May had gone by in a blur. It had come and gone mostly unnoticed by me, as not much had happened. I mean, sure, there was stuff I'd had to do. Tests to prepare for. A business to set-up and run. But nothing that made me sit up and say 'Holy crap!'
Which was nice. It was peaceful and, while not completely relaxing, made for a good change of pace.
But now, things were different. Things were starting to gain traction. Finals were coming up, and once that was over, I'd be free from the hell of compulsory education. Then, I'd be getting ready to head off to higher education.
I brief wondered why I was torturing myself with this, and considered not pursuing a college or university degree, but shelved the idea after a bit. It was a pain in the buttocks, but it was, sadly, necessary. And I didn't want to waste the hard work my friends and family had gone through to get me those recommendations.
Then, there was the Potion business. With all the important legal documents wrapped up, I could increase production and hit the market running. Sure, I was tied to several larger companies now, but my plans to deal with that were in the making.
I'd decided to hold off on opening up my first storefront until I got back from France in late July, aiming for an early August grand-opening. Everything regarding the buildings I was going to use was already squared away, with the paperwork filled out and filed along with the initial deposits already made. The interior restructuring was going well, and it would be finished by mid-July. Then, I could get ready for business!
Of course, I was still making products and selling them, even without a store. My idea to sell through the internet hadn't taken off yet, but a few ads placed into several choice women's fashion magazines had ensured I had a steady stream of revenue from that angle. Not to mention word-of-mouth was still helpful. Even more so when one of Sam's father's co-workers had tried my hair growth cream and saw results almost immediately. Add in a couple of free samples here and there, and I had a strong customer base.
I was far off from being a household name like I planned on being in the future, but I'd set the foundations for it.
But right now, I was focused on something else other than potions or schoolwork.
It was the early evening of the 11th of June, and I watched the TV in Sam's living room like a hawk. I wasn't usually invested in sports like the Parsons, but today was an exception. After all, today was the England-Denmark match of the European Football Cup.
Nobody expected Denmark to make it to the Football Cup this year in Europe. They only made it in because of chaos in Yugoslavia that got the country disqualified. Because it was a last-minute addition to the line-up, the Danes had only two weeks to prepare against the former USSR, England, France, Germany, Holland, Scotland, and the host of the event, Sweden.
They were basically the longshot, which meant the odds were against them winning in the betting pool. 20 to 1 odds, to be precise.
'If my memory is correct, and I hope to God it is, then the first match they play is against England, and they draw against them at a score of 0-0,' I thought to myself as I nervously shifted in my seat.
'If that happens again in this timeline, then that means the possibility of events playing out the same as they did in my world are high, and I could earn a large amount of money through a few well-placed bets,' I thought eagerly.
It was a risk. So far, this world was fairly accurate to what I remembered of my old world's history. For instance, in the Harry Potter books, the Prime Minister was never given a name, but just as it had been back in my original life, the Prime Minister here was Sir John Major, and he had been since his election in 1990.
However, there was one important detail in the books that made things different between my old life and my current one. The Prime Minister before John Major in my old world was Margaret Thatcher. A woman. And in the books, when Minister Fudge first met the unnamed Prime Minister, the previous Prime Minister had tried to throw Fudge out the window.
Notably, Fudge claimed they were a man. And say what you want about Margaret Thatcher, but she was very clearly a woman.
Why did this matter? Margaret Thatcher was not the previous Prime Minister. She had existed, but hadn't served the same amount of time she did in my world, being ousted in 1988 to be replaced by a man named Sir Simon Garland, who only served until 1990, and being replaced by John Major.
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