During breakfast, it was obvious that something was wrong. Christian was still distracted but did not swiftly finish his food to continue his "research." Instead, he played with his food with a dazed look.
"Zed, what's wrong now?"
"You know… when I asked what you would do if you knew the future? I never received a concrete answer," uttered Christian.
"And why are you so insistent on knowing?"
"I-I just want to know?"
Tiara and Eleanor looked at each other. "Is there something you want to tell us?"
"Hmm, no. I just want to know what someone would do if they were burdened by knowledge of the future."
"Burden?" asked Eleanor, who caught this subtle use of language.
"Well, yes."
No one spoke, leaving the sounds of Christian's fork ringing as he twirled it on his plate.
"I'm going to say something that I probably should say often," Eleanor said. "You are a child. Certain things should not be your burden to bear — no matter how gifted you are."
Christian paused, "You're right. I am a child and should not be worrying about the world's fate."
"World's fate?" asked Tiara.
"As you can guess, I can see the future or a version of it," said Christian, deciding to tell a partial truth. "Don't ask me how; I don't know myself, and I don't want to talk about it."
"That's fine; you're entitled to your privacy and secrets as long as they do not bring danger to yourself," nodded Tiara.
"Is that why you've been on edge in the past few days?" asked Eleanor.
"Yes. I'm sorry for yelling at you."
Eleanor waved her hand to indicate it was fine. "So, the future you saw is unsatisfactory?"
"Bleak, I would say," replied Christian, who took a moment to reorganize his thoughts. "I saw the future of the Magical and Muggle World, and none of them can be described as positive."
"Can you be more specific?"
"For the magical world, Voldemort will return in the next 4 to 5 years, the world will turn into chaos, many people will die, and although he is eventually defeated by the Boy Who Lives, the circumstances are too dependent on fate or prophecy for my taste. If a single thing goes wrong, everything goes wrong."
"Wait, what about you? What role did you play in this future?" asked Tiara.
"Nothing, as if I don't even exist. I don't think any of us were supposed to be in whatever future I saw."
Tiara's body trembled as she remembered Papa Tounde's words that night Zed awakened his magic abilities. According to him, she should have died in that ruin in the Amazon. Now, she also believed that if not for the protection amulet she gave him, he might not have survived whatever happened to him that night.
'That would explain why he's not in the future he saw and why Papa Tounde spoke all that nonsense. That night, Zed broke away from his destined fate, leading to unknown worldwide ramifications that have yet to manifest.'
"Don't worry about the magical world for now," said Tiara, who deduced that the future would be more complicated than Christian had foreseen due to Papa Tounde's prophecy. "What did you see in the Muggle World?"
"The best way I can describe it is the rapid birth of a dystopian world," said Christian. "The environment has been ruined so badly that it feels like the entire planet is on the verge of collapse. Radical ideals are spread everywhere, global economic recession, the people are oppressed, and the rapid and uncontrollable development of technology, controlled by the elite 1%."
Eleanor groaned, "That sounds terrible."
"Indeed."
"What role does the magical world play in this dystopian world?" asked Tiara.
"Don't know. I only saw what happened to the magical world in 1998 and 2025 for the Muggle World?"
"2025?" exclaimed Eleanor.
"Yes, what's wrong?"
"I thought you were talking about something hundreds of years from now, not 30 years. By then, I will still be in my 70s, alive and kicking."
"Why do you think I'm so worried? If it were so far in the future, I would also not care." Christian almost rolled his eyes.
"No, that's unacceptable. That's the world that my children and grandchildren will live in," said Eleanor, obviously feeling the pressure. "Tell me more."
"Alright."
For the next hour, the two (mostly Eleanor) asked numerous questions, and Christian tried to answer all of them. He had to explain many terms and concepts to her, as they were too far from the current time or reality. Once everything finished, Eleanor had a pondering look.
"What's wrong?" asked Christian.
"I think I may have a solution to our problem."
"Really? I'm all ears," said Christian.
"Money: an insane amount of money."
"I'm not following," said Christian.
"You're not thinking of?" Tiara asked, looking at her.
