Chapter 3
September 1, 1987: Garden Suburb Junior School
Fuck his life!
Yeah, that's exactly what he's feeling right now! Remember yesterday when he said that he had a feeling that the new school would take a lot of his free time? Well, by saying he won't have much free time, he doesn't mean he will be busy having his first-ever existential crisis!!! Why? How can he have an existential crisis at the age of 7? The answer is one fucking name: Hermione Granger! Yup! You heard it correctly! The one and only Hermione Fucking Granger!
Today starts normally enough; he wakes up at 5 in the morning as usual, then he does his own business in the toilet and starts with the routine he built for the last 3 months, meaning checking on his gardens, watering them while also taking some vegetables, and then bringing them to the kitchen. The kitchen in the morning is absolutely chaotic, with a bunch of noises, people talking, shouting, and lots of swearing! Yeah! Alan was so shocked at how much the Brits swear. His impression of the Brits is through the movies, and in the movies, they're acting really...posh, if not too polite. But in reality, they swear a lot!
Looking at the chaos in the kitchen, Alan thinks that, maybe, being banned from the kitchen in the morning isn't a bad thing after all. Yup! He is banned from the kitchen in the morning cause Mr. John said that a young boy like him needs more sleep, so he does not need to show up to help with making breakfasts for the whole orphanage. What Mr. John doesn't know is that without the internet and the greatest innovation of humankind called the smartphone, London 1987 is super boring! Without anything to waste time on, sleeping soon is expected. So, as a result, he wakes up very early! Instead, he focuses more on gardening, studying, reading, and most importantly—practising his power! Which he is doing now...
Dropping the vegetables that he harvested, Alan turns his back to go to his secret power training place to practise his power. When you're living in an orphanage with around 20 people constantly running and walking around under the same roof, it's extremely hard to find a place to practice his power in secrecy. But you've gotta do what you've gotta do, right? So he bears with it and manages to find a place to practice his power, which is a room on the east side of the orphanage that was left unused for a while. Mostly, the room is used as storage for some old furniture and unused supplies. It's not big, but it's big enough for him to practice as he likes, so Alan decides this is it!
He talks with Madame Maxime about claiming it for his own; he states that he wants to have his own personal space, and in all fairness to everyone, he says that he's willing to pay rent for the room. Understanding his intention, Madame Maxime accepts his offer and tells everyone else in the orphanage about the room, and the rent, and that if anyone else wants to have their own personal space, they can talk to her about renting some of the unused rooms in the mansion. As everyone is too familiar with how strange and spetaculous Alan is, nobody even bats an eye after hearing about him renting a room just to have a personal space in the orphanage. Honestly, you can't expect them to be surprised after witnessing everything Alan has done for the last nine months. You'll get used to it eventually.
After officially owning the room, Alan starts to clear everything out. He installs two bookshelves with all the books that he owns. Mostly, it's books about gardening, fantasy novels, literature, agriculture, herbology, cosmetics, and all things about his old homeland - Vietnam. Alan also brings a sofa and a table to put right next to the bookshelves to have a place to read whenever he likes in private. There is also a huge punching bag that he installs with the help of Mr. John, as he can even lift it with his scrawny frame. There are also some weights and other tools for gymnastics. There is also a big mirror installed on the side wall that covers the whole wall, just like in a professional gym studio.
With the mirror and all the tools, it's an immense help in practising his power. After nine months of nonstop practising, Alan can now change his face to whatever appearance he wants. From his original dark curly hair, heart-shaped face with pale, icy grey eyes to straight, long blond hair, round-shaped face with icy blue eyes to auburn red curly hair, oval-shaped with freckles and brown yellow eyes... Not only that, Alan can even turn his skin tone from white to yellow to dark or black. After figuring out that he's able to do that, the first thing Alan does is change his whole appearance into the old face that he had in his previous life. You can't really imagine how happy he is to have his old face back after thinking he lost it for good. Even though in his previous life he was an average gay male and nowhere near being called handsome, he wore that face for 35 years, so he'd still like to have it back. Thank you very much!
