Chapter 333 - 333. The Impossible
74 Years old Lord Mountbatten was much too excited when he got the letter from Magnus. It hinted at his membership in an extremely secret society headed by Magnus himself. He was ecstatic about it, as this would mean that he can get closer to Magnus and live longer.
He had no sons to speak of, only two daughters, both married and the eldest one was to inherit him. Honestly, he wanted a son, not so he could inherit his title and wealth, but so his bloodline could go on.
By now, he felt orgasmic about what he knew of Magnus\' future plans. For the past few decades, he was honestly disappointed in the Monarchy, it was going downhill and losing all the goodwill and power. The fact was, nobles like him derived their powers from the monarchy itself. Though now he knew that Magnus was not in favour of keeping the nobility too strong and only letting the Monarchy be the sole noble power. He didn\'t mind it, as the Monarchy was also going to be stronger.
In short worlds, Magnus was his wet dream of what he dreamt about the Monarchy of being. When he was small, he saw the days of the Great Empire, although the Empire was declining, still, the national pride was at its peak. But since World War I, it has been on a decline.
Now, Magnus, a Pendragon, was the only hope.
"Papa... what are you reading?" his daughter asked him. She was in her 40s.
"Nothing, dear. Your father is just going out for some work. Don\'t expect me to return soon." He got up and left quickly to meet this new Order.
...
Magnus was not himself present there. He didn\'t want to become someone that is too accessible. The Order Members were supposed to feel a sense of mystery and awe towards Magnus. Only the First Founding Members were supposed to be close to him.
Though not even the founding members knew about the Round Table. The one orienting the new members about the Order was Adrian, as he had the most experience with interviewing people.
The Muggles were mind-checked to make sure they were not already compromised while the wizards were made to sign the contract with the clear terms written that if they betray then they will be dealt with. Now, it was up to them to think what dealt with meant.
...
Edgar had returned to the UK from his long trip to the United States to expand the business. This time, he had come to the Prime Minister\'s office with a proposal for a huge country-wide developmental project.
Since the Prime Minister already knew about the eventual integration of Zimbabwe and the division of the country into states, this project became instrumental. Though the meeting was to be done along with the Minister of Finance and Home Secretary, but they had no idea about Magnus\' plans or the Wizarding world.
Edgar was a big man in the country now and was given the respect he deserves. He was jokingly nicknamed Edgar the Builder.
"Gentlemen, look at this map. All the lines you see are Bullet Train tracks. Each leads us to the major cities and the coming industrial cities that the government is making, or the cities that are most likely to become huge soon. It will connect the ports cities as well, and the best part, it will help us distribute the population around the entire country.
"The train will travel at a speed of 300 kilometres per hour. With more advancement, the speed can also reach 500 someday. Hence, the tracks will be made to withstand higher speeds and also have upgradability.
"For the best part, it will also have freight trains running over it since each line will have three tracks." Edgar showed the proposal.
The three people looked at each other\'s faces. The Minister of Finance coughed and asked, "Mr Bones, how much will this... "esteemed" Project of yours cost the treasury?"
Edgar looked at the man\'s face, it was that of taunting. Calling it esteemed was his sarcastic way of saying useless. He sighed, "*Sigh* Perhaps you do not know about the recent changes in the Country, Minister. The grand plans of reviving the economy and bringing it to the forefront of the world. Perhaps you need more education. The future of the world is in speed, if you can not do something in the least amount of time then someone else will beat you to it.
"Time is money, and Bullet Trains have already proven to be efficient in Japan. While what we are doing is something even bigger, as our trains will also carry freight. The total cost will be 5 Billion pounds(40 Billion in 2021), it will be constructed in 5 years with 5 phases."
The three had their eyes nearly popping out. This was an outrageous amount of money, as the entire GDP of the UK was just 209 Billion Dollars.