"Yes. We use your knowledge of the future to amass an insane amount of money and influence. We will have in our hands every aspect of society: medicine, pharmaceuticals, real estate, infrastructure, technology, motor vehicles, media, films, animation, television, politics, energy, defense contracting, that thing called social media, and everything else. With that money and influence, we can save the planet by funding environmental causes, researching clean energy, providing healthcare to everybody, and being the leading developers in technology like AI, which will have ethics boards that regulate its progress."
"Are you insane?" asked Tiara.
"No, I'm not," replied Eleanor. "Since we know how bleak the future is, we can prevent it from reaching such a point."
"Have you thought about how things could go wrong?" said Tiara. "Firstly, you're technically using magic to amass this wealth, thus breaking the International Statute of Secrecy."
"You said yourself, that's technically speaking," rebutted Eleanor. "Additionally, didn't you hear what Christian said? Wizards watched and let the world reach this point. Do you guys think something like global warming would not affect your world?"
Tiara was momentarily speechless before countering, "What about the security issue? Do you think any government or country would allow anyone to have such power — especially a black woman?"
"We can take security measures, and I'm willing to take the risk," said Eleanor.
"We can hire house elves to protect her secretly," suddenly said Christian. They can remain invisible relatively easily, and their ability to Apparate even in places with Anti-Apparition Jinx would be instrumental in guaranteeing her safety."
"See? A solution."
"You're on her side?" asked Tiara.
"She makes a fair argument."
"Okay, what about the ethical issue?" asked Tiara, looking at both of them before focusing on Eleanor. "Can you say without a doubt that such wealth and power will not change who you are?"
Eleanor did not have an immediate answer.
"Mum has a point, too," said Christian. "One of the sayings I agreed with in the future I saw was 'there are no ethical billionaires.'"
"I cannot say for certain that I will not be changed," uttered Eleanor. "But I know I can rely on the two of you to prevent me from going on the deep end." She knew these two would focus on the chaos coming to the magical world and would not care about the power and influence of the Muggle World. So, they were perfect to serve as her morality anchor.
"You really want to do this?" asked Tiara, not understanding this sudden decision, almost a shift on the woman he knew as much as her own sister.
Eleanor sighed, "I've been tired of corporate law for a while now. The money might be good, but it's truly soul-sucking. I've been contemplating doing something more decent, but I could not decide. However, after hearing Christian's words, I feel like this was my calling, my mission in life."
"But this kind of work will have nothing to do with decency. Like Zed said, there is no ethical way to raise such a large amount of money."
"I will be fine as long as I know the money will eventually be used for a decent cause. And it's not like my hands are completely clean," Eleanor countered. Her job was to serve and protect the rich and the elite, meaning many people suffered from her actions.
Tiara pondered briefly before sighing, "Since you really want to do this, I will support you." She looked at Christian, "What's your opinion?"
"I'm a child. What kind of opinion can I have?"
She smirked before waving her hand to manifest a gust of wind that messed up his hair.
"Not fair."
"Since we're going to do this, let's begin immediately," said Eleanor. "We need great investment opportunities to amass the starting funds. What information can you provide?"
"Let me think?" said Christian. "This year, the Internet will officially become commercial. The economic market in Japan will burst. You might want to invest in anime, but it won't become mainstream or be a market worth billions of dollars until a decade later. Sony will soon replace Sega as the best-selling home console, but that won't be until 1994.
"Can the collapse of a country count as a good opportunity?"
"Of course. No, it can be said to be the real opportunity for someone with little ethics and morality," explained Eleanor, who understood the benefit of such knowledge. In such a state, it's easy to develop the real state as they are at an all-time low because of the collapse of a state. Additionally, natural resources and minerals can be acquired cheaply, followed by investing in the country's rebuilding.
"Well, in the next year, the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia will collapse or disintegrate."
"Anything else?"
"The European Union is coming soon."
"So, the rumors were true," commented Eleanor.
"You've heard of this?"
"Yes, but only rumors," she explained. "Anything else?" She had written everything he said.
"I know the result of certain sports games, which could be used for gambling. However, I feel such news is unreliable because they are more susceptible to butterfly effects."
"Butterfly effect?"
Christian remembered that this term has not yet been popularized in the current year, so he explained it to them.
"That makes sense," nodded Eleanor. "Do you have any more?"
"Give me some time, and I can try to find more, but that's all I know."
"That's fine since that's more than enough. Plus, you don't have to push yourself if seeing the future burdens you," nodded Eleanor.