Alan will also admit that in this new life, even though he is still very young, only 7 going 8, without needing to adjust his features with his own power, Alan dare say that his original new face is quite handsome! Which he's very thankful for cause there's something called "the beauty privilege" after all. Being gay really makes him realise that the world can be as cruel as wonderful at the same time and that being pretty will give him advantages in life. So, of course, he's going to abuse his power as much as he can to get everything he wants. He's living in the material world after all...
Remember his plan to become Medusa 2.0 nine months ago? Well, well... after nine months of nonstop practising, by using his hair alone, Alan can grab and bring anything in his sight to him. Currently, the heaviest objects that he can manage to pick up are two 10kg weights. Not only that, he can also lengthen his hair extremely long in a very short amount of time, separate them, weave them into ropes, and use them to whip at anything with quite a strong force. Mostly, he whips his hair against the punching bag hanging in the middle of the room or against the walls. Sadly, for now, his control only allows him to weave and manipulate four ropes made of his hair at the same time.
After spending 15 minutes practising relentlessly changing his appearance, Alan spends the next 30 minutes controlling and wiping his hair nonstop against the punching bag while hearing the sound of his hair slashing through the air so fast that it is barely visible to human eyes, only to meet the punching bag with loud crack noises. Stopping to practice at 7 a.m, wiping out sweats, Alan can't help but let out a small smile. He knows that slowly but surely he's getting close to his ultimate goal of destroying stones or trees with only his hair. Aggressive, he knows! What can he say? He has an extreme side, after all. But jokingly aside, by having a superpower, who can say that there'll be no villains out there waiting to cause destruction? Life has balance, so if he can have power, he's sure that someone else can as well. Really, he can be that special. So he's just preparing himself for the worst that has yet to come.
After finishing taking a shower and changing into his school uniform, Alan comes to the kitchen to help with setting the tables and sharing breakfasts with the kids. After that, along with some older kids, Alan gets on the bus to get to his new school - Garden Suburb Junior School! One of the things that makes him never stop feeling amazed at England is that every place in this country, even in London, breathes history! His new school, for example, was built in 1913 and is still going strong. However, as he was told, part of the building was rebuilt because of damage caused during the war (1939–1945). Which is insanely awesome!
Alan arrives at his classroom 15 minutes before it starts because his classroom is on the second floor, so he claims a desk placed next to a window on the way back behind the classroom. Taking books and other school materials, Alan also takes out his notebook used to note down his plan for this year. The plan is separated into 3 parts: Work, "Fun," and school. And when he says "Fun,", what he truly means is practising his power, but he cannot write it down on the notebook so that anyone can read it, isn't he? He's not that stupid, thank you very much!
For school, the plan for this year is still the same as last year, meaning he is trying his best to learn everything he can. His best strengths lie in Literature, Geography, History, Languages, and Arts so he will keep focusing on improving them. Especially History! Every time someone says that they dislike history because it's boring or because it has many things to learn, Alan just wants to ask them: How can you dislike a million stories of millions of people who were born, laughed, lived, loved, hurt, cried, fought, bled, and created uncountable beautiful marvellous things before their lives ended? How can you dislike it when history is proof that humans are the most complicated creatures that ever walked the earth? How can you dislike history when it tells you the story of many great battles that had many heroes whose names were engraved in the Hall of Fame? We're living and making history as we live our lives day by day, and someday, our lives will be the history that will be taught to the next generation.