The Finance Minister scoffed, "This is an outrageous dream to have, Mr Bones, and the government does not run on dreams. We need money to work, to fund the police, the NHS, the postal service, the military. Building the Channel Tunnel and investing in that new dream of Magnus\'s Silicon Valley in Plymouth is costing us too much. We cannot fund this."
At this outburst, the Prime Minister and Edgar looked at the man in pity. Not because of what he said, but because of how he referred to Magnus in disdain. The Prime Minister warned him, "That\'s His Highness Magnus for you. He has alone added Billions to our economy, so do not forget to use the right words. And Mr Bones, the other things he said are right, we do not have the money."
Edgar nodded, it was expected, "And I am not asking you to invest, Prime Minister. Emrys Construction will build everything and then run the entire railway system. Since we are a private company, for us, profitability and maximising efficiency will be a priority. All we ask is to get all the necessary permissions in building it so it can go smoothly."
Well, this was a sweet deal now. The treasury will make money from the sale of the land. But, the Prime Minister asked, "So it will remain a private entity forever?"
"That depends on you. It will remain as a private entity until we have earned the full cost of building it and 20% extra by us. Once that happens, the Government will be allowed to buy a stake in it. But it will never be completely public property." Edgar stated the terms.
With that, the deal sounded much better, even for the general public. They would love to see the Bullet Trains running around the country, it will make them proud. The two secretaries soon left to work on the deal. While Edgar remained.
The Prime Minister quickly apologised, "Forgive him, he\'s too straightforward."
Edgar shook his head, "No. That\'s not it. The blatant disregard for His Majesty and disregard for the future of the country and the inability to predict the future based on the current patterns are proof enough. Please fire him, we need a man who is smart and loyal as the Minister of Finance, after all, he\'s supposed to handle the Royal treasury. His Majesty has already specified, corruption and incompetency in such high-level positions that decide the future of the country will not be tolerated.
"I will leave you to think about it now, Mr Prime Minister. Have a happy Christmas,"
Edger left and called Magnus to inform him of the deal. It was Magnus\' plan to develop the Bullet Train, and it was not just going to run in the UK, but also in Zimbabwe. Though not many were told about it yet.
However, there will not be any Bullet Train network between the UK and Zimbabwe as that would be outrageous to even build. The two were separated by a Continent. For such a large distance, normal flights will be there.
All this was to prepare for the soon to start economic boom.
...
Hogwarts,
It was Christmas and Magnus could not ask for a better gift from the imaginary Santa. The medicine finally worked. Rodolphus became happy, though he was tortured to be sad again.
Still, they tried the medicine so many times on the man that all their doubts were gone. The last part was to integrate the magic of Phoenix songs into the pills. It was only doable with the help of magic itself, and even in that, Grandma Martha helped.
But, the end result was sweet as honey. Yes, the medicine literally tasted like honey. For this, the Phoenixes received an entirely new building made for them as their home. Also, a nice dedicated chef to make food for them every weekend.
"Severus, try this. You have deep depression, which I know from observing you. Although you are much better it has still not left your body." Magnus offered his friend a pill. This was the beauty of it, it even worked on wizards.
Severus, this time knew that it was the final product. So he ate it and waited for the effect. After about 15 minutes, his dull eyes opened completely and his face seemed to have changed slightly. It seemed more expressive and bright now.
"How do you feel?" Magnus inquired.
"Like I am in a field of sunflowers on a beautiful spring morning. I want to jump around and laugh... this is... it feels delightful," Severus said with joy, it looked way too out of the ordinary.
*CLAP*
Magnus and Ragnar high-fived. Finally, after their months of trial and error with Rodolphus, they were successful.
"And now it goes to muggle clinical trials." Magnus excitedly announced.
...
The next day, without telling anybody, he told the newspapers to publish the articles. And so, the first thing Grace and Adam saw in the morning was Magnus\' big photo and the entire first page filled with praises of him, the family and his invention. The title was, "The Treasure Family, Prince Magnus\' Achieves The Impossible."
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STONES, WHERE?
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