New Plans for the Future

Half an hour later, Mr. Eric Hart was driving his sedan along the road to London.

Jon sat in the back seat.

Southampton was a two-hour drive from London, giving him time to sort through his thoughts.

Jon's current thoughts could be perfectly summed up by a famous quote from Shakespeare:

"Magic or science, that is the question!"

But honestly, he did not have much of a choice...

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter might not be a world of exceptionally high magic, but many of its items and spells were immensely powerful.

For example, the Philosopher's Stone, which could turn stone into gold and extend one's life indefinitely; the Time-Turner, which third-year students could use with virtually no side effects; Luck Potion, which increased one's luck, made one invulnerable, and granted one's every wish...

Most adult wizards could easily use powerful spells such as teleportation, Memory Modification, and Mind Control.

It could be said that an outstanding adult wizard in the world of Harry Potter, aside from direct combat ability, possessed terrifyingly comprehensive abilities in every other regard.

Earth's current level of science would probably need another three to five hundred years of development before it could accomplish such things with ease.

And although people often criticized wizards for their weak combat ability, saying that a Wand was not even as useful as a gun—

That was largely because the Ministry of Magic deliberately controlled offensive and destructive spells:

Peter could blow up half a street with a single spell, while Crabbe could even summon Fiendfyre powerful enough to destroy Horcruxes. Peter and Crabbe had both been among the worst students at Hogwarts, so the destructive power of wizards had actually been underestimated.

For Jon, pretending magic did not exist was undoubtedly foolish.

His former plans, along with the efforts of the past decade or so, should all be cast aside now.

Jon needed to make a new plan for the future.

Studying magic diligently was naturally the top priority. The average standard of Hogwarts students was not actually very high. Even underachievers like Harry and Ron could be considered excellent students; one became Quidditch captain, while the other became a prefect. That showed just what the rest of those students were like.

Jon was very confident that, with his mature mind and excellent memory, his command of magic would far surpass that of his future "classmates."

Next, he needed to stay far away from The Golden Trio.

From the moment they entered school, they dealt with a Three-headed Dog in first year, fought a Basilisk in second year, took on a Werewolf plus a hundred Dementors in third year, and in fourth year, it was dragons, merpeople, Sphinxes, and Voldemort one after another...

Without Plot Armor, that fearless death-seeking spirit would have cost them more than a dozen resurrection coins along the way, wouldn't it?

He probably did not have Plot Armor, and St. Mungo's Hospital probably had not developed Resurrection Magic either... So he should stay away from them, keep his head down, and survive. You needed to be alive to deal DPS.

Right, judging by the timeline, he should be enrolling when Harry Potter and the others were in their second year. So keeping his distance from Ginny Weasley was also very important. Miss Weasley should have been under Voldemort's control shortly after entering school, then opened the Chamber of Secrets on Halloween night and released the Basilisk.

Stopping her was impossible—absolutely impossible. Jon did not have the bizarre confidence to face a Voldemort Horcrux head-on in his first year. Of course, if he got the chance, he could still be a helpful concerned citizen.

Apart from The Golden Trio and Ginny Weasley, it would be best to keep some distance from Headmaster Albus Dumbledore as well.

Naturally, it was not because of Dumbledore's sexual orientation. The key issue was that Dumbledore was a master of Legilimency. As a first-year student, Jon would probably only need to meet Dumbledore's eyes once for every secret in his heart to be exposed through Legilimency. If Dumbledore discovered that he was a transmigrator, who knew whether he would include him in his "Potter Raising Plan."

Of course, barring any unexpected circumstances, an ordinary Muggle-born young wizard like himself would naturally not attract Dumbledore's attention. If he kept a low profile for a few years and secretly learned Occlumency, he would have nothing to fear.

In his second year, he absolutely must not go outside on nights with a full moon. After all, Snape's "Wolfsbane Potion" had never undergone a Double-blind Experiment. What if it failed? Lupin also had a history of failing to take it on time and at the prescribed dosage, so there were definite safety risks.

There was no need to worry about Dementors, though. For personal reasons, Dumbledore would not allow Dementors onto the school grounds; at this stage, Dementors were also restricted by the Ministry of Magic and would not casually harm people. Still, he should learn the Patronus Charm. Being able to send out a streak of silver light to drive Dementors away would be enough.

The Triwizard Tournament would begin in his third year, and that would be a good opportunity. He needed to find a way to build a good relationship with Headmistress Maxime of Beauxbatons Academy of Magic during that time, then transfer to Beauxbatons when he had the chance and move to Paris with his parents. That way, he could avoid the terrorist attacks in Britain after Voldemort's resurrection.

Ilvermorny would work too. Durmstrang was out of the question—what if Voldemort led the Death Eaters to kill their headmaster and happened to wipe out the school as well?

After transferring, he could stay there until near the end of sixth year, then form a volunteer army at Beauxbatons or Ilvermorny and return to London for the final battle to farm some experience... Of course, before fighting, it would be best to drink some Felix Felicis.

"117 Charing Cross Road, Westminster, London... I think we're here!" Eric said as he looked at his notebook and pulled the sedan over.

The car stopped in front of a dingy, cramped bar, squeezed between a large bookstore on one side and a record store on the other.

"Is this the place?" Eric looked up at the sign for "The Leaky Cauldron" with some doubt.

"Probably..." Jon nodded.

"Hello, gentlemen!" A nearly bald bartender, who looked like a shriveled walnut, appeared silently before them. "I'm Tom, the owner of The Leaky Cauldron."

"Muggle?" He glanced at Eric, then at Jon. "A new Hogwarts student?"

"Yes, sir!" Jon nodded. "I'm Jon Hart, a new Hogwarts student. This is my father. He can't do magic."

"I suppose you're heading to Diagon Alley, then!" Tom, the owner of The Leaky Cauldron, showed an unpleasant smile. "Please follow me."

They passed through the bar and entered a small walled courtyard. Apart from a trash can and some weeds, there was nothing there.

"Count three bricks up from the trash can, then two across... knock three times!" Tom pointed at the wall as he turned back. "I need to watch my bar. Good luck, Mr. Hart—and you too, Muggle sir!"