Of course, he also doesn't forget about science. In his previous life, he wasn't really good at science. He had to spend a lot of time studying in order to really understand it. And when he says "Science", he means Physics, Biology, Chemistry, and math. He used to joke with his friends that he and Sciene had a one-sided relationship. He loved Sciene and tried everything he knew to please her, but Sciene hated him with passion! However, somehow in this life, after being reborn, he becomes much smarter in science! Honestly, it freaks him out as to how good he is with Sciene now! You should know that Alan always favours EQ over IQ, mostly because he had a high EQ but had an average IQ in his previous life, but if some gods or goddesses out there decide that he will now have a high IQ too, then he absolutely gladly accepts it. There will be no complaints coming from him, sir!
He notes down in the notebook that this year he will spend more time learning Mandarin cause it's always been his second favourite language after English, but he never had a chance to learn it in his first life. Who is he kidding? He had been trying many times to learn it but failed spetaculously every single time. This time, though, feeling like he has become smarter, he thinks he finally has a chance at succeeding in learning Mandarin. God help him, cause he really wants to learn it. He also notes that he should spend time learning French. Maybe he can ask Madame Maxime for help learning French. He's sure that she will teach him if he asks, so he will leave it here as a reminder.
Because the school has never been a challenge for him, understandably, there's really not much to plan, so Alan starts making plans for the shop. Alan has talked with Selena about handing over the shop to her, and it's not an experience he wants to have ever again. Why? He only spent 5 minutes telling her that he would hand over the shop to her, but he had to spend 30 minutes just to calm her down. At first, she was shocked to hear that she was now officially taking over the shop, and then she was so moved as he entrusted her with such a big responsibility that she just kept on crying, making him so uncomfortable. God, he hates watching women cry! Next, she started laughing uncontrollably, and a bunch of kids gave her side eyes left and right as she was so happy. After calming her down enough, Alan started to explain to her that, yes, he now shares a part of the ownership of the shop with her. Yes, as she is now the co-owner of the shop, the profit earned from the shop will be separated into 3 parts: 1 for him, 1 for her, and 1 for maintaining the shop. What she does with the money is totally up to her; for his part, he mostly still donates it to the orphanage and only keeps some for himself in case of an emergency. Alan has an idea that Selena will also do the same thing as him with her money, but it's up to her. He also told her that, as he'd be busy with school and his gardens, she would be the boss! Meaning that she will take care of everything, including making things to sell, selling things, hiring people to help her with the shop, advertising the shop, and everything related to it. Of course, he's also assured her that he will be there to help her, so there's no need to worry.
He's now making plans for September, October, November, and December! September is school's return month, so Alan's thinking that he will make some pretty little things that can be used to decorate notebooks or school bags to sell for the students, especially the girls. He's sure they will love it. October is the holiday month cause there'll be Halloween and Diwali. Halloween is a holiday that everyone celebrates, so the shop needs to have things related to it. Things used for decorations, some wicked handmade candies, or Halloween-themed candles with pretty decorations—things like that will be easily sold. And as the UK has a large number of Indians, Diwali is also widely celebrated. However, Alan has never celebrated Diwali before; he makes a note to do some research about it later. For November, Alan's thinking about making some lipsticks, dried perfumes, and maybe some handmade winter face creams. He remembers some recipes for handmade cosmetics from his past life, and it's just the right time to put them to use. Alan heard someone say that it's the easiest to sell things for children and women! So of course he will follow that quote to the ninth!
While busy making plans and listing down things to make or buy to sell for December, the most important month of the year, Alan notices that the classroom is now full. There are at least 15 students in the room, and all of them are chatting nonstop or playing around; they're making a lot of noise, to be honest, but he doesn't mind them much. You will get used to noises while living in the orphanage. Most of the time, he keeps it to himself and only makes small talk when it's absolutely necessary. When in the orphanage, he learns everything about the kids and the staff as he sees the orphanage as his home. Because of that, it's just the right thing to do to know everything about his new-found family.
