Saudi King.
“Yes, they have finally agreed to sell you The price was accepted, everything is accepted by them. Congratulations, Magnus.” King Faisal said on the phone. The proposed deal with Algeria, Libya, Niger and Chad had gone through. They agreed to sell him land in the Sahara Desert.
But the truth was, Magnus had already told Emrys Construction to secretly start digging and making huge underground facilities. They were supposed to harbour countless verticle farm fields. But now with the official land deal, he can make advanced solar farms to make electricity.
“I will send someone to make the deal then, thanks for the help, old man.” Magnus gratefully said.
“It’s fine, I’d be dead if it weren’t for you, rotting in hell. By the way, I am still waiting for your new method of making the soil fertile.” King Faisal reminded him.
Magnus embarrassingly replied, “That.. well there is no saying how long that will take. For now, we have the technology of vertical farms and solar farms. These two combinations can grow us limitless food. I will give you a technological transfer, my goal is to eradicate hunger anyway. You can maybe grow some exotic items with it.”
“Acceptable, I will look into the project then.”
Their talks went on for half an hour, the old king was interested in what happened in Thailand, Magnus only gave a short altered answer, there was no need to reveal his secrets.
..
Greenland,
This was the only place that Voldemort could hide in as the muggle population was too scarce and only lived on the southern coasts. He found his refuge in the middle of the large island.
With himself he had brought just a handful of followers, the rest were sent around Europe to gather money and entertain themselves. Along with him, his faithful bedwarmer, Bellatrix; Lucius Malfoy and a few others remained.
He had a new mission right now, one important for him to get stronger. But it was hard to get, so he called two of his faithful servants, “Nott Senior and Thorfinn Rowle, I have a task for you two. Go to the Forbidden Forest and bring me Unicorn blood. It needs to be fresh and at least a hundred litres.”
The two Death Eaters kneeled and left quickly. No questions or intentions were asked, as Voldemort had only lost the fight, he was still physically a powerful wizard.
Voldemort then glared at Lucius, “Why has your wife not given you an heir yet? You do remember what your responsibility is, right? I need access to Lestrange vault at all costs.”
Lucius bowed, “My lord, I have tried enough times, I think there is a problem with her, I need to take her to a good healer.”
“Then do it, whatever it takes,” Voldemort sneered. He had gotten very moody and annoyed ever since his loss. He had lost everything, all the properties, money and influence in Britain. He never planned to tackle such kind of war, and according to him, it was going to end with a wand fight. Clearly, that didn’t happen.
..
Hogwarts,
“Come, Fluffy, we will get some herbs from the fores’.” Hagrid picked up his large wand and a basket, then headed straight into the dark forest.
“Woof X3”
Fluffy had 3 heads, hence three barks. Each had a different personality too. Hagrid loved the 3-in-1 good boy.
“Don’ worry, boy. We’ll be back before dinner.” Hagrid was always cheerful, not knowing that today the dog’s instincts were not lying. The forest was a bit extra dangerous.
“Magnus is such a good kid, we’ll make some special apple herb pie for him,” Hagrid muttered. The school had changed so much, all teachers knew it was because of Magnus, Hagrid too.
“Grrrr.. BOW!” Fluffy growled loudly suddenly, angry.
“What happened?” Hagrid became alert.
*THUD*
*THUD*
Loud thuds started to come, it was continuous. Soon the ground started to shake, Hagrid quickly realised, “It’s a stampede..!”
*WOOSH*
Just then, out of nowhere a red flash came and hit a few animals, he took out his wand, “WIZARDS!”
But he didn’t shoot anything as there were so many animals, he was too inexperienced for fights and just with his 3rd-year spells, he couldn’t really do much damage.
“HAHAHA.. Look who we have here, the retarded giant.” two voices ridiculed Hagrid. But the men were nowhere to be seen, most likely using cloaks of invisibility.
“Come on out ya monsters. You shouldn’ta come here!” Hagrid angrily roared as soon as he saw 5 dead unicorns.
“Lord Voldemort sends his regards, you oaf, it’s you who shouldn’t have come here. AVADA KEDAVARA!” the enemies shot green lights from their wands straight at Hagrid.
*BAM*
It connected directly to his chest, sending him flying back. But since he was half-giant, he had some magical protection, which saved his life, albeit leaving him gravely injured.
“Fluffy.. run..” Hagrid weakly murmured.
The three heads off Fluffy thought about where to go, soon they came to a consensus and ran straight towards the school.
Meanwhile, finally, the two men showed themselves, “How are you doing, Hagrid? We didn’t miss you.”
Hagrid recognised them from his old days, “Nott and Rowle, the same as ever, losers. Fate gave ye a chance, ye still wanna die.”
“CRUCIO!” Nott, in anger, sent the Torture Curse.
But badass Hagrid chuckled, “Hehe, ye fools, it don’ work on me. HAAA..”
*BAM*
He threw a stone straight at Nott’s face, chipping off his nose with it. Hagrid may not feel as much effect of the spell, but it hurt like hell though, and slowly his body started to become weak.
[Discord – /misterimmortal.
Special thanks to *DougErNuts* *Oluwatimileyin Olayemi* *BirdRant* *Franklin Walley* *Brennan Tubbs*