Cassius Snape turned ten.
The age felt strange—small in the body, colossal in consequence.
Childhood lingered in his frame, but his mind, his wealth, his network of agents made him something far older.
Grindelwald's voice still rang in his ears from their final lesson:
"Your foundation has been set in stone. Rest. You have certainly earned it after such intense training over the last six years. Nothing further can be gained from training further for the next year, better to focus on other things and just enjoying your growth until your letter to attend hogwarts arrives."
And so, with that Cassius returned to Britain, not just for a visit but full-time, still having a method of reaching his teacher through a two-way glass acting like a cellphone between him and one of the greatest dark wizards of all time, who personally to cassius was just a portable grandpa to him.
Cassius's return was without fanfare, almost entirely without notice, but the power behind the political party had finally returned to britain, and just in time, the current government has been losing popularity and rumors of a vote of no confidence was coming resulting in a new general election coming about, one that the New Dawn was sure to win according to recent polls conducted by studies being conducted.
~
The very night of his return, he made certain Hogwarts would not ignore him.
In the quiet streets of London, Cassius let his magic spill outward, deliberately unstable, a riot of sparks and force that shimmered across the pavement a magical phenomenon that would seem like the greatest magical illusion to any muggle who might witness the event.
No real damage was done just simple scorch marks on the roadway, before Cassius retracted his power and vanished into the night.
And, more importantly, a thousand miles away, the Book of Admittance stirred upon its pedestal.
The Quill of Acceptance scratched furiously, capturing the name that now burned with undeniable presence:
Cassius Snape.
The record was sealed.
He would be on the rolls of Hogwarts next year.
And the appearance of the name would cause the headmaster to possibly have a stroke, followed shortly thereafter by Deputy Headmistress McGonagol who writes all the admission letters to prospective students.
Cassius smiled upon returning home, he hadnt just announced himself he'd staked his claim, revealing a secret more than a decade in the making and a revelation that would cause ripples that would affect the british magical world for years to come.
~
As he settled back into his London condo, the summer reports confirmed his strategy's brilliance.
Muggle-born students had not only filled Hogwarts but had spread to Beauxbatons, with enrollment up nearly a third from previous years.
His synthetic seeds—Arcanum's hidden children—now stretched beyond Britain, taking root in France and soon elsewhere, once the news of the muggleborn uprising continued, if this phenomenon because global the magical community as a whole could not refuse them to do so would risk exposure of their world, or worse the creation of Obscurials which not only risked exposure but also posed a danger.
Hogwarts, Beauxbatons… soon Durmstrang, and Koldovstoretz would notice the wave as well forcing them to change their stance and begin accepting Muggle-born wizards and witches into their ranks.
The world was tilting.
And all under the pseudonym Arcana.
~
The Britain Cassius returned to was both familiar and alien.
His corporations had grown monstrous in his absence, merging across industries until his signature lay hidden in everything: energy, medicine, transport, finance.
The skyline of London itself betrayed him.
New glass towers pierced the clouds, neon lights gave Soho the air of Tokyo, and prototype electric cars hummed down streets that should not have seen them until the start of the next millennium.
The 1990s which were about to get started looked more like 2010s—compressed, accelerated by his interventions.
And above it all, his crown jewel: Stellar Dynamics, his privatized space initiative.
Three launches already successful.
Satellites deployed, orbital platforms constructed, and plans in motion for a lunar recovery mission.
Officially, it was for science.
For communication.
Unofficially, it was for advances in magic.
Cassius dreamed of harvesting extraterrestrial ores—comet ice that might brew new potions, asteroidal crystals that could rival phoenix feathers as wand cores, lunar regolith infused with unknown magical frequencies.
The magical world still squabbled over dusty relics.
Cassius looked to the stars.
~
Grindelwald's final instructions echoed each day as Cassius poured over ledgers and manuscripts:
"The wand is not the only weapon. Knowledge, wealth, belief—these are deeper magics than any spell."
Cassius knew it was true.
He was not merely the richest child in Britain.
He was, by quiet estimation, the wealthiest being in both the Muggle and magical worlds combined.
Gringotts upgraded and moved his vault after the origional started to threaten overflowing with gold galleons, only to once more require expansion a few years later.
Bankers in Zurich trembled at his accounts.
Prime Ministers and Presidents would accept meetings without hesitation, since independantly he could finance their election campaigns.
Yet in the magical world, he remained an unknown, a child waiting for a letter.
That contrast—titan and nobody—was his greatest shield.
~
His agents reported preparations underway at Hogwarts.
Enrollment would soon surpass a thousand students.
The staff strained under the numbers.
McGonagall had begun rewriting timetables daily.
Dumbledore had quietly posted offers to recruit new faculty.
The old castle was about to forcibly get new life breathed into it, as disused classrooms would once more play host to teachers and students breaking the school from an exclusive private school into a more inclusive public school.
Cassius could almost taste the coming chaos.
And he would walk straight into its heart.
~
Cassius' gaze turned to Europe.
The French Ministry had already issued confused statements about Beauxbatons' sudden influx of Muggle-borns.
Perfect.
His influence was still silent but spreading, and the magical world used to the status quo was being forced to wake up and react.
Some within the twin ministries wanted to investigate the cause, but were chased away it was just a momentary boom, possibly the result of the muggle 'baby boom' caused by the end of the second world war.
Thanks to the ignorance of the magical community Cassius was able to silently spread throughout the world, such that by the time he was ready to graduate from Hogwarts he could complete his plans and begin the worldwide revolution after having sythetically created and trained up tens of thousands of wizards and witches worldwide, while gradually introducing them to the muggle communities and giving them hope for their children to also gain access to this same power.
~
Meanwhile, beyond Cassius' direct reach, another piece moved.
Quirinus Quirrell, bookish and soft-spoken, had taken a leave of absence from Hogwarts.
Officially, to travel.
To gain practical knowledge by wandering the muggle world for a year learning about the changes to better aid his course of muggle studies.
Unofficially, he drifted east.
towards albania.
As it was in the media, the professor was off searching for Voldy seeking out a means to greater power and immortality, only to receaive weakness and death instead by his lord.
He wasnt sure approximately when but Quirrell would encounter what remained of Voldemorts soul survivng in agony without his body.
The board was set and pieces get close to moving.
The dark lord was prepring for his return, seeking a puppet through which he could secure the position he so longed for while getting a chance at reunion with his rival.
Dumbledore was left scrambling to prepare for the next enrollment year of a massive number of students, along with the presentation of Harry Potter, saviour of the magical world.
While the muggle world continued to progress further and further ahead of the magical world.
While the magical world itself continued to stagnate save for the Arcanum whose experimentation continued but release of their studies were still being barred by the corrupt minister fudge and his cronies.
~
On the night of his 10th birthday, Cassius sat at his study's window, overlooking a London that gleamed brighter than it should have.
He considered his N.E.W.T.s once again.
The temptation lingered.
To shock the wizarding world once more, to stamp his genius into stone before even stepping into Hogwarts.
But no.
The restraint pleased him more.
Let them dismiss his O.W.L.s as a freak occurrence.
Let them forget his name until he walked through those doors himself.
Then, and only then, would he begin to show them.
Only a few more months remained before it was finally his turn, his time to act, and rise up as a true 'dark' lord.