He also knows that some of the kids don't like him, mostly because he's very weird. Of course, he's weird! He's a grown man trapped inside the body of a child. What do you expect? There is no way in hell he'll act like a child; it's just made him super uncomfortable. But the good thing is, none of the kids say anything; they just stay away from him. Part of it's because they know he has so much sway with the adults, and part of it's because they know that, as the owner of a business, he has money and power over many things that allow him to make their lives miserable if they mess with him. Alan truly doesn't mind them; they're kids or at most, teenagers, and he's a grown man, so he will be a big person here. In the end, only money will be loved by everyone, and he's not money, so of course, not everyone likes him. That's just how life is.
Alan notices that a young female teacher named Sarah comes to class when the bell rings and starts doing roll calls, but being too busy making plans, Alan almost misses it when Sarah calls out the name Hermione Granger. He didn't, but he truly wishes he did! By hearing that name, his life now turns in a whole different direction, and he has no idea where or how it's gonna end...
At first, Alan thinks that he misheard it, but noooo, he heard it correctly! After the teacher calls out the name "Hermione Granger", there's a little girl with large front buck teeth and bushy brown hair who raises her hand while shouting "Yes". Looking at the little girl, all Alan can say is, "Yup! That's the perfect replica of young Emma Watson." Holy fucking shit! There it is: a real, living, breathing Hermione Fucking Granger standing in front of him! Alan truly can't decipher his emotions right now. He doesn't know if he should feel happy or if he should feel worried. He knows he used to joke that Hogwarts owed him an acceptance letter when he turned 11 in his past life, but well, you know... Died and reborn into another universe is one thing, but to be reborn into the Potterverse is a whole different story.
He knows some people will say that they will kill to be reborn into the Potterverse, but he will say one thing to them: Voldemort! That man is fucking insane! Wizards and witches didn't call Voldemort the most feared Dark Lord in Great Britain's modern history for nothing! No one in their right mind will think that splitting their soul seven times is a good idea. Body, mind, and soul—as in Buddhism, these are the three things that Alan always thinks have connections to each other, and as a whole, they make us who we are—humans. And with a too-unbroken soul, you have to expect Voldemort to be nothing but insane!
As a long-time fan of the Harry Potter series, Alan knows for a fact that Voldemort is still alive, and people should know that insane people do unexpectedly insane things. What keeps Voldemort from killing him if one day he suddenly fancies so? The answer will be nothing! Yeah, that's right. Nothing can save him from Voldemort if that man decides that Alan is standing in his way.
He knows most people will say that there's no need to be worried that much cause, compared with Gellert Grindelwald, Voldemort is nothing but a petty, hypocrite, scared child who played with corrupted power in order to escape death but failed poorly. Honestly, part of him also kind of agrees with this sentiment. Why? Well, you see... Voldemort built and controlled his whole organisation, named the Death Eater, by using forces and fears while also taking advantage of the obsession with blood supremacy shared among the Pureblood Families of the Wizarding World of Britain. But at most, Voldemort's reign could only affect Britain, while Gellert Grindelwald's reign could affect and have influence across Europe and even reach Asia.
You can hate Gellert Grindelwald, but you cannot deny that the man had immense power, not only in magic but also in his influence. That man brought so much destruction to nearly the whole world and succeeded in raging wars with muggles globally, while Voldermort couldn't even manage to take over Britain. Alan knows that Gellert Grindelwald isn't a good person by any means, but Alan can see the greatness in the man. Never does he say that he agrees about starting wars, but Alan knows that one of many reasons why Gellert Grindelwald brought wars upon the Muggles was because, by being a Seer who can touch the flow of time, Gellert Grindelwald saw visions of the destruction of wars brought into the world by the Muggles. He also saw visions of the weapons containing mass destructive power that could easily wipe the Wixen's races off the Earth. And God, they did...
Remember Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Almost 200.000 people died because of two nuclear bombs dropped by the USA in WWII. Homes were destroyed, families were torn apart, thousands and thousands of people died, and the whole city was desmolated to the ground with nothing left but ashes and bones... Oh, not to forget, in total, the USA dropped 7.85 million metric tonnes of bombs on Vietnam in the Vietnam War. Let me do the math for you: 7.85 million tonnes of bombs = 250 nuclear bombs. With one nuclear bomb, the USA destroyed everything in Hiroshima. Imagine how much destruction the USA brought to Vietnam with 250 nuclear bombs?
The dates the bombs fell from the sky were marked in human history and left nothing but tragedies in the flow of time...
As someone used to say: People who mess with time will be messed by time! After witnessing all visions of the destruction, Gellert Grindelwald decided to fight fires with fires, to use offensive forces against offensive forces, and to use immense powerful ancient magics against mass murdering weapons created by man... Gellert Grindelwald might not have admitted it, but Alan can see very clearly that Gellert Grindelwald was afraid of the human race and the weapons they own. And when a man in power is afraid of something, they will use any means possible to end the fear. But didn't Grindelwald know that by doing so, he fulfilled the prophecy!
If not for Dumbledore, Alan really can't even imagine how the world would be if Grindelwald hadn't been stopped. You think Grindelwald will win the wars and then rule the world? Wrong! If there's one thing Alan can say about the human race based on lessons learned in history, it'll be that they like to fight with each other and will find the most creative ways to kill their enemies off, even if it ends with them being killed along the way! That's why Alan is 100% sure that if Grindelwald hadn't been stopped, feeling threatened of being killed and enslaved, the Muggles would activate all the bombs and nuclear bombs they have at their disposal and blow the Earth into dust! But thank God, it didn't happen!
After Gellert Grindelwald was defeated, he was imprisoned by Dumbledore in Nurmengard - the fortress he built himself. Which is really laughable to Alan; you think a mere prison can hold one of the greatest Dark Lords that ever walked the Earth for that long? If Gellert Grindelwald doesn't want to be imprisoned, no cell or prison can hold him! That's also why his "acolytes"—members of the Alliance, the name of Grindelwald's organisation—are still following him; they even take turns guarding the Nurmengard with the hope that their leader will one day wake up and rise again. This is also the reason why Alan will always favour Gellert Grindelwald over Voldemort. Just look at the Death Eaters; they disbanded and hid themselves right the moment Voldemort vanished. No Death Eaters even take the effort to find him but Quirinus Quirrell and Barty Crouch Jr. Don't be naive; the Death Eaters know their Dark Lord is still alive, no body no crime, and the Dark Mark is still showing on their wrists, so of course they know! You have to be such a poor leader that all of your followers gave up on you after hearing you had disappeared.
Between Gellert Grindelwald and Voldemort, Alan will absolutely choose Gellert Grindelwald any day. Cause at least if he and Grindelwald cross wands, Alan still has a chance to negotiate with Grindelwald to spare his life. But with Voldemort, that man will kill him in an instant! And Alan is not ready to die a second time yet! Who knows if he can be reborn again? So yeah, he favours Grindelwald, but he scares the fuck out of Voldemort.
Panicking thinking about Voldemort, Alan almost misses the roll call, but luckily, he gains enough consciousness to respond after Ms. Sarah calls out his name the third time. After that, Alan lost consciousness again, paid no mind to the class the whole day, and then returned to the orphanage, learning nothing.
Right now, hiding in the training room, lying motionless on the sofa, after getting out of his panic caused by thinking about Voldemort and how easily he can die if he meets that man, Alan is now recounting every single detail he can remember about the Potterverse. It's been so long since he read the books and watched the movies. He can't even recall the first time he read the books; only remembers that it was in his 10th grade. And that has been like "a lifetime" from now on. He loves the Potterverse, but he doesn't have the brain to memorise every detail of it. How can he? As a grown man, he has life, work, and relationships to take care of. So please, pardon him for forgetting it.
Thinking about that, planning for the shop can wait; Alan now has another important thing to plan for! So... what are you going to do when you're reborn in the Potterverse?